In a League of its own!
Harsha Bhogle sizes up the Champions League action so far and proclaims his favourites for the big prize.
For all the planning that goes into the staging of a huge event like the Champions League, success often depends on how a couple of little things work. The marketing of the League has been extensive and good, the facilities have been excellent and some of our stadiums are actually getting better! But all that doesn’t count for much if the pitches aren’t good and I’m afraid the Champions League has been playing to mixed reviews on that one.
Hyderabad produced a beauty for its first game and that was so good to see given the amount of rain here in the build-up. Bengaluru is always pretty good but Delhi has been awful. Everytime someone goes out of the way to say the pitches will be excellent, it is time to get worried.
Typically, pitches must afford equal opportunity to bat and ball. Not every pitch can be 50-50 but a suitable interval on either side is acceptable. However, Delhi has been low, slow and very poor for strokeplay. If a total of 120 can be defended easily, there is either a problem with the chasing team or with the surface and in this case, the surface has just not allowed good cricket. I desperately hope they can do something before the first semi-final. The Champions League needs two great semi-finals to establish itself and while you can still get a close game, you need one that has also produced excellent cricket.
I quite enjoyed watching the one-over eliminator. I thought with the demise of the bowl-out, an inadequate but thrilling solution to a tied game, we might miss the drama. But this more than makes up for it. It demands a little more from the player and that is what sport should be.
At this stage, the Aussie teams are looking good but I just like what I see with the Royal Challengers.
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