Indian Premier League - General Discussion
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Happy with the Top 2 finish. More importantly, happy that Raina got a good workout. He tried his best to throw it away a few times today, but luckily for CSK, it fell in safe areas. That 19th over hitting against the purple cap holder Tye, should hopefully have switched it on inside Raina to bring out his love affair with the playoffs. And I know a lot will be talked about the strategy of sending Harbhajan and Chahar, but Chahar's runs will give CSK the depth in the batting lineup and maybe send him ahead of Jadeja and Bravo in the playoffs....
The bowling woes remain. Thakur inspires no confidence whatsoever. Bravo continues to leak and leak hard. Harbhajan is more cold than hot. Jadeja is getting to bowl more but he hasn't been threatening. Ngidi and Chahar are holding the fort at the top, but after the 6th over, we have a lot of work to do when we bowl.
The bowling woes remain. Thakur inspires no confidence whatsoever. Bravo continues to leak and leak hard. Harbhajan is more cold than hot. Jadeja is getting to bowl more but he hasn't been threatening. Ngidi and Chahar are holding the fort at the top, but after the 6th over, we have a lot of work to do when we bowl.
Dhoni said "he wanted to throw KXIP bowlers out of whack by sending in pinch hitting tail enders because bowlers get over excited at tail enders and bowl wayward". Well he has his reasons and but I still think they played for the second spot and then sped on after they secured it.
LiveLoveABD
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What MS Dhoni does seems senseless in the moment and genius after it transpires.
In the day and age of captains being micromanaged analytical robots, here's a man willing to tear up the ABC book of captaincy and go with his gut and more importantly things he learnt as a child in the gully's of India. You do not learn such improvised gut feel decisions. They're simply a captain's imagination, a leader's instinct. Not much difference between genius and madness. This man is pure genius.
Anyone who feels CSK won't win this title is barking mad.
In the day and age of captains being micromanaged analytical robots, here's a man willing to tear up the ABC book of captaincy and go with his gut and more importantly things he learnt as a child in the gully's of India. You do not learn such improvised gut feel decisions. They're simply a captain's imagination, a leader's instinct. Not much difference between genius and madness. This man is pure genius.
Anyone who feels CSK won't win this title is barking mad.
LiveLoveABD
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http://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-new...p-exit-ipl-brad-hodge-kl-rahul-cricket-player
There you go. The coach admitting that they had to alter plans to accommodate Gayle and this is why I believed that KXIP scored an own goal by picking him in the auction. You'll win a couple of games thanks to Gayle, but he wreaks havoc with the entire combination. KXIP completely wasted their RTM as a result on Miller who didn't play instead of getting back Sandeep Sharma and bolstering their bowling. It also meant that those precious 15 crores spent on Finch and Stoinis went for a toss. So yes, you're paying only INR 2 crore for Gayle, but indirectly throwing 20 in the gutter if you include Mayank Agarwal who I felt got off to a really promising start.
KXIP need to keep their locals. They need to confirm Mujeeb and Tye as their two foreign players and what they desperately need is international batsmen. I have no clue why they dispensed with Amla who scored 2 hundreds for them the previous year and almost got a third. They need to get some quality international batter in and luckily for them there are quite a few out there. Joe Root? He would be the perfect foil to Rahul. Sorry, but 12.5 crores on Finch and Stoinis is an absolute waste. I still don't get my head around why you would dispense with Amla? Because he's a quiet chap and doesn't go about giving himself fancy names? You don't fix something that ain't broke.
There you go. The coach admitting that they had to alter plans to accommodate Gayle and this is why I believed that KXIP scored an own goal by picking him in the auction. You'll win a couple of games thanks to Gayle, but he wreaks havoc with the entire combination. KXIP completely wasted their RTM as a result on Miller who didn't play instead of getting back Sandeep Sharma and bolstering their bowling. It also meant that those precious 15 crores spent on Finch and Stoinis went for a toss. So yes, you're paying only INR 2 crore for Gayle, but indirectly throwing 20 in the gutter if you include Mayank Agarwal who I felt got off to a really promising start.
KXIP need to keep their locals. They need to confirm Mujeeb and Tye as their two foreign players and what they desperately need is international batsmen. I have no clue why they dispensed with Amla who scored 2 hundreds for them the previous year and almost got a third. They need to get some quality international batter in and luckily for them there are quite a few out there. Joe Root? He would be the perfect foil to Rahul. Sorry, but 12.5 crores on Finch and Stoinis is an absolute waste. I still don't get my head around why you would dispense with Amla? Because he's a quiet chap and doesn't go about giving himself fancy names? You don't fix something that ain't broke.
Ohm
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Throwing wickets away after a couple of batsmen had stood up and/or throwing runs away after a couple of bowlers had stood up... That's been the story of Mumbai Indians' season. They just constantly failed to sustain momentum through a match, through every match they've lost. All the 6 games that MI lost in final overs, they had it on their hands for 75% of the time but they slipped it during remaining 25% of the time. This season was pretty good though, for MI, despite missing out Pat and Behrendoff, two specialist T20 bowlers. Just they couldn't be good with execution at death, be it with bat or ball. And when they started to repair their mistakes, perhaps it was late. In T20s and importantly in a competition like IPL, death overs is exactly the phase where a team either establish those two points or loses them. Well Mumbai could learn a lesson from this and hope they'll come back stronger next year. After all I shouldn't be wrong to say that MI were the only ones to play like a "squad", other teams have just been relying on 3-4 players.
To sum up, I can compare MI to that political party who had highest vote share in elections but didn't have the highest number of seats. That's where it all went wrong.
To sum up, I can compare MI to that political party who had highest vote share in elections but didn't have the highest number of seats. That's where it all went wrong.
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LiveLoveABD
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Mumbai's problem is that their superstar buys are irresponsible. The shots Rohit Sharma plays to get out and the situations he plays them in is beyond pathetic. He's now 30+ and with more than ten years experience. Hardik Pandya still thinks he's the poster boy of Indian cricket. He had to play 3 deliveries out and then Mishra's 4 were complete. Sharma had just got out but he thought it's wiser to go for an almighty slog. Just no sense of responsibility whatsoever. Ironically, their best retention i.e Bumrah is paid the least. The Pollard retention ahead of Buttler is also mind numbing!
Ohm
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I'll agree with you on the responsibility part. That's what I tried to say when I said a couple of players always stood up but players working on their foundation have failed, have been irresponsible... throwing wickets away and throwing runs away and all that. But remember it's just one season. They've won IPL twice with Sharma, Pollard and Pandya together (Pandya that used to throw shit when bowling, he has good "changed" this year so that would be a plus). They all are not on the verge of retirement or something, all with energy and all with experience and strong capabilities. It's just that this one season has gone wrong and like I said "it's been a lesson", hopefully things will be different next year. To say Butler ahead of Pollard was mind numbing and also same with new local batsmen like Kishan (6 cr.) in particular ahead of Rayudu on the basis of just one season is too soon to say (you didn't say anything about Rayudu and Kishan but others have been talking or thinking). Butler hadn't been this good at all with Mumbai past two years. He barely made it across fifties for us. I'm not saying he wasn't terrific this year, but until he started his 50+ streak he was only replicating what he was at MI, just an ordinary player.
Also this squad has potential, experience and energy, and it is backed with some coaching unit. If we fix our errors by next year (most likely we will as no good team has lived in shame for that long), believe me this is "the squad" for coming years.
AliB
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Fizz needs to go, to be fairly honest. Pat, Mc, Dorff good enough overseas bowlers. Need a backup for Lewis in place of Duminy. Someone like Travis Head who can tear the opposition apart on a given day. Milne wasn't utilized at all.
Gopal123
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Yes i was so disappointed with fizz before the season began i really hoped that he will perform like ipl 2016. No wonder SRH left him.I think mumbai shouldnt have leaved rayudu and should have gone with simmons. MC,Pat,Barendroff are enough and we need good spinner. I think markande was over appreciated. he played every match and i was hoping to see chahar in action. I think kishan also didnt deserve the all matches tare could have been a option. For next year i guess rohit should bat as an opener he is not good in middle. He is not only ruining his performance but also creating trouble for MI. Sky should bat at 4.Pollard should be released next year. thats it.
Ohm
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Can't believe the hate for Pollard this year. It's not like he's got old and dusted... He's one of the most experienced T20 players, plays across almost all the prestigious T20 leagues. I'll even consider him one of best T20 players' tier, although not based on his most recent performances. This year he really has been bad but everybody goes through this phase in their lifetime, it's called being out of form. Some face it once or twice in their career, some even thrice. But none of the players from Pollard's league had to be thrown out by their teams based on a short timed failure. Even Chris Gayle was left out by RCB after he had two bad years in a row. Everyone deserves a second chance and Pollard of course does. The talks about releasing Pollard at this point are just outrageous in my humble opinion. Like I said about second chance, Pollard was given that second chance right this season after being benched for a while and he had proved his worth for the team with a constructive knock against KXIP.
Just look what impact Dhoni is making in this IPL. He was also out of form during India's international tours and even during previous IPL, he was too looking ordinary. Now look what opportunity and trust after failures does to a player. He's back to his best. Imagine how bad decision it could have been had CSK not shown faith in him.
Just look what impact Dhoni is making in this IPL. He was also out of form during India's international tours and even during previous IPL, he was too looking ordinary. Now look what opportunity and trust after failures does to a player. He's back to his best. Imagine how bad decision it could have been had CSK not shown faith in him.
My post-mortem after the mad weekend that ensued (I am not talking about CSK in this post - just an FYI for all who are still interested to read further on this post of mine)
Mumbai Indians: They had one hell of what I would call an "unlucky tournament". I couldn't see too many wrongs in them and for me, it was just a case of them falling on the wrong side at the end of the day and they had a collection of those moments which made their playoff race incredibly tight. Yet, they continued their tradition of making a mad dash after the halfway stage to almost make it the playoffs and when the mad weekend started, they were in the best spot to make it to the playoffs due to their superior NRR, which tells you a lot about how tough a tournament they had. They might need to make a few minor tweaks here and there, but I think they have a great core to perform really well in the next 2 seasons. Wont be surprised if I see them lift the trophy again next year
Kings XI Punjab: Their middle order just let them down massively. Depended on KL Rahul too much. They either need to get rid of Gayle and have Finch at the top or get rid of Finch (while keeping Gayle in) and find some good reliable middle order players, preferably Indian. I would actually have them get rid of Gayle which is far inferior to Finch on the field and have Finch open with Rahul and have the likes of Agarwal, Nair in the Top 4. And I hope we have seen the last of Yuvraj Singh in IPL. Also as much as I know that Andrew Tye is likely to get the purple cap, I dont rate him very highly as a bowler. Somehow he seems to be easy pickings when you want to score runs. Yesterday against CSK when Mohit and Rajpoot built tremendous pressure at the beginning, Tye was brought in and released a big chunk of pressure against Raina and Faf. They need a better overseas fast bowler either to replace Tye or balance his weakness out. Ashwin and Mujeeb are fine. Ashwin needs to grow into his captaincy role and maybe he will have a better season next time. The way KXIP started this season, Ashwin can be backed.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Kohli's inconsistency cost them dearly. As Kohli himself said, too much was put on ABD's shoulders and he did almost carry them on his shoulders as he was flying supermanly towards the playoffs. I can't see too much issues with RCB's bowling as they have a nice allround attack in Umesh, Southee and Chahal. Maybe they need a second spinner (a good one; not Negi and the likes) to complement Chahal. They need to invest in Siraj as he was already showing signs of repaying the trust. For a flashy batting side, its their batting that let them down this season. They wasted McCullum and used him shabbily. Same with De Kock. Kohli should consistently open with Parthiv and give himself the best chance of playing through the innings. ABD at No. 4 or 5. They need to find proper batsmen to fill up the rest of the spots.
Delhi Daredevils: Delhi just showed in the last two games, what could have been (this season) and what can be (next season). Another side that I back to do drastically better next season. They are close to finding their formula. I heard from the commentators during their last two games that maybe Shreyas Iyer is not inspiring enough respect within the DD camp as captain, but if that's true, I hope that the victories in those last two games should hopefully bring some respect on him and when he comes back as captain for an entire season next year, he should be in a better place to command the respect. They need to relieve Maxwell who has been a disaster and maybe look at someone like Amla or Ronchi next year. Shaw, Iyer, Pant and Shankar will handle most of the batting. Maybe they can even open the batting with Shaw and Shankar and then load their middle order with some overseas batsman. Shankar is that kind of player who takes a bit of time to get going but he can get into S/R of 200 and more as he grows into the innings.
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Overall: I think the teams that missed out on the playoff spot this year should not be worrying too much from a long term perspective. From where I see them right now, I won't be surprised if 3 of the above teams make it to the playoffs next year. In fact, I am predicting MI, DD and RCB in the playoffs next season (2019) if they continue in the right direction from where they leave off this year.
Mumbai Indians: They had one hell of what I would call an "unlucky tournament". I couldn't see too many wrongs in them and for me, it was just a case of them falling on the wrong side at the end of the day and they had a collection of those moments which made their playoff race incredibly tight. Yet, they continued their tradition of making a mad dash after the halfway stage to almost make it the playoffs and when the mad weekend started, they were in the best spot to make it to the playoffs due to their superior NRR, which tells you a lot about how tough a tournament they had. They might need to make a few minor tweaks here and there, but I think they have a great core to perform really well in the next 2 seasons. Wont be surprised if I see them lift the trophy again next year
Kings XI Punjab: Their middle order just let them down massively. Depended on KL Rahul too much. They either need to get rid of Gayle and have Finch at the top or get rid of Finch (while keeping Gayle in) and find some good reliable middle order players, preferably Indian. I would actually have them get rid of Gayle which is far inferior to Finch on the field and have Finch open with Rahul and have the likes of Agarwal, Nair in the Top 4. And I hope we have seen the last of Yuvraj Singh in IPL. Also as much as I know that Andrew Tye is likely to get the purple cap, I dont rate him very highly as a bowler. Somehow he seems to be easy pickings when you want to score runs. Yesterday against CSK when Mohit and Rajpoot built tremendous pressure at the beginning, Tye was brought in and released a big chunk of pressure against Raina and Faf. They need a better overseas fast bowler either to replace Tye or balance his weakness out. Ashwin and Mujeeb are fine. Ashwin needs to grow into his captaincy role and maybe he will have a better season next time. The way KXIP started this season, Ashwin can be backed.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Kohli's inconsistency cost them dearly. As Kohli himself said, too much was put on ABD's shoulders and he did almost carry them on his shoulders as he was flying supermanly towards the playoffs. I can't see too much issues with RCB's bowling as they have a nice allround attack in Umesh, Southee and Chahal. Maybe they need a second spinner (a good one; not Negi and the likes) to complement Chahal. They need to invest in Siraj as he was already showing signs of repaying the trust. For a flashy batting side, its their batting that let them down this season. They wasted McCullum and used him shabbily. Same with De Kock. Kohli should consistently open with Parthiv and give himself the best chance of playing through the innings. ABD at No. 4 or 5. They need to find proper batsmen to fill up the rest of the spots.
Delhi Daredevils: Delhi just showed in the last two games, what could have been (this season) and what can be (next season). Another side that I back to do drastically better next season. They are close to finding their formula. I heard from the commentators during their last two games that maybe Shreyas Iyer is not inspiring enough respect within the DD camp as captain, but if that's true, I hope that the victories in those last two games should hopefully bring some respect on him and when he comes back as captain for an entire season next year, he should be in a better place to command the respect. They need to relieve Maxwell who has been a disaster and maybe look at someone like Amla or Ronchi next year. Shaw, Iyer, Pant and Shankar will handle most of the batting. Maybe they can even open the batting with Shaw and Shankar and then load their middle order with some overseas batsman. Shankar is that kind of player who takes a bit of time to get going but he can get into S/R of 200 and more as he grows into the innings.
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Overall: I think the teams that missed out on the playoff spot this year should not be worrying too much from a long term perspective. From where I see them right now, I won't be surprised if 3 of the above teams make it to the playoffs next year. In fact, I am predicting MI, DD and RCB in the playoffs next season (2019) if they continue in the right direction from where they leave off this year.
