Mumbai Indians - Back To The Future, Chennai Will Make It Two

If you are Mumbai fan you would be expecting atleast a semifinal appearance from your team.I say that the least you would expect from a team that dominated the IPL.It has everything strong bowling, greatest player ever as its captain and decent batting wait a minute ? does it have everything's ? Nope !!

I always miss the almost forgotten part "Fielding".The way Mumbai Indians fielded yesterday was nothing but championship material, you can say the catch to Sachin and the top edge to the final leg were difficult ones and its hard to criticize players for that, but the alarming thing is the ground fielding.Throws from the deep were weak and the fielding within the ring was even weaker.Malinga rolling over the ball on the fence, harbhajan letting one through his hands in the ring, and the list never ends with fielders trying to save the singles ...

The score that Mumbai Indians put up was very competitive, bowling looked good in patches but the real let down was their fielding.I was hoping that a team led by Master blaster can win a tournament, but now the hopes of Mumbai making it to the finals are very slim.Its like Mumbai went back to the team they were in the first two seasons of IPL.

Well Chennai certainly are contenders for the crown with they way they played against Otago stats, but now they real test begins where Chennai's consistency will be tested.They are a good team but they are against a team which is also from the subcontinent and play similar brand of cricket.

Wayamba is not a mere pushover with class and consistent performers in its ranks, non better than MJ himself, Jayawardene's role would be to stay there till the end, as their strategy of attacking play in the first 6 back fired in the last match.

All said and done, I still think Chennai has enough muscle to win this one, Chennai wins a close game is my call....

CSK Are Kings, Can RCB beat Guyana?

As I predicted CSK won easily, they are too consistent a side to lose against the stage,Once again its was the technically sound player who never gets its dues S.Badrinath who helped CSK post 151 on a seaming durban wicket.S.Badrinath is no superstar, he doesn't have the flair of virendar sehwag or does he have the big shots that make people go crazy, but he gets things done.

When the going gets tough the tough get going, Chennai were 48/3 after 10 overs, the ball was moving all over the place and you can bet your dollars on the fact that a old fashioned slog would have allowed the ball to kiss you goodbye.Srikanth and Morkel chipped in well, though I was disappointed that MS couldn't Bat higher up the order due to a niggling injury.

So CSK the IPL champions won their match easily by 57 runs can RCB rinse and repeat what CSK did? RCB to me has more stars in its team than Hollywood, It doesn't get better than this, Peterson ,Kallis, Morgan, Kumble, Steyn, Uttappa and it goes on..

Yes,they have all the arsenal they would ever need, but the question is can they use it against Guyana.It was a surprise to me to see Guyana qualify from west Indies instead of T&T,but Guyana won fair and square and earned the right to be in CLT20.

I always admired R.Sarwan for his temperament and the fact that T&T performed outstandingly last year must be a confidence booster for his side.Facing RCB in its first match, away from home is quiet difficult, so I still think RCB will win this one but wont be as easy as CSK Vs Stags.

Thanks for all the emails and Hope you guys win some more using my predictions :)!!

Mumbai Indians Lost Will Chennai Super Kings Follow ?

Like many a pundits have predicated lions to be the underdog's in the season opener of champions league 2010.We can all understand why everyone thought so,on paper Mumbai Indians had the better squad.But the important thing that help the lions on that day was on paper they had team.

They showed why you are better as a team than a group of brilliant players, Mumbai Indians have a great squad but they were not playing together as team for nearly three months.Dropped catches on the outfield, missed runout chances and poor running between the wickets in yesterday's match were all a result of this very reason.The big question for a Mumbai Indian fan would be how fast can they gel together and play as the team.

Lions on the other hand showed what discipline and teamwork can do, it doesn't always take superstar performances to win a t20 game, just a cohesive bunch of players doing the basics right and avoiding the mist
akes.

So Mumbai Indians found it hard so will Chennai Super Kings be the next big IPL team to be facing defeat today ?.Chennai Super Kings are the current IPL 3 champions and a much better well balanced consistent side than Mumbai Indians.Over the last years they are the only IPL team to have played in 2 finals and 1 semifinal.

They are set to play against the Stags from New Zealand which makes the conditions neutral as they have no home advantage, all things said CSk will be rusty and they haven't played together since IPL3. So it would be a hard to win, but I think CSK are good enough team lead by the best captain in CLT2O to win this match.

Comparing the Champions League Of Cricket And Football ?

I don't whether some journalists are totally ignorant of facts or pretend to be one.I came across another article just before the launch of a big tournament on a cricket website.Just have read everyone

http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/476331.html


I dont know how this article even passed cricinfo editors, it should more likely to be a press release of fifa's champions league rather than cricinfo's take on the cricket's champions league .

Lets get things right before you compare these two leagues?

When you compare these two league or sports you are really hiding a lot under the carpet and infact the above article I posted shows as if all the troubles in sporting world arises from cricket.

Ah, cricket: smaller than football, but to many - notwithstanding match-fixing, rain, the unbearable dullness of most limited-overs matches, greedy administrators, egotistic administrators, power-hungry administrators, actually, administrators, period, and, of course, opinionated reporters - far closer to being perfectly formed

- Quote from CricInfo.com Article

Its just not cricket which has all the evil that money brings, footballer have been there done that if anything just have a look at the recent controversies with wayne rooney-juci jenni what not...

FIFA's governing council's refusal to accept goal line technology despite worldwide protest that has been going on for sometime, is just another saga showing its remarkable ability of football's top body to do what it wants, some may call it arrogance, some ego and others Power.If some else does it before us we better not go that way

While comparing the price money of that of champions leagues is another dubious error in judgment, while football is played in all of the developed countries in Europe its bound to have more price money and its not a shorter tournament like the cricket league so the advertising revenues and sponsorship deals are also higher.

The claims of champions league of football to be truly global even is also questionable, it doesnt involve teams outside of europe while cricket has representative teams across the board.

Crickets league is still in its infancy, you cannot build Rome in a day, its takes time.Champions league of football has been here for since 1955 , ie over 55 years while crickets league just started in 2009 and its just its second edition.

I will add more points to this article, g2g now

The Joke's On You

Yes , the joke's on not just me! Everyone who loves this beautiful game.I still cannot really come to terms with what is happening over the past couple of week's, "In case you haven't been keeping track of current events, we just got our asses kicked."I am not worried about tainted cricketers,embarrassed countries or disappointed fans,

I am worried about the game.Dead pitches, boring test matches or security situation in certain countries will that destroy the game ? Are these the most serious threats the game faces? No sir! It is Match fixing and it just doesnt stop destroying it rips apart the soul of the game

Why watch a game when someone sitting 12000 miles away calls the shots ? He might as well be having a jolly good time seeing all the experts on TV and me included trying to predict the outcomes with some cricketing logic.

The Joke's On Us!

The joke's on everyone involved in the game, unless someone who has real love for the game steps in and goes to the bottom of it increasingly bottomless pit there is no hope.Money is not a double edged sword, its not the devil behind all evil.Money coming into the game is good, used well can cures this immoral disease.
Setting up education drives, revamping ICC anti corruption and most importantly having the will get things done are the need of the hour.

Punishing the guilty is not what a real cricket fan wants, I don't care if the tainted players play or not..I want the game clean and confidence what we see on TV is pure sports and nothing else...

"Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional."

Should I continue my predictions and contenders review for this years CLT20 ? I don't know may be I will, but sure enough leave your thoughts in the comment section.