Crucket

What a stoush is developing in India. Come Monday, when the IPL are scheduled to meet, Lalit Modi could be out on his arse. How did the most powerful man in cricket end up so endangered so fast? Well, let me summarise, over-simplify and distort the story that has come to known as the ‘IPL mess’.

With so much money, personalities and politicians involved in the IPL, there inevitably were all sorts of shenanigans going on behind the scenes, hidden and of no concern to the cricketing public. However, Lalit Modi – having learnt nothing from his experience of shaming Chris Cairns, or maybe learning that attacking people over Twitter has no real consequences – opened the curtains somewhat by blabbing on Twitter the names of the stake holders in the new IPL franchise based in Kochi, bought by a consortium of varied interests, which had been brought together by government minister Shashi Tharoor, apparently for no personal gain.

I don’t know why Modi was so bothered by the Kochi consortium, but it is claimed that he offered them $50 million dollars to just walk away. They didn’t take it however, and Modi’s next move was to reveal the consortium’s silent partners by Twitter.

It was thus revealed that a close friend of Shashi Tharoor had been given a small equity in the franchise. Nothing like a bit of openess. A few days later Tharoor resigned on account of the apparent conflict of interest.

Really, you can’t go chasing goverment ministers out of their jobs.

It was around this time that the Indian government opened a massive probe into the finances of the IPL and the franchises.

Target sights were also trained directly on Modi, with the IPL calling a meeting for this coming Monday to discuss Modi’s fate. As his friends began to desert him, Modi desperately tried to defer his doom by climing only he had the authority to call a meeting of the IPL governing council.

By all accounts, the meeting will go ahead Monday and one’s money would be on Modi losing his job. He still has friend however and ousting him will not be easy or tidy.

It is a stoush for the ages.

With Bangalore eliminated in the first semi final, the NZ contribution to the IPL is done. (Okay, except for the 3rd place play off, and Fleming’s work as Chennai coach.) Just as I turn my attention to the competition.

Oh well. Time enough for me to summarise the NZers achievements before the whole thing wraps for another year.

Only four NZ players in the comp this year. Some were missing from injury – Ryder, Oram, Mills – and Styris was simply not wanted.

Brendon McCullum

114 runs in 5 innings. Half of those in his last. Ho hum. But of course, after his very first IPL innings, it was always going to be downhill for Brendon.

Ross Taylor

88 runs from 7 innings. Dear me!

Daniel Vettori

33 runs from 3 innings. And just 2 wickets, going for over 8 an over.

Shane Bond

1 run from 2 balls faced. A credible 9 wickets at an average of 25.

Nothing to write home about – pretty sorry in fact – but recorded for the record.

Shit, the IPL starts tomorrow morning!

I don’t have time to preview it, but I can link to this little summary.

I’m following Kolkata again. They’re hilarious.

“Country first, cash second” claim the headlines after the NZ IPL contractees deigned to sign their NZ Cricket contracts. The headlines naturally simplify the issue greatly, but mange to be extremely generous to the players.

The story is that the six Black Caps who are contracted to IPL franchises weren’t keen to sign their NZC contracts until they were assured that their international obligations weren’t going to get in the way of them turning out for their franchises. They were given until last Friday to sign, which they all did in the end.

Let’s name these six:

• Brendon McCullum
• Daniel Vettori
• Ross Taylor
• Jesse Ryder
• Kyle Mills
• Jacob Oram

That all six IPL players who were offered national contracts were holding out on signing, it was clearly a joint decision, probably organised by the Players’ Association.

Before Friday I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. In contract disputes, “employees” generally have only one bargaining chip, withdrawing their services. So you shouldn’t take such threats too seriously. The threats have to be made of course, but they are more a bargaining position than a real likelihood. My feeling was that the delay in signing was just a message to NZC that they should give more concern to the players’  positions.

However, the statements coming from the players since signing have got me very concerned. Reports are that the players’ have got pretty much all they could have hoped for. The test series with Australia has been shortened by a whole test so that the tour will finish by 31 March, allowing the IPL players to be available for half the IPL tournament. That is a massive win for the players and a serious blow to the summer’s cricket. And yet the players continue to threaten to pull away from international cricket in favour of the IPL and talk about the decision to play the Aussie series to be a big decision. We’re also being told that Vettori had to convince some of the others to sign. Could they actually have seriously been considering not signing their NZC contracts? Was it more than just bluster?

And on top of that, we are being asked to applaud these players for their magnanimity, despite them having sabotaged the Aussie series and threatening to sabotage future tours. Well maybe some people will. The best I can say is that I am not as disappointed in them as I might have been.

And please everyone, stop talking about families. I have a family and it doesn’t cost hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

Jonathan Millmow has had his say in today’s paper, expressing his disappointment and covering a few other issues.

Amongst all the talk of the sacrifices made by the IPL Black Caps and their loyalty and priorities, consider these aspects:

• We’re missing out on a test against Australia this summer. That’s not solely the fault of these players, but is certainly due to the IPL. That’s a big sacrifice NZ cricket fans are being forced to make – there is a huge difference between a 3-test series and a 2-test series. NZC may also be making a huge sacrifice here, assuming tests still make money. It also means less match fees, which is a sacrifice for the non-IPL-contracted test players.
• The IPL is for current players or retired players, not for uncommitted players. As I understand it, every player in the IPL needs a non-objection certificate from the player’s home board. So choosing money over country wouldn’t have been that straightforward anyway.

What does a drought look like? Check out the huge gap in the England column of this list of victors in tests between England and Australia at Lord’s.

When I first took a look at how the New Zealanders were doing in the IPL, I found that most of them needed to lift their game if they were to make an impact, or their franchises had to give them more of a run.

How much have things changed over the second half of the IPL?

Kyle Mills – Mumbai Indians

Not given a single game for the team who ended up second from the bottom. Probably already left South Africa to join the NZ 20-20 squad.

Scott Styris – Deccan Chargers

Didn’t add to the two games he had played when I last reported. Piggy’s descent into obscurity continues.

Ross Taylor – Royal Challengers Bangalore

Had a slow start to the tournament, but really accelerated in the second half. Ended up second highest run scorer for Bangalore with 236 runs averaging about 30 at 134, particularly helped out by his 81* of 33. Not bad in the end, and possibly winding up for a good knock in the semis.

Jesse Ryder – Royal Challengers Bangalore

Pretty much dropped by Bangalore after a poor first half of the tournament. I think he played one game in the second half, where he scored 22, which actually pushed his average into double figures.

Jacob Oram – Chennai Super Kings

Continued on as he started; hit a few runs when he got a bat and knocked over a couple more wickets in the second half of the tourney. A most middling of middling performances. He sits a bit below half way down in both the batting averages and bowling averages.

Daniel Vettori – Delhi Daredevils

Despite having a tidy first half to the competition, Vettori has only been given two games in the second half. Fairly perhaps as he has taken no more wickets and only picked up a handful of runs. Delhi go into the semis as top qualifier, so they are likely to be happy with their winning lineup, which doesn’t include Vettori.

Brendon McCullum – Kolkata Knight Riders

One of the more abject performers of the first half, in both his batting and his captaining. He managed a couple of wins in the second half, but combined with another 5 losses. His batting improved considerably, including an 84 and a 81*, which gives him two entries in the top 10 high scores for all teams. These scores did enough to push his average and strike rate to 24 and 120 and out of the embarrasing zone.

So, with the semis and final still to be played, it has been a rather quiet tournament for the New Zealanders. Taylor has been the stand out, and he hasn’t even been playing to his usual standard. Really rather quiet.

The Kolkata Knight Riders have been eliminated from the IPL contest, having come last by some margin. So the fake IPL player has played his last game, in as much as he ever really played for Kolkata.

Now IPL Anonymous promised to reveal his identity after his tournament was finished. Well, he put that idea up for a vote, which as far as I can tell was running pretty hot in favour before the poll was taken down. To this end, the fake player has posted a video of himself nattering on about himself and what he has seen as part of his involvement in cricket and just how mysterious he is. Except we don’t see him – we only see his shadow cast upon a concrete wall. So in the end all we get revealed is his sillouette and his voice. And he reveals nothing in his little speech, apart from admitting that he was a fake, which will suprise no one. He may write a book or two, but probably not. He might reveal himself one day, but maybe not. Just a little shadow play really.

With such an underwhelming end to the story, the response has been equally underwhelming. Cricket With Balls is scathing. Arm Ball is pissed. Well Pitched is confused. And no one else has much to say. (Excepting the Bored Cricket Crazy Indians, though they are being more mysterious than the fake himself.)

Oh well. It was fun while it lasted. Now thankfully it won’t distract from the semis and the final.

As a bit of a postscript, Well Pitched takes a bit of a wander down what is surely a dead end, that Shahrukh Khan arranged the whole thing as a publicity stunt.

In the comments of my previous post, my identification of the player nicknamed Panty Curry by the fake IPL player, Jesse “Bevdaa” Ryder’s drinking buddy, was corrected. Apparently Panty Curry is a chap called Robin Uthappa, fellow Bangalore Royal Challenger and sometime Indian ODI ’keeper/opening-bat, and not Morne van Wyk, sometime Kolkata Knight Rider ’keeper/opening-bat. And as for that name, Suhas has an explanation:

Assuming ‘Panty Curry’ is Uthappa (who comes from the Coorg district of Karnataka – a region not known for producing cricketers), this is where the nickname originates from:

http://mbopaiah.wordpress.com/2007/06/07/coorg-pork-curry-pandi-curry/

Brilliant. Impressive enough of IPL Anonymous to concoct these monikers, but outstanding work to those deciphering them.

Here’s a fake IPL player glossary (sadly with few explanations of the names):

Fake glossary of the Fake IPL Player

Featuring the intriguing comment about Panty Curry:

hey… dont get why mangal is shukla… As for Panty Curry, agree with it but one small problem… Latest blog says panty curry and bevdaa went or few drinks… Now, I am being honest, I know robin very well personally… He does not touch alcohol, I can vouch or that.. I have known him for bout 12 years now.. and as for chipli, he did not play U-19 with Kolhi… he was my senior.. He played U-18 when i played U-16 and I am 23 so.. so it is Goswami!! But Robins name foxes me after the latest blog!! Even if you wanna speculate that he had a few drinks, he certainly wont have capacity more than Jesse Ryder.. I have seen him get high of just sniffing alcohol!!lol…

Baz’s Blues