the not so reviewed aspect of IPL

Since today is the last day of the IPL 2009, I thought to myself, why not make this post IPL centric too? Now is IPL synonymous with T20 cricket solely? Not quite. It is indeed more than just hard hitting cover drives, super quick staright drives, and those meaty pull shots. It is in fact, as they called it last year, ‘manaranjan ka baap’, fraught with Bollywood masala, glam cheerleaders, and breath taking revelations (remember the FIP’s blog?).

Here’s one side of the DLF IPL that didn’t quite go unnoticed but nevertheless, did not invoke critical review from the experts. What I’m referring to are the team anthems and their videos. That is that which shall make the contents for this post. How about a gradual countdown ie the worst to the best? game? here we go…

• 8 – I watched all the eight team promos, and the worst had to be that of the Royal Challengers Bangalore. It starts off with a pretty nice intro, but the song beginning bears an uncanny resemblance to the Johnny Gaddar title track. Another downside is that it first shows the jersey of Zaheer Khan, who though a part of the playing XI last year, is now with the Mumbai Indians this year, something they should have changed for this season. The video stars big boss Mallya himself, and Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif (not the best combo perhaps). The song turns out to be terribly boring too, and so does the video. This just can’t be the video or the song to actually boost the morale of a team that finished in position 7 last season! However they have done quite well this year, having reached the finals, but that, I guess should be attributed to other factors. Rating 2/10

• Coming in at a really close 7 to keep RCB company is a joint Mumbai Indians and the Delhi Daredevils. While the MI video starts in a rather stereotype manner, the song turns out to be terrifyingly sleepy and lacks every iota of josh. Slightly better than the RCB are the cinematics. It’s a tad too long too. On the other hand the DD promo starts with terribly outdated lines “Delhi Daredevils, We never give up”, and all the video shows are faces of Glenn McGrath, and Daniel Vettori turning to face the camera at least ten times. The song that  starts from then on is pretty nice, and brings the DD in line with the MI with a rather meagre 3/10.

• 5 is when the stuff get really nice. OK if not really, then quite nice. So here I decided to put in the Chennai Superkings. Their song is very well made. The lyrics are not out of the ordinary but the rap concept is pretty nicely implemented. “We are the Chen-nai Chen-nai-Super-kings” invokes quite an amount of laughter. Seeing MS Dhoni rap is a rather rewarding experience indeed. What also catches the eye is the cool transformation of Dhoni’s face into a lion’s at the end. Rating 6/10.

• 4 and things are getting really heated up!!! In comes the Deccan Chargers. Their video is rather boring, but what actually enervates you is the extremely charging up song. “Go Chargers, Go Chargers, Go Chargers Go!!!” not only enthuses the players on the field but also intimidates the opposition to a large extent. The song is pretty loud, and the tune really nice. Good for a 7/10.

• 3 and it’s the Rajasthan Royals. The cinematics in this one are pretty cool, but the best part’s got to be the “Halla Bol” song. It’s the best team anthem hands down. A little more work on the video could have earned them position 1 indeed. The song enervates, enthuses, and is a hell lot of a fun. The video isn’t that bad in fact. It stars Shilpa Shetty, and shows a really nice item number.Plus these chaps can boast showing them winning the cup last year … a scene none of the others can show Rating 7.5/10.

• Now it’s getting rather hot isn’t it? 2 … who could it be? Only two teams are left …. and it’s Preity Zinta vs the king Khan. So this goes to … the Kings XI Punjab. The video is really, reeeaallly nice, and shows the least amount of cricket as compared to all the others. What it shows are glimpses from Punjab, and how they show it makes all the difference, putting them up in no 2. The Punjabi kid plays an adorable role, and the one glimpse of Yuvraj Singh, hitting one out of the ground, follwed by Priety Zinta’s leap into the air is shown very well. Also the Bhangra number is amazing and gives a suitable backdrop to this great promo. Rating 7.8/10.

• It had to be it, hands down. Not because I’m from Kolkata, not because I’m an avid SRK fan, but the fact remains that the Kolkata Knight Riders promo is one heck of a promo. It’s simply phenomenal … period. It does everything terribly well. The African back drop is just scintillating, and King Khan’s acting … well he is the best in the business! The song has been modified a bit, specially the intro, but it’s all clear that no other team can come even a mile close to this. I wish I could give more but … 10/10.

visit the DLF IPL website to view these videos. Click here.

now what’s more ironic?

WOW … you’re gonna love this one. I am a pretty hardcore IPL fan, and was also a hardcore KKR  fan when season 1 kicked off. I felt really elevated after seeing Brendon McCullum’s 158* knock on the first match last year, but then all hopes got extinguished following a string of defeats to nearly all the other teams. Click here to read my post regarding this thought last year. 

This year, my expectations were rather lower than last year, but the KKR Reloaded ads sure worked me up, and I started harbouring some real lofty hopes again. But surprises and surprises!!! KKR responded with an even poorer performance, and slipped from a lousy table postion of 6 to an even lousier 8. Not the best reloading act perhaps, eh?

But this isn’t what my post is about. 

A few minutes back, I decided to visit the official KKR website to see what the  guys out there’s got to say. That was when I got the idea for this post. Their really cool looking website opens up with a picture of SRK holding the even cooler flaming KKR helmet, and when you click on the ‘View Intro’ button you get to see some pretty amazing videos with the KKR anthem sounding loud (provided you have your speakers on). Then there’s this bold question 

‘will KKR kick a$# this season?’

They give you two options ‘Oh Yeah!’ and ‘Nope’. A month back I would have opted for ‘Oh yeah!, but now the scenario demands the other option. So I clicked on ‘Nope’, possibly renting SRK’s heart rather nastily. The most ironic thing is what happens then on. There’s a picture of a ball shattering glass, and the ‘Crunch’ sound of the same, and then in big letters

‘Wrong Answer !

Try Again’

They won’t actually let you visit their site home page UNLESS you click on ‘Oh Yeah’!

LOL!!!!

That’s a fine show of misplaced optimism indeed!!!

click here to visit the kkr website.

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.