Brendon McCullum has had the worst fate among all his teammates. Simply because, he has had to explain all the losses his team have been facing to the media and others who have been hurling those questions relentlessly. Granted, it was his responsibility to face them, but, how long could one keep forking out reasons for one demoralizing defeat after another, when it was plain for everyone to see that it was a combination of ill-luck, pathetic bowling, lack of support for batsmen in form and a petulant owner who, instead of offering encouragement, flew back home suggesting that his team let him down, still getting publicity on the way?
A majority of the cricketing world agrees that the Aussies are a tough lot, revel in adversity and more often than not, ensure that their losses are well-earned for their opponents. McCullum fits this type, as he has a remarkable fighting spirit and an inspiring faith in his abilities in the face of a potentially soul-crushing challenge.
KKR were up against one of the pace-setters of this edition and while Chennai may have been off the boil for the last few matches, their back-up players are no less classy. Hayden and Murali have been rolling back the years in their respective departments, ably supported by Raina and Jakati. Indeed, if anything, their fielding has been their biggest let-down and despite Dhoni publicly pointing out that alarming deficiency, Chennai have done nothing to stem the rot, with Oram enrolling himself in the Butterfingers Brethren Court today. He won't be the last one, for sure.
One of my earlier posts was about how some matches were going down to the last over. I'd thought that was as close as it could get. How wrong I was. The last few matches have gone to the last ball. Deccan vs Kolkata. Deccan vs Punjab. And Kolkata vs Chennai today. This tournament is definitely not for the faint-hearted. Oh, I wasn't mentioning about playing!
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