The IPL Watcher

Jacques Kallis has been instrumental in completely changing the fortunes of Bangalore's opening combination in IPL 2010 © Getty Images

Beginning with this one, this blog will feature regular stats nuggets from a tournament that can be a number man's delight. This one is on the table leaders.

The biggest difference between the Bangalore teams of the first seasons and the 2010 version so far has been the quality of their opening stands. In the first two seasons they couldn’t buy a run; this year, with Jacques Kallis and Manish Pandey doing duties, the opening pair has been so formidable and scored so many runs that the middle order has had very little to do – Rahul Dravid has faced all of 16 deliveries in four matches so far. (That might come back to hurt Bangalore later in the tournament, but that’s another matter.) In fact, the opening pairs have already scored more runs in four games this year than they had in 16 matches in 2009 and in 14 the year before that.

Spot of the day: Ishant Sharma was made to look like two different bowlers last night. Against Shikhar Dhawan, Saurabh Tiwary, and Kieron Pollard, his figures read:eight balls, eight runs, two wickets. Against Sachin Tendulkar, it was 16 balls, 36 runs, eight fours.

A stray thought: Has there ever been an occasion when the scorecard has read 29 for 0, Virender Sehwag 0, partner 29?

You couldn’t really say it was Sehwag’s fault. Against the Deccan Chargers, David Warner went 4, 4, 1, 6, 4, 6, 4 before Sehwag had faced a ball.

It was an unusual start in every sense. The first two overs produced 29, the next two six. And Sehwag, who had scored 183 runs from 94 balls before this match, went for 3 off 7 balls.

Being a relic, I am not a fan of the Super Over – I’d leave the tie, a rare and quite the prefect result, as it is – but I can see why it is so attractive to many, and I would even concede to succumbing to the thrill of the moment.

In the some ways, the Super Over is the acme of Twenty20 cricket. All the elements that makes this format attractive to its followers are distilled and packed into one over. There is both spectacle and drama, and a touch of intrigue. The captains have to make some big decisions about who will bat and, far more importantly, who will bowl; every ball is life and death and, in a twisted sense, even wickets matter; batsmen are at their most primal; and bowlers have to bring in all their guile and skill; and, of course, it lasts only a few minutes. My daughter, who doesn’t have the patience for even Twenty20, would never miss a tie-breaker. And I prefer this infinitely more than the farcical Bowl-out.

	How much does Modi know about the new franchise owners? © AFP

Following this blog’s credo, a few random thoughts and stray questions on the IPL franchise news.

1.First up, it is a staggering amount by any standards. US$700 million for two franchises trumps, as Lalit Modi trumpeted, more than the cost of all eight franchises at the inaugural auction two years ago. Even if the recession is all but over, this is a phenomenal achievement.

2.However, I do believe – purely as a lay person in financial matters – this is as much of a gamble as was the money paid by the first group of franchise owners. Yes, the product is up and running, the sponsorship deals are flooding in and the IPL is firmly entrenched in the public consciousness. But it is still a work in progress, and, given that it depends almost entirely on eyeballs and on an intangible resource called creativity, both on the field and off it, it is hostage to fickle human nature. And that’s even before we discuss what buying an IPL franchise doesn’t get you: No stadium, no fixed assets, no players, no training ground. Just a slice of the pie and the chance to make it big on your own steam.

3.Kochi is a surprise – and a delightful one for Keralites everywhere – but it’s easy to see what prompted the bidders: the huge expat Gulf community and all that it entails. Money, sponsorships, a fan base; it’s all there. And, given that Kochi is yet to boast a world-class cricket stadium, could we see the first off-shore franchise base, even if temporary?

The tournament is just over a week old but we already have one clear winner: “Karbonn Kamaal Catch” has gone effortlessly past terms such as “DLF Maximum” and “Citi Moment of Success” to emerge as the most nauseating term in cricket.

The clincher is of course the word Kamaal, which translates to “magically wonderful”. So when the commentator gushes about a dolly at cover being a Kamaal catch, it makes the sellout even more pathetic. And then he goes on about how a missed catch could have been a Karbonn Kamaal Catch and how a Karbonn Kamaal Catch was also a Citi Moment of Success.

But this is the one I’m waiting for: "Ah, that could have a Karbonn Kamaal Catch, but it is a DLF Maximum, and that’s a Citi Moment of Success."

I wonder if the corporates who hand out the cash to make commentators go silly ever worry about ridicule.

Moment of the day: Anil Kumble floating one up and making a fool of young Saurabh Tiwary. The celebration felt even better: it was just like old times.

Moment of the day II: Rahul Dravid plucking one out on the run, one arm outstretched. That was his first worthwhile contribution on the field in three matches. But the team’s winning, and he wouldn’t mind not batting.

Siva moment of the day: “It will be a brave umpire to give that one out”, bellows our friendly neighbourhood former legspinner after the camera has told the story: the stumps are broken, the bails are off, Virat Kohli’s bat is short of the crease. Decision made, he has the wit and the grace to acknowledge the genius of his fellow commentator Pommie Mbangwa who, like legions of television watchers, had got it right. “You will make a good umpire,” he says cheerfully.

Watching cricket is that bit more rewarding if you can find a story within the story, and even Twenty20 can occasionally provide it. For me, the match between the Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders came down to Yusuf Pathan v the bouncer.

The way he bats, and that his big scores are often match-winning, means allowance must be made for a few scores for him. But there has been a worrying pattern to his batting: not only does he have only one gear – the fifth – he also has to deal with a shortage of scoring options. Against bowlers aware of, and capable of, exploiting his weakness, he can not only be contained, but made to look brittle.

Bangalore did this ruthlessly. Vinay Kumar, just above fast medium, hit him on the head, which Pathan responded to with two sixes. But against the short stuff from Dale Steyn and Jacques Kallis, he swished and flailed. One mistimed pull slipped out of Rahul Dravid’s palms, another barely eluded Vinay Kumar. Eventually, he was dismissed because his partner called him for a desperate single, but he never got going.

	Kolkata is the one city that can absorb Shah Rukh Khan's in-your-face stardom without either being indifferent or overwhelmed © AFP

A week is a long time in politics and a lifetime in the IPL. Round about this time last week the Kolkata Knight Riders were on their high horses, and with good reason after their win over the IPL champions in the season-opener. Two days later they repeated the act against Bangalore. Yet on Saturday afternoon Kolkata’s players will be facing the heat, literally and figuratively, when they step out at Motera to take on Rajasthan Royals. And the weatherman’s prediction of temperatures of up to 40 degrees centigrade will pale in comparison to the tensions in the away dressing room. Kolkata’s season is only three games old but it’s already on a knife edge following that disaster against Chennai. There is every indication that Tuesday’s defeat was a blip, and the arrival of Chris Gayle, with Brendon McCullum following early next month, could only make things better. Yet there is, among fans and neutral observers, a feeling that it could all go belly up again, that the gravitational pull of a desperately disappointing 2009 season will stop them from soaring.

Kolkata’s zero-sum existence, its inability to operate anywhere outside of the extremes, perhaps explains why Shah Rukh Khan picked the city to be his franchise base – it’s a scenario he is familiar with in his Bollywood avatar. It is, one daresay, the city that comes closest to matching him in histrionics and theatre, the one city that can absorb his in-your-face stardom without either being indifferent or overwhelmed. After all, it’s a city that has lived with Sourav Ganguly.

The franchise joined in that spirit for the first two seasons, dominating headlines for events on the field and off it (sadly, much more of the latter) and saw their cricketing aspirations crumble under the weight of hubris and hype. The team’s entire approach has been more low-key this year, from the appointment of the taciturn Dav Whatmore to the apparent abolition of the lavish after-parties. Ganguly was asked about this and his response was typically mischievous: "We are still hungover from the parties we had in the past couple of years."

The fans have responded in kind – Kolkata reported the highest TV ratings among metros for the season opener and there were plenty of bums on seats at Eden Gardens for the two home games (though they never really went away). Yet KKR cannot escape their goldfish-bowl life back home. Local coverage has gone past saturation level; a friend messaged me saying anyone reading the Kolkata papers alone would assume there’s only one team in the IPL. Star Ananda, the news channel owned by the Ananda Bazar Patrika group, begins its match-day coverage at 9am and continues till the next morning, with obligatory analyses punctuated by celeb-watching. Under such scrutiny, the next controversy is only a headline away. Even as a dispute over “illegal” terracing at Eden Gardens is resolved, the FakeIPL player releases his “fictional” account of a season with the Calcutta Cavalry.

	The physical grace of the act transcends the context © Indian Premier League

Justin Kemp's catch to dismiss Virender Sehwag in the IPL game today - as he made up for the misjudgment and managed to take it one-handed on the boundary, falling backwards – called to mind the one he took to dismiss Mohammad Sami back in November 2008. Mohammad Sami was playing for the Lahore Badshahs, of course, and that was the league that wasn't, the ICL.

That was a far more difficult catch too and what a man of Kemp's size and bearing - 6"5’ and no ballerina - was doing taking it I'm not sure. Youtube has forever saved the twisting, running, improvisational genius of that one and if it doesn't make the hair on your arms stand up as a lover of sport, then you are without a pulse.

It was - and today's was too in a reduced way - the kind of thing that transcends every context: when it happened, who the batsman was or the bowler, what format, whether the league is sanctioned or not, the player a rebel or not. It is the kind of physical grace and outlandishness that puts cricket, very briefly, into spheres occupied by sports such as football or basketball. Those are sports where the movement of the human body is an art form in itself, a canvas stuffed with the entire, beautiful spectrum of human movement: the Zidane volley in the 2002 Champions League final, a LeBron block. These are times for goosebumps.

These two sports, unlike cricket, also at least appear to be full of men and women doing things very often that normal humans cannot. Cricket at least gives the impression of accessibility, in that its two basic disciplines, batting and bowling, are very human ones. Everyone feels, after all, that they can bowl a decent ball or play a solid forward defensive. Not everyone can dunk or volley with any degree of danger to anyone except themselves.