A tale of two teams

The T20 series between India and South Africa just concluded today. It was a series that came quick on the heels of a two-month long IPL, and a busy cricket season for Team India right before that. Needless to say, Workload management is the key factor in ensuring that our best XI takes the field for all our important matches. All good with that.

But having said that, we must also understand that workload management is just one part of the story.

The other half of ensuring continued success and dominance in any condition, against any opposition, with any XI, will come from our in-house depth. How much depth we have, how much exposure can we give to our cricketers, and how many players can we identify to do justice to the India jersey?

Thanks to the IPL, we can now say that India can field two teams of its own at any given point of time, for any tournament, on any ground in the world. And by team, I don't just mean a team that can be fielded to simply make up the numbers. I mean, a team that is almost of the same level as the original team in quality and depth, almost equally competent and competitive in skills and temperament. 

And with choc-a-bloc cricket in the New Normal, it is only to be expected that the all-format cricketer is now an endangered species. We might not find too many of them and even when available, we will have to ensure that the all-format cricketer is well-rested, with enough workload management in place (in other words, they must get enough rest and recuperation time between inconsequential battles to be available to win the bigger wars).

Our bench strength is easily among the best in the world. We can field two teams of near-same quality across any format, be it T20s, ODIs, or Test matches.

We have almost like-for-like replacements for all our cricketers. Come the T20 World Cup later this year, for example, we should be able to have enough players to match the skill sets of our First XI. 

In another welcome development, we are fielding two Indian teams at the same time now. One in Ireland for the two T20s, and the other one will be touring England for the sole carry-forward Test match, and the T20 series with the Englishmen.

As the series with South Africa showed, even our second XI can still be a handful and match any team shot for shot, ball for ball. Even after a slow start, we managed to keep ourselves afloat from 0-2 to 2-2, heading into the decider.

As spectators and fans of cricket and Team India, it's now time to encourage them as much as we enjoy their achievements. Do well, both teams - Jai Ho!

IPL spectacle ho riya, agle baras tu jaldi aa!

After what has been two long years without hosting the IPL in India, this year finally brought the IPL caravan to Indian stadiums, along with the crowds.

A new sponsor in Tata, a new number of total teams, a new competition format - and, a new champion!

At the outset, it must be said that the biggest achievement was the fact that we could finally host the entire competition (despite a few hiccups on the way) in a pretty much uninterrupted and secure manner. Sure, there were a few occasions when it seemed like the odd positive results of a few players and support staff might threaten the continuation of at least the matches of those teams. 

Even more importantly, everyone was praying that the infected individuals would not have spread the virus to others. This might have opened a Pandora's box of many unavoidable and uncontrollable factors, which could have led to discontinuation of the tournament.

So, the biggest achievement has got to be the fact that despite all challenges and constraints, IPL 2022 turned out to be a rousing success because each and every IPL match could be conducted relatively smoothly and with the active participation of all the fans in the stadium as well. Good job, everyone!

Another highlight was the number of close matches. Most matches turned out to be cliffhangers, with both the teams being in a position to win the match till as late as the 39th-40th over of the match. The mega auction ensured that every team had to now work with new personnel. Uncapped players needed time and confidence to flower and cement their places in their franchise's Playing XI

Despite coming with the pedigree of being the most successful teams in IPL history, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings kept languishing at the bottom of the table. New times, new combinations, new challenges. 

Talking of new combinations, a word of praise for the two new teams - Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants. Not many would have given them a chance but they went out, expressed themselves and played fearless cricket, proving many naysayers wrong. 

Not to forget Rajasthan Royals, one of the best bowling attacks in the tournament and with the irrepressible Jos Buttler in sublime, red-hot form, they always remained force to contend with. Unfortunately, their overall batting performance and shoddy fielding on key occasions went on to let them down.

As always, one of the biggest pluses of such a tournament is that we also found many emerging stars, who did outstandingly well. Players like Umran Malik, Mohsin Khan, Rajat Patidar, R. Sai Kishore, Mukesh Choudhary - just a few names who made their mark and grabbed their opportunity with both hands in this IPL.

Speaking of emerging, it's time to doff our hat to the new emerging sensation - Hardik Pandya - who has emerged as another potential captain and leader of Indian cricket, after this season. His astute captaincy, calmness, composure, and batting prowess have already catapulted him to make a comeback in Team India for the upcoming T20s with South Africa.

Well done IPL, and see you next year!

As we wrap up the 'visarjan' of this year's IPL Ganpati, it's time to revel in its wonderful memories and probably chant "IPL spectacle ho riya, agle baras tu jaldi aa!"

Tata, IPL!

Jai Ho :)

13 years and counting!

If you were a primary school student in 2009, chances are you must already by in higher studies or even a job. Heck, even if you had only just joined school in Class 1, you should still have graduated from school to be in college today.

13 years!

While I had begun this blog in July 2008, I had just been writing sporadically - 5 posts in the first month (July) itself, followed by a couple each in August and November.

But it was only in April 2009, 13 years ago, when I made a silent resolution of blogging at least once a month. As it turns out, I have stuck to that resolution quite religiously, so much so that I have barely written more than once a month since then.

But it's still a nice, happy feeling to be able to continue on a nice hobby, to keep writing, and to maintain at least a monthly cadence to this blog, my blog.

You won't really need to be a data scientist to deduce that most of my posts are on my first love - cricket. I don't think I have written anything too radical or earth-shattering but I am still happy enough that this blog has been a nice platform to express and share my thoughts about anything.

Even within cricket, I have been happy to write - to borrow my byline for this blog - "something or the other, about something or the other". Thank you to all of you who have read my posts and mailed in (I am still not too convinced about needing a Comments button, so letting it be as is). I hope to continue writing and sharing more, and at the very least, maintain my monthly dose cycle in future as well.

Thank you for all the love and hope you continue to enjoy reading my posts as much as I enjoy writing them, Jai Ho!

Say hello to Tata!

The tournament 

It's that time of the year again when the IPL caravan is upon us. But this time, it's no DLF, no Vivo, but our beloved, our very own Tata group that has befittingly won the title rights for the premier tournament.

What's also new is the format of 10 teams playing the biggest, and by far, the richest T20 league in the world. Apart from the new title sponsor and number of teams, what's also changed is the format.

The format

We do not have each team playing every other team home and away (would have made it 9x2=18 matches) for this edition. Divided into groups of 5 each, they play their group's teams twice + with the team in the same row in the second group (4x2+1x2=10) and once each with their corresponding team in the same row from the second group (4x1=4).

The players

No Pandyas in MI? No Chahal in RCB? No Faff in CSK? No Rashid in SRH?

Be prepared to take some time, as you get used to figure out the team combinations in the new order. But that shouldn't really matter eventually. At the end of the day, it is about which set of players gel better, execute better, and put on a performance that could catapult them to not just victory but even higher gains, glory, and superstardom.

So, let's get going with the fun - fun, which is serious business - the Indian Premier League 2022. May the best cricket win!