The Soopher Kinks seem to have done a few good things today. For starters, Sudeep Tyagi gets a look in. For the best domestic bowler in 2008 to be warming the Kinks benches for so long while Gony and Joginder got an extended run is beyond unfair.
Then, Subramanian Badrinath given another opportunity to fail at the top of the order instead of languishing at 6/7/8/9. Badri readily obliged, but thats another post for another day.
Now, if Dhoni comes in at the fall or Rain ( or Oram), it would be perfect.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Getting it right.. somewhat
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34 comments:
Neither Oram nor Dhoni have been much use. To have been 81/2 after 10 and to score 27 runs in the next 6 overs... CSK are slaying me dead. I'm following this on my laptop even though I'm at home and there is a perfectly functioning tv in the next room... where the rest of my family is actually watching the game. Like I said: Slaying. Me. Dead.
And would it *kill* Dhoni to bowl R Ashwin? No, really?
Badri played well. Pity he got out when he did.
Wouldn't call Badri's innings a failure Homer, especially since he is the second highest scorer. But I do expect better things from him. It is funny however that Badri's 29 is noted as a failure while Dhoni's continued reduced output at SRs that are far below than what he was paid for(!) isn't noticed by too many.
Dropping for Gony and Jogi is the first step in rectifying this stuttering campaign. IF only Dhoni will look around and notice that most teams are playing two spinners CSK might get a bit more successful and dropping Parthiv might be the next step. Getting Vidyut might not be a bad idea. Given Hayden's experience, CSK should plan their game around Hayden playing the long inning ala SRT for MI. Instead, CSK have Parthiv as the anchor (given his run-a-ball SR you can only asume that) with Hayden the aggressor. Time to change that IMO. Don't know if M Vijay can be the impact opener but Vidyut certainly can be that guy.
To think that CSK bid for Parthiv instead of our own DK - atrocious. Let them burn in hell!
Maithreyi,
Looks like the Kinks will whistle podu after all :)
Cheers,
Prabu,
29 runs doesnt exactly constitute success, especially if you fall right after the innings break.
I would play Morkel instead of Parthiv up the order and play another spinner/batter in the middle order, preferably a right hander.
Cheers,
Clearly, Raina is preternaturally AWESOME.
'Nuff said.
Yes Maithreyi.. He is in my fantasy team :)
Cheers,
The selection of Parthiv inspite of the failures is really baffling
RGB,
Does he have pics of MSD in compromising positions?
Cheers :),
Homer 29 off 27 is better than 22 off 22 especially whrn you come in at 18-2 rather than 81-2. So, if badri is a. Failure, dhoni is super colossal failure
Raj,
And your point is?
Cheers,
Raj,
One - zero sum arguments amount to nothing.
Two - Subramanian Badrinath is a specialist batsman. Dhoni never has made any pretensions for being a specialist batsman. If anything, Dhoni made it into the team in the first place because of his ability to slog.
Three - Has Badrinath ever donned the wicketkeeping gloves and what has been his success rate there?
How do apples to oranges comparisons further the argument?
Cheers,
Eh gawd, we won. We actually won. It is a feeling I will roll around in my tongue and savour, for considering how much this team has tested my blood pressure over the last couple of weeks... GAH.
Who is this Jakati dude? Why didn't he get even a single over? Why did Dhoni suddenly hand over the gloves to Parthiv with 4 overs to go in the chase? Is his back still bothering him? Is this the reason he persists with Parthiv in the eleven?
Rajathan are missing Watson and Tanvir so much it's not funny.
... Oh wait. It IS funny. HA HA HA!!!
Raj
You or atleast your comments in the prev Homer post suggested I was mad to think CSK will reach the semis. I'm more than confident they will.
This IPL unlike last season, doesn't have clear cut leaders. Last yr RR and CSK were clear semi's before the halfway stage..
Simply put - the remaining 6 teams will beat both BRC and KKR. Then of course MI ( Sorry Homer :) ) will have their inevitable chokes.
DC - well their problems start now. Fidel is off and Vaas will replace him - but honestly who would you prefer to face Vaas or Fidel. So they will start to lose.
That leaves me with RR, CSK, DD and KXIP. Of this lot, DD would win more than they lose of the remaining matches - so a dead cert semi team they are.
Leaving us with RR, CSK, KXIP and of those three, I would pick RR and CSK anytime. KXIP - had their wins but honestly their bowling attack is c**p!
So there you have it !
DD - dead cert semi team
RR - maveric but will scrape through
CSK - I'm dead sure they will qualify considering the other teams.
Leaving DC/MI/KXIP - to scrap for the last place :)
Cheers
Enjoy the feeling Maithreyi... Its good while it lasts :)
Cheers,
TG,
You are a cruel man.
Cheers,
Tifosi Guy,
One word. Four Acronyms.
Semifinals. DD. CSK. DC. MI.
Even with the inevitable "chokes", MI is a DEFINITE for the semis. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they made the finals, or even won the trophy. I would be pissed off, yes, but not surprised.
Maithreyi
I'm a 100% sure, the winner WILL NOT be MI.
My pick for the winners would be either CSK or DD.
Purely for Warne , I would love RR to win it again - but sadly I will accept their defeat in the semis. They will stop/start their way into the semis and that will be it for them this year.
CSK and DD - have far too many matchwinners and those blokes will come good when the real deal is on.
Hence my confident predos.
Thanks Maithreyi.. I will whistle podu for the Soopher Kinks from now on ( as long as they are not playing the Indians).
Cheers,
Tifosi Guy,
The Zintas are weak on bowling and will lose Bopara after this week. Which leaves a hole in their opening slot ( Hope notwithstanding).
The Shettys will get back Watson. Who will promptly claim Kamran Khan chucks. So there goes team harmony right there.Also, if Watson plays, Quiney goes, so there is again the opener problem. Plus their bowling is thin, Warne notwithstanding.
BRC and the KKRs will battle for the wooden spoon.
So, in conclusion, whether anyone wants it or not, MI will make it to the semis.
And then, it is anyone's game.
Cheers,
Homer, the point is you can be biased against someone which will make you look at him with jaundiced eyes. Nobody is saying pick Badri in the indian team. He is good enough for CSK, and current form, Dhoni's keeping is also bad. Besides, he is keeping the super useless Parthiv int he team because he cannot keep for 20 overs. So, that affects the team balance. Dhoni must therefore be considered purely as a batsman unless he chucks Parthiv out and keeps himself for full 20 overs. So, the current form argument which we all liberally used for RD, SCG and SRT and slandered them - we need to apply it to Dhoni as well now
Sure Raj, and you are welcome to it. However, nowhere in my post did I make any reference to Dhoni ( except about his position in the batting order). So, the Badri defense that you make, that sure he is shit, but Dhoni is worse, is no defense at all.
Because, I can always go back and say, sure Dhoni is shit, but Ntini cant even hold a bat.. And so on and so forth.
Badri had made his famous statement of being given an opportunity to fail and while doing so, bad mouthed Virat Kohli. Badri has had his opportunities to fail and has done so, sometimes more spectacularly than others.
And coming to today's game,. he and Raina had a partnership going - Raina was playing aggressor, the mid innings break had just concluded.
The pair had put on 64 in 6.3 overs before the break. 12 runs had been accrued in the first over after the innings break.
Pray tell me what was the need to step out to Shane Warne - and this to his first ball?
Where was the cricket intelligence or the match awareness there?
Cheers,
Homer
I haven't said MI won't make the semis. All along what I've said/predicted is that CSK/RR and DD will be dead cert semi teams and that KXIP/MI/DC will fight for the last spot.
Both KXIP/DC - as your rightly put their bowling attacks are thin and will cost them games, unless a ' certain' team blows it against them.
RR- well Watson coming and taking Quiney's place. No problem - Quiney hasn't done anything of note anyhow :) If Smith hit's some form and Yusuf biffs more ON than OFF, then they will scrape into the semis.. Warne should take a punt on Henderson for Dimitri..
I know I am hoping against hope for RR - but with Warne anything's always possible.
Hence ( to repeat for the n'th time) , DD, CSK and RR, with one of the other three ( KXIP, DC, MI) as the last one ! :)
No more talk - seems much easier to play than us blokes talking and predicting :) :)
Aye Tifosi Guy.. Let the games begin.
Cheers,
Homer,
I know you've had an issue with Badri's statement against Kohli and held it against him every time since then. But that shouldn't be the reason to call his innings yesterday a failure - it was an average innings and in the context of the innings and CSK prior form I would say above average. And this is the first game where he has come in with any number of overs to play for and every other innings has been in a hit or miss scenario.
The Shettys will get back Watson. Who will promptly claim Kamran Khan chucks.:-)
Prabu,
By his own standards, Badri has had an ordinary IPL this year.
You said it right - it was an average innings , nothing to write home about.I think, in the context of the game, he had a major role to play. And this tendency of doing the ground work and then chucking it all off is becoming the norm with Badri of late.
Worryingly so.
Cheers,
Cheers Leela :)
Homer, I know as Prabo said you still hold that statement against him. You should really let that go as a slip by a frustrated man. As for Virat Kohli, did you notice that Ray Jennings has blasted him. Surprisingly, no website covers it yet. It was in Mumbai Mirror - the interview where Jennings says his Indian young players expect all 'comforts' and have poor attitude and superstar syndrome. Just when I thought oh no is Shreevats Goswami not the likeable young cricketerI thought he was, Jennings realised the scope for misinterpretation - quickly named Kohli and tore into him. Looks like Kohli fancies himself as the new-yuvraj and struts around. I am pretty sure Badri has a great attitude in comparison. So I'd say instead of holding on to that one slip by Badri, you analyse the overall attitude, listen to people who have played with both Badri and Kohli and you'll know who is the cunt and who is the trier. Badri seriously lacks in high level talent thats the reason he may not be suitable for national team. But junking his attitude based on one frustrated interview is rather unfair.
Besides, if you are talking about one indiscretion against Warne, then Yuvraj, Sehwag, Gambhir, Raina everyone will have numerous such indiscretions in their CV at all levels. While I'll excuse the Delhi dup for various reasons, Yuvraj is absolutely a under achiever who has let down India a thousand times. Applying the attitude logic, he should not be anywhere near the Indian team. In any case, Badri is a better bet than Yuvraj for the tests even now except that Pujara and Rohit Sharma are even better bets. Ofcourse, my belief in Rohit is despite his poor performances and throwing away various opportunities. I still believe he can mend himself and achieve.
Raj,
You are missing the point.
Badri badmouthed his peers in the press after he was not selected in the Indian team.
If had talked himself up, I can live with that.. But when he went into the " I am better and he is inferior" mode, that put Badri under the microscope- because if he is so much better as he claims to be, where is the performance to back up that claim?
And by the by, Virat Kohlki, for all his attitude, has out performed Badri in all competitions they both have featured.
Cheers,
That's not true. Kohli was a massive failure in IPL 1.badri was average :-)
Raj,
IPL 2008
Badri 192 runs
Kohli 165 runs
IPL 2009
Badri 44 runs
Kohli 107 runs
Cheers,
Hoemr, I didn't think you'll do a cricinfo and hide info that doesn't suit you. You know what it is :-)
Hide what info Raj? Averages? Ranji scores? What exactly?
Cheers,
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