Last night Quinton De Kock and Kevin Pietersen got out in the same over to Pravin Tambe. With Dinesh Karthik out of form and the two mainstays of the lineup gone, Delhi stuttered in the mid-overs.
DD has stuck to a conservative approach with their batting line-up and their predictable games plans have been easily countered by the opposition.
The ground work done in the first fifteen days is starting to show on the field and DD should take heart in their performances.
The four-day break for DD before the next match is Godsend considering the injuries plaguing the squad. DD will have to forget the match against CSK as just one of those bad days at the office.
It is only fitting that Delhi came out of its winless streak in the IPL against Kolkata Knight Riders, whom they beat for their last win almost a year ago. Incidentally that win, like this one also came at a neutral venue (Raipur).
There was so much gloom at one point of time that it seemed the universe was against DD.
With seven wins from eight games all experts are unanimous in their claims that the boys from Punjab are “riding a wave”.
Feckless fans are never good for sports. But the fans can be expected to remain loyal and stable only if the league does the same. In the IPL change has been the only constant.
The BCCI recognized the value of this kind of “advertising “and permitted a maximum of 10 sponsors’ logos to appear on the jersey of an IPL team. On an average, this permits a franchise to make about Rs 30-35 crore by selling various spaces on the jersey.
When your title sponsor pays you Rs 396.8 crore for five years, pleasing them is paramount. It was exactly the same for the BCCI.
Nehra’s bowling not only restricted RCB to a lower total but also showed the rest how to bowl in Indian conditions.
This season the combination of Mohit Sharma and Ishwar Pandey has given CSK the consistency and penetration they have been searching for.
Chennai Super Kings have stuttered in the final stages of the league, losing there of their last four matches.
MS Dhoni didn’t finish things off for the first time nor is it likely to be the last time but still he surprises us every time he does it.
He maintains good line and length and swings the ball both ways which makes him a wicket-taking bowler.
The injury to Dwayne Bravo is not a good sign for CSK’s championship chances. Bravo will be missed by CSK not just in batting or bowling but also in fielding where he saves 5-10 run per match and takes excellent catches that can turn any match on its head.
Fans were disappointed with the buying of Nehra and today’s performance did not improve his image among CSK fans.
Just Fontaine however holds the record for the highest number of goals scored in a single tournament: representing France at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, Fontaine scored 13 as Les Bleus finished third in Scandinavia.
Delhi has lost more games from winning positions mainly due to under-performance in death bowling and this has had a negative impact on the players.
The signs were there from the start. It was a bad mistake, we all should agree and move on. Period!
After all the allegations and controversies around CSK, this time their reputation is at stake. They have to shrug this off and let the world know what they are made of.
If advertising is all about bringing the product close to the consumer, then Sony, the broadcasters, and their ad agency (Havas Worldwide) had done a great job.
This time DD will be conditioned by World Cup winning coach Gary Kirsten, and will display the captaincy skills of controversy’s own child Kevin Pietersen, who by his own admission is looking for a way back into the England squad.
It is this nonsensical nursing of players as arrogant as Yuvraj Singh that makes them believe that it is fine to do what he did. Don’t nurse him. Make him play better.
In every era of Indian cricket, there has been ‘the man’ – the one the team turns too, the one the lovers of cricket just cannot avoid watching.
Alcantara’s 369 goals for the Catalan club meant he’d stayed atop Barcelona’s goal-scoring charts for eighty-seven years, until Lionel Messi overtook the legendary striker when he notched his 370th goal in a Blaugrana shirt when his club smashed Osasuna for seven.
One needs a perspective to understand why this 'spineless' man suddenly found his so called 'mojo'.
Had it not been for Laudrup, Swansea would not be where they are today. He just needed time to steady the ship, and he would have, given what he did with extremely limited resources at Real Betis when he was in Spain.
The one name that has not been brought up in this debacle is Duncan Fletcher. India’s woes abroad have coincided with his tenure as coach.
Alaindair a four-year-old son by Multidimensional out of a mare name God’s Grace smashed the record books by running the fastest ever mile and a half on the Mahalaxmi Turf to win the 72nd running of the Mcdowell Signature Indian Derby.