Any guesses?

May 8,2009 | Abbas Ali Baig

A tantalising stage has been reached in IPL 2 with six (and may be even seven) teams vying desperately for a semi final spot. The margin between victory and defeat is so small that no one can really say with a degree of confidence which team would indeed cross the Rubicon. And the one team that is definitely out of the race, namely the Kolkatta XI, may yet upset a few apple carts by turning the tables on some of the fancied teams. Talk of uncertainty and excitement!

Among the few undesirable aspects of the T20 format is one where a team gets so conclusively dominant at some stage that there’s little hope for the other team to successfully do a catching up job. Such a situation arose in the match between the Banglaore XI and the Jaipur XI. The Jaipur team literally walked over the opposition having to run down a meager total posted by Jaipur. In achieving this feat, their young brigade played a key role. Both in batting and bowling. Amit Singh continued to impress with his four wicket haul and so did Jadeja with his clever variations of flight and speed. Then Ojha took the lead in completing the demolition act. The point is that once Bangalore had posted such a small total and Jaipur got off to a decent start little interest was left in the game as the outcome was virtually a foregone conclusion. (A similar situation had arisen when Jaipur themselves were bundled out for a mere 58 in an earlier match). Thank God that such situations are few and far between.

The second match was a cliff hanger and could have gone either way despite the Chennai team having posted an almost insurmountable total (which would have easily overtaken the previous highest total of the tournament had the match not been reduced by two overs each side). Hayden rode his luck, as usual and survived a few close calls including appeals for leg before wicket. Raina, surely one of the most improved batsmen in world cricket today, played his normal game with a disdain and aplomb so rare in a young man trying to establish himself in the Indian team. It shouldn’t be long before like, Yuvraj had done earlier, he finds himself holding the Test middle order together. Kings XI made a valiant effort but fell short by a mere twelve runs. I strongly feel that Yuvraj, as the best batsmen in the team, has to come to the crease earlier than he has been doing lately. He will then be in a position to initiate the early thrust and guide the ship if it runs into choppy waters. In the last two games, he either ran out of partners or didn’t get enough of the bowling in the last few overs. At the end of the game the Captain lamented the poor fielding of the team. Perhaps, he should also introspect regarding his own fitness as a hint of fatigue was discernable in the innings dying couple of overs.

How a captain’s instinct can play a role in the outcome of a game has been demonstrated in many instances during the series. One such was when Gilchrist, in a tight situation, called on Rohit Sharma to bowl at relatively set batsmen. He came up with four scalps including a hat trick!!. Then Raina responded magnificently to his captain’s call in restricting the rampaging Yuvraj and Jayawardene in the last couple of overs of yesterdays match. Call it luck or instinct, it needs a brave captain to undertake such calculated risks,. So easy for a potential villain to transform into a super hero!