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..
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
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