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Showing posts with label Kolkata Knight Riders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kolkata Knight Riders. Show all posts
The unpolished goodness of Gautam Gambhir
If Gambhir
wasn’t angry, he won’t be Gambhir. When he’s dismissed early, he sits and sulks
with his pads on, snacking at his nails, lost in his private world of regret. So
far, this has been an unfamiliar sight in IPL 9.
After six matches, Gambhir has scored 296 runs
with three half centuries that include a ninety not out and a run out. In his column,
he ripped into himself: “To begin with, my suicidal run out was uncalled for.
Halfway into the second run, I knew I had given it away. I wanted to dig a hole
and bury himself” By Gambhir standards, that’s almost restrained. In the dugout
that day, he looked like he was on the line with the local firing squad.
It looks unlikely though that he’s in line for an
India spot. The Delhi and KKR captain last played for India on 17th August
2014. It was a Test against England, his returns, a duck and three. Gambhir's
last ODI for India, 27th January, 2013, he made four. And his last
T20I was on 28th December, 2012, he made 21.
In the last couple of years, much has changed in
India's cricketscape – Gambhir’s opening buddy, Sehwag has retired, Gambhir’s
India skipper, Dhoni has partially retired, but Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane,
Rohit Sharma and Murali Vijay are yet to seal their spots in all three formats.
One way or the other, there has always been an opening on top or in the middle
order. One that even allowed Suresh Raina to record a pair in the last Test he
played in 2015.
So regardless of what Gambhir achieves in the IPL
or for Delhi, if he has to sneak back into the national squad, it will be
because of the fault lines that continue to shake his replacements. In his 35th
year, Gambhir isn’t over the Aravallis yet. But the selectors could well be
over him.
At his best, Gambhir won India a World T20 and a
World Cup. At his worst, he poked outside off, giving catching practice to the
slips. That dab down to third man was his nemesis. It cost him his India cap.
Leaving him even more determined, more so when the IPL came along.
Much of Gambhir’s convictions remain the same: he
believes in himself much as he does in his band of brothers at KKR, in spite of
their flaws, possibly because of their flaws. For, with Gambhir, it appears, to
know your flaws is the best way to know your powers – Yususf Pathan, Robin
Uthappa, Manish Pandey, Piyush Chawla, Surya Kumar Yadav, Andre Russell and
coach Kallis, are still the core of KKR.
In his column, Gambhir often gets personal, but in
an affectionate, almost awkwardly honest way about his players, like they were
his immediate family. He confronts stereotypes as a cricketer columnist, not
afraid to voice his opinion, be it on Salman Khan as India’s Olympic goodwill
ambassador or the name change of Gurgoan. He doesn’t shudder from referring to
Yusuf as a good friend or Surya’s non-acceptance in Mumbai cricket because of
his flash ways. Gambhir’s honesty and straight talk is pretty much a rarity in
Indian cricket’s world of doublespeak or still worse, no speak.
In 2011, he was honest enough about his
disappointment at not being retained by his original IPL franchise, the Delhi
Daredevils. He was honest enough about finding a new home in Kolkata with the
Knightriders. And now he’s being honest enough about gunning for a third IPL
title in 2016.
What he doesn’t talk about is playing for India
again. Is it because that’s a bridge too far? Or is it because you build
bridges, you don’t talk bridges? Perhaps he knows the difference between
talking as a contender and speaking as a former India cricketer past his prime.
Either way, this grumpy, stubbled guy has much to
give Indian cricket. If not as a batsman or captain, then who knows, maybe as
an administrator. Both Delhi and the BCCI could do with some honesty.
Cc: Lodha Panel, Justice Mudgal
Yusuf Pathan is to Gambhir what Jadeja is to Dhoni.
The Kolkata Knight Riders have more baggage than Louis Vuitton. Most of the Final XI are no longer part of their national squads. Skipper Gambhir has a team of amazing has-beens. The very reason for this team is the nostalgia they serve at the post match party. The memory chest overruns with Gambhir on top. Manish Pandey was the first Indian to score an IPL 100. Uthappa hasn't done much since he doffed his imaginary hat against Pakistan in 2007. Yusuf Pathan. Where do you start with Yusuf? You could ask his dad? Or Irfan? Or speak to his chewing gum. They all will have a tale to tell. And if this wasn't enough, there's the blast-from-the-past, Piyush Chawla. If only these guys could play in sepia. But play they will, for Gambhir must prove them wrong every season. The Avengers come to mind. But there is thought to this team, and it challenges Gambhir, Yusuf, Uthappa, Chawla - to start thinking, from has-beens to wannabes to will-bees, to who knows, maybe even a Beatle. Chawla would be Ringo. Gambhir, Lennon. Uthappa, Paul. And Yusuf, George. Surya Kumar Yadav could be the fifth Beatle.
But what will Umesh Yadav be? From being India's go-to bowler, he was either injured or benched, before doing his thing in Australia this World Cup. But those were ODIs; Yadav has played only one T20 international. His IPL numbers aren't that hot either but against his old team, the Daredevils, he was man of the match for his 2/18. A second, third, fourth coming? Gambhir has enough patience to pull him through bad days.
Firangs have their own baggage: Shakib Al Hasan, KKR barely played him, not foreign enough for them? Then when they wanted to, the Bangladesh Cricket Board didn't let him. And just when he started this season, Pakistan came along.
Andre Russell inhabited the DD bench more than Manoj Tiwary, India's. And when Russell did play, he bowled that one over that invariably was his last. Under Gambhir's watchful eye, life has been more play and less bench - just the other day a match winning 66, and before that a naughty 41*. Suddenly everyone's talking a lot less about Andre Russell's hair.
Morne Morkel was dropped by DD for a qualifier/semi-final/eliminator when he was their top bowler. And he's seen some bad days in the IPL; bowls length, almost as readily as Ishant. Gets hammered, like Ishant. But can run through the batting, unlike Ishant. But if you watched him slide and sort-of-field, your heart will bleed for the turf and his limbs in equal measure. So far he's been picking wickets every match.
It took a while for KKR and Gambhir to figure out that Ryan ten Doeschate must play - and pronouncing his name right should have nothing to do with it. Has an ice cool head, can close games in case Russell and Pathan don't, and even bat up the order - has two T20 centuries. That he played for the Netherlands can no longer be held against him.
And then there's Sunil Narine, who doesn't quite fit into this team but won them the tournament, outsourcing it's called. This year though, Narine has had more than his share of baggage - his action was called and he missed the World Cup. Seems largely unaffected by everything but it could be just be that blank look he wears.
After KKR's victory against the Daredevils, Gambhir took backing Yusuf Pathan to a lofty new level - "I have always had a lot of faith in him. Faith and trust is one thing that does not go very quickly. So I always feel he is the game-changer for us and the way he has batted in this tournament till now, I think he is just going to be our biggest game-changer." Going by the last few IPLs, it's tough to tell what the basis for this faith and trust is - but it appears to be paying some dividends now. Gambhir's approach to team selection isn't too dissimilar to Dhoni's - back your boys, then back them some more, and if that isn't paying off, back them some more still.
Yusuf Pathan is to Gambhir as Jadeja is to Dhoni.
#DDvsKKR
— Gaurav Sethi (@BoredCricket) April 20, 2015
KKR should make the playoffs. Let's see how far can one man's belief in his jaded army push them?
First published here
Piyush Chawla's Secret Revealed
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| click on cartoon to enlarge |
KKR – #IPL7PervView
This team has more baggage than Louis Vuitton. Most of the
Final XI are no longer part of their
national squad.
Skipper, Gambhir, has a team of amazing has-beens. The very reason for this team is the nostalgia they serve at the post match party.
The memory chest overruns with Gambhir and Kallis on top. Manish Pandey was the first Indian to score an IPL 100. Uthappa hasn’t done much since he doffed his imaginary hat vs. Pakistan in 2007. Yusuf Pathan. Where do you start with Yusuf? You could ask his dad? Or Irfan? Or speak to his chewing gum. They all will have a tale to tell.
“..and what a time it was, it was...”
And if this wasn’t enough, there’s the Blast-from-the- Piyush Chawla.
If only these guys could play in sepia.
But all play they will, for Gambhir has to prove them wrong. The Avengers come to mind. Only KKR does not have an A in it.
But there is thought to this team, and it challenges Gambhir, Yusuf, Uthappa, Chawla – to start thinking, from has-beens to wannabes to will-bees, to who knows, maybe even a Beatle. Chawla would be Ringo. Gambhir, Lennon. Uthappa, Paul. And Yusuf, George.
Vinay Kumar would be the 5th Beatle.
But what will Umesh Yadav be? From being India’s go-to bowler, he’s either injured or benched, even Varun Aaron’s beamers play before him. Yadav has played only 1 T20 international. Ishant Sharma has played 14, going at 8.63 runs per over, 8 wickets, average 50. Their IPL numbers though are woefully similar. As are most Indian medium fast types.
Other firangs have their own baggage: Shakib, KKR barely play him, not foreign enough for them. Should be their first overseas’ player. Kallis started with Wasim Jaffer and Chanderpaul in RCB’s famous Test Playing IPL team. Since then, he’s retired from Test cricket. Kallis can bat, bowl and grow hair. But in spite of all his greatness, there’s way too much method in his batting to be your go-to-T20 batsman top of the order. Can’t you see that dot played straight to cover with that beautifully angled bat?
Andre Russell inhabited the DD bench more than Tiwary, India’s. And when Russell did play, he bowled that one over, that invariably was his last. Morne Morkel was dropped by DD for a qualifier/semi-final/Eliminator ; yeah, one of those things, when he was their top bowler. And he’s seen some bad days in the IPL, bowls length, almost as readily as Ishant. Gets hammered, like Ishant. But can run through the batting, unlike Ishant. But if you watched him slide and sort-of-field, your heart with bleed for the turf and his limbs in equal measure.
And then there’s Sunil Narine, who doesn’t quite fit into this team but won them the tournament, outsourcing it’s called.
Likely Playing XI (batting order)
Skipper, Gambhir, has a team of amazing has-beens. The very reason for this team is the nostalgia they serve at the post match party.
The memory chest overruns with Gambhir and Kallis on top. Manish Pandey was the first Indian to score an IPL 100. Uthappa hasn’t done much since he doffed his imaginary hat vs. Pakistan in 2007. Yusuf Pathan. Where do you start with Yusuf? You could ask his dad? Or Irfan? Or speak to his chewing gum. They all will have a tale to tell.
“..and what a time it was, it was...”
And if this wasn’t enough, there’s the Blast-from-the- Piyush Chawla.
If only these guys could play in sepia.
But all play they will, for Gambhir has to prove them wrong. The Avengers come to mind. Only KKR does not have an A in it.
But there is thought to this team, and it challenges Gambhir, Yusuf, Uthappa, Chawla – to start thinking, from has-beens to wannabes to will-bees, to who knows, maybe even a Beatle. Chawla would be Ringo. Gambhir, Lennon. Uthappa, Paul. And Yusuf, George.
Vinay Kumar would be the 5th Beatle.
But what will Umesh Yadav be? From being India’s go-to bowler, he’s either injured or benched, even Varun Aaron’s beamers play before him. Yadav has played only 1 T20 international. Ishant Sharma has played 14, going at 8.63 runs per over, 8 wickets, average 50. Their IPL numbers though are woefully similar. As are most Indian medium fast types.
Other firangs have their own baggage: Shakib, KKR barely play him, not foreign enough for them. Should be their first overseas’ player. Kallis started with Wasim Jaffer and Chanderpaul in RCB’s famous Test Playing IPL team. Since then, he’s retired from Test cricket. Kallis can bat, bowl and grow hair. But in spite of all his greatness, there’s way too much method in his batting to be your go-to-T20 batsman top of the order. Can’t you see that dot played straight to cover with that beautifully angled bat?
Andre Russell inhabited the DD bench more than Tiwary, India’s. And when Russell did play, he bowled that one over, that invariably was his last. Morne Morkel was dropped by DD for a qualifier/semi-final/Eliminator ; yeah, one of those things, when he was their top bowler. And he’s seen some bad days in the IPL, bowls length, almost as readily as Ishant. Gets hammered, like Ishant. But can run through the batting, unlike Ishant. But if you watched him slide and sort-of-field, your heart with bleed for the turf and his limbs in equal measure.
And then there’s Sunil Narine, who doesn’t quite fit into this team but won them the tournament, outsourcing it’s called.
Likely Playing XI (batting order)
1 Gambhir
2 Kallis
3 Manish Pandey
4 Uthappa
5 Shakib
6 Yusuf Pathan
7 Ryan Ten Doeschate / Chris Lynn / Cummins / Morne Morkel
8 Piyush Chawla
9 Narine
10 Vinay Kumar
11 Umesh Yadav / Bisla
KKR could make the playoffs, either for the top four or the
bottom two: depends how far can one man’s belief in his jaded army can take them?
Angelo's Alright
How could you take Angelo Mathews seriously?The scorecard says he took three wickets in an over in the semifinal of the T20 World Cup. But you and I know it was the inside edges and thigh pads that did the job then. I thought he'd get a few more games here and there before finding himself on his way out.
Sri Lanka thought they'd struck gold though and stuck with him. He turned up on Sri Lanka's tour of India. I snickered. When the commentator on AIR repeatedly called him Angela. When he ran himself out on 99 at Brabourne, as if he were Sri Lanka's answer to Shane Watson, all-rounder and nervous nineties nincompoop. I snickered when he had to return home midway through the following ODI series with an injury.
But then I went to see an IPL match this year. One SL player, Vaas, looked like he would finish the match early, lowering the vasool on my paisa. When another SL player, Mathews, however, stepped in and fought back. From guessing what over KKR would be all out by, we were now thinking KKR had it in them to go all the way this year. Mathews played and he flayed increasing my RoI and SRK's, even hitting a six in the row right in front of me.
Cold logic had me make him the trump player in my fantasy team that day but he became a favorite from then onwards.
What I'm trying to say is, I'm an Bored Cricket Crazy Indian and I approve of Angelo Mathews.
Jatman: from the heart
I have still not made any changes in my Bored game team. But these @#$%* they dropped my trump player Che Pujara, good they lost. Playing Rohan Gavaskar instead of Che is like the Daredevils team playing my son 30 years later so I can have a smiling face in commentary and have Bhogle’s son talk about my favourite street food in Dilli.
Tomorrow we play the Mumbai Indians. I find their name really funny. It is like we should be called the Delhi Daredevils Indians. I’m looking forward to smashing their bowlers but I do not want to hurt Sachin’s feelings so I might even get out cheaply.
your man, jatman
An IPL equation
Manoj Tiwary = Former Daredevils bench-warmer and now a KKR match-winner.
Owais Shah = Shitty-Daredevils-bat-turned-gritty-KKR-bat.
Ishant Sharma = Still looks for Sehwag and finds only Ganguly when celebrating dismissals.
Vijay Dahiya= Dav Whatmore’s sidekick.
______________________________
KKR = Delhi/Daredevils B team.
sp's moment of the opening match...
what else but the sight of CHE'teshwar pujara... walking down at the fall of the first wicket...
though he has been with kolkata knight riders since the beginning... it took him three years to make his debut... such is the cricketing expertise of kkr's think tank...
though he didn't last long... but the way he played some shots covering the prodigious swing vaas was getting early on was the sign of how good a batsman he is... the bat was coming straight covering not only the line but the late inswing and still he made them count for runs!
if only he had lasted longer we would have witnessed the heady cocktail of aesthetic pleasures of sound batting mixed with the unorthodoxy of t20 cricket...
i wish now that they have selected him... kkr think tank doesn't confine him to the dugout... and would give him a fair run... and as some say... his right to fail...
Achettup's Moment of The Opening IPL Match
It was a strange match, exciting but not thrilling and almost anticlimactic towards the end. It was an upset alright, but perhaps more because Deccan threw the game away than Kolkata winning it. There were plenty of dropped catches, sixes and dot balls and excellent patient innings from Angelo Matthews and Owais Shah before they plundered 70 odd runs off the last five overs. Then there was Gilly's assault... there were the cringe-inducing strokes by the rest of the Deccan batsmen... But the moment that stood out to me is one we should all be sick of...
Just how much cricket have India and Sri Lanka played in recent times? I've lost count but "too much" seems like a fine alternative. And then when Chaminda Vaas dismissed Tiwari, it seemed we were seeing Ind vs SL all over again... retro this time with Vaas bowling to Ganguly in the first over of the match... and three balls later Vaas got his man for a duck... but for a change I didn't feel like kicking the tv or the sofa or whatever... it didn't matter, and it was nice in a way to see Ganguly dismissed by Vaas and not feel affected one little bit by it... maybe even letting a small smile break on my lips.
IPL auction 3 – Of Pakistani outrage, Calypso mercenaries and KKR follies.
The player auction at IPL3 got over last week and has led to one Godawefully stinking mess of a controversy. We have Pakistani politicians, ex cricketers, cricketers, lawyers, effigy burners, jobless people and their dogs doing some serious IPL, Modi and naturally India bashing. The Pakistani crickets and administrators became one after God knows how many centuries.
It all started innocently. The auctioneer named cricketer and the owner waved their batons (or whatever you call them…drumsticks?) to signal their bids. So far so good. Then Afridi’s name came up and everyone (mainly the media having nothing else to do and Afridi) was curious as to how much dough will the player of the tournament of the last 20/20 world cup go for. The answer was zero. Breaking news, screamed the websites. Afridi not picked! The rest of the Pakistanis also not picked!!
If one thinks of it, are the franchises to be blamed for the “snub” to the Pakistanis? Consider the current India Pakistan relations. 26/11 is still fresh in every Indian’s mind and the Kasab trial is making most of us even more irritated. The politicians in Pakistan are not helping matters by making statements like “cannot guarantee another 26/11 occurrence”. Another occurrence of 26/11 will make the mending of relations as easy as guessing the ages of teenage Pakistani cricketers. In such a circumstance, who will have the guts to spend thousands of dollars in picking a Pakistani player thereby using up a foreigner’s slot without the surety of using him to the optimum? Lots of money is at stake, money which is not easy to come up what with the economic downturn still going on strong. Last year, the Government categorically ruled out giving the IPL first preference when it came to national security. It seems to be a very sound call taken by the franchises in not going after the Pakistanis and it seems to be a business call. That’s all. So can our next door neighbours cool down and concentrate on the real problems they face at home?
Trivia – What connects Somerset, South Australia, Mumbai and Trinidad? Answer is subject of the next paragraph.
Kieron Pollard was picked by MI for a sum of atleast $750000 (achettup put it at $2.75 mn.). Which comes to roughly Rs. 79 lakhs per game if MI does reach the finals. Pretty sure all franchises must have been kicking themselves in not going after him last year when he was listed at a whopping$60000. While the English tabloids are calling Freddie Flintoff the first mercenary, Pollard has become the first active mercenary with contracts to play for four different teams in four continents.
Trivia 2 – What connects Canterbury, Delhi (unofficially) and Kolkata? I am sure you know the answer by now.
This IPL auction thingy sure throws surprises. Their favourite brand of surprises is their strange benevolence to certain players who, well, do not deserve it. IPL 1 had Kaif going for over $0.5 mn. We laughed. IPL 2 had Mortaza go for over $0.6 mn. We raised an eyebrow “The Rock” style. IPL3 now has the injury prone, brittle bones, 30 + Kiwi fastie with no relation to Sean Connery or Daniel Craig going for $ 0.75 mn. We stop whatever we were doing and marvel at the stupidity of whoever thought it a sound investment. Then we saw that the bidder was KKR. I can imagine Shane Bond opening the bowling in front of a packed Eden Garden crowd ably supported by Mashrafe Mortaza. The support being too much, 007 breaks down in the first over itself. Replacing him and trying to replicate his speed is……..Ajit Agarkar.
Such joy…for the opposing team.
In other news, Kaif was picked up by Punjab, no doubt as a ransom to free the Kings’ captaincy from the clutches of his best pal, three potential scene stealers were bought for less than or equal to $100 K (Voges, Abdullah and Kemp) and Rajasthan Royals showed who is boss in their midst by picking the happily retired senior citizen of Aussie cricket Mr. Martyn.
by Dhaanu
blogs at Bakwaas Baatein (Random rambling of a raving borderline lunatic)
KhufiaBaaz:The reason behind the Bangladesh tri series.
Unreasonable as it sounds, there is a reason for the tri series between India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Every year, this is the peak season for the influx of Bangladeshi illegal immigrants into India. Estimates put the figure at up to three to four times more than other months. While India’s border security has been hoodwinked, time and again, it was the BCCI who took matters in their own hands and called for another meaningless one day series. Once the series is on, no Bangladeshi sports’ fanatic (they compromise over 97% of such immigrants) can afford to risk capture on the border, thereby missing their team play a one-dayer against their stronger neighbours. Saurav Ganguly, who enjoys Demigod status in these parts, claims, once the IPL is on, and his team, the Kolkata Knight Riders plays, the numbers of illegal immigrants could further drop. The illegal immigrants were not available for comment.
No Indians in IPL’s final auction.
There’s only one reason for this, the loose change in the IPL franchisees’ pockets - $750,000, that’s it. Now while you can buy the entire Zim team for that much, plus a handful of Lankans and Banglas thrown in as freebies; 750k will barely get you half an Indian cricketer. It could buy you UV’s injured little finger or a strand of Jatman’s hair.
Anyway, a flea market’s great fun, be cool if they have the auction at Select City; imagine wading through a doughnut while Kieron Pollard is being tattooed by the Knight Riders. If Gayle has his say, Pollard goes with SRK – 750k upfront balance in hair salon vouchers. If Gayle can swing it bigtime, he could pick Roach too, for free – frankly they should make him captain; he’ll give KKR a serious shot at the title. (Lalit Modi should introduce another team; call it the Modi's moody stars and replicate the Stanford superstars' team model)
Nobody will buy Ganga or Hinds; unless BRC is looking for a Jaffer substitute at the bench. The other Bravo should go MI; this way you get the brothers together, if nothing else, be great for MI advertising (that’s all they do anyway) –could be the usual Bollywood twist, two brothers lost in a Caribbean mela, united in the MI mela.
Benn should be bought, but the IPL coaches have low roofs; still the tournament could do with his temper. Ideally the Daredevils should buy him; they need some emotion – and he looks like he could pick the MC BC Dilli lingo quick – imagine Benn MCng away. The DDCA goons will love him.
What about Sarwan, wasn’t he with Punjab? Now if they don’t want him, who will? As for Simmons, his size fits him into MI or DD. Good buy. Goodbye, next another team.
Now it hits me – these are the Indians in the IPL final auction. Wonderful, east or west, Indians are...whatever.
dada is back... take a shot...
yes the dada is back as captain of kkr...
what is he saying to buchanan as a parting 'shot'...?
what is he saying to buchanan as a parting 'shot'...?
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