Indian Premier League and Cricket News by IPL Cricket Forum

Speaking to the Independent, London, former England captain David Gower said though Twenty20 is here to stay, “six weeks’ razzle-dazzle is not enough to consign over a hundred years of Test cricket to the dump”.

“You must be off your rocker. Twenty20 is here to stay and will energise the game around the world, but players, however grateful for IPL and, in the future, EPL cash, still know that they will be judged by their record as Test players,” he said. As such he does not considers IPl as a threat to Test Cricket.

Asked whether the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) should allow England players a crack at the IPL next year, he replied, “The ECB might well make some concessions to their contracted players re the IPL, but a lot depends on how plans for an EPL develop. Until those are clear we need to hold fire.”

Gower also said England are clear favourites for the upcoming series against New Zealand, “having rediscovered the winning habit in the nick of time in New Zealand”. New Zealand, he added, “will be reliant on the usual few”.

“England should be thinking in terms of a clean sweep, but who knows what the weather gods have in store?”- he added.

Editorial - Mohit Goyal:

Bangalore Royal Challengers v Kings XI Punjab at Bangalore

Kings have won four on the trot while Challengers’ bowlers had a superb outing in their win over Deccan Chargers. It seems to be all set for a mouth watering clash in this Indian Premier League match toady.

Men at the Helm

Yuvraj is very aggressive while Rahul is cool and calm. Yuvraj has shown vulnerability in pressure situations as in the match against Knight Riders when Hussey and Saha had clubbed a few out of the ground while Dravid hasn’t been as innovative as some of the other captains on seen.

We have the bat

Punjab’s batters, the likes of Marsh, Hopes and Yuvraj look better suited for the shortest version of the gentlemen’s game but a slightly dodgy pitch at Chinnaswamy like the other day in the match against Chargers could sway the match in Challengers’ favor with Jaffer, Kallis and Dravid lining up.

We have the ball

Bangalore’s balling unit looks much stronger than Punjab but Kallis has been struggling big time while Pathan has come good for Kings XI. It is also being seen as the battle of the two Indian left armers, Zaheer and Pathan, who are the leading wicket takers in the league as of now. It only lets us keep wondering what if Lee was still here, Lee v Steyn!

Patrolling Party

Fielding throughout the tournament has been of the highest standards. Challengers Kohli, Jaffer and Dravid and Yuvraj and Marsh for Punjab probably make it to the five best catches of the league as yet. What more can one ask for?

High on betting meter

Punjab are high on betting meter with odds of about 4 to 5 on 7 while Bangalore have odds of about 10 to 11 on 8. But it looks like a still tighter fight.

Who gets the tick?

Both pans of the balance hang at similar heights. It will require a very big score from Punjab or a charismatic balling performance from Bangalore to tilt it on one side.

© IPL Cricket Forum

Karachi : Sohaib Akhtar has finally cleared all hurdles and now he can take part in IPL. Earlier the Pak board has enforced a ban of five years on him which prevented him from playing IPL as the rules et in by the IPL governing body states clearly that no player can take part unless he gets a NOC from his home country Cricket Board.

Earlier Shoaib lost his appeal against the ban after which he appealed to the Pak Cricket Board to allow him top play for IPL which was heard yesterday. The Pak board was lenient and has been kind enough to kept his suspension in abeyance for a period of one month - which perfectly allows him to play for the Kolkata Knight Riders the IPL team for which he has signed initially.

The news was cheered by the owner of the Kolkata Team - Shahrukh Khan as also the team mates who are currently in dire need of a miracle to push them up from the very end of the team position table in the tournament. With Ishant Sharma bowling at his peak with Knight Riders , Sohaib’s inclusion definitely adds a fire power to the team but with the top batting order failing on each of the last three instances one has a doubt if Sohaib’s inclusion will really make a major difference to the performance.

© IPL Cricket Forum

Editorial - Dr Mohit Goyal

The inaugural season of the Indian Premier League has thrown up many surprises. One of them which has had praises and accolades from all corners has been the inspirational leadership of Shane Keith Warne.

Owners of Rajasthan Royals, Emerging Media had been confident right from the word go, on the back of their long association and involvement with world sports. And the spinning wizard has helped them keep their heads high.

The blonde from Victoria has been wielding magic right from his first test scalp, Ravi Shastri, to his last, 708^th in the form of English Andrew Flintoff. In between, he regularly produced unplayable deliveries and the big turning leg break that bowled Gatting round his legs in the 1993 Ashes proved only a trailer of things to follow.

After retirement he joined the English county Hampshire and led them very successfully but his captaincy grabbed most eyes only at the Indian Premier League probably owing to its higher viewership.

Dhoni and Warne have by far been the two best men at their teams’ helm in this season of the Indian Premier League - IPL. Dhoni’s work has been a little easier with Hayden and Hussey scoring big and his sterner test is likely to be when both of them have left for international duties.

Warny on the other hand has led a comparatively inexperienced bunch to some superb wins. He has shown excellent skills and mindful attitude by giving simple straight instructions and not complicating things for the youngsters. He has one instruction for each player and they have to carry it out on the field.

Graeme Smith and Kaif have been told to play the role of anchors when only one of them is at the crease. Pathan, Watson and Ravindra Jadeja have the clear instructions to go bang bang from the start. In bowling Watson bowls out and out quick; Munaf and Tanvir keep it straight and full while youngster Siddharth Trivedi tries out variations like bouncers, yorkers and slower balls. On the field he cheers up his team members and keeps them on their toes.

In the match against Kolkata at Jaipur he yelled at a fielder in the ring who did not follow the ball to the boundary and because the fielder on the boundary had to slide to stop the ball and get up and throw it back, it conceded an extra run. This incident was the testimony to the great cricketing brain that dwells in him. It has been a joy watching him lead this side. He is very intense in the nets which motivates other players watching a man sweat it out in the 38^th summer of his life.

Many people from cricket and media have previously talked about the leadership potential that vested in him. But controversies which gave this spin wizard the nickname “Hollywood”, took their toll. Incidents like supplying team and pitch information to bookies, taking banned substances and some bold uncalled for comments got him out of the reckoning for the captaincy of the Australian national team and left everyone wondering, “Did world cricket miss out on a charismatic captain?”

© IPL Cricket Forum

Chennai Super Kings (109/10 in 19 ovs)
Rajasthan Royals (110/2 in 14.2 ovs)

Rajasthan Royals won by 8 wkts

Just like winning was a routine call for Chennai Super Kings suddenly they now they have a losing streak. Two consequetive loses, absence of Matthew Hayden puts in lot of question about the batting performance of this team. Rajasthan Royals ad a comfortable win today easing their way to the target of 110 with eight wickets and to spare.

Inspite of the fact that the first few overs are very important and decisive there was no preparation to protect the wicket and play a responsible game. Imagine the loss of two opening batsman for duck and a successive fall of all wickets for a meager score of 109.

Not only Rajasthan Royals are a force in IPL to reckon with but also their performance is consistent. But one should not forget the record breaking performance of bowler Sohail tanvir who apart from the two openers bagged a total of six wickets for just 14 runs. He also bagged the man of the match today.

The one question which will always haunt the fans of the Chennai Super Kings is what would have happened if Dhoni’s trusted soldier Yoginder Sharma did not dropped the early catch of Smith in the third over.

Shane Warne - his strategic approach and also his boys should be watched carefully as they have the full potential to be a strong contender for the finals.

© IPL Cricket Forum