IPL players are chasing contracts: Harsha Bhogle

He's a well known face on television, especially when a cricket match is in progress. With former players sharing several technical views on the sport, Harsha Bhogle is often viewed as someone who balances his thoughts between the informative and the interesting aspects. CT got talking to him on the sidelines of his recent book launch in the city.

IPL 4: This season of the IPL has exposed the lack of quality of our domestic cricket. We don't have good enough players. It looks like a lot of them are chasing contracts! The other thing I've noticed is that players who've done well in the previous seasons are fading out. They are trying to be halfhour players; but for that, you'll need to first be a good four-day player!

Changes in the commentary box: I don't know about the changes in clothing for commentators because that's something the producer decides. As far as the three-commentator experiment goes, they're trying three points of view at the same time. I think it works if all three commentators have a good understanding with each other. But if they don't, there's no respite for the viewer. Sometimes it works, sometime it doesn't. I feel that sometimes, there needs to be silence too during a cricket telecast.

Time tales! In most cities, if you tell people to come for an event at 6.30 pm, you can rest assured that the event will start only an hour later. Keeping that in mind, for my book launch at 6.30 pm, I thought it would be safe to tell people to land up at 7 pm. But guess what, almost everybody was on time. Chennai just freaks me out! But seriously, it's so beautiful that it's a quality I strive for.

TOI

Impressive Aravind admits to not bowling well in IPL final

CHENNAI: Royal Challengers Bangalore's left-arm seamer Sreenath Aravind, the third highest wicket-taker in the IPL this season with a tally of 21 wickets from 13 matches, expressed disappointment at the defeat in the final to the Chennai Super Kings and felt that he also contributed to the loss by not bowling well.

"I bowled on the wrong lines. It is a lesson for me. I have said it is a batsmen's game, but one day the bowlers too will dominate. It is part and parcel of the game," said the 27-year old who went for 39 runs in his three overs, but took two wickets.

"We could have won this match. I was dreaming to win. It is unfortunate but part of the game. It was dream come true for me to take lots of wickets.

"I was well supported by Zaheer Khan and Daniel Vettori and especially coach Venkatesh Prasad."

While tacitly admitting that the absence of fast bowler Dirk Nannes (who was later replaced by Chris Gayle), Aravind felt that it provided opportunity for other players.

"Missing one player or some, it is part of the game. For that matter, we miss him, but it is a chance for youngsters to show their mettle and come up well in their career," said Aravind, a relatively late bloomer on the domestic circuit having made his first class debut only three seasons ago.

However, Aravind has been a revelation in this year's IPL and was a key member in the team that topped the league table and eventually finished runners-up.

"During the last two years, I have been improving a lot on each day by watching the seniors. I can say that in Karnataka, many people are helping me out in domestic circuit.

"Players like Robin (Uthappa), Vinay (Kumar), (Sunil) Joshi and my coach Sanath Kumar have been helping me a lot. This has helped me to build my confidence levels. I am looking forward to do better," said Aravind.

Taking an overview of his own performance in the IPL, he said: "Every delivery is a learning lesson for me. I have learnt how to bowl to good and experienced batsmen in such a competitive field. Zaheer Khan had been telling me how to hit right areas and bringing variations," he said.

TOI

Sticking to basics was key to Vijay's IPL success

CHENNAI: The decision to stick to basics and work on his singles rather than playing just the big shots were the key to his success, said opening batsman Murali Vijay whose knock of 95 paved the way for Chennai Super Kings' 58-run win against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League final in Chennai on Saturday.

"Personally, I was missing out on lot of singles in some of the previous games because Hussey is more of a timer and I was trying to play of my skin," said Vijay at the post-match media conference held in the early hours of Sunday.

"I had thought I could have ran a lot more singles for myself as well Hussey and the team's cause for a momentum. I was working on it consciously and today, I went out for it and excelled as well.

"I was batting well today. I was confident about my tasks and did not worry much about anything else. My only worry was that I was getting 30s and 40s and was thinking about performing.

"Everybody in our team was performing well. I raised my hand and said to myself that this is going to be my day and I succeeded."

Vijay was overjoyed that the Super Kings retained the trophy and said that although he was disappointed at missing out on a century, it was more important that the team won.

"A bit (disappointed) now. But at that time, I was trying to hit the ball because the wicket was deteriorating and I thought a total of 220 might be a good score.

"In this format, any total could be chased by the rivals. I tried to clear (the field) but it did not come out in the way that I wanted. However, I am happy that the team won," said Vijay who earlier in the week was selected for next month's Indian team's tour of the West Indies.

After having gone through a lean patch in the IPL this season, Vijay said he was determined to come out on top in the final, but did not bat any differently than he had previously.

"Actually, I was not trying to do anything differently. I was trying to see the ball and hit it when it was in my areas. I knew that if I bat well for the first six overs, then I can take it from there. I was just working on the basics."

On the forthcoming tour of the Caribbean, Vijay said that he was hoping to perform well in the Test series.

"I am enjoying this moment and looking on to improve on all aspects of my cricket, batting and everything. I am looking forward to join the Indian team in the Tests in which I really love to carry the momentum and do well," he said.

TOI

Impressive Aravind admits to not bowling well in IPL final

CHENNAI: Royal Challengers Bangalore's left-arm seamer Sreenath Aravind, the third highest wicket-taker in the IPL this season with a tally of 21 wickets from 13 matches, expressed disappointment at the defeat in the final to the Chennai Super Kings and felt that he also contributed to the loss by not bowling well.

"I bowled on the wrong lines. It is a lesson for me. I have said it is a batsmen's game, but one day the bowlers too will dominate. It is part and parcel of the game," said the 27-year old who went for 39 runs in his three overs, but took two wickets.

"We could have won this match. I was dreaming to win. It is unfortunate but part of the game. It was dream come true for me to take lots of wickets.

"I was well supported by Zaheer Khan and Daniel Vettori and especially coach Venkatesh Prasad."

While tacitly admitting that the absence of fast bowler Dirk Nannes (who was later replaced by Chris Gayle), Aravind felt that it provided opportunity for other players.

"Missing one player or some, it is part of the game. For that matter, we miss him, but it is a chance for youngsters to show their mettle and come up well in their career," said Aravind, a relatively late bloomer on the domestic circuit having made his first class debut only three seasons ago.

However, Aravind has been a revelation in this year's IPL and was a key member in the team that topped the league table and eventually finished runners-up.

"During the last two years, I have been improving a lot on each day by watching the seniors. I can say that in Karnataka, many people are helping me out in domestic circuit.

"Players like Robin (Uthappa), Vinay (Kumar), (Sunil) Joshi and my coach Sanath Kumar have been helping me a lot. This has helped me to build my confidence levels. I am looking forward to do better," said Aravind.

Taking an overview of his own performance in the IPL, he said: "Every delivery is a learning lesson for me. I have learnt how to bowl to good and experienced batsmen in such a competitive field. Zaheer Khan had been telling me how to hit right areas and bringing variations," he said.

TOI

Chennai home to IPL final again in 2012

CHENNAI: Chennai partied like never before on Saturday night, with celebrations around Chepauk and the Marina beach going on well past midnight, and now it seems there might be more revelry in store. Not only did cricket buffs here get to see Indian Premier League (IPL) team Chennai Super Kings retain their crown, the city may get to see the IPL 5 final too following decisions made by the IPL governing council.

The IPL committee has taken a decision that the team that wins the tournament will get to host the final the following year. "The IPL commission has taken a decision on those lines and as of now, next year's final will be in Chennai," a senior BCCI functionary told TOI. This is, of course, an added incentive for franchisees to go for maximum. Earlier, there used to be a bidding process for the IPL final, with the host-status going to the highest bidder.

CSK players are elated that the final will be back in Chennai. "It's a big boost for us. We have played well right through the tournament here and we know how to go about it," a senior CSK player said. The champions won all the eight matches they played at the Chepauk this year, with only a couple of games against Kolkata Knight Riders and Deccan Chargers going down to the wire.

Dhoni left 'a bit disappointed'!

On Saturday night, as the team partied hard after the game, skipper MS Dhoni sat glued to a TV set at a nightclub, watching Barcelona take on Manchester United in the Champions League final. "Dhoni is a big United fan. So he was a bit disappointed after his favourite team lost. But then, the mood in the camp was such that the disappointment didn't linger long," a source said.

CSK's owners too are delighted with the team's performance. TOI has learnt that the management will put in another Rs 10 crore - in addition to the Rs 10 crore IPL prize money the team won on Saturday - and the entire booty will be distributed among players and support staff.

However, all the players looked tired and with flights to catch on Sunday, the celebrations were called off earlier than planned. After all, quite a few players in the team will be leaving for the Caribbean soon to take on the Windies.

TOI