Doomoo's Blog

It had to happen. The team with the best cheerleader outfits, the Deccan Chargers won the tournament.

Almost like a sign of things to come, they started in fine form with four victories from as many matches and stormed to the top of the points table. However, they eventually only managed to scrape through to the semi-finals with some strife because of a few dodgy performances. A Gilly gem in the semis meant that nothing else mattered in that match. But could he repeat that performance in the finals as well? As it turned out, captain took on captain and Kumble got Gilly out in the first over and ended up getting three other heavyweights from DC out.

RCB started their campaign this year by thrashing last year’s champions, the Rajasthan Royals, quite comprehensively. KP’s captaincy seemed to lose its charm when the team lost to CSK, DC, KXIP and Delhi in consecutive matches. His exit was the perfect catalyst for a team that seemed to transform under someone who’s language they understood – Anil Kumble. After that initial dip, the only direction it seemed that RCB were headed was up. And that they did when they beat all the other teams in the competition at least once.

One would be lying if one said that RCB weren’t in control of the final match till Ross Taylor and Virat Kohli were batting. Their fall in successive balls off Symonds’ bowling triggered a quick collapse and Uthappa’s final efforts to salvage the game were futile.

The interesting thing was that like last year, this was also a team with so many performers – Gibbs, RP Singh of the purple cap, Rohit Sharma of the Citi under 23-award, Gilly of the destructive semi-finals knock and so many fringe players who made a name for themselves. It was awesome to see yet another underdog team rise to the top this year like the Royals did for IPL’s first edition, yet again under the leadership of a retired-from-other-forms-of-cricket Aussie stalwart.

It’s the end of the IPL, no more daily blogs on that subject, and I’m definitely not going to talk of the after-party. I wasn’t going to stay up to watch Shilpa Shetty dance. The cricket was good enough for me.

They had the most expensive purchase of the IPL – Kevin Pietersen. Still they stood at the bottom of the table till he was there, and one thought that they would repeat their last year’s performance. However, after a match that swung more times than Lindsay Lohan, RCB who were the second worst team from last year’s IPL joined last year’s worst team into the IPL finals – what a story! Anil Kumble’s captaincy won them 7 out of 9 matches including the semi-final match against the Chennai Super Kings.

Hayden’s rest unfortunately worked against CSK, as he got out cheaply, given how solidly he scored throughout the series. Dhoni’s slow innings ensured that CSK never had the momentum to set a total that would really challenge the Challengers. It was still a big match though, and having runs on the board should have been pressure enough to cause some mistakes. However, it was not until Dravid and the tyro Pandey got out did CSK really feel that they were in with a chance. A couple of bold sixes followed and it was all over for the Super Kings. Pandey and Dravid gave the solidity and volume and Virat Kohli closed it out for his team.

I’m still in shock. Only consolation for me is that it’s just the IPL. It’s not India that has lost, and I like to think that I am more patriotic than regioniotic. IPL is almost over now – I need to start getting a life.

Poor, poor Delhi. All those performances, all that consistency and dominance and they ran into one hell of a demolition job. One man called Adam Gilchrist. A man that won two World Cups for Australia proved why he’s such a big match player by smashing 85 from 35 balls. The total of 153 could well have been a total 253 – that’s what it seemed Adam Gilchrist was chasing. No other performance in the match was worth mentioning, honestly.

The top team in the tournament lost to the last team from last year. Deccan’s comeback is certainly awesome. I just hope CSK doesn’t end up as no 2 again this year – like England used to be in the World Cup finals all those years ago. Go, CSK!

Oh, and you must have thought that I was crazy when I predicted a Deccan vs CSK finals – I’ve got the first half right so far, so you better keep reading this blog!

In a match as pointless as some of the meetings I attended at work today, DD beat the pants off the already pant-less Mumbai Indians. The only thing that wasn’t firing for the capital team so far was the Viru-Gambhir beta combination, and that too has now come into its own. The 165 posted by Mumbai seemed much, much smaller. Watch out CSK in the finals. Ok I’m getting cocky, but we have been a consistent no 2.

Match 2, of course, was of much more consequence. RCB scored a semi-final-berth assuring 170 and went on to win the match. Pandey was quite the revelation with an unbeaten 114 – more than many team totals this year. Gibbs’ heroics weren’t enough to take DC home, and now they pay for losing this match as they face Delhi in the first semis tomorrow. It’s testimony to how close this IPL has been that it took the last match of the league stage to decide the semi-finalists.

What will the next three matches hold for us? Will it be a Chennai vs Chargers final? Will Bangalore continue their dream run? Who knows? Stay tuned.

The losers left the hopefuls hopeless, while the winners finally found form and choked the contenders in to near-exit.

Rajasthan Royals went down by 4 wickets to KKR who played the role of spoiler to a tee. RR, batting first, tried to be ultra-aggressive to get their run rate up and increase their chances of qualifying. However, after achieving one-fifth of their total in the first over, they succumbed to poor shots and limped along to a total of 101. What should have been a fairly simple chase was made competitive by KKR’s genius and some tight bowling by the Royals. However at 45 for 6, ‘Bombay-Duck’ Agarkar joined Lakshmi Ratan Shukla at the crease to take KKR to victory in their final match and to ensure that we will have a new IPL champion this year.

Another low scoring game followed, with CSK setting a modest target of less than a run-a-ball. However their bowling which had let them down in the match before came to the party and managed to restrict kick-sip to a mere 92. The beauty of it all was that they still had two wickets in hand and played their entire quota of overs, such was the vice-like grip that Murali and Co had on the opposition’s batsmen. Even the King’s XI’s captain who tried to hang around and play a lone hand just ended up playing what his worst innings in the series so far. It was a field day for spinners, the off-spin trio for Chennai successfully choking the lefties in kick-sip and even Powar from the opposing team had a good day. Chennai’s strong record against the prince’s team continues and MSD’s acumen came to the fore again on a day where defending a low total required him to think on his feet. One feels happy that he is leading the Indian side into the T20 World Cup this year – at least one member of our team is in some sort of form.

We are only three days from the finals, but still don’t know who will join Delhi and Chennai in the top four. Kick-sip need to sit back and wait for other’s results, whereas the Bangalore and Deccan just need to simplify things for themselves and win.

Meanwhile, after today Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty can hug and console each other. Visualisation under progress… mmm…

I didn’t see it, but man Bangalore beat Delhi. What the funge? This changes everything – all is being reversed KKR winning and Delhi losing. Looks like the last leg is going to be the most unpredictable.

KKR chased 188 successfully against CSK. A visibly pissed-off Dhoni called it the ‘worst bowling performance of the IPL’. I agree.

Resting Hayden didn’t really seem to matter as a great batting effort by Raina and Dhoni as well as everyone else got the team to a total that seemed to be enough. Fortunately for KKR fans (if they’re still watching the IPL), this was countered brilliantly by Hodge and McCullum. Unfortunately for CSK fans, Balaji, Morkel, Tyagi and Jakati decided to contribute to KKR’s farewell gift by neatly packaging a shitload of runs.

CSK are still not out of the woods. They need to seriously look at themselves in the mirror and ask themselves the question that Dhoni asks in the uncensored version of a fizzy, sweet drink commercial, “Do you have the balls?”

Rohit Sharma threatened to do it again for the Deccan Chargers with a last minute surge, but this time instead of Mortaza, he was facing Irfan Pathan, who outwitted Sharma and crashed the balls into the stumps in the last over, with just a handful of runs remaining. KXIP (or kick-sip as I like to pronounce that acronym) grabbed the opportunity to come back with both hands, and closed the match out in a hurry. Earlier, Yuvraj recorded his second hat-trick of the tournament – no mean achievement that! Now kick-sip is a genuine contender for the semis.

Munaf’s staccato performance with the ball in today’s game set the daredevils back initially but later propelled them to 150. The top team in the competition looks stronger and stronger despite their opening combination not firing. It’s scary to imagine what would happen if one of them was playing upto their potential. Rajasthan Royals were 19 for 2 after the end of 5 overs with 9 runs per over required. And when Yusuf Pathan later fell trying to flick one over the leg side, it was evident that no amount of passion was going to help them chase this target. Even Munaf Patel’s little cameo at the end with five boundaries didn’t help.

And heck, CSK was not yet through to the semis as I had said, but it s pretty much through now thanks to the Royals loss and a great net run rate. Sorry for the miscalculation in the previous posts!

However, the match of the day was Federer vs Nadal. A straight set victory by Roger against his nemesis on his favourite surface and that too in his home den! Way to go, Federer! We know something similar happened a couple of years ago at Hamburg, but your fans hope that you give Rafa a run for his money at the French Open! Much excitement awaits.

What a day – The Hand that rocked the Lotus, rules the country again. Of course, the Left didn’t do well, because you know that in our culture a ‘Left Hand’ means shit.

All the news channels are thrilled to bits that their exit polls were correct and this is a common headline across the board, ‘UPA Win – Just as we had predicted.’ CNN IBN is even showing that their new website has had 7.5 million hits so far. What joy for me.

I just hope that a united government is able to work towards the progress we desperately need now – no more communal tension, effective anti-terrorism measures, economic and infrastructural reforms. We’ve had enough of these problems – time to move on.

Moving to the IPL, one spot was booked in the semis. Mumbai effectively walked out of the semi-finals of IPL 2 when Sachin walked off the field having scored only 11 from 15 balls. Despite reaching a reasonable total, it was Sachin’s reliable captaincy that ensured they would never make it past Dhoni and Hayden. If anyone should have the nickname ‘The Wall’, it really should be Hayden. Not only does he play with consistency and is difficult to get out, but he also looks massive – a veritable Great Wall of Chennai. And it is on this wall with an orange cap that Chennai have jumped to the other side of the tournament.

The only interest in the DC vs KKR match was to see if DC would continue to be in the hunt for the semis. KKR has become like the Third Front of this IPL now; they can only screw up the other teams’ chances (as BJP claimed the Third Front did in these elections) to be in the top four, and that’s exactly what one though when Andrew Symonds was run out.

KKR managed a very good total of 160 that was primarily a result of a 17-ball 43 by David Hussey. A solid start by Gilly didn’t seem like it would be enough – at the end of the 19th over they still needed 21 to win. But a sensational final over, which Rohit Sharma faced most of, yielded 26 runs, and ensured that KKR continued its losing habit.

It wasn’t without controversy though as Mortaza was no-balled in the early part of the over as one of the fielders wasn’t within the circle. McCullum fought tooth and nail, but didn’t manage to win the argument with the umpire. Poor McCullum I feel so bad for him, he showed so much determination today – being captain of KKR is very much like being CEO of Citi. Chief of a shiny, sinking ship.

Onto some blooperdom and today we feature a Ramiz Raja classic: “It’s touch and go, and it’s more go than touch.” He really knows how to turn a phrase, with more phrase than turn. Also, check out a nice collection of these commentary classics from Cricinfo.

And is it just me or are the Zoozoos getting irritating? They were fine when they first appeared, but it’s all too predictable now.

Battle of the North Indians was won by Punjab tonight. And everyone took a chance to hug Preity Zinta. A low total by Delhi ensured that they lost their third game, and made the points table much more crowded. Chennai’s suddenly not hot tonight – and not only because it rained. Why did you lose, Delhi? Do you not like Chennai? Why so cocky, capital?

And speaking of South, check out this nice short story called ‘In the South’ by Rushdie – based in Besant Nagar, Chennai. There are some brilliant lines as usual, I leave with you with one of my favourites passages that talks about old age:

The old move through the world of the young like shades, unseen, of no concern. But the shadows see each other and know who they are.

Good night!