Fk

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FK!

Its back...

And how!!!

Two close contests.. One a high scoring match, the other a super over cliff hanger..Emotion. Drama. Action. A contest.

Cricket has taken back the narrative of the IPL.. No need for the extra hype anymore because the cricket has taken care of that too.

The biggest USP of IPL 1 was the fact that people bought into the city franchises and because the quality of cricket was of such consistently high standard.

The IPL 2 began on a damp note, was talked up by Lalit Modi and Ravi Shastri and the motley crew of commentators. Till today.

Cricket is back baby!!! Front and center!

Watching Pragyan Ojha

Loop, control, variation, angles, changes in speed.

Is Pragyan Ojha the left arm spinner India need to complete their troika of offie, leggie and left arm orthodox?

And will his performance in the IPL finally open the door for his test match debut?

Kindred spirits

This was last year

Rohit Sharma, the most successful batsman for Deccan Chargers in the ongoing IPL, has found an admirer in South African team-mate Herschelle Gibbs, who believes the young batsman has a "prosperous" career ahead.

This was yesterday

That brought together Rohit and Gibbs, who knuckled down to work a few singles and steady the innings. Gibbs then started playing some inventive shots, a bent-knee sweep off Ganguly for four followed by a deft dab towards third man. Any pressure that Kolkata had built up vanished, and neither batsmen was afraid of lofting the ball after that.

Rohit joined in the fun once Ajit Agarkar was introduced, a huge six over long-off and a couple of boundaries helping take 17 runs off his first over. Some more merry hitting from the pair finished off the game with nearly seven overs to spare.

The Kaif factor

Md Kaif

• captained the India U-19 team to World Cup success
• led Uttar Pradesh to to their maiden Ranji Championship in 2005-06
• Led Uttar Pradesh to being losing finalists in2007-08 and 2008-09.
• Led Central Zone to Deodhar Trophy honors in 2007-08
• Led Central Zone to Duleep Trophy success in 2004-05
• Led Uttar Pradesh to the Ranji Trophy ODI finals in 2004-05 ( where they were joint winners with Tamil Nadu).

Under Kaif, under rated teams have consistently punched above their weight. Vide Uttar Pradesh's run in the Ranji Trophy or Central Zone's performance in the Duleep Trophy.

And yet, the Future India Captain finds himself out of favor - both with the Indian cricket team and the Rajasthan Royals.

Which I believe is a travesty . He may not be flashy enough or consistent enough to be a part of the national set up, but being cut by the Royals was uncalled for , given what he brings to the plate as a leader.

And that is also a worry.

Being out of favor with the national set up is one thing. Being out of favor with a year old franchise, quite another. And given that he now leads a Uttar Pradesh team filled with "names" ( Suresh Raina, Praveen Kumar, Piyush Chawla, Tanmay Srivastava), how much longer before he finds himself out of favor with the powers that be in U.P?

And that , for me, is the biggest worry. Because what Kaif brings to the plate is something that cannot easily be replicated.

And if Md. Kaif is lost to Indian cricket, the greater the pity. For Indian cricket.