India out of the T20 World Cup :(

I am in a state of shock. I can't believe India, the Defending Champions are out of the world cup without even reaching the semis. I know there are people out there saying "its a sport", "it happens", "you can't expect them to win always", etc etc. However, I don't think its that simple. We Indians are passionate about cricket and do have expectations with our Demi-Gods. We give them the adulation when they deservedly win and have the right to give them the brickbats when they lose as well, especially in this manner.

For starters, I would rest the blame on Mahender Singh Dhoni. I do not agree with the camp that feel otherwise. MSD has committed blunders as a captain all thru the tourney. He himself wasn't a patch of what he was as a hard hitting, much feared batsmen. We saw him nudge and push the ball instead of belting it out of the stadiums like in his glorious past. The blame however, cannot be thrust only on MSD as cricket is a team game and the other team members have to share the blame equally. I would absolve Yuvraj and Rohit Sharma from the blame as they were probably the only players who stood out and showed some level of aggression. The team simply lacked the hunger and aggression which all players displayed during the highly paying IPL.


I would certainly like to see MSD lose his captaincy, not as a punishment but more in the interest of the team. I would like to see the free flowing strokes of MSD. I do think the burden of captaincy is playing on his batting. This has happened in the past with the great Sachin Tendulkar. Once he didn't have the burden of captaincy he revived his batting once again. This is what is needed for the men in (dark) blue too. The most effective replacement for MSD would have been Yuvraj. However, as the same would probably happen to the wonderful stroke play of Yuvraj in the future, I think we should opt for different captains for the different formats of the game - Rahul Dravid for tests, Sachin for one dayers and Bhajji for T20s. Radical thought...but worth a try.

GO GET THEM CHAMPS !!

The T20 World Cup is here and expectations from the inaugural T20 world cup champions, Team India is sky high. India has a terrific team loaded with match winners. The batting order has fantastic depth, 7 of the possible playing 11 could bowl. A team that boasts of some of the tallest names in the business - For starters, there is Mr.Cool, MSD who is quickly getting the tag of India's finest captain. We have the finest opening batsmen pair of Gautam Gambhir and the dangerous Sehwag. Then there is Yuvraj Singh. Who can forget his heroics of 6 6's in an over in the last world cup. IPL's stunner, Rohit Sharma has already displayed a sample of what he has in store for us in the practice match vs.Pakistan. Then there is Pathan all-rounder brothers Yusuf and Irfan. Raina, Bhajji, RP & Ishant are likely to be among the playing 11. This makes for a killer combination.

Lets get going guys......T20 WORLD CUP 2009 belongs to INDIA !!

IPL 2009 Champions - Deccan Chargers !

The 37 day festival has come to an end. The Indian Premier League 2009 has a new CHAMPION ! The Deccan Chargers have toppled the rest in the league to be deservedly crowned the CHAMPIONS OF THE IPL 2009 !

The worst performing team of 2008 had something to prove and they did it in style. What a comeback. The captain of the Chargers, Adam Gilchrist, was named 'player of the tournament'. This guy is magic. When he gets going the opposition literally gets going. The match between Deccan Chargers and the hot favourite Delhi Daredevils will never be forgotten by not only Charger fans but also every single person who has watched it. It will never be forgotten because of one reason...one man....ADAM GILCHRIST ! He went berserk. He blasted 85 from about 35 balls and ensured the Chargers were thru to the finals. Ravi Shastri, in the presentation speech said Hurricane Gilchrist just blew over the ground and took everything away from the Daredevils.

Like most matches in the league, the finals was filled with excitement and went down to the last ball. This season saw many nail biting finishes. Many finishes that went the Charges way was thanks to ROHIT SHARMA. He had a way to get 20 odd runs in the final over and hit the winning runs in the last ball. Howz that for excitement. What a player. Among other players RP Singh stood out for his spot on bowling and being the proud owner of the 'Purple Cap'. Gibbs gave a few good knocks but lacked the aggression in most matches. Symmo blazed in a couple of matches and gave a little lift in a few more. Dwyne Smith, Vaas, Ryan Harris, did their bit. The area where we really lacked was the rest of the team comprising local Andhra players. Unlike other teams there was no local player worth mentioning in our team. Our team was basically a 6 member squad. We've got to come up with better quality players for 2010 to ensure we retain our # 1 position.

Finally, a big cheers to the IPL CHAMPIONS - DECCAN CHARGERS !