IPL Team trends - Part 1 of 2

I have restrained myself from blogging about cricket primarily because Cricket opinions are all over the place, and I do not really want my blog to be a "What do you think will happen in the match today?" or "Should Sachin play today?" kind of place. Having said that, I still post this IPL entry - after some of what I discussed with Ganesh the other day seemed too interesting to not talk about.
We were having a discussion on emerging trends with respect to each team and also on whether the auction - the way it panned out for each team was random or were there any patterns to the auction. I am now partly convinced that each team had clear motives to pick the kind of players they ended up buying and that these choices will hopefully pave the way for some very different team cultures and reputations as IPL reaches its second or third seasons. I hereby present our observations on each team -
Bangalore -

• All the world has been critical of its penchant for taking test match players - what it does hide is that Rahul Dravid could have looked for players with proven CVs. Such players could turn out to be reliable bets who would eventually groom the young brigade in Bangalore while also performing well in crunch situations.
• Picture this - while Chanderpaul, Kallis, Misbah, Dravid and Jaffer are not really big hitters - I am sure they will be the kind of guys (if you add Boucher to it) any captain would look for in big games.
• I see them as enablers of a young brigade, and I see Bangalore having a great team spirit and in the years to come - the team that is the Italy of Football - strategy kings.

Hyderabad -

• Flair, entertainment, explosive power, crowd pulling - these seem to be the buzzwords. Deccan Chronicle seems to have gone into an overdrive to pick the players that would serve as great ambassadors to drive its sales and branding. As a team - I still see it packing enough punches (Gibbs, Symonds, Gilchrist, Afridi) to do well. Thankfully - they have invested enough in good local players, but again they seem to go by entertainment value and buzz - Rohit Sharma and RP Singh are hot picks in any list. They could well turn out to be the Real Madrid of the IPL if they keep performing and keep the cash registers ringing.

Delhi -

• The team that I think has invested the smartest. There are enough patterns to conclude that this team wants to be the choker of opposition with its solidity. McGrath, Asif, Sangwan, Maharoof, YoMahesh, Amit Mishra is a solid and varied bowling attack and it is the team rich in its fundamentals. They have interestingly picked a solid batting line up with a lot of good local talent. This team wont suffer much from attrition and has a GOOD selling proposition in terms of attracting crowds (Gambhir, Sehwag, Dhawan, Rajat Bhatia, Mithun Manhas are all Delhi ranji players). It did help that Delhi are the Ranji champions though. I see this team as being a ManU of cricket with enough all round ability, solidity and pedigree to serve as a bastion of solidity and flair in the future. GMR seems to play cricket like its construction business - a strong focus on solidity and foundations.

Jaipur -

• Shane Warne's team - He clearly wants to build this team as the quintessential unit. The team is full of young talent who are raring to go. The captain calls all the shots, even the international players are not the kinds who will do their own thing. They all seem to chip in as per the captain's mandate. I see Gerrard in Warne and a lot of Liverpool in Jaipur. The conservative spending seems to be strategic given that Jaipur is not going to generate revenue to the same scale as say a Kolkata or a Chennai. And they have clearly chosen to invest in bright young stars (Taruwar Kohli, Shane Watson, Yusuf Pathan, Pankaj Singh) and enable these guys to literally grow with the team. This is a team very close to my heart. My best wishes to Warnie and I sincerely hope his inspiration, tact and vision serve his team well in the years to come. Emerging Media seems to be a fine name for the company that has backed this team.

Part 2 coming next.

Please feel free to voice your views on the same.