Analysis of Cricketing Event of the Week

IPL 11 is midway through its exhilarating journey, and very similar to the first couple of weeks of the event, continues to gift us with close finishes. This is perhaps the first season, where we as spectators are beginning to understand, that just like a required rate of 7 for the last 5 overs, is defendable in a run chase, similarly, a run rate of 13 in the last 5 overs, is something that is also achievable by the chasing team. Infact, RCB (the worst death bowling side in the tournament) has conceded runs at 13.4 runs per over in the last 5 overs on an average, in the 7 matches, they have played thus far. So, as is the custom, demonstrated by my last 2 blogs at Analysis of Team Standings after Week 2 and Analysis of Team Standings after Week 1 , the order in which the teams will be analysed, will be based on their position in the league table (after Match 29), right from the bottom. Delhi Daredevils (DD) [P-7 W-2 L-5] I remember the 2009 version of IPL, when IPL w...

CSK leading the Points Table this Week Another exhilarating week of IPL is over and as IPL 11 completes its second week, it may well be predicted that this season of IPL will perhaps record the largest number of last over finishes in the 11 year history of IPL. The standard of game has risen so rapidly that, even if the chasing team requires 50 runs in the last 3 overs, the supporters of the chasing team do not give up hope. The par score for teams batting first has come to be around 190-200, which has grown to be the biggest change from last season of IPL. As we wait for another breathtaking week of action coming up , let us take a look at the position of the teams in the league table (after Match 21). [I have written a blog about where the teams stood after the first week of the tournament. The reader will find multiple references to that article in this blog as well. Hence, the readers are requested to have a brief look at the blog at Analysis of Team Standings after Week 1 ...

IPL 11, for all the hype it had created before the beginning of the tournament, had lived up big time, to the expectation of its fans. With almost every match of the competition, going on till the last over, the first week of the competition has only given a preview of the things to come for the next 5 weeks in this fabulous beginning of the next decade of IPL. While, we cricket fans have soaked in the excitement and drama that the eight teams have offered in the first week of IPL 11, let us take a look at where the good old eight teams of IPL stand after the first week. Though its early days in the league, we will review the performance of the teams in IPL in order of where they are positioned on the league table presently (before Match 12), starting from the bottom. Mumbai Indians (MI) [P-3 W-0 L-3] They are perhaps one team, who are used to sitting at the bottom of the table after the first week of the tournament. In the 2015 IPL season, MI lost 4 consecutive matches to be...

SRK with his daughter in IPL 1 & IPL 11 Introduction To identify the legacy that IPL has built around itself throughout the last decade, there perhaps can be no other evident example than Washington Sundar. In 2008, when Brendon Mccullum was smashing the RCB bowlers to all corners of the Chinnaswamy, Washington was an eight year old kid, in Chennai, who, just like almost all other kids of India, dreamt of growing up to be a cricketer. A decade later, that eight year old kid is in the twilight of his teenage years and ironically finds himself in the same IPL team with the first ever hero of IPL, Brendon Mccullum. Perhaps, to add further to the coincidence, both Bazz and Washington find themselves representing RCB, the same franchise, that Mccullum himself massacred a decade back, in the first ever IPL match. Commercial Success of IPL as a Brand IPL has come a long way, from what it was a decennary back, purely in terms of money involved in the game. Star India has bo...

Introduction The cricketing world woke up to perhaps one of its worst days on 24th March, 2018, since the spot fixing incident by Butt, Amir and Asif at Lords. On the third day of the Newlands test between Australia & South Africa, post lunch break, Australian Opener, Cameron Bancroft was found rubbing a yellow sandpaper on the ball to alter its condition and hence aid in reverse swing. Later that day, both Smith and Bancroft, confessed in the press conference, about ball tampering and the involvement of the leadership group in the incident. Probing investigations followed from Cricket Australia and though ICC was mild on the duo of Smith and Bancroft, by handing them a 1 test match ban and 75% match fee deduction, respectively, CA immediately scraped leadership roles off Smith & Warner and banned them from playing for 1 whole year. Bancroft, himself was banned for 9 months. The duo of Smith & Warner were prevented from playing IPL by BCCI and the two most d...