*Official* Indian Premier League 2010

[Sir Alex]

cricinfo "Mumbai have decided to bat first. That rules out Kolkata mathematically as well"

No chance of going through but what difference does it make to overall run rate if they bat second?

Because while chasing you can make only about same runs as your opposition has scored, and hence has to score at much much higher rate to compensate for that?

 

[vcs]

Let's look at how much the background of IPL team owners is linked to their team's performance, and whether it makes a difference. So far, we've had owners from old economy, new economy/services, enterprises in multiple businesses, management groups, and of course, Bollywood. Looking at the performances in the three seasons of IPL and the first CL, you get some rather clear figures.

In the 2008 season of the IPL, when it began, Rajasthan Royals won the tournament. They were run by Emerging Media/Investors In Cricket, a management group. On the field, with the players, Shane Warne handled everything. He managed his players as captain and coach, and did a good job with them. The other semi-finalists were Chennai (Finalists, owned by India Cements, manufacturing), Delhi (GMR, Infrastructure) and Kings XI Punjab (Preity Zinta, Bollywood actress amongst others). While Preity's team did rather well, they somehow didn't quite make it, and even axed five domestic Indian players on the way. The other Bollywood-owned team, Kolkata Knight Riders (SRK), were patchy, before ultimately ending a failure. They too axed some domestic players, which became a news-spinner, and one eventually left the franchise.

In the 2009 season, Deccan Chargers (Deccan Chronicle, media) won the tournament, pipping Royal Challengers Bangalore (Vijay Mallya, lifestyle/services/you know what) to the post. The other semi-finalists were again Delhi (GMR, infrastructure) and Chennai (India Cements, manufacturing). None of the Bollywood teams made it. Kings XI never recovered from the rocky start in the series and were out last, while Rajasthan Royals, with actress Shilpa Shetty getting some stake, axed some Indian players, and floundered throughout the season. Kolkata Knight Riders were a failure of epic proportions. There was also a hard-fought bid war between two Bollywood-owned teams for a Bangladesh pacer, where one team went for it purely for the image, while another had the flawed reasoning as a replacement for a top player. That Bangladesh pacer was a huge flop, getting only one game and giving it away, while the other team picked up a very cheap South African who did well for them. Of all the teams in the Champs League, none of them made the semis, with IPL winners Deccan getting knocked out in the first stage by less-fancied Somerset and T&T.

Now, there are no Bollywood teams in the semis yet again. Kings XI Punjab were dross throughout the series, as also Kolkata, except in patches. Rajasthan Royals were a failure again, bar a five-match winning streak. Mumbai (Reliance Industries, old and new economy) eventually made the semis for the first time. The others were the same as in the 2009 edition, again lifestyle/media/cement.

Does it give a hint of who's better at running a cricket team? Maybe, if you look at who they are and how they work. The business enterprises try to run it as a business, yet, at the same time, make it look meaningful- as against the most profitable Kolkata never making the semis even once. They seem to do a lot of research on their players and what's needed, when they go in to auction, or appointing support staff. The Bollywood folks, in comparison, seem to treat it more like a means of publicity and a televised holiday, and the teams had axed their Indian players more so because they wanted to accommodate friends and associates, rather than for any operational reason. To sum this up, knowledge, operational skills and possibly business acumen, and not glamour, call the shots in this glamorous event.

If Indian state teams are thrown open for ownership, I'd prefer to see the BCCI keep Tinseltown far, far away from the bidding.

Great post. I love watching the media darling Bollywood-owned teams fail. Long may it continue. I don't like Vijay Mallya's heavy-handed interference either, but he seems to have kept his hands off after that unsavoury Charu Sharma-Dravid-Prasad episode.

 

[Sir Alex]

Batting 2nd you can't get the equivalent of a 175 run win. Even if u bowled them out extremely cheaply.

Had it been one match, the batting second equivalent of that would've been like chasing down 100 in 7 overs.

However here the deficit is across 13 matches and hence would need much bigger rate than that.

 

[pasag]

Companies have really gotten on board the Australian IPL coverage. Wheetbix, Ashley Martin, Steel Blue etc. Think it's grown slightly here over the past year, viewing figures would be interesting.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Yea even if Mumbai were bowled out for zero and KKR hit a no-ball six they'd still fall short. Because they're batting second as they knock the runs off quicker it reduces the relative weighting. So they only get like one and a bit full innings. If they bat first they get two full innings, which has more of a weighting when applied to the 13 games they've already played which make up the NRR.

The only mathematical way would be to let Mumbai score 200+ and knock it off in 2 overs. Not likely.

 

[andyc]

Yea even if Mumbai were bowled out for zero and KKR hit a no-ball six they'd still fall short. Because they're batting second as they knock the runs off quicker it reduces the relative weighting. So they only get like one and a bit full innings. If they bat first they get two full innings, which has more of a weighting when applied to the 13 games they've already played which make up the NRR.

The only mathematical way would be to let Mumbai score 200+ and knock it off in 2 overs. Not likely.

Sounds a bit silly then, that a team basically gets penalised for losing the toss and then thrashing the team from start to finish.

Edit: From a user email on Cricinfo:

"Forgive me if I'm wrong, but Kolkata have a chance mathematically! If they were to allow Mumbai to score 317 runs, and chase it down in 1 ball they would pip Bangalore. Alternatively, they can let Mumbai score 1000 runs and finish the game off in 5 overs. There is still hope for Dada!"

 

[GGG]

Sounds a bit silly then, that a team basically gets penalised for losing the toss and then thrashing the team from start to finish.

Edit: From a user email on Cricinfo:

Haha thats ridiculous, yep something is wrong when losing the toss automatically knocks you out.

 

[honestbharani]

Haha thats ridiculous, yep something is wrong when losing the toss automatically knocks you out.

yeah.. sounds pretty silly but they are being penalized for their own non performance earlier in the tourney..

 

[_Ed_]

I couldn't have done any worse than Duminy in those last 3 balls.

 

[_Ed_]

Or that one.

 

[GGG]

yeah.. sounds pretty silly but they are being penalized for their own non performance earlier in the tourney..

Sure in this case they don't deserve to go throughm but what if 2 teams were on the same points and more or less the same runrate with one game to go each.

 

[honestbharani]

in that case, it would still not work out coz the difference would be marginal anyways and could work both ways, as we have seen in ODI tournaments earlier.

 

[GGG]

in that case, it would still not work out coz the difference would be marginal anyways and could work both ways, as we have seen in ODI tournaments earlier.

but if the first team batted first and won by 175 runs does the second team still have a chance?

/ brain starting to hurt

 

[TT Boy]

What a ****ing **** wicket.

 

[Migara]

Odd to see Mathews not bowling, but Tiwary bowling ****.

 

[Migara]

And picks up a wicket with a howler.

 

[TT Boy]

Fielding has been so bad throughout the tournament that fielders of the quality of Ganguly look 'good'.

 

[_Ed_]

Rayudu looks a good player.

 

[Nate]

Odd to see Mathews not bowling, but Tiwary bowling ****.

Totally disagree. Thought he was getting some nice drift and a lot of turn. Could've had three wickets in the over.

 

[Sir Alex]

Am not watching the match. Is Sachin in the dugout? Because I heard he and the other rested guys haven't bothered to travel for this match.

Makes sense when you have to play the semi in 40 hours after this match, and travelling 5k km for a dead rubber is the last thing to do prior to that.