The IPL sack race begins

Having nearly matched Mukesh Ambani and the Mumbai franchise in the top-dollar stakes, it wouldn't have taken a genius to figure out that Vijay Mallya was far from thrilled by the start made by his Royal Challengers. The Bangalore outfit have been the worst team on view in the Indian Premier League so far, and their two narrow wins [from seven games] were in tune with scrappy and unconvincingly performances.

Something had to give, and it was Charu Sharma, a former diving champion and TV host, that felt the cold touch on the shoulder after a dismal defeat against the King's XI Punjab. Brijesh Patel, a former Karnataka stalwart, will be the new CEO as Bangalore seek to avoid a wooden-spoon fate.

It's hard to see where the impetus for a renaissance will come from though. From the moment the roster was announced after the first auction, you couldn't help but feel that it was ill-equipped for the demands of T20 cricket. Very few of the experienced hands had played even half a dozen games in the format, and the youngsters didn't stack up favourably when compared to other sides.

With Nathan Bracken pulling up injured, Bangalore were also deprived of one player who might have been a priceless asset. Cameron White, signed for $500,000 and tagged as a specialist, has done nothing of note, while Jacques Kallis ($900,000) is threatening to be an even bigger waste of money than Andrei Shevchenko.

The comparison with Jaipur's Rajasthan Royals is especially revealing. Shane Warne's side have invested wisely in a foreign contingent [Graeme Smith, Shane Watson and Sohail Tanvir have already impressed] and reaped the rewards of their investment in Indian youth. Yusuf Pathan, Irfan's older brother, has been a star, and Ravindra Jadeja and Siddharth Trivedi haven't disappointed either.

Bangalore's local element have been dismal. B Akhil and Sunil Joshi were abject in the field, and Vinay Kumar was little better with the ball. The batting has been worse. Wasim Jaffer has managed one half-century and Rahul Dravid batted well in the last game, but there's rarely been a partnership of substance. Nor has any batsman managed the sort of tempo you need to change the course of a T20 game.

Dravid has been touchy on the subject of his "Test team" but unless there's a dramatic reversal of fortune, the DVD of the team's inaugural season will have to be called The Misfits. Right now, it's hard to see a stampede at the shops.

Comments

[neilsrini]

The problem with Bangalore is not the local talent, its the poor selection and the poor performances from the overseas players. Then the best local talent Thilak Naidu, Stuart Binny and the legendary Barrington Rowland are elsewhere (either through ICL or not being picked), what can you expect from the rest who not as good. The problem is with the overseas players not delivering (a man of Kallis' class should slaughter the bowling he's faced so far), and the fact there is a lack of pace and explosive batting available.

Stuart Binny would have been perfect, but for the nasty politics of Indian cricket. Why is the ICP illegal yet the IPL is not.

[sandeep]

hi dileep ,

i would appreciate if can bit more balanced rather try to punch on dravid ..anywaz please be honest on how many matches are actually edge of seat trillers !!apart on shane warne enginnered triller there have just a few more only most matches are drag i suppose before judging the ipl and then its nonesense comparsion with epl please consider this

[Venkat Reddy]

why does everyone have to fire all their bullets at Rahul Dravid?Apart from the royals and the kings eleven all teams are struggling.What hurts me most is the national media seems to make it a point to get after Dravid for everything he does.Sure he may have picked test specialists but its been a team failure. Jaffer has an average and strike rate as good as uttapa in this tournament yet he cops the flak.We re too obsessed with images of the players that play.Dravid is truly a great cricketer.Agreed,his team has not performed but its hard to point the finger at him.Just another thing.Everyone were saying before the tournament started that the chargers were firm favourites.Right now they are battling for the wooden spoon.The knight riders look completely out of their depth post mcullum's departure.But Ganguly never cops it.Double standards or what!

[SanjayN]

I don't think there are any awards for the "best temperament" team. Dravid hand-picked the Bangalore team and should be judged accordingly - preferably at the end of the season.

If you look closely at Dravid's ODI career, you'll see he struggled in the first 1/3, barely able to get the ball off the square. He was fortunate to have Azhar and Tendulkar in those days. Scoring over 10K runs is a phenomenal achievement for someone who is not a natural at the one day game.

It seems Bangalaore gave him too much say in the team make-up, I have the same concern with Sachin and Mumbai. Wil be interesting to see where these two teams finish.

[Ganesan Kannuchamy]

I would still rate Dravid and Co. a better temperament team than Mumbai Indians, Kolkota Knight Riders and Rajsthan Royals when it comes to upholding the 'spirit of the game' in the IPL circuit so far.

[Puneet]

I have never had reason to disagree with Dileep before, but comparing Kallis' value to Sheva is just unfair on Kallis. He's not been a flop for two whole seasons at the cost of US$62m plus additional US$240,000/week. Those proportions are rather different.

And can people please get off Dravid's back?

[presh]

Bangalore are rubbish, definitely worse than Mumbai. Hands down.

[Pontings _Baldspot]

I still feel the Royal Challengers have a good chance of not finishing last. They are better than the Chennai team and way better than the Mumbai team. They have been competative in all the games except the first one. They need to play to their strengths (fast bowling) but the problem with that is when they are not home they are caught on these absolute belters and without any Twenty-20 specialist batsmen, they find it tough.
Still the big mistake that Dravid did was not give up on his "icon" status like Laxman did.

[Homer]

Swami,

The longer Dravid insists on being captain, the more he diminishes his legacy as a batsman..

Cheers

[Swami]

Dont forget .. Dravid has over 10000 ODI runs and you dont score that much by fluke. With age, he has become slower and it would be wise for him to retire from ODI cricket and concentrate on tests. I hope people dont forget his 10 years of solid contributions on the basis of last six months.

[Homer]

Dileep,

Had told you when Bangalore beat Mumbai that it was an ordinary team that got lucky...

Bangalore will be well advised to dump their captain first..

Dravid is an ordinary ODI captain and has been completely exposed in T20.

His metier is Test Cricket.. He remains one of India's better Test captains and had done a pretty good job in molding the team in his image ( gritty, attritional, gutsy) before he chucked it all away ( an act that has forever blotted his book, imho).

Cheers,