BCCI Vs IPL- Who will prevail.

For a long time now one associates Indian cricket with the BCCI and vice versa. However, with the advent of the IPL this association may soon become outdated.

Consider this, we have seen IP, Lalit Modi and the slap –gate’ controversy ignite passion and take over public imagination. So much so, in the last fifteen days Harbhajan –Sreesanth disciplinary proceedings is the only occasion the BCCI has been in the limelight. Interestingly, this controversy originated in the IPL

Granted the IPL is a matter of 45 days, nevertheless, with discussions of Champions League in incubation, it has the wherewithal to become a year long jamboree.

If IPL sustains the current level of interest, it will be more alluring and powerful even for the cricket administrators. A stage will come when the BCCI officials, will be politicking and jockeying for positions in the IPL.

Ultimately, the BCCI will find its patronage and power diminish. Its future will depend on how it reconciles itself to the growing popularity of IPL.

Will it have the maturity to let it grow or will the renowned ‘crab culture’ destroy one of them?

PCB suspends Shoaib Akthar's ban for a month

In order to let him participate in the IPL, the PCB has gone out of the way to suspend Shoaib Akthar’s ban for one month.

This partial ban has revived Shoaib Akthar’s career. For if IPL shunned him, other cricketing organisations would shun him too, a fate suffered by his less controversial teammate.

Update: 07.00 p.m. Read Q's version of the events here.

IPL – Now the match referee is in trouble.

Farookh Engineer a maverick during his days as a wicketkeeper for India is enjoying a resurrection in the IPL. In his capacity as the Match Referee, the largely forgotten cricketer had taken center stage during the Bhajji – Sreesanth episode.

Unfortunately, he seems to have landed himself in trouble for suggesting that the BCCI needed to be lenient on Harbhajan Singh and for making comments on S.Sreesanth.

Reports suggest that his comments are unwelcome and Lalit Modi is making threatening noises that his comments plus his attire, he was seen wearing the RC team’s uniform, will be investigated.

This blogger cherishes the memories of Engineer's wicket keeping skills and always considered him with fondness. Some of his catches and stumpings were truly amazing. In fact, we would go so far to claim that he along with Eknath Solkar, played a large part in making our famous spin trio effective.

For that reason, we request the omnipresent Lalit Modi to ignore his faults and let Farookh Engineer enjoy his newfound celebrity status.


For those unaware of Farookh Engineer and his flamboyance here are a few selected comments and anecdotes.

Farookh Engineer Player Profile:

Farookh Engineer began his Test career in 1961 and played 46 matches in all, scoring 2,611 runs and taking 66 catches behind the wicket, with 16 stumpings. A stalwart for Lancashire for many seasons, Engineer's distinguished international career came to an end when he retired following the 1975 World Cup.

Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi on Farookh Engineer – “was the best wicket-keeper of his time. He was flamboyant, a great crowd puller. Engineer had very good public relations with almost all the cricketers”.

Those who know Engineer will agree that he is capable of this and more.

Sunny. Don't get out first ball. It's a long way back to the pavilion.' Engineer was dismissed first ball.

Blasts from the past by Vivek Atray:

Much as classical old songs from films reflect a soothing, old world charm amid the hurly-burly of today, TV images of players like Bhagwat Chandrashekhar and Farookh Engineer going about their stuff in matches from the early seventies, de-stress one no end and even bring a tear or two to the old eye.


Finally some caustic comments on Engineers commentating style.


BTW,This post is dedicated to 'R' a regular to this blog and one who comes up with off - color comments (Hey! I am joking).

'R' hope this compensates for your time and the money you lost betting on Farookh Engineer.

Warne-Ganguly rumpus and its fallout

The war of words between Ganguly – Warne is pure competitiveness. However how do you account for the following?

1. Warne speaking of Smith as an International Captain, emphasizing the word Captain to draw attention to Smith's pristine reputation. Surely, it would have been too much for an Australian to acknowledge a South African thus.

2. Ganguly will find no sympathy for his actions other than from his most rabid fans. This would have been unimaginable if not for the disappointment among Indian cricket fans about their cricketers post Bhajji – Sreesanth slap gate.

Do you agree that if not for IPL these would have been unimaginable

Shoaib Akhtar unloved and unwanted will turn to ICL

Once the PCB permitted him to play overseas, the common perception was, it would only be a matter of time before he played in the IPL.

However, IPL and its parent organization BCCI, have turned their backs on him stating "they will not admit anyone suspended by his home country".

Here is a backgrounder on Shoaib Akthar's ban and its aftermath.

1. Banned by PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) for five years on charges of indiscipline.
2. This automatically bars him from IPL.
3. On appeal Shoaib Akthar earns a partial victory. PCB still bans him from playing in Pakistan. However, he can play abroad. This qualifies him for IPL.
4. IPL (Indian Premier League) wants no truck with him citing its policy that it will not admit anyone suspended by his home country.

This leaves Shoaib with no recourse other than to play either in the ICL or parade his wares in the English county.

If one goes by his past record, he will surely join ICL out of spite and thus effectively end his turbulent International career.

Harbhajan banned

Harbhajan banned from the rest of the inaugural IPL tournament for slapping Sreesanth.

We commend the IPL for doing the right thing.
Now lets hope the BCCI shows him the door.

IPL should employ bar girls as ‘Cheerleaders’

Actor Politician Shatrughan Sinha agrees with us on the need for ‘native’ cheerleaders.

"If you are so interested in deploying these girls who dance after hits of fours and sixes, it is better to give chance to the bar girls who have been rendered unemployed after Maharashtra government put a ban on dance in bars," Sinha said.

We are justifiably proud of his support.

IPL – Are the cheerleaders doing their job?

The cheerleaders play an "instrumental role in raising, leading and maintaining” team spirit before and during the games. They are not there to flaunt their bodies or gyrate to music. They are there to boost the morale of their team and its supporters.

Sadly, the cheerleaders employed by the IPL franchisees are doing anything but that. One of the main reasons for their inability is that these cheerleaders are ‘imported’. They have no understanding of the game and hence have no feel for the ebb and flow of the game.

This makes them ‘unconnected’ with the supporters. Another factor is that ‘cheerleaders’ are a novel concept and the spectators unused to it, view them more as truncated versions of a bollywood ‘item’ number.

The IPL franchisees should also play their part and stop debasing the concept. They should create a new set of cheerleaders preferably from their catchment areas. Then and only then the cheerleaders can boost the morale of their team and its supporters. Otherwise, they will be "pointless mysteries" who achieved nothing "aside from proving scantily clad women can do two things at once: gyrating while waving their pom-poms about".

Any takers for sari clad cheerleaders.

Some interesting links for aspiring cheerleaders:

When to Cheer and When Not to

The early Cheerleaders were male - Cheerleading of the ’20s: Epitome of masculinity

IPL - How do you account the big hitting and tall scores?

It is too early to see a pattern, but two of the most explosive innings in the IPL, have come from teams playing first. Similarly, the centuries scored so far have been by batsmen playing in the first innings. To take it further, there have been more sixes hit by the team batting first than the team batting second.

Probably the frenetic nature of the format is the reason behind the big hitting. Batsmen have to perforce maximise their shots and have found that hitting it over the infield gives them maximum returns.

However, this does not explain why the chasing team finds it difficult to repeat the power hitting.

The most probable and obvious answer is it could be due to over thinking.

Focusing on the score or the fact that one should win the game often trumps a player’s intuitive response patterns (so-called muscle memory) that allows them to just play their game.

If this is the probable reason, then the utility of the coach is questionable. What is he doing if he cannot prepare his wards?

IPL – What makes the players tick?

Granted, IPL lured the world’s best cricketers with promise of big money. As the format of the game is such no one would have blamed these highly skilled players if they had played with a devil may care attitude. Instead, what we see is that the players despite differing national allegiance have meshed and are playing the game with fervor.

For example let us take yesterdays game between Deccan Chargers and Kolkatta Knight Riders. How do you explain Symonds intransigence during the game?

The truth is Symonds is playing because he cares about the game and his performance. Personal pride makes others like Hopes, McCullum and Hussey to exercise their skills to the maximum and win the game for their team. They hate to be associated with failure.

This makes them not only great cricketers; it will surely make this tournament (IPL) great.

Where is Duncan Fletcher?

Ever wondered why Duncan Fletcher is not a part of IPL.

"Maybe I was asking too much," says Fletcher, "but it was late on and things
were very rushed." A man the IPL could not afford. Now there's a thing. They
want the best players but clearly not the best coaches.

It is debatable whether Duncan Fletcher is one of the world’s best coaches. John Buchanan has a much better record over a longer period.

Similarly, the question of affordability is laughable. Either Fletcher’s self-absorption and pompousness or the inability to agree upon the royalty from his book that is sure to follow, sunk the deal.

ODI scores will exceed 500

The IPL Twenty20 matches have shown even a score of 250 is gettable.

Does it mean ODI scores will exceed 500?

Will IPL transcend India?

Jonathan Coates says that the IPL will engage only the Indian audience.

Frankly, who cares whether it is popular elsewhere. All it matters is how the locals take to the hooch.

What do you think? Will it be as hugely popular among other audience, as it seems destined to be in India?

What to look out for When Chennai Super Kings take on Kings XI Punjab

The Hindu distills today’s match- up as Chennai Super Kings batting Vs Kings XI Punjab’s bowling.

Personally, I am interested in judging Yuvraj’s captaincy and keenly observing Preity Zinta. Will she be more dignified than SRK?

Sadly John’s idol fails to make the cut.


The teams (from):

Chennai Super Kings:

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt.), Stephen Fleming, Jacob Oram, Michael Hussey, Matthew Hayden, Muttiah Muralitharan, Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel, Joginder Sharma, S. Vidyut, S. Anirudha, R. Ashwin, P. Amarnath, Shadab Jakati, K.B. Arun Karthick, S. Badrinath and Manpreet Gony.

Kings XI Punjab:

Yuvraj Singh (Capt.), Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Kyle Mills, Shaun Marsh, Irfan Pathan, Ramesh Powar, S. Sreesanth, Piyush Chawla, James Hopes, Simon Katich, Brett Lee, Luke Pomersbach, Ajitesh Argal, Pankaj Dharmani, Rishi Dhawan, Karan Goel, Uday Kaul, Sahil Kukreja, Wilkin Mota, Nitin Saini, V. R. V. Singh, Sunny Sohal and Tanmay Srivastava.

The mystery behind IPL's missing website solved.

We had earlier reported the IPL website missing.
The truth is otherwise. The IPL website is up and running.
Strangely, it can be found at http://195.20.222.30/index.html
BTW, the URL is perplexing. Can someone explain why it has this strange URL ?

IPL website goes AWOL

With just hours to the start of the inaugural IPL tournament, the IPL website has disappeared.Click on www.indianpremierleague.com and you get 'HTTP 403 forbidden' message.

First T20 and now Cheerleaders

The T20 as a concept is a rip off from baseball, the most American of all games. Now one other purely American phenomenon, the cheerleaders are set to take the centre stage in IPL.

Has cricket outgrown its British origin?

IPL is bigger than the World Cup

IPL is bigger—in terms of sheer logistics activities—than the ICC World Cup, the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.

Just look at the enormity of arranging the event.

To begin with, IPL has booked 12,000 hotel nights, 20,000 air tickets and will move at least 1000 people every day. Even during the last World Cup in the West Indies, the total movement over 54 days was six times and in IPL the teams and the officials will be moving 44 times.(Image Courtesy)

To cut the long story short a total 3,000 people including the cricketers will be ferried from one part of India to another.

An overwhelming affair is it not.

Technorati Tags: IPL,Cricket,ICC World Cup,Logistics,Organising

IceRocket Tags: IPL,Cricket,ICC World Cup,Logistics,Organising

County Cricket Chiefs wary of player-power

The BBC conducted a survey to find out how India’s Twenty20 leagues, namely the IPL and the ICL, will affect the English county cricket.

County cricket chiefs were unanimous that the Twenty20 leagues will have a dramatic effect on the future of the English game.

Apart from this generalized opinion, the BBC survey also revealed a range of concerns.

1. The game could split
2. Teams or county’s going bankrupt
3. Rampant player power.

Out of the three, the first two are genuine cause for concern. However, their fear of player-power is as irrational as their fear of BCCI taking over the ICC.

It is irrational because there is no reason to believe that player –power is bad for the game. It also reveals a rather egoistical attitude that they only know what is best for the game of cricket.

One thing is evident, by expressing their alarm, the county cricket chiefs have unconsciously acknowledged that their unchallenged reign is coming to an end.

IPL: The Chennai Super Kings squad so far

If someone told me that the Chennai franchisee would end up being the big spender, I would have laughed at his face. Turns out he had the last laugh.

The India Cements group who are the owners of the Chennai franchisee has splurged on buying Dhoni making him the most expensive cricketer in the IPL.

It would be an understatement if I describe this as most uncharacteristic. I had assumed that they would not go after the stars but instead seemed to have plunked for some big names like Hayden and Muralitharan.

As expected they have bid and won Fleming. He is a good buy in the sense that he has a good cricketing brain and as an opening bat can still wield a mean willow. However, the logic of pairing two left handers, Fleming and Hayden is beyond me.

The reason for adding Muralitharan seems emotional, however the saving grace could be the Chepauk pitch is conducive to turn and if I am not mistaken the home side, 'Chennai Super Kings' are bound to play a minimum of 4 games there.

Since they picked Raina during the second phase of the bidding, I suspect it to be an after thought. However, he is a worthy inclusion. The same can be said of Joginder Sharma.

Nitini,Morkel and Oram are safe bets and should prove their worth.

Now to the sore point, Parthiv Patel, what is he doing in a Twenty 20 squad and sickeningly what made them bid for him. Was there any trade- off?

This is how the 'Chennai Super Kings' squad looks after the bidding:

MS Dhoni

Muttiah Muralitharan

Jacob Oram

Albie Morkel

Suresh Raina

Matthew Hayden

Stephen Fleming

Parthiv Patel

Joginder Sharma

Makhaya Ntini

Nuwan Zoysa