Indian Premier League (IPL)

[prasen9]

New pace bowling talents is fully bulldozed in this IPL season, not a single one is looking impressive for international level.

Unfortunately. But, this is also only a few games. Among the ones who have got games, how have they done?

[prasen9]

Going by Impact/Match (at least 3 matches), the Indian leaders are:

Rahul, Kuldeep, S. Iyer, Piryansh Arya, Sai Sudarshan, Siraj, Hardik, Shardul, Vipraj, Rathi, Harshal Patel.

Interestingly, lots of bowlers now.

Sai, Rahul, S. Iyer, Priyansh Arya,

Hardik, Siraj, Shardul

Kuldeep, Vipraj

Rathi and Harshal can't bat at top 7 level. So, need a couple of batters. The next batter is Abhishek Sharma, who can bowl and thus is the sixth bowler. And then, Ajinkya Rahane! Rahane has actually been reasonable and batted fast ... Rahul keeps.

Among the young fast bowlers, Ashwani Kumar got chances and did very well. Although only in 2 matches. Hope he develops. He is left-armed. So, would be good to have.

Vipraj Nigam could be groomed to be a bowling allrounder.

[Rajkumar Sharma]

Where is Nitesh Reddy, Raj Bawa, Shivam Dube, Shankar....
the bowler ? Where are new pace bowling allrounders....like Arsin Kulkarni? It seems except Pandya all pace bowling allrounders has been chewed up by impact player rule.

[PKBasu]

I must admit I haven't watched a single IPL match on TV from start to finish this year. Only occasionally watched even replays. But noticeably, the bowlers have done a lot better after the first week or so, in which the batsmen were totally dominant. KKR has been complaining about pitches at the Eden Gardens not helping their spinners -- but curiously the GT spinners thrived on it in their latest match while the KKR ones struggled!

[PKBasu]

The on-again, off-again Prasid Krishna is having a banner season, leading the wicket-taking column with 16 wickets -- well ahead of everyone else.

[prasen9]

I must admit I haven't watched a single IPL match on TV from start to finish this year. Only occasionally watched even replays. But noticeably, the bowlers have done a lot better after the first week or so, in which the batsmen were totally dominant. KKR has been complaining about pitches at the Eden Gardens not helping their spinners -- but curiously the GT spinners thrived on it in their latest match while the KKR ones struggled!

KKR dished out a terrible batting lineup. Narine and Powell are regressing as expected. Ramandeep is not doing well and we should look at dropping him. Raghuvanshi is also on and off. They dropped a boat-load of catches off Rana.

[PKBasu]

I must admit I haven't watched a single IPL match on TV from start to finish this year. Only occasionally watched even replays. But noticeably, the bowlers have done a lot better after the first week or so, in which the batsmen were totally dominant. KKR has been complaining about pitches at the Eden Gardens not helping their spinners -- but curiously the GT spinners thrived on it in their latest match while the KKR ones struggled!

KKR dished out a terrible batting lineup. Narine and Powell are regressing as expected. Ramandeep is not doing well and we should look at dropping him. Raghuvanshi is also on and off. They dropped a boat-load of catches off Rana.

Interesting that you use "we" when referring to KKR I see no particular reason to support this team over others. In fact, after attending one KKR match with my dad around 2010 or so, when the crowd seemed more interested in spotting Shahrukh Khan than the cricket, I soured completely on KKR. Delhi Capitals (the team of my current home town) were hopelessly bad last year, but are doing well this year. But except when I am at the Kotla, I see no particular reason to support them either. I just follow the cricket, and support one of the two teams in any given match, without expending any real emotional energy

Not sure who 'Powell' is above. Presumably you are referring to Andre Russell, who has been a complete failure with the bat this year, although he keeps getting wickets. Dre Russ and Narine are probably reaching the end of their careers...

[prasen9]

Brain fade. Yes, Russell. Obviously, I do not have any power to drop anyone in any team. So, strictly speaking it should be "they". As in the KKR brainstrust. I am a mild supporter of KKR just because it has the Kolkata name. I do not watch any games or follow the team closely.

Indians fan-worship. That is not new. People seem happy sometimes that whoever is batting before Kohli or Dhoni is out because they can watch the stars. That is why perhaps these folks have so much power and don't retire even when they are bad, etc. So, that they came to see SRK is not surprising.

[prasen9]

Impact/Match XI for this IPL (Indian):

Kuldeep, Sai Sudarshan, PK, KL Rahul, Priyansh Arya, Siraj, Arshdeep, Gill, Bhuvi, Digvesh Rathi.

That already has five bowlers. So, the next bowler Harshal Patel does not make it. The next batter is Yashasvi. Khaleel Ahmed and Sai Kishore are also skipped. In the above 10, we have five #10-11 players. Okay, maybe Bhuvi is #8-9 at best. So, we need some allrounders. Best allrounder is Hardik. He replaces Siraj. Next batter is Shreyas.

Yashasvi, Sai S., Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Rahul (w), Priyansh, Hardik, Axar, Bhuvi, Kuldeep, PK.

If you want a sixth bowler/allrounder batter types, then replace Iyer by Abhishek.

Abhishek, Yashasvi, Sai S., Gill, Rahul, Priyansh, Hardik, Axar, Bhuvi, Kuldeep, PK.

It is weird to see Washy get only 3 matches. Karn Sharma only 2. Karun Nair only 4.

[PKBasu]

Nitish Reddy had a good match with the bat at the start, but has faded otherwise this season. He is just not being handed the ball by his skipper Cummins, and his batting has been poor. Rohit Sharma hated being treated as an Impact Player, and he usually came in for short bursts with the bat, but he has found form in his last couple of innings. (There is no reason for him to be anything but an impact player, given that his fielding is nothing to write home about).

Sai Sudarshan has been a standout performer with the bat (and owns the Orange Cup for awhile now). Virat Kohli has been steady, scoring consistently at a decent (but far from spectacular) strike rate, just the perfect T20 sheet anchor.

[PKBasu]

Another solid knock from Kohli (70 off 42 balls) enables RCB to beat RR, who imploded after an explosive start from Jaiswal, 14yo Vaibhav S, and Dhruv Jurel. They are playing like KL Rahul-led Punjab Kings in 2019 -- contriving to lose repeatedly from seemingly winning positions. Dravid and his coaching team look hapless. (Vaibhav Suryavanshi is far from the finished article: tries to hit too much, needs other gears; I think it is premature to pitchfork him into the IPL at this point).

[prasen9]

Suryavanshi played a very slow innings. If he was indeed trying to hit every ball, he must be a bad hitter. Apart from Jaiswal and Parag, the others were a tad too slow. Shivam hit out but he had the other problem of getting out too soon. Parag too got out in 10 balls. You need someone who can score 25 at above 140 consistently, on these pitches may be 150 SR. Jurel did play very well to score those runs but he was just a slight bit slow given the match's pitch.

[prasen9]

Krunal Pandya is having a good season among all the allrounders.

[prasen9]

So, now, Suryavanshi's shots connected in this inning. What a inning by a 14 year old boy!!! If he can be consistent, are we looking at a prodigy? Hope he goes the SRT way and not the VK way ...

[Kumar]

and GT attack is no joke. Amazing and for him to outshine Jaiswal ..

Hope we don’t rush him too fast