The Idiot's Guide To The IPL - Part Three

Yesterday was the teams of Group A. Now it's Group B's turn.

Group B


Kolkata Knight Riders - Led by Sourav Ganguly for the first three years, the KKR disappointed massively, being the only team to never make the semi-finals. However, Ganguly wasn't retained for this year (or even picked up by any other team), and they'll now be led by Gautam Gambhir. The KKR have some excellent all-rounders in Shakib Al-Hasan, Jacques Kallis, Yusuf Pathan and Ryan ten Doeschate, as well as Eoin Morgan (and Gambhir himself) which will lead to a very strong batting line-up. The bowling will be led by experienced Brett Lee, and he'll work alongside young buck James Pattinson (brother of England legend Darren). Could have a chance if it all comes together, but will need the lesser known Indian players to really step up.


Kochi Tuskers Kerala - The other new franchise this year, Kochi have spent big to try and get off to a good start. They'll be captained by Mahela Jayawardene, and will trust in big guns Brendon McCullum, VVS Laxman and Muttiah Muralitheran. While they have recruited plenty of overseas names, not many of them are the big international stars seen in the other teams, but the KTK will hope they can elevate Kochi in a season where expectations appear fairly high.


Royal Challengers Bangalore - Like Kochi, the RCB have a smattering of big names but will have to rely on some lesser known Indians to lead them to success. Captained this year by Virat Kohli, they do have the big names of Dan Vettori, Tillekeratne Dilshan and Zaheer Khan alongside T20 specialists Dirk Nannes and Charl Langevelt, and could be in with a chance if they get off to a good start.


Rajasthan Royals - Shane Warne's inaugral winners of IPL1 have had their ups and downs ever since (poor seasons ultimately followed by expulsion, then reversal of that decision), and as always, the Royals are the underdogs who can thrive on their status. With Rahul Dravid, Shane Watson and Ross Taylor in the side the batting will be strong, and the Royals will have canny Johan Botha and Paul Collingwood in there as well. Warne aside, the trump card can be Shaun Tait. If he stays match fit he can be devastating. The Royals have had a habit of unearthing superb unknown Indians, and they will hope that this year is no different. They may have to rely on the local talent if they are to achieve anything this year.


Chennai Super Kings - The reigning champions are very strong, and are some people's favourites to take home the IPL crown again. Led by World Cup winning skipper MS Dhoni, there is strength throughout, with Suresh Raina and Mike Hussey as batsmen, all-rounders in Albie Morkel, Dwayne Bravo, Scott Styris and Faf du Plessis, and strong bowling in Doug Bollinger, Tim Southee, Nuwan Kulasekara and Ravichandran Ashwin. Could go a long way in the competition.


So there's the teams of Group B, following yesterday's appraisal of Group A. If you want my honest thoughts - Chennai and Mumbai are favourites, but a team like Pune or Kolkata could come from nowhere to shock a few. Check back tomorrow for some another Idiot's Guide to the IPL.

The IPL Enigma

Those who follow me on Twitter will have seen that I was generally displeased with the IPL yesterday. While a Harbhajan-inspired Mumbai Indians beat the Deccan Chargers, I was finding all kind of faults with the IPL, from the rubbish commentary, constant adverts, and generally low standard of play. Deccan bowled brilliantly from overs 5-15, until the number 9 Harbhajan came in with Mumbai 100-7. Without wanting to knock a great innings from Harbhajan; there is no way that a tail-ender should hit 49* from 18 deliveries (one run from the quickest fifty ever). Terrible bowling aside; the blast of the final few overs just didn't feel like cricket, which is why I didn't really like it. While Mumbai did bowl sensibly, my mood worsened, probably due to the awful "Deccan Chargers" chant, which followed every boundary, wicket, over, dot ball, drinks break and run (seemingly).

So in the backdrop of the MCC / Durham game in Abu Dhabi, and again with nothing better to do on a wet Monday afternoon, I settled down to watch cricket's most lucrative league; with my team Delhi Daredevils taking on the Kolkata Knight Riders. And I really enjoyed it. Yes, one of my favourite England players was playing, but that didn't seem to matter. There was an exceptional century from David Warner, ably supported by Collingwood, as well as one of the greatest catches I've seen from David "Master Cricket" Hussey. It is with good reason that Alec Stewart called it "probably the greatest catch of the decade".

Being so enamoured with the game, I am already eulogising about it during the innings interval (OK, it's now the start of the KKR innings, but these blogs take some time). So why have I suddenly started to like the IPL again? Maybe it's the fact there is an English player involved, or maybe it's because I am in a better mood today than yesterday. Probably, however, it's because that horrible Deccan Chargers chant isn't on repeat.

More IPL stuff

Contrary to previous predictions, I have actually watched a fair bit (a few overs here and there) of the IPL. However, I still haven't been fully involved in it - mainly as I do not have a team. While picking a team might be easy, each has their own unique charms that could attract me to them.

Delhi have Paul Collingwood and Dirk the Diggler; Bangalore have Eoin Morgan; Kings XI have Ravi Bopara, Rajasthan have Warne, Mascarenhas and Tyron Henderson; KKR have Owais Shah; and the rest have players who I'm either not interested in or I dislike.

So I am handing it over to you, my loyal Short Third Fans; pick for me an IPL team. I will forever follow them, look out for their score, buy their shirt, whatever. You have three days to vote.

The Short Third Man

The Short Third Man's IPL Update

While I did protest slightly strongly that I would not be watching the IPL, I lied. As the test match drew to a close earlier, the Royal Challengers of Bangalore took on the Knight Riders of Kolkata (I hope the Hoff is getting royalties...).

Looking at the teams, I saw three Middlesexers - Eoin Morgan, Owais Shah and Murali Kartik (well, he used to be a Middlesexer). While Shah and Kartik donned the historic black and gold of the Knight Riders, Morgan's my favourite, so I supported Bangalore. Eoin was due to bat at 7, but Bangalore's top order batted so badly he was in by the 6th over. And out by the 7th (bowled by Kartik). Once Morgan was out, Bangalore took a tactical time-out; I went upstairs and never returned.

The game was over as a contest, and I later checked the score to see Kolkata won by 7 wickets. But the IPL yet again failed to draw me in. I guess I was unlucky, as the one game I was able (i.e. not doing something else) was the worst game of the tournament so far, with fireworks from Shah, Pathan and Mathews making the host commentators very excited. And I don't even want to go into the bizarre television which was ITV4's coverage.

So will I start to watch IPL3? As with this game, if I have nothing better to do, I will watch. And probably only if players I like are involved.