Unbelievable as it may sound, yesterday Siva and I felt the urge to move out of the hotel for a couple of hours. It’s been a long time since we had paid for what we ate or drank and so just for the heck of it, we went to Brigade Road to have some beer in a pub.

Once done with the customary toast to RCB, Siva opened his laptop to upload the video he had prepared. A waiter positioned himself behind Siva to have a look at it. We both were wearing the team T-shirts at the time. He learnt from us, our role in RCB.

It was my turn to ask questions after that. We learnt that his name is Nagraj and that he is from Mangalore. He spoke Hindi fluently.

“Sir, how much is the ticket for our team’s match?” Nagraj finally gathered the courage to ask the question.

“Must be around 200”, I said.

“Sir, nothing in 100?” he enquired.

I nodded in negative without meeting his eyes.

“My son has been insisting on seeing the match Sir”

‘How old is he?”

‘Eleven, sir. His name is Karthik.”

I had seen my first live match when I was thirteen. I still remember every hour of it. It was the Hero Cup 1993 match between India and Zimbabwe which ended in a Tie. The match was during the same Diwali season and I had purchased a T-shirt with caricatures of Indian Players on it as my Diwali dress.

“The ticket for other team’s matches is cheaper” I suggested to Nagraj.

“Sir, what’s the point in watching a match in which our team is not playing”
I didn’t have an answer to that.

“Would you get a leave for the match?”

“Sir, I would take an off for my son. But I cannot spend more than 200 on the tickets”.

Siva and I tipped him well before leaving the pub. Let’s hope that tonight RCB provides entertainment enough for Karthik to keep jumping with joy, even if he is not able to join the team at the stadium.

Good morning folks.

So Victoria Bushrangers it is for dinner tonight.

As we did against the Otago Volts, we invite the strategies for tonight's match from our fans which would be validated by the team-analyst. This time we would want to go a little more granular.

Apart from the usual questions that were asked here, please also tell who you think are the danger-men and how should they be tackled.

There's a team-meeting at noon and we shall be updating you guys with what transpires there.

In a previous post here, we invited strategies from fans for the match against Otago Volts. We received a very good response to that. I shared the comments with Prasanna, the Team- Analyst and he liked the different views presented by the fans. Below are his answers to some of the questions raised in the aforementioned post:

Question: Why we chose to bat first after toss?
Prasanna: We knew that the wicket was crumbling and sixty overs would have been bowled on the same pitch by the time the second innings would have started. The wicket was already turning in the first match of the day and we had much better spinners to exploit the conditions.

Question: Why didn’t we play Dale Steyn?
Prasanna: It was a choice between Dale and Roelof due to the four-international-players-only constraint. Kallis and Ross are indispensible in the line-up at their respective batting positions. Boucher is the specialist keeper of the team. Since the pitch was crumbling and slow, a talent like Dale Steyn, unfortunately, had to sit out.

Question: Why was Manish replaced by Akhil?
Prasanna: In the team-composition and RCB’s strategy to pace the innings, it was clear that Manish had to bat at number six. We thought that Akhil is also a good batsman for that slot (Remember his 27 runs off 7 balls against the Deccan Chargers). Additionally, we knew that Akhil with his medium pace, variation and back of the hand deliveries on the slow nature of the wicket will be more helpful.
Prashant: Yesterday there was a poll running espnstar.com whether RCB is the side to be feared most. Majority voted RCB over Delhi Daredevils. We have some serious talent friends.

Question: Why not open the bowling with Kumble?
Prasanna: We could have tried that if we were to bowl first. But the moment we had a target of 188 we decided against experimentation. We had 8 overs from Kumble & Roelof and so we thought to use these overs in the middle to maximum effect when the ball becomes softer.

Question: What was our target score?
Prasanna: Our target score was, to be honest, 165. Ross walked in and scores 32 of 11 which took us to 188.

Question: How did we get Brendon McCullum?
Prasanna: Australians have worked out a similar plan to not to allow him to play in his favorite areas which are point, cover and third-man. He scored only one boundary against us and that too due to a misfield. Frustration built up and credit for his wicket should also be shared with Praveen Kumar who rattled him in the first over.

Hope you guys found his answers helpful. We are working on having a dedicated section for the team-analyst. Until that is done, I shall be posting (in this blog) his analysis and answers to your questions on every match that RCB would be playing.

In the team meeting before the match against Otago Volts, the coach Ray Jennings appealed to the “Killer Instinct” in the team. The boys took that literally and mercilessly committed a massacre.

Providence, in its divine justice, had ensured that the perpetrator of the crime gets punished immediately. Ray Jennings couldn’t get a sleep last night. His room was adjacent to Brendon McCullum. The batsman’s room was the center of activities for Otago Volts last night.

But seriously, EIGHTY runs. Eighty runs difference is considered a decent margin in Test Matches and a drubbing in ODIs. To put things into perspective, an extra four runs per over in an ODI would translate to a 200 runs victory.

So today morning, I went to the team breakfast table expecting to hear talks of the heroics last night. Instead, I got a lesson in Professionalism. The coach was planning next practice sessions (despite not having slept last night). That was followed with discussions about the long term planning for the team. Let me just say that IPL 2011 was mentioned thrice and leave it at that.

The discussions prompted me to ask the coach which football club is his favorite. Manchester United is the answer. On being asked why, Ray mentioned that he met Alex Fergusson last year and was impressed by the club’s ability to attract raw talent and mould them to create super-stars out of them.

Read between the lines folks and expect such massacres becoming a regular event in future.

I see the chat-box abuzz with lots of confusion about RCB’s next matches.

Here are the facts. For now, you might want to read just the bold points.

1. RCB remains C1 despite not finishing on top of the group C.

2. RCB now goes in League B which comprises of 4 teams C1, C2, D1 and D2. C1 is RCB, C2 is Cape Cobra, D1 is Delhi Daredevils and D2 in all probability should be Victoria Bushrangers unless they lose their match against Wayamba Elevens today by a very huge margin.

3. Being a C1 team, we play against D2 on 15.10.2009 in Bangalore.

4. Being a C1 team, we play against D1 (which is Delhi Daredevils) on 17.09.2009 in Bangalore.

5. RCB is in the League stage with zero points while Cape Cobra has two points. The net run-rate they carry to the League would be only from the match they played against each other.

6. Depending on who would be D2, the points of D1 and D2 would be determined. Most likely scenario is that Victoria will qualify and hence they go in with two points while Delhi Daredevils go in with zero points.

7. The League stage is like a round-robin stage with the difference being that the matches between C1-C2 and D1-D2 in the group stage would be taken into account and hence there won’t be a rematch between us and Cape Cobra in the League stage.

8. We must finish in the top two team of the league to reach the semis. We should win both the matches against the D teams. The two wins should more or less ensure out entry into the semis. However it is possible that despite winning both of our matches, run-rate can come into picture. E.g. Victoria, Cobra & RCB, all three can be tied on 4 points each. But the probability of this happening is quite low.

On the other hand, there is a mathematical possibility of us qualifying after winning only one match. E.g. Cape Cobra can have 6 points while the other three teams can tie on 2 points each. Net run-rate would come into picture here. Again, chances of this happening are low too.

In case you don’t want to bother about all of the above, let me put it simply as :
If we win our next two matches, then in all likelihood we would qualify for the semi-finals.

I got a feeling, that tonight’s gonna be a good night
That tonight’s gonna be a good good night…

This was the song played on a video shown in teem-meeting today. And what did we have on video?

The characters, the emotions, the laughs and the frowns of our players and the team-members. The moments captured by Siva during the last five days. Ray Jennings prepared the video diligently and added some of his clippings too. Watching it with the team had my eyes watery. All the players were nodding and smiling with the video. See it below. Great stuff from Ray & Siva.



Before displaying this motivational piece, Ray addressed the whole team with key points to remember in the big match today. The focus was on not letting the complacency set in when we are leading and keep fighting when we trail. The importance of killing the match when we are in control was stressed and rightly so, as you guys too pointed out in the after-match analysis.

Players have a determined look in their eye. Coming back from the meeting, I asked Robin whether he is going to treat us with another half century as Bangalore seems to be lucky for him. The otherwise comic cricketer replied,” There’s no such thing as luck buddy. You make your own destiny.”

Something special is in store for us today, friends.

Otago Volts, brace yourselves.

Show-time folks !!!

I am quite nervous to say the least. And what confounds me is the positive energy and confidence that the team is exuding.
I guess it's alright. Those who act must stay brave and the audience must stay prepared to be thrilled. Makes perfect sense.

You guys must have done your dissections by now and must be dying to show them to the world.
I am all ears here. What do you think RCB should do tomorrow against the Otago Volts to win it for us and themselves? Let's be more specific and break down the question:

1. Toss: In case we win the toss, should we bat or bowl? Do you think that not being able to defend 180 in the previous match should affect the decision? Remember that the match would be played on a used pitch.

2. Team composition: What should the team composition be? Many on the chat forum are recommending playing Dale Steyn. If you think so, then which international player should he replace? Is there any Indian player you would want replaced?

3. Par score: What is the ideal score for a close match? Despite all the edginess, I would like to have a nerve-wracking experience.

4. Batting order & Bowling order: Shuffle them friends as per your strategy and justify that.

I would be sharing the comments on this thread with the team-analyst Prasanna at lunch tomorrow. Let's see if we can affect the decisions here. I would also convey to you guys if the team-analyst actually goes ahead and implements one of your suggestions.

Can life be made more interesting on this planet ?

Added later : People please go here to know what Prasanna has to say about the questions and comments.

He was summoned by Rafael Nadal to help him defeat Roger Federer. He has worked with Indian Hockey Federation. He is a qualified umpire. He has played cricket at District level. He has created the complex software that can analyze players and matches through three sixty angles.

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Prasanna, the RCB analyst. Even the pundits of the game would be surprised at his understanding and knowledge of cricket.

Do you know that MS Dhoni hasn’t scored a single boundary in the last seventy odd balls he had played against RCB? You might say, RCB bowlers bowled well to him. But what does “bowling well” means? A ball that is good against Symonds need not be a wise choice against Dhoni. Talk to Prasanna to know what to expect when you are facing Malinga and where to bowl to Brendon McCullum.

The man has profiled all the players that are playing in Champions League 2009. He has watched many matches played at 3am simply because Trinidad and Tobago was playing in them. His hard work and intelligence make him an indispensible member of the RCB team.

Watching a cricket match with him is a spiritual experience. His uncanny predictions at what shot a batsman is going to try and his decisions over LBW or run-outs before looking at the replays are seldom wrong.

He just showed me how RCB used Kumble, Kohli & Merwe against Andrew Symonds in their match against Deccan Chargers in IPL 2009. It would be selfish to keep all these joys to only us. So, we have decided to share his insights and observations with RCB fans. We would very soon be starting a special column which would contain interesting statistics and strategies created by him. Keep your eyes glued here for the updates.