Deccan Snail against Dad & Co

     While people has been talking how competetive this year's IPL has been so far with almost all the teams chipping in with good shows, there is one team that has not yet been in those talks. Well you all know which that team is, what is happening to the IPL 2 champions was unexpected. Yes they do not have the same fire power in batting & bowling as Mumbai, Delhi or Bangalore but they still got talent. With  skipper Sangakkara along with hard hitters like JP Duminy,Daniel Christian & Cameron White leads the batting line up, Indian players like Shikhar Dhawan and Parthiv Patel has shown glimpses of their brilliance. SO I guess its not their batting that is a worry.

      With Ishant Sharma sidelined due to an injury, the whole workload is upon Dale Steyn. Unlike his south african team mate Morne Morkel, he is craving for support at the other end. With Morne having good support from Umesh, Nadeem, Irfan and Agarkar in DD, he has the Purple Cap with 16 wickets to his name. Amit Mishra is also looking very ordinary till now. As a result DC has only managed to take 26 wickets in 6 games.

    On the other hand Pune warriors has been a revelation in this year's IPL. With Dada back with what he does the best-as captain and explosive batting and with world class bowling they looks like clear favourites to win this encounter. With Manish Pandey joining the run hunt in the previous game, looks like opening slot is going to be fixed now with Explosive Jesse Ryder and talented Manish Pandey. Middle order looks solid with Dada, Uthappa and Smith. With bowlers like Thomas, Nehra, Karthik and Rahul Sharma the bowling department looks decent. Now it will come down to how the DC bowlers come up with a game plan to control the Warrior batsmen. For me it looks like its one more win for the warriors.

Its payback Time!!!

      On A Sunday afternoon, infront of a packed Wankhede Stadium in glittering blue, what happened in the final over was heart breaking for 30,000 spectators. For Kings XI to win, 9 runs was required from 6 balls and the ever consistent Shaun Marsh hit the first ball of Thissera Pereira for a six. Game Set Match.
     Well One good thing coming out of it was the point table has become wide open. Now apart from the struggling Deccan Chargers, every other team has a fair chance to get into the top four. There is very little to differentiate between the first eight teams. I think the next 10 days are going to be crucial to IPL 5 as it may decide who has the edge over the others.

     Focussing on today's game between Punjab and Mumbai, the later is still the favourite despite the former's win on sunday. Sure steady bowling and responsible batting from Kings XI got the better out of Mumbai on their home turf, but the men in blue has an overall pool of talent than the other. Both team has one star player sidelined due to injury. Mumbai might miss Malinga for his slinging yorkers and Gilchrist for his explosive start. With Franklin in good batting form, he is expected keep the slot of the opener with Sachin Tendulkar and the middle order looks formidable with Rayudu, Sharma, Pollard and Yadav. Do not forget Richard Levi and Herscelle Gibbs are waiting in the wings. Munaf and RP may not have the precision of Malinga, but they are still international level bowlers and with the help of bhajji and Ojha can clean up any side. Kieron Pollard and franklin can share the quota of fifth bowler.

     But from the other side with Gilly not playing and Valthatty not making an impact, the top order is heavily dependant on Shaun Marsh to chip in. Yes Mandeep and Saini did a good job on sunday but it will be too much to expect on them so early on their career. It would be interesting to see how david Hussey will be taking the challenge of leading the Team by stabilising the middle order. One good thing happened for the is Azhar Mahamood's inclusion finally. Hey is a key player to watch as he has tons of experience in subcontinental wickets. Praveen Kumar looks bleak in this tournament so far and Awana is getting close to a force to reckon with. Apart from that I dont see any letahl bowling weapon there in Kings XI circuit. 

        All I am saying is that MI looks much formidable than their opponent on paper. I know that what matter's most is who is performing in the middle but hey!!! that paper looks super heavy. So this is what I predict ----Its Payback Time!!!!!              

The Battle of Happy Bunches

     

  If you ask me the two most united teams in this IPL, I would say that they are locking horn today. Delhi Daredevils has been the most consistent lot of this year's IPL till now. So there is no reason that they should look otherwise. But its different in the other case. Their campaign started with a public spat between their two international recruits capturing the imagination of the nation. While the true cause behind this is still unknown, but one thing the onlookers were sure about was how serious it was as they saw how furious one of the player was during this incident.

       With 3 wins and 3 losses before their last game against the same opponent, they looked like an enigma team as they were last year. But one thing changed the USP of this new Franchise was one wicket. This one was crucial. The way Virender Sehwag and KP were going, it looked like that PWI will end up with the statistics of 3 win and 4 losses. But But But.......There is always something in cricket that changes the game in a matter of seconds. It might be an unbeleivable catch, or an explosive sixer or a pathetic mix up during running between the wickets. On that day it was a wicket. That too a clean bowled. 

           Sure people gets out a lot in IPL clean bowled. But this one is different. This one is the wicket of the dangerous KP by none other than the Lion Of India. When the other bowlers were getting hit like naughty kids in school, he brought himself on to the challenge. Well for a split second I cursed him for this poor decision without remembering his heroics with the ball on numerous ocassions not to forget the Sahara Cup in Toronto. Yes you are right, the ball stayed low and KP got undone by the wicket. But what captured my imagination was the celebration. This was Awesome!!!!!!After that it was a walk in the park for Team Pune which I am sure they will continue in today's encounter too, which is going to happen in about 22 minutes. Well Best of Luck Delhi, Because the Happy Bunch is here!!!!