First I would like to pay homage to India's most graceful, charismatic and witty cricketer ever! MAK Pataudi Sir I will miss your wit and humour the most.:(
CLT20 got off to a rapping start! I am not a big fan of rap but CLT20 being a global tournament it was only apt to start with some rap n zap.
As we move onwards to the cricket,RCB Vs Warriors didn't look like an mouth watering encounter to me at the start.For I believed the Bangalore pitch suited for the home side. They had posted huge scores at chinnaswamy stadium during IPL.
So I thought RCB would win even though I didn't expect gayle to be firing given the fact he hasn't played any form of competitive cricket since IPL.
Warriors won the toss and asked RCB to bat. If it hadn't been said enough already its bound be dew around during day and night matches in Bangalore especially during the winter months.
The RCB put into bat started aggressively enough Gayle the umpteenth person to prove me wrong this week :) looked in great touch to my surprise.One of his trademark hoick landed in the stands he was all set to repeat his IPL 2011 opening innings until warriors captain flew like a butterfly to pull of an sensational catch at long on.It must have stung like bee for Gayle who looked good until then.
The RCB innings was like one of those community events where everyone chips in with a gig or two.Couple of 30's from Kohli and Devillers, 20's from Gayle, Tiwary, and Kaif.Community events are great only when they get some one who can guide them through.It didn't happen in RCB innings, considering the position they were they should have added at least 10 more runs to the score.
The tail enders had to face the final overs of the RCB innings, that's not right in a 20 over game and they just about managed to get 8 runs from it. Unlike RCB, the warriors seemed to have a plan, they wanted one player to play through the innings and there was only one man who is going to do it for them you can see it from a mile way really!.
Ashwell Prince is not your typical swash buckling rock n lola kinda of cricketer but yesterday he was all that and more. Come on he was going bam! bam! bam! against Gayle.For all those who think Gayle is part timer think again he almost pulled of matches with ball in his hand. He is more than decent T20 bowler. No slog, no muscle, & no fancy dancing at the crease yet A.Prince hit two straight sixes over long off first and then , when Vettori brought long on in and dropped mid off back he went over long on now!
T20 cricket at its best from the batsmen but RCB fielding left lot to be desired, they were trying their best but nothing seemed to counter their butter fingers.Even Kohli of all people dropped a catch from Ashwell Prince.
When the spinner were brought into the attack the match was evenly poised but they pulled things RCB's way with some tight bowling.The only disadvantage was that two left armers where bowling to a left hander.If i was the captain I would have given Kohli a go! Just to break the rhythm.
When the 5th wicket fell Warriors captian walked in, Harsha and Ian Chappel were going on about how Botha missed a trick by not promoting himself higher up the order. I also think it could have been a good idea.Similar things have been said about MSD as well.Sometimes you need to plan for the worst case scenario.
Botha was in no mood to play himself in,got off the mark with a boundary.He raised off to 20 in just 9 balls when its was time for the final 3 overs. Ball was given to Gayle, warriors still needing 35 runs from 18 balls.The first 3 balls of the over produced just 5 runs then botha went ballistic taking 13 runs of the next three. Suddenly the match turned upside down, one over is all it takes to change fortunes in T20.
Then it was upto the young Arvind to produce an exceptional final over to win it for RCB.With 7 runs needed from the 6 balls Arvind produced 3 dot balls in a row with the third one being the wicket of Botha. Is it the "C" word time again ? Another SA team another match that they should have won easy going down to the wire.
Arvind bowled another great delivery letting Boje to score just one.Parnell the new batsmen was now clear he needed a boundary as the equation has gain shifted to RCB with 6 needed of 2 balls.He spanked the next ball straight past the bowler for a four! Wow! The crowd went numb, the RCB dug out looked tensed, warriors dug out looked even more so. The final ball drilled to mid off, Nicky Boje would have qualified for the Olympics had it been a track & field. He completed the couple needed before the fielder had any chance.
This CLT20 has already produced some thrilling games!! I love the fact that all the games have full entertainment value
Meanwhile In England, the English have completed a 10 wicket win over west indies (One sided match if ever was!)
CLT20 got off to a rapping start! I am not a big fan of rap but CLT20 being a global tournament it was only apt to start with some rap n zap.
As we move onwards to the cricket,RCB Vs Warriors didn't look like an mouth watering encounter to me at the start.For I believed the Bangalore pitch suited for the home side. They had posted huge scores at chinnaswamy stadium during IPL.
So I thought RCB would win even though I didn't expect gayle to be firing given the fact he hasn't played any form of competitive cricket since IPL.
Warriors won the toss and asked RCB to bat. If it hadn't been said enough already its bound be dew around during day and night matches in Bangalore especially during the winter months.
The RCB put into bat started aggressively enough Gayle the umpteenth person to prove me wrong this week :) looked in great touch to my surprise.One of his trademark hoick landed in the stands he was all set to repeat his IPL 2011 opening innings until warriors captain flew like a butterfly to pull of an sensational catch at long on.It must have stung like bee for Gayle who looked good until then.
The RCB innings was like one of those community events where everyone chips in with a gig or two.Couple of 30's from Kohli and Devillers, 20's from Gayle, Tiwary, and Kaif.Community events are great only when they get some one who can guide them through.It didn't happen in RCB innings, considering the position they were they should have added at least 10 more runs to the score.
The tail enders had to face the final overs of the RCB innings, that's not right in a 20 over game and they just about managed to get 8 runs from it. Unlike RCB, the warriors seemed to have a plan, they wanted one player to play through the innings and there was only one man who is going to do it for them you can see it from a mile way really!.
Ashwell Prince is not your typical swash buckling rock n lola kinda of cricketer but yesterday he was all that and more. Come on he was going bam! bam! bam! against Gayle.For all those who think Gayle is part timer think again he almost pulled of matches with ball in his hand. He is more than decent T20 bowler. No slog, no muscle, & no fancy dancing at the crease yet A.Prince hit two straight sixes over long off first and then , when Vettori brought long on in and dropped mid off back he went over long on now!
T20 cricket at its best from the batsmen but RCB fielding left lot to be desired, they were trying their best but nothing seemed to counter their butter fingers.Even Kohli of all people dropped a catch from Ashwell Prince.
When the spinner were brought into the attack the match was evenly poised but they pulled things RCB's way with some tight bowling.The only disadvantage was that two left armers where bowling to a left hander.If i was the captain I would have given Kohli a go! Just to break the rhythm.
When the 5th wicket fell Warriors captian walked in, Harsha and Ian Chappel were going on about how Botha missed a trick by not promoting himself higher up the order. I also think it could have been a good idea.Similar things have been said about MSD as well.Sometimes you need to plan for the worst case scenario.
Botha was in no mood to play himself in,got off the mark with a boundary.He raised off to 20 in just 9 balls when its was time for the final 3 overs. Ball was given to Gayle, warriors still needing 35 runs from 18 balls.The first 3 balls of the over produced just 5 runs then botha went ballistic taking 13 runs of the next three. Suddenly the match turned upside down, one over is all it takes to change fortunes in T20.
Then it was upto the young Arvind to produce an exceptional final over to win it for RCB.With 7 runs needed from the 6 balls Arvind produced 3 dot balls in a row with the third one being the wicket of Botha. Is it the "C" word time again ? Another SA team another match that they should have won easy going down to the wire.
Arvind bowled another great delivery letting Boje to score just one.Parnell the new batsmen was now clear he needed a boundary as the equation has gain shifted to RCB with 6 needed of 2 balls.He spanked the next ball straight past the bowler for a four! Wow! The crowd went numb, the RCB dug out looked tensed, warriors dug out looked even more so. The final ball drilled to mid off, Nicky Boje would have qualified for the Olympics had it been a track & field. He completed the couple needed before the fielder had any chance.
This CLT20 has already produced some thrilling games!! I love the fact that all the games have full entertainment value
Meanwhile In England, the English have completed a 10 wicket win over west indies (One sided match if ever was!)
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.
'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.
found it hard so will 
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.