Author: Shamik Chakrabarty

Shamik Chakrabarty in Chennai Why did Abhishek Sharma take first strike instead of Travis Head in the IPL final? For all of Abhishek’s pyrotechnics, Head is an established international player, a World Cup winner. Yes, the last few games didn’t go well for the Aussie, but it was a big occasion and he should have taken the responsibility. Head passed the onus instead. Maybe, the carry-over effect from Qualifier 1 made Head apprehensive to face Starc upfront. The latter bosses his Australian teammate in a decade-long duel, but the Qualifier 1 dismissal happened just five days ago and it was…

This offers a rarity. The best two teams of the tournament are playing the IPL final, but not a single player from Kolkata Knight Riders and/or Sunrisers Hyderabad is part of India’s T20 World Cup squad. KKR’s Rinku Singh will go to the United States and the Caribbean, but only as a reserve player. Does this mean the players in the 15-member Indian squad have been picked on reputation at the expense of form? It is not so simple. Seven Indians feature among the top 10 run-scorers in this IPL. Among them, Virat Kohli towers over the rest, with 741…

Shamik Chakrabarty in Chennai The 2014 IPL saw the mother of all comebacks, from Kolkata Knight Riders. After a poor start, they won 10 matches on the spin to win the title. The record still stands. Umesh Yadav, who now plays for Gujarat Titans, was one of the heroes for KKR in that edition. The fast bowler still cherishes the memory of the triumph but becomes a tad hesitant when he is asked to reminisce. “I’m now with a different franchise and the IPL is not over yet. Of course, it was a very fond memory, but beyond that, maybe…

Shamik Chakrabarty in Chennai The national selectors dropped him from the Indian team during the home Test series against England. Shreyas Iyer stayed silent. The BCCI omitted him from the list of centrally contracted players under the pretext that he didn’t turn up for a domestic game. Iyer kept his own counsel. Finally, a day before the IPL final, the Kolkata Knight Riders captain spoke about his back issue, dropping a hint that he was misunderstood. Iyer was under pressure and this IPL allowed him an opportunity to breathe easy; to come into a different atmosphere and set his focus…

Shamik Chakrabarty in Chennai Arun Dhumal, the IPL chairman, stopped short of saying that the Impact Player Rule would be persisted with. But he extended his support to the Rule that has sharply divided opinion. There’s a school of thought that apart from the Rule, which was introduced last year, being harsh on the bowlers, it is also preventing the development of Indian all-rounders. “Is the responsibility of developing all-rounders (lies) only on this tournament?” Dhumal asked, as he spoke to RevSportz on the eve of the IPL final. “The BCCI is conducting more than 2,000 cricket matches in a…

Shamik Chakrabarty in Chennai The Chepauk crowd was neutral, in the true sense of the term. Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals were playing the Qualifier 2, and from time to time, they broke into “CSK, CSK” chants. Outside the stadium, a group of fans was in a jovial mood, discussing the game wearing CSK shirts. Sunrisers took a leaf out of Chennai Super Kings’ book to reach the final. The middle-overs spin-choke that Pat Cummins employed via Shahbaz Ahmed and Abhishek Sharma followed CSK’s template at Chepauk. MS Dhoni has done it so many times with aplomb. With the pitch…

Shamik Chakrabarty in Chennai Yashasvi Jaiswal would like to forget this. The shot was atrocious and not expected from a player of his talent. Rajasthan Royals were going steady until their opener tried one big shot too many and brought Sunrisers Hyderabad back into the game in Qualifier 2. For Royals, it was the beginning of the end. Chasing 176 for victory, Royals were 56/1 after seven overs. The required run rate was a very manageable 9.23 and they didn’t need to do anything spectacular. Jaiswal started off the eighth over against Shahbaz Ahmed with a six, and after four…

Shamik Chakrabarty Subhayan Chakraborty Unless there’s a last-minute change of heart, the Indian team is likely to have an Indian coach, RevSportz understands. Gautam Gambhir is considered to be a front-runner in the race to succeed Rahul Dravid. VVS Laxman, despite his apparent reluctance to leave the National Cricket Academy (NCA), cannot be ruled out either. The statement put out by BCCI secretary Jay Shah on Friday, regarding the appointment of the Indian team head coach, has an interesting line. “We are focused on identifying individuals who possess a deep understanding of the Indian cricket structure and have risen through…

Ramandeep Singh revelled in his no-holds-barred hitting. As Kolkata Knight Riders trained at Chepauk on Thursday, Ramandeep was taking on Dushmantha Chameera and Chetan Sakariya in one of the centre pitches. He was middling almost every delivery. Ramandeep hasn’t batted much in this IPL. In 14 games, he was required to turn up in nine innings. He remained unbeaten in five of them, scoring 125 runs at a strike-rate of 201.61. His team doesn’t judge him by the number of runs he has scored. At No. 7, his job is to throw the kitchen sink at the death, whenever he…

Shamik Chakrabarty in Chennai Somehow, the buzz is missing from the last two games of this year’s IPL. Make no mistake, Chepauk is expected to be full for Qualifier 2 on Friday and the final on Sunday, but the Chennai crowd is keeping fervour at arm’s length. Two months ago, when this city hosted the IPL opener, long queues snaked the stadium even on the match eve, just to catch a glimpse of the stars turning up for practice. Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, boasting galacticos, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli, met in the tournament opener. On Thursday,…