Expert Blog

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Youth, inspired captaincy fuel Mumbai dreams

Harsha Bhogle is very impressed with the youngsters stepping up for Mumbai Indians in their quest for IPL glory.

Even though these are early days, Mumbai Indians are looking seriously good. In my pre-tournament assessment, I had felt that Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore would jostle for semi-final spots and Mumbai are suggesting that this might be the year to fulfil promise.

There have been two major talking points about them in the past. One, that they always seemed to be tense and played laboured cricket and two, that Sachin wasn’t the most inspirational captain. In the first two games, both concerns seem to have been addressed.

Against Rajasthan Royals, two young men came out and played free cricket and it was thrilling to watch. Neither was assured a place in the team, indeed one (Rayudu) was returning from the ICL and an unfulfilled nomadic existence while the other (Tiwari) had only been used, occasionally, as a slogger. But clearly they were given the licence to play like that. As someone who has watched them closely, it was a welcome change.

But Tendulkar did one better. He backed them in the next game. Most people would have had them batting below Bravo and Pollard but he told the young guys that the stage belonged to them and they delivered yet again. It is little acts like these that shape young players and Tendulkar is clearly doing that.

In course of time, that batting order will change for there is nothing settled in this form of the game. Also, Abhishek Nayar will return and who knows, there might only be place one day for one of those two. But they are making it mighty difficult to leave them out.

Meanwhile, the Royals need to win a game somewhere for their IPL is going downhill very fast. The captain is going to be tested like never before for he is like the anchor in a tug of war. If he moves, the team slides.

IPL round-up

The Indian Premier League has well and truly begun. Harsha Bhogle shares his thoughts about what’s going on in this mega T20 extravaganza so far.

IPL 3 has started off as well as anyone could imagine but at this stage I guess the only thing we can see are early trends. A bit like forecasting an election based on the first few seats. So what do we see?

Rajasthan Royals were expected to struggle and they are doing just that. Their Indian component seems way too weak and players like Tait, Mascarenhas and Smith haven’t fired at all. I haven’t mentioned Warne since he plays two roles and you can see his mind ticking even as his options dry out. But the injuries may not be as bad as feared since Adam Voges, I suspect, is a more effective player than Mascarenhas and at some point, Warne will play Morkel who could be just right for them.

Kings XI were the other team not expected to trouble too many people though on paper they look quite good. Losing after posting 200 can be particularly disheartening since you slowly start thinking that the game is won. Their bowling, decent on paper, is woeful on form. I hope they don’t expect too much from James Hopes though he is just the kind of player they need. They will have to reinvent themselves, and for batsmen to keep piling on the runs, to make the semis. When will Yuvraj produce the flier?
A few other things: the fielding looks better than before, the Indian batsmen are celebrating the fact that the tournament is back home and we are having to stretch our imagination to see how much the last six overs can produce. Chennai Super Kings hit 83, Royal Challengers did as well and scores of 200 no longer intimidate. It is a scary thought!

Eventually though, it still looks like the teams with the strongest Indian players will come through. And that is why the loss of Dhoni for this period will be a blow CSK will struggle to overcome. Parthiv might replace him behind the stumps but they have effectively lost a 3-in-1 player. Impossible to replace.