AFP
IPL teams may have got a bit blasé
Delhi Daredevils is the last team left standing with the IPL pennant and with a chance of battling it out for the top prizes in the Karbonn Champions League T20.
By R Mohan
Three others were eliminated quicker than you could say Aaron Phangiso. India’s top corporate teams did not do enough to erase the growing impression that IPL outfits are filled with lazy multimillionaires who don’t get going when the going gets tough.
Early season south African pitches tend to have a bit of the devil in them and it takes some doing to dig in and plan a later assault on the bowlers in order to give the team a total to defend. But IPL batsmen are seen as the superstars of the sport who like to breeze through games on flat pitches. They are so used to lording it over bowlers they couldn’t be bothered to fight when the roles are reversed.
It wasn’t always like this. Chennai Super Kings did win the Champions League once in South Africa while exhibiting the fighting qualities needed to be more of an all-round side in tough conditions. That was in heady days when IPL was the glamorous new creation and players were still fresh enough in body and spirit to justify the fancy pay and living conditions and the constant partying that used to be the norm then.
It appears the teams have got just a bit blasé. Truth be told, T20 is a highly unpredictable game in which consistency is so elusive a quality that no team has shown enough of it to be feared on the international circuit. Four world championships have also produced four different countries as winners, a trait also seen in the Champions League with NSW Blues, CSK and Mumbai Indians winning different editions in India and South Africa.
The elimination of CSK and Mumbai Indians, both Champions League winning teams, as well as the current IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders is what adds spice to the current edition. Elimination by itself is not a crime. It’s the attitude that matters and this is where the Indians teams seemed to be lacking. They are probably accustomed to simply turning up to win the top prizes, an approach that let Team India down badly in the T20 worlds in Sri Lanka.
It’s never easy adapting to conditions in South Africa, although viewing it strictly from a cricketing point of view such a test of the teams’ capabilities should be welcomed. Flat conditions can make for a degree of monotony because the bat almost always dominates. South African players know it’s not easy for visiting teams to settle down quickly to adjust well enough to the conditions and Australian fast bowlers, who are fierce competitors in any environment, need little encouragement to use such helpful conditions to upset the batsmen.
By the time CSK and Mumbai Indians woke up to the reality of tough playing conditions and the need for batsmen to reassess conditions and adapt their game, it was all over with the Sydney Sixers and Highveld Lions teams having stolen a march. The champion sides did recover to play some exciting cricket, including in their match against each other, but it was too late so far as aiming for the top $2.5 million pot was concerned. A sheepish exit was thrust upon three big budget teams, including the defending champion Mumbai Indians who did not win a single game.
Talking of sheepish exits, the recall of Shane Watson by the Australian cricket board in the middle of the tournament might suggest a great concern for the individual’s workload. But the planning was far from ideal. What would a couple of T20 games for the top prize have meant for a fit player who was keen to be in the thick of the action? It would have made sense had Cricket Australia stopped him from playing in the CL altogether.
Early season south African pitches tend to have a bit of the devil in them and it takes some doing to dig in and plan a later assault on the bowlers in order to give the team a total to defend. But IPL batsmen are seen as the superstars of the sport who like to breeze through games on flat pitches. They are so used to lording it over bowlers they couldn’t be bothered to fight when the roles are reversed.
It wasn’t always like this. Chennai Super Kings did win the Champions League once in South Africa while exhibiting the fighting qualities needed to be more of an all-round side in tough conditions. That was in heady days when IPL was the glamorous new creation and players were still fresh enough in body and spirit to justify the fancy pay and living conditions and the constant partying that used to be the norm then.
It appears the teams have got just a bit blasé. Truth be told, T20 is a highly unpredictable game in which consistency is so elusive a quality that no team has shown enough of it to be feared on the international circuit. Four world championships have also produced four different countries as winners, a trait also seen in the Champions League with NSW Blues, CSK and Mumbai Indians winning different editions in India and South Africa.
The elimination of CSK and Mumbai Indians, both Champions League winning teams, as well as the current IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders is what adds spice to the current edition. Elimination by itself is not a crime. It’s the attitude that matters and this is where the Indians teams seemed to be lacking. They are probably accustomed to simply turning up to win the top prizes, an approach that let Team India down badly in the T20 worlds in Sri Lanka.
It’s never easy adapting to conditions in South Africa, although viewing it strictly from a cricketing point of view such a test of the teams’ capabilities should be welcomed. Flat conditions can make for a degree of monotony because the bat almost always dominates. South African players know it’s not easy for visiting teams to settle down quickly to adjust well enough to the conditions and Australian fast bowlers, who are fierce competitors in any environment, need little encouragement to use such helpful conditions to upset the batsmen.
By the time CSK and Mumbai Indians woke up to the reality of tough playing conditions and the need for batsmen to reassess conditions and adapt their game, it was all over with the Sydney Sixers and Highveld Lions teams having stolen a march. The champion sides did recover to play some exciting cricket, including in their match against each other, but it was too late so far as aiming for the top $2.5 million pot was concerned. A sheepish exit was thrust upon three big budget teams, including the defending champion Mumbai Indians who did not win a single game.
Talking of sheepish exits, the recall of Shane Watson by the Australian cricket board in the middle of the tournament might suggest a great concern for the individual’s workload. But the planning was far from ideal. What would a couple of T20 games for the top prize have meant for a fit player who was keen to be in the thick of the action? It would have made sense had Cricket Australia stopped him from playing in the CL altogether.
There is certainly a need to ration the number of games the most active cricketers play. Such players will obviously be from successful Big Bash, IPL and South African state teams and since they are also likely to be the ones adoring the national side it’s their schedule that needs to be tightly controlled. Of course, there are more refined ways of doing this than ordering a player out in the middle of a good run.
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