Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Delhi Daredevils should win ..

Respected Brother
Sadar Charan Sparsh

At the outset let me apologize for misusing your blog to promote T20 cricket in the hindsight though I know that you are indeed interested in the IPL whenever you do get time to be able to watch and follow ..

I wish that you enjoy the game between Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers of Bangalore that is about to start in two hours time..

The game may not have much in it for Delhi.. yet all the other teams who are vying for a semi-final berth alongside Delhi would be keenly following the game.. A game holds as much in stock for the team that are not playing.. So much is at stake for others in a loss for Bangalore.. Kings XI, Chennai, Deccan and the team possibly having an outside chance in Rajasthan Royals..

What does one expect here.. Would Anil Kumble and his Bangalore mates script an unexpected win to continue to be counted in the hunt.. Would Virender Sehwag and his team go for the kill.. in reducing atleast some of the uncertainties in their own as well as the mind of other teams and viewers..

Is it that straight forward.. that one can possibly write the end of the challenge from the Mallya owned team.. I doubt.. Kumle would no feel that way.. he too would appear to be as aggressive as Kolkata Knight Riders did to get over the mighty Chennai some 24 hours back..

But does he have the ammo and ambo ( a new word for ambition.. if ammunition could shorten to ammo why not ambo for ambition..) .. yet they do have Jumbo on their side and we all know he is a great wizard of his own kind.. only he needs some support from his fellow bowlers and some of his batsman should be able to repeat the kind of cricketing shots they displayed in their last game against Kolkata Knight Riders..

What kind of team does one expect Kumble to form into a combo which could stop the Delhi Daredevils.. If I were by his side I would first find ways to include Dale Steyn, provided he is fit.. I would then find three other foreign players and think about retaining Boucher and Taylor straight away.. oops.. that leaves one choice to go with Kallis or Ryder.. I would not risk in including anyone ahead of these two.. not here.. and I maybe tempted to go for Ryder despite his ordinary time with both bat and ball.. not so much for his batting skills but for his wicket taking ability..

We then come to seven, or no six Indian players, Kumble has to be the seventh in any case.. Let me just be quick enough to pick the best team for my enemy so that the Delhi gets a fair practice of tough games lying ahead.. Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar and to some extent even Robin Uthappa make the spot immediately.. Leaving two more places Vinay Kumar nicely takes up one and the eleventh man could be one of Apanna or Akhil I would go with the former to assist me as a captain in case it turns around.. (Though I know that Kumble would retain Kallis ahead of Ryder for his vast experience and maybe even knowledge of conditions..)

Oh! Viru is not happy with me.. I have joined the enemy camp.. don’t worry boss.. I shall help you too.. You got to give some rest to some of the bowlers and also strike a balance at the same time.. you have to also support the young Tiwary who could be more electric in the field maybe in place of Manhas.. The other changes Andrew McDonald in place of Maharoof, Daniel Vettori or even McGrath (if he agrees to play in such an insignificant game.. ) for Nannes. I even suggest Warner ahead of Dilshan.. I know you would not listen to me on the case of Dilshan.. but he (Dilshan) is such an important player and some signs of fatigue are clearly visible on his face and body language.. Viru it is upto you to spend all your forces before the semi-finals.. discuss it with him.. if he does not mind to continue it is all right.. and Yes young Sangwan has to be brought back into the side.. he does need to be there to bolster the pace attack. So how does my DD team looks like..
Gambhir, Warner, de Villiers, Sehwag, Karthik, Tiwary, McDonald, Vettori, Mishra, Sangwan and Nehra..

I did think of providing some rest to the best of the batsman and bowlers in de Villiers and Nehra but decided against it seeing what happened to Chennai by resting their mainstay batsman..

On why Delhi should win this game.. A win shold provide momentum and spur up the energy levels of the team.. secondly if RCB loose here.. there will be much less uncertainty about which other teams are likely to be there and more importantly hennai would then not finish as fourth.. hopefully.. Dhoni’s men we must meet only in Finals if we must.. they have the strongest batting line up and capable of thrashing pace and spin alike.. so if one can take control in deciding the other semifinalsit.. this is the time.. this is the game.. win this game today and make sure that whatever else is to be done in the last encounter can be planned later.. Delhi under no conditions can come second even if they wish so at the end of league phase.. plan well and if required even drop Gambhir to one or two down sending Karthik alongwith Warner to open the innings.. I am very pleased for te transformation in Karthik’s batting compared to last edition.. he is also in the running for important player of the tournament alongside de Villiers and Nehra so give him that boost.. he just might solve the jigsaw puzzle for your batting order..

Oh it is too much of a story.. I am enjoying the tournament even if others are not enjoying my long posts.. I remember, last time my post must have been read by Gilchrist ad he did not use Rohit and Suman fearing your expected onslaught by you in particular.. play you natural game 2 runs from 8 balls it defies any logic to be believed as the score by you.. I would not mind even if you do not score runs but score two runs from eight balls and even I would become critical of your plans.. so it is better that you play lower down the order.. to accelerate the run rate in middle overs..

Just read these lines and comments and do something different so that Kumble does not have an upper hand ( assuming he too reads this post.. a bit unexpected.. though.. I know even you would not be reading it.. it is all right..

Have a great game Viru and rather play for winning than for loosing..

Abhaya India May 20 2009 6:57 PM IST

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