Saturday 25 April 2009

Who Plays Who

Deccan vs. Mumbai
Chennai vs. Kolkata

Will we see more Gilly theatrics? I hope so. They'll be up against the best bowling attack in the tournament, so their relatively small top and middle order will have to get some real work in against Mumbai.

Will we see a weaker Chennai? That's an interesting question. Theoretically, Chennai should be a weaker side in their lacklustre bowling department with the absence of Freddie, but as we all know, he hasn't exactly been doing them any favours with his bowling. Last match we saw Balaji come out with the best figures. I don't think that will be happening again, to be honest. I'm inclined to think Chennai will play Oram tonight. He was unimpressive in the first match, but then again, it was only one match. He's sat out the rest and maybe it's time he played.

Chennai's batting is looking alright. If Dhoni's keeping again, hopefully they'll take Parthiv Patel off. He isn't exactly the best choice for the powerplay in those first 6 overs, especially when he isn't of use as a wicketkeeper. It doesn't make sense to keep him on.

Haydos is looking good, and is currently the leading run scorer in the tournament. I wonder if after the last match, when he was given his orange cap in the innings break, the IPL organisers had wrestled it off Dravid.

Dhoni also needs to get going today, as does Albie, and whoever comes in at 6. Raina will also need to put on a decent performance. I am nervous for Albie. He needs to put on a big score today to convince everyone he's up and going. And he won't have Freddie to comfort him after the game if they have another devastating loss.

Kolkata... well, we'll see. They could well be a threat, but if Chennai perform to their potential, it shouldn't be too difficult to silence them. Look out for Mendis if he plays. Chennai's reliance on foreign players means they will be the most vulnerable to Mendis' crafty bowling, having not played him before.

9 comments:

richie_141 said...

I'm sure Freddie will text Albie, should the need arise. I hope it doesn't. Albs just needs to focus and shake off the curse AB's put on him.

Albie needs to perform. After months of watching him destroy the Aussies he was a natural selection in my fantasy team. I don't want to drop him, but it may be a case of head over heart. Or, killing AB to release Albie from the curse...

Maithreyi said...

Albie should perform better today than in the previous match. Which, honestly, is not that tough.

Our attack is going to suffer against the likes of the Brendon of McCullum and Gayle. Ntini might take Magnanimous Flintoff's place.

Dhoni and Raina have consistently played Mendis very well in the last two ODI series against SL. So has Badri. Yeah, Dhoni would need to step up.

If not Parthiv, who? Murali Vijay? He always struck me as more of a test batsman. Maybe Haydos is comfortable with Parthiv at the other end.

12th Man said...

Raina and Dhoni have seen Mendis enough to make runs. But like you said, the foreign players might be facing a problem. Maybe Murali can give them a few hints about how to play Mendis.

12th Man said...

Maithreyi, you have stolen my words in the minute before I could post it.

Rayden said...

Chennai should win today. If they can't beat KKR then they have no chance of winning the IPL.

Mumbai vs Deccan Charges will be a close game. Hope Mumbai wins !!

Another Blogger said...

My beloved Mumbai have blown it. Tendulkar was all ready to give us another masterclass... and then there was that stupid "strategic" timeout.

Barney said...

seems like mumbai lost...
great bowling by Malinga though..
i didn't see the second innings...

anything interesting happen?

Rayden said...

Strategy breaks are the worst possible thing in the history of cricket. Modi is a dumbass. If there was no strategy break today, Mumbai would have won for sure. I totally pissed off right now. Well played Deccan Charges but seriously, that stupid strategy break needs to be scrapped.

Amy said...

So strategy time outs definitely do change the outcome of the game. That's what I find annoying about them, the fact that ads actually disrupt the game enough to change the result.