Old is Gold - Veterans adding spice to T20

When Twenty20 started off in England, many saw the new instant-coffee-style format of the game to be one for sheer entertainment - "not serious cricket". Many believed that the old classics of the game would be frustrated no end by it. And sure enough, as T20 spread across the world, the coaching manual kept getting thrown into the litter bin. With Eoin Morgan's reserve sweeps, Dilshan's scoops over the keeper and David Warner's right-handed slog sweeps over extra cover, purists like Glenn McGrath and Shaun Pollock were becoming increasingly bemused. And with time, many of them came to the conclusion that this was not their cup of tea.

The Indian Premier League revolutionized the World of Cricket. It brought T20 to the high table and it became increasingly clear to everybody that T20 was here to stay, whether the legends liked it or not. The first few editions of the tournament quite certainly belonged to the adventure-loving, new age ball hitters of the game - the likes of Brendon McCullum, AB de Villiers and Yusuf Pathan. It was all about hitting the ball to the fence and over it; didn't quite matter how you did it. The older greats of Jacques Kallis, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Sanath Jayasuriya were quickly drafted away into the sidelines. They were branded 'beyond expiry'. Yes, this was not their cup of tea.

However, cricket is cricket. Whether you play 5 overs, 10 overs, 20 overs, 50 overs or 500 overs, cricket shall always be cricket - the rules never change. You might put the ball into the fence off the inside edge, but on a different day, you'd find your leg stump go miles back. You might try to be cheeky with the keeper and scoop it over his head, but he might get his gloves in the way some day. What really matters is to be consistent and last the long haul. And that's where the old, 'beyond expiry' legends came in.

Watching it fly: Jacques Kallis

The most economical bowlers in the IPL's history, quite fascinatingly, are Anil Kumble and Daniel Vettori, both by no means T20 specialists (both, infact, spinners!). The most consistent run-getter in the IPL's history is Jacques Kallis (he also hit a 95 metre long six last night!). Rahul Dravid now scores at well over a run a ball; infact, he's been outscoring his much younger partner Ajinkya Rahane this season! Brad Hodge, well over 30 years of age and one of Australia's erstwhile classics, has become the most valuable finisher in the IPL this season, winning games for his side from direst of straits. Mahela Jayawardene has become quite a revelation, some even calling him a 'devastating opener' these days! And Muttiah Muralitharan, true to his name, picks up a wicket almost every over.

One can go on about the old legends striking back with refreshing vigour at the game of T20. But what makes them so much more delightful to watch as compared to Chris Gayle's baseball whacks and Kieron Pollard's brutal thwacks is the way in which they go about their play - retaining the same old aura, elegance and glory. Jayawardene's late cuts past short third man are just as effective as Pollard's flat hooks to the fence, only more easy on the eye. Kallis' open-chested inside-out shots over long-off go as far as Gayle's rooted-to-the-crease clobbering, only that they are more soothing. Rahul Dravid's leg glances go as quickly to the fence as Yusuf Pathan's murderous drives past cover, only more classic and attractive. And as time continues to flow by, one is becoming increasingly convinced that the erudite legends of old are the most reliable in the game of cricket, irrespective of the number of overs of play or the number of fielders outside the 30-yard circle. Old is indeed Gold.

Christopher Henry Gayle - Somebody stop him!

Christopher Henry Gayle - the name says it all. A Pirate from the Caribbean, Jamaican to be precise, Gayle, unlike most of his countrymen, decided to take to cricket rather than win medals in Olympic events. And what a fine decision that was! For two reasons - one, the Gayle winds blow rather consistently these days in different parts of the world, in the KFC Big Bash League, the Bangladesh Premier League and of course, the Indian Premier League, and two, Gayle can never run more than two runs on a given ball - he prefers sending them into the crowd instead.

Chris Henry's story is rather fascinating. For most part of his international career for the West Indies, despite being a regular feature of his national side (if you can call it that), Gayle seemed to be amongst the most inconsistent players around. Things seemed to change when he was made the captain following Brian Lara's retirement and Ramnaresh Sarwan's failure at the job. Gayle pummeled the first hundred in a Twenty20 International during the first game of the inaugural World Twenty20 championships against hosts South Africa and it became instantly clear then that this man enjoyed the new format. Gayle then marauded 333 fantastic runs against Sri Lanka in a Test match. But following the World Cup of 2012, Gayle ran into trouble with his mercurial, often whimsical, West Indies Cricket Board. Following some disputes over contracts with senior players and a spicy radio interview, Gayle and some others were left out in the woods. The result - the West Indies plunged to an all-new low while playing a side without Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard. 

To his credit, Gayle didn't let all of that hurt him. He started with the IPL of 2011. After being ignored in the auctions, Gayle got picked up by the Royal Challengers Bangalore as a replacement for injured Dutch-Aussie paceman Dirk Nannes. And Gayle made that place in the eleven his own. With a century against the Kolkata Knight Riders in his first game, Gayle took off, blowing away hapless opponents with a long, thick club of a bat and taking the leading run scorer's Orange Cap in half the time. Gayle then made an appearance Down Under in the Australian Big Bash League, playing for the Sydney Thunder, fittingly opening alongside Pocket Rocket David Warner. Gayle winds blew all around the Aussie coastline ensuring that Thunder put on a strong fight despite losing Warner to international duty, but unfortunately, the side couldn't win the League. Back for RCB at the Champions League, Gayle made a mockery of the Somerset Sabres in a must-win game, taking his side all the way to the finals of the tourney from a situation where most had written them off. Then came the Bangladesh Premier League. Turning out for the Barisal Burners, Gayle burnt the pitch wherever he went, sending white balls into the Bay of Bengal rather frequently.

Clearly, T20 has caught Gayle's imagination and he no longer needs the West Indies team. But what makes him such a phenomenon? Firstly, fear in the mind of the bowler. When you've got a beast of a man, six and a half foot tall, standing at the other end, knowing that if you don't hit the bottom of his bat, it's going to be out of the ground, bowling becomes an act of great daredevilry. Gayle doesn't need technique to hit the ball. He plays it the baseball way. Stand in the crease, wait for the little white ball to come and tonk it with all your might. Back foot, front foot don't matter at all.

Few have mastered the art of bowling to Gayle without losing the ball. Jacques Kallis seems to be one of them. His yorker in the KKR-RCB game of the Champions League to send Gayle's stumps flying back a mile was quite a sight. As a result, KKR went on to win that game. More recently, Kallis had Gayle caught at mid-on in the ongoing IPL, bowling a straight-as-a-dart bouncer at Gayle's body and cramping him for room and once again, KKR went on to win. Kallis exploited a rather well-known but rarely used feature of Chris Henry's batting - he can never pull a cricket ball with reasonable success. 

Having watched Gayle's batting fairly closely, I have come to certain conclusions about him. The pull shot doesn't exist in his book, so bowling short and straight at his head annoys him very much. Further, being as tall as the Eiffel Tower, anything you throw down at Gayle is most unlikely on most pitches to reach high enough to make him pull it; if you don't have enough pace, the ball shall just sit up on him and say 'hit me', which he would love doing. Anything you bowl, no matter where you pitch it, would either be a length ball or a half-volley and God help the bowler then. So the only real option you've got against Gayle is to bowl him yorkers, 6 out of 6 balls, and with pin-point accuracy. If you miss your line or length by an inch, it's going to be in the second tier. Worse is to give him room to have a free swing. You let a foot's distance between Gayle's feet and the ball when it reaches him, and it won't be in the second tier - it'll be in the neighboring town.

Obviously, when your team isn't at the receiving end of the Gayle winds (thanks to Kallis, the Kolkata Knight Riders haven't so far), you want to see the ball be blown for as far as the eye can see. But for the larger good of the bowling community, will somebody stop him? Like always, only the West Indies Cricket Board seems like it can.

IPL 2012 - The Heroes and the Dopes

The IPL frenzy is here again! Most teams sport a newish look following the expulsion of the Kochi Tuskers Kerala, many having beefed up their resources well.

Here's my take on who the favorites are and whom I'm backing -

1) Kolkata Knight Riders -

My favorite and the team of my choice, KKR, have roped back in Brendon McCullum. But McCullum this time around would be greeted by a stronger, more potent batting line-up to work with. With Bradley Haddin already in the dugout, many believe that bringing in McCullum makes him redundant. Well, there's a simple flaw there. McCullum isn't equal to Haddin. McCullum is McCullum. Remember his ferocious fireworks display from the very first game of the League's history?

So why do I believe that McCullum would be more effective this time round than he was during his previous stint? It's for the simple reason that McCullum has the solid, comforting cushions of Jacques Kallis and Gautam Gambhir around him this season. With two of the most solid batsmen going around in world cricket today around him, McCullum would be able to flash away at the opponent with greater freedom. A start of about 25-30 runs from the first 3 overs would be his task. Kallis and Gambhir would take over from there on with Shakib al Hasan's blistering form in the middle order and Yusuf Pathan's mad mauling to boot.

The bowling isn't empty either with Aussies Brett Lee and James Pattinson and South African Marchant de Lange in there. But here's the trouble. The team can only play four foreigners. If KKR decide to field McCullum, Kallis and Shakib, only one of the pacers can play. But with Kallis, Yusuf, Iqbal Abdulla, Rajat Bhatia and Laxmi Ratan Shukla giving him options, Gambhir might be able to breathe easier. But bowling is the biggest drawback of the Gold and Blacks/Violets.

2) Delhi Daredevils -

They were Team Virender Sehwag last season. This time around though, DD are playing World XI. Here's an excerpt of the team sheet - D Warner, V Sehwag, K Pietersen, M Jayawardene, R Taylor ... Anyone wants to bowl to the Daredevils? With many teams willing to let off some big guns during the transfers, DD have taken full toll!

They're currently a depleted outfit with all of the above, except Sehwag, out on tour or out on injury. But they still field a side with Irfan Pathan, Aaron Finch, Umesh Yadav, Roelof van der Merwe and Morne Morkel in it! That's fantastic bench strength. And that's why I pick them as number two for the season.

T20 is entertainment and Sehwag is skipper here. Do the crowds need more?

3) Royal Challengers Bangalore -

Chris Gayle is in town. And that's all they need. With Gayle scoring 100 runs in 10 overs all on his own, RCB have the freedom to play the worst XI they can think of, and still win. But if the Caribbean Pirate were to be called away by his whimsical cricket board, they have reinforcements - AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli, TM Dilshan, Dirk Nannes, Zaheer Khan and Magic Murali. Led by Danny Vettori from New Zealand, I'd say RCB seem the strongest on paper. But will they live it up?

4) Mumbai Indians -

Lasith Malinga has dedicated his life to this team. That counts out 4 overs for the opposition. For Malinga, flying in to fling the ball hard, is as mean as a miser. So will the opposition's batters make the most out of the other 16? No wait! Pragyan Ojha and Harbhajan Singh are in this side too! So count out another 8 overs.

Would batting be MI's weakness then? I wouldn't say that about a line-up which has Sachin Tendulkar and Kieron Pollard in it! So would I back MI to win this season? Well, to me, backing a team which has Harbhajan Singh as its captain would be rather unethical.

5) Kings XI Punjab -

If I had an IPL team, Adam Gilchrist would be in it and he'd be skipper. That's exactly what KXIP have got. Given a chance, these guys can field an all-Australian XI in every game - Adam Gilchrist, Shaun Marsh, David Hussey, Ryan Harris, Nathan Rimmington, James Faulkner. They've got one of the best bowling attacks in the competition, with Praveen Kumar and Stuart Broad amongst their ranks. Nonetheless, things simply haven't clicked for them in the IPL. They start minnows to me.

6) Chennai Super Kings -

It's Team India playing on the field. With MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravi Jadeja and Ravi Ashwin wearing their jersey, CSK is to the IPL what Barcelona is to the Spanish football league. They've also got Albie Morkel, Mike Hussey and Doug Bollinger! They've lost Big Matt Hayden and Wily Muralitharan and that meant they lost my support as well. But they're the defending champions. And that counts for a lot!

7) Rajasthan Royals -

RR will miss Shane Warne and that means Rahul Dravid would be leading them. A gritty team, but far from being amongst the strongest. Rajasthan still do have Watson, Botha, Hogg, Hodge and Tait. But the idea of letting off Ross Taylor so that the Daredevils can play a World XI, still baffles me.

8) Deccan Chargers -

Flamboyant is the word for them. Kumar Sangakkara, Cameron White, Dale Steyn, Jean-Paul Duminy and Dan Christian are part of their dugout. They've also got a guy whom I've often held to be one of the finest T20 bowlers around - Juan 'Rusty' Theron of South Africa. But why on Earth would one let away Kevin Pietersen in a T20 league?

9) Pune Warriors India -

Pune will be the Kolkata crowd's darling with 'Dada' Sourav Ganguly at the helm. Yuvraj Singh's unfortunate cancer means PWI would miss their flamboyant trumpcard. But don't count them out! In their dugout, when all players are available, would be Graeme Smith, Michael Clarke, Mitchell Marsh and another guy whom I hold up to be the finest T20 bowler around - Alfonso Thomas. Murali Kartik's T20 experience would come in handy as well.