Cricket Tournaments

India has had it all when it’s come to the number of pacers in their ranks but, none of them with the exception of Zaheer khan has been able to perform consistently and more importantly economically at the international level. In the last ten years we have seen these cricketers sweat it out without much success:

• Praveen Kumar
• Ishant Sharma
• Munaf Patel
• Ashish Nehra
• S Shreesanth
• Irfan pathan
• L balaji
• Sudeep Tyagi
• Ashoke Dinda
• RP Singh
• Ajit Agarkar
• VRV Singh

All these bowlers be it after injury or after a certain lay off seem to have either lost their pace or swing or their length. Something has definitely gone wrong. India has used all these bowlers in the last 5 years. None of them are a permanent fixture in the Indian team currently. To add to this Abhimanyu Mithun (taking nothing away from the youngster) has been added to the squad for the South African series. Starting right from the beginning

Praveen Kumar: This young man has a good set of skills in his kit bag. However, the only thing missing is the pace. He is still a handful and is perhaps the only bowler out of the above who can swing the new ball both ways. As far he is concerned more consistent performances in the domestic level along with pitching the ball up to the batsman could help him.

Ishant Sharma: This young lanky pacer burst on to the scenes in Australia troubling the likes of Ricky ponting and Matthew Hayden. However, after that golden year of his he seems to have lost out on all the pace he had. The nip back in to the batsman seems to be missing and the rhythm is just gone so much so that he was dropped for most part of the 2009 season in the Indian sub-continent. He needs to get his focus right and that will only happen if the training gets more intense.

Munaf Patel: Perhaps India’s most steady bowler. But, the thing that’s hitting him the most amongst competition is his inability with the willow in hand along with his miserable fielding performances. I still believe that Munaf would have been a regular in the Indian XI had his fielding been of decent standards. Munaf needs to come up with a couple of striking performances so that he is back in the reckoning.

Ashish Nehra: He played his last ODI in about 4 years in September 2005 against arch rivals Pakistan. After that he has suffered several ankle injuries hits and misses. He finally with his good performance with the Delhi daredevils in the IPL West Indies in the absence of Zaheer khan and assumed the role of the strike bowler pretty well. He provided good performances until the back end of the year where his form started to drop and he started to leak runs

S Shreesanth: India’s antic boy—S shreesanth has shown a lot of promise but delivered very little. Barring his performance in South Africa in 2006 shreesanth hasn’t made one series his own. The pacer needs to calm his antics down a little and pay more attention on getting his out swingers going at decent pace.

Irfan Pathan: India’s lost wonder boy. No one knows where he is—after one of the best debuts he could ask for irfan pathan has found himself wanting and is clueless what to do next. After showing himself as India’s next big thing Irfan pathan’s actual performance on the field has left a lot to be desired. The sad thing for irfan is that the selectors have lost hope in him and was seen missing from India’s top 30 squad for the champions trophy. Pathan seriously needs to get his act together and come up with a strong performance in this year’s IPL and show not just the selectors but the entire nation that he is still world class.

L Balaji: Balaji has seen misfortune like no other. After a wonderful start to his career down under that took shape in Pakistan in 2004-2005 balaji looked one for the future. However, after his wonderful tour of Pakistan he was hit by an injury spade which has haunted him ever since then. He did manage to make a comeback which perhaps was his last go and that failure certainly does not hold good for him. His future unfortunately looks a grim one.

RP Singh: RP Singh very similar to Irfan Pathan lost his swing and pace after a decent start to his career. However, the good thing for RP has been his performances in the IPL which has helped him gain a spot not once but twice although he seems to throw it away after that. Another good IPL performance should hold him in good stead and RP must make sure he grabs the next Indian chance he gets which might not be too far considering his colleagues bowling form.

Ajit Agarkar: Once, India’s young and only bowling prospect. Agarkar delivered for a lot of years. He has always been a wicket taker but his backdrop has been his leakage of runs which in this era will not do. Agarkar was a pretty handy bat down the order too with a top score of 95. The selectors seem to have look past Agarkar and its up to Agarkar who has to come up with some strong performances in order to be back in the reckoning.

Sudeep Tyagi, Ashoke Dinda and VRV Singh: the three of them put together have only played a handful of matches. Out of the three Sudeep Tyagi looks the most likely for an Indian future and rightly so. The young pacer very similar to Ishant Sharma has to make sure that the pressure and success of international cricket doesn’t get to him. As far as the other two are concerned they need to continue the good work and give good performances in both the IPL and the ranji trophy.

India have their batting sorted; but the bowling continues to be a big worry. Zaheer khan seems to be the only one to be missing in the list due to his continual strong performances in spite of all his injuries. The long and short of it is that: You need 20 wickets to win test matches on a continuous basis. In comparison to top ranked teams Australia seem to have a super pace battery with Johnson , Lee, Clark, Bracken, Siddle, Hilfenhaus, Bollinger, McKay, Tait and now Harris all rearing to go and firing on all cylinders when fit.

As experts say gyms and training is all worthwhile but the only thing that helps bowlers is spending hours and hours at the nets doing nothing but BOWLING!!!

Medium-pacer Ryan Harris picked up his second consecutive five-wicket haul as Australia inflicted yet another embarrassing defeat on the hapless Pakistanis. Batting first, Australia recovered from a poor start to post a challenging total of 277 for 8, thanks in main to half-centuries from Michael Hussey and Nathan Hauritz.

Harris then carried on his demolition job, akin to Adelaide, as Australia trounced Pakistan by a mammoth 135-run margin. None of the Pakistani batsman could reach even 50. Umar Akmal ended up being the top-scorer with 38 as the visiting side crumbled to 142 all out, well before the stipulated 50 overs.

The chase for Pakistan just never took off. Harris, bowling at a rather quick pace, was in his elements right from the word go. Salman Butt edged one that was directed in the other direction and Cameron White picked up one of the better catches you will see in the slips. Younis Khan went as quickly as he came, poking his bat at an outswinger from Harris. Pakistan never managed to recover from there on. On the contrary, they only went deeper into the mire.

Peter Siddle joined in the fun scalping two crucial wickets. He had the struggling Kamran Akmal and Mohammad Yousuf, both caught behind of Brad Haddin, who ended up plucking five catches. There was a semblance of resistance in the form of a partnership between Umar Akmal and Fawad Alam, but alas it could not last long enough to trouble the Aussies. Alam was run-out by Hauritz while Harris cleaned up Umar to all but seal the game. Shahid Afridi played a breezy cameo before departing, but it hardly had any impact on the game. Harris eventually returned to do the mop up job and finish with another five-for.

Earlier, in the day, Pakistan squandered their umpteenth golden opportunity to put Australia under immense pressure. Despite having them tottering at 190 for 6, they managed to let them off the hook as Hussey and Hauritz added 80 valuable runs for the seventh wicket and propelled their side to a highly competitive score.

All this after Mohammad Asif had dismissed Shaun Marsh cheaply and Naved-ul-Hasan accounted for Haddin just when he was beginning to look dangerous. Michael Clarke also failed to contribute much before getting run-out, while skipper Ricky Ponting’s promising innings of 30 was cut short by Afridi.

The in-form Cameron White began the resurrection work for the Aussies, in the company of Hussey, with a gritty 44. Still, Pakistan held the upper hand when Saeed Ajmal managed to send back White and Asif returned to dislodge James Hopes. Unfortunately, Pakistan could not capitalize on the strong position and allowed Hussey and Hauritz to get away.

While Hussey took his time initially, Hauritz went hammer and tongs to post an unbeaten 53 off just 39 balls. As Pakistan began to feel the heat, Hussey too joined in the action. He was brilliant in the powerplay overs. Australia scored at over 10 runs per over during this phase and it was enough to rattle the already flustered Pakistanis.

Cricket in India has been governed by the BCCI since 1928. Today, we see India on the top of the cricketing world map more due to the financial power of the BCCI and not the quality of cricket. The BCCI can make the ICC; cricket’s so-called ‘most powerful governing body’ easily dance to its tunes. Therefore, in the future, it is likely that the BCCI would continue to dominate Indian as well as world cricket due to the rapid commercialization and globalisation of the sport thanks to T-20 events like the IPL which is backed by the BCCI.

So, cricket is a monopoly in India. But the question rises – Can the BCCI encourage and recognize new talent in the long-run on its own? Here come the basics of economics. Today, most economies across the world are either mixed or free-market economies. The belief that only the government can help bolster an economy is no longer accepted by economists and intellectuals.

Similarly, when it comes to Indian cricket, the BCCI must look to privatize cricket with the help of the IPL where corporate honchos such as GMR or Reliance could be encouraged to form their own four-day teams and an annual competition could be held in all formats of the game.

The franchise which produces the best results in the three formats on aggregate could be named champions of Indian cricket. Or, perhaps private leagues such as the ICL could be allowed to prosper as tournaments like the IPL and the Ranji Trophy might not bring the best out of players nor they would be noted by the BCCI for being potential players for India in the future. It is only a monopolistically competitive market which succeeds in the long-run.

The BCCI could continue to rule Indian cricket but they could encourage competition as competition is healthy and usually brings out the best of the players. Since, the IPL is BCCI’S brain child it could probably be for the international established players. The ICL could act as a stepping stone to reach the IPL.

Having said that, the BCCI is the best when it comes to handling cricketing affairs due to its experience and the fact that it can survive easily due to greater profits, like an established enterprise. Unlike the ICL, which could hardly make an impact in a span of two years. There are no questions about the IPL being a raging success and the ICL a failure. The BCCI have already asked the ICC for a window in the FTP (Future tours Programme) to accommodate the IPL.

If given the window, other cricketing boards would come up with their own lucrative cricket league and would demand a window too thus destroying the FTP. This would be horribly unfair to other cricket boards. So, when it comes to world cricket, definitely the ICC has to take a tough call on the BCCI’s dominance. However, if in the future other boards do come up with lucrative cash-rich leagues like the IPL then it would be better for the ICC to either take control by having a window for 2-3 franchisees from each country thus not jeopardising the FTP.

But in Indian cricket, the BCCI can do well as a monopoly as long as it removes money as their top priority. BCCI officials need to understand that excellence is the way of making profits. Focus needs to be on strategising of India’s success as a team which produces better cricket than other teams, rather than have being paid a lot of money undeservingly.

BCCI must have former cricketers who have played for India as these players would have the reverence and love for their country rather than the desire to earn money. Otherwise, it is time that Indian cricket becomes an economy in transition which will be mixed in the long-run. And this is possible if the sports ministry of India does intervene if they want cricket to remain the No.1 sport of the country.

A 2-0 scoreline suggests a one-sided contest, but believe me the India-Bangladesh Test series was far from one. In both the Tests, the host nation had India in trouble, but struggled to take full advantage of it and ended up conceding the series rather meekly in the end.

India, on the other hand, did impress in bits and phases. However, overall their performance against the lowly-placed Bangladeshis left a lot to be desired, the final result not withstanding. Still, a series win is a series win and India can take in a number positives as they head into the next challenge – a tough home series against South Africa.

The biggest plus for the visitors from this series was the rhythm-rediscovery of Ishant Sharma. The lanky paced, who seemed to be losing his efficiency in recent times, was nearer to his best against Bangladesh. Okay, so it wasn’t the stiffest opposition and thus one cannot read a lot into it.

But, at least this series will give Ishant the much-needed confident boost. He picked up wickets at regular intervals, and more importantly, was successful in maintaining a proper line and keeping the runs down even when he was not getting wickets.

Though not as important, this series meant a lot to Zaheer Khan too. He hadn’t been at his best in the recent series’ since making a comeback. And, as he himself admitted, he is still to rediscover his best.

Yet, the match-winning spell on what turned out to be the final day at Mirpur was something he desperately needed. The seven-wicket haul in the second innings will be etched in the left-arm seamer’s memory for a while, considering India were struggling to break through at one stage.

Deservedly, he ended up picking up the Man of the Match as well as the Man of the Series awards.

If Ishant and Zaheer were hot, there were some equally disappointing performances among the bowlers as well. Sreesanth, who announced his comeback to Test cricket with a five-wicket haul just recently, looked totally lost.

He sprayed the ball all over to be taken for plenty of runs. To add to the frustration, he bowled plenty of no-balls and to make things worse, ended up pulling a hamstring. Harbhajan Singh remained a disappointment in the one Test he played while both Amit Mishra nor Pragyan Ojha proved potent in the one outing they got, but weren’t eye-catchy in any sense.

But for the failure in the first innings at Chittagong, the batting lived up to the expectations. Gautam Gambhir continued to pile on the runs, though he missed out on a sixth consecutive Test hundred. His opening partner Virender Sehwag did not seem interested in playing the long innings against a weak opposition, but made sure he gave the side a good platform in Gambhir’s company.

All the experienced hands – Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman and Dhoni – made substantial contributions when needed, Yuvraj Singh remaining the sole disappointment.

All in all, some good practice for India ahead of the South Africa series.

Australia seem to have buckets of pace bowling talent in their backyard. Ryan Harris Australia’s bustling pacer did the job once again when he cleaned up the Pakistani’s with another five-for and what’s ironic is after taking 10 wickets for 62 in the last ten games the man still stands a chance of missing out on the playing 11. Where except Australia will you get to see that?

That itself speaks volumes about the quality and the number of personnel Australia have in their domestic circuit. After Friday’s clinical performance Australia are looking to clean sweep the series and take their total to 7 wins out of 7 this year which includes two in the test arena all be it against the same opposition.

Australia won the toss and with Watson resting it was Haddin and marsh who opened. Haddin played his own game trying to blast the Pakistani’s away but he tried one too many and was finally bowled by Naved Ul Hasan. Australia failed to build strong partnerships at the top of the order but again it was the in-form men in Michael Hussey and Cameron white who rescued the innings with half centuries.

But, the impetus to the innings was added by spinner Nathan Hauritz who absolutely blasted the Pakistani’s all round the park with a 39 ball 53 which included 4 massive sixes. For Pakistan it was Mohd Asif again who troubled the Australian’s with Saeed Ajmal chipping in with a couple too. The Australians made full use of their batting power play and scored 54 of their 5 Overs with the loss of just one wicket. The Australians amassed another big total (Mind you: Every total’s looking big for Pakistan at this stage) and ended at 277 for 8.

Pakistan came out after a good attempt at the Adelaide oval looking pretty confident especially with Fawad alam in – in place of Shoaib Malik. But, it was not to be as Ryan Harris the 30 year old bustling Queenslander with his deceptively quick pace dismissed both butt and khan within a space of two Overs giving himself figures of none for 2. Peter Siddle both Kamran Akmal and mohd Yousuf and once again the Pakistan top order batting left a lot to be desired.

It was again the young paid of Umar Akmal and fawad alam who tried to resurrect the innings with both of them making 38 and 21 respectively. The duo put on 60 before Alam pushed Harris to mid off where Nathan Hauritz who was having a wonderful day (at least with bat and in the field) hit the stumps directly and alam was caught napping.

Ryan Harris got his 3rd wicket off the match after he cleaned up Umar Akmal who tried to drop the ball down and run as the ball came off his bat and hit the stumps. It was tough luck for Umar Akmal but as mark taylor said on channel nine ryan Harris had created his own luck with some splendid bowling.

Shahid Afridi decided to take matters in his own hands with some magnanimous sixes of Hauritz that travelled more than just the distance. He made a quick fire 10 ball 29 before succumbing to McKay. The rest of the tail made a cumulative score of 12 and Pakistan were yet again embarrassed by another professional performance by the close knitted Australian unit.
The season with Pakistan is almost coming to a close and Australia would want to end it without dropping the match and the odds are on them doing so.

It would be interesting to see whether shaun tait who has been brought in as cover up for peter Siddle will get a game or not. If so there is every possibility and for the first time in history that a man who has taken two five wicket halls in two consecutive matches might be dropped. The Australians have had a fantastic series all this without their potential strike bowler Mitchell Johnson who has been rested thus far. If he gets a game it could be yet another clinical win for Australia in the teams last encounter of this series at the WACA cricket ground.

In the last edition of the IPL review, we take a look at the top 3 teams of the IPL last season and what are their chances of repeating their stupendous performances this year.

1) Delhi Daredevils
Without doubt, one of the best T-20 teams on paper as well as performance. Delhi Daredevils will make any one sweat with jealousy as not many sides are lucky to have world class T-20 players such as the Delhi opening duo of Virender Sehwag and captain Gautam Gambhir, Australia’s exciting talent David Warner, Moises Henriques, the Australian all-rounder who was bought from the Kolkata Knight Riders outside auction this season, AB de Villiers, South Africa’s most reliable batsman and an excellent fielder in the 30-yard circle.

And yes, who will forget the revolutionary Sri Lankan batsman who by far is the best player of 2009 in the eyes of many. The man who invented the new shot over the wicketkeepers head. He is none other than Sri Lanka’s Tillakratne Dilshan.

All the above players have a certain amount of experience in international cricket. However, the young players too are really a talented lot. Dinesh Karthik is still in the infant stages of developing himself in the Indian team, yet the wicket-keeper batsman is known to be a good finisher.

He proved his worth in tough conditions in South Africa. The Delhi lads Rajat Bhatia, Amit Mishra, the leg-spinner who has made a name for himself in the Indian Test team, Ashish Nehra who is experienced but has lost out on a lot of cricket due to injuries but can be a good partner to Dirk Nannes when it comes to opening the bowling. If Dilshan has taken the world by storm thanks to his batting, Nannes has done the same with bowling. He is the perfect replacement for Glenn McGrath, whose contract has been bought out this season. Pradeep Sangwan and Avishkar Salvi add to the bowling depth of the team further.

However, the question is whether Owais Shah and Manoj Tiwary deserve to be removed from the Delhi roster and sold to Kolkata, when Delhi need a good bench strength in batting. Will McGrath’s buy-out cost Delhi? Will Gambhir’s captaincy inspire Delhi in the long-run, which didn’t do the team any good in the Champions League 2009? Well, time will tell.

2) Royal Challengers Bangalore
The team owned by Vijay Mallya flopped in the first season by finishing second-last. However, events took a u-turn and luck started going their way and they finished second in the tournament! Bangalore won many fans in South Africa, but they are back in India. Will pressure take a toll on the team?

Well, not really when it’s known that Anil Kumble is the skipper of the team. He is a true fighter as it is known how he won consecutive matches last season as the then new skipper of the team when Kevin Pietersen had to leave half-way from the tournament and left Bangalore in disarray as he was out of form too with the bat. They have vast experience in players such as Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher, the two South African stalwarts.

Bangalore perhaps has one of the best pool of young players amongst all the 8 teams. Manish Pandey was the find of Indian cricket last season, Robin Uthappa is a true match winner, Virat Kohli who is India’s new prodigy with the bat and on the field, R Vinay Kumar is a potential talent, A Mithun could make his debut for the team after a good domestic season, Eoin Morgan, England’s future who was picked in the auction and Ashok Menaria, the Indian U-19 captain.

However, Bangalore’s chances look grim due to injuries sustained by Kiwi players such as Ross Taylor and Jesse Ryder. With no Kevin Pietersen available, Bangalore chances take a dip in the pool as it remains to be seen whether their performance last year was a fluke.

3) Deccan Chargers
They were the champions of the IPL last season. Who would write them off this time? The team gave a fitting reply to its critics who said that they don’t deserve to play in the tournament when they finished at the bottom in the first season. But an inspirational comeback was so good for cricket that it showed that the IPL is here to stay due to its excellent quality of cricket.

Unlike Bangalore, Deccan is even more strengthened despite the fact that the Hyderabad franchisee was knocked out in the first round of the Champions League 2009 in India. And a humiliatng fact is that they haven’t won a single match at home.

The fact that Adam Gilchrist is like an all-rounder who is captain, wicketkeeper and opens the batting is not just motivating, but also it leaves Deccan with several choices in the team composition, especially when it comes to the middle order. Herschelle Gibbs was missed in the Champions League and his presence this time will boost the team.

VVS Laxman is a crowd favourite in any part of India and his batting is a treat to watch even if it is a T-20 tournament. With Rohit Sharma, Andrew Symonds, Scott Styris and the young brigade of RP Singh, the highest wicket-taker last season, Ryan Harris, Pragyan Ojha as well as T Suman can perform in India too.

Can’t we fancy Deccan as champions again? Well, we could.
Thus the IPL promises to be a thriller and even better than the first two seasons as more players means more excitement and better quality of cricket, which is important.

In the second part, the teams that will be in the spotlight are the champions of the inaugural IPL, Rajasthan Royals, Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings

1) Rajasthan Royals
Rajasthan created history by winning in the 1st season, after defeating Chennai in a thrilling final. However, the second time around, Shane Warne’s magic didn’t work as the Royals finished at a lowly 6th spot.

This time, they are determined enough for another IPL trophy with the addition of Australian players such as Damien Martyn and Adam Voges, who were bought for a base price of $100000. The team strategy would be easier for Shane Warne to follow since communication would become easier. Not many changes in the Royals squad is also good because the players are used to playing with each other.

Warne’s all-round role as a determined captain and a champion leg-spin bowler would be crucial for the team’s success. Along with Graeme Smith, who is by far the trump player of the team. Youngsters such as Ravindra Jadeja, Munaf Patel, Naman Ojha, Amit Singh and Swapnil Asnodkar make Royals a team to contend with.

However, the Royals need to deal with the fact that only England’s Dimitri Mascerenhas is a match-winning all-rounder. They will miss Shane Watson dearly like the last season. However, they are a decent fielding side, so this should help do really well.

2) Kings XI Punjab
Punjab reached the semi-finals of the 1st season unexpectedly. And last year, they finished 5th, missing out the semi-finals yet again by a narrow margin. Despite good performances, it is quite mind-boggling that Yuvraj Singh was replaced by Kumar Sangakkara as skipper.

They are a good unit with the likes of Mahela Jayawardene, Yuvraj Singh as a player, Shaun Marsh, Ramesh Powar as well as youngsters such as Irfan Pathan, S Sreesanth, Yusuf Abdulla, Piyush Chawla, Sunny Sohal and the impressive left-handed batsman Karan Goel. The presence of Indian youth makes them a crowd favourite.

Who knows Sangakkara’s captaincy could be worth the risk just as he is inspirational for Sri Lanka. Tom Moody as coach would ensure that there is a good working relationship between Moody and Sangakkara. However, this move shouldn’t backfire like Kolkata’s where Brendon McCullum was made captain in the place of Sourav Ganguly. This will ensure Punjab an outright chance for victory.

3) Chennai Super Kings
Chennai are a side that has been the most consistent in the first two seasons. Could it get any better when it is known that they were the finalists in the first season and 4th in the 2nd season, losing to eventual runners-up Royal Challengers Bangalore in the semi-final in Durban in South Africa.

It can get better and more exciting cricket is expected from Chennai. With Mahendra Singh Dhoni as captain and wicketkeeper, Chennai has got the right balance. Their team is flexible enough to perform with newly acquired all-rounders such as South Africa’s Justin Kemp and Sri Lanka’s latest sensation Thissira Perera.

Who can count out Jacob Oram and Albie Morkel? Despite Andrew Flintoff’s and Michael Hussey’s absence, Chennai has the star power to perform consistently. The likes of Matthew Hayden who was the top-scorer of the IPL last season, Suresh Raina who played the perfect second fiddle to Hayden with the bat at the No.3 position and sometimes won matches due to his exceptional fielding, S Badrinath who is undoubtedly the next big thing of Indian cricket alongside Parthiv Patel who has won Dhoni’s faith thanks to his contributions at the top of the order as well as improved wicketkeeping, allowing Dhoni to focus on his captaincy.

The bowling too is strong and is led by Muttiah Muralitharan. Laxmipathy Balaji is an experienced bowler. Makhaya Ntini adds to the firepower of the bowling attack. Not to forget that Chennai has a number of bowling all-rounders which gives Dhoni various options in forming his bowling strategy.

Youngsters such as Srikkanth Aniruddha, Manpreet Gony, Joginder Sharma, Sudeep Tyagi and Shadab Jakati only enlighten Chennai’s position to win the IPL this time. Undoubtedly, Chennai is an overwhelming favourite to not just win the IPL, but also qualify for the Champions League 2010, which they missed out narrowly last season thanks to controversies created by the IPL.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is one of the most awaited cricketing events, especially in 2010. This is primarily because the IPL is back in India for its third season after South Africa hosted the cash-filled event last year. As well as the hype that it has generated this time around from Pakistan’s exclusion to signing a historic deal with Google.

However, talking about cricket, there were many new players picked by the franchisees to play this season. Let’s review the prospects of the two bottom-ranked teams last season -

1) Kolkata Knight Riders

KKR is one of the most popular teams in the tournament. However, the last season was forgettable as they finished 8th.

Kolkata have a new coach in Dav Whatmore who backs Sourav Ganguly to the fullest. Who wouldn’t remember Whatmore helping an underdog Sri Lankan team to the 1996 World Cup win? Who knows, Whatmore can do the same with Kolkata by winning the IPL.

And, Ganguly, the team’s icon player, is back as captain. ‘Dada’ is a true leader as he can inspire players to give their 100% on the field and is the darling of the team. Ganguly and Whatmore’s combination would be the one to watch out for in the IPL 3.

Kolkata looks formidable with additions of England’s Owais Shah and India’s Manoj Tiwary who can add depth to the middle-order. Shane Bond, New Zealand’s fast bowler was purchased for $750,000 in the auction this year. Ganguly has the option of allowing Bond to open the bowling with Ishant Sharma, therefore making a dream opening pair. Other bowlers like Ajit Agarkar, Ashok Dinda, Murali Kartik and Ajantha Mendis make Kolkata no underdogs.

Batting-wise, the Victorian duo of Brad Hodge and David Hussey can’t be sidelined. Hodge was the top-scorer for Kolkata in South Africa whereas Hussey is a good finisher. Chris Gayle and Sourav Ganguly can make a good opening pair. This provided if they are supported by Laxmi Shukla, Wriddhiman Saha and Rohan Gavaskar. Brendon McCullum is unavailable due to international commitments and Australian captain Ricky Ponting’s contract has been bought out. But this shouldn’t affect the team much.

The pattern in the IPL suggests that teams who have been considered as underdogs have gone on to win the tournament. Rajasthan Royals in the first season and then the bottom ranked team of the same season Deccan Chargers prevailed in the second season. So, Kolkata can take heart from this. They have a chance to enter the top four this season, if not win which could give them a ticket to the Champions League 2010.

2) Mumbai Indians

Despite finishing second-last in South Africa, Mumbai have shown that they are a team that deserves to be ranked in the top four. They missed out on the semi finals in the first season, as they ended at the 5th spot, which was played in India.

The franchisee captured West Indies star all-rounder Kieron Pollard for $750000 this year, making him the costliest player ever perhaps.

They have got an enviable batting line-up with captain Sachin Tendulkar opening the batting with another veteran, Sanath Jayasuriya. Followed by the West Indies duo of Pollard and Dwayne Bravo. JP Duminy is South Africa’s star with the bat as well as on the field. In bowling, Lasith Malinga was one of the highest wicket-takers last season in South Africa. Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh make Mumbai’s bowling attack threatening, as both of them are experienced and excellent T-20 bowlers.

Indian youngsters however are strength to this team. Ajinkya Rahane is Mumbai’s latest talent, Dhawal Kulkarni who is an in-form bowler who helped Mumbai win the Ranji Trophy, Abhishek Nayar who can be a real force with the bat, Harshal Patel, the U-19 player is a good pick this season. England all-rounder Graham Napier and Indian spinner Chaitanya Nanda played a few games in South Africa and represent the team’s strong bench strength.

However, Mumbai’s perennial weakness is that there have no experienced wicket-keeper. Pinal Shah and Yogesh Takawale didn’t impress in the two seasons. Luke Ronchi is more of a batsman than a wicketkeeper.

Another issue which is troubling is their peculiar ability of losing matches towards the end of the IPL. This shows that Mumbai’s performance goes down in a nervous situation. Can Tendulkar use his magical influence to make his team win? Well, he can as long as the players believe in their abilities and work as a cohesive unit, and not depend on individual success.