In airport at 1:00, was not at all surprised to see a bunch of familiar faces waiting for guruji. After exchange of pleasantries we waited with hearts full. As he came out, a breeze of calmness swept the place. I was expecting people to go crazy [as i have always seen], there was the initial cry ….Guruuujiiiiiii but then followed by calmness. Every body gave way for each other [yup its not a fairy tale, yes it happened, people were calm, wished guruji and then politely went there way]. I too wanted to say a couple of words, but then just watched him silently, tears rolled down, extremly satisfied came back home. Then started the trips to the ashram.

“I search for a suitable image on the net which could best describe my sheer feeling of bliss, nothing came close”

Everyday going to ashram has been  a memorable experience, seeing guruji everyday, listening to ashtavakra gita discourse that too in the physical presence of master is a thoroughly enjoyable experience. The energy in the yagnashala in the ashram is so unbelievably high, every day is like the last day of navaratiri. As i soak in bliss [Sheer Bliss]  i think about all those people who have attended the yesplus course i have thought and who are not here with me. I miss them, feel sorry for them. Wish they could also get this knowledge. The only thing i knew was to hold onto my teachers little finger, just be with him, listen to whatever he says. At some level a complex is slowly starting to creep in, am i not being an effective teacher. A kind of feverishness arises, need to make myself stronger, more contented, make my presence stronger. As i type this i realise this itself is the cause of feverishness.

It would be good if i can find the middle path here. Making myself stronger without the feverishness.

If you are in bangalore then do come to ashram daily. The discourse is open to all, you must be assembled by 7:15 at yagnashala. It gets over at 9 and you can be back home by 10.

jgd

Was extremly happy to see the team selection of mumbai indians. It was almost like i had read sachins mind or he had read my blog. Chk the earlier post

http://vprasv.wordpress.com/2010/04/21/mumbai-indians-vs-rcb-ipl-semi-final/

I am extremly emotionally attached to chennai, hence a slightly biased post.

Now for todays match, csk should win but with symonds, gilchrist and rohit sharma its going to be a tall order. The biggest concern for csk would be  that gilchrist has not yet fired. Considering the kind of turn and bounce yesterdays pitch had i would go in with the following eleven for CSK. I would play murali, ashwin and jakati and bollinger. Albie morkel ,Mathew hayden would be my other overseas choices. Might consider dropping bollinger for Mike hussey or justin kemp. So the eleven would/could  be,

Murali Vijay, Matthew Hayden, Raina, Dhoni, Badrinath, albie morkel, justin kemp/bollinger, joginder sharma, Ashwin, Murali, Jakati. I will look to strengthen csks wicket taking options. Not many of you would know that joginder is an excellent hitter of the cricket ball and useful seam bowler. At some level the team looks unsettled, neither does the batting look inspiring [except raina and badri others are yet to fire consistently], nor does the bowling line up.

As i am typing this mail, i would go with bollinger ahead of justin kemp and retain murali in the side.

Heart says CSK, but i rate symonds and rohit sharma so highly and expect the one whirlwind knock from gilchrist that head says Deccan chargers. Dhoni work out your captain cool magic.

jgd

After typing the above post, i was quite dissatisfied with the composition of the csk team. Hence had a look at csks squad and saw this international discard hemand badani in the squad. Now with new alterations here is the eleven i would like csk to play with.

Dhonis dillema would be strengthen batting or strengthen bowling. I would back my 6 batsmen and strengthen csk bowling. Hence both bollinger and murali would play. For ensuring no chinks in the batting are there i would include badani.

Murali Vijay, Matthew Hayden, Raina, Dhoni, Badrinath, albie morkel, bollinger, joginder sharma/hemang badani, Ashwin, Murali, Jakati. Will open with ashwin and bollinger. First change albie and murali.

If either of them get tonked, go above 7 runs per over then a score of 180+ is on the cards. Compare this with mumbai indians bowling zaheer, lasitha, dilhara, ryan mclaren/Keiron Pollard and bhaji. If i were sachin i would play all 5 bowlers. I would drop keiron as well as bravo and play duminy. Strengthen my batting with Indian domestic talent. So mumbai Indians batting line up would be,

Sachin, Shikar Dhawan, Rayadu, Saurabh Tiwary, JP duminy, Abhishek Nayar, Ryan Mclaren/Keiron pollard, Bhaji, zaheer khan, dilhara, lasitha.

Imagine 16 overs of high quality pace bowling with two  pace bowlers having slower ones which cannot be picked by most batsmen. At Max i would expect a 16*7 runs average per over. With Bhaji to bowl remaining 4 overs it would be tough for RCB to score more than 150. For them an above 150 total would necessitate atleast one or two of  robin, kp, virat kohli and ross taylor to fire.

My gut feel is that if rcb bat first they would set a challenging total of around 150 – 160. Wait for Mumbai indians to panic. If Mumbai indians bat first rcb would pray that sachin chokes and restrict them to 150-160. If one of the teams post a 170 + total then i would say they would be the winners. From Mumbai indians perspective they would definitely want Kallis to play 60 balls,;). Leaving 15 balls each for the remaining 4 big hitters.

Statistically I am more inclined towards Mumbai Indians, but big matches, RCB definitely has players with big match temperament compared to Sachins inexperienced indian domestic talent.

If mumbai indians domestic talent doesnt succumb to pressure they would be the clear winners.

jgd

I would drop kallis and have ross taylor, kevin peterson, cameron white along with dale steyn in the line up.

Open with Manish Pandey and Rahul Dravid/ Sridharan Sriram/ Sreevats Goswami. KP, Robin, Ross Taylor,Virat Kohli, Cameron White to follow. Praveen kumar, vinay kumar, kumble, dale Steyn. If its a turning wicket then will get in abhimanyu mithun, replace steyn with roelof van der merwe. If desperately they want extra bowling options then open with sriram and dravid have the same batting order. Blore should look for 6 overs 40- 45 for no loss. Then middle order can be shuffled across as to increasing run rate bet 7-14 overs. With Ross taylor, Robin, Kohli, White you can expect 60-70 runs in overs 7-14. Last 6 a definite 60. With kind of batting line RCB posses any score below 170 would have to termed as a dismissal score

Watching vijay bat was mesmerising. He would be a candidate for the most effortless sixes to be hit. When he got out, i was definitely a bit concerned because out of 9 overs left in which 57 was required, kumble and dale steyn had 5 overs to bowl. The pitch had quite a lot of bounce and kumble had bamboozled batsmen in his two overs.  Was left wondering why dhoni had to take on Steyn, why badrinath had to clear the ground when 10 was required of 8 balls. Thanks to raina for hitting those awesome six and fours of vinay kumar under such pressure situation.

The award for most brainless cricketer should go to Manpreet Gony. Every over he bowls the magical unplayable ball, and the remaining deliveries he bowls like santa banta singh.  His fielding is just not up to the mark. For chennai the first 6 overs and last 5 over result on a average 110 runs. Dhoni would be better of starting of with 3 spinners in squad. Opening with ashwin if need arises. Thushara, albie, 3 spinners could be used to bowl 20 overs. No more gony plz. Balaji or jogi or ganapathy can fill the slot for 2 overs max.

Thought taking both kp and cameron white was the wrong move. Poor Boucher must be wondering why cameron white was chosen over him. It would be interesting to see if KP is chosen over Eoin Morgan for the england twenty20 team.  Every team playing rcb must hope that kallis plays 60 of the 120 balls, especially when rcb bats first. To me RCBs problems are beginning,  where as for chennai solutions are seen.  Just that chennai has played 8 matches, have to win remaining 6.

Next post is about Dinesh Karthiks knock as well as amit mishras bowling.

Do comment on it.

Players whom i would like to have seen given a chance.

a) Robin Utahapa b) Manish Pandey c) Saurabh Tiwary d) Ambatti Rayadu e) Manoj tiwary ( especially after yesterdays innings)

I would have definitely liked to have Irfan Pathan in my twenty 20 team. One of the cleanest strikers of the cricket ball and a useful bowling option.

In bowling it would be interesting to see how vinay kumar shape up. None of the bowlers selected can bowl above 135 km/hr right now.Piyush Chawala currently is leading in the most number of sixes hit of a bowler in IPL.

The middle order will have players taken  purely on past performance. Except Yousuf pathan and Dhoni none of the others seem to be in the kind of blazing form.

It would be interesting to have a twenty20 match between India and India A

My India A team would be

Openers – Manish Pandey, Manvinder  Bisla

One down – Robin Utappa or Saurab Tiwary

Two Down – Manoj Tiwary or Ambatti Rayadu

Three down – Virat Kohli, Subramanian Badri Nath [Either of them captains.]

Four down – Wridimaan Saha (WK), Tare (WK)

Five down – Irfan Patan

Bowlers – Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Abhimanyu Mithun, Sudeep Tyagi,Ajit Agarkar ( Yes surprise indeed) and Ashok Dinda. In this list 3 of them can touch the 140 mark. This would me my line up of 17 players.

Who do you think would win ??

CSK did brilliantly to restrict rcb to 119 in 17 overs. Pressure was really on Robin to accelerate and he was swinging at every delivery. Two times dropping a player like him can cost any team a match and thats what happened to CSK.

About Robin, i am surprised a guy like him has been kept out of the Indian T20 for so long.  Just before the world cup 2007, he made an 80 and i think a 40 against an west indian attack led by jerome taylor and powell.

Its not the scores that matter but the sheer audacity of the shots in the matches. A front foot pull six of a west indian bowling at 140 + km/h is surely a precocious talent. Every body remembers the innings yuvraj played against Australia in t20 semis. But the acceleration was started by Robin who hit two consecutive sixes of Mitchell Johnson, one walking down the track. First match against Pakistan in T20, his innings saved the match  for us. Attitude problems and a temporary loss of form could have lead him to be dropped. RCB’s gain and mumbais loss. Sure shot indian T20 player. Wish he doesnt score against CSK and Mumbai Indians. Both teams whom i am routing for.

so with this broad experience and having watched a couple of the matches in IPL season 3, the following are my predictions for this year.

i think the key to putting pressure on the opposition is to have batsmen who can tonk the ball in the overs 7-14 without fear of losing wickets. At the same time having bowlers who can ensure momentum between 7-14 overs is not generated. If you notice the teams which have been able to do this have been winning comfortably.

Mumbai Indians – Definite Semi Finalist. Probably the most dashing Indian Domestic talent in Tiwary and rayadu in terms of destroying attacks + fit fine hungry classy sachin. Weak link seems to be Jayasurya in batting and west indian bowlers Keiron pollard and bravo. A quality spinner is missing, bhaji for all his doosras and teesras ( with bent or without bent arms ) gets tonked every match for a couple of sixes. Also so far Lasith Malinga has not got his rhythm right and is not bowling in the high 140′s as he usually does.

Royal Challengers Bangalore – The way things are going, a sure shot finalist. With Ross Taylor, Cameron White  to come along with Eoin Morgan[ batting looks deadly]. With Manish Pandey, Robin Uthapa, virat kohli and two above mentioned players from overs 7-14 no teams bowlers would be spared. There biggest weakness would be finding a place for Kevin Peterson too. The team balance and unity would be affected big time. Without him, when the above 2 are there boucher would make way for srivats goswami or dravid would don the gloves and 4 foreign players would be cameron white, ross taylor, dale steyn and jacques kallis. With Vinay Kumar, jacque Kallis and kumble bowling in tandem between overs 7 – 14 any team would have a tough time tonking the ball. Major weakness is an untested lower middle order.

Deccan Chargers – Might make it to Semis because of there  tooo tooo destructive top order with Adam Gilchrisht, Herchelle gibbs and Andrew Symonds. Bowling is heavily dependant on Vass as well as reliable pragyan ojha. Biggest weakness is rp singh and co who are getting successfully tonked. Domestic talent looks weak on paper and is more to fill in the overs in batting and bowlign. Can make it to semis only on individual brilliance.

Chennai Super Kings – Looks on par with mumbai indians with regards to late order destructive batting. Except Dhoni, Hayden and Raina others are yet to fire. Looks a formidable middle order with Subramanian Badrinath, M Vijay, Albie Morkel, Justin Kemp. Overs 7-14, acceleration isnt going to happen, if haydo or raina get out.  Strategy seems to be to wait till 15 over before going all out. Justin Kemp isnt the immediate hitter guy, he could be a phenomenal asset causing destruction if more time is given to him to settle. To me such a talent is being wasted down the order. Quite contrary to other calling CSK ‘s bowling attack weak, i think its extremly balanced. First 6 overs however good the bowler is they can go for runs. So i will discount that and say there biggest strength is overs 7-15 bowled by wily Murali and Carrom ball Ashwin. Biggest plus is playing as a team under dhoni. When Mike Hussey is back the teams chances of going to semis look extremly good.

Kings XI Punjab – Am sure most of you would have been surprised by this choice, I expect this team to bounce back and reach the semis. Just feel they are an extremly well balanced side and play as a unit. After finally realizing your main strike bowler cannot go for 50 + runs in 2 consecutive matches, they managed to win thanks to chennai choking big time. The x factor are irfan pathan, piyush chawala and latest addition to bowling arsenal shalabh Srivatsav and Theron chap. Yuvraj, Kumara Sangakara and Mahela havent yet fired. With return of bret lee bowling can only get better.

Delhi DareDevils – On Paper the strongest team, but heavily relying on individual brilliance. Shewag, Gambhir, Devilliers, David Warner, Dinesh Karthik and Dirk nannes. Looks like 6 out of 11 should be able to deliver the results, my gut feel says no. Also overs 7-14 big hits nope. One of the batsman have to keep firing producing special knocks for that to happen. Dinesh Karthik, Ab Devilliers can produce a 50 of 30 to 35 balls at a strike rate of 150 + hmm but no… Over reilance on Maharoof to produce the balance. They might just make it barely to the semis thanks to choking of other teams.

Kolkata Knight Riders – Out of form Big Stars,  no team spirit, Saurav Ganguly are the reasons why i am discounting this side. They have a wonderful coach, good domestic talent laxmi ratan shukla, cheteshwar Pujara, ICL fame Vignesh but still dada is at helm. So no.

Rajasthan Royals – First season they won because of unity and shane warnes backing of young talent. Also the watsons, Smiths, tanvirs fired at the right moment. Over reliance on Yusuf Pathan, extremly weak opening, middle and late middle order are the  reasons why i am discounting this side.

So Royal Challengers bangalore i am confident will reach the finals.

Its a fight for 2 more spots. I am confident Mumbai Indians would make it to the semis.  The other 2 would be a battle between Chennai Super Kings, Deccan Chargers. Punjab Kings XI and Delhi Dare Devils i would give an outside chance thanks to above two teams choking.

Throwing open the floor for discussions.