team india’s dismal performance in IPL

shared by straight point on Thursday, April 30, 2009

yes you read it right...we will be discussing team india's performance in second season of ipl...

the first quarter of ipl is over which is covered and summed up very nicely by friend and fellow bored member Q of wellpitched fame... and if we look at individual performances of men in blue it does not project good picture... specially considering t20 world cup is not that far away...


virender sehwag...gambhir...very poor
viru and gamhir...seems to be taking adulation of most destructive opening pair bit too seriously and in their quest to prove same are failing...match after match...specially viru who has developed this uncanny habit of sucked into to the hype of destroyer...seems hell bent on destroying his form...self...not even the lure of tonking warne out of park could wake him for the job in hand!

raina...avg
raina is showing how he cannot be relied to carry the innings fwd…he has thrown it away many a times in this IPL when he looked settled to carry his team to victory or winning total...no wonder csk are falling short...just short...but short anyway...

rohit...ok
rohit seems to have find his touch...and more importantly much needed pause...looking cautious at start to bid his time which is bit of improvement but consistency is still lacking...

yuvraj...poor
yuvraj can’t play spin...can’t play pace when ball is doing something...and added burden of captaincy seems to have taken away all the fun element out of him...would you believe if i say i heard him yelling at fielder... “use your brain…you idiot”...imagine him telling someone to use brain...!!

dhoni...very poor as player as well as captain
dhoni...he just can’t decide what role he should play...dasher...? which he apparently left way behind...finisher...? conditions at sa seems to have exposed his limited technique...that’s why he is not even able to do it...the dilemma is seen to be believed...his captaincy too is lacking the ‘dhoni’ spark...luck seems to have finally eluded him...as an observer i am enjoying it in a way that the experience will make him re-think about game...strategies and more importantly make him do away with some fixed notions that he seems to have developed...hence his persistence with parthiv...joginder...like he does with mishra at international level thinking he is not a wicket taking option...

yusuf pathan...very good
pathan is amongst the few member of team india...who are leaving mark on ipl...though will be interested to see if he can perform in same way under the captaincy of dhoni...coz dhoni don't rate him at all as bowler...

irfan pathan...good
irfan seems to be getting there...he can be the dark horse of ipl...though his batting talent still remains untapped like his bowling...the problem in dealing with him that he is still considered as bowling all rounder...while according to me...he should be considered as batting all rounder...this will give him much needed space...taking some pressure and persistent glare away from his bowling...

harbhajan...avg
while he is gaining in batting with each outing...has allowed himself to get limited to being a dart bowler...the way he is bowling at the moment i wonder whether he should be called a spinner at all...?

zahir khan...very good
zahir khan seems to have discovered finally that more he bowls...more he gets perfection... rhythm...in great form for quite a while now...lending ball almost at will...pure...unadulterated class...i would call him left arm mcgrath of today...

ishant sharma...poor
ishant's aura with which he debuted is diminishing very fast...earlier he used to be accurate... would stick to basics...now seems to be trying too much for comfort and hence has lost rhythm and penetration in bowling...need rest more than anybody...

so one can see that team india is not performing well at all in this second season of ipl...but there is still hope...ipl is still a long way to go...they can still leave a mark and rise their stock value too...

its also heartening to see that quite a few players are knocking the team india door...

ojha and mishra
both have shown that branding them as not suitable for this shortest form of game is akin to closing eye on obvious talent...they have shown that they have it in them to be successful in all form of game given the confidence...chances...they have shown with performances so far that one can ignore them at one's peril...

rp singh
...he is enjoying the prevailing sa conditions to hilt...doing everything to deserve a recall...the zip and steep bounce...his main weapons which were missing...have returned...so are the wickets...and this certainly is a good news for team india...

another good news is that sree santh has declared himself fit and will be seen in action in short while...i hope and wish he comes good too...for the sake of ‘barren look’ of indian pace department...coz of which india struggled persistently for lack of options on on third seamer account...

25 comments:

Q said...

Nice round up SP..

I think Ishant has been alright.. he may be suffering cos of the KKR politics but his 2nd last over last night was brilliant.

Viru and Gambhir need to definitely fire! and soon..

Maybe Sachin will comeback for the T20, there's a petition going on so who knows..

straight point said...

thanks Q!

not only with kkr ishant bowled like shit in new zealand t20's (and in ODIs) too...

his form is bit concerning as he is a very good prospect for us in tests and the fear of him carrying these bugs to test arena is a shuddering thought...

sachin...oh no...not again!!! ;-)

Ankit Poddar said...

well put, that post SP!

may be this IPL will put up new names for the T20 WC!

ishant sharma has always been okay in this shortest format i think, so RP should make it! viru-gauti are a concern, but then one expects them to fire anytime, may be they are saving it for today!

straight point said...

cheers ankit...

they will have to fire...for 3Ds sake...as well as their own...

sv said...

i am waiting to see Sreesanth in action....

adverbin said...

You didn't rate Munaf. Or is it because Warne will not be his captain for T20 World Cup?

Gaurav Sethi said...

SP, here are Raina's numbers bowling + batting so far

incredible how one game changes things.

like the DD kids, he too is in the form of his life and has been for a while, see what he makes of it this time

rs said...

And this year no one of the "new young" Indians has impressed as yet. Batting is a worry especially as YP takes it to the next gear in RR matches.

samc said...

yes, Munaf has got 9 wickets @13.77 and ER of 6.88! Dhoni needs to take some tips from Warne :-)

Another player you seem to have missed is Rahul Dravid - he has made 144 runs @36 and SR of 135...

straight point said...

sv

i just hope he is not hurrying his return...that would be disastrous...

straight point said...

welcome adverbin...i hope you will keep dropping by...

if you notice again...you will find i have rated only those who played last T20 series in nz... :)

straight point said...

NC...to hell with no(s) his last innings showcased perfectly what i was criticizing him about...

though i agree that he too is in form of his life...it remains to be seen how he makes his life out of this form... :)

straight point said...

rs...spot on!

i am worried that no youngster has impressed...in batting dept...

nayyars, goels did well in one outing but nothing of note...badri (if u can call him youngster) is wasted...and ipl is increasingly becoming the showcase of imports... :(

straight point said...

welcome samc...hope you will keep finding something of your interest...

as i said earlier i rated only those who played last t20 series in nz...hence the omission of munaf and dravid...

anyway i don't see munaf making to t20 xi...he is too fragile to me and less said about his fielding the better...

on second thought by same account...nobody asked me about sachin...? surprising isn't it...? ;-))

Indophile said...

“use your brain…you idiot”... who was the lucky recepient of this snide remark. It will rank highly in "citi moment of abuse" along with Irfan's outburst against Yusuf Abdulla when Harbhajan scored a boundary against him

straight point said...

indophile

that lucky recipient of 'citi moment of abuse' was piyush chawla...when he ran out sangakara...

on another note its nice to see the intensity with which ipl being played...sometimes even beating international matches...

Indophile said...

SP, I just watched Kumble winning the match for Royal challenger and the expression on Yuvraj's face during presentation "priceless". He captains the side just like Dilshan Tilakratne in one of the recent 20 -20 match against India where he was yelling at each player and making digusting faces in general

King Cricket said...

Was Wasim Jaffer the worst fantasy IPL pick of all time?

He can't have been far off.

straight point said...

indophile...

now you know why dhoni was preferred over him for captaincy...didn't you breath a sigh of relief...?

;-))

straight point said...

welcome king...

there's always ajit agarkar to compensate for that... ;-))

Kinka said...

Good point raised by SP.
it looks 'cap' holders are taking IPL very casually. except 1-2 or 3, all are performing from below their standard. realy sad...good to know that Sri will be in action soom

straight point said...

thanks kinka...

i am not sure whether they are taking it casually (except for 3Ds openers)...most are either still not able to adjust...or their techniques are getting exposed...

yeah...sree back in action means more action... :)

achettup said...

Way too early SP... Don't forget after 15 matches we thought we knew who would make the semis and at the half way mark nobody is a firm favorite anymore... and most players have had 5-6 chances and maybe not even that... T20 doesn't always give you the best chance to showcase your skills. In Sehwag and Gambhir's cases definitely yes, you are right on, but Rohit Sharma, Raina, Yuvraj and Dhoni haven't been that bad... better than average at least. RP looked in good touch early on and Munaf is doing reasonably well... Ishant is ok, he's in a very bad environment at the moment and that does affect performance. So our pace side isn't looking half bad. I'm not so sure about Sreesanth, I'll leave my thoughts for after a few performances, but my general view is that he can be very expensive.

straight point said...

A...my assessments were based on performance till first quarter only :)

YellowMonkey said...

Well, Tendulkar's selection hasn't been very good in my opinion

http://blogsadmin.livemint.com/blogs/silly_point/archive/2009/05/07/mumbai-indians-and-sachin-tendulkar-need-to-back-their-batsmen.aspxNor Punjab's. I don't know why they don't give Srivastava or Kaul a go instead of Goel and Sohal....

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