Dear readers, please accept my apologies for not updating the diary for so long. That hectic schedule I was talking about in the last post certainly caught up with me.
It..s good to be back at the Lahiri Resorts in Hyderabad, with its excellent facilities. Not just for cricket, mind you, though the ground, gym, pool and bowling machine facilities are all top notch. We also have access to the golf course, boating, water slides and even paintball. Given that we are about an hour and a half away from the city, it..s great that there is so much to do.
I have also had time to look back on the rest of the domestic 20-20 tournament. We continued where I left of on my last post with wins in games 3, 4 and 5 .. a five-match winning streak - on the back of some excellent bowling throughout by R Jesuraj and some smashing knocks by our allrounder ..Bunk. .. better known as G Vignesh.
Game 3 was against the Delhi Giants, where Hemanth Kumar and Vignesh took us to a score of 167 for 7 and we restricted them to 143, with Jesuraj getting 3 for 10 off his four overs. In game 4 we put the Ahmedabad Rockets in and restricted them to a paltry 116. We did however try our best to make the game exciting by almost messing up the chase, and got there with just three balls to spare. We were back to our best in the next match, against the Royal Bengal Tigers, a tough game on a very up and down wicket. We got to 146 thanks to a blazing innings of 72 off 45 balls from Vignesh, which was an amazing effort on that wicket. Jesuraj again worked up real pace with great consistency, and supported by Satish, restricted them to 128.
Bengal will miss Pritam Das, who tore a knee ligament and will be out of action for at least six months. I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish him well and I look forward to his speedy recovery.
After six days on continuous travel and play without a single off day, we were all a bit sore and tired, especially coming out of the off season. So for Game 6 against the Hyderabad Heroes, we decided to mix it up a little. Having already qualified for the finals, we decided to shuffle the batting order to give everyone a go with a view to match practice before the finals and the international tournament coming up. The result was that we were 9 for 4 and then 19 for 5 before our openers, Vignesh and Hemanth, batting way down the order, took us to the relative respectability of 123, with DT Kumaran smashing two sixes in the last two overs.
This just confirmed what we suspected: the middle order, which includes me, has a lot of thinking (and work) to do. Our bowlers gave it a fair go, and if not for some very ordinary fielding, dropped catches and missed run-outs, we might have actually pulled it off. As it was, they scraped home with three balls to spare, and ruined our perfect record.
Although this was our seventh day of playing or traveling on the trot, we were clear this was no excuse and that the fielding standards needed to be lifted. However, we were certainly glad of the two-day break which followed, getting some much needed rest and some time of in the lovely city of Hyderabad, soaking it in with a bit of shopping and eating out added to the mix.
On the day of the final, we won the toss and elected to bat against Chandigarh. We had a superb start, reaching 68 for 2 off eight overs. Vignesh played some awesome shots in getting 48 of 32 balls, including 25 off one Amit Uniyal over. However, in spite of me finally finding some form and some runs with 51 off 42 balls, we only managed 136 in the end. It was a disappointing score, considering the start we got, but I thought it was defendable and our bowlers started off as if they were proving me right, reducing them to 21 for 3 in six overs. But Dinesh Mongia..s partnership with Gaurav Gupta - 84 in 10 overs - took the match away from us, with a little help from our fielding. They lost only four wickets in winning the title.
All in all, a good start to the season for our team. It..s always disappointing to lose a final and there are a few things to iron out both on a personal note and on the team front, but we are clearly one of the stronger teams so far, and in contention for bigger things. Even better news is that Nantie Hayward from South Africa will be joining us, which will provide us with some genuine pace that always helps in looking for those early wickets.
Nantie is just one of the many international stars who are going to be on show and I hope you..re all eagerly looking forward to the ICL international 20-20s beginning in just a few days. I know I can..t wait for it to start and the excitement is rapidly building up here among all the teams. Enjoy the cricket, and remember that I..ll always be here to give you guys the inside scoop.
Comments
Posted by: mudit at October 8, 2008 9:29 PM
good to hear 4m badani, who at one time was india's future batting star. i hope these players will be allowed to play in ICC events. best of luck to badani and his team
Posted by: chichi at October 9, 2008 7:11 AM
Given a chance some of the guys in Chennai Superstars will give the Indian team members a run for there Money!!!
Posted by: Abhishek at October 10, 2008 5:03 AM
Hey Hemang,
with the season-2 getting underway, all the very best to you & 'Chennai Superstars'.
We look forward to an exciting 20-20 series and will wait for some juicy tit-bits from you on the series & "RAKHI SAWANT" :)
Posted by: Andy 'the-psycho-dude' at October 10, 2008 5:34 AM
Hey Hemang,
Looking forward to some crackalacking knocks from your willow-axe....all the best and keepOn_rocking!
Sorry could not catch you at Eagleton..but great blog post...
Posted by: Harsh Mehta at October 12, 2008 8:44 AM
hi hemang,
why u did not play The game vs DHAKA WARRIORS ? Heard u hv a back injury. in how much time u will be fit ? YOu are 1 of the players who has been brutely treated by the BCCI. I rem they took you to pakistan and after that dropped you and the reason they gave " He is not fit" as in hasnt played enough matches and dropped you. newayz you fought back and are doing well in ICL . Keep the good work going
Posted by: Srini at October 12, 2008 2:18 PM
Hi Hemang, Nice to see u grow as a cricketer, feel sorry due to the south tag on u we couldnt see much of ur talents being exposed, but as a fellow cricketer (YSCA) i had seen u play right from Santhome school team till where ur now.
Good Luck Dude for this new season, i think ICL are doing wonders for guys like u.
Posted by: Sridhar at October 14, 2008 5:26 AM
You are one of my favorites Hemang. In fact, I still remember the match saving innings you played for India on numerous occasions. I felt we found the Bevan of Australia... Thanks to Stupid Saurav who was succesful at eliminating people esp. from Chennai - Robin Singh, S. Ramesh, Yourself.... the list goes on... Keep up the great work. Chennai superstars vs. IPL champs should be a good match to watch...
Posted by: dhandapani at October 17, 2008 10:35 AM
Hi hemang,get well soon buddy.i would like to see you very soon in the cricket field,take care.All the best.........
Posted by: Shankar at October 18, 2008 6:43 PM
Dear Hemang,
It was an outstanding match today. The fielding was topclass.All cricket lovers I met are in favor of ICL and breaking monopoly of BCCI. Please pass the information to Himanshu Modi to prepare a cassette of outstanding cricket played in ICL and send it to all news channels across world.Please broadcast the great moments of ICL in Zee Sports.Like Stuart Law's catch today to dismiss cairns,Nantie's catch caught and bowled to dismiss TP Singh . The only way to convince ICC is to show the quality of cricket and say that if ICC does not respect quality then cricket will die. This cassette must also be given to the legal departement to present to the judges the quality of cricket,ICC norms on dope testing etc. I am sure they will be all doing it but I feel the ICL can convince any one by presenting the Quality of cricket played be it batting,bowling or fielding.Best of Luck
Posted by: Palaniappan at October 22, 2008 10:11 AM
Dear Hemang,
U are one of my favourite players with all round skills...Be it Batting, fielding or bowling, i love the way u do it...Esp ur top class elegant stroke play... I would love to see u bowl too... Keep up the good work and win us the Championship this time around... All the best...
With regards, Palaniappan
Posted by: praveen at October 22, 2008 12:56 PM
i am a cricketer playing for 1st div in chennai how can i play for ICL please tell your sugessions
Posted by: Bishan Singh at October 27, 2008 3:14 AM
Hemang, nice to read your blog. When we met at Ramanashree with Sriram & Harish, I had never thought such a good talent wouldn't play for India anymore. Hope there's still a chance with ICL's acceptance & talent being looked at rather than age alone.
You are playing well right now. Liked your six you hit in one of the recent matches.
Carry on mate. You are good. Wish you all the best!
Posted by: Shashi at November 3, 2008 11:24 AM
What is the need for playing cricket? will you please answer me one thing? Why you people playing cricekt? No spectator, no audience, 0.4 TRP. Just a tamasha with no meaning. Fighting each other and one day lions are champion. What lions means? NOTHING.
Posted by: Ashis Kumar Bhowmik at November 4, 2008 1:18 PM
What about Dhaka Warriors!!! They are flying....
Posted by: Jalal Ahmed at November 8, 2008 10:57 AM
BCCI& the management are behaving a cartel which is against spirit of freedom. If both ICL & IPL coexist they will outdo one another. Why Reuter & other news agencies not reporting ICL matches? CRICINFO is not giving the table showing the relative position of the teams and is not discussing prospects of the probables at the top
Posted by: Jalal Ahmed at November 8, 2008 10:58 AM
BCCI& the management are behaving a cartel which is against spirit of freedom. If both ICL & IPL coexist they will outdo one another. Why Reuter & other news agencies not reporting ICL matches? CRICINFO is not giving the table showing the relative position of the teams and is not discussing prospects of the probables at the top
Posted by: Shashi at November 12, 2008 1:25 PM
No need to play cricket. Go and take rest
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Hemang Badani played four Tests and 40 ODIs for India. The high point of his international career was his 98-ball hundred against Australia in Pune. In a distinguished first-class career, he scored 5558 runs at 47.91, 3881 of them for Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy, at an average of 51.74. Among his more memorable knocks was the century in a chase of 377 in the 2002-03 final, but Tamil Nadu fell short on that occasion. After the 2006-07 season, he joined the ICL.
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