Gayle- Spoiling the RCB

Royal Challengers Bangalore, possibly one of the strongest teams on paper with the biggest superstars have crashed out of the tournament even before the play offs. Mahendra Singh Dhoni's Luck Wheel continues to run as he managed to make the playoffs at the last moment. Royal Challengers Bangalore were on 17 points from 15 games and needed to win the last one to reach the play offs. Their last game was against the bottom placed team Deccan Chargers and RCB were obviously expected to stream roll their opposition. But what eventually happened was a shocker. RCB despite restricting the other team for 132 runs only managed 123 runs.

In this match incidentally Chris Gayle failed with the bat and the rest of the batsmen could n't chase down the small target. And Gayle failed to fire after a long time. And certainly it now seems that RCB were overtly dependent on Gayle. Gayle was the one who won them their second last game against the table toppers Delhi Daredevils and now again when he failed the rest of the team failed with him and were not able to take the team to the last 4. Yes Dale Steyn was exceptional, yes it was a tough pitch but a strong team like RCB should have pulled it off.

Chris Gayle in this tournament scored a whopping 733 runs which is a new record in IPL history. But even these many runs did not help the team to make the IPL 2012 Play offs. Last year too Gayle was the top run getter. He got runs almost in every match and helped RCB reach the finals. But in the final against CSK he failed with the bat and the team lost the final.

Chris Gayle without doubt has been the best batsman in IPL. He might well now be called the T20 Legend the way we have legendary batsmen like Tendulkar, Lara, Kallis, Dravid etc in test and one day cricket we can add Gayle's name for T20 cricket. But Gayle's staggering performances have made RCB over dependent on him and expect Gayle to win almost every important game for RCB. It is hard to find a game where RCB won without Gayle or De villiers firing. There would only be very few, very very few.

Gayle has done to RCB what extremely rich parents do to their children. These kind of parents provide their child everything they ask for, even demands that are unreasonable. And then these kids become spoiled brats who are nothing actually without their parents' money and backing. Similarly Gayle's exceptional performances are providing that kind of a comfort to RCB. Whenever RCB need a win even if they are in dire straits, Gayle delivers it for them. But just sometimes at the final hurdle Gayle fails and the "spoiled Brat" RCB too look meek without his performances.

Well to have a player like Gayle is definitely a bonus but RCB have to remember that in the end its the 7 Indians that make a difference more than the 4 foreigners. RCB were banking very heavily on the 4 foreigners and without strong performances from the Indian players, RCB would not be able to get the title.

And by the way messing with Dhoni's luck is not good for a team.

The Importance of the Penultimate Over

Penultimate over i.e. the second last over and in the case of a T20, the 19th over of an innings has nowadays gained more importance than even the last over of an innings. In the shorter format of the game, games more often than not finish in the last over. But its the penultimate over where the game actually changes. The penultimate over has gained much importance in this year's IPL as 3 games turned on their heads in the penultimate over.

The first one was when Royal Challengers Bangalore were playing the Chennai Super Kings. Chasing a target of 207, the Chennai Super Kings required 43 off the last 2 overs. RCB were almost certain to win it as their skipper Daniel Vettori threw the ball to part timer Virat Kohli. Albie Morkel from CSK took full advantage of the part timer's penultimate over as he smashed Kohli for 28 runs and then got the remaining 15 runs in the last over to seal the match. RCB lost that game in the 19th over more than the 20th.

The second instance came when the Mumbai Indians were playing the Kings XI Punjab. Mumbai Indians were chasing a target of 168 and required 32 runs off the last 2 overs with 4 wickets in hand. Punjab were favorites as the bowling team is expected to save 32 runs from 12 balls in a high pressure situation. Piyush Chawla bowled the penultimate over in which Rayudu and Peterson together plundered 27 runs and ultimately won the match for MI.

And finally the third one was probably the most shocking one. Delhi Daredevils were playing Rajasthan Royals in their backyard. Needing 153 to win, RR were cruising at 138-2 with Rahane batting well on 74. With 15 required off 12 balls with just 8 wickets in hand and one of the in-form batsman playing in his 70's, you can bet your life on that team's victory. But it was not to be as South African speedster Morne Morkel came out to bowl the penultimate over and he produced a gem of an over. He gave just 3 runs in his last over picking up one wicket and left Rajasthan to get 12 off the last over which is always tough for the batting team. And ultimately Rajasthan managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory as Delhi pulled off a miraculous win out of nowhere.

We have seen how the penultimate over can change the course of the game completely. Captains of teams who are on top till the 18th over often take the 19th over lightly and then end up giving away all the hard work in that one penultimate over. T20 is a very fast paced game and matches can change in just 5-6 balls. Its important for the players not to leave everything for the last over. Try to finish games in the penultimate over as it is the penultimate over where games are mostly won and lost.

West Indies- On the Right Track

The Australian tour to West Indies has come to an end. And contrary to expectations, Australia did n't win everything that was up on stake. The 5 match ODI series was squared 2-2 which the West Indies had a very serious chance of winning and which they probably could n't win due to some mad running between the wickets by the no. 11 in the tied game. The 2 match T-20 series was also tied 1-1. Australia just managed to take the test series 2-0. Though the scoreline suggests the series might have been one sided but it was not so. The West Indies fought valiantly and did n't give easy victories to Australia. Although Australia is far from the side they used to be 7-8 years back but still they are a tough team and West Indies have clearly given a strong message that they are not mere pushovers.

West Indies have got some really exciting players like Darren Bravo, Rampaul, Sammy and then the senior pro Chanderpaul who recently joined the 10000 club. West Indies throughout the tour pushed Australia and made them work very hard to earn the victory. And especially the one day series where at the end of 4 matches WI were leading 2-1 including a tied match which WI should have won.

West Indies it looks like have atleast shown signs of improvement in the shorter versions of the game. In  the longer version their performance was good in patches but to win a test, they needed to perform well for a longer period of time which they did n't do.

In the past 1 year West Indies played 21 ODI's and managed to win 9 of them including 7 victories against the top teams like Australia, India and Pakistan. In the last 3 years West Indies won just 19 out of the 62 ODI's they played. The win % goes up from 30.64% in the last 3 years to 42.85% in the last 1 year. SO the improvement is definitely there. In the last 1 year WI lost 6 out of the 13 tests they played while in the last 3 years they lost 14 out of the 26 tests they played. Thus the loss % comes down from 53.8% in the last 3 years to 46.15% in the last 1 year. The improvement in tests has not been very great but the fact that it exists is alone satisfying.

The West Indian players are showing that they are capable of beating the best in the world but they have not been clicking as a unit which is their main shortcoming. The pitches in West Indies remain sluggish, low and slow which is one of the reasons why West Indies have been on a downfall since the past decade or so.

But the future looks bright. Some players like Narine, Cooper etc are showing their skills in the IPL and they might as well help the West Indies win more tests in the time to come. West Indies have been at their lowest worst in the past decade and now they can only go up from here.