Kingfisher..the good times partner?

If there is one person in this world who certainly is in deep waters at the moment, it is Vijay Mallya. Poor soul. Aspired for so much, tried for so much, and gave so much, sadly, didn’t get so much. Showed an incurable optimism by buying a Formula 1 team, and then an IPL team, both of which backfired against him, quite miserably.

Vijay Mallya, who is incidentally one of the foremost liquor barons in the world, (thanks to his father Vitthal Mallya, who founded the United Breweries), should stick to the fields in and around his precious vineyards, and not dare into what is not his.

Consider the following:

When Force India, the Formula 1 team was announced last year, with Mallya as its boss, it created quite a stir in the motorsport world. Shelling out a king’s ransom and buying for himself, Giancarlo Fisichella, and Adrian Sutil, as drivers, and a tie-up with Ferrari for engines, it sure looked big for Mallya. But quite unfortunately, halfway into the F1 season, they haven’t been able to start in half of the races, leave alone scoring points… and even when Sutil came to the verge of winning a point at Monaco last week, Raikonnen’s Ferrari, very nastily, slammed into his rear, and damaged his suspension.

The next big blow came in the form of the Indian Premier League. Buckling out a massive US$ 5m to buy men for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mallya ended up buying for himself, a Test team…capable of holding innings together…but just not right for T20. Look at the players he bought: Rahul Dravid, Jaffer, Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher, Anil Kumble…stalwarts of Test cricket perhaps, but not the right men for T20 at all. The result: a pathetic no. 7 slot in the IPL table.

Yet another blow for Mallya, is perhaps the massive loss Kingfisher Airlines incurrs every year.

So my advice for Mallya: dear sir… buy more vineyards, grow grapes and keep your brewers engaged. That way, you would not suffer as many embarresments as you are suffering. Live long, drink and enjoy life…with Kingfisher, your partner for “good” times.

Knights Ridden Over….

long time no see….or should i say…. no hear, no talk, no smell… nothing at all…

Whatever, the fact is that I am back to blog and bore. Class 12 has started… and so has the IPL. But none are turning out to be as nice as i had hoped they would. For one, class 12 makes you even sadder than what you had speculated to be, and the recent fired up IPL season serves to be a perfect comapnion to your downtrodden spirits.

When IPL was announced, a few months back, the Kolkata Knight Riders seemed to be one of the deadliest team in the tournament, and why not. With the reins in the hands of king Khan, and explosive players like Ricky Ponting, Brendon McCullum, Sourav Ganguly, Chris Gayle, David Hussey and Salman Butt, in the batting line-up, what could actually go wrong with them? In addition to that, the Knights had a fearsome bowler squad, spearheaded by mavericks of the sort Shoaib Akhtar, Ishant Sharma, and Ajit Agarkar. Everything seemed to be just fine. But then the Gods decided to play foul, and Chris Gayle went down with a groin pain, not to play in any match at all. Responsibility shifted to Ponting, McCullum, and Ganguly to make up for the loss.

18th April, 2008. 8:00 PM, Bangalore.
The KKR showed the world, what T20 cricket actually meant. Brendon McCullum with his record-shattering 158 odd runs, off merely 80 odd balls, won the hearts of millions in the City of Joy, and raised hopes of all fans for matches to come. The Bangalore Royal Challengers, with men like Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, and Praveen Kumar just stared on.

20th April, 2008. 4:00 PM, Kolkata.
Another big victory over a deadly rival, the Deccan Chargers, which boasted of the likes of Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, VVS Laxman, and Chaminda Vaas. KKR really seemed to be on the roll.

That turned out to be a turning point.

Then came the row of defeats. The Chennai Super Kings, the Rajasthan Royals, the Mumbai Indians, and the Kings XI Punjab….did seem to have the upper hand over KKR. Adding to that came the unfortunate departure of McCullum and Ponting, leaving the Knights completely disillusioned and demoralized. Salman Butt and Aakash Chopra, came in to fill the vacancies and after their string of four consecutive defeats, the King’s men decided to give yet another go. Morale was definitely low in th KKR camp, when they went for their home match against the Royal Challengers. This time, however, they emerged victorious, and the city of Joy, was joyous again. Following this victory, and with Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo Re resounding in their ears, they achieved another big victory over the Deccan Chargers, with Ganguly spearheading the batting assault and sweeping in 91 runs off merely 44 balls. Kolkata’s hopes for the semi final seemed to have rejuvenated again. With four wins in their bag the King’s men now readied themselves to face the Delhi Daredevils for the first time.

The news of the inclusion of Shoaib Akhtar, the fastest, and the deadliest bowler in the world today, came as a big reason to celebrate.

And he showed the detractors what fast bowling meant. Averaging 147 km/hr with the ball, he struck a fatal blow at the roots of the Delhi batting order, and got Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, and other top order batsmen, back to the pavillion. Akhtar seemed to be fired up with the cause to win, and to defeat. Charging down the pitch like a roaring lion, and sending balls hurtling at the batsmen, was intimidating in itself…and he proved his worth, scalping 4 wickets in his 3 overs of bowling, and conceding only 10 odd runs to the Daredevils.

The victory over Delhi was much celebrated. And that was again the point whenceforth, the wheels started rolling down again.

The second match with the Mumbai Indians came as a big letdown. The Knights ended their own innings at a terribly meagre 67, and although Akhtar struck early, sending Tendulkar out for a duck in the first over, the required 68 runs proved to be a cake walk for Jayasurya, who ended the game within 6 overs.

After this humiliating defeat the Knights, faced Chennai for the second time, and they lost yet again by a couple of runs in accordance to the Duckworth Lewis Rule.

This is where Kolkata stands now. They have 3 matches left, and to reach the semifinals they need to win all three. Big task? Sure. Mohali, Jaipur are right at the top, and beating them won’t be easy.

to cap it all…

The Knights have surely been ridden over.