Road to IPL 2009.

[KiWiNiNjA]

Taylor and Ryder are unproven in this format.

re Taylor.
Way to talk out your ass.

 

[Cevno]

Bingo, was a problem for them last season too. Maybe Mallya should devote some of his resources into scouting or recruiting some of the better Indian players instead of making hilarious trades like Zaheer for Uthappa.

That's not the most hilarious trade.

Stupid delhi Franchise bosses traded Shikhar Dhawan for Ashish Nehra with Mumbai.

 

[honestbharani]

Mumbai got the best of the trades.


At the end they got Zaheer in and Nehra out and Dhawan in and Uthappa out.. Best deal by a long way..

 

[Arjun]

Now for Mumbai: You have four bowling slots more or less settled with Zaheer, Harbhajan, Malinga and Mills. Whom would you pick to finish the set? Dwayne Bravo seems the best bet with his batting, though he's not a reliable bowler. Dilhara Fernando is a powerful strike bowler but prone to bowling utter rubbish and overstepping. Dhawal Kulkarni is Fernando minus, smaller and slower, and though he seems a lot more reliable, he'll get thrashed by frontline batsmen. We don't know what is the status of Andre Nel, but he too doesn't seem an automatic choice. Abhishek Nayar isn't much of a bowler in T20. However, to play someone like JP Duminy, they will need to stick to Dhawal Kulkarni or Abhishek Nayar.

 

[Arjun]

That's not the most hilarious trade.

Stupid delhi Franchise bosses traded Shikhar Dhawan for Ashish Nehra with Mumbai.

When your local seam bowling bench has Sangwan, Yo Mahesh and Bhatia, with your foreign base being second-rate after McGrath, they need to shop very hard for pace bowlers.

 

[Arjun]

I don't rate this team very highly. Uthappa is inconsistent and really not that good. Taylor and Ryder are unproven in this format. Dravid isn't very good. That seems like a long tail too, starting at Dravid. Bowling attack is solid, but they will depend on Pietersen a lot.

An option would be to open the innings with Boucher and bench Ryder until the South Africans leave. Otherwise, however, this is a better team than what we had seen earlier. Dravid is a contentious issue, so we won't go on too long over that. As for the 'tail', a little homework on them would give a different perspective. Chandrashekhar Raghu is a number four for Karnataka, while Praveen Kumar is a dangerous batsman in the tail end, and has had reasonable success as a pinch-hitter in FC matches, and Vinay Kumar is an under-rated lower-order batsman in limited-overs matches. None of them have brilliant individual records, but together, they can assemble enough runs to take the team forward. Questions, if any, may be on Kumble's position here as well as on Raghu's bowling, which is not used much- but still a lot better than Cameron White.

 

[Arjun]

I think its pretty easy to blame Dravid for Bangalore' dismal run last season, but tbh he and Zaheer (to a lesser extent) were the only local players to contribute anything whatsoever to the side, rest of their local blokes sucked big time, and that's one of the prime reasons the team was so piss poor.

Dravid tried everything he could but he could never get the team combination right, but this season they have got blokes who can play with plenty of flair and that would definitely help their cause.

Btw how many foreign players are allowed in a team's squad, is there any limit on that or not?

10 I think. At a time only 4 can feature in the playing XI.

This is why teams like Bangalore and Deccan Chargers will struggle- there's not much from the local roster, as against some North/West teams. They may have some really good ones in their top four foreigners, but when the other seven, local players are collectively so dire (especially for Deccan, noticed even in Chennai), it's not much use.

 

[Arjun]

Now for Kings of Punjab- They have it easy with Simon Katich and Shaun Marsh opening, but what happens once they leave? We might just see Sangakkara and Luke open, or a promotion for rookie Karan Goel or striker Irfan. This team will have a before/after look, since several players will leave for international events.

• Marsh
• Katich
• Sangakkara (WK)
• Yuvraj (C)
• Karan Goel
• Sunny Sohal
• Irfan (LMF)
• Chawla (LBG)
• Powar (OB)
• Brett Lee (RF)
• Sreesanth (RFM)
• Luke Pomersbach- swap for Aussie opener
• Mahela (swap for Aussie opener, bats low down)
• Jerome Taylor (swap for Brett Lee)

Tell me more about Burt ****ley.

 

[Precambrian]

Now for Mumbai: You have four bowling slots more or less settled with Zaheer, Harbhajan, Malinga and Mills. Whom would you pick to finish the set? Dwayne Bravo seems the best bet with his batting, though he's not a reliable bowler. Dilhara Fernando is a powerful strike bowler but prone to bowling utter rubbish and overstepping. Dhawal Kulkarni is Fernando minus, smaller and slower, and though he seems a lot more reliable, he'll get thrashed by frontline batsmen. We don't know what is the status of Andre Nel, but he too doesn't seem an automatic choice. Abhishek Nayar isn't much of a bowler in T20. However, to play someone like JP Duminy, they will need to stick to Dhawal Kulkarni or Abhishek Nayar.

Nair is absolute gun. Kulkarni is only getting better. You are overtly worried or pessimistic about Mumbai;s chance. If we do not play anyone resembling Dilhara we'll win.

 

[Arjun]

Nair is absolute gun. Kulkarni is only getting better. You are overtly worried or pessimistic about Mumbai;s chance. If we do not play anyone resembling Dilhara we'll win.

Would you have Nair bowling four overs regularly? I have no issues with his batting, but his bowling isn't any good in this format. In last year's IPL, he was rarely called on to bowl, in which case, a better batsman may be picked. I don't see a remarkable improvement in Dhawal Kulkarni- he's only medium pace, struggles with line and length (bowling at this pace, he has a lot less margin for error than Dilhara) and doesn't have much attack power. He'll get thrashed by Hayden, Hussey, McCullum and Gilchrist, who'll feed on what he sends down with ease.

In any case, an optimal bowling combination would be rather foreigner-oriented, but very strong-

• Zaheer- Experienced, reliable, smart
• Malinga- Raw pace, effective on the field when not bowling
• Mills- Clever change of pace, hard to get away, also hits big shots and saves runs
• Bravo- Skiddy, gets bounce and uses variations
• Harbhajan- One of the smarter bowlers in a limited-overs game
• Sanath- Not a full option, but still effective.

No Dilhara, Nel or Sreesanth here, and surely not a problem.

 

[Precambrian]

Would you have Nair bowling four overs regularly? I have no issues with his batting, but his bowling isn't any good in this format. In last year's IPL, he was rarely called on to bowl, in which case, a better batsman may be picked. I don't see a remarkable improvement in Dhawal Kulkarni- he's only medium pace, struggles with line and length (bowling at this pace, he has a lot less margin for error than Dilhara) and doesn't have much attack power. He'll get thrashed by Hayden, Hussey, McCullum and Gilchrist, who'll feed on what he sends down with ease.

In any case, an optimal bowling combination would be rather foreigner-oriented, but very strong-

• Zaheer- Experienced, reliable, smart
• Malinga- Raw pace, effective on the field when not bowling
• Mills- Clever change of pace, hard to get away, also hits big shots and saves runs
• Bravo- Skiddy, gets bounce and uses variations
• Harbhajan- One of the smarter bowlers in a limited-overs game
• Sanath- Not a full option, but still effective.

No Dilhara, Nel or Sreesanth here, and surely not a problem.

The guys you mentioned would thrash anyone, even McGrath, on their day in T20.

Kulkarni for me is the best local bowler for Mumbai Indians apart from Zaheer Khan.

Nayar can bowl 4 overs comfortably considering he's bowled his fair share in the domestic matches.

 

[TT Boy]

Rajasthan have picked up Shane Harwood and Lee Carseldine.

Cricinfo - Tait could make a Tanvir-like impression - Berry

 

[brockley]

Rajistan royals replaced jamran akmal and sohail tanvir with lee carlsdine and shane harwood,rob quniey sided as well.
So many aussies joining IPL now

 

[chaminda_00]

Tell me more about Burt ****ley.

LOL he can't even get a game for NSW in ODs and it gets a run for Punjab. Decent FC bowler though, but a lot better bowlers then him in Australia and NSW.

 

[pasag]

Carseldine a very smart pick, well played by Rajasthan.

 

[Nate]

Harwood a medium pacer according to Cricinfo's article. (Y)

 

[pup11]

Rajasthan have picked up Shane Harwood and Lee Carseldine.

Cricinfo - Tait could make a Tanvir-like impression - Berry

Gun picks, well done Royals...

 

[GGG]

... Taylor and Ryder are unproven in this format ...

Taylor? 27 games high score of 111 average of 33 and S/R of 170, about the only guy that did any good for them last season, if it was my team I wouldn't be sure who I would leave out Taylor or Pieterson.

 

[cowboysfan]

Taylor? 27 games high score of 111 average of 33 and S/R of 170, about the only guy that did any good for them last season, if it was my team I wouldn't be sure who I would leave out Taylor or Pieterson.

as long as kp is available my 4 non-indians in the team would be

taylor
kp
steyn
bracken/kallis

so white and boucher have to miss out early part of the series.

 

[pup11]

This is why teams like Bangalore and Deccan Chargers will struggle- there's not much from the local roster, as against some North/West teams. They may have some really good ones in their top four foreigners, but when the other seven, local players are collectively so dire (especially for Deccan, noticed even in Chennai), it's not much use.

I think both Bangalore and Deccan have a real problem on their hands in terms of lack of any good local batsmen in their teams, Deccan at least have Rohit Sharma and Venugopal Rao who can be slated as decent batsmen, but Bangalore is really down on local batting talent.

Kohli is decent, but neither he or Uthappa can be considered too reliable, so both Deccan and Bangalore would largely depend on their foreign batsmen to put the runs on the board.