IPL fever, temperatures rising
It’s been a week since the start of the 3rd edition of the hottest sports league in the world and like most people around me, I’ve been sucked into the euphoria. I’m chatting, Tweeting, FB’ing IPL, and that is when I’m not consuming a lot of beer watching the games.
Like every cricket fan, I have to do a couple of things with every tournament: Pick my favorite team and predict who will reach the semis/finals. My loyalties lie plain & clear with Royal Challengers Bangalore, coz I am from Bangalore and also coz I love my Kingfisher beer!! This was the team that was labelled a Test team, no good for T20, Royal screw ups & more; and rightly so given how they played in the 1st edition. But with just a few tweaks they now look the most settled unit in the league.
The ingredients that make up this unit are:
- 1 super competitive, legend of a captain
- 2 solid batsmen with tons of experience to handle almost any batting challenge
- 3 top class young Indian batsmen who are ideal for this format of the game
- 4 foreign players that are explosive middle order batsmen (Morgan, KP, White, Taylor)
- 1 young express fast bowler, 2 good swing bowlers, 2 decent young Indian pacers (Mithun, Vinay), 1 legendary spinner
- 1 superb wicket keeper middle order batsman, 1 promising young Indian wicket keeper as well (Goswami)
Of all the players, Pandey, Uthappa & Kohli, are the ones that stand out. All teams have 3-4 world class batsmen (Icons + Internationals), but among the 2nd in command Indian youngsters, this trio is the best. The bowling could do with another quality spinner, but one can’t have it all.
The other teams that I hope do well are Kolkata Knightriders (they deserve a break), Deccan Chargers (maybe some residual Hyd loyalty) and Rajasthan Royals (am a Warnie fan). I am pretty neutral about Delhi & Chennai, and for some reason do not like Punjab & Mumbai.
My predictions for the semi-finals: RCB, DC, MI & DD.
Let the trash talk continue!