The money minting machine

If you haven't figured it by now, I am referring to the Indian Premier League. However, I must add here that as a true sports fan, I dont care a bit who mints money and who doesn't. And if you thought this post was going to critique the money makers in the game, comment on the ongoing controversies - well, you were grossly mistaken! Well, I do have one small comment - I believe the controversies surrounding IPL has benefitted Twitter the most, and all of a sudden it has become a household name. Other than that, the purpose of this post is fairly simple. Everyone in India feels that he is an expert in cricket, and everyone includes me as well - so here I attempt prove the same by doing the following three things:

   1. Question certain things about the teams that I fail to understand

   2. Come up with the "IPL 2010 Dream Team"

   3. Offer my predictions for the remaining 4 games of the IPL

You might see in the post that I will do more than these three things, but in true consulting style I believe a synthesis which has more than three points is not a proper synthesis and reflects the author's inability to summarize content. (cant help it, have done so many case preps last year some things have got permanently implanted in  my psyche)

Okay, so let me get straight to the point. To the points actually!

Things that I fail to understand

First, I fail to understand SRK's involvement in the KKR team and his tweets. The only thing that SRK should be allowed conrtol over the KKR team should be the colour of the team jersey. Take a lesson from EPL for gods sake! And dude, seriously, hold on to your inspirational tweets and phoenix advertisements on newspapers - you went a little too early this time.

This applies to few other teams as well, but SRK's example being the most vibrant, I choose to quote only one. I guess SRK too is increasingly becoming aware of this fact - he turned up in plain clothes and not in the KKR jersey for the last KKR match against MI at Eden Gardens.

Second, I sincerely fail to understand the team selections of many teams, be it the domestic players or the international recruits. I will list a few top of the mind recall items:

1. What is Ryan McLaren doing in the MI team? Play Dilhara Fernando instead. And Rajagopal Sathish seriously? Abhishek Nayar or Stuart Binny should be playing instead of him.

2. DC, why did you drop Chaminda Vaas? Dont ever try to explain and make a bigger fool out of yourself. And on which planet is Mitchell Marsh better than Gibbs? And Venugopal Rao for B Sumanth, definitely!

3. Why do CSK have to keep playing Hayden when he is in such a poor form? Cant understand leaving Michael Hussey out. If I were Dhoni, I would have played Justin Kemp too.

4. RCB have definitely done better than rest of the teams, but I believe Cameron White should play for out of form Ross Taylor. And Praveen Kumar for Vinay Kumar.

5. Delhi - what have you done? How can you ask AB de Villiers to sit out? Should certainly have played in place of Collingwood. And dudes, dont you think you have picked up a wrong set of players - 4 openers played in your last game!

6. KKR -why drop Hodge, the most consistent batsman of your team in the last 2 IPLs? Sourav, with due respect, shouldn't Gayle and McCullum have opened the innings? Why is Wriddhiman Saha (good for nothing player) playing when McCullum can keep wickets? And guys, did you watch ICL - Rohan Gavaskar seriously deserved a spot in the team!

7. Rajasthan Royals did nothing wrong, they just had a below par team.

8. The most dissapointing was KXI Punjab - I thought they were one of the strongest teams on paper. Again, they dropped their in form player Ravi Bopara - big mistake! Personally, dont see any sense in playing an average cricketer like Juan Theron. Also, Reetinder Sodhi - these guys surely didn't watch ICL. Sodhi would have walked into my Kings XI team purely for his batting! And Yuvraj - you should do something about your paunch - seriously!

Dream Team of IPL 2010

Okay, first I must admit that I am making this team because I get to make Sachin the captain. Yeah I am biased, but who cares and who isn't? Anyways, back to the point again. My IPL XI would include the folloing players, in the same batting order:

   1. Sachin Tendulkar (c)

   2. Jaques Kallis
   3. Suresh Raina
   4. Rohit Sharma
   5. Andrew Symonds
   6. Robin Uthappa (wk)
   7. Murali Vijay
   8. Harbhajan Singh
   9. Dale Steyn
   10. Amit Mishra
   11. Lasith Malinga

   12th Man: Chaminda Vaas

You might note that the playing eleven has only four foreign players, as per the rules of IPL.

My Predictions:

Semi-Final 1: Mumbai Indians vs. Royal Challengers Bangalore (today)

Sachin has played too well so far and the law of averages is going to catch up. I expect a big innings from KP today, and RCB is going to floor MI today.

Semi Final 2: Deccan Chargers vs. Chennai Super Kings (tomorrow)

This match would be the end of the dream run for Deccan Chargers.  CSK would drub Deccan, with Raina and Dhoni playing crucial knocks.

Third Place Playoff: Mumbai Indians vs. Deccan Chargers (Saturday)

The drubbing for DC would continue, with Sachin back among runs again. Plus some Malinga Magic!

The Final: Chennai Super Kings vs. Royal Challengers Bangalore (Sunday)

This, I believe is the time for glory for Anil Kumble. Big knocks from Kallis and Uthappa, plus some magical stuff from Kumble and Steyn.

PS: This is not what I wish would happen. This is merely my prediction. I sincerely wish Mumbai wins the IPL with Sachin scoring plenty of runs.