Come what may

Come what may.

On a usual day,

In the month of May,

Three men were alleged for spot-fix

And one of them even caught with chicks

The worrying part was not this to me

But rather how spread this scam could be

I thought a lot, but it didn’t hit

I wonder much part of the show is a script?!

It seems just the tail of a dog

The real picture is still obscured in fog

The ones at helm are too good in this game

The news will die before they get the blame.

I hope the ones who play fair

Don’t ever get lured in this dare

Or else out credibility will be at stake

We will never know which of them are fake.

We, as fans, know not all can be right,

It can never be all black or white

All we want is to remove these ‘gray’

The ones making our faith hard to stay,

The ones in cloak (or towel?) of white

They need to go, to set it right.

For now, we’ll keep our hopes in the ones we trust,

And for all they have done, we must.

They have inspired and shown us the way

For them, we’ll support the game; come what may.

'On a good Length' always roots for fair cricket.

The ‘scripted’ heroes of IPL and cricket

As a kid brought up in the 90s, I heard of the jargon ‘fixed’ for the first time when Delhi Police charged South African skipper Hansie Cronje with fixing allegations in the series against India. That year, 2000 was a turbulent one for cricket from there on. Several cycles fell in the cycle stand. Peter Strydom, Nicky Boje, Herschelle Gibbs, Ajay Jadeja, Manoj Prabhakar, Mohammad Azharrudin and Nayan Mongia – the allegations spread across the cricketing world.

That was, as far as I remember, the first time I realised that the live action can be ‘scripted’ too. It was hard to accept that there was something beyond the incentive of having a chance to represent your nation at the highest level. Few respected names had been tainted and Indian cricket had been put to shame. Some allegations were taken back but some stayed. But as they say, there is no smoke without fire. Something sinister had to be there. And if it still existed, it was bound to return and haunt.

For some good years, it didn’t. The storm had abated and the cricketing world moved on. In 2008, Marlon Samuels was alleged but not proved guilty of fixing. It made a little buzz, but not big waves. Then it came to the fore in 2010, with shaming revelations. Two young and talented Pakistan pacers and their promising skipper-opener accepted their hands being fouled in mucky waters of spot-fixing. It was unbelievable and a big loss for cricket. Asif and Aamir could have made a lot more the way their cricket careers were heading. However, money doesn’t attract the needy, but the greedy.

When incidents like these come to the spotlight, there is a loss of credibility and respect. We start wondering which of those thrilling moments or the unusual moments were cooked up even before the match started. It is like a child being told one day that Santa Clause is a thing of fiction and he starts thinking where did all those gifts come from.

It is more difficult to digest when your heroes are life-idols like Lance Armstrong, who fought cancer to win seven Tour De Francetitles! When something that dramatic happens next time, something that extraordinary, will we start to think of it as all scripted?

But wait, not just the extraordinary is under suspicion now, but also the ordinary after the IPL trio allegations.

How unusual is it to tuck a towel into your lower? And getting beaten up for 13 runs in second over after a good first over? It might have seemed so typical of Sreesanth then. But it seems something completely different now in hindsight.

The solution lies neither in making betting legal nor in banning IPL. For once, assume that betting becomes legal. It might add up to taxes in government lockers but it might open up a new market of betting. It might become a precedent for the betting gangs. And if IPL is banned, it is like shutting down a school just because a few students turned out to be mischievous.

It is confusing and disheartening. The viewers have no choice but to believe in their heroes if they do something spectacular. No player is free from suspicion, because the seed of doubt has been sown. But I just hope that more heroes don’t take this shameful route. For we may reach a point where all credibility is lost; when we refuse to believe the truth because of all the lies that we have been told.

This gentleman’s game would cease to exist without its gentlemen.

What makes Chennai Super Kings so consistent?

They have never failed to make semifinals of the IPL.
NEVER.

IPL 2008: 2nd
IPL 2009: 4th
IPL 2010: Champions
IPL 2011: Champions
IPL 2012: 2nd
IPL 2013: Table toppers as of now

All this and a Champions League Championship trophy in 2010.


In six editions of the Indian Premier League, none of the other franchise even comes close to this record. Twice champions. Twice runners-up. And once fourth. They have never failed to make semifinals.
NEVER.
In this post, I try to find out what makes CSK such a consistent performer in the IPL.


Strong Captaincy

A unit captained by MS Dhoni will mostly end up on the happier side in closely fought matches. With mostl IPL matches going down to the wire, the captain cool manages to drive home the calmness advantage. CSK generally start off the tournament with some shocks and then recovers to lead the table as the league stage picks up. Quite similar to the Indian story, ain't it?


Core Team is Good and not Fiddled 

 While most of the other teams start to look different in a couple of years, CSK's batting has always revolved around Raina, Vijay, Badrinath, Hussey and MS Dhoni. Suresh Raina recently became the first player to play 100 matches for the same franchise in IPL. He also picked up the record of first one to score 2500 runs in IPLs. Only Hayden seems missing from the 2008 batting unit, that too because of retirement and not trade off. This certainly has added to the unity of the CSK.

The duo of Raina and Dhoni are the best known finishers in the limited over format of the game. Hussey and Badrinath share the same dependable tag, and can soak in pressure at key moments when the match starts to drift away.Vijay adds a lot of value at the top of the order.


Good All Round Options
Bravo, Morkel and  Jadeja have been consistent in all-round shows with bat and ball. MSD has effectively used his options to take crucial wickets. Morkel and Bravo can use the long handle in the death overs to deadly effect.

New Finds
Every Edition CSK pops up a new find who performs amazingly well. In earlier formats, Shadab Jakati surprised with his consistent wicket taking nag. In 2013, Chris Morris has troubled all batsman of other franchises. Mohit Sharma has also put a strong case for himself as the selectors try to zero in on pacers for the South African tour.

With some best finishers of the game in the bag and a motivated leadership at the top, CSK's successful wagon seems unstoppable. They know how to bounce back and end up with the hands on trophy.

 Lets see how 2013 ends up for them.
I Hope Rajasthan Royals leave them bare handed this time ;)


'On a good length' considers CSK a stable T20 side with good finishers.