Jun 3, 2008

Who sorted whom? IPL 2008- Part 2, Mumbai Indians Bowling

Part 2 of 2

Mumbai Indians- only team since Windies in 80s to dominate in India without a spinner?!

After that Harbhajan incident, it meant that Mumbai Indians would have a bowling attack without a top-quality spinner for 11 of their 14 matches. It is no wonder, that Tendulkar had to try Chitnis, because he knew it that deeper into the tournament, you cannot play in India without a spinner. Did it surprise any viewer that no channel analyzed Mumbais run in the context of not playing with a spinner?

Every other team had a top quality spinner, and except for the initial matches where dew was a big factor, later on spinners were the key. So give credit to Mumbai Indians for dominating 7 of 10 matches, and of the three they lost- they sorted the top order of two. Folks, Tendulkar and Pollock have worked out immaculate plans- for bowling the apt length and angles to dot around, and then sneak in the sort-of-score-able-ball to get the wicket. (Chennai did it to Punjab in the semis, and this exploiting of the dot dilemma happens in the first innings. Sehwag tried it in the semis to Rajasthan but with results on the wrong side).

In fact, expect Shaun Marsh (Punjab)- Mumbai had the better of every other side (if you take home and away, they lost marginally, but won convincingly). Here is their record.

How teams fared against Mumbai Indians:

1. Punjab- won both. The only team to get the better of Mumabi Indians.

2. Rajasthan- they won one on the last ball but lost their first encounter completely sorted and messed up. All out under 120.

3. Kolkata- lost both, and in Mumbai- they were dismantled with terrific dot bowling from Bravo and Pollock- 67 all out

4. Chennai- they won marginally by 6 runs but were sorted when they came to Mumbai. Dhoni, it must be said did salvage a 150 score by waiting around. This was the first match Tendulkar played and Jayasuria was given a serve and volley license- but on the opponent's serve!

5. Deccan- they routed Mumbai through Gilchrist but got beaten badly as well, with Nehra beating Gilchrist. Fernando got him and then trapped Rohit Sharma lbw by pitching middle and straightening.

6. Delhi- they won their home encounter in the last over but were cleaned up for 133 in Mumbai, with Sehwag as the lone hope after Delhi lost the plot in the first two overs.

7. Bangalore- they won in Mumbai in the last over, but were folded up badly at home.

As you can see it was the early losses against the 'weak' teams- Deccan and Bangalore that cost Mumbai dearly. Mumbai Indians were the only team not have an established opening anchor for 7 matches on account of Tendulkar's injury (Jayasuria is better off as an explosive opener, as we saw later). And Tendulkar's absence cannot be compared to how some other teams missed top Australian/NZ openers- because it was known that they would not be involved for the entire tournament before they were chosen.

And as far as trying to analyze those last three matches which went down the wire- where fans say this one should have bowled or that one should have fielded- the fact of the matter is that no team should let it get that close, if possible. And to get a decisive advantage while bowling through the middle overs in India, in any format, one needs a regular spinner, which due to unfortunate events they did not have (and they should have had a backup in their team anyway).

However, Tendulkar and Pollock need to be applauded for their dominance and sorting out top orders clinically, using a variety of pace in Indian conditions.

More later,
Saumil
Mumbai
3 June 2008

Who sorted whom? IPL 2008- Part 1, Rajasthan Royals Bowling

Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab were on top of the league tables. Punjab just had the best skill sets- largely due to Shaun Marsh's magical entry into world cricket along with many other stars

However, it was Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians who sorted teams out during bowling, to get decisive results in their favor. This is not surprising since Warne is a bowler renowned for his prowess as a bowler to work out batsmen and Tendulkar is one of the most astute bastmen-bowler, who works out batsmen based on his own vast experience of pitch limitations, and most of all batting intent of different batsmen.

In this part let us see some of Rajasthan's methods:

Rajasthan Royals- briiliant all round bowling department, with Tanveer and Warne as tactical options
Shane Warne did a wonderful job of unleashing natural skills of his young and inexperienced players and at the same time sorted players and created situations with briiliant -off the board- plans. Being a legendary leg spinner, he came with some compellling field positions with weird gaps (tactical hit-me-if-you-can and sharp positional gambits). He played it like blitz chess, active and changing all the time- often bowling a bowler for just an over or changing the field from orthodox with slips and then the next over with no slips. And his pace bowlers used the short ball effectively, because Indian batters can be predictable. Of course Tanvir was that crazy knight on the move- yorking and shooting balls at different paces from weird angles.

Shane usually achieved his results and it was no wonder, that with Graeme Smith a reliable anchor since game 2, things fell in place in the first half of the league. I will cover his two-run gambit field placing in my next Dot Chess, hopefully. Warne was in his peak ripping form in the semis in Mumbai, with his leggies bouncing and turning sharply- impossible to hit with conviction.

Shane Watson also came up with short balls in the slog overs, which was a different approach for the subcontinent- but it did work as many batters lower down pull poorly or just hang the bat to run it down to third man. So a short ball and fielder on the fance almost behind the keeper and first slip might work? Sure it did (expcept once when Takawale got them squarer).

Also important to remember, is that Shane Warne actually got one of the few wickets of the IPL- beating the batsman in defence- when got Dhoni caught in the slips. Can we see a graphic of how wickets went down when a batsman was not looking to score? Perhaps just a handful, if at all- but this was a beauty for sure.

Jun 2, 2008

IPL 2008- Knock Out Blunders. Semis & Finals must be 3/5 game series

The IPL T20 knock outs are over. Thankfully Rajashthan won as they deserved to after the league ended. But to conclude a tournament where a team plays a league with 7 others (14 matches; home/away) with just a knock out semis and a final match is quite ridiculous. It has been that way in cricket since the World Cup began and it is that way in other World Cups such as soccer. (The Australian Tri Series ODIs had it better with a best of three finals).

However, the NBA (American Basketball) got it right- they have an extensive league phase of about 70 games followed by a knock out phase -the playoffs- with each round as a best of 5 or 7 games series. This format allows most teams to build and consolidate in the league phase and then in the knock outs- they get tested for the crunch moments but without making it easy for any team to just sneak in on account of a lucky day or bad day of their opponents.

Delhi And Punjab had two bad days, and the semis ended up as a huge disappointment. And in the case of Punjab, Shaun Marsh failed perhaps once in the tournament- such a one match knockout is harsh for sure.

And the final- it was not really convincing. Rajasthan decided to bowl and it was not anything exciting as such and Chennai also failed to push the score into a convincing zone. When Rajasthan batted, Asnodkar had his share of luck (which is the way he plays). But when three wickets fell around 40, the match was in balance.

In a good match, from there on one of the teams should do something decisive to get the match on their side. But instead blunders were the order of the day.

1. Yusuf Pathan survived some short bowling and then did well to come down the track to pull well.
2. Then Murali pinned Pathan and he lofted it beyond Raina at mid on- dropped!
3. Pathan then makes up by launching Murali twice out of the park, over long-on. Did Murali miss out the round the wicket angle he used in the World Cup 2007?
4. When 18 balls were left, Jadeja blundered by trying to pull Morkel by giving himslef room, instead of giving strike to Pathan.
5. Then Pathan almost ran himself out going for two, but did well to get in line with the ball and the stumps... only to get run out the next ball! The 17th over saw way too many blunders for a team which should have won easly.
6. The last over, Balaji did well for three balls before trying something wobbly from round the wicket- resulting in a wide ball and Parthiv Patel failed to prevent a bye as well.

Like they say in chess, often the person who wins is the one who made the second last blunder.

But then Warne deserved this win, since the last cracking shot of the tournament- driving Ntini through extra cover by giving himself room- was brilliant for sure to make the last over within reach.


From next time please ensure every knockout phase is best of three or five matches. These T20s should be seen like a frame in snooker. You need a minimum of 3-5 T20s to ensure that the winner earns it. This year the winner was worthy and Mr Modi could do no wrong either. But next time you never know, who will blunder second last...

Saumil
Mumbai
2nd June 2008