RCB vs RR, 20th match at Bengaluru, IPL, Apr 19 2011 - Ball by Ball Commentary

That's it for tonight folks. A wet end to something that never started. But it's been great having all these discussions about loyalty and domestic cricket. Lots of feedback from lots of genuine lovers of the game. Join us for tomorrow's games. Till then, this is Abhishek Purohit signing off. Cheers!

10.55 pm Alright, the game has been called off.

Slim chance of getting in a game, looks like. The outfield is very wet. Don't think the captains would like to risk their players getting hurt.

10.40 pm The umpires are walking on the ground. The rain seems to have stopped.

Prakash: "@Karan - I don't think domestic matches in Aus are as keenly followed as you think. I was at the MCG in March 2010 when the final of the Sheffield Shield tournament was being played. On day 1 there were hardly a few hundred people in the ground and many of them were tourists like me who came for the MCG tour!"

Peyush: "Childhood days, wow, I used to read Cricket Samrat and Sportstar thoroughly, including the score-sheets of Ranji and County cricket. The most vivid memories of that time are Martin Crowe's match-saving century for Somersat & Gagan Khoda's match-wiining ton for Central Zone!"

Bharathram: "@Alan - The perfect answer to you will be - "You won't notice Menaria until he scores 500 runs in the IPL, after having ignored his 500+ runs that won Rajasthan the Ranji Trophy". Where was the support that time?"

Sumanth: "Remembered my college days: We had bunked to watch India-Srilanka match at 2003 world cup, inspite of warnings from the so-called strict lecturers. The next day our HOD walks in and says: "Whats there in cricket these days? In our times, we used to follow Ranji matches with scorebooks, but cricket today isn't interesting". Didn't know whether he was supposed to scold us or the game :)"

10.35 pm It is pouring down over the Chinnaswamy Stadium which is wearing a very wet look at the moment.

Sam: "Good to hear that in the days where popular chat is ODI and Test format are dying because T20 is on the rise, people are actually talking about going to support Ranji 4 day matches, which usually don't have superstars. Who says cricket can't support 3 formats anymore?? People are supporting the 4th one here as well."

10.25 pm Still drizzling, says a patient Nitin Sundar.

Alan from UK: "@Bharathram Three years of IPL has, I think, contributed to popularity of Ranji teams and local players. Ashwin, Manish Pandey, Rayudu are all household names now, thanks mainly to the IPL and all my Indian friends here have grown curious to know what states each of them play for. So I think it is helping, maybe not as fast as some of us would like, but it is playing a part nevertheless."

Karan: "If we really wanna support our local guys, why not go out an actually watch the Ranji games and not just wait for BCCI to telecast it...Domestic games in Aus and SA see packed houses...Maybe then BCCI will be interested in telecasting all the local games.."

Prajwal: "I'm a Banglorean,but studyin in Mysore now...The Ranji Matches that have been held at the Glades Ground in Mysore have been a huge hit...people go to watch d matches on all 4 days braving the heat...they even go during practice days to get snaps along wit Ranji players...y dnt KSCA put up floodlights and arrange a IPL match in Glades...May be because d seating capacity is less n they get very less revenue....!!"

Sreenath: "Loyalty and following our local players has got to do with how many Ranji matches get telecasted on TV and how many we watch. I for instance have been watching the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy because they show it on TV. Good short tournament.(Remember Sreesanth/Piyush were noticed when they got Sachin out at this trophy)"

Pramod: "Speaking about loyalities and fan following for domestic matches (excl. IPL), the comments were awesome from the fans following Cricinfo's commentary during last year's (2010) Ranji Final b/w Karnataka and Mumbai played at Mysore (my Home) and it even came down to Malasa Dosa/Mysore Pak vs Bhel Puri/Vada Pav!!! Ind vs Bang was totally neglected and fans were more interested in the Ranji Final scores... Mind over matter!!"

Bharathram: "@Alan - Don't you think 3 years of IPL could've stirred that? While channels rant about IPL for months, we don't even have video cameras for all Ranji Trophy games. If the board is not interested, how would the people?"

vivek: "I always support the underdogs, even in Ranji, except when Delhi (my home team) is playing, even if they are playing at Roshanara Club."

Alan: "@Santosh Granted, Ranji cricket does not enjoy the same mainstream support as the IPL, but don't you think retaining fans' loyalty to a particular IPL franchise (by retaining local players from the respective cities) could potentially translate to a following for Ranji teams? If I've never heard of, say, Bharat Chipli before but am really impressed by his performance in the IPL, I would be persuaded to follow his game at the Ranji level as well."

10 pm We are informed on air that the game, whenever it starts, will be 12 overs a side. Nitin says that play could start by 10.30 pm, but wait a minute, a slight drizzle has started. And the covers are coming back on as the drizzle has decided to up it a bit.

Sudheer: "@Santhosh,the loyalties were always there for the ranji teams,its just that there was no platform like IPL to showcase it !!"

santhosh: "seems there is a lot of talk going on about team loyalties. when was the last time you guys supported your ranji team?"

Prashant: "Guys, what matters is not if RCB keeps its local players or if CSK keep theirs. The important thing is the Indian domestic players get a chance to showcase their skills at this level so they can go on to represent India at the big stage. Frankly I don't care if Balaji plays for CSK or for KKR. I would be really happy for him if he gets to play for India in time. Or even Paul Valthaty. Or Chipli. Whoever."

9.43 pm The pitch is being rolled at the moment. The super sopper is mopping up the playing area. Ground inspection any moment. Rajasthan are warming up. A few RCB players as well, including Vettori.

bhuvan: "@Harish: Just wanted to remind you about M Vijay, R Ashwin, Aniruddha Srikkanth, Badrinath, and in their squad they have Abhinav Mukund (one of the prolific scorers in Ranji for last 2 seasons), Hemang Badani are all present.. So, CSK has lots of 'quality' local talent and they were all bought back... Of course, it helps to have a successful captain and someone like Raina (MVP of CSK)."

Paneendra: "Every RCB discard has been playing well this season - RD, Kallis, Taylor, Steyn, Ryder, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Chipli. Doesn't that sound like a great TEAM :D"

Harish: "Im sure the people who say that RCB dont have local players donot follow even a bit of Ranji cricket. It was Gautam, Aravind, Mithun who were the major contributors in RCB's success this year and they all are in the squad. Plus they have Mayank Aggarwal and Ryan Ninan. Which other team has local players ? Just because Chennai retained its players doesn mean they have lot of local players. Jakati plays for Goa and Dhoni n Raina are not from TN."

Arpit: "I cant understand how can one be loyal to a team when every 3 years the whole team is changed? I Just want some good cricket (as cliched at it may sound!!)"

Deryck: "Dravid is definitely important to bangalore.Even if he doesn't bang in centuries he will be cheered by the bangalore fans.I sure if the match does start every run taken by Dravid will be cheered.But in the end an RCB victory is what everybody wants.Dravid and Kumble are both icons.We cheer for them because they have sweat it out for Karnataka and RCB."

Akhil: "@vivek- at IPL level, i feel player loyality is more than city royality.. bangalore witnessed that itself when TENDULKAR played here for mumbai indians, and they will witness same for DRAVID"

Avi: "IPL should be treated as entertainment and watched for the quality of cricket rather than descending into city based parochialism. We r all world champions at the end of the day!!!"

mukesh: "My problem is that I was born in Rajasthan and studied in Bangalore....any team loss is loss for me."

GP: "@Vivek: common man... loyalty does lie with the team but if you don;t have your regional players whats the harm in supporting them as well?"

Vivek: "It's an insult to the people to Bangalore to suggest that all the people support a player than a team. I will continue to support RCB as will almost all the fans. The ones who don't will be the exception. Kumble is the biggest icon in Karnataka and not Dravid. The game and the team is bigger than an individual. It's not like Dravid was smashing hundreds for us either."

Nitin Sundar: "The suspended camera is going up and down like a trampoline artist."

There will be an inspection at 9.45 pm by the umpires. Umpire Koertzen: "If the rain is so light that the wicket will not be damaged, we can start." Umpire Doctrove: "We have to take in to account the safety of the players. The outfield is still a bit damp, hopefully we can have a game."

Anil: "I have a feeling that most of the future matches in southern part of India will be affected by rain, especially those starting at 8 pm." Don't have such feelings, Anil, leave all that stuff to Ravi Shastri. He at least gets them when we have a match on our hands, and especially when it goes down to the wire.

Suresh: "Lot of B'lore supporters for RD than RCB! Let me make it simple... Rahul... Where ever you are, our Karnataka network follows!"

9.05 pm The rain has stopped, says Nitin Sundar.

vivek: "I came to Cricinfo to see the score, instead see some chattering that resembles Twitter!" So you have seen one more avatar of Cricinfo today, what was someone talking about evolution earlier.

Rahul Dravid walking around the ground in Royals' blue t-shirt and grey trousers looking quite dapper and quite at home. Warne and Dravid have a chat.

9 pm Some encouraging news from Nitin: "Upper cover on pitch lifted. One more cover in place."

pumster: "I am not sure if Rahul comes out to bat in a shortened game even if he is in the playing 11. Hope he does. Easier for Bangloreans to show their support for him."

fayas: "talking about shorter versions, what about an eleven-toss game, getting all 22 players in ground, and head to head tossing!!! 6-5 is winning team, you can't say then there was no contribution of players in the WIN."

Dheeraj goes all creative: "It was a simple case of bat vs. ball, where, in general, winner takes all, but the trading of Jammy, proved to be a whammy, a decision finally saved by heavy rainfall."

More from Nitin Sundar: "Shane Warne rolls out to take a look in shorts and flip-flops."

Teja: "@Kirti.. C'mon, of course we miss all of them you mentioned, but we are in the world of T20s, Lords with flood lights, Green grass covered with Ads, Cheer leaders, 2-3 TV screens in stadia, Spider cams, Colour"full" dresses even for umpires, DRS, Hawk eyes, white balls. Survival of the fittest. Evolution is good."

Dan: "So much easier being an SA fan for the IPL - I just support the team with more saffa's! RCB it is today :)"

rahul: "The richest board in the cricketing world should have THE BEST drainage and covers on it's grounds. It really annoys me when see MUCH better facilities in countries like England, South Africa, Australia etc. Cutting a couple of overs in a 50 over match doesn't hurt that much but in a T20 it's a real slap on the face for people who have purchased the tickets and are in the ground .. and even for us at home!"

Sachin: "deciding loyalty for teams in IPL would have been easier with names Mallya XI, Ambanis Riches, Preity kings, Consortium tuskers, Sahara Warriors etc etc"

Naresh: "This way atleast RCB can earn a point for themselves without playing, which is far better cause they aren't able to earn one while playing at the moment."

Ranjan: "Was eagerly looking forward to the Indian version of Tebbit's test. Alas this rain has spoilt everything now :(" Fret not, we may get a shortened game still.

Praveen: "hope nuwan pradeep plays..world needs to see we have a duplicate for malinga."

8.40 pm Nitin's latest update just got a bit gloomier: "Drizzle has picked up a bit. Covers coming back on."

Indrakush: "So finally the time is coming for Bangaluru people to decide whom will they support?? Their team or Jammy!"

Kirti: "A 5 over cricket game would be crime against WG Grace, Lord's, Bradman, green grass, white clothes, red balls, ashes and honestly anything else that is possibly good about cricket."

Teja: "Can we start a "Super IPL" consisting of only super over for every match? People can even enjoy in monsoon season then!!"

8.35 pm More updates from Nitin: "Super sopper into the action. Covers being lifted. Rain has almost stopped. Centre cover still on as there is some sort of insignificant drizzle that in which you can play."

8.25 pm Our man Nitin Sundar, who is at from the ground: "Crowd roars as the drizzle becomes lighter, yelling RCB. Big contingent from Rajasthan Cosmo Club, yeling slyly RCC. Drizzle is very light now."

Kaustubh: "5-overs-a-side? Really?? How low you can stoop? What next, callin all 22 players & then deciding the match on the fall of a toss?!"

Anvith: "I agree with Mohan. Its sad that the teams do not retain the players from their respective region. I think there should be a rule to have a minimum of three regional players in the playing eleven."

Srinidhi: "It's like Mother Nature is intervening here to resolve a Bangalorean's ambiguity - to support RCB or cheer for Rahul Dravid."

Vageesh: "I know the crowd of bengaluru better than the software process i work on.. if Jammy plays, its gonna be a home game for the Royals.."

pankaj ojha: "People from Rajasthan and working at Bangalore have a great chance to support both at the same time in this match by supporting "Rahul Dravid." Everybody will be happy and purpose solved." Now that's what is meant by er, hitting two targets with one arrow

goyal: "100 Crores saved this season. Can't they spend some in getting covers for the whole ground ??" Fair point, though I doubt they would have thought about persistent rain in the month of April.

Sonu: "Wonder when will they take the 'Strategic Time Out' in 5 overs a side match :)"

7.55 pm Umpire Doctrove says that the latest the match can start to get in a 5-overs-a-side game is 11.20 pm. The outfield will take an hour to get ready after the rain stops. The umpires will continue having ground inspections every hour.

Mohan: "Hard core bengalurian. Supporting Dravid when we play against Rajasthan and supporting Uthappa when we play against Pune." That's hard core all right.

I wonder if Rahul Dravid will be fit enough to play today, against a side he was part of for three seasons, and as a visitor at a ground where he has been the home boy all his playing life.

Nishath: "Alright captains, now that it's raining, you know what to do, win toss and bowl first. That's 90% of the game won."

7.45 pm The playing area is covered, and the rain is pouring down steadily at the moment. First it has to stop, and then it will be quite a while before the groundstaff can get the ground ready for play.

Pulkit: "its drizzling here in bangalore..hope to have a fighting contest between two under-performing teams of this IPL season, I love both though :P"

7.35 pm Hello and welcome to our coverage of the game between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals on what has been a very drizzly evening for Bangalore. Hope we can get a full game today, meanwhile here is the preview. Looks like my hopes will be dashed, it is still raining at the ground, the outfield is wet, and there is some time before play can start.