IPL auction: Time to make overnight millionaires

The IPL auction ahead of season four was a splurge show by the franchisee owners.

It was overhaul time for the franchisees and they lived up to the expectations churning out a few millionaires in matters of minutes.

Indian opener Gautam Ghambir opened the auction by being the highest paid player on day one, KKR bagged the Delhi Dare Devils last season captain for USD2.4 million, and followed this one by signing Baroda big hitter Yusuf Pathan for USD 2.1 million.

There were others too, however what was interesting was the fact that stalwarts of the gentlemen’s game were overshadowed by the minnows of the slam bam format. It was a pity to see Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman being auctioned cheaply for USD 5,00,000 and 4,00,000 respectively where as there were no takers for Sourav Ganguly who was reserved at USD 4,00,000.

This is where I feel that stalwarts of the game should have gracefully left the marketing marquee of IPL after having braved three seasons and left on a respectable note. This isn’t a place for these text-book players.

What surprises me are few things, players like Robin Uthappa and Irfan Pathan bagged USD 2.1 million and 1.9million respectively, both of these are not even in the probable 30 players for WC squad.

Also the international stars were in no comparison with the prices youngsters with barely few international games managed.  All of three ODI’s and 23 first class games under his belt left hander Saurabh Tiwary took home USD 1.6million, whereas England’s T20 captain Paul Collingwood could manage USD 250,000.

This is what a season of good performance can do in a game where legends spent lifetime to achieve a single feat. And two of such legends Sourav Ganguly and Brian Lara could not find any takers.

One can understand Lara, for he hasn’t played any cricket for last three years but Ganguly’s omission was surprising.

What concerns me is how fans will react to a new home team? I remember while covering IPL-3, the SMS stadium, Jaipur would erupt with roars every time Yusuf Pathan would come to bat. Now how will the Rajasthan Royals fans react when Yusuf will play against Royals on his once   home turf?

I doubt if the experiment to follow football leagues will go down well with Indian fans who have an emotional connect with their teams and players.

Also how much will IPL-4 manage to capture the audience imagination remains to be seen as the tournament begins just a week after World Cup 2011.

Organisers should have given a thought that excess of everything is bad and might apply to nation’s unofficial religion as well.

While that is long way to go, what remains to be seen is that will Gambhir manage to hold the distinction on Day-2 of auction or we see a new millionaire toppling him in mere 24 hours.

Ponting down, but not out

Ricky Ponting will not play in the Syndey test.

Bad news for Ponting. However, what is heartening is the way his men have rallied behind him despite the Ashes loss.

Critics, pundits and Englishmen alike wrote Australia’s most successful test captain off after he earned the infamous distinction of being only the second Aussie captain to lose the Ashes thrice in his career.

This for any proud Australian is criminal.

Despite that the hour of adversity shows the real strength of Ponting – his teams support.

From his deputy Michel Clarke, to coach Tim Nielsen to the once on field rival former England Captain Micheal Vaughan everyone has a word or two of praise for punter.

Clarke, who will be the stand in captain in Sydney has refused to lead Ponting, Nielsen says in a post match conference that the bloke has a lot left in him and Vaughan told BBC that he would like to see Ponting bat for a few more years.

This shows a lot of character for OZ as a team and shows they stand united in the worst hour of their cricketing history.

With no test match after Sydney in sight till August  will give Ponting and Australia a lot of time to regroup as a match winning squad.

Is Ashes defeat the end of Ponting era?

England has retained the Ashes defeating Australia in Melbourne.

After 24 long years Andrew Strauss will return back from down under holding the priceless urn.

As Strauss makes history for England, his Australian counterpart Ricky Pointing is all set to become history for being only the second Australian captain to lose the urn thrice.

For a cricketer extraordinaire aiming for the fourth consecutive world cup victory in 2011, this humiliation is beyond repair.

In a matter of minutes world wide web will be full of punter bashing stories, signalling at the end of his career, but this would be a little too harsh on captain courageous.

Walking in at the fall of Shane Watson on Day one, OZ supporters rooted their captain who walked in to bat nursing a broken finger.

Expectation were sky-high and a blistering knock taking the steam out of the English attack if not the 40^th test ton was anticipated by many fans in the packed MCG.

What did Punter in was the double-digit collapse on Boxing Day, when the OZ fell like a pack of cards on the bouncing MCG track.

It could have been tagged as one of the bad collapse had the opponents not been England and the series not Ashes.

The rivalry brings the best out of both the teams, but this time around the statistics were not favouring the Aussies. They can still draw the series, but urn will belong to the Englishmen.

Taking no credit from England, who played their hearts out, it’s been an entertaining series, with no clear favourites till the Boxing Day collapse.

Will it be the end of the road for a captain who holds the distinction of winning the most test matches for Australia and losing the Ashes thrice ?

Isn’t sport a great leveler.

Whatever Cricket Australia decides to do with Ponting, he’ll always be remembered as the captain who wore his heart on his sleeve and led from the front.

Tendulkar V/S Bradman:the unfair debate

A half century of centuries is no mean achievement. An average of 99.9 runs in Test matches is equally unparalleled.

With Sachin Tendulkar slamming his 50^th ton the decade long debate of who among Tendulkar and Don Bradman is the greatest batsmen in the game of cricket is again alive.

Television, print, online all media platforms across India and some in Australia are abuzz with the debate, which for me does not exist.

Game’s evolved

What the debtors forget is the fact that both are geniuses in their own rights and over the decades the gentleman’s game has evolved but it seems that those debating the topic haven’t.

Google ‘Sachin Tendulkar Don Bradman’ and staggering 81, 900 results pop up and the debate can be traced back to 2001. When BBC did a debate and compared the maestros almost a decade back, Don on their scale outnumbered master blaster by two points.

Cut to 2010, without doubt Tendulkar has made up for those two points, but in no way would have surpassed Bradman.

Numbers

Watching the Debate on who is the best on CNN-IBN, what struck me was former test player Sanjay Manjrekar’s comment was that in Bradmans era the second best average was at the max 60, whereas today there are many near Sachin’s average.

Post War the game changed, while Don Bradman could only play 52 test matches, he managed to hit 29 centuries. Tendulkar on the other hand has played 175 test matches.  While Don hit a century every 1.8 test Tendulkar managed triple digit runs every 3.5 test.

However if you taken into count the first class centuries scored into consideration Bradman shows his class; Don has 146 of them collectively compared to Tendulkar’s 127. (Source of stats for both: wikipedia)

Having said that its difficult to find those who accept the supremacies each of these greatest batsmen hold in their eras.

Emotions

The debate generates extreme sentiments. In a report in The Sydney Morning Herald Sourav Ganguly when asked his opinion said Tendulkar, while former Australian cricketer Greg Chappel picked Don.

It’s not merely cricketers, even bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan couldn’t hold back his emotions when he blogged and tweeted saying that Sachin is the best and that is all.

Once more

The debate will continue, but let’s salute the greats.

Sachin has raised the bar indeed and see who dares to overtake him. A century of tons collectively in ODI and Test too is not far away.

You bet the debate will come alive again.

Australia rises from the Ashes, India faces stiff Porteas challenge

Cricket is in.

With Australia rising from the Ashes to make a strong comeback at Perth in the game’s biggest rivalry to Jacques Kallis slamming his maiden test double ton to challenge India’s no.1 spot in Test Cricket and the likes of Rahul Dravid and Irfan Pathan failing to make it to the probable’s for Indian squad for 2011 World Cup, there is a lot for a cricket crazy fan to be glued on to the internet.

Internet for watching any of these events live is a distant dream for me right now, but nevertheless the World Wide Web keeps fans like me posted in a football crazy nation like England.

Unpredictable game

Barely 48 hours back had the Britsh media ‘almost’ declared that their team was going to reclaim the urn.  As the OZ put up yet another lacklustre performance the bait was enough for the British scribes to paint the town red.

However, the age-old cliché the game is far from over till the last delivery held good. True to its nature the game turned on its head with out of form Mitchell Jhonson coming to the party, invaluable 62 runs and six Englishmen to his name, the Queensland pacer brought the five-day format back to life.

It’s the sheer unpredictability that stumps players and fans alike; you never know what can happen in a test match. I remember listening to a spirited NDTV journalist stating “England is all set to win the Perth test.”

Stick to basics and never jump the gun, sports is such a great leveler.

No.1 challenged

While OZ has brought life back to Ashes, in South Africa the Porteas yet again showed why they are one of the most challenging sides in world cricket. Riding on a high of victories Indian team got a wakeup call.

Kallis, with his maiden double ton once again showed his class, though I wonder why he remains the unsung hero at world stage.

Even after this performance if he is not counted amongst the league of extraordinary batsmen like Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting, there is something wrong with the pundits of the game.

All eyes now on the formidable Indian batting line up to prove their mettle, batting on two days will be a test of their Test skills and testimony that they are worth the no.1 slot.

Wall sidelined

After all that seeing the likes of Munaf patel ahead of Irfan Pathan in the World Cup hopefuls makes one wonder the acumen of Selectors. As for the wall despite being an ardent fan I think it’s time he hangs his boots as far as the ODI’s are concerned, tough I’ll miss the  ever reliable sheet anchor at no.3.