IPL starts with a big bang!
It was breathtaking and was by far the best opening ceremony any cricket tournament has had. The gymnasts hanging upside down without any safety nets, woman on stilts, fairies inside giant bubbles was all a real visual treat. If you missed any of it check out the videos at the end of this post.
When the cricket started after the wonderful opening ceremony Brendon McCullum decided to take the standards even higher. The home team bowlers simply had no answer to his awesome hitting. It was not as though he was hitting domestic bowlers, all the Banglore bowlers were of international class but none could contain the rampaging kiwi. 13 sixes and 10 fours punctuated a world record T20 score of 158* off just 73 balls. With the departure of Gilly from International cricket this guy is definitely the best wicketkeeper batsman in the world today.
Once Kolkata got 222 on the board on a wicket that had a bit in it for the fast bowlers, Banglore was out of the match. Ishant and Dinda ensured that Banglore didnt get a good start. The opening combination of the Royal Challengers seems all wrong. Dravid and Jaffer are not likely to scare any bowler in T20 and a more attacking batsman needs to be sent in to open. It would probably be a good idea to ask Praveen Kumar to go out and slog a few early on. Their next match is against the Mumbai Indians and I am sure Dravid will make the necessary changes and put up a better performance.
There are two big games tomorrow with Chennai V Punjab and Rajasthan V Delhi. The first match is a mouth watering prospect with Dhoni taking on Yuvraj. There are a lot of interesting mini battles to look forward to in this match. Brett Lee bowling to Matthew Hayden, Murali bowling to Sangakkara, Sreesanth having a go at Dhoni are some interesting battles to look forward to. The second match seems to really be an easy one for Delhi but then T20 can always throw up surprises. Lets hope for a cracker of a game tomorrow.
Opening ceremony videos:
When the cricket started after the wonderful opening ceremony Brendon McCullum decided to take the standards even higher. The home team bowlers simply had no answer to his awesome hitting. It was not as though he was hitting domestic bowlers, all the Banglore bowlers were of international class but none could contain the rampaging kiwi. 13 sixes and 10 fours punctuated a world record T20 score of 158* off just 73 balls. With the departure of Gilly from International cricket this guy is definitely the best wicketkeeper batsman in the world today.
Once Kolkata got 222 on the board on a wicket that had a bit in it for the fast bowlers, Banglore was out of the match. Ishant and Dinda ensured that Banglore didnt get a good start. The opening combination of the Royal Challengers seems all wrong. Dravid and Jaffer are not likely to scare any bowler in T20 and a more attacking batsman needs to be sent in to open. It would probably be a good idea to ask Praveen Kumar to go out and slog a few early on. Their next match is against the Mumbai Indians and I am sure Dravid will make the necessary changes and put up a better performance.
There are two big games tomorrow with Chennai V Punjab and Rajasthan V Delhi. The first match is a mouth watering prospect with Dhoni taking on Yuvraj. There are a lot of interesting mini battles to look forward to in this match. Brett Lee bowling to Matthew Hayden, Murali bowling to Sangakkara, Sreesanth having a go at Dhoni are some interesting battles to look forward to. The second match seems to really be an easy one for Delhi but then T20 can always throw up surprises. Lets hope for a cracker of a game tomorrow.
Opening ceremony videos:
Labels: Cricket, IPL, Opening Ceremony
posted by Raj at 5:14 pm
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