Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders (24th April, 2013)


My wish for IPL6 was that it should have a classy soundtrack with a lot of energy related to sports. The jumpin japak thing by Farah Khan just spoilt everything. Anyhow, I was expecting for the main thing, some good cricket and so far there has been some brilliant performances by teams and individuals. I can only hope the tempo will further intensify and the tournament will bring some memories that we fans will cherish for a long time to come.
I haven’t written anything about the RCB VS PWI match. Actually that was one of those matches which goes down well in the memory and very few can bring them to life on the paper. I am among the one who can keep thinking about the GayleStorm for a long time. My conclusion would be, what Bradman was to tests & Tendulkar was to one dayers, Chris Henry Gayle is to T20. Somehow I wouldn’t like to hear Gayle being called a T20 god, The T20 Monster sounds better on the gentle giant !!!
Coming back to the current match, I was hugely disappointed with Ponting sitting out on the bench. Yes there has been examples of team captains who sat out on the bench while the action was on. That was on sheer performance. But here we are talking about Ricky Ponting, skipper of the team that won 3 world cups and dominated world cricket for about a decade. He might not be scoring runs but he is more of a leader, rightly said by Ajay Jadeja at pre-match session with Sunny Gavaskar and Samir Kocchar. Moreover, he is among those few rare players who played on 1st change in all formats of the game. That’s his speciality. We have seen what happened to Sachin Tendulkar when he used to bat at #2 for India in ODIs.
The next surprise was the appointment of Rohit Sharma as the Mumbai Indians skipper! This talent house is already rare in his brilliant innings, why add the load of captaincy on his shoulders? On the other hand, there was no good choice either. Maybe this will turn out to be one of the finest moves but what we need now is a batsman who is the consistent form of Rohit Sharma. We don’t have to worry about a captain for the Indian team in either formats. Dhoni is irreplaceable now and he has done good for Indian cricket. His resume is super impressive. And I hope to believe that the BCCI is keen on grooming Kohli for the future.
However, the skippers plan of challenging Yusuf Pathan with Bhajji was pathetic. Yusuf Pathan against an off sipnner who is out of form for a long time and in his home ground, Eden Gardens ? That’s a big blunder but every skipper learns from mistakes.
Bhajji needs to make sure he is still passionate about the game and his main reason to play for India should still be the love of the game and not what the game brings. I won’t like to agree that a top player like him can be out of form for close to 4 years if not more. Also, thinking about Manoj Tiwary, I wonder if that’s the best local talent KKR has? Is there no-one in the team who is better than him to replace wrong. If not, Bengal cricket is in danger.
Coming to my sports icon Sachin Tendulkar. Many happy returns of the day, master !!! May this year bring heaps of runs off your bat in every format that you play. However about this match, i was let down yet again. Not taking away anything from Naraine. Beautiful delivery, the perfect off spinners weapon. The frustration is why Tendulkar faces such deliveries in more frequent basis ? Is he losing his immortal touch of scoring off anything bowled at him? Are the bowlers bowling extra special deliveries to get the wicket of the extra special batsman?
I am worried about the batting of Mumbai. Hope they very soon get Rohit Sharma to open with Sachin Tendulkar followed by Ricky Ponting, Karthick and Pollard.
The tournament is going to get intense very soon !!!

No comments:

Post a Comment