I watched my first go to woe IPL match last night.
Twas a good game, which it needed to be after the semi finals were boring as bat sh1t.
Warne took complete control of the game at all times.
His team looked far more settled, they all had their roles, and even when the pressure was on it looked as if they were going to win.
Dhoni captained very well for most of the match, and according to the commentators he didn’t sweat much.
His big mistake was allowing his worst bowler to bowl the last over.
Working out who is going to ball overs at the death is always a bit tough.
You have to be ahead of the game, and willing to be flexible.
But, finishing with your worst bowler, Balaji, was a mistake that lost him the game.
Jadeja and Pathan both committed suicide for him, they gave the sooper doper kings the chance to win, but finishing with the one bowler who never looked up to it was just an insane way to go.
At the top of his mark Balaji looked like a broken man, the fact he bowled an ok over was irrelevant, because it was his one bad ball, the slower ball wide that lost this contest.
He had to bowl 6 perfect deliveries.
But one look at him at the top of his mark before each ball and you knew he wouldn’t be able to do so.
MS Dhoni is still a good captain, but he aint Warney just yet.
I don’t know. If Balaji had bowled a bit earlier he might have been taken to the cleaners by Pathan, and the game been finished by 19 overs. Really he only screwed up that slower ball wide.
I agree with David, I think the 19th over is the decider and Dhoni did the best he could-he gave it to his best bowler Ntini.And remember the “worst” bowler bowled only 1 bad ball, I think the problem was that Murali couldn’t contain in the middle overs and he IS the premier bowler.Warnie was **spectacular** but Dhoni is still my man.– I am wondering if it mattered that the CSks did not have an Aussie with them in the finals???
Then what about flexibility from the captain to get another bowler to bowl earlier? There are many different ways he could have made sure balaji wasnt to bowl the last, or any of the last 4. On form, and temperament he was not the man to do so.Morkel, Gony and Ntini should have always been his plan for the last two overs. Leela, No Victorians was what did it for them.
A run is a run, whether it’s scored in the 20th over or the first. Chennai needed Balaji to bowl four overs (or go to a part-timer, but Kapugedara or Badrinath would have been highly risky). If he’d bowled out earlier, then all other things equal, Rajasthan would have needed less runs to win in the last over, since Balaji would have gone for more than the better bowlers.And once it gets to six off the last over, it doesn’t matter too much who’s bowling, since the batting side should win.
David, in a statistical world your comment makes sense, but in a pressure final, to have your worst bowler to bowl the final over is a terrible strategic mistake. I couldn’t imagine too many really good captains doing the same.
Actually J Sharma was the weakest link in the T20 world cup yet Dhoni gambled and won.. I think he was hoping for the same. I wish “hotson” (that is Siddhuism for Watson) was playing for CSK.
Leela, you are right, sharma was the weak link, but he is also an ice cool mofo who looks like he was born to bowl the last over in an tight match. Balaji looks like he couldn’t bare to watch the last over in a match.
Dhoni missed Joginder Sharma. He’s the last over specialist.
Dhoni also fucked up by sending Kapugedera ahead of Badrinath, after Raina got out.Two big mistakes, that cost them the tournament!
It’s interesting isn’t it how with all the IPL bling and stars, it’s *captaincy* that is the talking point.
MSD was fighting destiny and he nearly beat it. The Raina dropped catch did it, after that Pathan went mad. That was the game, and RR was sweating. But seeing how the game panned out, and MSD in close games, this was 50:50 most of the way.
The decision to send Kapugedera ahead of Badri “mushroom-cut” nath was the Wessels’..atleast thats what Dhoni said in the press conference after the game..