Overreaction Monday ft Mohammed ‘T20’ Siraj, CSK’s spark and Mumbai-Delhi IPL final

ByAakash Sivasubramaniam, SportsCafe Editor

10/26/2020

We are back, as usual, as expected with the long list of bizarre comments that cricketers, the Twitter world and the commentators have made and this week isn’t any different. With the IPL heating up for a grand-stand finish, let us look at how the entire cricketing world has exploded.

Dhoni’s ‘spark’ ing comments

In the post-match presentation, MS Dhoni walked out with a scathing statement, opining that he hasn’t quite seen the ‘spark’ from the youngsters, which has warranted them a selection.

SC’s Take: Well for starters, this comment comes as an absolute joke in a season where Chennai Super Kings have been nothing short of that, with their performance from their trusted seniors. Kedar Jadhav, who was picked time and again, to provide stability to the team has done everything apart from that, even leaving the franchise to ponder their decision to pick him in the squad. For a man, who has made a career out of trusting youngsters who have helped him win trophies, this statement is an ‘overreaction’ in itself. Let’s put it this way, the group of youngsters that CSK has picked in the IPL Auction over the last two years is the group of people that the management had obviously trusted in.

Even if we take that away from the picture, let’s talk about how Dhoni had made these statements even before they even got a chance. Three times - twice Ruturaj Gaikwad and once Narayan Jagadeesan and the CSK skipper came out with these comments. As not only for the franchise and its youngsters but also for IPL as an overall, this comment from the 39-year-old should be regarded as ‘irresponsible.’ To add to it, the right-handed Gaikwad scored an unbeaten 65 to take Chennai home, well skipp, he has a spark, doesn’t he?

Manish ‘Mojo’ Pandey makes a return

After Manish Pandey’s swashbuckling knock, where he scored 83 runs off just 47 deliveries, the right-hander was considered as being ‘back’ in business and should immediately retain his spot in the Indian team.

SC’s Take: If holding horses was an art, Indians and especially, SRH fans could never be the artist, as they jump the gun too early. Manish Pandey this season has been terrible, nowhere close to what he used to do, be it for India, be it for Karnataka, or whichever team he played. His strike-rate was always falling and had to settle for a strike-rate of 120s, which isn’t the worst but considering his calibre and the promise that he showed last season, 120s is the mere he would get for such skills. He’s scored the runs and has always done it this season but when the team needs him to get the scores and finish off the games, the right-hander has gone missing or put the others in a tricky position.

It is not the first time Pandey has batted this way and it is high time he doesn’t continue to bat the same way. After that game against RR, the fans who flocked to blow the trumpet came back to reality after watching what he was made of in the next game, with a 29-ball 15 at a strike-rate of 51.72, which ruined any hopes of SRH making it to the play-off stage, all because of one knock. So with that, the overreaction too hopefully comes to an end.

Mumbai and Delhi should play 2020 IPL Final

Twitter took the points table really seriously and wanted to put an end to the IPL by calling an immediate final between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals to cap the 2020 IPL season.

SC’s Take: Now, it would be both interesting and intriguing to see an IPL final pan that way, especially given that Delhi are going through their worst patch in the tournament, at this late stage. Well, it is the IPL, anything can happen and funnier things have happened in the past, where teams have looked like topping the table before getting knocked out in the last stage. Now, Delhi are nervously looking on toppling the records, with three losses out of their last five games. They have played one game more than RCB, and have the same points.

The beauty of IPL is that, what do the teams do in such situations, where they will have to rise up and above from such a miserable position. If Delhi and Mumbai indeed were going to play the final, it would be a highly one-sided encounter, as Mumbai are miles ahead of the Delhi franchise, both in terms of experience and in terms of combination. And for all those reasons, let’s just for the sake of god, leave the tournament as it is and play it through, instead of jumping the gun.

Mohammed Siraj must be picked for T20 World Cup

Suddenly overnight, Mohammed Siraj found himself in all predictions to be picked in the Indian squad for the much-hyped 2021 T20 World Cup in India.

SC’s Take: Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Shami, and Deepak Chahar - these are the list of bowlers who have previously played for India recently in the T20 format or have expressed themselves well in the IPL. Now, Siraj adds to the list but the worrying aspect about that is, this train is seemingly heading at a pace that could wreck them in the future. We have seen it before when Umesh Yadav was put in the Indian squad after a hype season in the IPL, that’s really how the hype works in the tournament and hopefully, you too didn’t get carried away by it.

Mohammed Siraj’s spell against Kolkata Knight Riders was by far, one of the best by an Indian bowler but that shouldn’t warrant a place for him in the T20 World Cup squad. Instead, if you are all about justice, then put in your efforts elsewhere because Siraj is an exceptional red-ball bowler and if anything, India should have picked him for the Test format and not white-ball format, so just put that word in the selectors’ ears lads!