Road to IPL 2009.

[pup11]

Oh good, so who's making the cricket decisions now that he and Sharma have gone?

Ray Jennings is their coach for this season.

 

[pup11]

Mallya to decide on Dravid as Royal Challengers captain

Bangalore Royal Challengers owner Vijay Mallya has said that he hasn’t decided whether to retain Rahul Dravid as the captain of his franchise for the upcoming IPL season.

"Who said so? After all, I'm the boss of the team. I'll decide who will be the captain,” Mallya, reacting to media reports claiming Dravid had been retained as captain, was quoted as saying by PTI. “I'm going to talk to Rahul in this regard. He is a mature, educated and intelligent man.”

The Bangalore Royal Challengers finished second last in the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008, winning only four out of 14 matches. Mallya reacted to the dismal showing by sacking the franchise’s chief executive Charu Sharma mid-way through the tournament.

"You would not see too many changes [for the 2009 season] but I'm going to do whatever it takes so that the side becomes stronger than before," Mallya said.

This guy Mallya is such a ****, why can't he just keep his hands out of the cricketing side of things, and let qualified people take care of such matters.

Hollioake to feature in IPL?

John Buchanan, the Kolkata Knight Riders' coach, has revealed that Adam Hollioake could make a shock return to cricket. “I have had discussions with Hollioake. I see that he has a real role in the franchise," Buchanan said.

Hollioake, 37, hasn't played since 2007 when Essex lured him out of retirement to play purely Twenty20 cricket - a format he excelled in when it was first introduced.

If this materialises, then i think its asking a bit too much out of Hollioke, agreed he has been a very good T20 cricketer over the years, but imo it would be too much of an ask for him to make a comeback and compete against some of the best of the game, KKR are much better off involving him in the team set-up rather then thinking of using him as a player.

 

[G.I.Joe]

Haha, Mallya is such a dickhead. He deserves a Ray Jennings ice bath special.

 

[Arjun]

What do you think the Mumbai team need to do? My idea is, they need to trim their squad. They seem to have a whole assembly line out there and are not sure of who's making the playing XI, and have one extra too many. They need to finalise twenty top players, and good ones at that.

Top of their priority should be in finding good local batsmen, since their top foreign players are bowlers. Cheteshwar Pujara, the young lad making waves for Saurashtra, was offloaded hastily by SRK, owner of the Kolkata team, as a silly cost-cutting move. Mumbai should move in on him quickly. The Ranji topper, Rahane, is another hot pick, and being a home-grown player, they should move in on him before another team (mostly Kolkata, Bangalore or Mohali) have a sniff. We don't know if Vijay from TN will make the Chennai Super Kings squad, and that opens up another option. The bowling looks settled with Nehra, Zaheer (expected to come in a possible switch for Uthappa), Dilhara, Bravo and and possibly Harbhajan, though Pollock's exit is a big loss.

What can they do with Bhajji? He turned out to be a huge liability on them that time around. Yet, he's possibly the best limited-overs spinner in India and they can get more out of him. With Sanath and Sachin not likely to roll their arms over this time around, he will be a lot more relevant. With a calm mind, of course.

Whom would you keep behind the wickets? Ronchi is a little over average with the gloves, and was picked primarily as an attacking opening batsman- and failed at that. Pinal Shah holds a record for a high score but he too looked out of sorts, while the more successful Takawale is not much of a batsman and very inexperienced. I'd choose one of Takawale and Shah, but it's difficult to pick one.

This should be a good squad:

• Batsmen: Sanath, Sachin, Rahane, Pujara, Vijay, Pietersen (or another overseas recruit)
• Batting all-rounders: Nayar, Bravo
• Wicketkeepers: Ronchi, Shah, Takawale
• Bowling all-rounders: Harbhajan, Pawar, Dwayne Smith
• Bowlers: Zaheer, Nehra, Dilhara, Malinga, Nel, Kulkarni

 

[pup11]

What do you think the Mumbai team need to do? My idea is, they need to trim their squad. They seem to have a whole assembly line out there and are not sure of who's making the playing XI, and have one extra too many. They need to finalise twenty top players, and good ones at that.

Top of their priority should be in finding good local batsmen, since their top foreign players are bowlers. Cheteshwar Pujara, the young lad making waves for Saurashtra, was offloaded hastily by SRK, owner of the Kolkata team, as a silly cost-cutting move. Mumbai should move in on him quickly. The Ranji topper, Rahane, is another hot pick, and being a home-grown player, they should move in on him before another team (mostly Kolkata, Bangalore or Mohali) have a sniff. We don't know if Vijay from TN will make the Chennai Super Kings squad, and that opens up another option. The bowling looks settled with Nehra, Zaheer (expected to come in a possible switch for Uthappa), Dilhara, Bravo and and possibly Harbhajan, though Pollock's exit is a big loss.

What can they do with Bhajji? He turned out to be a huge liability on them that time around. Yet, he's possibly the best limited-overs spinner in India and they can get more out of him. With Sanath and Sachin not likely to roll their arms over this time around, he will be a lot more relevant. With a calm mind, of course.

Whom would you keep behind the wickets? Ronchi is a little over average with the gloves, and was picked primarily as an attacking opening batsman- and failed at that. Pinal Shah holds a record for a high score but he too looked out of sorts, while the more successful Takawale is not much of a batsman and very inexperienced. I'd choose one of Takawale and Shah, but it's difficult to pick one.

This should be a good squad:

• Batsmen: Sanath, Sachin, Rahane, Pujara, Vijay, Pietersen (or another overseas recruit)
• Batting all-rounders: Nayar, Bravo
• Wicketkeepers: Ronchi, Shah, Takawale
• Bowling all-rounders: Harbhajan, Pawar, Dwayne Smith
• Bowlers: Zaheer, Nehra, Dilhara, Malinga, Nel, Kulkarni

I think its too early to discuss the composition of the sides, as for all we know the teams could look completely different after the trading and auction period, but Mumbai surely need some firepower in their batting ranks as apart from Jayasuriya, none of them really are that well suited to the T20 format.

I think not having Pollock is also a huge blow and their rest of bowling line-up too looks pretty pale atm, so they need to find a few good players to fill that gap.

I don't think Ronchi' keeping is much a problem nowadays, but he has been woeful form with the bat for the Warriors this season, and he is too much of a hit and miss player, but if MI fail to acquire a few attacking batsmen, then it would be worth the punt letting Ronchi play in a few games, because if the punt comes of he is good enough to win the team a game on his own, but its a big "if".

 

[silentstriker]

Mallaya is such an arrogant ass.

 

[G.I.Joe]

CSK have already signed up Murali Vijay, Arjun.

 

[TT Boy]

Ray Jennings is their coach for this season.

The Man.

Good news for Bangalore is that he is apparently now on speaking terms with Bouch after Mark came to appreciate the Jennings touch but not sure if he is on speaking terms with Kallis. Jacques three chins was a real bug bear of Jennings.

Ray has done a tremendous job with South Africa’s U19 in the recent years; the kids don’t mind a bollocking it’s just the ‘SuperStars’ who seem to bring out the worst in Ray. Hope he does well.

 

[social]

I can't see Tait lasting the entire IPL without a significant drop in pace as the tournament wares on and I feel he'd be best utilised if he was rested pretty much every third game. You'd have to say that his price may get quite ridiculously high as Punjab look to compensate for the loss of Lee and Rajasthan for the loss of Watson as well as Mumbai for the loss of Pollock. KKR are looking to sell Akhtar, could we see Akhtar and Tait opening the bowling together in the IPL!?

Nope, whenever Tait bowls he is lightning quick - It really comes down to how motivated he is

 

[Manee]

Nope, whenever Tait bowls he is lightning quick - It really comes down to how motivated he is

I'm sure that would be the case in normal competition, but playing 14+ games in such a short period of time would take its toll on any bowler.

 

[TT Boy]

Tait currently picks what games he plays in, so not sure his potential IPL owners would be people happy with that policy. But he would be a marquee player in India, so if he is fit or indeed 100% motivated to play he should fetch a small fortune.

 

[social]

I'm sure that would be the case in normal competition, but playing 14+ games in such a short period of time would take its toll on any bowler.

He only needs to bowl 4 overs per game - basically nothing

 

[social]

Tait currently picks what games he plays in, so not sure his potential IPL owners would be people happy with that policy. But he would be a marquee player in India, so if he is fit or indeed 100% motivated to play he should fetch a small fortune.

Especially when (dont worry about the if) he breaks the world speed record - probably worth a million bucks

 

[Arjun]

I think its too early to discuss the composition of the sides, as for all we know the teams could look completely different after the trading and auction period, but Mumbai surely need some firepower in their batting ranks as apart from Jayasuriya, none of them really are that well suited to the T20 format.

I think not having Pollock is also a huge blow and their rest of bowling line-up too looks pretty pale atm, so they need to find a few good players to fill that gap.

I don't think Ronchi' keeping is much a problem nowadays, but he has been woeful form with the bat for the Warriors this season, and he is too much of a hit and miss player, but if MI fail to acquire a few attacking batsmen, then it would be worth the punt letting Ronchi play in a few games, because if the punt comes of he is good enough to win the team a game on his own, but its a big "if".

This is, anyway, just speculation, deciding what's good for this team. There is decent firepower in Sanath, Sachin, the prospective overseas batsman and the lower order. They lack a steady batsman in the middle who'll build partnerships and one big innings. Their bowling is quite good, man for man, but the reliability that Pollock provided won't be there. That list, if they stick to that, will be quite a handful- we've seen all those extras do a lot worse, and that was the problem. Ronchi is a tight case- there's nothing stopping Mukesh Ambani from buying someone better and more reliable.

 

[Manee]

He only needs to bowl 4 overs per game - basically nothing

In the first edition of the IPL though, a large amount of the bowlers' paces went down throughout the tournament.

 

[duffer]

CSK have already signed up Murali Vijay, Arjun.

Nice pickup. Really enjoyed watching them go last year. Very likeable team now even moreso.

 

[honestbharani]

Nice pickup. Really enjoyed watching them go last year. Very likeable team now even moreso.

yeah.. they go about things in a nice little quiet and efficient way, don't they? Not ones to make too much noise..



That said.. I am really liking the Delhi Daredevils right now... Sehwag and Warner to open and Gambhir and Dhawan and AB and Dilshan to follow with possible DK at 7...

 

[pup11]

yeah.. they go about things in a nice little quiet and efficient way, don't they? Not ones to make too much noise..



That said.. I am really liking the Delhi Daredevils right now... Sehwag and Warner to open and Gambhir and Dhawan and AB and Dilshan to follow with possible DK at 7...

Yeah but the problem is they can only play 4 forgien players, so they would have to balance their side with a lot of caution, because last season one felt their bowling side was loaded, whereas their batting only revolved around Sehwag, Gambhir and Dhawan, so they need to work on that, and then there is no way they should think about playing Karthik when they have AB in the side, they are much better off playing an extra bowler or batsman in place of him.

 

[pup11]

This is, anyway, just speculation, deciding what's good for this team. There is decent firepower in Sanath, Sachin, the prospective overseas batsman and the lower order. They lack a steady batsman in the middle who'll build partnerships and one big innings. Their bowling is quite good, man for man, but the reliability that Pollock provided won't be there. That list, if they stick to that, will be quite a handful- we've seen all those extras do a lot worse, and that was the problem. Ronchi is a tight case- there's nothing stopping Mukesh Ambani from buying someone better and more reliable.

Like Brad Haddin, he is the only decent keeper left out there, i think the Royals too would do well to get him in their side, because Akmal won't be there this season.

 

[honestbharani]

Yeah but the problem is they can only play 4 forgien players, so they would have to balance their side with a lot of caution, because last season one felt their bowling side was loaded, whereas their batting only revolved around Sehwag, Gambhir and Dhawan, so they need to work on that, and then there is no way they should think about playing Karthik when they have AB in the side, they are much better off playing an extra bowler or batsman in place of him.

they may but I feel DK is a much better option at the lower middle order/middle order than a Manoj Tiwary and they will gain AB's fielding which is of the highest quality possible... And 4 foreign players, they can pick Dilshan, Warner, AB and McGrath... It is not like Asif is going to available so they can pick these guys. Is Dan Vettori in the DD side?