Indian Premier League (IPL)

[prasen9]

If the batsman leaves the crease before the ball leaves the bowler's hand, it should be called one run short.

Sarfraz Khan played a nice cameo of 46* runs at 159 SR. Shankar 40* at 167.

[prasen9]

One other thing I like about the Indian players this decade or so is that they are confident. Kapil was reluctant to mankad in spite of cheating by someone (in England?) for several matches and then did it. I like this new confidence. Ashwin said, "That is my space." Period. I don't need to apologize. I do not need to care about what other people or the media will think. I am right and I will do it. Great attitude.

[SaniaFan]

Peter Kirsten. South Africa.

[prasen9]

Right. Thanks for the reminder.

Pant played a cameo. He is averaging 103 at SR of 258. Dhawan played a longish innings but very slowly You cannot play that slowly in modern T20s. Dhawan is averaging 47 but at a SR of 113! Iyer and Rayudu have had two bad failures.

[prasen9]

Rana played well again. 131 runs at 65.5, SR 162. Pant is out of the world wrt SR. 257! 103 runs at 103 avg. Uthappa has started well too. 102 runs at 102 avg. 132 SR, which is not great but acceptable. Dhawan has scored 94 at 47 runs/inn. But, he is very slow at a SR of 113.

[prasen9]

Sanju Sampson has scored 132, out once, and a SR of 165. Excellent! Sarfraz 59 runs, one out, at 140. Shankar 75, one out, at 192.3. Pant 114 runs at 57, SR 202! Rahane 97 at 48.5, SR 141 - fast for him! Rana 132 at 44, SR 159.

Chahal leads the bowlers with five wickets at 8.8 runs at 5.5 runs/over! Gopal of Rajasthan three wickets at 10.66 runs/wicket at 6.4 runs/over. Ashwin two wickets at 12.5 at 6.25/over.

Shreyas Gopal is an ex India U-19 player. He is a leggie who can bat. We need to get him into the India-A team. I like Chahal but he cannot bat. We need people who can bat down the order.

[Sin Hombre]

Chahal can't field either and has no spine when people take him on.

Very good IPL so far for all the young guns, and an average to terrible one for all the older guys who are in the NT and play for batting averages rather than the team.

[Sin Hombre]

Unadcutter and Dhawal - RR should be at bottom of the table for this champion trundler duo but RCB obviously is Kohli managed.

[prasen9]

In T20Is playing for average only is useless.

Samson 70/155, Pant 57/207, Uthappa 56.5/136, Rana 44/159, Shaw 43/169, Shankar 42/200, Rahul 38/115, Dhawan 36.66/121, Rahane 32/137.

These are the ones who have scored at least 75 runs and averaged at least 32. In three innings, if you do not score 75 runs, then your contribution is negligible. But after you score some runs, the SR matters. Pant and Shankar have played very well. Followed by Shaw, Rana, and Samson. The oldies are slow. Still Uthappa and Rahane have at least tried to hit. Dhawan and Rahul have been awful.

Among the bowlers who at least took three wickets, Chahal 14.66/7.33, Bhajji 16.66/6.25, Gopal 18.33/6.87, Chahar 18.66/4.66, Jadeja 20.33/6.1, Ishant 20.75/8.85, Bumrah 20.75/7.11.

4.66 after 12 overs, 3 wickets: What is Chahar smoking? Good old Ishant. Taking wickets. But, still no control

Maybe because Kohli is not that great an LOI captain, he wants to retain Dhoni and give him carte blanche to set the field/strategy, etc. Kohli seems more at ease in tests where he does not have to make quick decisions but can try things out.

[Atithee]

That Yuvraj is still playing for Mumbai Indians is a joke. Rohit does his same old sloooooooow start rate even in T20.

[prasen9]

A 100-run qualification yields the following:

Dhoni 119/116, Samson 70/155, Uthappa 56.5/136, Pant 51/189, Sarfraj 49/138, Rana 44/159, Jadhav 35/96, Dhawan 35/120, Patel 34.5/130.

Interesting to see so many keepers in the list. Dhoni, Pant, Patel. Part-time keepers Samson, Uthappa. I cheated and gave Sarfraz two more runs.

Kedar has been spooked by Dhoni. He seems to have completely lost it in the last few ODIs and this IPL. Dhoni is even worse than Dhawan wrt SR.

[Sin Hombre]

I think you are missing a few people and in particular,

Mayank 129 runs @ 147 S/R
Shaw 130 runs @ 167 S/R

Hardik with 88 runs in 2 completed innings @ 204 S/R is the only regular in the Indian top 7 who is in any form.


Kedar has learnt that the way to stay in the Indian team is by batting slowly and inflating your average. Rohit, Dhawan, Rayadu, Dhoni - everyone else does it.

[prasen9]

Yes, those two have done well wrt SR but have been inconsistent. Especially Shaw. He seems to be hit or miss.

I am missing Rahane, Rohit, Suryakant, Raina. They have not been consistent either and have not contributed much. They are too slow too. Except maybe Suryakant who is at 139.

[indiansportsfan]

I think the reason for the regular's non-performance is quite simple. They are already feeling burnt out from nonstop cricket; and they may just have tuned out from the daily grind of IPL. What is important is whether they are able to bring back their focus for the series that really matters. Pandya hasn't played too much cricket recently; hence his energy is understandable.
1 good thing that came out from IPL is Pant seems to have secured a spot in the WC team (at the expense of Rayudu most likely); and he is the leading contender for the starting spot too. Jadhav earlier seemed to be a shoo in for #5, but his dipping performance should be a concern.

[prasen9]

There are many matches to play. Of course, these folks who started with a bang cannot continue at that vein. Pant scored what 78*? He cannot really be averaging 78 in T20s over the entire season. So, he is bound to cool off as he has done. He is still doing very well but we will see if he can hold on. The issue, of course, is that cameos are of limited value in ODIs but, I suppose we will no doubt be influenced by IPL form because of the proximity in timing and there being no other tournament after it.

So, now with a qualifying of 102 runs (because that is all that fits my screen and I am too lazy ):

Dhoni 119/116, Samson 70/155, Uthappa 56.5/136, Rana 44/159, Pant 39.5/180, Jadhav 35.33/96, Patel 34.5/130, Mayank 32.25/147, Dhawan 30.4/117.

So, only Samson, Rana, Pant, Mayank are above 30/140. Uthappa is above 135. Patel 130. Rest are horrendous. There are some other fast cameo players who are not consistent. Vijay excepted.