Although I named this blog as "Football Freaks",its never out of place to write about Cricket,when you are in a cricket-crazy nation like India,and especially after we just had a cracking IPL Final on Sunday.Although I really hoped MI would win, in the end ,CSK really deserved to win that finally,mainly because of their cool captain,M.S. Dhoni.
Coming into the final,Mumbai were overwhelming favourites,having dominated the entire Group stages,while Chennai only got through by the virtue of a good net run-rate.But,in the final, they did all the basics right,and that's where MI fail short.You can have the Greatest Batsmen and wonderfull bowlers in your side,but you can't afford to drop such easily catches in any game,not surely when the stakes are so high.It is not that MI have got bad fielders,in fact they have some of the finest,but on a big occasion like Final,nerves got the better of them.That's where Dhoni showed his coolness taking the match away for them.
Unarguably,Tendulkar was the best Batsman in this IPL,and Pollard was the best allround player by a long way,and I think Ganguly was terrific with KKR as well,but Dhoni, who did not have the greatest of the tournaments , managed to beat them both with cunning captaincy.He showed why,at such young age,he is regarded as one of the best captains not only India,but the world has ever seen.Every decision of his seemed to work,and thats where Mumbai failed miserably.I mean,who the hell asks Kieron Pollard,the most devastating batsman in the IPL,to warm the bench,when your team needs 68 from 5 overs??Unfortunately,the answer has to be Robin Singh,the MI coach.Duminy,who was sent ahead of Pollard,scored 6 in 7 balls.Now, we can only dream what Pollard could have done with those 7 deliveries.Yes,Tendulkar is one of the most gentleman players you will ever see,but the situation demanded aggresiveness ,I can imagine a fierce captain like Ganguly or Steve Waugh overruling the coach,and demanding his best batsman to be trusted in the situation.MI also suffered because of the inexperience to play in such big finals.I agree Rayudu has been a revelation for them,but when Pollard was hitting Doug Bollinger ,probably the bowler of the IPL,easily out of the park,Rayudu still wanted to keep the strike himself,when he wanted two runs off a Morkel ball,and when Pollard sent him back,he tried to do the same very next ball.If Pollard hadn't literally thrown him out of the crease,telling him to sacrifice his wicket,I think Rayudu would never have had a chance to play For Mumbai Indians.
Dhoni showed great coolness under the pressure situation.For every MI batsman he had plan ready bin his mind.When Saurabh Tiwary came in to bat,Ravi Shastri was just saying Tiwary targets the mid-wicket area.The very next ball ,Tiwary lofted a shot and Suresh Raina,CSK's Best fielder,pulled out a cracking catch at deep mid-wicket.Who planted him there?Dhoni did. When Pollard threatened to take the match away with a blitzcreig,Gavaskar observed that Dhoni had placed "one of the straightest mid-offs you will ever see".In the same over, Pollard sent a shot straight down the middle,and Hayden took another one of those " Karbonn Kamal Catch" to effectively end MI challenge.Whose head was it to place him there? Dhoni trimphed yet again in tactics.
I can't stop myself from comparing this game with last year's Semifinal between Chelsea and Barcelona.Barca were playing the best football in the world,demolishing every opponent,while Chelsea had many ups and downs,even sacking a coach in between.But managed by the tactical mastermind Guus Hiddink, Chelsea produced a classic tactical defenive display to virtually shut out Barca. But as their misfortunes had it, a certain Mr. Tom Henning Overbo, a disgrace of a referee,vitually threw them out to allow barca to go on and win the title, but IPL showed they are much better off organizing big tournaments than UEFA ,providing 2 best umpires in the world,Simon Taufel and Rudi Koertzen.There was no Steve Bucknor to swing the tie in MI's favour as CSK took control.
With Five raw stitches on a broken hand,Tendulkar waged a lone battle.Unfotunately,except Kieron Pollard,he found no one to battle with him as Chennai tightened the screws.In the end ,Coolness prevailed over the Genius.
