Indian Premier League (IPL)

[prasen9]

I don't care about foreign restrictions per se. That creates a substandard product. But, thank you for asking. To answer the question, for the sake of argument, the protectionists' IPL XI, based only on this year's tournament, would be:

Fraser-McGurk, Narine, Kohli(c), Abhishek, Parag, Pooran(wk), Russell, Kuldeep Y., VC, Rana, Bumrah(vc).

A little light on the pace bowling side expecting Russell to bowl four overs or share the load. I have three top spinners though and expect them to bowl the bulk of the middle overs.

[prasen9]

If we believe that this team has too many spinners: Narine, VC, Kuldeep, Parag, Abhishek and that we can get 4 overs of good bowling from Russell, Parag, and Abhishek, then we should get another batter. That would be Gaikwad. If we want to hedge our bets, then the best allrounder - Axar. Perhaps Varun C comes out. Narine, Kuldeep, combined with Axar, Parag, Abhishek will be fine. And, with Axar or Gaikwad the batting gets better. You can never have enough batters because if you have enough batters, you can bat at over 10 an over consistently. You can play every over as a super over or many overs with that attitude and increase the total runs. Having more bowlers is more of an insurance but you cannot bowl them more than 4 overs anyway and you cannot bowl more than 5-6 bowlers. So, Gaikwad/Axar comes in ... We also have too many top-order batters ... so maybe anyway Axar comes in ... he can hit hard and fast.

[prasen9]

KKR has V. Iyer, Rinku, Narine, Varun, Russell, H. Rana, Ramandeep

They really need top-order batters. I really liked Raghuvanshi.

[Rajkumar Sharma]

IPL Auction also showing certain player's present state and also a warning bell for their future

[prasen9]

IPL auction is not very accurate as a predictor. But, people are putting their money where their mouth is. So, at least, they believe in some of these things. Interesting the KKR bought Rahane and Manish Pandey, both, slow, over-the-hill players. I hope these players are bench players. If the thinking is that they are the super sub or whatever it is called on a tough pitch to stop a rot when several wickets are down, then that is good insurance. Otherwise, this is going backwards at least with Rahane. Pandey can maybe hit when he wants but is too cautious. Let us see.

[PKBasu]

Delhi Capitals picked Karun Nair even before his Vijay Hazare Trophy form was known. He showed some glimpses of his former self in the Ranji season last year, and during the county season for Northants. Then he went and played league cricket in England. He has definitely found the form of his life, but Delhi were prescient in picking him.

[prasen9]

Let's see if he can produce like he has. If he can, he will come into consideration for the T20I team although it is very hard to get into it now. The test team has/will have more vacancies. And, the ODI team too. The T20I team is young, good, and stocked.

[SaniaFan]

Interesting the KKR bought Rahane and Manish Pandey, both, slow, over-the-hill players. I hope these players are bench players. If the thinking is that they are the super sub or whatever it is called on a tough pitch to stop a rot when several wickets are down

Rahane was in the form of his life scoring 469 runs in Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy at a strike rate of 165 and average of 59 while opening for Mumbai. He was the man of the tournament. So in the end KKR had an inspired buy.

[prasen9]

Thanks. Yes. Let us see.

[PKBasu]

If domestic cricket has any meaning, the hiring of Rahane by KKR after his scintillating form in the SMAT is a great reflection of the value of domestic cricket.

[janhfyz]

Finally, this thread will be live again ! After winning the Champions Trophy 2025, India will be focusing on Indian Premier League. While Pandya played under rohit sharma captaincy few weeks before! Now, rohit will play under Hardik pandya's captaincy ! Let's see how it goes and how much good captaincy will be done by Pandya

[prasen9]

Moderators, should we split this thread by season? It is getting too big and splitting by season or at least by some grouping - say five years - would help us find historical things more easily ...

[Rajkumar Sharma]

Biggest attraction of IPL. How some players who are injured throughout the year misses domestic becomes magically fit overnight on course of IPL

[PKBasu]

Most disappointing to find that Musheer Khan, the young hero of the last under-19 World Cup (and brother of Sarfaraz) has also become magically fit for the IPL, after suffering a terrible car accident in late-September, just before the start of the domestic season.

[prasen9]

If during one month of the year or two, I can make money that will secure my financial future, why should I not prioritize getting fit for those two months? That is very good planning by these people. Kudos to them.

Those criticizing these sportsmen, are you going to pay these people in the future?

I am very glad people are smart and are doing the right thing for their families. We do not criticise someone if they quit a job and go for another where they get a better pay. Why do we criticize these people for doing the right/smart thing?

If you want to, criticise the authorities. If they want people to play tests, put money in test cricket. If you want them to play Ranji, put money in Ranjis. If you make the pay in the IPL 10 times or 100 times more than the other events, then people will make sure they get their paycheck from the IPL. They would be utterly stupid to not play the IPL. Only Harry Brooks can because he has been told by ECB that he will be fantastically compensated by their contracts and will play several formats of the game for the next few years. He thus decided to forgo the extra money. Without the type of deal Harry Brooks is getting, I would not prioritize domestics over IPL. Nor should anyone else.