Serious cricket takes a hiatus, fun cricket takes over. The IPL clock on the right corner mast of The Times of India web site announces that the ultimate slug-fest with a bat and ball is about to begin in less than two days time. There have been some heated discussions over the usefulness of such a tournament, not without reason either. Starting from the concept of 20 overs match to the semi clad cheerleaders, nothing has been spared the cynics scythe. The idea of auctioning international cricketers, hitherto revered as national icons has also arched many eyebrows. People are at peace with the idea of footballers being bought and sold, but somehow the whole thought of applying the same business principle to the holier than thou cricket players seems a little outlandish. Well, no more. The evil(?) of Lalit Modi has enticed commodity and consumers alike. Not only has Cricket been finally brought to the same level of other sports after numerous false starts in the past (read Kerry Packer), but the very idea of owning cricket stars has become vogue. Every yesteryear star of Bollywood can now beam himself or herself into millions of TV sets live just by loosening the purse string and buying the company of a young Cricket lord for a season. This may be called being "Famous by Association".
Shahrukh Khan though is neither a star of the era gone by nor does he need the company of anyone to make his face appearance more frequent. Hence it was quite reliving not to see him cheering his team as often as he did in the inaugural edition. Not that the team gave him any great reasons to. Lesser boss influence and the humbling of the last three seasons has resulted in the team management going absolutely brutal in team selection. The list of international stars has been brought down drastically. In the previous editions, the KKR management had shown an unreasonable propensity towards buying up stars rather than performers. Most of such star purchases glittered only to fade. The fire power of Brendon McCullum and Chris Gayle proved insufficient to power them anywhere close to the top. Neither could Ajantha Mendis spin them out of their woes. Even the talismanic Shoaib Akhtar or the incisive Shane Bond could do little to inspire them. Hence, though shocking it was not surprising to see the KKR management going for a total overhaul when they picked their team this time.
But what knocked the air out of almost all KKR fans was when the Maharaja was dropped. The average Kolkatan can let go of his Illish Machh fetish but to find Dada missing from any team line up ever conjured that had Kolkata/Bengal/India as its domicile would be impossible to digest. There were the general shows of displeasure with a few Shahrukh Khan dummies being incinerated and another bunch of ministers clammering up to Kolkata's favorite son's defence. But it is about time, Sourav Ganguly is let be. He has done enormous good to the cause of Indian cricket and these petty celebrations of his achievements belittle his contributions. We saw him commentating during the World Cup. He brings a dignified presence to the TV studios and the commentator boxes otherwise sullied by self indulgent word spewers like Navjot Sidhu. From whatever we have seen of him in this new avatar, we certainly want more. Its time he hung up those overused bats, gloves and pads and initiate us to the chess game of cricket that he reads and plays like none other. This is a Dada fan speaking, back to KKR though.
The KKR team of 2011 has retained very few faces of the past. Barring a Laxmi Ratan Shukla and a Manoj Tiwary, no other name sounds familiar. Having said that, it must be admitted that the present team is far better balanced than the teams of past. One of the major advantages is the inclusion of Jacques Kallis. It has been proven beyond any doubt that this man can win any cricket match in any form of the game. One of the reasons why South Africa did an encore of their World Cup suicides was his indifferent form. He not only brings balance to the team on the playground but also is a great influence to have off it. This man stands shoulder to shoulder with all the all time greats of world cricket without the fuss or aura of any. He is a superstar in the garbs of a handyman. It will be his form that will prove key for KKR.
Battingwise, KKR remains slog heavy. You put Yusuf Pathan, Eoin Morgan and Brad Haddin into the same mixing pot and if you see the pot not exploding within nanoseconds then it is time to believe the pot had poison gas inside of it. But such explosions also come with the bill of collateral damage. On their day, any one of these can blast any opposition out. But how often do such days come is a problem of the probabilistic statistician. Hence the calming presence of Ryan ten Doeschate and Shakib al Hasan would be crucial to KKR's success. The batting line up boasts of very few local talents, Shukla and Tiwary being the only ones. Since it is expected that these two will feature more frequently than the foreign imports, a lot would depend on them too.
Bowling department of the KKRs leans more towards pace. Brett Lee, Balaji, Sangwan, James Pattinson, Jaydev Unadkat frame the backbone of this attack, and quite an attack it is. Brett Lee is a potent force. He has the ability to swing a match within a spell. He was one consistent bowler in the otherwise lackluster bowling display of Australia in the World Cup. If he carries that form, it is a reason to worry for all opponents. But he might be unavailable in the early part of the tournament being on national duty in Bangladesh. Also away from the scene due to this series will be Shakib al Hasan, the only big name in the spin section. This means added pressure on Sarabjit Ladda and Iqbal Abdullah.
Herding this lot would be The Second Wall of India, Gautam Gambhir. Gambhir's captaining traits were much in display during the New Zealand ODI series. The captaincy brought extra dimensions to his batting. To have such a guy at helm is absolutely delightful. He also looked to be in sublime touch during the World Cup. There is an extremely cold war running now as to whether he was more deserving of the MoM award in the Final. Well, the jury need not stay out on that too long since all parties concerned seems to be at peace with the end result. If he clicks with the bat at the top of the order, the sloggers coming later would get the home base to launch an assault. For a slog heavy line up, this is crucial. Gambhir also has a tough job in picking the team. There are many all rounders and many options. Picking the ideal mix is always going to be tricky. But the most difficult job for Gambhir will be gaining acceptance of the Kolkata fans. Here is an out and out Delhi boy who must find a place for himself in the Bhadrolok masses of the home city. He has the aura of Ganguly to compete with and that is not at all a good competition. In fact, it is downright lopsided. The only possible antidote to the resentment could be success. This KKR team is not even a shade similar to the earlier teams. The big egos of Gayle, Akhtar or for the matter Ganguly are gone. Instead, there is a good mix of thoroughbred pros and talented greenhorns. Gambhir must bring out the best from them to replace Kolkata's Enfante Adorable. Time shall tell, if he does it.
Shahrukh Khan though is neither a star of the era gone by nor does he need the company of anyone to make his face appearance more frequent. Hence it was quite reliving not to see him cheering his team as often as he did in the inaugural edition. Not that the team gave him any great reasons to. Lesser boss influence and the humbling of the last three seasons has resulted in the team management going absolutely brutal in team selection. The list of international stars has been brought down drastically. In the previous editions, the KKR management had shown an unreasonable propensity towards buying up stars rather than performers. Most of such star purchases glittered only to fade. The fire power of Brendon McCullum and Chris Gayle proved insufficient to power them anywhere close to the top. Neither could Ajantha Mendis spin them out of their woes. Even the talismanic Shoaib Akhtar or the incisive Shane Bond could do little to inspire them. Hence, though shocking it was not surprising to see the KKR management going for a total overhaul when they picked their team this time.
But what knocked the air out of almost all KKR fans was when the Maharaja was dropped. The average Kolkatan can let go of his Illish Machh fetish but to find Dada missing from any team line up ever conjured that had Kolkata/Bengal/India as its domicile would be impossible to digest. There were the general shows of displeasure with a few Shahrukh Khan dummies being incinerated and another bunch of ministers clammering up to Kolkata's favorite son's defence. But it is about time, Sourav Ganguly is let be. He has done enormous good to the cause of Indian cricket and these petty celebrations of his achievements belittle his contributions. We saw him commentating during the World Cup. He brings a dignified presence to the TV studios and the commentator boxes otherwise sullied by self indulgent word spewers like Navjot Sidhu. From whatever we have seen of him in this new avatar, we certainly want more. Its time he hung up those overused bats, gloves and pads and initiate us to the chess game of cricket that he reads and plays like none other. This is a Dada fan speaking, back to KKR though.
The KKR team of 2011 has retained very few faces of the past. Barring a Laxmi Ratan Shukla and a Manoj Tiwary, no other name sounds familiar. Having said that, it must be admitted that the present team is far better balanced than the teams of past. One of the major advantages is the inclusion of Jacques Kallis. It has been proven beyond any doubt that this man can win any cricket match in any form of the game. One of the reasons why South Africa did an encore of their World Cup suicides was his indifferent form. He not only brings balance to the team on the playground but also is a great influence to have off it. This man stands shoulder to shoulder with all the all time greats of world cricket without the fuss or aura of any. He is a superstar in the garbs of a handyman. It will be his form that will prove key for KKR.
Battingwise, KKR remains slog heavy. You put Yusuf Pathan, Eoin Morgan and Brad Haddin into the same mixing pot and if you see the pot not exploding within nanoseconds then it is time to believe the pot had poison gas inside of it. But such explosions also come with the bill of collateral damage. On their day, any one of these can blast any opposition out. But how often do such days come is a problem of the probabilistic statistician. Hence the calming presence of Ryan ten Doeschate and Shakib al Hasan would be crucial to KKR's success. The batting line up boasts of very few local talents, Shukla and Tiwary being the only ones. Since it is expected that these two will feature more frequently than the foreign imports, a lot would depend on them too.
Bowling department of the KKRs leans more towards pace. Brett Lee, Balaji, Sangwan, James Pattinson, Jaydev Unadkat frame the backbone of this attack, and quite an attack it is. Brett Lee is a potent force. He has the ability to swing a match within a spell. He was one consistent bowler in the otherwise lackluster bowling display of Australia in the World Cup. If he carries that form, it is a reason to worry for all opponents. But he might be unavailable in the early part of the tournament being on national duty in Bangladesh. Also away from the scene due to this series will be Shakib al Hasan, the only big name in the spin section. This means added pressure on Sarabjit Ladda and Iqbal Abdullah.
Herding this lot would be The Second Wall of India, Gautam Gambhir. Gambhir's captaining traits were much in display during the New Zealand ODI series. The captaincy brought extra dimensions to his batting. To have such a guy at helm is absolutely delightful. He also looked to be in sublime touch during the World Cup. There is an extremely cold war running now as to whether he was more deserving of the MoM award in the Final. Well, the jury need not stay out on that too long since all parties concerned seems to be at peace with the end result. If he clicks with the bat at the top of the order, the sloggers coming later would get the home base to launch an assault. For a slog heavy line up, this is crucial. Gambhir also has a tough job in picking the team. There are many all rounders and many options. Picking the ideal mix is always going to be tricky. But the most difficult job for Gambhir will be gaining acceptance of the Kolkata fans. Here is an out and out Delhi boy who must find a place for himself in the Bhadrolok masses of the home city. He has the aura of Ganguly to compete with and that is not at all a good competition. In fact, it is downright lopsided. The only possible antidote to the resentment could be success. This KKR team is not even a shade similar to the earlier teams. The big egos of Gayle, Akhtar or for the matter Ganguly are gone. Instead, there is a good mix of thoroughbred pros and talented greenhorns. Gambhir must bring out the best from them to replace Kolkata's Enfante Adorable. Time shall tell, if he does it.
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