Indian Cricket Fever - Kriky Live From The Home Of The Super Kings

Kriky Live From The Home Of The Super Kings

By Kriky May 15 2008
The weather was perfect for Chennai, hot,humid and left 60% of my beauty on my handkerchief due to wiping the sweat off my face. The music and the crowd was already into grove one and a half hours before the match. Shivamani with Viku Vinayakram were booming away though I thought this crowd was a bit too under for Viku to be performing for. Money is louder than his Ghatam!

Vidyut is another of those bowlers becoming batsman. His preference showed as he missed a few, thumped a couple and then returned to the hut. Fleming must have been reminded of his sheep, had that sheepish look when he followed Vidyut quickly. This is the first time I am seeing Badri bat and he presented a very good picture. Pleasing shots, inventive scoops, impeccable defense, Dravid - you need to learn from this guy! On the other side was Dhoni and what a contrast they were. One was a polished performer, the other a performer who had misplaced his tools. A strong bottomhand means that shots that goes up in the air is powerful but the rest of them ungainly to watch. But to his credit all the milk drinking seems to have set his grey cells in place and he played well. The Lions came roaring back in the last few overs and tied down the score which was heading north of 200.

The Lions I thought did not bowl too bad but were done in by two things. One was Badri / Dhoni combo and the other was Yuvi. I felt that Yuvi was over reacting each time a boundary was hit, I thought some of the fielders had a hard time figuring out if Yuvi wanted them in or outside the park with the directions given. The slap from Bhaji seems to have fused the brains of Sree together and he bowled quite well.

Lions 11 - The openers were out on the ground before CSK had finished tying their shoelaces. Shaun Marsh took the first lead, pummeling Amarnath all over the park. The scare was so bad that Amarnath went fumbling for the ball while fielding later. Marsh is someone to watch out for. Call is captaincy or luck but Dhoni got it spot on when he got Murali and Balaji to bowl in tandem. Balaji is completely un-recognizable from his previous avatar. The hop and shaky start of his runup along with the amble presents a case for no-confidence. But somehow he gets it all together in the leap and from there on he is the old bowler - high arm action, loose limbed and a release that gets the ball to jump . I thought Murali too bowled well and his reflexes were amazing when he made two diving stops of his own bowling. The Lions had a chance while Marsh was marshelling but him and Yuvi departing was the chance gone. Of course Yuvi so low down the order was not helpful either. Goel? who is he, and he remained who he was, undiscovered. Sarawan was his watchful self but did not make an impact. Murali got the better of his country captain - wonder how he was feeling then. Regular wickets kept the Lions down and the last gasp was provided by Pathan and Pyush but in the end CSK sewed the match up quite well.

Shot of the match: A flick/scoop from Badri that flew over to the long leg fence.

What i hope will disappear: the cheerleaders - darn boring and a bloody distraction. Music after every boundary - tiresome.

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