Champions League cricket

So, Chennai romped home, beating the Warriors in the Champions League T20 final game. Indeed, they have been the team to beat ever. They have been the most consistent team since the dawn the T20/IPL/CL era. The reached the final of IPL 2008, semi final on IPL 2009. winners of IPL 2010 and now CL 2010 winners. I don’t care if people call Dhoni lucky, over-optimistic, talks-too-much captain. To me, he has delivered, he has won matches, as captain of the India and as the captain of CSK. So, congrats to MSD and congrats to CSK.

Coming to the popularity of the CL T20, or the lack of it, I think it would be unfair and makes no sense to compare it with Champions League Football. The CL football has a long, rich history (started in 1955). The Champions League Final, football, is the most watched annual event, drawing more than 100 million viewers. To compare an event more than 50 years old with one that is hardly two or three years old is, as I said, wasteful.

So, what can be done to increase its popularity and make it more meaningful?

Well, for starters, we cannot have new auctions every 3 or 4 years. I am talking about IPL here. There is, as you might know, going to be a new auction window before the next IPL, which would see all the teams being re-shuffled. While, Sachin and Dhoni have stated that they want to hold on to as many players as possible, only time will tell how successful they can be. Even so, the idea of having fresh auctions every 3 years is not a great idea. One of the things that makes Champions League football and club football in general so special is the traditions of the clubs, the rivalries between clubs, the “animosity” between the fans. A player has to think a million times before he makes a switch from Real Madrid to Barcelona. Athletic Bilbao, for example, is a team that recruits only home-grown players. As I said, we do need to give it some time to create rivalries between teams. But random re-shuffling of players every other year is not going to help the cause in anyway.

Then, you have the case of one player playing for different clubs and choosing the “bigger” club in the Champions League for obvious reasons. E.g: Jacques Kallis plays for the Warriors and also for the RCB (Bangalore). In the CL he chose to play for Bangalore. (It is a different matter that he was injured and dint play in the CL) Now, that is something for organizers to look at. Surely, a player must give preference to the local team/ team of his nationality. I would not like to see a situation where Kallis is taking 3-fors and scoring fifties against his own Warriors, or Ross Taylor taking apart the Central Districts. They should only be allowed to chose the “bigger” team if their local team did not make it to the CL.

The idea of “home and away” games also seems tasty. While the Sri Lankan (Wayamba), New Zealand (Central Districts) and West Indian (Guyana) teams were outplayed by the the CSKs and the RCBs, it would be interesting to see how, e.g South Australia would would play Wayamba on a slow-low turner at Galle. Can Suresh Raina play his pick-ups and hoicks against Central Districts on a green top at Napier? I know, it will be difficult to have teams travel all over in such a short period of time. But, this is just an idea that the organizers could keep in mind and try to implement.

International Players in IPL Franchisses

Kolkata Knight Riders:

Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, Brad Hodge, Ricky Ponting, David Hussey, Angelo Mathews, Moises Henriques, Mark Cameron, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and Ajantha Mendis

Opening pair is looking deadly this time as both Gayle and McCullum will play this year. I expect Ricky ponting may not be playing all the matches.

Mumbai Indians:

Lasith Malinga, Jean Paul Duminy, Graham Napier, Ryan McLaren, Dilhara Fernando, Sanath Jayasuriya, Dwayne Bravo, Mohammad Ashraful, Kyle Mills and Luke Ronchi.

Kyle Mills though he is thrown all around the park in NZ, I expect he will be able to give good start to the team. MI will have home advantage in form of Duminy. Mohammad Ashraful will get a big platform to prove his worth and talent. Jayasuriya is a legend and he has some experience of playing with south african twenty-20 franchise.

Rajasthan Royals:

Shane Warne, Graeme Smith, Shane Watson, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Morne Morkel, Robert Quiney, Tyron Henderson, Shaun Tait, Shane Harwood and Lee Carseldine.

All players I find to be dark horses. I have not seen much of Henderson,Harwood and Lee but they can be what Shaun Marsh was last year.

Kings XI Punjab:

Brett Lee, James Hopes, Shaun Marsh, Luke Pomersbach, Simon Katich, Kumar Sangakkara , Mahela Jayawardene, Burt Cockley, Ravi Bopara and Jerome Taylor.

All hopes for Brett Lee to be fit by the time tournament starts, Sreesant also will not be playing due to injury. Ravi Bopara will bring in some stability down the order.

Deccan Chargers:

Adam Gilchrist, Herschelle Gibbs, Scott Styris, Andrew Symonds, Ryan Harris, Fidel Edwards, Dwayne Smith, Chamara Silva, Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa.

We had lot of expectations from the team last year, perhaps the burden on star players was unbearable or they didn't click properly. Team of power hitters and Sri Lankan bowlers. I have a gut feeling of seeing this team in Semis this season.

Delhi Daredevils:

AB De Villiers, Daniel Vettori, Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood, David Warner, Andrew McDonald, Dirk Nannes, Glenn McGrath, Farveez Maharoof and Tillakaratne Dilshan.

Watch out for Warner , De Villiers. I dont know Glen McGrath will be the same as he was last year. McDonald is a dark horse.

Chennai Super Kings:

Muttiah Muralitharan, Matthew Hayden , Michael Hussey, Albie Morkel, Makhaya Ntini, Jacob Oram, Stephen Fleming , Thilan Thushara, Andrew Flintoff and George Bailey.

Jacob Oram injury is a blow, Fleming will be doing the role similar to what Shane Warne did last year. Costliest player Flintoff will be under huge burden of expectations. Team is looking stable with nice combination of international stars. They might play Flintoff,Hussey,Morkel/Ntini,Murli frequently.

Royal Challengers:

Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher, Dale Steyn, Dillon Du Preez, Cameron White, Nathan Bracken, Ross Taylor, Kevin Pietersen, Jesse Ryder and Roelof van der Merwe.

Mallaya will be after them this year expecting a semi final finish atleast.

Conversation that Wasn't !!

Surely they aren't discussing this :

Person on the Right : Will you tell me what is going on? You said players who play Test Matches can play any format of the game. Then why don't I see any results ? Did you mean they can only 'play' any format of the game or you meant play well, perform and win ? No, you tell me how the hell does Wasim Jaffer fit into the side. Why didn't you pick Rohit Sharma or Robin Utthapa ? Was it because it was they who probably stole your place in the national team ? No, you HAVE TO tell me how the hell does Wasim Jaffer fit into the side. Could have bought many bottles of bear for that money ! At least it would have signified its existence. Ain't I right ? Everyone thinks we are probably the best Test side in the tournament. But this is Twenty20. You still haven't told me that how the hell does Wasim Jaffer fit into the side. You and Charu made the worst choices possible first and then to cover up you chose Misbah and Boucher. How can you expect these two to do the job of eleven players. WILL YOU TELL ME WHAT MADE YOU CHOOSE WASIM JAFFER ?

Person on the left (Monologue) : God ! Keep it this way. Please make sure that by no chance the name 'Sunil Joshi' pops up into his head. What will I say ? But seriously, why Joshi ? Was it Charu's choice.
I guess he is right how can we expect a win with the side we have ? But now what can I do before the next season ? Oh my God ! he will put me up for sale. Mr. Modi can 'Icons' be kicked out and put up on sale ?
Why wasn't Kumble made an Icon for BRC ? Then like Dhoni even I would have been bought, perhaps by Rajasthan and it would have been great.

[PS : Please feel free to tell me something else that you think they AREN'T discussing]