Why Rajasthan Royals defines IPL

Rajasthan Royals to me truly defines the Indian Premier League. Indian premier league should be about Indian cricketers making it big and stand tall, be noticed by the World. It should not be merely international stars making the news. Rajastan Royals, to me is the only team that has been able to achieve that. It has made stars and not just one or two but many. Frankly speaking I did not support or follow the Royals too much for their first three years. I started supporting them and watching them only when Dravid started playing for them. But having watched their game and their methodology over the past three years made me realize what I had missed. When they won the first edition of the IPL I thought it was just luck and not too much of good cricket. They did not have those big names which you want to associate with a winning team.

Many can argue that even they have foreign players and every match they do play four of them and indeed they are match winners as well. But if you follow them closely and observe them , you will know the importance that they give to individuals and youngsters from India. Just looking at the players retained by them will give you a fair idea of it.They retained Ajinkya Rahane, Faulkner, Watson, Binny and Samson.Binny and Samson had not appeared in a single game for India when they had been retained and Samson was only 19. I don't think that had they been in any other team they would have been retained, not even one of them. They believe in giving confidence to youngsters and giving them responsibilities. At Royals everybody knows its as much their responsibility to win matches as it is for any other player. The confidence that the management instills in them is amazing, they actually look like a unit fighting it out for the team.

They put faith in the players they have and make them match winners. The 42 year young leg spinner from Mumbai Praveen Tambe is one such story. When he was picked by the royals last season he had not played a single first class game until then . He used to play for a local club in Mumbai. But the Royals trusted in his ability and gave him the confidence to come out and perform without any fear on the big stage, he had his team management by his side. He went to make his Ranji debut the following season. The confidence with which he bowls at greatest batmen in the sport and gets them out as well goes to tell you what a little faith and backing from the team management can do for you.This is just one success story but there are many more and great ones as well. Ravindra Jadeja started his career at Royals and he cherished under the leadership of Warnie, Yusuf Pathan as well. Shane Watson owes his comeback to the Aussie team to his stint at RR. James Faulker, Brad Hodge are some other names who were chosen for their national team after they had tasted success at Rajasthan Royals. They do not pick up stars, they pick up good cricketers and instill in them the confidence which makes them stars. They like to retain most of the squad and trust in them and their abilities. If you look at other clubs all of them will have those big names who can win matches on their own But Rajasthan know that its not about individuals here, its about performing as a group, probably that is the reason of their success as well. One thing that does help the is that nobody expects them to win. Unlike other teams when they loose it does not become a story, so there is not too much of pressure on them to perform , which helps them play their natural game and come out and perform and when you have Dravid as your mentor you need not worry about anything,

Every season they churn out a new star, some unknown individual, a few known as well emerge out as stars every season of IPL. They have had their fair share of controversies as well but in spite of all that, all the players of the franchise have been able keep their focus solely on cricket. If you look at other team, the support staff outnumbers the number of players in many teams but Rajasthan likes to keep things simple. They know the players have ability and they don't need  coaching, all they need is guidance and a few tips here and there if and when they falter.As they say too may cooks spoil the food.

At the end of the day when you do business you do want to make money out of it as well. Rajasthan have outsmarted other franchises in this regard as well. Since they do not have any hotshot Bollywood star with them they have to find other means of making money. They spend wisely, in picking players and coaching staff as well .They are probably the only team to be in profit in all IPL seasons and probably have the best return on investment. People would say at the end of the day its all about winning, Yes , winning is indeed important but if you are in a business, you need to make money as well. And Rajasthan have done well. Twice they have been semifinalists and once they have lifted the silverware as well. So in all if you summarize, they make money, they put on more than a decent show in the IPL, they make players, they make success stories, what more do you want from your team. I know for most people its difficult to support RR since they do not have the stars that you want to associate yourself with , but all I urge you to do is follow them , their method, don't support them, just watch the way they go about their business, I am sure after some time you will like the team and want them to achieve success. Because you know that a big club failing makes news, but small clubs like Rajasthan Royals, their sccess, it makes story and thats the story you want to hear.

Blame Yuvraj.. why??

A lot of people have been targeting Yuvraj for the recent loss that India suffered at the hands of Sri Lanka in the recently held T20 World cup final. Its true that Yuvraj was no where close to his best that day but we have to realize that is he the only one to blame?.He had an off day. But we should also admire the way Sri Lankan bowlers bowled specially towards the end. I am sure if India had won the game inspite of Yuvraj's failure nobody would have given a damn. If you look closely, Yuvraj never looked in good nick through out the tournament not only while batting but in the field as well. But the nobody bothered to question his performance because India was winning. If he had been dropped then I am sure all of these people would have made a lot of hue and cry about the same. Its saddens me to stones being pelted at the house of the hero of 2007 and 2011 world cup triumphs.

If anyone has to held accountable it has to be the Indian team management and the leadership. The decision to send Yuvraj ahead of Raina and then Dhoni ahead of Raina again, resulted in an inform batsman not getting to bat while two batsman out of nick could not deliver for India. The ideal situation would have been to send Raina ahead of Yuvraj. This would have given Raina opportunity to settle in while Kohli was hammering the ball and once set, Raina could have joined in. Its sad to see that Virat in spite of performing extra ordinarily well ended up in a loosing cause.

Its the team managements and leadership's stubbornness and reluctance to make changes that has led to India's downfall in the recent past. India had already qualified for the semi's when they were playing for the fourth game, they could have given an opportunity to maybe a Binny so if he did well, Dhoni would have an extra option but that never happened. Even in the past we have seen his reluctance to make changes in spite of a series of loses. A quality bowler like Amit Mishra was made a mere visitor for almost a year and a talented youngster like Rahane was also mad to sit on bench for quite some time. I am not saying they should be given opportunities as soon as they show up. But if old combinations are not yielding the desired results then there is no harm in trying something new.

The youngster if not given a chance would end up believing that their captain does not have confidence in them. This does not do good to the motivate any youngster. So maybe its high time the team management decides to make some overhauls maybe at least in the shortest format of the game. It is important to test youngsters when it is the right time rather than keep them on the sidelines forever. The team management seems to have failed terribly in this regard. 

Not Boring Anymore

The recent cricket series , be it the South Africa Australia test series or the Asia Cup, has generated a lot more interest than the one sided England Australia or the New Zealand  India series. The reason being the level of competition, all matches almost went to the wire. I believe there is a lesson to be learned here, there is no point in producing placid tracks which produce 350 runs per innings, its important to provide tracks wherein the bowlers have their say so that matches become interesting. The example being the Indo-Australian one day series where all games were high scoring games and although it should have generated a lot of interest but it did not turn out to be that way. The recently held T20 world cup also generated quite some interest probably closest to the 2007 edition.

There is a lot to learn for the cricket administrators world over from these events. Its not the best teams competing alone that generates huge interests in the game but the quality that is brought about the participating teams that does it. Its the close games that generates interest, not a mere run fest, thus it is important to play games on tracks that bring out the best of all aspects of the game be it bowling, batting or fielding. And we need to stop bringing in the boundaries. Its high time that the ICC comes up with a regulation for minimum boundary distance for an international game and it cannot be less than 75 meters.

A lot of positive changes must me made to the game but the same should not be done just to favor batting but overall growth of the game should be kept in mind, when changes are being made. A test championship would be a great step forward in this regard. Many countries do not want this as they believe it will not generate enough revenues but its time we put what is in the interest of the game before monetary interests. The Game is generating interest again and we should try and keep it that way.