ipl cover story - 23 may 2009

L10 COVERSATURDAY, MAY 23, 2009 ° WWW.LIVEMINT.COM

LOUNGE COVER L11SATURDAY, MAY 23, 2009 ° WWW.LIVEMINT.COM

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BY S R I N I V A S B H O G L E································

1 Matthew Hayden: Thehallmark of Hayden’s career

has been very long runs of goodform. Once he hits two or three50s, Hayden just keeps on going.This IPL has been very good forveterans like him who areplaying for pride as well as themoney involved. If SachinTendulkar has three shots forevery ball, Hayden probably hasat least two. The grounds andthe fielding restrictions in theearly overs allow players likehim to break free.

2 Adam Gilchrist: LikeHayden, Gilchrist too is

motivated by the need to playwell in the latter half of hiscareer. He has been scoring at avery good pace, especiallycapitalizing in the first four or fiveovers. The format is also suited tohim at this stage in his career. Ifhe knew he had to come backand bat again, as in a Test match,I doubt if he’d be so lethal.

3 Sachin Tendulkar: Tendulkaris one of those players who has

done better this season than in thelast one (when he was injured). Inaddition, last year, he had an entireseason ahead after the IPL, which

probably explains hisperformance. This year, hewas fit and played likesomeone who wanted toprove a thing or two onthe field. Unfortunately,his performance was

marred by his belowpar captaincy.

4 ShaneWarne:

Warne’s bowlingactually improved,though he wasquite good lasttime too. Also,he single-handedlymanaged a teamthat had hardlyany match-winners. ShaneWatson andSohail Tanvir—both weresuperb lastyear—didn’tplay this year.But Warne wasflexible and had

clearlyworked hard

with MunafPatel.

5 Sanath Jayasuriya:Jayasuriya would have done

even better if Tendulkar hadgiven him a few more chancesto bowl. Every team this yearwas looking for a good left-armspinner. So Jayasuriya shouldhave been utilized more. Themoment he takes a few wickets,you can see the gleam in hiseyes. This would have had apositive impact on his battingtoo. His scoring rate was lowerthis season, but he still madean impact.

As told to Sidin Vadukut.Srinivas Bhogle heads the BangaloreCentre of TEOCO Software Pvt. Ltd.

IPL 2: HITS, IFSAND MISSES

CRICKET

TOP 5VETERANPLAYERS B Y A A K A S H C H O P R A

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1 Shadab Jakati: In his firstopportunity to play in the big

league, Jakati has really been upto the challenge. He has beenplaying for Goa for a while andhas never had to play in an IPLkind of environment. But he stoodup for himself, displayed a goodattitude and always looked like hewould take wickets. He playedwell in his first two IPL matches,taking four wickets in each.

2 Sudeep Tyagi: Tyagi missedlast year’s edition because of

injury, paving the way for M.S.Goni. But this year, he is fit andovercame a less-than-outstandingfirst-class season. Tyagi did notlook out of place, and hisdeliveries were very good, both offthe track and in the air. Extremelygood for a 21-year-old player.

3 Tirumalasetti Suman: Hestarted his last domestic

season with a string of ducks. Butsince then he has changed hisgame to suit the T20 format.Suman’s off-spin bowling, too,has been good and he hasn’tbeen affected by peoplethreatening to go after him. He isstill young, and needs to learnhow to build an innings with thebat. He did get out looking verysilly once or twice.

4 Pradeep Sangwan:Sangwan has done extremely

well for someone not centrallycontracted by the Board ofControl for Cricket in India andnot even in the India A side.Currently he is among the topwicket takers, managing to holdon to a slot in a team with DirkNannes, Glenn McGrath andAavishkar Salvi. Sangwan hastaken wickets at crucial times.

5 Abhishek Nayar: Nayar isnot as new as the others on

this list. He did well last year too.But this year he really provedhimself, often being the MumbaiIndians’ saving grace. He alsobowled a few crucial overs.According to me, Nayar was oneof the better performers in IPL 2.

As told to Sidin Vadukut.Aakash Chopra has played 10international Test matches forIndia and is also a televisioncommentator.

TOP 5NEW TALENT

TOP 5DISAPPOINTINGPERFORMANCES

B Y A R N A B R A Y·································

1 Fake IPL Player: A truemusic lover is one who when he

hears a lady singing in the shower,puts his ear, not eye, to the keyhole.A true cricket lover, similarly, is onewho wants to know news both offthe field and on it. The anonymousblog provided us many a momentof pleasure during IPL 2. Warning:Ratting on colleagues is not cricket.It is even better.

2 Warne sipping beer: ShaneWarne was seen sharing a beer

with a member of the crowd,setting a new standard forplayer-crowd interaction afterInzamam-ul-Haq, many summersago, rushed into the standsbrandishing a bat. And to thoseworried about a breach in theInternational Cricket Council Codeof Conduct: Aare bhai, thodi si jopee li hai, chori to nahin ki hai.

3 Sreesanth sendingoff Hayden:

If you ever wished to see the armyof Burkina Faso goingeyeball-to-eyeball with the USarmed forces, you needed to seeSreesanth vs Hayden. And, if youwanted to show someone whatchutzpah is, all you needed was alink to the video of Sreesanth givingHayden a heavy verbal send-offafter Hayden, in that very over, hadblasted him for three sixes.

4 Shilpa Shetty praying:God may have made the world

in six days and turned water towine, but even these feats pale incomparison with what He did forhis true bhakt (devotee) Shetty—made her the winner of Big Brother,got her a honorary PhD for“making a difference to society”,and then made Munaf Patel bowl alast over against the Indians wherehe gave away just one run.

5 Citi moment of disaster:Robin Jackman totally DLF-ed

his way to fame when instead ofthe canned “Citi moment ofsuccess”, he slipped out a “Citimoment of disaster” when a catchwent to ground. Which, when onethinks about it, is truly the mostironic corporate metaphor everused during IPL commentary.Now, can someone please getJackman a bailout package? Andfile a Chapter 11 on Rameez Rajawhile they are at it?

Arnab Ray blogs at Greatbong.net.His forthcoming book May I HebbYour Attention Pliss is beingpublished by HarperCollins.

TOP 5BIZARREMOMENTS

B Y N I R A N J A N R A J A D H Y A K S H A·····························

1Gary Sobers: No othercricketer in history was

blessed with his blend of batting,bowling and fielding skills.Sobers would be an interestingtest case on how much genuinecricketing skills matter in T20.

2 Vivian Richards: He wasthe most destructive batsman

of the modern era. The imperi-ous front foot play, and thehaughty hooking and cuttingwould bring T20 bowlers to theirknees.

3 Kapil Dev: Though he wasjust one of a fantastic quartet

of all-rounder peers—the otherthree being Ian Botham, ImranKhan and Richard Hadlee—wesuspect he would have adjustedhis game better to the needs ofT20, and was also the best bats-man and fielder of the lot.

4 Joel Garner: His naggingaccuracy, ability to move the

ball both ways, and his heightmade him very difficult to scoreoff. Anybody who has seenrecordings of him scythe throughthe English lower order in the1979 World Cup finals will knowwhat we are talking about.

5 Dean Jones: He set newbenchmarks for fast scoring

before the era of Tendulkar,Jayasuriya and Pietersen. He wasquick as lightning between thewickets, and an electrifyingfielder. Not in the same talentclass as the other four, and thusan unusual choice.

Niranjan Rajadhyaksha is Mint’smanaging editor.

TOP 5PLAYERSWHO SHOULDHAVE PLAYEDTWENTY20

5THE LOUNGE

B Y D I L E E P P R E M A C H A N D R A N·····························

1 Andrew Flintoff: Made noimpact in three games before

that fragile body broke down.Worst economy rate of anyfrontline bowler in this year’stournament.

2 Kevin Pietersen: When youshell out that kind of money

on a player, $1.55 million(around Rs7.75 crore), youexpect more than 93 runs in sixinnings from him. TheChallengers revived after he left.

3 Graeme Smith: SouthAfrica’s Captain Courageous

averaged less than 20 andscored at less than a run a ball.No wonder, the RajasthanRoyals weren’t able to repeatlast year’s success.

4 Sanath Jayasuriya: Hardlyany repeat of his 2008

heroics. Failure to combine withTendulkar summed up theMumbai Indians’ woes.

5 Virender Sehwag andGautam Gambhir: India’s

first-choice opening combinationhas been a disaster. That Delhi isat the top of the table istestament to the team’s all-roundstrength. It has nothing to do withits openers.

Dileep Premachandran isassociate editor of Cricinfo.

B Y S I D I N V A D U K U T

sidin.v@livemint.com···················

ZOOZOOSWill the IPL irony never end? Amobile phone companydecided to promote its servicesby using white, big-headedhumanoids whose voices arecompletely inaudible. TheZoozoos became a hit onlineand offline. The competition’sinsipid advertising only helpedmake the lovable lemmingsmore popular. Case in point:Aircel’s Dhoni wants you towin a CD of his collection oflove songs. Gag.

THAT TRUMPET SOUNDAt first nobody at home knewwhat it was. A sudden burstof trumpet music, three noteslong, would fill the stadiumand the crowd would cheerloudly. Later, it was revealedthat the sound was beingplayed by one of the live DJsat each venue. The tune wasaddictive and helped keepthe crowd—yes, even thosewatching on TV—goingduring those rare boring bitsin each match.

GAURAV KAPOORAmid a roster of boring,repetitive cricket pundits,Kapoor charmed. He broughtsome welcome MTV cool tothe studio and ground-sideinterviews and didn’t soundlike a complete celebritynincompoop when he hadto make the straycricketing statement. Andall that without wearingoff-shoulder dresses orscreaming rubbish into themike like a banshee.

After keeping both eyesglued to the cricket, andthen some, these are fiveof our resident expert’sfavourite IPL things

THE CANINE STARPerhaps you will spot the ironyhere. During the first match of IPL2, which was moved to SouthAfrica for security reasons, afleet-footed foxhound casuallywandered on to the ground atCape Town. After getting perilouslyclose to M.S. Dhoni, it went on toproduce several moments of mirthfor the audience while the staffchased it around the ground. Wewill not forget the full-body dive amember of the ground staff pulledoff any time soon.

Shilpa Shetty

MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP

DAVID MUNDEN/SPORTSLINE PHOTOGRAPHIC

Viv Richards

AndrewFlintoff

MIKE HUTCHINGS/REUTERS

Abhishek Nayar

MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP

Shane Warne

MIK

EHU

TCHI

NGS/

REUT

ERS

The second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has beenabout much more than just Twenty20 cricket. Controversy doggedthe tournament. If cheerleaders were the hot potato last year, it wassecurity this time. The IPL was relocated to South Africa just in timeto lose a few matches to rain. And then everyone, except Shah RukhKhan’s Knights, began to play cricket. A pitch­invading dog, anundercover blog and strategic timeouts ensured the IPL stayed inthe news for good reasons and bad. Now, with 57 matches behindus and just two to go, six fans look back at the best, worst andmost bizarre moments of IPL 2009

DECCAN CHARGERSCHEERLEADERSThe Chargers really upped theirgame this season, but that’snothing in comparison to howtheir dancing girls stole ourhearts, minds and hard drivespace. Like Yuvraj Singh, wecan say without hesitation thatthe ladies in their white T-shirtsand short skirts gave fans of allteams reason to cheer everyCharger boundary and wicket.The camera angles deservespecial mention.1 2 3 4 5

MAN

ANVA

TSYA

YANA

/AFP

MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP

AMAN SHARMA/AP PHOTO