IPL 2...match reviews

Sorry, guys. I have been rather occupied with some other pressing work & could not gather time to comment on all matches. Am just putting up a brief write up on 4 matches that I missed covering. Do accept my apologies.

1)Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Delhi DareDevils :

RCB won the toss & chose to bat & ended up scoring 149 for 7 in their alloted 20 overs, a total that was achieved mailny due to Pieterson with top score of 37 & Boucher, playing his first game of the season putting up an enterprising 36 towards the end. The total was not enough to challenge the batting depth of the Delhi DareDevils, & they cruised to victory with Dilshan scoring a magnificient unbeaten 67. The only worry for the DDD is that their fancied opening pair of Gautam & Sehwag have not fired yet in the tournament. However they still managed to notch up their 3rd victory with considerable ease. For RCB it has been their 4th straight loss & are now at the bottom of the table.

2)Kings XI Punjab vs Rajasthan Royals:

KXIP won the toss & elected to bat & got into trouble early on losing a few wickets, but Sangakkara along with Irfan Pathan got the team out of trouble & got to a respectable total of 139. Sanga had gathered 60 runs while Pathan managed a vaualble 39. The bowling of young sensation Kamran Khan had been outstanding for the RR. Howeverin reply, the RR batting never took off, & the top order collapsed in a heap to be at 42 for 6 even before reaching midway. the RR finally crumbled for a dismal total of 112 & the KXIP had won the game with ease. The RR batting looks extremely brittle & only a magical touch can make the last year's Champion regain any hold in this edition of IPL.

3)Deccan Chargers Hyderabad vs Chennai Super Kings :

The dream run of DCH continues in ths tournament as they overcame a stiff challenge by the CSK. Put into bat, the Chennai team fired through the prolific bat of Hayden as usual, but could not keep the momentum going & it was only a late flurry of hits by Jacob Oram that got them to a respectable total of 165. Hayden had scored 49, while Oram chipped in with an unbeaten 41. In reply, the DCH were off to a flying start, making nockery of the CSK bowling, with Gilly just about hitting every bowler all over the park. The opening stand had produced 67 runs within 6 overs, & though they lost a few wickets after that, Gibbs took them to victory with a magnificient unbeaten 69. DCH till now have a clean record of all wins, while the CSK has lost three games on the trot. A matter of worry for the last year's finalist.

Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders :

The KKR is going through a nightmarish run & nothing is going right for them. First the MI opening pair of Sachi & Sanath tore the bowling apart & posted the highest opening partnership of 127 runs before Sachin finally got out. The KKR managed to pull things back a little & did not allow the marauding MI to go beyond 200 & restrcited them to 187. It was a treat to watch Sachin & Sanath batting as they simply toyed with the KKR attack. However the total was too much for them to chase & as the opening pair fell quickly it was but a matter of time, before the Kolkata team was to be vanquised. Some resistance was put up by the old warhorse Ganguly, but it was way beyond him to get any semblence for the KKR, who eventually were routed by 92 runs. They have been struggling with their internal sqabbles & look quite lost as a team.

Krazzy 4

Got to watch Krazzy 4 on my laptop yesterday night & was quite impressed. What looked like a time pass movie turned out to be extremely entertaining & yet thought provoking.

There are four main characters, Raja(Arshad Warsi) who loses his cool at the slightest provocation, Dr Mukherjee, impeccably dressed(Irrfan Khan) who looks for perfection & feels he is in control of the situation as a captain, Daboo(Suresh Menon), who can only hear & understand & mumbles incoherent words & expresses through his eyes, and Gangadhar(Rajpal Yadav), who believes himself to be a freedom fighter along with Mahatma Gandhi,fighting for a lost cause. All these four are treated by a psychiatrist Dr Sonali(Juhi Chawla), who is the wife of a corrupt businessman(Rajat Kapoor). Dr Sonali believes that with love & care these four can return to the mainstream society. Shikha(Dia Mirza) is a news caster & ex fiancée of Raja, who has left him, because of his uncontrollable anger. All the actors have done well to give life to their characters.

The movie, supposed to be a comedy, is actually a good satire on the current society according to me. There are scenes where you burst out into laughter, for the silly mannerisms & funny one liners. However, some scenes have been extremely well handled. One of the best scene sequence is where the Krazzy 4 are out running & suddenly Gangadhar walks into a shopping Mall, where a girl is singing the National Anthem. Everyone around, hep & happening are loitering without the slightest respect for the Anthem, till these Krazzy 4,lead by Gangadhar, stand in attention in front of the singing girl. Seeing them, one by one, as if following the trend, everyone stands to listen to the Anthem. This is something we see even in movie halls toady when the National Anthem is played, & so many of us are found sitting, or loitering outside(waiting for the song to end). Such utter disrespect for our Country…for our National anthem.
Another scene, where these Krazzy 4 are asking everyone around for just one rupee, so that they can make a call from a booth, but are met with various kinds of excuses / glares & rationales, that would actually border around being ridiculous. The satirical song that follows shows how even a beggar suggests that they should beg for more to get the attention of the people. The Krazzy 4 bump into all kinds of people from a bank manager who suggests bank loan, to a professor who says its knowledge which is more important than money, to common man on street who is completely amused at their demands of just one rupee.

Dr Mukherjee’s dilemma & anguish at not being able to express his love for his wife & his daughter, Gangadhar’s pain at seeing the colorful yet decadent society, where he is fighting a lost cause, Raja’s frustration at not being able to explain his predicament to Shikha, & Dabbo’s baleful eyes saying a lot more that words would……are all the finer points of this movie.
Towards the end, when the Krazzy 4 are surrounded by people & media, they confess that they are not fit for this society & want to return to the mental hospital. A society which has no place for simplicity & concern. The society is ready to punish someone who breaks somebody’s head, but does nothing to someone who breaks somebody’s heart or faith!!!!...so very true & real in today’s life.

However, the masala provided with item songs by Shahrukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan & Rakhi Sawant is unnecessary, & music is average. The first half of the movie is quite endearing, but the second half looks a little stretched. Debudante director Jaideep Sen has done a good job with his handling of the script.

Certainly a worth watch movie.

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings

Rains again played the spoilsport at Capetown as Chennai Super Kings & Kolkata Knight Riders ended up sharing a point each. It was interesting to see how CSK would have grouped after two straight defeats & with Freddie Flintoff leaving the team for a knee surgery, one needed to see how the middle order both with the bat & bowl would function for the Chennai team. For arguably the strongest team on paper, one is still waiting to see some top performance which had taken the team to the finals last year. Barring Hayden at the top & Raina & Dhoni to some extent in the middle order, & Murali in bowling, there hasnt being much to cheer for the CSK till now.

On the other hand, KKR would probably be happy getting one point out of this match, thanks to the rains, as the team would have been low on confidence having lost the previous match to Rajasthan Royals in a nail biting finish. As it is KKR has been more on the news for the wrong reasons till now & the team seems to be over dependent on the top three four players. They are yet to display as a well knit team, & it is sad to see such a potentially strong team struggle till now. Their next match is against a very strong Mumbai Indians, & it would take a herculean task for them to win the game.

Lets hope that rains don’t play any more havoc with the crunch matches & we get to see quality cricket.