It's In TeH GaMe !!!

Now, most of you must have got the idea from the title itself. Of course, it is the IPL and Mr.Lalit Modi who have struck again. And they along with the whole BCCI individual giants are encouraging a format, where India doesn't even rank in top 5. Come on BCCI...why do you always have to something atrocious and harmful for the team in your control? Bring in some more tests please :s ...before we, the fans of Indian Cricket break your luxurious, exquisite office made from the money-through-IPL into bits and pieces.

For MSD and Co. somehow provided the icing on the cake by first marking Indian Cricket's 100^th test win, and then of course, taking India to numero uno. Now that playing against minnows like Bangladesh is going to give India not even one single point in the table, and with the NZ test series still not confirmed, I doubt if India might even slip to as low as 3 or 4 in the rankings. Possible enough? Isn't it? Here is where, MSD's golden luck will come into play. Don't forget how SL players were left licking their wounds due to the lacking of UDRS. Had it been there, at least the 3rd test could have resulted in a draw. And now in the present and the future, if by god's grace, the Aussies and the Saffas could fail to make amends of the opportunities coming at them, it is going to be Dhoni's luck again.

Still though, credit has to be given to the whole Indian team, not only the one in the present but right from the 90s when our legendary heroes were cementing their place in the side right to youngsters coming in the side and doing well of late. Needless to say, it has been a long journey, and the whole of Indian Cricket deserves to cherish these precious moments. Who knows..kal India No.1 ho ya na ho?

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I did forget to mention Gautam Gambhir in the previous post. He is perhaps the most wanted by the villan - Complacent. LOL! I could not have thought of any name for this villan. Suggest me one if you know anything better than this. Someone's comparing him with Sunil Gavaskar, someone is awarding him checks of big amounts and few precious trophies, someone thinks he will lead India in the future. When I had a debate with my friends on this future captain of India, all they said was "Abbe pehle future tak usse team mein toh rehne de"(At least let him be in the playing XI in future). They were right on spot with this answer. He still faces a stiff competition from players like JP Duminy, deVilliers for world glory. There are many more that I can't remember.

In my opinion he is yet to face the real test on fast pitches like the ones in West Indies, South Africa. I didn't mention Australia above for the reason being that he did pretty well there last year.
Like any other young promising batsman in India, he has been a lion in his backyard. He looks technically perfect to be honest. The only problem that lags him behind is there aren't going to be many tests his country will play. And well...he is missing the next test too due to his sister's wedding. Seriously, a bad time for the wedding season to come in India. This also showcases his weaknesses. His biggest being the lack of ability to clear big grounds. But as there is this commonly known phrase says -

When there is a will, there is a way...

He is best known to bisect the gaps easily courtesy some good timing. He cannot loose these skills overnight. All he can loose is his form and fitness thanks to Lalit Modi and Co. for their business league, better known as IPL. It will be interesting to see how he carries himself in the future.

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Finally, the suspense is over. We will be having the IPL in South Africa but the only change is that the tournament is postponed by one week. Though the league is no more Indian Premier league and has become International Premier League, we will continue to enjoy all the matches on TV. The timings have been set as such so that the matches are broadcasted at 4 pm and 8 pm IST.
Many people are saying that the IPL has lost its Indian flavour. Yes, I feel so. But the IPL organisers and the BCCI will look forward to expand their fan following globally along with the franchises. The season one last year saw a good television viewership in South Africa. Moreover the Africans have given a good response to the longer version, so expect them to fill the stadiums. We will be witnessing the action on TV and as if me and my friends (Satya and Rishabh) would have gone to the stadiums to watch the matches. Well the matches had already been moved out of Delhi and now out of India.
IPL Chairman, Lalit Modi blames the weather conditions as the key factor, but there would surely been some econmic factors as well which have worked in the favour of South Africa.
Some people also say that this shifting would create a bad image of India in front of the world as of Pakistan. But I disagree with this, because any security lapse could have created this image and this shift has much of positives rather than negatives like-

• Incresing global fan following.
• Helps in giving domestic players an international exposure.
• Assuring total safety of players.

Sponsers also wouldn't have problems, because most sponsers are multi-national brands and wouldn't have much problems as they have markets in South Africa as well like- Coca Cola, Pepsi, Mastercard, Nokia and many more.

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I had previously listed 114 international cricketers who were going to be auctioned for the second season of IPL. I had also mentioned in that post what the consequences could be to auction so many players yet having so many restrictions to buy players from the auction.

Seems like Lalit Modi gave a hard thought to it and finally decided to cut the list to only 43 players with Pakistan players being ruled out by the Pakistan government due to security concerns.

Here's the new list of those final 43 players being auctioned along with their base price (source - cricinfo.com) :

Final list of players for auction (all figures in US$)
Australia: Aaron Bird (45,000), Brett Geeves (45,000), Bryce McGain (50,000), Daniel Harris (50,000), Dominic Thornley (50,000), George Bailey (50,000), Jon Moss (50,000), Michael Clarke (1,000,000), Michael Dighton (85,000), Michael Hill (50,000), Phil Jaques (100,000), Shane Harwood (75,000), Shaun Tait (250,000), Steven Smith (75,000), Stuart Clark (250,000).

England: Kevin Pietersen (1,350,000), Andrew Flintoff (950,000), Luke Wright (150,000), Owais Shah (150,000), Paul Collingwood (250,000), Ravi Bopara (150,000), Samit Patel (100,000).

Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (75,000), Mohammad Ashraful (75,000), Mashrafe Mortaza (50,000), Tamim Iqbal (50,000).

New Zealand: James Franklin (50,000), Jesse Ryder (100,000), Kyle Mills (150,000).

South Africa: Gulam Bodi (100,000), JP Duminy (300,000), Morne van Wyk (100,000), Tyron Henderson (100,000), Yusuf Abdullah (25,000).

Sri Lanka: Thilan Thushara (100,000), Nuwan Kulasekara (100,000), Kaushalya Weeraratne (50,000), Chamara Kapugedera (150,000).

West Indies: Kieron Pollard (60,000), Fidel Edwards (150,000), Dwayne Smith (tbc), Kemar Roach (50,000), Jerome Taylor (tbc).

This list of only 43 cricketers makes a lot of sense now. After all it hopefully won't be a such a big waste of time for them as it could have resulted if all 114 players would have been placed in the auction.

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