Latest from the teams!

As you must have seen, an official ACL blog has come out with the explicit (read superficial) intention to communicate official (read censored) updates and messages. Given that bulk of the ACL machinations happen behind closed doors or private discussions it is no surprise that no official updates have made their way to the official blog. Clearly with ACL beginning this week a lot must be happening. This takes me to the purpose of this blog – to share with you all the updates that official updates cannot ever provide. So here it is:

a.     Craydit’s Moan: Craydit was moaning towards the end of last week. It is rumoured that he has been off to lift his spirits in a very relaxing place on the west coast of India. The reason for that has been two fold. A – The sponsorship deal with Iodex Pain Relief fell through. He is estimating the loss at ½ a box of pain balm for each person plus a cap that each player would have got for the dancing during strategic time-outs. Somebody needs to help him understand the difference between potential earnings and losses. B – All of his matches have been slotted to happen during the first two slots (i.e. in the heat). The chances of this accidentally happening is slim but that is how it goes in Lalit Modi’s ACL. The last match incidentally is against Supernova which means that Supernova has the best chance to do whatever they need to do to go to the knockouts against arguably the weakest team in the competition. Craydit, alongwith all the leadership in his team – Bypa, Ennit-IIMB, Bevda Bihari, No Shake Sutra, Raja Murad (DQ), etc., did appeal to Lalit Modi but after ‘due consideration’ it was squashed.

b.     Einstein’s Surprise: It is only this week that most of the teams owners/icon players realized that most of the players on their teams do not know each other/that they have to get real practice with a bat and ball. Einstein was really perturbed when Takla (he has joined back which has the drawback that everyone has to be careful about Betaal’s public displays of emotion for Takla) mentioned about real practice. He was of the opinion that as players have attended his and Basanti’s intense data mining sessions about cricket they should be able to do perfectly well on the field. Takla, witnesses say, really would have plucked out any hairs if he had any left. Sumi was looking lost all throughout; his role in the team is still work in progress.

c.     Let’s learn to sledge: That has been the mantra of Gladrags these days. Apparently he has been so happy with Another Bun’s and Kallizabaan’s sledging one on ones that he has entered into a dialogue with HR folks about launching an A&R LMS module on it. It is his contention that sledging can prove useful in having difficult conversations in many scenarios. Team members in Gladrags org beware – you might hear interesting words in the middle of a conversation. I support him in the noble effort – at least for the sake of watching it from the sidelines.

d.     Vandal’s Goal: Vindaloo has been proving himself to be an adept leader. He has been setting only one expectation with his players – defeat Supernova. By setting the bar so low, he has, in one masterstroke, set his team for exceeds expectation (in all probability Vandals should do it easily) and taken off all pressure of the ‘settled team’ tag. Strategic, but disappointing, don’t you think?

e.     Supernova’s Surrender: They know that they are one of the weaker teams and they have given up any pretence to competing. They are now looking up to Lalit Modi to deliver his value (8x the base price). He has been at it as documented in this post but how far it can go? Except for Heyram’s brilliance nothing can save the team from a bottom 2 spot. The only thing going for Supernova this time has been Psycat’s lack of involvement; I hear his enthusiasm is very dispiriting and disturbing for others. I would agree having heard of him running after ACL 1 finals.

f.       BR Hills steady steps: I love this team and they are doing all the right things. They started with the training earlier than others and it seems their players are already good at blocking the ball with the bat (while batting) and pitching the ball on the pitch (while bowling). This might seem fundamental but given the disorganization in others teams it gives them a great chance. The only worrying factor for BR Hills has been the unsolicited advice that team owner Black Label is freely distributing to him and his players. It is known that BR Hills has to take additional therapy sessions (himself and for his players) to remove the unnecessary advice.

As you know now a lot of things are happening. I will back for you on Friday morning with match day predictions. Until then thanks for tuning in and adios!