Game on...

The tournament has just started and we are getting an early insight into the strengths of the various teams.   Based on what we have seen so far, Hyderabad takes on one of the strongest teams in IPL 2014 on 22nd April 2014 - Kings XI Punjab. This is going to be a very interesting match - Punjab's strength is batting while Hyderabad's strength is bowling.   Here is my quick take on what Hyderabad needs to do to win the match - 1.  Bowl first:  Lead with your strength and restrict Punjab as much as possible.   2.  The team:  Hyderabad's team seemed out of balance for the first match - the batting was too thin and the bowling was too strong.  Here is my pick for the 2nd match - Shikhar Dhawan, Aaron Finch, David Warner, KL Rahul, Naman Ohja, Darren Sammy, Venugopal Rao, Parvez Rasool, Dale Steyn, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Amit Mishra. There is a need for an extra batsman (Naman Ojha in place of Ishanth Sharma) and need an offspinner to counter David Miller (Parvez

WORLD CUP T20 FINALS – A REAL-TIME FAN VIEW At Fantain, we run a real time game called Playcall©.    In this game, cricket fans take decisions that captain’s make in   real-time .    The questions are asked before the actual decisions are taken in the field of play and answers locked in.    In effect, the fans act like captains . Fans know and understand a lot about the sports they love, and how the fans feel about the action is very interesting to understand.  So here is what the fans felt during the finals between Sri Lanka and India.    And remember, none of this is retrospective.    The fans have decided the following at the same time the captains were deciding…                                       TEAM COMPOSITION Ajinkya Rahane failed with the bat. Should Dhoni have played Shikhar Dhawan instead of Rahane. 19% of fans selected Shikhar Dhawan while 81% opted for Rahane. What about Yuvaraj? Should he have played the match in the first place. Yes, sa

West Indies takes on Sri Lanka in the first semi-finals to be played in Dhaka on Thursday.   This promises to be an absolute cracker – both are champion sides with serious talent.  Sri Lanka is all about the mystery bowling.    When they fire, they fire really well.   They have bowled out Netherlands for 39 and New Zealand for 60.   In the other two games, they have conceded 160 to South Africa and 190 to England.    Malinga has not been in top form while the others – Herath, Mendis, Kulasekara, Mathews have all bowled reasonably well.   Their batting has been adequate without being threatening.   There has been one good knock from Jayawardene and decent outings for Kushal Perera, Dilshan and Angelo Mathews.   Overall Sri Lanka has been inconsistent and, one feels, not been stretched too much in the tournament. West Indies on the other hand have reached the semi-finals with hard fought wins.   They struggled big time against India and looked listless in all aspects of t