Watching the Rajasthan Royals get the better of a star studded Punjab Kings I was reminded of a conversation with a fellow cricket aficionado. In any tournament predicting winners is an integral component. The IPL has 8 teams and most of them are well balanced at least on paper with the Rajasthan Royals appearing the weakest of the lot. So we looked at other factors which could differentiate the also-rans from the winners.
Our list for the semi is Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi and Rajasthan. We picked these ahead of the rest on the basis of their leaders. To use an often abused cliché, its all about leadership, be it business or sports.
These 4 teams are headed by aggressive and street smart individuals and 2 of them have proved themselves at the international level and the other 2 were always touted as brilliant captaincy material but did not get an opportunity to prove their skills
Leadership in the IPL context is more of a challenge as the incumbent does not have the luxury of leading a set of people with a common denominator….same state or country. The IPL outfits are a heady mix of high caliber, high visibility international stars from different climes and unknown local players, getting them to work together as a unit is in itself a challenge in leadership.
Additionally both Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni are known for their ability to pick players with potential and give them the room to perform and deliver a key attribute which assumes added importance in the context of picking a local player over an international star.
The other two Sehwag and Warne are unknown’s in the realm of leadership at the international level but in the limited chances they have had have amply demonstrated they belong to this league.
So here’s to the semis and to the prediction and above all here’s to an exciting time ahead.
- Mahesh Packiaraj (The Viper)
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1 comment:
I will put my money on the same teams
which you have already predicted here Mr.Mahesh.
Before this tournament started people were predicting which team
is stronger and which is weaker, who is the favourites to win depending on the star players the teams have got. And the money spent on buying em.
By this time people would have realised that its all about leadership. Captain is the key to win this tournament. It does not matter whether you got top class players in your team, it only matters how effectively you manage them. I can give you very good example in this matter, The other day was a match between Deccan chargers vs Kolkata knight riders, When Kolkata was chasing 110 runs to win, till the 11th over of the match, it was on nobody's favour.
But when Laxman brought Symonds to bowl which is the perfect time to bring him in, as the pitch was doing everything good for the bowlers, What all you just need to do is just jogg for two steps and throw the ball, and as we all know Symonds is quiet a good off spin bowler, whereas he bowled gentle medium pace which did not made any difference from other bowlers and went on conceding 17 runs in his second over.
The captain has to command his players what he wants. Its just 20 overs, you cant go to your vice captain for guidance unless its a bowl out whereas you got time to discuss who should go out to bowl.
The captain has to make quick
decisions and he has to ask his bowlers to bowl faster, faster in the sense reducing time in between balls to finish the overs faster.
Hope atleast one of my tip may help
Mr. Laxman
Srihari
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