Need to look beyond the TV footage

It was a pleasant surprise for me when the Chennai Super Kings bowling line-up, which is not as strong as our batting, scripted an impressive win against the Kolkata Knight Riders. The latter started strongly, but Jacob Oram was able to induce false shots from the in-form Brendon McCullum and then Ricky Ponting. Once you lose wickets upfront, T20 becomes a very different ball game, and a sub-150 total was always going to be hard to defend against our in-form batting attack. I celebrated the win by learning yet another Tamil term, po laama? which means, “Shall we go?”
It’s a lot like what happened between Zinedine Zidane and Marco Materazzi. What Zidane did was wrong, but Materazzi also was not completely in the right.While cricket has been hogging headlines all over the country, it was a little sad to see a controversy in the newspapers once again. The incident involving Sreesanth and Harbhajan Singh was unfortunate because I know both of them, and they are not bad guys at all. Everybody is passing judgment based on what is reported in the newspapers, and I am too far from the scene to actually comment on it. However, before issuing any punishment, I hope the authorities check the actual sequence of events rather than just what the footage shows. It’s a lot like what happened between Zinedine Zidane and Marco Materazzi. What Zidane did was wrong, but Materazzi also was not completely in the right.
Harbhajan is a very aggressive cricketer who plays hard and is there for his teammates whenever they need him. Even Sreesanth has seen this supportive side of Harbhajan in the Indian dressing room. Sreesanth is also a very aggressive cricketer who likes to express his highs and lows very passionately on the cricket field. Off the field, you will not meet a more soft-spoken guy than Sree. I am glad to hear that whatever happens in the form of disciplinary action, both these guys have sorted things out between themselves.
As far as this incident having any effect on the Indian dressing room, it seems unlikely. Besides, there is a long time to go before we play international cricket, and I am sure things will get sorted out by then. Coming back to the IPL, we now take on the Bangalore Royal Challengers in their home game, and while they not really got off to a flying start, they are still a very fine side. They have quite a few match-winners in their midst and if any one of them gets going on Monday, it will mean trouble for us. There is no such thing as a favourite in Twenty20 cricket, and whoever will have the better form in those three hours will win. It is important for us to focus on our plans and also play to our strengths. If we do that consistently, we will continue to get the results.
All teams will be heading towards a new phase in May when some of the international players will have to leave for national duty. We will lose Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey and Oram next week, and most sides will lose a couple of key players in the side.
For the momentum to be maintained, we will need our India internationals as well as the new internationals to keep the intensity going. I know that Hayden is a tough player to replace at the top of the order, but we will have to find ways. We will be getting in Stephen Fleming, Makhaya Ntini and Albie Morkel, and a lot depends on how these guys will fare in the coming games.

Bravo stars as Mumbai register first win

A superlative unbeaten 64 by West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo helped Mumbai Indians secure their first win in the Indian Premier League on Tuesday.
The Mumbai team, mired with controversy surrounding Harbhajan Singh ,put out Kolkata Knight Riders by seven wickets at the Eden Gardens to score their first win in five matches.
The Kolkata team suffered its second straight loss, after scoring two successive wins.
Chasing a modest 138 to win, Mumbai were reduced to 25 for three in the fifth over before a 113-run fourth-wicket partnership between Bravo and Robin Uthappa (37 not out) sealed them a win.
Bravo's 53-ball knock contained eight boundaries and a huge six and ensured Mumbai's win with eight balls to spare.
Ajit Agarkar , Ishant Sharma and Ashok Dinda took a wicket each for the Knight Riders, but the home team's total was too paltry in the final analysis.
Earlier, Mumbai Indians' veterans Sanath Jayasuriya and Shaun Pollock stole the limelight, wrecking the top and middle order of the Kolkata Knight Riders, to restrict the hosts to a modest 137 for 8.
The crafty Jayasuriya displayed variation in bowling and stuck to a tight line to finish 4-1-14-3, a dream figure in the Twenty20 format of the game, as the Mumbai Indians were set an asking rate of 6.9 by the Knight Riders before a crowd of 80,000 at the Eden Gardens.
Pollock (2 for 27), standing in as captain in place of the injured Sachin Tendulkar , did the early damage removing openers Sourav Ganguly (4) and Brendon McCullum (2) in the first over on a pitch that looked sporting in sharp contrast to the two-paced dry wicket that had been universally condemned nine days back.
Laxmi Ratan Shukla (40 not out; 4x4, 2x6) emerged the top scorer, with a late assault which somewhat retrieved the situation for the Knight Riders, after they elected to bat first.
Skipper Ganguly's run drought continued as he departed in the third ball of the match, edging an away going delivery to Jayasuriya after having tentatively pulled Pollock to the fence in the previous delivery.
The Knight Riders suffered another setback two deliveries later, when McCullum was trapped leg before by the former South African captain, and the city side were reduced to 6 for 2.
Young Debabrata Das, playing his first match of the tournament after being included in place of Wriddhiman Saha, set about to undo the damage in the company of Australia skipper Ricky Ponting as the two put on 34 runs for the third wicket.
The 21-year-old Das switched to a counter-attack mode to ease the early pressure, dispatching Ashish Nehra for back-to-back fours in the second over, before hoisting Pollock over the mid-wicket ropes.
The Bengal batsman seemed on a roll picking up two more boundaries as Dilhara Fernando joined the bowling operation in the fourth over, while the seasoned Ponting rotated strike.
Das' 20-ball cameo came to an end when he played a short offering from West Indies medium pacer Dwayne Bravo straight into the hands of Robin Uthappa at cover. Das (29) hit five fours and a six.
Ponting (19) and David Hussey (17) then came together and took the side to 60 for 3 at the half-way stage on way to stitch together another 34-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
But there followed a mid-order collapse as the Knight Riders lost three wickets in the space of three runs. First, Hussey was devoured by Jayasuriya; then Ponting set off for a non-existent run and began his long walk back to the pavilion to wrap up his participation in this edition of the IPL.
To make matters worse, Mohammed Hafeez (2) edged Jayasuriya behind the wicket, as the Knight Riders were reduced to 77 for 6.
Ajit Agarkar (2) also did not last long, as a stunned silence descended at the large stadium.