Deccan Chargers vs Rajasthan Royals Match Preview

IPL Season 2 Match No.40 : Deccan Chargers vs Rajasthan Royals
Day, Date and Venue: Monday, 11th May, De Beers Diamond Oval, Kimberley
Team Positions so far:
Deccan Chargers: Played 9, Won 5, Lost 4, Points 10, Net Run Rate: +0.125, Position: 4th
Rajasthan Royals: Played 10, Won 5, Lost 4, No Result 1, Points 11, Net Run Rate: -0.114, Position: 3rd

The Rajasthan Royals are the biggest surprise package of the Indian Premier League. They were dismissed as too weak a team at the start of IPL 2008 and they ended up as champions. After a couple of early losses in the IPL 2009 season, the expert were back to their old whinings: A team is only as good as its captain et cetera, et cetera. Not when Shane Warne is the captain - and to understand this simple fact you don't need to be an expert. You just need to read up a little bit of history, recent past or older, whichever you prefer. Whoever was worried about the Mongols before Chengiz Khan arrived on the scene? Who was afraid of the full-strength Deccan Chargers before another man took charge of a weakened Deccan Chargers?

A captain who was the weakest link in his team's batting line-up stood up with resolve one fine morning in Brisbane, and changed for ever the way India played cricket in Australia. History is replete with several examples where men of strength and character have not just stood up themselves, but raised the morale and stock of an entire lot, in trying and the most difficult of circumstances. The IPL is nothing really, by way of comparison. Yet, the basic principles remain the same. Warnie is just smart enough to understand that, and doing his job well.

Cricket is quite unlike many a other sport in many ways. For one, it is a physical sport yet the mental aspect is as important as the physical. The scope for decisions is wide, and every decision you take can be crucial. If you win the toss, do you bat first or second? Should you play an extra spinner? Does this batsman warrant an extra slip? 3rd slip or 4th? And these are only very few examples. Even in a Twenty20 game, a captain would have to take no less than a 100 decisions! And in close games, which is more the rule than the exception in IPL, even the smallest decisions count. If Brendon Mc Cullum had employed a slip in the match today against Delhi, a 4th wicket would have fallen in the 12th over. Who knows how things would have turned out from there on? Delhi never lost a 4th wicket and went on to win the match comfortably.

Shane Warne is not god, may be he too may not have used a slip if he were in the place of the beleagured Kiwi. But what he assures you of is that he will take more decisions correct than most other guys around. He can think, and that is not such a commonly found characteristic amongst sportspersmen. And that's what makes him a very good captain. Most of these guys who are telling you on your television screens that a captain is only as good as his team are former sportsmen, and I have already pointed out a characteristic they lack.

Shane Warne is what makes tomorrow's contest against the Deccan Chargers interesting. Else, on paper you can safely see the chasm between the two teams and decide the result beforehand. But ask the bookies, and they will tell you what the odds are. Unlike the experts on TV, the bookies don't get a fixed check at the end of the tournament. That's why the betting odds on Will Hill are always a better indicator of the future than predictions of former cricketers.

Current Odds on William Hill:

Deccan Chargers: 10/11, Rajasthan Royals: 10/11, Now go have a look at the teams!

Herrr Warne

"I don't know if he would even come here, but we will try and get him over....It might be something amusing for him to do, to come over and see cricket in Germany.....I have heard he is pretty generous with his time and it would be a massive boost for us even if he just came to have a look around....He might want to trace his ancestry over here, help us with some publicity or just come and have a beer...Of course, it would be incredible if he played for us, that is clearly a long way off...But I think there is more chance of him playing for Germany than England!"

- Utterances of the excited coach of the German national Cricket Team, Keith Thompson.

( Warnie, whose mother is a German was looking to acquire a German passport to help Hampshire free the slot of an overseas player)

Shane, Simone, Brooke, Jackson & Summer

"Amid speculations that Australian leg spinner Shane Warne and his wife Simone are on their way to a reunion after more than a year of separation, nearly 77 percent of women interviewed in a poll conducted said that Simone should not patch up with him."

News is that master-spinner Shane Warne has managed to spin his way back into estranged wife Simone Callaghan's life. After retiring from Australian cricket this year when Australia defeated England to reclaim the Ashes, Warne described Ms Callahan as "his rock". Looks like his efforts at wooing back Simone have finally succeeded.

The couple are reportedly planning to shift to Hampshire, where Warne has 2 more years of cricket left to play for the county. Simone has enrolled her children (Brooke, Summer and Jackson) in local schools in the United Kingdom. Also with them will be a football coach for one of their children, who will double up as the male nanny for the kids. Looking back at Shane's past, England is a brave and interesting choice on Simone's part to begin this fresh chapter !!

Here's wishing Mr. & Mrs. Warne a very happy married life, part 2.

****

If you are very rich and have an interest in Cricket memorabilia, there's a great souvenir up for the grabs - Shane's family mansion in Middle Crescent, Brighton is up for auction. (Estate agent Jonathan Dixon said the property, with tennis court and heated outdoor pool is expected to fetch between $9 million and $10 million, would now be marketed more aggressively.)