Time for The Master to go?

I read today that Ponting was dropped from the team for poor performance in last five ODIs. In a very light hearted manner, in a sense trying to mock at it, I decided to share that to my wider virtual, social network. One of my friends commented,

something to be sad bout .... people are calling for sachin's odi retirement as well .... all news channels debating this ..... wats ur call on it ???

And this is not the first time I am hearing this question. This is not the first time people are discussing it.

In recent past, I have read quite a lot about Sachin, his form, the 100th century, etc. Read a lot of advices from the Whos and Whos and the Huh? Who The Hell Are Yous of Cricket. Well some (read very few) think he should go on, the majority wants him to retire.

I find it very funny and annoying at the same time. You may now begin to feel that I am biased, but let me make it very clear, though I am a big fan of his like you and the person sitting next to you, at the same time I do try to talk sensibly at times. People who know my obsession for Sachin well enough, also know that I have been very critical too.

Anyways, let me come back to what I intended to discuss - my views, my answer to if Sachin should retire.

Of Course, he should, he has to, there is no other choice. He is a human and the law of nature dictates he age and wear out. This should ideally and most probably will have a direct impact on his performance. He has to definitely retire. 

The worth of that question doesn't lie in the 'if', it does in the 'when'. So as I said earlier, majority of those who can and cannot spell Sachin Tendulkar correctly are of the opinion that he should retire now. There could be quite a few possibilities for their opinion

1. They might be hopeful of getting a chance to play for the country in his place.

2. They are relatives of an upcoming, hard working cricketer.

3. They are totally jealous.

4. They may have retired earlier and so they want to have the esteemed company of The Master.

5. They think that him continuing is not good for the team.

6. They think he is doing bad for the team.

7. They are saying just because everyone is saying - the spirit of togetherness!

8. They want him to score 100th 100 which he has not been able to for quite some time.

Of the 8 points above, I am the most concerned about 5th and 6th because all others are possible reasons whereas these two are allegations.

So for all those who want Sachin to retire now because of any reason other than the 5th and 6th point, well, Sir, I respect your opinion, you are entitled to have one, just that I disagree with yours.

I personally think that Sachin should retire when either

1. He thinks he should retire, or

2. When we are sure that he is the worst in the lot and there are 11 others who can perform better than him and also have the confidence of doing the same.

and not when you or me sit with a group of friends watching a match and coach each and every player on each and every ball via satellites using shouting in front of a TV as the starting point.

I would want each one of us including the cricket legends to answer honestly, if we are being too harsh on him maybe just because our team as a whole is taking a beating? No? Do you really think Tendulkar retiring now will change it? Aren't we expecting more than what one single person in a team of 11 is capable of? He has not been amongst the runs as much as we would have expected to be for quite some time, but then what has Sehwag done in this series? What have the "youngsters" in the form of Raina or Rohit Sharma done in the current ODI series?

Do we suddenly think that none of these three also have any talent or caliber?

Let us go a bit in recent past and then a little more. There has been an axe on the neck of other 2 men that define Indian Cricket, moreso, The Cricket, Test Cricket - Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. We think these people should retire now too. Why? Because they did not perform as expected in Australia, India was white washed. 

This same Dravid was being seen as a HERO when he was the only one who stood tall, as always like a wall in England. I clearly remember that one image of the scorecard doing rounds everywhere on the social network that showed Dravid opening the innings for India in some test match and then going on to play even with number 11. We now want this same Dravid to retire because of not being able to perform in the very next series.

Oh Come On! Be Realistic. Don't just say a 2 digit number, their age, is reason enough to make them retire. Appreciate the experience that comes along and what it has translated into - Class!

The point I make here is that just because Sachin similarly has not been amongst the runs or let me put it bluntly, hasn't been able to score the 100th century you all are looking forward to doesn't mean he should retire now. Sachin, at present, is clearly not the "worst of the lot" and neither do we surely have 11 players who we can be confident, will perform better than if we were to give one of those 11 spots to Tendulkar. Scenario 2 thus, should rest in peace.

Let me discuss a little more about the magical figure of 100 * 100. Oh, surely you ought to be obsessed with that figure as it has that single numeral that we Indians discovered, four times out there! Also, the symmetry. That is it. There is nothing else magical about that figure. A 99 centuries is no less an achievement than if he scores another one. Besides it is stupid to add up number of centuries scored in two very different forms of cricket. If you continue adding up like this, I am sure he must have scored a 1000, 99 in international cricket, some in Ranjis, some in school, some in a hostel, some in the gully in front of the house, who knows, maybe some in book cricket? Also, add to it the centuries that he has made in the games that we were playing sitting on our couch, controlling a character with his name via a remote control.

In a nutshell, I say, the obsession with 100 centuries is stupid.

We don't need it, we just want it. More badly than anyone else. And unfortunately, he hasn't been able to deliver what we "want" and so maybe he should retire now. Yeah right!

I agree to one of the points I read in some other post, that post the world cup last year, he is playing ODIs once again, and him choosing to play some and let go of some others. Well I agree, it is not the best thing to do. But at the same time I also feel that maybe the pressure and the hype of the figure I just called 'magical' (because that is what you think of it) has indeed taken a toll on him and maybe, I say maybe he just wants to fast forward from 99 to 101. I may have sounded totally senseless, but then I think it could be, it could be the case. The reasons are best known to him and the team management though.

In the end, a request. Everybody, please leave him alone, we all know what he has done for us and the country, we all know what he is capable of, we all can accept he knows himself the best. Let him decide when he has to retire, because in any other possibility, you have no logical explanation to make him retire now, like in next 5 minutes. Why can't we appreciate that perhaps is presence helps in grooming the youngsters better?

Just because he has not been able to deliver on your expectations, doesn't mean he should go. Go Now. No.

He is talent enabled by sheer hard work topped with confidence personified in a human packaged all over with class. See him, appreciate him, forgive him and for now, leave him!

Sad demise of Indian Cricket?

We are the Champions?

The World Champions?

Also, one of the best Test Teams in the world?

Is it? Obviously Yes! We are. But is it true only for our soil?

Do we fail anywhere outside? Do we fail miserably in our 'tests' on foreign soil?

It hasn't really been the case to this extreme until the recent past.

I was very disappointed when my team, which made me and every Indian proud by lifting The World Cup last year after 28 yrs, was thrashed and could do nothing but submit in England. There is anyways some not-so-soft-corner somewhere inside me for the English, for they ruled us and did what not (according to the History Books I studied in school). And whatever happened in England last year hurt me deep inside.

I was so eagerly waiting to see my favourtie cricketer, The God of Cricket, The Sachin Tendulkar to score The Special Century right there, at The Mecca of Cricket, The Lord's. Sadly, that didn't happen. I told myself, if not first, then it will be in second innings, and likewise, if not this match, then the next. The wait just continued. In any case, I agree, it is just a number. But I still wanted it in Lord's, his first there, if it would have been.

Nonetheless, it is OK, that it did not happen. But what really bruised me was our dismal batting performance. The Batting performance of The Team with not only a strong batting lineup, but applaudable bench strength as well (possibly for the first time ever since I have started watching cricket). And to rub it in, was the constantly publicised, omnipresent fact, that my team had failed to score more than 300 even once! One man stood tall, The Wall, but all he could see from the other end, was one after the other wicket fall.

All over Facebook, Twitter, News Channels, News Papers, and Real World almost everyone was criticising almost everything about my team but honestly, I still believed that they would do better in the next innings and the next, maybe the next after next but that did not happen. This sad chapter is still lying inside me in a corner that I did not wish to visit anymore.

Sadly, I did today. What made me do that is perhaps a pessimist view of the near future when, hope-not, we fail that bad or even worse, again. Everything now seems to be exactly the same - My expectation of The Master to score The Special Century at the MCG, then if not in first innings then maybe the next, then maybe the next match, and here I stand in the present. Another batting collapse in the first innings at the SCG, where The Cricket God averaged 221 before this match (making me all the more excited in anticipation of witnessing history being written).

You ask me again, and I will again say, it is not the failure to reach that magical figure by The Sachin that is bothering me. I will be brutally honest, it is what is happening, the collapse. OK, I can accept Sehwag doing only what he has managed to do, I can accept Gambhir going through a bad phase perhaps, but it is very very hard for me to hear, see, digest the failure of The Wall and The Very Very Special Man in Australia.

How are we managing a batting collapse yet again? Bad pitch, unfavourable conditions maybe, but then how does one of the weakest Australian side in 15 years pile up runs on the scorecard, that including a century and a maiden test double hundred. It is frustrating, upsetting, disappointing to say the least.

Well of course, there are positives that even I see in this series like our Captain always does. For one, The Master looks in good touch. And then, Ashwin knows how to use the bat.

But isn't it time to seek answers to reasons for failure overseas and do something about it, rather than just keep "looking at positives" and "not being bothered about a loss or two". Of course, I believe my team is already doing that and are perhaps also trying out things but after seeing today's play there are bad visuals haunting me.

Someone like Ponting who was going through, perhaps, the worst phase of his batting career quite recently, is standing strong, playing better and better and better in every knock, while I sit and see The Wall not having reached even 100 in the 3 innings and The Laxman who has a history of giving sleepless nights to all Australians, having played a prank on them thrice, scoring a total of 5 in this series till date.

I hate myself today for even accepting that we are good, perhaps the best, only on our soil and that I accept defeat already. "Hate" because, after all I should support my country, patriotism, etc. But then, of course this is the outcome of what has happened since the England Tour. It is the heart vs. mind game, wherein my heart overruled all that my mind said during the England series. Of course, the outcome of that series has subdued my heart to an extent that it is not even contesting and standing up against what my mind is saying now.

And now for the icing on the cake (read: rubbing salt into wounds), one of my friends who is in Australia gave me an account of what he is going through - being mocked at on the streets. Not only this, he says, at times when he calls up his manager at work to say "application is down" he gets a reply saying "wall is down.. so is tendulkar" (sic).

Sigh, let me try and end this frustration and disappointment initiated chain reaction of blabbering with my Heartadramus prediction - The Heroes will Rise, it will get better, this match ends in a draw and it improves exponentially from there on.

Sorry to break it for your hearts, I am laughing at what I wrote in the last line. We are all set to lose this one.

And yes, maybe I am taking all this too seriously and making a big deal out of this, but well if you don't, I am sorry you wasted your time reading this, it wasn't for you.

When Wallace was the menace

The last time Pakistan and West Indies played in a major trophy in Bangladesh was way back in 1998, in the champions trophy quarter final.

Pakistan were the favorites. But there was a West Indian batsman who had some plans of his own. Nope, it was not Lara. It was the burly West Indies opener Philo Wallace. The Barbadian went barbaric and smashed the likes of Wasim Akram, Azhar Mahmood and Saqlain all over the park after Lara won the toss and elected to bat. By the time he was run out, he had scored 79 off 58 balls and West Indies' run-rate was over 7 after 20 overs. Despite a mini-collapse, Shiv (the only member from that game in the current squad) made sure that West Indies reach a more than respectable 289. A total which could have been much more, given the start. Pakistan were never in the hunt even though the margin of victory was only 30 runs for the Windies.

Philo Wallace then smashed India in the semi-final for a quickfire 50 starting with a first-ball six of Srinath. In the final, he hit South Africa for a 103 off 102 balls. Quite ironic that he just disappeared from the international scene after that and hence not many remember him.

West Indies will want Gayle to do a Wallace and pray to Shiv to provide the calming influence he did some 13 years back!

India's World cup squad and the Australian open- Fighting Sania loses to Henin

So, here is the world cup squad for the world cup for India

MS Dhoni (capt & wk) -
Icy Cold Captain. I like the way he does not celebrate after we pick up a crucial wicket, or even after victories. Accused of trying to include CSK players, though I think that's rubbish. With a weakish bowling line-up, his captaincy will be tested again.

Sachin Tendulkar - His last World cup and surely there is a world cup written in his fate........Surely that is why the final is in Wankhede and (not in Kolkata).....An unbeaten century from the little master in the final to take India to a victory........
Man of the series of 2003 WC. Was asked to retire by many, (most famously by Ian Chappel and his 'mirror mirror on the wall' statement). Quite amazingly, has enjoyed his best years of cricket since then.
Is definitely going to retire from ODIs after the world cup

Virender Sehwag - Not much to say. There is only one way he plays.

Gautam Gambhir - He gives us that extra bit of steel. Not one to back off or hold back with the bat and also with his mouth. Plays the short ball well (unlike a few others in our line-up), got a good temperament in big chases.

Yuvraj Singh - Some question marks about his selection. But, I do feel we need him. Has the art of Pacing the innings. Will be an integral part coming in at 4/5 as India will try to maintain the lefty/righty combinations. His bowling could be more than a bonus.

Suresh Raina - Ideally he should come in after the 30th over, as then it will be like a T20 game for him! I don't think he should be as automatic a selection as he is since his ability to play long innings is yet to be proven.

Virat Kohli - Another one who can pace his innings. So that makes it Sachin, Dhoni, Gambhir, Yuvraj and him who can pace their innings in chases.
With a weak bowling line-up and flat pitches, bowling first could well be our mantra for the world cup.

Yusuf Pathan - He will battle for a place in the team with Raina. To be fair to him, Raina is as inconsistent as him. His bowling is better than Raina's. But, overall a tough call between the two. I do prefer Baroda man as he gives us the X-Factor.

Harbhajan Singh -

Praveen Kumar - Can swing the ball both ways. The last significant ODI trophy we won was the VB series in Australia 2007-08. He was instrumental in us winning the two VB series finals. His batting comes handy down the order. If fit, will be an automatic selection

Zaheer Khan - His form will be one of the keys for us. Except for the 2003 World Cup, the world cup winner has had the highest wicket taker. I dont think any of our bowlers will end up with the highest wickets (I hope I am wrong), but his form will be vital.

Ashish Nehra & Munaf Patel
Dont inspire a great deal of confidence, both Nehra and Patel. Both are sloppy fielders, and both cant really hold a bat. Since they are very similar, only one of them should have been in the squad. Which one? I dont know.

Piyush Chawla - Is he our wild card? I would think so. I do like his attitude. Has also been the stand out performer for Kings XI Punjab. But he has not played for 2 and a half years. Maybe, that might work in our favour. Will he be in the XI, a lot depends on the wicket we will play on. Interesting selection, and one that I am in favor of.

R Ashwin - Another interesting selection. Might play if the opposition is stacked with lefties. Could also be used by Dhoni in the opening overs since our fast bowlers leak too many runs in the first fifteen. Another selection that I do approve, since he has a lot of variations in his pace and flight.


Australian Open' 11

The raw power of Sania Mirza lost to the efficiency, deft touch, one-handed back hand and the fitness of Henin in the first round of the first grand slam of 2011. The 141st ranked India, who was the most googled-for tennis player last year (after her marriage with Shoaib Malik), won the first set 7-5. It was pretty neck and neck in the second before she lost 6-3. She ran out of steam completely in the third to lose 6-1. She has, unluckily, been pitted against the top players in a lot of these slams. I remember the 2005 Wimbledon when she lost to Kuznetsova.

Elsewhere the top seeds went through easily- including Federer, Berdych, Roddick, Del Potro, Nadal and Murray. Soderling is also on his way to a win.

Test cricket, India Vs Australia

Wow! What a Frenetic end to a fabulous test match. Australia held all the aces at lunch on day 5 if they dint already the beginning of the day. But India had the joker of the pack to turn the game on its head. Unbelievable scenes at Mohali when Ojha turned the ball to fine leg two most crucial runs he did not score in his life (they were leg byes!!) There were a paltry 15000 spectators to witness one of the best test matches in India. Nowhere near the the massive crowds drawn by IPL. Ian Chappell, for once, seems to be correct.

He said "People say India is a cricket-crazy nation. India is not a
cricket-crazy nation. They are a star-crazy nation"

Laxman, meanwhile, continues to amaze us. It is hardly surprising that in a nation that is more "star-crazy" than "cricket-crazy" that his efforts are so much undermined. He was determined and fired up, yet calm and composed except for one moment when young Ojha went for a "walk in the park". Yet another half-century under pressure, yet another gem against the Aussies, yet another battling effort with the tail. Ishant Sharma, what a turn around for him. Started the test match the worst possible manner and forced off the field. Comes back, picks up three crucial wickets and scores 31 crucial runs.

Ponting still waits for the first win on Indian soil. He injured himself in 2004 when Gilchrist led them to a series victory. In 2008, India bt Australia in a four-test series.

What a shame that this is only a two-test series. In fact, originally we were supposed to have seven ODIs and no tests before the BCCI realized that India could lose the number one position in test cricket and made it a 2-test, 3 ODI tour. The timing of the visit is also questionable. On the one hand, we have the biggest sporting event held in Indian history going on in Delhi (the common wealth games). Ad then, here you are, with the biggest test series of the modern era going on at the same time. BCCI is such an idiot! They are also an idiotic bully! They say no to UDRS and ICC has no option but to not have it. India almost paid the price with the Ishant Sharma dismissal. While the UDRS is not always correct and conclusive, there is no doubt that there are fewer incorrect decisions with the UDRS.

Enough of that. Lets enjoy the Indian victory for the moment!!

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.

Win by a no-ball

Cricket in the 80s and 90s seems to be so much more interesting than what it is today......

Here is an interesting story:

"I remembered Norman Gifford's no ball which made india win madras test in 1973 !!:)

India had to struggle to get the 86 runs to win. Both Engineer and Chauhan, who opened, as Gavaskar was nursing a finger injury, were back for 11 runs. Wadekar edged Old for a knee high catch to Greig in the slips but as umpire Mamsa did not at once uphold the appeal, there was some unseemly demonstration by some of the fieldsmen when Lewis showed a firm hand. The umpire, apparently unsighted by Old cutting across in his follow-through, upheld the appeal after consulting his colleague. Thirty-two for two at stumps, India hit off the runs about half-an-hour before lunch on the next day through a no-ball delivered by Gifford. Pocock, bowling into the same end as Prasanna on the previous evening, caused a fright but hard-hitting by Durani, who slammed two timely 6's, and firm batting by Pataudi saw India home."

sources....G.Nadarajan


Here is the scorecard..............makes for an interesting reading

http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/33/33050.html

The Racial Overtures ...The World Champions..

It happened finally ...after a lull of what it seems a century ,english team has finally pulled the rabbit from the hat and won a world event in a game that seemingly they taught the world and forgot themselves.What a win for UK...

How often it has happened and how often it comes to light ?...Indian athletes were meted out a horrible treatment in UK.What a loss for UK...

Both the incidents above reflects the sport culture as of today.The first marks the transition of the English cricket team from their famous batting collapses,lack of adventerous(traditional) cricket.The men from the english shores were almost out of the tournament (thanks to rain gods),but the way they came back was exemplary.World cricket needed the genitor of the game to come aboard the ship of change and become a force to reckon with.And how well they have done it.Conquering the might of aussies in the finale might seem to many as a lucky shot,but the impression england gave was of a growing avalanche with more and more snow adding on as it rolled on to its victory,whereas the aussies resembled more like a vicious storm now cooling off,out of steam.And look at the transition in some of the english players.They looked their alien self.Stuart broad can now broadly grin and can have a good laugh about that penultimate over 3 years ago.The performance here would easily overshadow the double evil`s number he had to show for in the stats of his one over then.KP stamped his class over the tournament with some brilliantly crafted knocks one after other.Eoin morgan steered the ship through some tempests and has earned plaudits for the maturity he has shown even from the opposite ranks.

The win not only breaks the hegemony of the asian countries in world t20,but also raptures the aussie dominance in world cricket as well renders them void of the only trophy missing from their stacked glory shelves.Now the english team can bury the hatchet of not winning an international cricketing event after coming so close in the Second world cup of 1979,again in 1987,again in 1992 and then in the champions trophy where two tailenders from west indies made them accept silver.Rising from the ashes english team took the glory in this edition of world t20 ,and they would look forward to conquering the world(read australia)in the Ashes this year to tip the icing on the cake.

When a indian is insulted abroad,we feel bad.And when a indian sportsperson is insulted,is castigated just for his colour,we feel blood rising to our brain.But let us look at this incident in complete isolation from emotions.Indian athletes were supposed to be ferried by a bus to their destination,a right they were denied.Learning from the horse`s mouth,indian players were misbehaved by the caretaker staff as well.This incident is very unfortunate and mars the sporting spirit.Indian athletes, who are more often than not (if you arent playing cricket) are meted out a pathetic treatment by the local sports authorities in the level of amenities(financial and structural) are not guaranteed fair treatment at world/international events,then i think its time that india increases its clout in the international sports arena.As in cricket we have successfully made the rest of the world listen and address our redressals,same should be done here also.Also the recent diktat by the government to fix the serving tenure of the head honchos of the sports authorities is a welcome move.Too long have these old bureaucrates denied the players their rights and have wielded unjust levels of power.They have leeched the best of the talents by infusing corrupt and illogical practices.The athletes should be properly compensated for their troubles and to make sure such incident doesnt repeat itself we ask the indians residing there in other countries to do the hospitality.( they are aplenty everywhere and would be delighted to do so)

And here i would like to take my opportunity to congratulate possibly one of best sportsman india has and will produce,Vishy...

vishwanathan Anand on winning the world title in chess and making all of us proud.Keep moving the pieces...

India's T20 WC 2010 Debacle - Who is to blame?

Today is the final of T20 world cup between Australia and England. India got out of the cup 4-5 days ago and since then every news channel is discussing the reasons for the loss and making their own predictions regarding who will be out of the team and who will be retained. From late night brawl in West Indies in which Nehra is accused of misbehaving with the others people in the bar to Kirsten one-o-ones with 7 players, everything is being debated day and night in media.

Here are few reasons which I feel are responsible for India’s debacle.

IPL

I don’t think 14 matches are responsible for India’s loss in world cup, not even IPL parties. IPL matches used to end at around 11.30 so what if players came to a party for 1-2 hours to relax and enjoy. Players are expected to be professional and if they feel that they bodies can’t handle the glamour of girls and drinks of IPL Nights they should have controlled themselves. This is at least expected from senior players. IPL nights might have done harm to younger players. Arjun Rampal’s wife the organizer of IPL nights might have said that players were not forced attend the parties but I think their owners might have pushed them to attend these. Sachin could say no to these parties because he is Sachin no player can dare to fight against the BCCI, if you dare to fight you will be kicked out for sure.

Illogical traveling around the country for the matches is the main reason for fatigue and tiring bodies. If a team is playing match in Bangalore schedule should be made such that if plays its following matches in Chennai, Hyderabad so that traveling is less.

Dhoni has given an invalid reason of IPL nights being responsible for the failure.

Team Selection:

I am not lover of BCCI infact all useless sports bodies of India being run by old politicians who I am sure would not clearly know the rules of the sports for whose body they are head.Chief selector is ambassador of Chennai Super Kings, Srinivasan secretary of BCCI is owner of CSK are they working for BCCI of CSK.

Bindra is handling a big Punjab lobby. Arun Jaitely head of Delhi cricket association. n number of politicians are head of their respective sports bodies why because cricket has money and power simple.

Punjab lobby pushed for Chawla as a spinner in Indian team despite the fact that Pragyan Ojha and Mishra. Robin Uthappa is getting huge sympathy votes for not getting selected despite being in from. Sehwag was fit to play matches in IPL but as they were kicked out of IPL he got injured, its clear he wanted to make money playing IPL matches he should have the guts to say that he is injured during the IPL tournament. He clearly put DD over ICC World Cup.

Yuvraj who is now filled with fatty acids and loads of chicken tikka should have been dropped, he is so sad after being kicked out of captaincy of Kings X1 team that he has started eating chicken in breakfast , lunch and dinner.

Shortpitch Delivery

In the last WC we failed against the short pitch balls, this time it also happened. We are vulnerable since time immemorial against the short ball. Its just the last 4-5 years when greats like Sachin, Dravid , Laxman were there in Indian team who could handle short ball easily that opponents stopped using the weapon.

We need to practice for these type of deliveries, point is we don’t have time to practice. BCCI wants to mint as much money as possible by playing use less tournaments against Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Srilanka again and again. We have played I think every second month against SriLanka in the past year. Thanks to India being no-1 in test that BCCI now is trying hard to convert 7 ODI series to 2 test 3 odi wherever its possible but to BCCI it’s a loss of huge revenue as ODI gets more ads. Weren’t the BCCI a charitable body who is evading taxes since many years and filling their coffins?

When the player can go to National Cricket Academy to practice?

Poor Fielding and Running between wickets:

Outfield is very slow in west indies and one needs to run fast b/w the wickets but Indians players are adapted to hitting 4s in flat pitches in India. There was no practice match or time to practice in WI so we couldn’t adapt. Who is at fault again here – BCCI.

Player Fatigue:

We play lots of matches round the year. In 90's we were playing 35-40 ODI's are year and now we are playing lot of T20's ODIs round the year. Tours after tours is the routine , we will be playing in Triangular series in Zimbabwe, Asia Cup in Dambulla, Test series again in Sri Lanka , Triangular Series with NZ , SL in August. Australia coming to India and what not.

Ok we can't lesson the tours so lets make a bigger pool of players lets rotate them but that is also not possible till now. Players want to play as much as possible as you never know when you get kicked out, Fear of BCCI. ODI teams are not getting selected on basis of IPL performance which is wrong. Where is our bench strength. How many India A team tours to Australia , England , NZ took place in last 2 years. If same 15-18 players are playing so much cricket they will obviously get tired and fatigued, lets enlarge the pool and try to start rotation policy.

Indian crowd also need to understand that these are players not super humans. Saying that they keep on doing ads, party a lot and not play at all is wrong. Its good they lost now they will focus on test cricket which is the best.

Its very sad that we are having very less test matches when we have players like Sachin, Dravid , Laxman. Australia plays 8-10 tests a year and we should have used given these great players lot more chance to play test cricket in these years.

Its time to celebrate Vishy victory again, its a very big achievement to beat Topalov in his home. Indian hockey team is also performing well reaching the finals of Azlan Shat Tournament , today is the final.

Dark Clouds over Major Events in India

Concern of security is affecting sports events on regularly basis. Thanks to Indian Government for their efforts to alleviate the fears which have increased since IPL committee decided to host the event in South Africa as we didn't have enough police/army/nsg/crpf to give the security cover. Country with 3/4th largest army and big police force can't provide security cover to common people, that is for politicans only. 

GOI expected that BCCI will postpone the event but Modi was able to do a turnaround and get the event hosted in SA which will benifit hugely with the coming event.

But that decision as I also wrote earlier has put India-Pakistan-Bangladesh-Sri Lanka at same platform in terms of security concerns. Events are getting affected or main players are not turning up due to fear factor.

• Players from the European Nations particularly from the Badminton powerhouse countries like England,Denmark pulled out from the India Open Badminton (Hyderabad 2009) due to security concerns. Hyderabad is due to host world badminton championship in August this year
  
• ASIAN billiards is also hit by fears, players from countries Pakistan, Malaysia, South Korea and Iraq have pulled out from asian billiards and asian u-21 snooker championship.
• Davis Cup tie against Australia is already under threat after Lleyton Hewitt  raised concerns of having event in India during elections timings. 

I feel its not the terrorists who have held the common public to ransom its the politicans and elections which have held us to ransom. You have to vote its a biggest democratic exercise of the world with 700 million voting. 

Democracy is government for the people and by the people so the biggest elections are putting my National Pride at stake Why ?? . Image of my India is taking a beating. 

I guess the time has come to think What we have done for the country not What the politicians have done and are doing. 

Time for young guns to come over not those who spread communal voilence ...... 

Indian Premier League in England/SA gains and losses

So finally we saw yesterday what we all were expecting since long. IPL governing body decided that there is no way the tournament can be organized in India. It was decided that tournament will be shifted to England or SA with England having upper edge.

Why BCCI had to take this decisions:

1. Petty politics between NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Congress and congress trying to diminish the clout of Mr Pawar after he offered himself as PM candidate

2. Government of India thought that the returns of organizing the event will be less at the time of elections.

3. Why take the risk of any unexpected terrorist attack which may raise questions on the running government. Lets get it scrapped or push for delay

4. Fear among the politicans that they may be sidelined duing the IPL season, i.e cricketers will be the heroes not the great nation servers politicans.

What is lost with IPL going out:

1. Big opportunity to the political parties to advertise duing the IPL season. 

2. Revenue for reeling Hotel industry, and other tourism related industry. If the even had gone peacefully lot many foreigners would have stared coming back to India who have stopped after Mumbai  attacks.

3. Image of India as a powerful country has taken a hit. Elections elections are the biggest festival but that doesn't mean that no other event can take place during this time. This is not what superpowers are made up of. We cant even have 3000-4000 police force for the match day where as we can have big 60,000 police force to protect any big small medium politicans in New Delhi.

4. Feeling of city-city rivalry which was the base of IPL will not be the same. IPL-1 was hit due the big city fan following TV viewing being the other reason.

5. This decision has put India together with Pakistan and Bangladesh which are not save for cricket.

What's good for having IPL outside India:

1. Eventhough the sport may go the England or SA, still we can expect a upliftment in the level of game in that region and also increase in fan following. EPL organizers are trying to have 1-2 matches added in the season which can be played outside England so as to cater to fans in Asia, in the same way with whole of IPL going out of India we may see an increase in fan following. It may make IPL fully global in a way and may lead to cricket being played by more then 8-9 serious countries

2. Logistics industry will get a boost in the organizing country.

3. Easy money for organizing country as BCCI will pay hefty amount to SA/England

4. We are seeing globalization in cricket now, there are no boundary walls now as a local tournament of one country will take place in other country.

Some people will say they will not watch the matches, it will not be the same as last year. But i feel this was the only way out considering the options left to the organizers. 

Enjoy the game at same timings atleast and i will be glued to the TV that is for sure.

Rock Stars of Cricket

Rock stars of cricket are on fire. Critics might argue that we were expected to win. Agreed, man to man India is any day much better team than New Zealand. But the way of winning is something which I loved the most. Right from the time the first ball was bowled to the 4th day, we never really looked like losing. There was an air of certainty in the way we played, much like the aussies of late 90’s , when no matter what the opposition team does , end result was always certain.

Sachin Tendulkar says this is the best batting line up he was played in, quite a debatable claim considering the fact Tendulkar was part of every Indian batting line up for past 20 years. In my humble opinion, I think he is probably right , but the dada’s boys of early 2000 comes quite close to them. The factor in which this bunch of boys scores over dada ones was probably the fear factor. These guys are just fearless, I have been following cricket for now more than 15 years and I have never seen an Indian team which plays with so much confidence, fearlessness and the enjoying the game as they do. May be it’s a there captain effect (cool and charismatic), means he is an enigmatic personality , he is not a technically correct batsmen, not even technically correct Wicket keeper , neither he is pretty too watch (in fact that bottom hand approach is quite ugly to watch) , but still he is damm effective. Look at his career development , he started off as an exciting batsmen who can smash sixes at will , people says he is a flat pitch bully, will never work against good pace attack or on bouncy pitches. But he proved everyone wrong, he scores decently in every situation, is very reliable batsmen (perhaps after SRT, especially in ODI) but most importantly has got one hell of a cricketing brain, the most important thing for a good captain.

Other factor which is makes this team more ominous is the role of SRT, u can sense a calm, relaxed person in the way he bats now a days, a person who is dead sure of his role in the team, he might have cut down on his flamboyance a bit, but the new methods are as effective as the old ones. Also the presence of so many rock stars have resulted in lowering of expectation from him, thus making him plan his cricket in the way he wants to.

Anyway, it’s really a great feeling to have a winning cricket team, I don’t really know whether we are currently the best team or not, but we are very close to it; probably SA with their wonderful pace attack and a very good captain might be ahead of us. But these are really exciting team for world cricket with some good hard competition making it really good to watch.

Sehwag Fastest Century in NZ : 4th ODI

Here are the highlights of the 4th ODI of the India-NZ series 2009. Sehwag made a 60 ball century and lead to a historic series win of India. This is the first series win for India in NZ.

India Batting::

Kapil Dev :: Straight From the Heart

On telling someone in an interview that I loved reading autobiographies, the interviewer asked me have I read anything about Kapil Dev. I replied a no !! making a sad face. I ordered his autobiography "Straight From the Heart" the same day.

Kapil Dev is Dhoni of Old era or that would be injustice to great legend, I would say Dhoni is Kapil of new era. Both have few similarities being brought up in non cricketers producing states of India and both lifted the world cup in earlier stages of their captaincy.

Book start with memories of Kapil's childhood days. Kuckoo as he was known in his family was into sports and atheletics since his childhood and was as away from his studies as is Jammu is away from Kanyakumari. Playing whole day not cricket but football, coming back home and pretending to sleep in front of his father so that he is not scolded for studying. But as we know father is father how much we say child is father of his father. He got trapped when his father used to say this football is torn and it should be thrown away. In a flash Kuckoo was awake and his father used to say "Hmm t rajkumar jaag rahe hain. Ab jaag hi rahe hain, to inse kahye ki thode der baithkar padhaai kar leing... Nautanki kahi ka...."

Just like any other Indian family where children are pushed to only study and study same was the case in Kuckoo's family. Kapil loved challenges and he writes one incident of trying to get on the back of police horses who were not used to clumsy boys. He was successful after few attempts and he takes the police horses away and is caught by his father.

Kapil was as ignorant about cricket as most of the Indians are about Ice Hockey. He used to ask his brother about players when his big brother used to read a cricket magazine.

Kapil used to get irritated when his bother disturbed his sleep listening to cricket commentary in the night. He is introduced to playing cricket by his brother Bushan when one of their team member is absent and Kapil is used in place of 11th player. He showed his fielding skills and impressed everyone. His natural talent is again seen by eveyone when in other match his 4 hits in 5 balls are out of boundary and during bowling he also took 3 wickets. On being encouraged by his brother Kuckoo decides that cricket is his future.


Kapil starts his coaching under coach Azad and is asked to increase his stamina by drinking more and more milk. His dad gets two buffaloes in few days and so he became a milk guzzler as was teased by his sister as Nikhanj Milk Diary. He coaches with other cricketers Yograj Singh, Ashok Malhotra. Kuckoo was assertive and fought for his writes, he writes about an incident where he fought with BCCI officials over food quantity in under-19 camp.

Finally his efforts pay off and he makes his debut under Bishen Singh bedi in Pakistan. He has never watched test match before and here is making his debut against arch rivals Pakistan. He feels the bad side of international cricket when he is teased while batting, but his moment infact moment for India came when bowling Pakistani batsman halts the play and ask for a helmet. So here is a fast bowler who has arrived to prove to the world that India can also produce fast bowlers.

He writes about how less money players got and they couldn't afford to get their clothes washed and they used to wash it themselves. He also writes about the divide in the team among seniors and juniors and how the divide wanished when young crickters came and stopped following orders from seniors and asked for equal rights in decision making. He writes about his and gavaskar spat , various tours and World Cup in details. He also writes about BCCI's nature of changing captain every now and then and how little say the players had in BCCI working.

I enjoyed reading about his 175 run knock against Zimbabwe and world cup final. Its exhilariting to read how a team who is at 66-1 odds from beginning of the cup and also the final lifts the world cup. Its an era when BCCI doesn't give lakhs to a team winning world cup but it has to organize a Lata Mangeshkar show to earn money to give to the world cup winning team.

Book is different from other autobiographies in a way that it has not covered only Kapil cricket but also separate chapters are given to his marriage , matchfixing scandal. He talks in detail about his business, he first started a publishing company but has to close that down with the coming up of satellite telivision in India. Later on he started a ground lighting company which has lighted many stadiums across the country.

Till 200 pages there is no talk of marriage, but in chapter "Love Makes you go round" he talks at length about his marriage and love life. I liked the chapter in which he talks about BCCI, honorary presidentship , biased zonal selection. All this is all relevant today and has been going on for ages, one can easily see the biased selection on seeing Balaji in the team as we know Balaji shares state with one of the selectors.

Finally he talks about the Match Fixing saga, cricket fan will surely hate outlook editor Vinod Mehta who without doing proper enquiry kept on publishing what Manoj Prabhakar said about Kapil's involvement. Other one is noted women writer Shobha De who has written in some article like "She never invites cricketers to her party’’. ’’How can She deduce that all cricketers are involved?’’ is what Kapil wants to know. And what to say about another great Mr Bindra Punjab Cricket Board chief who has seen kapil playing and growing in front of him naming Kapil on cnn. You feel sorry for Kapil when you read things like this. You feel like this is not the way to treat people who have brought laurels to nation.

You will enjoy reading about 83 world cup, 175 against zimbabwe, azar and kapil relationship, wisden Indian cricketer of century award, sunil gavaskar and kapil dev saga , romi his wife and her wierd behavior during the 83 final.

Must read for any one who says he is Indian cricket fan

public class IndianCricket :: Method shouldSachinRetire

For Sachin Fans :-)

public class IndianCricket {

// constructor

public IndianCricket() {
System.out.println("Welcome to IndianCricket. This class give output of should sachin retire or not");

}

public void shouldSachinRetireOrNot() {
// if will be decided by 3 categories of people media, fans and sachin himself.
mediaJudgement();
fansJudgement();
sachinJudgement();
}

private void mediaJudgement() {

// get sachin last 5 scored and calculate average and then analyse.

int sachinLastFiveScores = ICC_Data(Sachin);

int average = sachinLastFiveScores/5;

if(average < 30)

System.out.println("Sachin has gone old, he should retire and let youngsters be allowed to show their potential");

System.out.println("Is this the same Sachin we used to love !! No his time has gone now.");

}

else {

System.out.println("Sachin is a great player, he should carry on...");

}

// Get Result of India last five matches played and then analyse.

int indiaLastFiveMatchesResults = ICC_Data(India);

if(indiaLastFiveMatchesResults == Loss) {

System.out.println("Sachin has not won much for India!! He plays for himself");

System.out.println("Sachin always fails in big matches");

// they show some matches' details in which sachin has failed.

System.out.println("Here you can see the data how he has failed in big matches");

}

else {

System.out.println("Sachin is legend he has won India many matches !! India and we are proud of him");

}

if((average <>indiaLastFiveMatchesResults == Loss) ) {

String NDTV;

String CNN_IBN;

String India_TV;

String OtherNews;

NDTV= startWalkTheTalk("Should Sachin Retire Gracefully now? Discuss !! Barkha Dutt");

CNN_IBN = startFaceTheNation("Should Sachin Retire Gracefully now? Discuss !! Sagarika Ghosh");

India_TV = startDiscussion-with-Facts("yeh dekhiye sachin kaise pehle run banate the ab pata nahi kya ho gaya hai inko!! Kya yeh wahi sachin hai !! ");

OtherNews = start("Should he retire now!! Should BCCI selectors give some one younger a chance? ");

}

}

public int ICC_Data(String PlayerName_CountryName) {

return data;

}

public void fansJudgement() {

// fans will be divided into two categories true cricket lovers and evangelists and others just game watchers.

cricketEvangelists();

justGameWatchers();

}

public void cricketEvangelists() {

boolean anything;

if(Anything) {

// for cricket Evangelists

System.out.println("Sachin is a legend and he has done what no other player has done to India.");

System.out.println("He will retire by himself when he will feel his interests level is not the same");

System.out.println("We bow to sachin he is God");

}

}

public void justGameWatchers() {

if(India_Loosing) {

System.out.println("These players dont do anything! They dont practice hard");

System.out.println("They always do ads and roam around with celebrities");

System.out.println("Some fanatics will burn effigies of players");

}

if(Sachin_Not_Scoring) {

System.out.println("Sachin is old now he should retire");

System.out.println("Selectors should bring some new face");

} else {

System.out.println("Sachin is our hope and true hero");

System.out.println("We never miss him playing");

}

}

public void sachinJudgement() {

System.out.println("I will retire when my time will come! I am loving the game and enjoying it");

}

public static void main(String args[]) {

IndianCricket obj = new IndianCricket();

obj.shouldSachinRetireOrNot();

}

}

Some compilation errors may creep in :-)

India - Pakistan Rivalry will no longer the same

All of us remember Ajay Jadeja smashing Waqar Yunis all around the ground , Venkatesh Prasad showing Aamir Sohail direction of pavillion after getting him bowled, India loosing test match by 12 runs after Sachin got out. There are many such countless memories related to India and Paksitan matches.

Pakistan is the place where we got two great cricketers of all time. Kapil Dev made his debut under Bishen Singh Bedi in Pakistan and Sachin Tendulkar smashed great abdul quadir in the same country to signal his arrival in the cricketing world. 

Saeed Anwar smashed Indian bowling specially Anil Kumble all around to make 194 highest run score in ODI till now. No one can forget Anil Kumble taking perfect ten against our arch rivals at Kotla. People of Lahore and Pakistan in all welcoming the Indians when cricketing ties resumed after 12 years in late 90's. 

These are the memories which will come to every cricket lover mind when India Pakistan topic is thrown open. 

But things have changed in the past few years. India-Pakistan rivalry is no longer the same. We enjoy India-Australia and Australia-SA now. Pakistan is no longer the travelling destination for 

cricket teams. There are many cricketers who in their entire careers never travelled to that nation. Matthew Hayden is one of them. 

Pakistani players are no longer the same as they used to be before. They are portraying the changing mindset of the nation. My cricket loving elders never saw Pakistani players doing namaaz on the ground, having long beards. Imran Khan , Waqar Yunis and Majid Khan they all used to be clean shaven and they never mixed religious sentiments with gentleman's game. In the past 5-6 years we have seen cricketers with longish beards , starting their talks with long religious gestures, reflecting the true picture of pakistan. I am not saying its is wrong to be religious but it should be balanced properly with the game. 

We all know Pakistan is living in medieval times now. How some morons who potray themselves as saviour of Islam are ruining the nation. Women rights are no longer the same, I just heard in news that giving voter id cards to women is unislamic to certain extremists. 

Relationships no longer will be the same. Rivalry will never be the same again. India has moved far ahead of its neighbours both socially and economically. I dont see any one having the same emotions and feelings while watching India-Pakistan match if it ever takes place in future. 

Same thing might have happened during Russia-USA cold war era. No American can forget Bobby Fisher, but as America started moving ahead emotions were no longer the same.

We also now in the same stage we know that Pakistan is now a failed state waiting to erupt. Some people may say common public in Pakistan have suffered at the hands of failed army and politicians. But I believe general public is also at fault. What is elite educated class doing there, what are students doing there. Not all students are into this extremism thing. Pakistan needs a revolution and only students can bring that now. I am not going into details of whom to blame.

Point is sports between India-Pakistan will no longer be the same

I think you all will agree to this. 

IPL 2 : After Lahore Attacks :: Going Outside India ?

Attacks on Sri Lanakan cricketers have put clouds on IPL 2009. Investigations are going on in Lahore attacks, Umpires and Refree have questioned the security being provided to them. Chris Broad has said that they were left stranded when attacks we on. I saw CCTV footages on Indian News channels and was shocked to see how freely terrorists were moving towards their destination  without being stopped.  

Pakistan was quick to put blame on foreign hand as they always do. But these attacks has put doubts on the minds of players regarding playing in subcontinent. Some players have come out and said that they would not let terrorism win and they will play.

But there is a bigger problem Indian politicians and Government Of India. Respectable home minster raised the doubt by saying that he wants the event to be shifted after the elections. Other minsters and state governments came out and said , it would not be possible to provide safety cover during the elections. 

It came as a shocker to me , country of one billion plus don't have enough security personals to handle events during elections time. No this is not the reason actual reason which is bothering in the minds of our respectable politicians is that of limelite. 

During the IPL 2009 politicians feel that actual show will be carried out by cricketers not the the candidates.  So this might the fear in their minds. But these people dont understand that by questioning the security cover they are putting the long term perspective of India as a sports destination as a tourist destination in doubt.

When a country government says that they cant provide the security cover, what would anyone can expect from foreign country, will they send their players, tourists in the subcontinent? No

Think please politicians think for India atleast.  Why would they think as they need Z,Z+ etc covers?

IPL 2009 dates can be rescheduled as they are being done, but postponing is out of question. Matches can be held in catchment areas. If still Indian government and state government dont angry then Lalit Modi has rightly said that he will shift the IPL 2009 outside India to UAE or UK.

If IPL is cancelled or postponed or shifted outside, it will be a huge loss for the Indians. Around 1000 crores are at stake in the second season. 

Time is for us to put brave front and say we can host it and provide adequate security cover to Indians and Foreign Players both. 

What do you feel friends :-)

IPL 2009 Schedule

Date	Match	Venue	Time (IST)
April 10	Rajasthan Royals vs Delhi Daredevils	Jaipur	8pm
April 11	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Deccan Chargers	Kolkata	4pm
April 11	Chennai Super Kings vs Bangalore Royal Challengers	Chennai	8pm
April 12	Delhi Daredevils vs Kings XI Punjab	Delhi	4pm
April 12	Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals	Mumbai	8pm
April 13	Deccan Chargers vs Chennai Super Kings	Hyderabad	8pm
April 14	Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Kolkata Knight Riders	Bangalore	8pm
April 15	Kings XI Punjab vs Mumbai Indians	Mohali	8pm
April 16	Deccan Chargers vs Delhi Daredevils	Hyderabad	4pm
April 16	Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals	Chennai	8pm
April 17	Mumbai Indians vs Bangalore Royal Challengers	Mumbai	8pm
April 18	Kings XI Punjab vs Deccan Chargers	Mohali	4pm
April 18	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Daredevils	Kolkata	8pm
April 19	Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Rajasthan Royals	Bangalore	4pm
April 19	Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings	Mumbai	8pm
April 20	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kings XI Punjab	Kolkata	8pm
April 21	Delhi Daredevils vs Mumbai Indians	Delhi	8pm
April 22	Rajasthan Royals vs Deccan Chargers	Jaipur	8pm
April 23	Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Kings XI Punjab	Bangalore	8pm
April 24	Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders	Mumbai	8pm
April 25	Chennai Super Kings vs Kings XI Punjab	Chennai	4pm
April 25	Delhi Daredevils vs Bangalore Royal Challengers	Delhi	8pm
April 26	Deccan Chargers vs Mumbai Indians	Vizag	4pm
April 26	Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders	Jaipur	8pm
April 27	Kings XI Punjab vs Bangalore Royal Challengers	Mohali	8pm
April 28	Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Daredevils	Mumbai	8pm
April 29	Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders	Chennai	4pm
April 29	Kings XI Punjab vs Rajasthan Royals	Mohali	8pm
April 30	Deccan Chargers vs Bangalore Royal Challengers	Vizag	8pm
May 1	Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Daredevils	Chennai	8pm
May 2	Mumbai Indians vs Deccan Chargers	Mumbai	4pm
May 2	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals	Kolkata	8pm
May 3	Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Delhi Daredevils	Bangalore	4pm
May 3	Kings XI Punjab vs Chennai Super Kings	Mohali	8pm
May 4	Deccan Chargers vs Rajasthan Royals	Hyderabad	8pm
May 5	Delhi Daredevils vs Chennai Super Kings	Delhi	8pm
May 6	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians	Kolkata	4pm
May 6	Rajasthan Royals vs Kings XI Punjab	Jaipur	8pm
May 7	Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Deccan Chargers	Bangalore	8pm
May 8	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings	Kolkata	8pm
May 9	Kings XI Punjab vs Delhi Daredevils	Mohali	4pm
May 9	Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians	Jaipur	8pm
May 10	Deccan Chargers vs Kolkata Knight Riders	Hyderabad	8pm
May 11	Delhi Daredevils vs Rajasthan Royals	Delhi	8pm
May 12	Mumbai Indians vs Kings XI Punjab	Mumbai	4pm
May 12	Chennai Super Kings vs Deccan Chargers	Chennai	8pm
May 13	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Bangalore Royal Challengers	Kolkata	8pm
May 14	Rajasthan Royals vs Chennai Super Kings	Jaipur	4pm
May 14	Delhi Daredevils vs Deccan Chargers	Delhi	8pm
May 15	Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Mumbai Indians	Bangalore	8pm
May 16	Delhi Daredevils vs Kolkata Knight Riders	Delhi	4pm
May 16	Deccan Chargers vs Kings XI Punjab	Hyderabad	8pm
May 17	Rajasthan Royals vs Bangalore Royal Challengers	Jaipur	4pm
May 17	Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians	Chennai	8pm
May 18	Kings XI Punjab vs Kolkata Knight Riders	Mohali	8pm
May 19	Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Chennai Super Kings	Bangalore	8pm
May 21	Semi-Final 1	Chennai	8pm
May 22	Semi-Final 2	Chennai	8pm
May 24	FINAL	Mumbai	8pm
This is a tentative schedule, and subject to change

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