"The IPL"...Edition_6

First topic message reminder :


Lo and behold the greatest cricketing spectacle known to mankind.....starting in a couple of days.....in it's 6th edition

And the mood of the nation is good.......on the back of a good test match series win.
test cricket is healthy and we can all enjoy IPL

Jalaj saxena, Rishi dhawan, baba aparajit, manan vohra, Ishwar Pandey, Parvez Rasool...the succeses of U-19 and FC have all been handed IPL contrcats.


Poor Kaif no takers for him....he has fallen a lot in the reckoning

Delhi will miss KP and Pune will miss Clarke.

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IPL 6: What the nine teams look like

Wisden India staff · Feb 3, 2013 ·
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Kolkata Knight Riders, the defending champions, only bought Sachithra Senanayake and Ryan McLaren. © AFP

Close to $US 11.89 million were spent on 37 players, and at the end of a process that lasted almost five hours, this is how the teams look ahead of the sixth edition of the Indian Premier League:

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS
MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, M Vijay, S Badrinath, S Anirudha, Wriddhiman Saha, Shadab Jakati, Michael Hussey, Ben Hilfenhaus, Faf du Plessis, Albie Morkel, Nuwan Kulasekara, Dwayne Bravo.

Players bought or re-signed before the auctions: Baba Aparajith, Vijay Shankar.

Players bought in 2013 auctions: Dirk Nannes (600,000), Chris Morris (625,000), Ben Laughlin (20,000), Akila Dananjaya (20,000), Jason Holder (20,000).

Total 2013 Auction Spend: $US 1,285,000

DELHI DAREDEVILS
Virender Sehwag, Irfan Pathan, Naman Ojha, Ajit Agarkar, Unmukt Chand, Umesh Yadav, Yogesh Nagar, Shahbaz Nadeem, Pawan Negi, Manpreet Juneja, Mahela Jayawardene, Ross Taylor, David Warner, Kevin Pietersen, Morne Morkel, Andre Russell, Roelof van der Merwe.

Players bought or re-signed before the auctions: Kedar Jadhav, Siddharth Kaul, Sujit Nayak, Venugopala Rao, Gulam Bodi.

Players bought in 2013 auctions: Johan Botha (450,000), Jesse Ryder (260,000), Jeevan Mendis (50,000).

Total 2013 Auction Spend: $US 760,000

KINGS XI PUNJAB
Adam Gilchrist, Praveen Kumar, Piyush Chawla, Mandeep Singh, Parvinder Awana, Siddharth Chitnis, Nitin Saini, Sunny Singh, Bhargav Bhatt, Bipul Sharma, Paul Valthaty, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Harmeet Singh Bansal, R Sathish, Shaun Marsh, David Hussey, David Miller, Ryan Harris, Azhar Mehmood, Dimitri Mascarenhas.

Players bought or re-signed before the auctions: Manan Vohra.

Players bought in 2013 auctions: Luke Pomersbach (300,000), Manpreet Gony (500,000).

Total 2013 Auction Spend: $US 800,000

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS
Gautam Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan, Manoj Tiwary, Debabrata Das, Manvinder Bisla, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Rajat Bhatia, L Balaji, Iqbal Abdulla, Shami Ahmed, Pradeep Sangwan, Sarabjit Singh Ladda, Eoin Morgan, Brad Haddin, Brendon McCullum, Jacques Kallis, Brett Lee, Shakib Al Hasan, Ryan ten Doeschate, Sunil Narine, James Pattinson.

Players bought or re-signed before the auctions: None.

Players bought in 2013 auctions: Sachithra Senanayake (625,000), Ryan McLaren (50,000).

Total 2013 Auction Spend: $US 675,000

MUMBAI INDIANS
Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Ambati Rayudu, Amitoze Singh, Dhawal Kulkarni, Abu Nechim Ahmed, Aditya Tare, Pawan Suyal, Suryakumar Yadav, Sushant Marathe, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Aiden Blizzard, James Franklin, Mitchell Johnson, Dwayne Smith.

Players bought or re-signed before the auctions: Jalaj Saxena, Rishi Dhawan.

Players bought in the 2013 auctions: Ricky Ponting (400,000), Glenn Maxwell (1,000,000), Phil Hughes (100,000), Nathan Coulter-Nile (450,000), Jacob Oram (50,000).

Total 2013 Auction Spend: $US 2,000,000

PUNE WARRIORS INDIA
Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa, Ashish Nehra, Murali Kartik, Ashoke Dinda, Rahul Sharma, Manish Pandey, Raiphi Gomez, Mithun Manhas, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ali Murtaza, Harpreet Singh, Anustup Majumdar, Krishnakant Upadhyay, Mahesh Rawat, Shrikant Wagh, Dheeraj Jadhav, Eklavya Dwivedi, Angelo Mathews, Alfonso Thomas, Wayne Parnell, Marlon Samuels, Luke Wright, Mitchell Marsh.

Players bought or re-signed before the auctions: Ishwar Pandy, T Suman, Udit Birla, Steve Smith, Tamim Iqbal.

Players bought in 2013 auctions: Michael Clarke (400,000), Abhishek Nayar (675,000), Ajantha Mendis (725,000), Kane Richardson (700,000).

Total 2013 Auction Spend: $US 2,500,000

RAJASTHAN ROYALS
Rahul Dravid, Ajinkya Rahane, S Sreesanth, Ashok Menaria, Stuart Binny, Siddharth Trivedi, Ankeet Chavan, Shreevats Goswami, Ajit Chandila, Shane Watson, Shaun Tait, Brad Hodge, Brad Hogg, Kevon Cooper.

Players bought or re-signed before the auctions: Harmeet Singh, Dishant Yagnik, Owais Shah, Samuel Badree.

Players bought in 2013 auctions: James Faulkner (400,000), Fidel Edwards (210,000), Kushal Perera (20,000).

Total 2013 Auction Spend: $US 630,000

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE
Virat Kohli, Vinay Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Saurabh Tiwary, Abhimanyu Mithun, Arun Karthik, Karun Nair, S Aravind, Mayank Agarwal, Vijay Zol, KP Appanna, Harshal Patel, Syed Mohammad, AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle, Muttiah Muralitharan, T Dilshan, Daniel Vettori, Andrew MacDonald.

Players bought or re-signed before the auctions: Abhinav Mukund, Sandeep Warrier, Sunny Sohal, Prashanth Parameswaran.

Players bought in 2013 auctions: RP Singh (400,000), Moises Henriques (300,000), Jaidev Unadkat (525,000), Pankaj Singh (150,000), Ravi Rampaul (290,000), Christopher Barnwell (50,000), Daniel Christian (100,000).

Total 2013 Auction Spend: $US 1,815,000

SUNRISERS HYDERABAD
Ishant Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Parthiv Patel, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Akshath Reddy, Akash Bhandari, Amit Mishra, Anand Rajan, Ankit Sharma, Ashish Reddy, Bharath Chipli, Biplab Samantray, Dwarka Ravi Teja, Veer Pratap Singh, Cameron White, Chris Lynn, Dale Steyn, Rusty Theron, Kumar Sangakkara.

Players bought or re-signed before the auctions: None.

Players bought in the 2013 auctions: Thisara Perera (675,000), Darren Sammy (425,000), Sudeep Tyagi (100,000), Nathan McCullum (100,000), Clint McKay (100,000), Quinton de Kock (20,000).

Total 2013 Auction Spend: $US 1,420,000

CSK have done it!. They won with a ball remaining. CSK being CSK, they did provide some drama at the end, this time they had got off to a fine start, so they chose to bring the dramatic bit towards the end. Michael Hussey, who set up the win with a fabulous knock of 88 was run out in the 17th over, and 2 balls later, Ravindra Jadeja got a superb Yorker from Faulkner that he couldn't keep out. Then MS Dhoni, who was cramping up a bit, hold out in the 19th over, leaving Bravo and Morris to get 11 of the last over. They finished the job of the 5th ball of the over.

yes top sides have warmed up.....and are chasing down big scores

Couple of games today, RCB v PW, just about to start, and DD v KXIP later.
PW won the toss and are bowling. PW bringing Mitchell Marsh back in, and promising young India seamer Ishwar Pandey is also getting an opportunity.

First rain interruption of this IPL season. Annoying. RCB were 11 without loss in the 2nd over.

Christopher Gayle you beauty!!!. 50 of just 17 balls. 6 4s, 4 6s.

Wow. Just wow. 100 off 30.

Gayle's batting on 105 of 35. 9 overs still to go. 133-0.

Gayle is now settling down, taking his time, leaving a few to the keeper!!.

msp83 wrote:Gayle's batting on 105 of 35. 9 overs still to go. 133-0.

Just about on track for a double hundred then...

When he's on it, he is absolutely ridiculous.

151-0 after 12.

Hello hello!!. We have news for you. Pune Warriors have taken a wicket!!!. Tillakaratne Dilshan is gone. Luke Wright gets the wicket!.

In the midst of this absolute destruction of their bowling, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has withstood the onslaught, just 8 of his 3 overs. And credit for Luke Wright as well, 1-21 of his 3.

5 overs remaining, RCB are 196-1. Gayle on 153.

AB almost eclipsing Gayle for a while... 31 off 8. Gotta feel for the bowlers a bit.

No 200 for Gayle though...

Simply awesome from Gayle, but is that the worst bowling ever seen in the history of the game? I think so. I've seen more economical declaration bowlers. These guys need a new job.

Awesome stuff, though dreadful bowling from Marsh, Dinda, Pandey and Mortaza. Bhuvi Kumar and Luke Wright did well.

175 in a T20. From one player. I don't really know what to say about that TBH.

Fun, Mike. And only fun. That wasn't cricket - that was four or so abysmally inept bowlers that should never be picked again getting tonked by an absolute leviathan of the game.

Extraordinary in many ways, that.

Gayle got 175 off 61 balls. Broad got 0 off his first 61 balls a few days ago.

Both great innings.

Gotta love cricket

Sorry Gayle got 166 off his first 61 balls

Olly wrote:Gayle got 175 off 61 balls. Broad got 0 off his first 61 balls a few days ago.

Both great innings.

Gotta love cricket

And in the context of the two matches you can make a case for Broad's innings being the more important (deciding innings of a Test series compared with an IPL group match - far higher stakes).

Mayhem....carnage....havoc...massacre.......unbelievable.......and yet so predictably coming from Gayle.
The man is a monster.....T20 is redefining the limits of cricket.

We're not going over the top here are we? Absolutely atrocious bowling.

Duty281 wrote:We're not going over the top here are we? Absolutely atrocious bowling.

great batting makes average bowling look pedestrian.

kapil dev made a 175 in what was a redefining inning in limited over cricket in 1983.........30 yeras hence Gayle plays another one

KXIP meanwhile, has registered a win against DD. DD managed only 121, and KXIP chased down the total in 17 overs, David Miller playing another good hand, 34 not out, of 39 balls, took his time and saw to it that the team reaches the target and he's there at the finish line. Mandeep also chipping in with 25.

But the day belongs to Christopher Henry Gayle, no doubts whatsoever. An absolutely fabulous innings. The bowling wasn't particularly good, but it has to be remembered that some fabulous batting can make average bowling look pretty bad. Also the presence of a batsman like Gayle, in such a destructive mood, can play tricks with the bowler's mind. I won't take absolutely anything away from Gayle's effort. He's the best T-20 batsman in the world, the Bradman of T-20 cricket!.

Kevin Pietersen and Brendon McCullum are great T-20 batsmen, but Gayle is in a league of his own. And for good measure, he also picked up a couple of wickets in the only over he bowled, to finish off the match!.

msp83 wrote:Kevin Pietersen and Brendon McCullum are great T-20 batsmen, but Gayle is in a league of his own. And for good measure, he also picked up a couple of wickets in the only over he bowled, to finish off the match!.

For me, Chris Gayle is a once in a generation cricketer. There are plenty of good T20 players, but nobody who can hit the ball as hard with the consistency that he does it.

Gayle's game is not just about the big hits though, he doesn't play mindless slogs, there is always a method to the madness with him. He can rip apart any bowler in the world, but he always uses his head in picking and targeting bowlers.

msp83 wrote:Gayle's game is not just about the big hits though, he doesn't play mindless slogs, there is always a method to the madness with him. He can rip apart any bowler in the world, but he always uses his head in picking and targeting bowlers.

Which is why he rarely (relatively for someone who plays so many big shots) gets out caught in the deep. He's quite often lbw or caught behind. People like Yusuf Pathan, Shahid Afridi and Kieron Pollard can hit, but they don't have the method that Gayle does.

Yep. Indeed. Although I think Pollard has matured a lot (not anywhere near the same league as Gayle of course) but harsh to bracket him together with Yusuf and Afridi.

The 2 batsmen in my view, who can be compared with Gayle, are KP and Brendon McCullum. In fact I believe they are the next best lot, but Chris G is the clear leader. Pollard can hit them alright, but I don't think he can sustain it for long and play big T-20 innings. Both McCullum and Pietersen can play relatively long, by T-20 standards, knocks, and engage in sustained hitting, although not of the Gayle type.

Sensational from Gayle, one of the greatest innings I've ever seen

Words cannot do that justice

Well done Chris Gayle!

I'd love to hear what Sir Geoffrey thinks of this........

msp83 wrote:The 2 batsmen in my view, who can be compared with Gayle, are KP and Brendon McCullum. In fact I believe they are the next best lot, but Chris G is the clear leader. Pollard can hit them alright, but I don't think he can sustain it for long and play big T-20 innings. Both McCullum and Pietersen can play relatively long, by T-20 standards, knocks, and engage in sustained hitting, although not of the Gayle type.

KP, yes. Not sure about BMac. Don't rate him ever performing in the World T20 (which is obviously the most important T20 tournament in the world) against decent opposition. I think Mahela is a better T20 batsman than Mcslogga, as is Yuvraj (when in form, clearly not in his current form). Agree about Pollard, was just pointing out that he's far better than Yusuf Pathan and Afridi.

Also amidst all this T20 carnage, easy to forget that the guy has 2 Test triple hundreds (one of the only 4 in the history of Test cricket to do so) and has more ODI hundreds than any West Indies player ever.

KP is an interesting one. He is clearly destructive but he does go missing sometimes whilst Gayle is a constant threat. He also has only 1 T20 100 to Gayle's 11 (less matches, but not hugely less).

I've never been blow away by McCullum but, hats off to him, he has an excellent T20 record.

A bit of churlishness on here and elsewhere. OK the bowling was poor (I wouldn't say any worse than that, it was "slot bowling" as I call it), but to score 175 off 66 balls remains a remarkable feat.

Again I'm disappointed by the "test cricket snobbism" (although I suspect some of the comments are borne from not wanting to admit something good can come of the IPL). To call what Gayle just did essentially hit and giggle is doing him a disservice - if you watch him play you will see like msp has rightly pointed out that he builds his innings, even when he's going crazy. He doesn't just swing with his eyes shut like other "T20 specialists" can be prone to, but he picks his bowler and the balls. Yesterday's innings started with the dismantling of Mitch Marsh's over, he obviously decided Marsh's pace and lengths were ideal for him so went after him. Then he was in the groove, but he still blocked the good ones from Wright.

dummy makes the case that Broad's innings was more important in terms of contribution for the match and he could well be right. Let me ask another question: which innings do you think did the most for cricket around the world, in terms of waking up interest and increasing participation levels? I'm fairly certain that when kids everywhere around the world are putting up statuses about a Chris Gayle knock, it can only be good for the game. So let's celebrate a great innings, and leave our churlishness aside for a bit.

ShankyCricket wrote:Also amidst all this T20 carnage, easy to forget that the guy has 2 Test triple hundreds (one of the only 4 in the history of Test cricket to do so) and has more ODI hundreds than any West Indies player ever.

Agree on Afridi and Yusuf. Shahid can again hit them, but he is a mindless hitter who might come off ones in 2 years, and these days its news If he scores anything more than 6.
As for Yusuf, he was good in the first IPL, played a good knock against South Africa but that's about it. No real international class, not good with good bowling, with Afridi, at least he does offer a classy international bowling option.

If I may use some poetic license here for a moment.

Everyone of us have a perfect moment in time.
Yesterday was Gayle's turn to be sublime.
It doesn't happen all that often
And the excuses of poor bowlng
Just won't soften
The brutality of his display..

Mike Selig wrote:A bit of churlishness on here and elsewhere. OK the bowling was poor (I wouldn't say any worse than that, it was "slot bowling" as I call it), but to score 175 off 66 balls remains a remarkable feat.

Again I'm disappointed by the "test cricket snobbism" (although I suspect some of the comments are borne from not wanting to admit something good can come of the IPL). To call what Gayle just did essentially hit and giggle is doing him a disservice - if you watch him play you will see like msp has rightly pointed out that he builds his innings, even when he's going crazy. He doesn't just swing with his eyes shut like other "T20 specialists" can be prone to, but he picks his bowler and the balls. Yesterday's innings started with the dismantling of Mitch Marsh's over, he obviously decided Marsh's pace and lengths were ideal for him so went after him. Then he was in the groove, but he still blocked the good ones from Wright.

dummy makes the case that Broad's innings was more important in terms of contribution for the match and he could well be right. Let me ask another question: which innings do you think did the most for cricket around the world, in terms of waking up interest and increasing participation levels? I'm fairly certain that when kids everywhere around the world are putting up statuses about a Chris Gayle knock, it can only be good for the game. So let's celebrate a great innings, and leave our churlishness aside for a bit.

Well said....

What an innings!

shivfan wrote:

Mike Selig wrote:A bit of churlishness on here and elsewhere. OK the bowling was poor (I wouldn't say any worse than that, it was "slot bowling" as I call it), but to score 175 off 66 balls remains a remarkable feat.

Again I'm disappointed by the "test cricket snobbism" (although I suspect some of the comments are borne from not wanting to admit something good can come of the IPL). To call what Gayle just did essentially hit and giggle is doing him a disservice - if you watch him play you will see like msp has rightly pointed out that he builds his innings, even when he's going crazy. He doesn't just swing with his eyes shut like other "T20 specialists" can be prone to, but he picks his bowler and the balls. Yesterday's innings started with the dismantling of Mitch Marsh's over, he obviously decided Marsh's pace and lengths were ideal for him so went after him. Then he was in the groove, but he still blocked the good ones from Wright.

dummy makes the case that Broad's innings was more important in terms of contribution for the match and he could well be right. Let me ask another question: which innings do you think did the most for cricket around the world, in terms of waking up interest and increasing participation levels? I'm fairly certain that when kids everywhere around the world are putting up statuses about a Chris Gayle knock, it can only be good for the game. So let's celebrate a great innings, and leave our churlishness aside for a bit.

Well said....

What an innings!

WHAT?

you can compliment Mike on his post, and I get nothing for my poetry, REALLY?

Mike

To answer your question a few comments above, I'd say that those who are already fans of cricket would appreciate both innings in their different ways, but clearly new fans and kids would be more in awe of Gayle.

Having said that, lots of people remember Anderson and Monty holding out in Cardiff in the last home Ashes series - something that already has its place in cricketing folklore.

Good point from several that Gayle is far more than a slogger - may not be technically 'correct' based on the MCC coaching manual, but he has a great eye, good balance and hits (very hard) straight a lot of the time (and with a straight swing of the bat). Selective power hitting certainly has its place in all forms of the game, although perhaps Gayle and Sehwag have taken it to the limit for Test match opening batsmen,

msp83 wrote:The 2 batsmen in my view, who can be compared with Gayle, are KP and Brendon McCullum. In fact I believe they are the next best lot, but Chris G is the clear leader. Pollard can hit them alright, but I don't think he can sustain it for long and play big T-20 innings. Both McCullum and Pietersen can play relatively long, by T-20 standards, knocks, and engage in sustained hitting, although not of the Gayle type.

I agree...Gayle is followed by KP and Pollard ...for the combination of explosive power and volume of runs...

McCullum , Taylor, Dilshan, Warner, Pathan, Gilchrist, have fallen behind......Sehwag has waned atleast this season

Dhoni is amongst the top T20 batters as is Raina......and Bravo is under-rated......but delivers very often.

actually 3 very consistent strikers.......not outstanding.....but adding up to be a great strength for CSK

Just watched the youtube link of the 6s in Gayle's innings (plus one from Kohli and a couple from ABdV).

Yes, Gayle's a big strong lad, but that is one hell of a bat he is using as well - a couple of those balls just came off at unbelievable speed (the one for his 100 which he short-arms straight off a highish full toss and the one at the start of the last over that he slashed over extra cover off a near-Yorker).

Another rain delay, the match between MI and KKR will have a late start as things stand now. The toss is delayed by 30 minutes, and if no further rain, then the match should start 30 minutes after that. There are speculations that Ricky Ponting may not play today.

Ah Well, Ponting has dropped himself, and Mitchell Johnson comes back in. Rohit (IPL) Sharma is leading MI. Sharma has lost his first toss, and Gambhir has elected to bat. KKR has an additional spinner today along with Narine and Senanayake, in Iqbal Abdullah, and MI are without Munaf Patel and Jasprit Bumrah, and 2 spinners, Pragyan Ojha and Yashwant Chahal will be joining Harbhajan. A battle of the spinners?

Pathan and Gambhir opening for KKR, and Yusuf's already gone, Caught Harbhajan bowled Johnson, of Johnson's first ball, the first of the 2nd over of KKR innings that is. But before that, Harbhajan bowled an over, and Yusuf and Gambhir smashed him for 26. KKR 36-1 after 2.

so Mumbai figured that they cannot carry 2 dead-old-loads......but they decided to drop the wrong one.

Ponting wasn't in for his battting.....but his leadership.

That Tendulkar cannot be touched...no matter what......is sinking Mumbai.