I'd called out in my last article the questions Bangalore Royal Challengers needs to get right .
1. The 4 foreign players composition. I'd argued that Steyn may not be the best bet & made a case for KP, Kallis, Taylor and Roelof. Did Kumble get it rigjht? Nope. Dropping KP & keeping White & Steyn was a mistake. Even if you justify White - Steyn gave away 9.5 runs per over without a wicket!!!! One swallow does not a summer make but he's just not be as penetrative as we'd all like.
2. Dravid's role in the team ? Well , not sure why anyone should play him alongside Kallis. they have an identical role - stabilise one end for others to hit out & stay to finish at the end. Dravid needs to be the floater and just stay padded up till Kallis gets out.
Which brings me to reinforce another article - the naysayers have their claws out for Kallis and even after a 150 strike rate performance have cautioned against his selection. Makes no sense to me . Just get the others to do their job and get rid of Pandey.
What of Mumbai then. They need to experiment too. Duminy and perhaps some of last years brigade (Nayar, Kulkarni?) need to be given a chance here and i expect them to. Tomorrows game will be close but i think Punjab will win as Mumbai wont experiment too much.
Till then....
IPL 2010: The best batsman & bowler; Aloke Gupte’s April 5 roundup
A little crinkle this week - i have included tonight's slightly bizarre game (A Deccan Fiasco more than a Royal Comeback) in the statistics. The more meaningful point to raise though that the IPL has cranked up the fever a few notches as we move into the home stretch!
Batting
The double "Vijays" inspired by Murli (not the world's highest wicket taker) for the Super Kings took the IPL by storm this week. We shall now examine whether he and the other movers and shakers have made any impact to our honours roll.
Our very own (Mumbai) Indian (and proud Maharashtrian) Idol trailed Kallis by 7 runs last week, as they rounded up in the following order: Kallis, Sachin, Yusuf, Hayden, Sehwag, Bopara, Raina, Ojha, Pandey, Uthappa
Runs
#1 Kallis 425
#2 Sachin 349
#3 N Ojha 308
#4 Vijay 300
#5 Yusuf 283
#6 Dada 277
#7 Hayden 261
#8 Sehwag 260
#9 Rohit Sharma 258
#10 S Tiwary 250
Yes. I know. Bear with me for just a little bit. I own up to my error from last week ("Kallis retains his lead, for the last time, i think"). The South African Grizzly has not only retained his lead but has stretched it to an impressive 76 (albeit having played 1 game more than the Maestro). I will dwell more on the "Kallis Konundrum" a little later.
As you can see, we have a lot to talk about this week -
1. THE Super King. Murli Vijay, take a bow. The statistics are mind boggling.
You know his last 3 knocks read 42(28), 78(38) and 127(56).
You know the last 2 contained an unimaginable 17 sixes (holds the IPL record for most 6s in a game - 11, beating Yusuf's 9).
Do You Know he has the highest strike rate amongst ALL 10 names you see up here (the 3rd highest overall amongst batsmen who scored 150+)??
The most remarkable thing is - You would have probably been a billionaire (well, a millionaire at the least if you bet a 100 greenbacks on Vijay storming into this company!). Naman Ojha is another get rich story (if you did bet on him, that is)
2. Time to get 'Senti'. Dada!! His knock against Bangalore was excellent and catapults him (along with the other half century) into #6. Impressive, indeed. I can hear the nay-sayers (and yes his strike rate even after that knock is 113) but we have to admit that he led KKR to an important win last week under pressure and merits the entry more than Hayden and Sehwag, who stay in due to only reasonable performances and little inspiration (and compared to Dada, no personal pressure). He will probably not be around here next week so lets cheer this while we can!
3. The Kallis 'Konundrum'. GT has been analyzing the Bangalore story in detail & Kallis's IPL performance in particular and i feel (not yet, but soon) the question of Kallis is going to give old Jumbo a headache. It sounds (and probably is) churlish to say this about the holder of the Orange Cap for the 3rd straight week but let me put forward my case.
The Challengers played 3 games this week and Kallis made two half-centuries (off 40 odd balls each time) - Bangalore lost both games. They won when he was out early and KP had the time to play a big knock (with support from the gang). In the strike rate business, he is 25th amongst batsmen who have scored 150+ (incredibly his opening partner till last but 1 game was slower!). With Pietersen, Taylor, Steyn, White and Boucher as the other internationals, Bangalore has a tough selection to make before every game.
As long as (a) Kallis keeps making runs (b) it is the league stage, i think RCB will persist with him - he bowls (reasonably) and provides stability for the big hitters.
However, in the semi-final, would you risk playing him and his getting 50 off 40 and keep White or Taylor or Boucher or Steyn out? Let me know.
For the strike rate hungry (batsmen >150 runs): #1 Gilchrist (for the 3rd week in a row, like Kallis), #2 Uthappa, #3 Vijay, #4 Yusuf #5 Sehwag, #6 Irfan #7 Warner #8 Rayudu #9 Albie and #10 Yuvi. A bit of shake up with Vijay and #s 7-10 being new entrants. The notable ones that have slipped out are the Maestro and Dhoni (does not qualify on runs scored). Interestingly, both their teams had a happy week. Gilchrist, on the other hand needs to do a lot more (including select the right team) to resurrect the fortunes of the Chargers.
Batsman of the IPL (not on 'so far' basis this time, but only this week): Murli Vijay (You would not have won too much on that bet!). Where will he go from here? Flash in the pan?
Bowling
A very interesting week for the 'pie chuckers', including a change in the owner of the Purple cap. But first a quick snapshot of last week's men:
Wickets: Murli, Tait, Vaas, Bhajji, Vinay, Mishra, P Ojha, Praveen, Balaji, Symonds
Eco rate: Kumble, Kartik, Murli, Yusuf, Vaas, Yuvi, Nannes, Malinga, Trivedi, Symonds
One of my observations last week was "The 2nd Spinner". I spoke about why both Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha will be perplexed about Chawla's selection ahead of them in the Indian team. You can safely say that isnt going to be only them that are perplexed this week.
Wickets
#1 Mishra 14 (6.94)
#2 Ojha 13 (8.20)
#3 Murli 12 (6.91)
#4 Malinga 11 (6.62)
#5 Zaheer 11 (7.48)
#6 Bhajji 10 (6.78)
#7 Vinay 10 (8.19)
#8 Warne 10 (7.13)
#9 Tait 10 (8.47)
#10 RP Singh 9 (8.70)
India's 3rd & 4th choice spinners (God knows which is which) lead the list this week! Its is no fluke either as both were in the mix last week. Chawla is ranked 33rd on this scale - are you confused too? or angry?! Even poor Jakati who has played 4 games is ahead.
Eco Rates
#1 Kumble 5.94 (8)
#2 Nannes 6.51 (6)
#3 Kartik 6.51 (6)
#4 Malinga 6.62 (11)
#5 Vaas 6.66 (8)
#6 Yuvi 6.71 (3)
#7 Bhajji 6.78 (10)
#8 Murli 6.91 (12)
#9 Mishra 6.94 (10)
#10 Trivedi 7.09 (6)
Jumbo tops again. Should he be the 2nd spinner? ;)
The benefits of not playing are evident here - both Nannes and Vaas have not played this week (through no fault of theirs, injury and poor selection respectively) and you might argue have benefitted in the eco rates race! Nannes certainly has - moving from 7th last week to 2nd, and Vaas retains his #5 slot. Interesting eh?
Observations:
1. A Mumbai Story. We know the batting relies on the Maestro - but is that the only reason the Indians are top of the table? We've all known the answer is NO. The bowling stats after this week prove this - Slinga, Zak & Bhajji all occupy slots amongst the wicket takers and Slinga and Bhajji are in the eco rates mix. Slinga is close to a top 3 position in both - that really is outstanding as we have seen this is difficult to achieve (so far only Murli had and he is now at 8th in eco rates). This is a bowling pack if there ever has been one in the IPL atleast.
2. The Legend & The Brat. Two men that dominate headlines for all sorts of reasons. Could they just be on the verge of magic in the IPL?
- Shane Keith Warne has always been a magician and his bag of tricks has just started to open up. After an ordinary start (poor by his standards), the fingers have warmed up and so has the heart. 8th amongst wickets and 12th on eco rates, he could be on the way to a top 10 finish on both. The Royals will then certainly make the semis (remember, the other Shane is also on fire).
- Yuvraj Singh has supposedly had a terrible IPL. Lost the captaincy, coming back from injury, poor form, an unhappy boss in Ms. Zinta (did you think i was talking about Sanga??), a woeful start to the season and now rumors of rifts. He certainly has not scored what Punjab expect and need him to, but despite that he is in the top 10 on strike rates (having qualified on my minimum runs criteria) and on eco rates (he bowls a fair bit too). With his batting looking ominous in the last 2 games - he could yet leave this IPL with a much better frame of mind than when he entered. That will not cure Punjab's ills (they were my 'fly' pick), but could be critical for India in the Carribbean.
Bowler of the IPL (so far): Slinga. Despite the stats and despite Murli, i think we all wanted this to be the case from very early on in the IPL!
BEST will be back...
IPL 2010: Team composition – tough calls
An interesting day today with Punjab finally showing some fight & Delhi taking the fight out of the Royal Challengers. In both games there were some smart, aggressive team changes - dictated by match conditions, form & perhaps an odd one to give players rest. I think the composition will be crucial in determining the semi-final lineup in the next few weeks.
1. Punjab Kings XI: Rusty Theron for Lee(who is struggling) should have been done earlier . Also Romesh Powar who they bowled early delivered outstanding figures of under 6 runs an over. Jayawardene back as opener (where he’s had great success in Sri-Lanka) took the game away means that Bopara (who’s form has started to dip) will be out when Marsh returns. They took some tough calls and won – so perhaps they can redeem some pride in the 2nd half of the tournament. A much more balanced side now though Chawla is not really justifying his India call up yet.
2. Bangalore Royal Challengers: Kumble made the boldest moves – was great despite the loss today. He dropped Dale Steyn (conditions & also to get a foreign player in), Praveen Kumar (very inconsistent) & Manish Pandey (read earlier post that Pandey cant have a strike rate lower than Kallis & still open the innings).
I think Kumble needs to get 2 hard calls things right.
(a) Who is the 4th foreign player ? Ross Taylor & Kallis are no brainers. KP is a huge player and provides bowling options. So really White (the opening experiment didn’t work today but liked how Kumble thinks), Steyn (just 7 wickets in 8 games at an economy of 7.8 odd is hardly awe inspiring), Morgan (low odds for no fault of his) & Roelof (yes, i think he should be added in the mix for his all round abilities) are going to duke it out. Poor Boucher.
(b) What is Dravid’s role? In the best of times he is not needed to bat (doesn’t bowl, field :-) or keep) and in the worst of times comes in when the ask is 15 runs an over). He just seems set up to fail. If Kumble asks Kallis, KP & Kohli to play the role of staying to the end and Taylor, Uthappa, White/Roelof to attack then Dravid is not really needed. On the other hand if he does keep Dravid, he needs to ask KP and Kohli to really go for it as he then has a finisher on call on if needed and with the rate in the 8-10 runs per over Dravid can totally do it. Currently he seems under utilized with an unclear role.
Given that, I’d consider gambling with Roelof. Slow seems to be better than fast & he provides a handy hitting option. So I’d go with Kallis, Uthappa, KP, Ross, Kohli, Dravid & Roelof as the batting order. Alternatively if he decides to pick Steyn then have Dravid go in at whatever stage Kallis loses his wicket.
3. Delhi DareDevils : These guys also rang in the changes. They dropped McDonald (had to get in Vettori), Yadav (very unfortunate as he was bowling well but i think it was ‘cos they didn’t think pace worked on the Kotla) & Ladda (who’s been in and out along with his replacement Bhatia). Smart changes especially as Sangwan clicked & Vettori got some time with both bat and ball. However they also need to decide what to do once Nannes & Nehra are fit?. Mithun Manhas has played well in the past as has Yadav. Sehwag and Gambhir aren't really firing and its incredible (though very impressive) that they continue to bench Dilshan and AB De Villiers. I think this is going to be the toughest team composition (weird to say that since they are winning anyway) but I’d like to see Gambhir experiment in games 11,12 so that he can make the right call for the knockout stages.
4. KKR: Well, they didn’t really experiment and they lost. Not intended to be a correlation but their bowling is not really working. Perhaps its time to consider a batting heavy strategy & accept that they are always going to give 170+ runs away. So get McCullum (and Id’ argue Hodge) in. Bond , like Steyn , has promised but not really delivered. So Gayle, McCullum, Matthews & Hodge might be a better all round foreign mix. And then batting all rounders (Shukla, Gavaskar etc) so that there’s enough depth. And just make sure that Agarkar doesn't get carried away and that Kartik takes at least 1 out of every 3 catches that come his way!!!
Net, i think the team composition is a hard one with some tough calls needed but its what might make the difference as things start getting tight. In most cases , it’s a problem of plenty but somebody is going to have to be the water boy. What think?
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