Dil-HAAAARA re..

Dihaara Fernando is a superlative fool. Mother Nature's biggest blunder since Djimi Traore(ex-liverpool, and thank goodness its "ex" now). The Queen's language is found wanting when one seeks to describe the idiocy this man embodies. I mean, he's an INTERNATIONAL level player, for crying out loud! Eleven months in a year, he shares the dressing room with players the like of Sanath Jayasuriya and Muthaiah Muralitharan and the last one with Shaun Pollock and Sachin Tendulkar. Mag haa asaa bawlat kasa?

The word "resentment", i think, puts things nicely into perspective. As a fellow who is born in Mumbai, spent 13 formative years there and later enjoyed many more vacations, has supported its Ranji team for 14 years or otherwise basically loved (the better parts) of the city, it is infinitely difficult to accept the fact that Mumbai's team lost 5, that's right, 5 whole games in the last over. I mean, if you want to lose, lose comprehensively i say. What is the point in starting well getting the hopes up only to get 3 run-outs in the last over? :x

And i'd like to direct a fair bit of this acrimony, and a battery of "the-f-word" toward the coach. Lalchand Rajput, i believe his name is. I may, perhaps, be a mere novice here, but let me explain how he has led the team to its grave downfall.

First rule. It is alright to experiment when you are loosing, or when you have won enough games to qualify. If you stick to a loosing combination, you being stupid. You are being similarly stupid if you sorely need to win and you keep tinkering around with your winning combination. Even a man with meager intelligence as Rafa Benitez(Liverpool again) understands that. If Yogesh Takawale 'keeps well, bats well, why on earth would you kick him out? Why would you keep Pollock, on the brink of hitting form out? Why would you replace Rohan Raje, a bowler of reasonable caliber out to accomodate some ridiculous "spinner" who cannot bat? If you want a spinner, why not Tendulkar? Or Jayasuriya? If Abhishek Nayar is bowling well, why not let him continue? Why persist with that Dilhaara Fernando nonsense? Why be so unreasonably keen to bowl poor 19-year-old Raje in the death, when he clearly buckles under pressure, and when you have a player TWICE his age and a million times more experienced and feared as Shaun Pollock? Why play put the in-form Nayar in soupy positions coming in at number 6 when he could CLEARLY do a better job at 3 than Utthapa? And why not have a man of Utthapa's raw power at 6? Why tenaciously continue with Dwayne Smith when he clearly looked hazy, and when you have Dominick Thornely, an outrageous hitter, waiting? Loots Bosman waiting? And the finally, why play Dilhaara Fernando, who is, by a huge stretch of imagination, merely an ordinary bowler and an extraordinarily horrible fielder and batsman when you have Andre Nel? Did you know Nel has a economy rate below 6?!? Its Godly in T20!

On the bright side, after a few initial hiccups, Jayasuriya entertained like never before. He made mincemeat out of Chennai and Akhtar. Shaun Pollock's bowling was immaculate although he didn't get the wickets to prove it. Sad that two of our best performers in a "young-man's-game" are 38 years old. I thought Ashish Nehra was better than most people made of him. He bowled some excellent bowls and got the wickets for it. At the same time he bowled a lot of ghastly ones that were sent packing. Patchy, i thought, but for someone playing after 2 years, quite good.


And I want Rohit Sharma back. He's from Mumbai and should play for Mumbai. Heaven knows what we could have done with an extra Indian in the middle order who was in such phenomenal form. And alongside Tendulkar and Jayasuriya, he'd be fireworks!