Brendon Barrie McCullum

BB McCullum = Volcanic eruption

BB McCullum when blasts,
wins the match for Kochi really fast.

No tricks,
when he hits them big.

Leaves Opposition with No desire,
when BB McCullum is on fire.

Kochi innings does’nt last,
when BB McCullum sits in the dugout doing podcast.

When he hits sixes off any of the bowlers,
He makes the Kochi owners count every dollar.

His old team KKR feels bad,
And as soon as possible they want him back.

Gokul Garg & Anmol Lorenz for DieHard Cricket Fans

IPL (From A South African Perspective)

IPL may as well be known to cricket-lovers throughout the world as the most lucrative and most popular T20 tournament of the year, but here in SA, I have noticed that there are different ideologies circling this event…

It’s important to understand that there are many opinions based on the IPL today and how it’s influenced international cricket. Many referring to the way it has persuaded cricketers to leave their national duties, much like the West Indian case; or the fact that money plays such a powerful role in the purpose of this tournament and I quote, from an ad I watched on TV recently,”Who says money can’t buy talent?”, to support this notion. Apart from these two negatives, there’s nothing quite wrong with the Indian Premier League, in fact, in my opinion it’s very much entertaining, following up the CWC and all. It’s beneficial to the future of South African Cricket by show-casing young domestic talent on the international stage, add that to the skillful knacks that form part of the national team and you’ve got yourself one cracker of a show. And to date the Proteas haven’t disappointed either, boasting match-winning performances, most notably Johan Botha’s all-round successes. Another South African taking center stage is A.B de Villiers who has the ability to make it rain sixes. The rest of the boys continue to represent their country with pride.

The tournament got even more interesting after the addition of two new franchises – The Pune Warriors (which features the likes of former S.A captain Graeme Smith and Wayne Parnell) and the Kochi Tuskers Kerala (Currently no South African players). To have a tournament like this about six days after the World Cup has seen us evolve from rivalry to unity, A place where all fans and players of the sport can get together and give off their best, despite nationality or homeland. A combination of experience and talent is always helpful in boosting the skills of tommorow’s cricket playing generation, this tournament has seemed to open new doors and opportunities for them to do so. Take Valthaty for instance, not long ago he was a nobody but after those brilliant last few innings for the Kings XI, I won’t be surprised if they include him in India’s national T20 squad!

Cricketers leaving their call of duty to pursue bigger prospects in their career, no matter how wrong, should be their affair. Bottom line, the IPL isn’t all that bad. Some may agree, some may disagree with my views but at the end of the day irrespective of whether you’re a serious cricket fan or not, it’s not easy to deny that the IPL is here to stay! And that being said, let it continue to unearth tomorrows heroes and pave the way to a new era of world cricket!

Surekha Bhugeloo for DieHard Cricket Fans

Money Land over Mother Land

IPL has seen some amazing performances so far, but as always there have been a few controversies also. The 1st being where the Sri Lankan Cricket Board has called its players to report back by 5th May so that they can prepare for the England tour. BCCI would do everything to influence their decision. I somehow have a feeling that national duty should be given preference over the IPL duties, but some players like Kieron Pollard, chris Gayle have a different point of view who refused to be part of the West Indies team for Pakistan series at home. They have chosen money land over mother land which I feel is poor decision by them. National duty should always be given priority over IPL commitment; nevertheless it’s their personal point of view.

Gayle had refused the WICB’s central contract to leave him free for the IPL but ironically was not bought at the player auction in January because the franchises feared he would be unavailable because of international
commitments. Then after the World Cup Gayle informed the board that he was recovering from injury following the World Cup and was undergoing rehabilitation work and about to resume training while he had been making arrangements to play cricket in IPL.

Then there are players in this IPL who are not ready to lead their National Team or who have given up National captaincy but are very happy to lead an IPL team. This seems to confuse me with no end. Like Kumar Sangakkara has given up Sri Lankan captaincy after the world cup loss due to some reasons but then he is very happy to lead the IPL side. I wonder why the reason for quitting national captaincy does not apply when you are leading an IPL side. Players like Kumar Sangakkara, and Daniel Vettori have all given up their national team’s captaincy but are happy leading an IPL side. The reason for Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene for quitting national captaincy was they didn’t see them self playing for long, but these reason don’t apply when captaining the IPL side The Sri Lankan players are going to go back to Sri Lanka by 5th of May, that would mean they won’t captain their respective sides during the most important leg of the tournament so since they won’t be there for the entire tournament why don’t they allow someone else to lead the side, who will be there for the entire tournament. When they leave for national duty then their respective teams would again have to start from scratch, they should actually help the young players to get into the role of a captain with help them gain captaincy experience. But in IPL all the reasons and problems go for a toss. Till now we had players who retired from international cricket but continued to play in the IPL; in this edition we even have the umpire doing the same. Rudi Koertzen has retired from International Cricket but is happy umpiring in IPL. I won’t be surprised to see in future if players decide only to play in the IPL.

Nevertheless this IPL has been brilliant so far. We have seen some very exciting matches. For me IPL is all about Divided by teams but United by Cricket.

Ricky Singh for DieHard Cricket Fans

Time to Test the Bench in the Caribbean !

IPL has thrown up some surprises. Some players whom I have disliked all along have done well. Some whom I have hyped up haven’t. And some whom I have waited for have done well too. And thankfully, the new teams aren’t door mats. Let us take a look at Indian players @ IPL 2011 chapter.

Of the lesser known faces, Abu Nechim looked good when he got a chance. Ambati Rayudu has been fantastic. Paul Valthaty is Revelation and Revolution put together. He is the ‘Item Number‘ of IPL-4. Harmeet Singh Bansal got slower but also got Sehwag. Vinay Kumar has never looked better.

Bharat Chipli is another surprise package. Venugopal Rao is a blooming, but perhaps a tad too late for a total recall. Dinesh Karthik is not the same Boss DK he was a year ago. Abhishek Nayar too has slipped down the ladder.

Murali Vijay and Badrinath have played well, but nothing exceptional. Shikar Dhawan has been a total disaster. Naman Ojha is missing Warne. Che Pujara hasn’t got the chances to bat higher. Saurabh Tiwari has been too tame. Anirudha Srikkanth has shown more maturity than his father.

Dravid and Laxman have batted well, but ! Mohammed Kaif hasn’t got a look in. Akash Chopra is a very good blogger today. Wridhiman Saha is in a team whose Captain’s name is M. S. Dhoni. Ajit Agarkar will retire after this season.

Dinda has bowled no-balls and bad balls and wants to believe he is India’s answer to Malinga. That he is NOT. Irfan Pathan has done precious little. Jakati is not the same bowler he was in IPL-2010. Gony is more of agony and Sreesanth is Freesanth.

Murali Karthik is toiling gamely, but selectors are not looking back. Sidharth Trivedi has blown hot and blown cold. Abhimanyu Mithun has been blown away. Umesh yadav wants to play tests. But where is he ? Why aren’t Rajastan trying Deepak Chahar ? And where is Kamran Khan ?

Sarabjit Ladda looks good and then looks bad. What is Asad Pathan ? A Bowler who can bat or a Batsman who can bowl ? Too many Pathans, too little Pathaning !

Rohit Sharma is maintaining the Legend of Rohit Sharma. I watched live, Ravindra Jadeja slam two huge sixes against CSK. Robin Uthappa has played his customary big shots. Balaji looks fabulous with slower ones but perhaps Vinay Kumar is a better package.

Yusuf Pathan has bowled better and flattered to deceive with the bat. Thankfully Piyush Chawla will not be in contention; Jadeja demolished him. Pragyan Ojha looks pale and Amit Mishra just about hale.

Manoj Tiwari has missed out on scaling the next level twice this time. Good, yet not as good as say, Rayudu, Valthaty or Uthappa. Everyone is busy talking about Poonam Pandey. Does anyone remember the first Indian to score an IPL century ?

Manish Pandey

Sehwag should have had shoulder surgery NOW. He is MESSING up the IPL and will be MISSING the West Indies and England tours. Too bad. Sachin is Sachin, Thank You Sachin.

Yuvi the Captain isn’t as great as Yuvi the match winner. Bhajji is looking as ordinary as he has been for past 3 years. Zaheer needs rest. Gambhir can make an ordinary team with Kallis, Lee, Morgan, Shakib, Yusuf and Gambhir.

It is believed Dhoni, Sachin, Sehwag, Bhajji and Zaheer would like to be rested. Nehra is yet to recover from injury. Will he be ready for the West Indies ?

Though Dhoni has maintained that IPL should not be the criteria for India selection, we can’t altogether ignore the greatest Glicket show on earth.

So here is my ODI Team for the West Indies Tour ! This is open for updating as the IPL progresses.

1] Gautam Gambhir [Captain - He should OPEN or should not play]
2] Paul Valthaty [Why not ? It is time to see if he is good at the next level]
3] Virat Kohli [Obvious choice. There isn't a better No. 3 right now]
4] Yuvraj Singh [Rested enough and rusted enough. He needs to be playing]
5] Suresh Raina [He too has to be there too]
6] Robin Uthappa [He deserves a chance. Second Wicket Keeper]
7] Yusuf Pathan [Poor IPL batting form. But he deserves at least 1 full series]
8] Parthiv Patel [The Wicket Keeper. Has batted usefully]
9] Ishant Sharma [He has been good so far. He is Future !]
10] Munaf Patel [In spite of my dislike, he is in because he is IN]
11] Ravindra Jadeja [Well, he has come back in a BIG way]
12] R. Ashwin [He is our strongest Spinner in shorter formats]
13] R. P. Singh [Scratchy. But a little support and he can be R. P. Swing !]
14] Vinay Kumar [Absolute guts and hard work. Deserves to be there]
15] Ashish Nehra / Praveen Kumar [One of them needed for the experience]

Unless someone from this list plays really badly or someone else plays really exceptionally, this could be the team. Rayudu, Rohit, Balaji  and Vijay can consider themselves unlucky to miss the flight. But then we have a pretty good Bench Strength.We can afford to waste a few talents. Even Greg Chappell believes so !

Govind Raj Shenoy for DieHard Cricket Fans

DHCF Contest #2

Announcing our 2nd Contest:-
Send in articles (related to cricket ofcourse) to us at diehardcricketfans@gmail.com .
We will publish them on the DHCF website. The person whose articles get maximum response ( likes & reactions & comments) will be declared the winner. The Aggregate will be taken per person. So say if your 3 articles get published then the total of all 3 will be considered. The contest will end after the IPL final & the winner will get a copy of “The Gamechangers” , a bestseller (Based on Fake IPL player).

Meet The New West Indies

Otis Gibson wasn’t kidding around when he said it was time to clean out the attic. The latest news is that the three big names of West Indies cricket have got the chop in the upcoming series against Pakistan. Thats right, no Gayle, no Sarwan, no Chanderpaul. Interesting move, bold move. Ripping out the West Indian spine will do one of two things, either form a new backbone, or collapse into a mush.  Is it fair to blame these three for the woes of the 00′s and the sorry world cup run?

No Gayle
Easily the most influential and dynamic player of the team for such a long time. He is the big name, the draw card, the one who captains talk up the toss. He had a poor world cup, but find me a West Indian batsman who didn’t. Of the three, I find this the most bitter pill to swallow, the man looks lazy, but he most certainly isn’t. It was him to told Suliemann Benn to get lostwhen he refused to listen to him remember?

No Sarwan
This I agree with. The man looked as scratchy as ever and is completely stuck in the mud. A real shame given that he was promised to succeed Lara as the next big thing, he might well have too if he steered clear of injuries and politics. But for now, he is a dead anchor in the team and there may be a chance we’ll never see him again.

No Chanderpaul
This is sad but probably correct move. He has been a barnacle in the side, clutching on and fighting manfully against the waves of mediocrity around him. I for one was a big fan of the Gayle-Chanderpaul opening combination, but nobody else was it seems. Now it has become a bit of an identity crisis, is he a Gilchrist? a Mark Richardson? a Michael Bevan? He had shades of all, but at the moment he is neither, and with another world cup looking pretty unlikely, the walls are closing in on one of the real street fighters of the game.

The end of the road? © Associated Press

Adding to this….

No Pollard
The man has Mumbai Indians commitments folks. Get this quote: ”It was mutually determined that Pollard would be best served by being allowed to hone his T20 skills in the Indian Premier League, which will bring future benefit to West Indies cricket…” . What a load of trash. Michael Holding once said he doesn’t regard Pollard as a cricketer. I will correct him, he is not a West Indian cricketer. Sadly it won’t be long before others follow his lead and play his selfish card, to send the West Indies into further decline.

The only thing being "honed" here is the Pollard bank balance.

Marlon Samuels!
On the positive side, after copping a ban for involvement with bookmakers, the man who once bashed Warne around and earned Steve Waugh’s respect is back in the fame. If their upcoming opponents had to deal with corruption bans, it would be an empty plane flying into the Carribean.

It was Pakistan who embarrassed the West Indies in a ridiculous defeat in the quarter final. Who will prevail in what can be termed a revenge match? Depends if Pakistan turn up, and thats a whole different story altogether.