The IPL so far

Tuesday, April 24, 2012 chennai super kings, cricket, deccan chargers, delhi daredevils, IPL 5, kings xi punjab, kolkata knight riders, mumbai indians, pune warriors india, rajasthan royals, review, royal challengers bangalore

Nearly 30 matches in, and we're finally a third into the IPL. It's great to see that, for once, one or two teams aren't running away with it. How often do we have a six-way tie for anything? Usually, if there are six incompetent teams sharing points, it's the bottom 6. All the better to slate the Deccan Chargers - they really must love that basement. Here are the standings, as I write this. In 15 hours or so, two out of the current top three will share the lead with 10 points.

Teams	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR
Delhi Daredevils	6	4	2	0	0	8	+0.681
Kolkata Knight Riders	7	4	3	0	0	8	+0.432
Pune Warriors	7	4	3	0	0	8	+0.290
Rajasthan Royals	8	4	4	0	0	8	+0.190
Chennai Super Kings	7	4	3	0	0	8	+0.033
Royal Challengers Bangalore	7	4	3	0	0	8	-0.192
Mumbai Indians	6	3	3	0	0	6	-0.117
Kings XI Punjab	7	3	4	0	0	6	-0.467
Deccan Chargers	5	0	5	0	0	0	-1.032

Surprise packages

By "surprise packages", I don't mean an unexpected parcel delivered to your door, with a clearly audible ticking noise coming from it. Or maybe I do. I'm not sure.

Anyway, the teams that have done better than expected are the Pune Warriors (India) and the Delhi Daredevils (also India, but they aren't all smug and in-your-face about it).

Gif of the day: Ross Taylor

Tuesday, April 17, 2012 cricket, delhi daredevils, gifs, ross taylor

Derpy Taylor: "I currt the burrrl!"

IPL team previews

Saturday, April 07, 2012 cricket, indian premier league, IPL 5, kings xi punjab, preview, rishabh bablani, royal challengers bangalore

An excellent one for each team, all at Alternative Cricket.

The ones for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab are particularly good, but I say that only because I wrote them and I'm slightly biased towards myself.

IPL 5: Young Indian players to watch

Wednesday, April 04, 2012 cricket, indian premier league, IPL 5, players to watch., rishabh bablani

We all know that the IPL is all about finding India's next big domestic players, and that it is not at all about money or catching the interest of "fans" who tune in once a year.

I'm not trying to bash the IPL, I can't deny its entertainment value (did they really get Katy Perry? that could have been anyone who is an equally awful singer).

Anyway, for those who are naive enough to think that India's future lies in players who perform only in the IPL, here's a list of under-the-radar domestic Indian players (most of them young, bar one) who, if given the opportunity, should perform.

These are the nine, because that's my favourite number.

1) Kedar Devdhar (Deccan Chargers): This aggressive keeper-batsman was in blazing form, carrying Baroda into the (other) domestic T20 tournament finals, which they won. His chances of playing depend on Sangakarra's unwillingness to keep, but Deccan's lack of quality Indian batsmen may work in his favor. Also, his competitor for the same spot is Parthiv Patel.

2) Mandeep Singh (Kings XI Punjab): After a fantastic to his domestic career, he should fit in easily into the Kings XI (is it an XI of Kings, an XI belonging to a King, or an XI belonging to several Kings? an apostrophe would have helped) as they have a paper-thin squad.

3) Suryakumar Yadav (Mumbai Indians): A little less under-the-radar than some of the others, this guy's rapid progress will have been followed keenly by highly optimistic fans and people who have nothing to do (I'm a bit of both). We already know that he's an aggressive player who loves big innings, everything is set up for him to him to succeed. MI, unfortunately, is chock-full (what's a chock?) of proven quality, and I don't see too many opportunities for him. Even in a team that once fielded the likes of Vikrant Yeligati.