Hemang Badani picked up the Man-of-the-Match award for his 45-ball 51 against Delhi Giants © ICL

Hi everyone. I hope you all had a very happy and safe Diwali, and I wish all of you a very happy and prosperous year ahead. I was fortunate enough to have some time off, as our next match is only on November 2, so I took the opportunity to return to Chennai and spend Diwali with my family. I�..m now back in Delhi and looking forward to the next game in Chandigarh.

The last match in Delhi, against the home team was a game where I was looking to make some improvements, as I wasn�..t very happy with the way I batted against the Hyderabad Heroes. You just can�..t get out after getting set with 20-odd and five overs remaining. So even though we had a sleepy and tired flight out of Ahmedabad immediately after our match, we made sure we got a lot of practice before this one. Delhi was also much cooler than Ahmedabad, and we got a good look at the wicket, which looked low and slow. There were tons of insects flying around as well, and I couldn�..t avoid swallowing a couple myself!

On match day, we got in early, keeping in mind that we had to drive from Delhi to Gurgaon. There was an excellent turnout at the ground, creating the sort of noise and buzz that�..s always encouraging. We won the toss and chose to bat, but suffered blows early, losing Ian Harvey and Russel Arnold quickly. Both these guys have been in terrific form and when we slipped to 24 for 3, it was far from the best start we�..ve had.

Continue reading "A satisfying return to form"

	Ian Harvey ensured Chennai Superstars were off to a flying start against Hyderabad Heroes © ICL

Once again, I start off a post with an apology to you, dear readers, but I hope I can make up for it as the season progresses. It�..s been a roller-coaster ride for me these past couple of weeks, and unfortunately luck didn�..t smile on me at the start of the tournament and I was out with a bad back just as things were kicking off. It continued, and during our first full practice session after all the international players arrived, Stuart Law was struck on the toe by a Rajamani Jesuraj yorker, giving him a hairline fracture that kept him out for a couple of weeks as well. But our squad has the depth to overcome these challenges, as the start of the tournament proved - we won our first couple of games convincingly, and it�..s always good to get some momentum going early.

Game 3 against the Chandigarh Lions was a bit disappointing though, as we came close to winning and I thought we had gotten a bit complacent and did not do the small things well - we didn�..t bowl the right lengths, dropped catches and didn�..t rotate the strike while batting either. From a personal point of view, it was frustrating - it�..s never a good feeling to be sitting on the sidelines.

Some of the disappointment of being injured was reduced by having my family with me at the beginning of the tournament. Having been away from them for over a month, it was great to have them here and be able to spend some quality time with them. They loved the awesome opening ceremony, which was a blast, with lots of performances from the Shiamak Davar Academy, a great fireworks show, and a spectacular acrobatics performance with an acrobat suspended from an air balloon! On the whole, it was a great show and lots of fun.

Continue reading "Back in business"

	Chennai Superstars managed a five-match winning streak on the back of some blistering innings from G Vignesh © ICL

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.

Continue reading "Looking back, looking ahead "

	Chennai had a five-match winning streak from the start of the domestic tournament © Getty Images

Our coach Michael Bevan is already here and working with us to develop our routines and strategies for the international tournament coming up, and the benefits of our preparation are starting to show. We�..ve gotten off to a great start this season in the domestic 20-20 tournament, and are currently maintaining a perfect record. We started against the Mumbai Champs, where we recovered from a poor start to get 143, with yours truly getting 30 and R Satish getting 58, winning comfortably in the end. The second game against the Chandigarh Lions was a tighter affair. We have been bowling and fielding superbly throughout, and kept them down to 125, but nearly made a mess of the chase after a superb start. I�..m particularly irritated at having gotten myself run out after scoring 16 off a single over. It got tense in the end as we needed 15 off the last two, but we got home with a ball to spare. It�..s what the 20-20 format is all about, though, and a win is a win, we�..re happy to take it. We hope to keep the wining streak going, and I�..ll be keeping you updated in my next posts. Wish us luck.

Continue reading "Flying high, diving deep, rocking on"

	Players like Shahriar Nafees and Alok Kapali are welcome additons to the ICL fold © AFP

Things are certainly starting to happen - on the field, off the field and online. I�..m overwhelmed by the response to my first post, and would like to thank all of you who read it, and hope you�..ll keep participating with your thoughts and reactions. I appreciate the encouragement, and for those with the slightly opposite point of view, I�..d just like to say that all we�..re trying to do is make our careers playing cricket, the great game that we�..ve dedicated our lives to.

My excitement at welcoming our latest team, the Dhaka Warriors, is tinged with the disappointment of hearing about the 10-year ban slapped on these players. More teams and more competition will only continue to improve the league, and provide a better experience to the viewing public. The combination of the experience of players like Habibul Bashar and Mohammad Rafique and the exciting young talents of Aftab Ahmed and Shahriar Nafees will definitely provide a fresh challenge for all the teams.

As a cricketer, I think that the more avenues for people to make careers in cricket, the better it is for the game. It will only encourage more and more people to take up the game seriously. Which is why I welcomed the news that Sri Lanka Cricket had decided to reverse their ban, and allow the Sri Lankan ICL players and umpires to return to their domestic set-up. Going forward, I sincerely hope that more and more boards follow this example, and continue to allow players and officials access to opportunities to fulfill their dreams.

Continue reading "Good news, bad news"

	Saman Jayantha in the outfield: superior training methods and back-up staff has led to many such efforts © ICL

The second season of the ICL is about to get underway, and as far I'm concerned it's not a moment too soon. One of the best things about being with the ICL is that it allows me to have a great career playing competitive cricket while still affording me enough time to pursue other interests and spend time with my family - a luxury most modern professional cricketers don't have. With all the talk of burnout, mental stress and the like doing the rounds in the international circuit these days, I'm grateful that I've had the opportunity to rest, recharge and get myself fit. Having said that, I've been itching to pick up a bat for a little while now. I'm really looking forward to the new season that begins with a camp in Bangalore for the India-based players.

Continue reading "Raring to go"