Royal Challenger's timely Resurgence

Not withstanding last year's debacle, the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) owned by the liquor baron were expected to be on high spirits right through the 2009 IPL season. The expectations were certainly high after the signings of Kevin Pietersen, Jesse Ryder alike.

But the last couple of games for the RCB (match 41&44) against the battered KnightRiders and a balanced SuperKings outfit is sure to give them a high. A high better than Whyte & Mackay whisky, the team's sponsors.

The Knightriders can't help ruing their luck, thanks to their bowlers. Despite being in shatters McCullum's knock was a testament of grit. 170 by T20 standards is a winning total and any team ought to have defended it. On the other hand the Superkings were undone by some sensible bowling and fielding by Kumble and co. While not many team's have capitalized on Suresh Raina's weakness for the short pitch deliveries, the RCB had surely done their homework well. The think tank comprising of the coach, analyst deserve the credit, for Raina has been in pristine form in the shorter version ever since his return to international cricket.

Considering the myriad of drop catches in the tournament, RCB's fielding was quite refreshing. Van Der Merwe's caught and bowled of a straight drive from Dhoni was brilliant. Dhoni's wicket was probably the turning point, for he along with Hayden were putting on a nice partnership. The rest of the lineup fell like a pack of cards after Dhoni and Hayden's departure when the Superkings were reduced to 101/4.

In response the RCB didn't quite seem to be confident enough in chasing at over 6runs per over. Robin Uthappa's form has been disastrous, Virat kohli's form patchy and the onus was again on Ross Taylor to see the team through. And he did do it with elan. However Van der Merwe's complacent running would deserve some stick from Ray Jennings, the RCB coach.

While the RCB may have lost an opportunity to up the run rate considering the fact that the Mumbai India's and the Royals have that one point advantage (courtesy:a wash out of the first game between MI and Royals), it was a humdinger of a performance by their "go-to man" Ross Taylor nevertheless.

Whether the RCB can make it to the top 4 still remains a mystery, if only they can grab the horse by its ears and create those opportunities rather than playing it too safe.

IPL Fan Loyalty and Mumbai's partial crowd

It was one of the most thrilling matches so far in the IPL and the Mumbai crowd certainly had their moneys worth.A last ball,last wicket runout and a game perfectly scripted for T20 that went down till the wire, ending up with the Kings Punjab eventually winning, who looked defeated until Sachin Tendulkar's dismissal.For Mumbai Indians it wasn't a game they deserved to lose considering the stiff competition on the top of the league table sans the Rajasthan Royals.

While the over 20,000 Wankhede crowd had reasons to feel let down, throughout the match the support for the hometeam was unconditional not to mention that it was thoroughly onesided, booing the Punjab players.At the post match presentation Yuvraj Singh made his displesure evident indicating the "crowd was partial" and that the guests had a host of players like himself, Sreesanth and others who represent the country and deserved to be appreciated.This wasn't the first of its kind though.The IPL has already been witness to similar instances when Rahul Dravid was surprised on not being lauded after scoring a boundary in Mumbai and Sehwag literally begging for an applause in Hyderabad.

While Yuvraj might have made his intentions clear like Sehwag and Dravid did earlier, these were clearly signs of what the IPL had in the offing to which the Mumbai fans would testify to.The Punjab captain's complaint for once defies logic, certainly the IPL logic.Wasn't this expected when IPL started on similar lines as the EPL(English Premier League) - Growing city based loyalties? As for the debates surrounding the IPL in terms of the fans apprehenson towards supporting their favourite stars or the city based franchise, the match against Punjab and Mumbai was testimonial to what the future holds for IPL in terms of the fan's loyalty.

Scenes like these are a new experience to the cricketers who otherwise witness great support when representing the country.But soon they would also need to realise that the league has a flavour of its own or one which is expected to build over the coming years and that the players not being appreciated playing away from home should not be a cause for concern.On the contrary the franchise owners would be smiling all the way for it has provided them with better opportunities to reach out to its niche audience and reap greater returns on their huge investments.

Afterall how often do we see a Steven Gerrard or a Lampard booed by the "English fans" at the Theatre of Dreams in the English premier league who otherwise get exceptional fan support playing at the Euro2008 or a Christiano Ronaldo welcomed back at Manchester United after a verbal dual with Wayne Rooney at the 2006Worldcup.The IPL fan loyalty will take its time to be as definitive as the EPL or a champions league.With such a dream start to its maiden venture the IPL slowly and steadily has all the makings to catch up with the best in the world.

Cheers,
Karthik.