So i have to admit that i am beginning to get worried for the Royals. Its been a team that's always lived on the edge and frankly has never had huge star power. But it pulled off the impossible last year and i was very confident they would make it to the semi finals this year. Call it a passion for the underdogs, faith in Warne's leadership or the their pinch hitters(Yusuf, Dmitri, Asnodkar).
But today they have been hit hard(of course they also performed poorly).
1. Their top bowlers get 'chucked' out (kamran and Amit)
2. Their star bowler and captain has a suspect hamstring and may be out of action for 10 days.
3. Shane Watson - last years player of the year - is denied permission by the Australian board on fitness grounds. Just a few days after playing Pakistan.
4. And what can you call Graeme Smith's (non)performance on his home turf except a terrible run of bad luck for the Royals!!!!!
So now the royals are with their backs to the wall. This calls for a change of tactics and teams. Warne needs to drive from the backseat and change the teams. Get back Dmitri & Tyrone , move Yusuf & Jadeja up the order and shame Smith (sledge him from his own dugout :-)) into scoring.
They need to win 2 out of 3 at least and i am praying that they pull off a last minute Houdini act. Perhaps their luck will turn when they face their final opponents in the last game - the only team that has created their own (bad) luck. The Kolkatta Knight Riders.
It's time for the 'owners' to motivate the team...Halla Bol
A royal dose of bad luck
Posted by
12th man
Labels:
Cricket,
halla bol,
IPL,
rajasthan royals,
semi final,
shilpa shetty
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2 comments:
so a couple of observations to that - (1) you like the team, but what happened to the home team?? (2) they also lost sohail tanvir - who won the purple (what a silly cap), last year
when you lose the player of the IPL and its most successful bowler its a hard ask
well done royals to be in the mix even now!
Aloke
BUT ROSCO CAN BAT SAALA..
Today is about surprises. I am your surprise - soon to be co-author, a 13th man so to speak(yes, we all know who made the popular last year..). Technological challenges dictate that i post this a comment.
Back to surprises. KKR surprised themselves by getting to very good score. Jesse Ryder woke up in time for the game. Brendon McCullum surprised himself with lots of runs, Ross Taylor ("Rosco") surprised us and how, and finally John Buchanan's laptop crashed - it was surprised that John thought KKR might actually win today. But more on that later.
So back to the man of the moment (actually the match as well) - Rosco. It was akin to the awakening of Kumbhakaran himself. Consider this, before today, 5 games, 83 runs, average 16.6 and a strike rate of close to 100. Now reads 164 runs, average of 33 and one the best tournament strike rates!
One must say however, that Ishant, Agarkar (batsmen must be blessing his soul) and an Angel called Matthews dished up some drivel. Even then 81 off 33 takes some doing. Its rocketed RC into 5th place (temporarily, as the winner of the next game will get ahead of them).
Yet, they continue to remain at the fringe of success and good luck to them. They will need it. KKR, on the other hand (even fake ipl isnt funny any more)are going to 'knight' ride into the sunset and methinks quite likely to appear in IPL 2010 with new owner and most certainly a new coach...
Back to the present, its deja-vu (and jangling nerves) as the Indians chase 120 against the Kings yet again. Hopefully more successfully this time. Amen to that.
A
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