Suresh Raina Deserved a Hundred ...

Heartbreaking !
The news of Raina missing the century..
What a great knock from Suresh Raina.. and it had to do with the mistake on the scoreboard which wrongly showed him to have completed his century with that four.. and poor fellow.. he did look confused.. yet he raised his bat and also went for that shot which any sensible man on 98 would not play.. after all century is not scored every other day in Twenty20 cricket.. I am sure the keepers of scoreboard need to be penalised for their mistakes too.. if a captain does for slow over rate.. why not the scoreboard erring and devoiding a well deserved century to the young Suresh Raina.. my heart cries for him.. it still becomes the highest score by an Indian in the IPL beating 94* by Sehwag.. yet a century is a century and he deserved it every bit..

The game is far from over.. some may feel that 165 is a big asking I for one do not rule out a great fight being on the cards.. only there should be some support provided to Yusuf Pathan..
Smith has to fire and I expect Mascarenhas could lend the extra bit of support.. A good game is on cards..

Congratulations Raina.. you have been deceived by some conspiracy and denied a well deserved 100... I feel you would get there in this season in one of the games of IPL 2 itself..Well played..

Abhaya India April 30 2009 10:03 PM IST

I shall now address you with some peace of mind returned.. Delhi have registered a comfortable win.. as I noted a little while.. no, they are still not on top of the charts yet they have regained their second slot the net run rate is far too much in favour of Deccan and it will take some time to dislodge them from the top.. Yes.. They did paly well despite the loss with more than an over and two balls to spare.. or had it to be three.. I remember Ravi Shastri mentioning that one of the over from Deccans was called off aonly after five balls were bowled.. if it is true it could have had serious implications.. if not.. it should be important for the commentators to keep a good track of the balls as they are bowled.. and yes Edwards was wrongly charged with tqwo of the wides.. it does mean a lot every single extra that comes to be added to the score.. I had prayed around that the net ryun rate for DD should not climb above 10, somewhere between or after the 15th over.. and Dilshan and Dinesh Karthik probably heard me well.. and in the end did wonderful job by winning the game by 6 wickets and eight balls to spare.. good job.. a tough opponent has been defeated..

I look forward to another thriller between Chennai and Rajasthan.. Warne is good but Dhoni is the best when it comes to captaincy.. even if the points table depict a different story.. Chennai should in all probability have a comfortable win.. yet to predict in cricket and to predict in T20 game could be somethink akin to commit a blunder if not harakiri.. the game is bound to be good in any eventuality..

have a nice time in front of idiot box..

And the story of Lucknow's two Nawabs.. The nawabs of Lucknow are known for their extreme courtesy and providing the other man a first chance.. The pahle aap (you first syndrome ) tehzeeb has come to stick with them..
So the two nawabs were to board a train.. they reached the station.. the two of them were about to put their foot on board.. the other realised his Lucknow tradition.. and reminded of it he offered to the other nawab- pahale aap ( you get in first..) the other nawab was no less a nawab either he too retorted back- nahi nahi Pahle aap (no, no, it should be you first).. The tow of the nawabs were caught in the pahle aap and the other also insisting nahi nahi pahle aap.. in the meantime the train had left the station and two Nawabs of Lucknow were caught unaware.. It is often referred when people insist on pahle aap syndrome.. that pahle aap pahle aap ke chakkar mein kahin Gaadi na chhoot jaye ( in this first you argument.. should not miss the train..)

More later, Rajasthan has won the toss and decided to field first.. and yes.. Is Shane warne reading my writeups here or http://abhayaipl2.blogspot.com .. guess what the successful Siddharth Trivedi finds a place.. and yes Dirk Nannes picked up the man of the match for his cavalier 2 wickets for 16 runs.. A hard worker.. A very very hard worker..

Pathan has removed the danger man Hayden.. that is interesting I must now catch up with the match.. Warne always has something up his sleeve to surprise the opponents..

Abhaya India April 30 2009 8:16 PM IST
Another wicket for Pathan.. Is Warne going to pull off a surprise win over Dhoni..
....
Dilshan-Dinesh duo of Delhi Daredevils deliver a defeat for Deccans...

Earlier I thought I would remain neutral to teams.. that is not possible when one of the teams in an PL 2 game happens to be Delhi.. It is all right.. I think it is perfectly all right.. to back one of the two teams in a game..

What a game.. what a great game of cricket.. I was convinced earlier that if someone could dislodhe Deccans from top it could only be Delhi.. atleast in the first part of the IPL 2.. and have they not done it.. or the net run rate still leaves Deccans on top.. I will need to check that later..

More Later I should catch up with you more often later in the day as the second interesting game is also to begin in a few minutes time.. and I have to be there for presentation ceremony.. no, no, not at the SuperSport park at Centurion.. but at the Television set.. here at D-30 Indraprastha of Anushakti Nagar..

Abhaya April 30 2009 7:23 PM ISTRespected Brother
Sadar Charan Sparsh

yes, I did see you cast the vote.. where.. on the tube.. on the same idiot that you mentioned in such great spirit.. yes.. we do tend to depend a bit too much n the tube that has been with us in good bad and every moment.. India is such a large democracy that world definitely has to take a note of it..

I was just removed from the idiot box by virtue of the loss of Sehwag.. his kind of btasman not knowing how to tackle the T20.. is sad.. it was a good call on part of AB to put the Deccans in and yes Delhi had done well enough to restrict them to less than 150.. yet with two wickets gone.. my mobement away from the tube fot not watching wikcets tumbling did not stop by my absence.. so it may not be after all related to my being present to watch the boys doing well..

Yesterday a small total of 119 was ablt defended by the Kings and that too agaionst mighty Mumbaikars.. they are truly the best side in the tournament.. yes better than even Chargers.. who are currently on top of the table.. it will take lot of good work to be able to do so yet the minimised window tells me a third wicket has fallen too.. have they sealed the fate of Delhi.. let me see who has gone.. oh it is outr of form Gambhir.. it is all right.. a game after all is a game and I must return to the tube.. my side need me to watch as they do far worse when I am off it.. with 7 overs gone and Delhi struggling at 50 for 3 needing 99 runs more for the important win.. I take a leave of all of you.. good luck Viru..

Bye

Dramatic Win for Kings XI Punjab

Dearest Brother
and Dear Priety Zinta

Congratulations for Kings XI Punjab bringing up the most dramatic or should I say miraculous and most unexpected kind of victory over Mumbai Indians..

There is strength in unity.. that is what a lesson we learned especially the old father calling his son to break the bundle of woods tied together and their failure at doing so.. and yet each could break the woods once separated.. I think it may seem awkward for some of you to find me teeling this story when brother wanted to tell about Nawabs..

The win was highly improbable as much as improbable as Rajasthan Royals pulled up against Delhi Daredevils or may be slightly more.. the kind of win that has just been crafted a few minutes ago was a great team effort unlike Rajasthan's win that came about from thunderbolt of an inning from Yusuf Pathan.. Punjab used all their resources.. I would say even an over by Mota was important to their scheme of things.. and that master mind move of giving the penultimate over to Chawla by the standing captain Sangkara or were they captains (Sangkara and Mahela) who first decided to go with Abdulla yet as a second thought Kumar called up Chawla to bowl the 19th over.. and he accounted for dangerous Harbhajan.. The catch that Goel took was the defining moment of Kings win.. earlier too Powar and Pathan and the rest of the bowlers did extremely well knowing that their backs were to the wall.. this win would be remembered for long long time in a T20 tournaments.. and everyone on the field was so electrifying.. They all deserve some special treatment from their franchisees.. One would understand the beating of Mumbai Indians on 16th May when they would in all likelihood be contesting for top honours in the Finals.. yes.. this Mumbai side is so well packed with stars and performers.. Duminy was outstanding even in the loosing cause.. His was the best knock from either side.. though Kumar too played an important role earlier for Punjab to be in a position to save their faces crossing the hundred runs mark while batting first..

My man of the match for this game could easily be the whole team.. such wins can not be achieved by a single contribution.. and indeed outstanding amongst those who count a lot would be Kumar, Pathan, Abdulla and Chawla (despite his first over went for 13 runs.. he not only kept his cool he readily came forward to bowl the 19th over of the innings and changed the course of the game.. completely in the favour of Punjab..)

More later.. It indeed is next day the 30th April.. my posts woukld definitely be on such hours.. and would be mostly related to IPL 2.. like it or leave it..

This is the first hand report and I would use it for my blog on IPL 2 a little later.. I have to now update the IPL 2 records page.. for my angelfire website..

पठान की उड़ान

Day XI – Yusuf Pathan Proves his Potential

Pathan’s Six Cross Six finds Sehwag in the Fix..

Amidst a day of many swings Delhi found themselves at the losing end of the battle.. not so much for yet another failure of Sehwag and Gambhir.. not really for the brains of Warne.. but for the sheer brawns of a Pathan..

Yusuf Pathan found in him the true devastating potential to register a fine and convincing win for his team Rajasthan Royals.. They make a first time entry to the top four slots in the tournament.. thanks to some incapacitated thinking on part of Virennder Sehwag.. Now you can not tell me that he had no idea of the skills the senior Pathan possesses when it comes to brutal hitting.. the former chose to err yet again.. not only in terms of his winning combination theory but also in the deployment of his bowlers.. Vettori had to bowl a bit earlier if he was to be ptoductive.. atleast in tandem with Mishra if not still earlier.. yet it is too easy for Abhaya Sharma and paper tigers to say things aftr the end of the game..

I must say that Delhi bowlers did a commendable job till the wicket of Warne fell.. it was the turn of Rajsthan to have the last laugh.. their errors got hidden once they won the game comfortably if not exactly as easily as it might have appeared when the Delhi innings came to a stop with only a meager 143 on the board..

Yes.. this game had two or maybe three gross umpiring errors that could have changed the course of the game even if not change the winner.. first AB de Villiiers found himself unfortunate in being given out to warne.. it could have easily culminated into additional 10 runs that could have proved decisive and yet again a reprieve to Smith when he was plumb lbw to Dilshan.. it saved the Rajathan the blues it could have faced.. Smith anchored one end admirably from there on.. leaving the art of clean hitting to his more illustrious partner Pathan..

All said and done.. Pathan was in no mood of applying any brakes and wait for the slog towards end.. I am sure that was what on the minds of Warne and Smith.. even if they deny my theory now.. yet Pathan took the first over of Vettori for the kind of punishment that would have seldom come his way in his career.. There was no way he could have been stopped and additional 15 or 20 runs had they come probably could not have deterred a determined Pathan.. who failed to deliver the other day in a similar situation against Punjab.. where his own younger brother had known how to keep the elder one from picking up his bowling to be hit over the ropes..

Pathan, Pathan and more of Pathan.. this tournament could well signal that daring does not stop with daredevils.. If I have to add any other name for a positive contribution to the winning Royals.. it has to be the bowling efforts of Munaf Patel.. the other day he had proved me wrong with his catching abilities taking a fine diving catch in the game against Punjab XI.. and today he provided the real stuff with his uncanny bowling abilities.. yes Patel.. I did not rate you very high for whatever reasons.. yet I am forced to change my opinion of you..

Suddenly.. the Shane Warne’s magic has returned to the field at the most appropriate time.. this should also enthuse more interest in the game for other low lying teams.. every one could learn a lesson or two from the gains of Pathan and the follies of Sehwag..

Sehwag.. I do not want to be too critical of you.. yet probably I would hard find a reason for late induction of Vettori into the bowling and also his early induction into batting.. would anyone agree with your move of sending Vettori ahead of Manhas.. even with his 29 runs and holding the wickets from falling like nine pins the cry of the hour was to have someone explosive at the end.. and Delhi miss that option entirely.. it is time to do some thinking.. probably he could himself bat lower down the order.. a theory I had put forth even during last year.. and at the time when he was struggling in the India XI a couple of years ago.. It is upto you Sehwag to decide but to have the same XI against all the opponents not only are you doing any analytical thinking you are also exposing your team with little of the surprise element for them.. a team that could not surprise can not win.. can not win every game.. to be more correct..

I think Kings XI would have seen the game yesterday and learned a lesson or two.. Mumbai have too many stars to pick from and that they would in the end find themselves in the last four is undoubted.. atleast that makes the competition tough for the last slot.. there are now Kings XI, Chennai and TRajasthan vying for that spot.. ( I have assumed that Delhi despite their loss today would maintain themselves in the top four.. for that matter Deccan and Delhi may be difficult to be pushed out of contention (the top four teams) at any stage of the tournament..

Mumbai Indians should start as favourites aginst Kings XI of Punjab. The other game is a battle of minnows they would have to decide which of them would not want to be a the rock bottom in this tournament.. I find it difficult for the two sides to fight out for such a cause as that.. that is what it appears at the time of the first leg as the tournament is almost halfway in the first round of the first games.. I would not be surprised if Pietersen pulls out this one as he has more stars in his armoury than the struggling McCullum.. SRK has not been right in triggering the most controversial decision to silence Sourav the way he did in the captaincy counterplots.. Yet How did Pietersen leave out Praveen Kumar during the last game.. This Abhaya scanner is far too magnified in finding and pointing the mistakes the teams are making..

Let there be no bias in the minds of viewers of the IPL 2 yet I can always add here that local players of South Africa have been doing well in front of home crowd and one should expect some more of the Proteans tio be in the thick of things.. Ntini, Pollock and Morne (Morkel) probably have not got a game for themselves yet.. I could be wrong on some of these.. yet the way Kallis has performed.. the genuine cricketer may well be asked to take a break..

Oh! That is too much of writing.. and yes I am not supporting any team particularly.. for me even KKR could still pull up some surprises in the days to come.. Rest of the teams are more or less capable of tripping every other team on a given day..

Congratulations Pathan (Yusuf)! I feel your efforts were shade better than AB de Villiers the other day.. scoring the runs is going to be more difficult in the second essay yet determined cricketers like you can still take pride in the fact that the grass is always greener on either side of the innings.. Keep the good work going..

अभय शर्मा 29 अप्रैल 2009 8.51 प्रातः

Day 10- Deccan and Mumbai Coast Home

The Deccan Chargers made a shortwork of Chennai Spuer Kings beating them by 6 wickets and Mumbai Indians beat the pulp out of already too much beaten down Kolkata Knight Riders. yet the kind of error made by Gilchrist could have proved expensive- the mistake of not giving the ball to highly successful Pragyan Ojha who had 2 wickets for 11 runs from his 2 overs is quite inexplicable.. only that he agreed to his mistake immediately after winning the game.. That they went to the 20th over despite the most blistering opening of the IPL proves me right..

Mumbai Indians has a champion like start 111 runs in the first 10 overs clearly lost the way later .. they had best chance of posting the first 200 plus total on the board yet they missed the golden opportunity.. again inexplicable.. despite the fact tha Mumbai had a comfortable 92 runs with exact number of balls remaining to have the biggest margin by runs still being shared with Chennai Super Kings.. that is all right a handsome win in any case.. yet they had two records for taking the biggest partnership for the first (or any wicket) and maximum number of sixes in an innings by any team (10 sixes in all) .. Mumbai led by Sachin and Sanath left too much to be desired from the beleagured Kolkata attack.. the along with Bangalore might have qualified to be out of contention in the long run of IPL 2.. I would not mind if the two teams could still turn the tables on some of the more solidly placed teams..

Here in the only mach of the day 11 of the IPL 2, If Delhi Daredevils have to match the Deccan Chargers Eye for Eye, they must also register a fourth straight win.. yet they may still be forced to remain second as Deccan has a high positive net run rate compared to them.. one man who could change this could easily be Virender Sehwag yet with two failures against his name from three games.. it is time for him to straighten his record to suit his Wisden Cricketer of the year 2009..

I had earlier written that McGrath and Warner need to be roped in as also Bhatia.. in the hindsight I feel that now it may not seem plausible with the great reputation that even part time spinners have enjoyed so far.. Vettori can not be left out.. and Mishra had only done well enough to continue to be there.. Nannes is such a fine bowler that it appears that Delhi could ill-afford make changes and may be forced to stick to the same set of their foreign component.. maybe even Indian counterparts as well.. yet complacency should notcreep into the mind of Delhites as tournament is still too young to take their places in semi-finals for granted.. work hard and work well with a sure intent to win anything and everything possible.. the points scored now would allow for a possible margin of errors in future games which could necessarily become tougher and tighter as and when Australians join the IPL 2 from once their national duties get over soon..

Sehwag is the key.. he must not make too much bones about the strong middle order.. runs against his and Gambhir's name are the most needed thing of the hour if they have to create some sort of fear psychosis for the day after encounter with their equals Deccan Chargers.. yet to be treated equal they should first win their fourth game today as they play Shane Warne's Rajasthan Royals in the day/night encounter..

Again, I have to point out that Warne has been commiting more mstakes in this edition than last year.. disrespect for Siddharth Trivedi is not at all a good sign.. similarly fewer games fro Asnodkar would not have helped the dashing opener.. where was the need for sending back Mohammad kaif.. he is still one of the top fielders that India has produced and mind you only a good fielding eleven can stop the onslaught of runs in this kind of tournament..

I presume Rajasthan in all probabilties would like to bat first simply to deny Delhi daredevils mounting too much pressure on them.. Sehwag in 9 out of 10 cases would like to bat first as well.. Dilshan should possibly try to earn the orange cap soon. In fact even AB de Villliers is also in the race for the same.. Vettori may have to wait for the purple cap yet this match could take him closer to the other leading wicket takers in the tournament.. the final word.. Vettori has to be in the eleven..

I must congratulate Adam Gilchrist for maintaining great strides in the first leg of the tournament.. thay have completely overturned from their bottom rank in the last edition.. and are strong contenders to lift the IPL 2009.. they will have to match the powers of Delhi on 30th April.. that should be a virtual final of the first leg.. too ascertain the supremacy..

Best of Luck Viru and Delhi for taking your winning streak one more step further..

Abhaya India April 28 2009 1:46 PM (IST)

The Day 9 at IPL 2009 - Delhi join Deccans at top..

The Day 9 of IPL 2 – Delhi and Mohali Emerge Victorious

The day 9 of the IPl 2 had two ganes which both escaped from rains.. It was the frist game that I watched from ball to ball.. any doubts anyone that I support Delhi Daredevils..yet I ma here to first lambaste my hero – Virender Sehwag. First of all he is not doing any great to his reputation .. his scores in the second and third games are far from what one expects the swashbuckling Sehwag. Second, why on earth can not he find place for Glen McGrath.. he may be old.. yet I can vouch that he could be the most successful bowler in such south African conditions.. thirdly.. David Warner deserved a game after his stupendous efforts in the second game where he actually clicked as a substitute.. I know with only four foreign players being allowed it is difficult enough to pay heed to my second and third requests.. Yet I would not mind if he could make adjustments in the fourth game to accommodate both Warner and McGrath.. in place of Nannes and Vettori.. not contesting the genius of the two men.. it is better for Delhi to experiment a bit to surprise the opposition with its plans.. I would thus not mind having the following combination at work in the game #4 against Rajasthan Royals-

Virender Sehwag, David Warner, Tilkaratne Dilshan, Gautam Gambhir, AB de Villiers, Bhatia, Karthik, Mishra, Sangwan, Glen McGrath and Nehra

I had to include Bhatia to incorporate the extra bowler in the side and he is a useful bat as well.. I am little at pain to leave out Vettori and to some extent even Nannes (for his beautiful first ball dismissal of Kallis yesterday.. yet one can not be sentimental in such matters.. they have plenty of games ten more to be precise to get their chances.. surprise the opposition with new combinations all the time.. by bowling someone who is a batsman.. (guess who!).

Yes, the win yesterday was due to Tilakratne Dilshan and the experiment of playing two regular spin bowlers.. it was heartening to see the way Dilshan paced his innings.. he is having far better tournament than in the previous edition.. if he continues the way he does Delhi would remain a formidable combination for all the teams in the IPL 2. Yes.. Viru don’t have to follow me word for word.. I know you are bigger cricketing genius than an Abhaya Sharma could ever be.. my only cricket credibility comes from being a student of Hindu College who produced Sunil Valson, Hari Gidwani and Tilak Raj and Subir Gupta.. I also had witnessed some of the best palyers from St. Stephens on the other side of the road – including Arun Lal, Kirti Azad and Pravin Oberoi and Piyush Pandey..

Now coming back to Yuvraj Singh’s fine win over Rajasthan.. The younger of the Pathans put all his experience behind him over his more prominent (T20 player) yet less experienced in terms of matches played Yusuf.. The other major factor in their win was provided by Sangkara and penetration powers of Abdulla.. to be frank I had not heard of him before.. ( before the IPL 2).. He has some substance in him.. Yuvraj like Sehwag is having poor time with the bat.. somehow the captains here have been a bit of failure.. are they overburdened with strategizing.. time to think for four or multiple captains theory by Buchanan.. if ganguly had not opposed him.. he could well have replaced McCullum in a couple of games.. barring Gilchrist and Sachin to some extent rest of the captains have yet to deliver truly.. yes the genius of Warne included amongst the list of failures.. though he did manage that fine win in the tenth game with his experiment with Kamran Khan and Yusuf Pathan in the Super over.. he is still to deliver primarily with his bowling abilities..

If I were to suggest alternative captains.. I would not mind picking Sangkara for KXIP, McGrath for Delhi, Dravid and Ganguly for RCB and KKR respectively, Graeme Smith and Harbahjan for Rajasthan and Mumbai respectively.. not as a punitive measure for the present captains but for relieving them off the pressures that has been affecting their utility to the teams.. Though I must say that Warne is by far the smartest captain even in this edition and his team’s position..

Yet I must say that the day 9 was a good cricketing day where spin department proved yet again that not only is T20 having a role for bowlers it probably has bigger role for quality spinners.. Kings XI have replaced Mumbai Indians from top 4 teams.. yet they have to work hard in order not to be replaced by another team including Mumbai.. My observations at the beginning are really getting some footings in the tournament..

The best performers I feel so far have been Tilakratne Dilshan with the bat and RP Singh with the ball.. there has not been any outstanding fielder so far in my view.. even Raina is fielding below par.. though he did involve in couple of important run outs.. have organisers asked to be less alert in the field.. Kohli did took two good catches yet the catching has generally been poor..

IPL 2 is getting into grooves and it is going to be tough for every team to match the every other team in business like manner.. Viru.. I do not believe in winning combinations theory.. either you experiment further or you perish.. that is true for all the teams.. yet I find that RCB, KKR and RR are probably out of contention already.. unless they pull out some big wins against the top five teams..

I know it is suicidal to predict and regret your words.. but speculations besides statistics are the two important factors for which I love cricket as much as I do..

So in all probabilities we can assume that Delhi should be able to beat Deccan Chargers in the finals.. it would be difficult especially when Symonds too returns to their side in a week’s time or so.. Kings too should find the return of Marsh and Hopes as a matter of raising their hopes to pip one of the Mumbai or Chennai for a place in the semi-finalists.. whichis still very far away..

Cricket love of South Africans was on greatest display in some of the last four or five games.. was it the weekend syndrome.. I doubt.. Is the reason for rookies not able to perform is the lack of home crowd support.. I again doubt..

Congratulations Priety Zinta - Winning Game 11

My Prayers have been heard!

Kings XI Punjab have finally had a win against their name as well.. ab aayega mazaa.. the competition is going to grow from here..

No, this time I am not maintaing the database.. I found it took lot of time to reneter the data that was available elsewhere.. I can instead provide the links to various pages.. if people love it..

Thanks to Ravi Bopara (Not Malhotra.. Your thanks too would be on way some day soon..) for the magnificent and well paced innings of 84 valuable runs.. This then is the highest total that has been defeated.. 168 runs were not less on Durban kind of ground..

Yuvraj, if you are listening.. please don't take the Bose out of this XI.. I did not see him on the field though.. had he injured himself.. a bowler of his calibre should have got chance in the last season itself.. it is all right.. good job at the end.. Though I do find that you interact much less with your players during a game.. the boys need constant inspiration rather than hard looks.. remember some like Salvi he went for 24 runs in one over in the initial stages in the game against Chennai for Delhi.. yet he cam back to bowl a superb last over for himslef.. and I can tell you that it was one of the turning point..good luck for the next game..

Pietersen did not listen to me and continues with Robin Uthappa as the keeper.. and as a result the guy is too tensed up.. not able to concentrate on either his batting or keeping.. Rope in Mark Boucher.. Uthappa's keeping cost you the game.. so many wides went past for boundaries.. it was the most atrocious keeping today..

Anyway.. the tournament is getting stronger and rains too have subsided for the time being.. I wait for the Delhi Daredevils third game the day after ( not quoting the movie featuring nuclear holocaust! referring in the the normal literal sense.. with or with little sense of humor..)

I think I shall atleast try to cut short my lengthy posts atleast once in a while.. and so I take leave of all of you for the day..

TTYL, Das vi Danya

I think my Russian and German friends are not so happy with me.. Zhenya if you so wish that I should have a similar desire to meet brother as you and others on the blog do.. I will generate that willingness.. Did I ever say I am not going to meet him.. I only meant I will go and meet him only when it is essential.. and if it has to be for Carla or one of you.. that I should go and shake hands on your behalf I would not mind doing that.. (haaHaa, impersonation of yet another kind.. ) Take it cool I know you all are much more closer to him than me ..

Again some old habits from blog continue to be creeping up here.. I had said TTYL and I keep talking.. (remember some of the times my post scripts were longer than the posts themselves.. )

Kishore, Rose or Reshmi.. any one of you got in touch with brother during his current trip with Teen Patti.. Cambridge Kishore is also another famous MA city where at MIT I have this Guru I have never met - Dr. Har Gobind Khorana at MIT, Cambridge.. I think Teen Patti is based on an incidence related to the students of MIT cracking some code for winning at Casinos.. I ain't sure..

Lambuji.. take a break.. You stretched far too long..

Love again to all of you.. I am able to hear the youtube song at my home PC..

I Hope Kashmira didi is still enjoying the exceptionally longer posts over here.. I am sorry.. If I am over the top.. forgive me..

Bye

Abhaya India 24/25 April 2009 12:11 AM IST

Congrats Viru AB de Villiers did an Amitabh Bachchan on the field yesterday. My specail thanks to him and also to yoing Pradeep Sangwan.. (Below is an account that I posted on Facebook).

Hi! all!

yesterday, I wanted to see the match between Delhi Daredevils and Chennai Super Kings so I hanged around for a little longer after lunch..

you know what I did not see the opening of the game and when i did open the set.. Gambhir was gone.. so also I decided that I must be gone.. fear psychosis.. if I am watching my team would not do well.. I started and packed up to go.. my work place is seven to eight minutes walking distance.. i still use the car for the kind of temp.. So I reached office..

I could not keep off the game completely.. put on the cricket.org.. you know what to discover that Sehwag was gone too.. then I thought what good of my leaving home.. if it did not make any difference to my team's chances.. my superstition could not do the trick..

Yet.. Yet I had not lost hope and Dilshan and AB (He was Amitabh Bachchan of this game) de Villiers consolidated the innings.. slowly and steadily taking the score to respectability.. at the end of ten overs. they now have a seven and half minute break between the innings.. I decided again to rush home.. in between intuitionally I had a bet with a colleague that Delhi is still winning the game..
What a treat from AB de Villiers bat.. I think knowing South African grounds and conditions could have helped him a bit.. yet could it be so helpful that he went on to score the first century of the tournament.. a 105 runs off the just 54 balls faced.. for a comparison let me tell that in Test cricket most of the batsman take more than 100 balls sometimes someone like Dravid could take even upto 300 balls.. with due respect to him.. he is doing quite well in the shortest version of the game..

Oh! my post is becoming marathonic than cricketing in nature.. Yes the 189 runs I thought were still not quite sufficient and I was in doubts.. my doubts were proved right by Matt who given his form could have matted any score.. fortunately for Delhi Daredevils that he did not last beyond his 57 runs.. yet he with Patel and Raina had provided a base which only needed simple sensible cricket to floor the Delhi out of any daredevilry..

I am particularly happy for Sangwan.. If I were the judge.. I would have given him the man of the match his 3 wickets were the most precious for the win.. Delhi would superb last four overs.. who says T20 is not a bowlers game.. Just 42 runs required off the last 4 overs.. that is no Herculean task.. yet Delhi did manage to win was miraculous..

I did see only first 1o overs of the next game between Rajasthan and Kolkata.. I discovered that it was a thriller too.. being tied they had to go to the super over contest.. a feature that I was not aware.. this was the first time.. and Yusuf Pthan of the Pathan brothers did royal acts to grab first win for his team.. that leaves only Kings XI Punjab out of any wins in the tournament so far.. best of luck Priety.. I would pray for your team to perform well.. a win or loss is secondary..

More later..

I don't know some of you would be thinking that Abhaya of the blog has reincarnated over facebook too.. I can not help without detailed depth of an issue that I cover..

My love to new cricket lovers in Carla and Rochelle I don't think Rose can not be knowing the game living in England..

Reshmi.. I could not have joined the Air Force as I had failed in Pilot aptitude battery test.. more about that later..
kashmira di.. I wa told that I missed the call by four positions.. Had i been four strungs higher I might have been Brigadier Abhay Sharma today.. It si all right even a Colonel would not have been too bad..

I have to be careful of the spiderwoman and spy and who all.. Joker.. he is from my clan (I would nnot be so afraid of him..LOL)

I am extremely sorry for the long post.. it just occurred to me I could use it for my ipl2 blog and also post at brother's blog..hopefully people do not take offence to such privileged conversation being taken out of the four walls of our sphere of friends here on the facebook..

could someone tell me if I could invite more people to this thread.. I somehow misssed Ravi sir from being included at the initiation stage..

More later

Abhaya India April 24 2009 9:14 AM IST

Post script: Today is Sachin Tendulkar's 36th birthday, he is the captain of Mumbai Indians in the IPL, he also has maximum number of records in Test and one day cricket.. he is yet to play in his second T20 game for India. Happy Birthday Dear Sachin..

Game 9 of IPL 2 Delhi vs Chennai

.. It was minimal, cozy, full of little artifacts of yore and warm. Warm enough to give me the courage to sit and rehearse and learn those lines that were to come in enactment, the following day. Warm enough to overcome the stresses of life by understanding certain basic issues.

Oh My dearest Brother!

yes once in a while I should be allowed to forget that you are the most repected figure and that you could be loved as well..

I love your decription of Du vinu.. and pictures.. they say more than what words could ever seduce one into simply loving.. I did not know that places could look so regale in their attire.. and that it helps to know that OK Mr. Sharma.. I f you can not afford such magnificent places your brother definitely couls.. ( Is there some humor in it.. I ask Rose.. as I was tellinh her my poor sense of humour.. Haha..)

Brother, one thing is for certain.. we do have some relationship of old births or should I say lives.. what would be more appropriate of the past births I do not know.. yet I know there is great similarity in some things somewhere.. I would give anything for staying an antique structure as the ones you described.. though I do not have to get into any enactment of any sort.. I ain't any actor after all.. I am an ordinary man of limited means and restrcitive measures..

Oh you do make us get through to England or should I say cambridge to be more accurate.. How was your day at St. Catherines.. did you also go to see one of the dugs that Dr. Bachchan would have hired during his days.. vo sab ab kahan hoga.. I can only feel the kind of excitement a son would have to visit a place of learning the seat of intelligence where his father once achieved what few Indians could afford in those olden days..

If I could ever be able to speak to you in person.. I may first ask you how was it to be like the son of Dr. Bachchan and then also son of your mother.. I know enough of her now from the beautiful long exposure you gave us of her abilities and creativity.. I also learned a lot form the last two volumes of his autobiography.. it seems to not leave my mind that Dr. Bachchan had to struggle so much for earning that doctorate for non-academic reasons.. for financial and mental troubles - the demons.. aaj bhi bahut kuchh seekhane ki milata hai.. unke baare mein padhakr ya sunkar..

जगती की शीतल हाला सी पथिक, नहीं मेरी हाला,

जगती के ठंडे प्याले सा पथिक, नहीं मेरा प्याला,

ज्वाल सुरा जलते प्याले में दग्ध हृदय की कविता है,

जलने से भयभीत न जो हो, आए मेरी मधुशाला।।१५।

I think I may be holding you from learning those lines or atleast rehearsing what you have to deliver in front of Camera.. I do not want you to be anyway subdued for any reasons when you are face to face with Sir Ben Kingsley.. my regards to him.. Yes.. I will wait eagerly for teen Patti.. I know it is going to be a different movie.. different in the sense of really being different.. How long do we have to wait for that.. any idea..

It is an important game today at 4:00 PM between Delhi's Daredevils and Chennai's Superkings.. as I noticed earlier.. it could be the defining moment of the tournament.. I only pray to rain gods to allow a complete 20 over game.. anything less or curtailed would take away the excitement and thrill off the pitch..

It is very difficult to say who would win.. and that adds to the greater fun.. the uncertainty or equality in the standard of two teams on a men for men marking is going to make it all the more enjoyable.. I would love Sehwag and company to not to try and set the target for Dhoni and his team.. any total could be few runs less.. so better allow them to bat first and try to restrict them well below 200 mark to make a match out of it.. Good luck Sehwag.. play your natural game but also remember that you have to be among runs in any one way.. Delhi can not win this game without a sizable contribution from you..

My preferred Delhi XI - Sehwag, Gambhir, Devilliers, Dilshan, Tiwary, Vettori, Karthik, Nehra , Sangwan and McGrath.. (possibly I would have loved to incorporate Mishra somehow may be at the cost of Mahesh or Sangwan.. I dunno)

Deccan gets charged up to rout RCB- Game 8

Respected Brother

Sadar Pranam
As per my expectations the IPL 2’s eighth game did prove to be as wondrous as I expected it to be.. Had the RCB done their home work well and included Mar Boucher it could have been little more fierce competition..

Again Gilchrist proved what does experience brings to any form of the game of cricket.. and Dravid is a quick learner of the requirements of this format of game.. he did have a good tournament even last season.. but this team does not have fair amount of good or rather useful players from the local support.. and somehow the failure of the highest paid Kevin Pietersen suggests that money alone can not provide commitment into the foreign players to perform to their best.. the bonding is still absent in the team and as i suggested earlier they may fail to qualify as Pietersen is to leave in the middle.. also somewhere I get a feeling that Deccan Chargers could give the run to Delhi and Mumbai for all their money..

So far it has been the best game.. I watched it in toto.. and rain gods too held back to good cause..

Rohit Sharma and RP Singh the two players who might have not had much chance of making a comeback to the XI of team India for this format may suddenly find themselves in the reckoning.. Ojha has done well enough to pose challenge to all the others for the second spot of a quality spinner in the days to come.. Oh Boy.. that would amke three of them from Deccan Chargers to make it possible to play for India together..

What remains to be seen is how the first game shapes up tomorrow between my team and the Chennai Super Kings.. it would be as good if not better than what was on display today.. yes if rain gods allow it to be that way..

The battle of supremacy between Dhoni and Sehwag between Raina and Gambhir of Vettori and Muralitharan and even small timers like Joginder and Bhatia and not to forget the battle between Matthew Hayden and De Villiers.. It is going to be a big game.. the team winning the first battle may finally emerge to supersede the other in the final stages of the tournament..

I know Sehwag is the X factor for Delhi.. if he could get to bat for four or five overs Chennai could really be sweating in their pants.. yet what i personally feel is that Dhoni’s CSK has better batting depth than Delhi possesses.. Raina has been an electric wire in the field and there is no such counterpart for Delhi unless they decide to play Tiwari.. who was actually quite brilliant in the field in the last season..
Oh let us see how does the first game shapes up.. it is quite strange that sponsors were not talking about it in their ads instead focusing more on RR and KKR.. it is all right.. yet I know the big game for 23rd April begins at Durban at 4:00 PM IST.. if you are free should not miss the opportunity to enjoy the battle royal between two giant teams of the tournament.. I would wish Delhi to win but then wishes are not horses.. the team that applies well to the task can only win this livewire game..

Love to you from India

Abhaya Crickriter April 22/23 12:38 AM IST
Post Script : What is the news from your end.. are you able to get to see some of the football games.. How were the further meetings with Sir ben Kingsley and David Frost.. I still have to learn of his trade.. I assume he is a director..

A primer on Cricket

For my Friends - Rochelle, Preeti, Rose, Carla, Reeham and Rasha

Friends cricket is played between two teams comprising of eleven players each. The teams have to make runs when the opposition bowls that is decided by the toss- as to who shold bowl or bat first. The team batting first sends its two batsman to the crease to face the bowling. The team bowling has all its player on the field.

The game has two set of three wickets (stumps) each – the one end is occupied by the batsman and the bowler bowls from the other end. The distance between two pair of wickets is 22 yards.

The batting team has to play the ball with the bat and score runs. One run is equal to the amoun of distance between two wickets, i.e 22 yards. The fielding side has to grab the ball and throw it back to the wicket-keeper ( standing behind the stumps at the batting end), the batsman must each cross and reach within the crease of their repective opposite stumps before the fielder is able to shatter the stumps- in case they fal to do so they are considered as run out. The other ways a batsman gets out is by way of being clean bowled – the batsman fails to play the ball and the ball hits the stump at the batsman’s end. The batsman is also considered out if a fielder holds a catch before the ball touches ground. The other ways of getting the batsman out are leg before wicket and stumping by wicket keeper. So much for that should be enough.

The runs are scored also in boundaries. A Four means the batsman hits a ball and it crosses te boundary line before being fielded. A ball that goes over the boundary line without a bounce inside the boundary qualifies for a Six.

In Twenty20 cricket each side has to play for 20 overs. An over comprises of a bowler sending down six deliveries (that is bowls at batsman) without being a wide or a no ball. The bowling end changes after every over. The batsman at the other end now faces the fresh over. The number of runs a team scores in allotted overs or before getting out becomes the target for the fielding first and they need to make atleast one run ore than the team that batted first.

A game of cricket requires good batting, bowling and fielding skills. Fielding assumes lot more importance in the game of Twenty20 as it is difficult to get the whole team out in the allotted 20 overs. When a batsman gets out the new batsman comes to crease to replace him and when 10 batsman get out the team is declared as all out.

The two umpires are always on the field, one occupies his position at the bowling stumps and the other stands at square leg. He side to the left of batsman is considered as Off-side and the one on right is called On-side. The fielding side has to place its fielders in such a way as to avoid runs being stopped. There ae restriction on intial overs as to how many players can field inside the inner circle- After the restriction is over ( in terms of number of overs) fielders can spread to the boundaries.

There are two types of bowlers – the pace bowlers who bowl at some great speed and try to beat the batsman by their sheer pace – and spinners who though they bowl slow try to generate spin to earn the wicket for their teams.

I hope I was able to keep it non-technical as well as explanatory enough to make you understand the game of cricket in its shortest version.. which as assumed far greater popularity in terms of entertainment and thrill.

Virender Shwag is currently the most dangerous batsman in the IPL, if he stays for longer time at the crease – the opposition are likely to concede more runs to him.. and eventually lose the game.. the best bowler among pacers is Dale Steyn and Harbhajan Singh is the best amongst spinners. A player who can contribute both as a bowler and a batsman is termed an All-rounder Andrew Flintoff is the best all rounder in the tournament.

A team must not allow more than four overs per bowler so they should generally have more than five players who can bowl.

Umpires are also sometimes assisted by third umpires in decisions regarding a run out situation of a batsman or finding whether the ball went for a four or a six( in some cases).

I hope the next time you are watching a cricket game you would understand it slightly better.

Have great time with IPL 2 where eight teams comprising of players from all over the world are playing for their teams rather than for their country. Players from India are larger in proportion and there is restriction on including only four overseas players in a team.

I am supporting Delhi Daredevils for swashbuckling Sehwag and his opening partner Gambhir who are in great form.

We will discuss the other two formats the one day International and test cricket some other day

Abhaya India 22 April 2009 7:25 PM IST

In another half an hour the game beteen Deccan Chargers and Bangalore Royal Challengers is about to begin in Cape Town inSouth Africa - The captain for Deccan Chargers is Adam Gilchrist and for Bangalore Kevin Pietersen is going to ead the side. The captain decides the bowling changes and field placements and the batting order during the game. Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the captain of India in Twenty20 as well as the other two formats as well.

The day 4 and 5 of the IPL 2

Respected Brother
Sadar Charan Sparsh

I know cricket would not be on your focus as you get prepared for your own game. the one that you are best at.. acting in Teen Patti.. I wish you greta times ahead of the shoot..

Yet the news from IPL 2 is still to cheer us Indians as much as we would have expected.. despite all their acts faltering them Kolkata finally could amass a win even if there were no rains.. they would have normally got the required runs to win the game.. it is so sad that Priety's team had to suffer two consecutive losses from as many games.. there are still 12 more to go for them.. yet they must get into the act at the earliest.. the sooner the better..

The other game being completely rainwashed had been some sort of reprieve for RR who were more likely to lose the second game of yesterday.. IPL should have taken weather into consideration before zeroing down on SA as the venue for IPL 2..chalo koi baat nahi.. Had it been in England you might have been available to cheer up the KXIP, I remember Priety had approached you earlier..

Today's game I feel Deccan Chargers have an edge yet as such one should notpredict the result without seeing how the first innings of the game - i.e. the team setting the target has performed say may be in its first ten overs.. now that they have a break of 7 and half minutes at that interval gives the teams and their followers to think and act as per the situation at hand..

If I were the captain of Bangalore I would do few things differently.. I would have preferred Jesse Ryder to one of the Ross Taylor or Jack Kallis and also tried to look for bringing in Sunil Joshi in place of Kumble (his five for five standing..) as I feel that Joshi is no mean a bowler and can be a lusty hitter and comparably a better fielder.. I would also see how I could accommodate Mark Boucher.. he might not have delivered last year.. yet the tournament being played in South Africa.. hs knowledge of conditions should be of some help..

For Deccan chargers I feel there would not be any changes.. unless they decide to play some foreign reserve player ahead of Scott Styris.. I do not know who all are available.. RP Singh and Rohit Sharma had done well in the first game so possibly BRC would have planned some strategies to tackle them differently..

It may be a good game if rains do not again spoil the show.. By the way which team are you supporting or wish to support besides the KXIP, we l\know you did some bites for them at the behest of Priety.. Let us also know your favourite players whom you expect to be heroes in the IPL 2

With more love than before

Abhaya India 22 April 2009 6:43 PM IST

CSK back in their elements..

Match 5 - CSK Vs BRC

MSD won the toss and elected to bat first and what a fluent start did Matt and Patel provided - a 106 run partnership in less than 10 overs.. that the game was sealed then and there.. was made simple by the fact that Muralitharan made life difficult for Bangalore batsman.. the tournament witnessed the highest total from a team for the second edition.. its going to be beaten for sure by some other teams especially Delhi or Mumai teams..

I expect that this time around the top four teams would more likely be Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and possibly Hyderabad.. Kolkata are entangled in their own debates over captaincy and similar issues.. Rajasthan too have not done a good thing by sending back 7 players.. that is sure t going create rift.. Kings do not seem to be having any problems and might surprise one of my four teams and Bangalore despite beating RR may not find the going too easy for a place in top four teams..

The most feared batsman is not going to be Sachin or Dravid despite their good knocks in their beginning games.. I feel the teams would find Sehwag the most difficult to handle and his teammante and fellow opener is not far too behind in getting much respect from opposition.. the others who might just count a lot would be Graeme Smith, Kevin Pietersen, Sangkara, McCullum, and even Yuvraj, Dhoni and Flintoff.. yes one more name to that list could be Shaun Marsh if he still is part of the outfit of KXIP, and despite his age Jayasuriya might spoil the taste of victory for many teams.. he is definitely the next most dangerous batsman after Sehwag.. if he gets going in this tournament I would not be surprised if Delhi and Mumbai lock horns for supremacy in this second edition.. that of course is stll too far off.. game of cricket is known for its uncertainty.. it could prove me entirely wrong..

More later

Abhaya India April 21 2009 12:05 PM IST

Post Script: I know it is quite dangerous to make predictions in a game of cricket.. more so i the limited overs version.. and highly unsafe for T20 game.. yet I would say that the chances are Kings XI Punjab would have an easy work against Kolkata unless Ganguly does something different with his bat.. and Mumbai should not have much stiff competition from the defending champions Rajasthan Royals.. Only Graeme Smith could revert the result in favor of Rajasthan..

Yes I forgot to mention that the most likely all rounder of the tournament could be either Abhshek Nayar or Andrew Flintoff.. If Kumar had batted at number 4 or 5 he too could have done some wonders but I do not consider Sehwag, Jayasuriya and Yuvraj or Kallis as all rounders for this format.. Joginder and Agarkar may not get enough games and also do not have same potential.. In fact Harbhajan and Zaheer could be considered but their team is less likely to be requiring them for their all round performance.. Albie Morkel and Colingwood skipped my mind.. they are indeed complete al rounders and should make top four all rounders along with Abhishek and Flintoff..

First two days of IPL 2..

First two days of IPL 2..

I missed much of the action on day one as well as day 2 of the IPL 2 as I was away attending the marriage of my niece Meesha at Pune and was not exactly cut off from the Games yet had more important things to attend..

Well, Do not get bogged down by the old is gold theory.. I agree experience means a lot in any field let alone cricket.. Then there are not such great stories from IPL 1 that we could believe that what we saw on the day 1 from the bats of Sachin, Dravid and Hayden .. We can not overlook the greater performance by Anil Kumble as Banaglore team shone greatly on day one of the IPL2.. There were quite a few other performances or so do I learn from the newspapaer.. Abhishek Nayar the young blood scoring those brilliant runs in the slog overs for Mumbai.. the extra efforts from the left out from 30 in the probables of T20 team for India.. Joginder Sharma might have ended up on the loosing side.. yet his 1 wicket for 25 runs in 4 overs and his 18 runs should remind Dhoni, BCCI selectors of their grave mistake.. They should not forget dropping Sehwag from the 30 probables recently and hesitantly incorporated him at the last minute.. he turned out to be the Wisden’s cricketer of the year.. I do not say Joginder could do such a turn around.. first because there is only Abhaya Sharma to his support ( No Imran Khan.. and no Ian Chappell unlike in the case of Sehwag.. )..

There were also stupendous efforts from Warne, Vettori, Ojha in the spin department in the first four games that does leave the game still in favour of bowlers on a given day..and that too spinners.. I heard even Jaysuriya picked up some wickets..

The efforts of Sachin and Dravid do not surprise me too much.. they have technique temperament and tenacity to do well.. it surprised when they failed last time.. It also brings some gory facts that when the ex-captain and team manager do not see each other with blue eyed vision it could be catstrophic for a team.. In my harsh language by succumbing to a low 101 by Kolkata Knight Riders has more to it than the simple winning strategies of Deccan Chargers.. whose new blue jerseys have proved to be quite a boon for the bottom rankers of IPL 1.

I knew the equations would change in IPL 2 but unlike what I thought that pace would do the trick it was spin on the African pitches that found the most batsman to dance on their feet to their tunes.. Kumble’s 5 for five could well leave many strategist to take the game of T20 far more seriously from the spin bowlers angle.. Would Harbhajan and few others also add to the plight of batsman on not such spin supportive wickets that are likely to be groomed up for the upcoming matches of IPL 2..

The game against KXI Punjab and my favourites Delhi Daredevils must have been reduced to a farce.. I know anyone could write that.. that indeed was not cricket.. it was more of a toss out.. the team who bats second in such limted overs is going to have the big advantage if not necessarily a clear edge.. yet 58 runs with 7 balls remaining speaks too loud for the DD batsman Virender Sehwag.. who if he goes on to bat like the way he been doing in this last one year can not only silence Bedi’s mouthpiece but also take away much of the charm of IPL 2 with his team’s chances of lifting the trophy..

This post has got longer for the reasons that it is the first post after three games and one inning of the fourth having already been completed.. Can you say that 2 for 7 from 3 overs of Pravin Kumar were not important.. could you suggest that RP Singh is all over after hid four wicket haul in the opening games for their respective teams.. yet bothe are not in the reckoning for a sure place in the T20 team for India in the forthcoming world cup.. Dhoni did not want to give the chance to Kumar in T20 games that India got to play despite his such astounding performances in the other limited over version of the game..

These are some of the questions.. some of which may not find answers and some of them some people may not like to answer at all.. Dhoni can always say that he can elect only 11 to form a team.. Selectors can not do that to almost the hero of final of T20 game against Pakistan in the first ever T20 World championship in the same country where IPL 2 is underway.. May Joginder prove his worth in more games that he gets to play.. Dhoni or CSK can ill afford the utilitarian all-rounder from their scheme of things after his first game figures..

Ganguly and his supporters should wake up.. they are not playing here for BCCI or such teams where Sycophancy could help them.. if Sourav wanted to slap Sharukh in face by way of underperforming by him and his men.. SRK definitely is the owner of KKR one of them could be axed from selection from future games.. Yes.. I did fear that KKR would under-perform after the four captaincy theory.. and action culminating from there on.. the coach and captain controversy is not new to Sourav.. he knows he has suffered or rather been bitten by it earlier as well.. He needs to mend his ways.. a good cricketer would always be liked more if he could also respect the views of the men around him.. cricketing or non-cricketing..

I did not want to speak on the captaincy issue of KKR, yet Bangalore and Deccan Chargers have proved that change of captain could also change the fortunes of a team.. If two of the oldies have done well with the bat in the form of Sachin and Dravid.. Laxman and Ganguly have also flopped despite such huge experience behind their names..

It is too early for Aaj Tak or anyone, me included to comment on the role of old is gold or youth has booth.. I think T20 is more of a team game than any other form of cricket which can still be inspired by individual performances though..

I expect that this tournament would also be remembered for Pakistan board denying the extra bucks that their players might have earned.. I do not know if IPL would be able to return to India in future or not.. it is going to be extremely difficult for Pakistani players to be a part of it for quite some time.. I feel sad for Afridis and Tanvirs and many upcoming talents from the neighboring cricket playing country..

I wish I could provide some of the articles that I wrote during the first edition of IPL.. I shall give it a try tomorrow.. may be by way of launching a 20 MB free website on angelfire..

As IPL2 is underway.. one person sure to suffer of getting my attention is going to be brother Amitabh Bachchan.. I love him a lot and shall continue to do so.. yet I know it would be criminal to post such he posts on IPL 2 as I would be writing here.. I shall only provide the link at his blog of these articles on http://abhayaipl2.blogspot.com

Abhaya India April 19/20 2009 12:09 AM IST

PS

With 78 for 2 DC has almost won the game from KKR.. Should they thank SG and his men for it.. or should they give credit to the young brand RP Singh and OJha and Rohit Sharma

First Article on IPL2

IPL 2 is about to set in another four days time..

IPL when it got underway last year had created some sort of magic for twenty20 cricket.. I hope the spirits continue in the same manner as its second edition gets underway on April 18 2009 in South Africa.


I had earlier been registered as a Delhi Daredevil fan.. I do not have any such followings for this year.. I wish to be far more neutral this time..


Let us hope that a good tournament is still available to us despite the shift of IPL2 from India to South Africa for obvious reasons.. I wish IPL2 a grand success!


Abhaya India April 14 2009 10:23 AM IST