IPL I Candies

Some things in this IPL, have been candy to the eye.

Keep calm boys.. We are not talking about the cheer leaders here . When its cricket, the game itself is an eye candy for all. But still here are some things that you can always expect to be awesome.

1) Rahul Dravid’s Charm
The brand ambassador of cricket and his decisions on the field is known all over the world. Looking at him you will understand how some keep calm all the time. Leading the Rajasthan Royals from the front, they won all the home games being played at Sawai Man Singh stadium. A very rare feat in IPL when you play 8 different teams with different strengths and hence they called it their fortress. Qualifying for the play-offs, this Rajasthan looks very similar to the Rajasthan we knew of the 1st IPL season. You may support any other team in the IPL, but you can never hate the Rajasthan Royals.
Matthew Hayden once said “All this goings on in the field is not aggression. If you want to see real aggression, watch into Rahul Dravid’s eyes”. Very rightly said! Aggression is something not to be shown but to be had in oneself. Take all that aggressive energy to the field and show them with the play.
And Rahul’s action does prove his charm. His decision to call back an appeal against Adam Gilchrist for a run-out when the ball had hit him from a fielder made us love Rahul Dravid more. Win or lose becomes a matter of just stats when you have someone like Rahul to look up to.
2) MS Dhoni’s Strategies
Harward College students had mapped Dhoni’s brain to see how he reads the oppositions minds. Some very nice results have come out with that too proving that he does everything with his gut feelings obviously combined with the experienced cricket knowledge he possesses.
Time after time, he has been questioned and he has come back to his critics harder. Performing superbly well himself, he has been leading the team from the front!
Bringing in new players like Chris Morris and Holder, he must be having some good sessions with them before deciding on them. Who says IPL does good only to the Indian cricket, it gets other countries to decide on their new talents too, given Dhoni keeps trying new players and make them super cool in the cricket field.
The captain always has a big role in setting up the field. Dhoni is always seen making changes to his field for every batsman and depending on where his bowlers will bowl.
And he is as cool as cucumber that you can not even make out that he must be feel something on losing or on winning.  A wide smile is his characteristic. They can hold a reality show on him with the task to be “Dhoni ko Gussa Dilao”.
3) Dale Steyn’s Pace
One thing which will be very contradictory to IPL ,  IPL – the format of cricket which deals with muscle power of the batsman’s bat and the one which the crowd loves especially when the ball rolls over to the fence. This game gets the blood rushing with continuous hits over the fence. BUT!
When Dale Steyn bowls, you just expect the ball to do some snake swings and bounce. Science says that as you get older, your speed reduces. Over the past 5 years, Dale Steyn’s pace has increased by 3 miles per hour and bounce by 5 more inches. This guy can bowl even on sand make it bounce higher than the so called fast bowlers of these days.
The best by far of this time in world cricket. Brisk run-up, quick action and fluent speed. He is the reason for the applauds and fear Sunrisers bring with them.
The Sunrisers team have been hammered for 180 plus scores a couple of times this IPL. But the hammering has been done only in the rest 16 overs. 4 overs of Dale Steyn have always yielded the opposition runs less than 6 runs per over.
Take a bow, Dale Steyn !

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