The reason why there were lesser posts the past week was a technical issue with my laptop. Its all fixed now, and great things can again be expected.
Though this post is not about any of that. It is about something I initiated during my carefree phone-tweeting yesterday. What right now might just be in the conception stage, might and should well turn out to be the most comprehensive unofficial coverage of the IPL 2010 games.
Enter Interblogactic IPL Wars Season 1
8 IPL Teams, 8 Top Cricket Blogs
Each selects one, if that wasn’t obvious
Here is how it works. It seems like hard work, but it isn’t
say you are one of the blogs and you own kkr
During the course of the IPL, every time kkr plays, you support it, and post about the match from a kkr perspective. If you are playing deccan chargers, the blog supporting dc will post about the same game from their perspective.
Damn simple. You would say you were anyways going to do it.
But that is not it.At the end of the IPL, readers will have an entire library of posts about each match from two different perspectives.
Now to the actual competition between blogs.
At the end of every game, points will be allotted to the concerned 2 blogs. Here is the proposed points system. You don’t need to worry as all the backend work would be done by me. Here is the points system:
eg. You support team A, playing against team B
You get, if:
Team A Wins: 10 points
The blog supporting team B does not post before their next game: 50 points
There is a tie: 25 points, you obviously get 50 points if your team wins the eliminator
Your team has the player with the best strike rate (min 20 runs) in the game: 40 points
Your team has the player with the lowest economy rate (min 2 overs) in the game: 40 points
Now normally the blog which supports the ultimate ipl winner should win, but you never know.
The main aim of this is to have never seen before coverage on the IPL.
Players Already Registered:
Cricket With Balls: Delhi Daredevils
SportzFreak: Kolkata KnightRiders
Poshin’s World: Royal Challengers Bangalore
Thoughts from the Dustbin: Chennai SuperKings
All Padded Up: Mumbai Indians
Aditya’s Blog: Rajasthan Royals (wild card, new blogger)
The Cricketer: Kings XI Punjab
Paddlesweep: Deccan Chargers
All spots filled…will be coming up with a follow up post soon…
Let’s give our fans and readers something to cherish, collate and preserve out of this year’s tournament.
And may the best blog win.
Feel free to let me know of any rule changes/additions you may like
Anureet Singh is not someone who you will recognise on your next visit to the supermarket. Or anywhere else. He is just the turbaned player next door. What brought his name up to my notice was a conversation I just had with my roommate, who shall remain nameless.
The conversation commenced with the discussion of Turbaned cricketers in the IPL, with the notable exception of Monty Panesar. It veered towards Harbhajan Singh, but no one wants to talk about him these days. Hence, the next target was Harmeet Singh, who my nameless roommate did not know about.
“Is he the guy in Kolkata KnightRiders?”, he enquired
“No, he struts his stuff for the Deccan Chargers”, I stabbed.
“Then who is the guy in KKR?”, he asked, quizzically.
“No one.”, I replied, ignorant of the fact that I was so wrong.
Because, on further cricinfoing, we stumbled upon Anureet Singh. With just 3 IPL games under his belt, taking 2 wickets at an economy rate of 9.40, there seemed to be nothing special about this one. Apart from the fact that he slipped under my delhi-supporting radar last year. Even the fake ipl player did not consider him worthy of a mention.
He is most remembered for his routing of Andhra Pradesh way back in 2008. Like THAT was worth mentioning.
Anyways, as he is a random ipl player, he gets a mention here.
So SRK, pick him, and get us some fucking hits.
just heard that the last four games of this season would be telecast in high definition 3D, at a cinema, pub or bar near you. Most probably if you are in India, that is.
If you are not satisfied with that, the same four games will also be kitted with take-it-anywhere-in-the-air spider cams. Add to this the you tube news, and you get a series of sports broadcasting firsts. Here is what Lalit Modi had to say:
We are going 3D… and we’ll be the first sporting body in the world to do so. I have seen the presentation, it’s very expensive but from next year onwards, we hope that we’ll be able to make it available for all games. This year we’re experimenting with four games—last four games will be 3D. It’s a major innovation, it will be available in cinemas, pubs and bars. We also want to introduce the spider cam wherein the camera actually moves across the ground like a spider web. Again it’s a hitech thing and we will be introducing it for the last four games. The IPL is here to build a brand and build on the consumer experience. Our job is to enhance the viewing features of the fans at home and in the stadium.
so far so good. But why did he have to keep repeating that the thing cost a lot. He is sitting on a fucken pile of millions. Of course he can spend that much so that we can have a refreshing experience.
I am no sucker for modi, but he has indeed changed the way we look at cricket here in India. Kudos for that. I would certainly include him in one of my #ff on twitter. Someday.
Another thing I find interesting is that Modi has taken the unnecessary moral responsibility of giving every piece of breaking news straight from his own bloody mouth. Maybe all this rests on his idea of “my baby, i get to do everything”. I sometimes get the feeling that if he was free enough, he would announce all umpiring decisions himself.
Coming back to the 3D experience, I am having goosebumps just trying to imagine watching a cricket game in more than two dimensions. About time as well.
Can’t even wait for it.
Bring on the IPL, this blog is ready.
before day 4:
India 243 & 122/1 (22.2 ov)
Bangladesh 242
India lead by 123 runs with 9 wickets remaining
India had their task cut out. All they had to do was bat till the lead was around 400, and then declare.
Bangladesh asked themselves, and reckoned that they needed 9 wickets. Skipper Shakib-al-Hassan, one of the ordinary clan, the person who epitomises optimism in third-world-cricketing-countries, rose to the dais and proclaimed that:
“I have decided that we want to win the game, and in order to win the game, we need to take 9 wickets as soon as possible. To do that, I am not going to utilise any textbook strategy, but instead start with the most successful bowlers in the first innings, to wreak havoc on the unsuspecting Indians.
“You are here not as a Cricketer. I mean you are one, but not just a cricketer. You are here not to play cricket, but to prove to the Indians that we are not ordinary.
“We might play less than ordinary cricket, we might bowl rank long hops to a night-watchman, but we are not ordinary.
“The most inspired captaincy decision that I might ever have taken is give you guys this speech. It is not easy, to lead an ordinary team which is not ordinary, add to that the disappointment of losing out of an IPL seat, again!“
I repeat. We are not ordinary. Give me the ball Tamim, you ….err….ordinary opener.
after this, the players were too exhausted to understand what they were going to do next.
As Shakib and Shahadat opened the bowling, followed by the others, the only semblance of a fight came from the Indian batsmen, who were keen to reduce this game to a contest.
Talk about the best taking an initiative to preserve test cricket. Bravo.
After hours of torture to the eyes, which also included Mishra getting a 50, and Gambhir a hundred, his 5th in as many matches, India finally declared at 413/8, setting an improbable 415 for Bangladesh to win.
At the close of play, Bangladesh were 67/2, still needing 348 more to win with a day’s play left. Highly unlikely that a draw will ensue tomorrow, unless bad light takes its toll.
Meanwhile, Shakib, one of the ordinary tribe, proclaimed that he was going into tomorrow with a victory in mind.
If only.
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