The Royals triumph

A disappointing match if you are a supporter of the Hyderabad team.

The comment by the skipper that he is happy with the effort of the boys is vague and conciliatory. They had no business losing the match after claiming 7 Royals wickets and reducing them to the near impossible task of chasing 23 runs of the last over.

The aim is to play to win and not to pat yourself on the back that the effort was good or better than the previous outing and they lost because the opposition put in a better performance.

This team is not going for the jugular but is playing in fits and starts, Afridi & RP Singh bowled one good over, the debutant Kalyankrishnan had 2 good overs.

The Hyderabad team had the best chance to open their account, after the exceptional batting by Symonds powered them to a 200 + plus total, the pressure applied was not consistent and chasing appeared a breeze.

In the soul searching that the Hyderbad team will undertake it will help them a great deal if they analyzed the previous match between Chennai and Mumbai.

Reputations and past performance do not win matches but performance on the day does.

To repeat the obvious, Cricket is a team game and each individual needs to be told what his role is whatever his stature maybe and therein lies the role of the leader.

In stark contrast the Rajasthan Royals batted to a plan and despite losing wickets at the wrong time, came out worthy winners and have made everyone sit up and take note.

It has been a sad journey for the Deccan Chargers hailed by experts as the 2nd best team before the tournament commenced.

An interesting match coming up between the Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings, both teams have not opened their accounts.

- Mahesh Packiaraj