The Woes of Mr.Jennings..

Bangalore Royal Challengers (BRC) present a classic case of haphazard planning and absolute loss of logic. The loyal supporters of Bangalore might castigate me for the calumny that I have bestowed on the team, but their performance in the ongoing IPL 2 is my biggest alibi.
Here are a few points that I would like to put forward while presenting my case:

• The controversy first started with Rahul Dravid being stripped of his captaincy. On what accounts?? He was the leading scorer in the team with 371 runs and was often the lone man standing while rest of the esteemed foreigners collapsed around him like a pack of cards. Kevin Pietersen (KP) was made the captain instead, he who himself had a nightmarish stint with the England’s poisoned chalice. Mallya, added fuel to the fire by stating that Dravid was not made the captain because he wouldn’t be playing the entire IPL as he would be leaving for the birth of his second child. If that was the case then Pietersen would only play 6 matches, which I suppose isn’t the actual duration of IPL in any case. Even if you do agree with Mallya’s profound logic, someone like a Kumble or even a Boucher would have served him better as they would have lasted the entire league stage.
• The second question that logically comes to the mind was who will captain BRC once KP left? Any expert having played cricket for a reasonable period of time (with the kind exception to Arun Lal) would have reasoned that someone sure of his place in the team should be made the captain. Who did Jennings choose? Jacques Kallis. Agreed, that he is one of the greatest contemporary batsmen, but his batting isn’t half as useful in the slam-bang format of the game and he hasn’t bowled consistently for the last 5 years and has of-course lost the sting of the old. So when Kallis doesn’t automatically pick himself onto the team-sheet, how on earth can someone make him the captain, probably only the Australian coaches can..
• That Jesse Ryder is an explosive opening batsman is given. Yet he gets dropped alternately. He hasn’t been in good form in this tournament, but he did marvelously just before IPL, almost ripping India to shreds, and is the only batsman in the team who can blunt the new-ball attack of any team with his brutal power. Also his “explosive” partner, Uthappa, who was brought from Mumbai Indians(MI) in exchange for Zaheer Khan(what a stupid deal that was!) to add teeth to the faltering batting order, has failed to fire so far. So why not fire him instead as Ryder gives you decent bowling options and is an outstanding fielder too. But no Jennings will drop Ryder, and see BRC top-order crumble without a fight in all the matches.
• Ok, for any team to succeed in IPL it is imperative that they bowl at the death. Let’s first take a look at BRC bowling options. Steyn, Kallis, Kumble, Praveen Kumar are their frontline bowlers. Kumar as we have all seen while playing for India doesn’t really bowl well at the death. His figures are always respectable when the ball is swinging, but once it gets a little old, he is thrashed to all corners of the park. So it is but logical that Kumar bowls out within the first 12-13 overs when he is most effective. Also, Kallis, who as I mentioned, has lost sting in his bowling, should only be bowled during the middle overs(6-15) when you have protection in the deep, and the batsmen are not looking the clear the ropes every ball. It should be Steyn who should be bowling at the death, but yet inexplicably we see Kallis and Kumar bowling at the death and they have bowled some rank bad full-tosses at the most critical junctures of the match. Result: BRC languishing at the bottom again.
• Jennings’ support of Uthappa is another factor which appalls me. Uthappa when in form can be pretty destructive, but at times it is better to accept the truth and the truth is that he hasn’t been doing that well of late. Yet Jennings continues to play him and to add insult to injury has also chosen him as the wicket-keeper. We all know, how those 4 byes can come back to haunt the bowling team during a tricky run-chase, and Uthappa has been pretty ordinary behind the stumps, conceding a lot of extras. So when you have Boucher in your ranks, why not utilize him. He also adds depth to the batting order.
• My final query is why Roelof van der Merwe hasn’t been given a chance. Spin has played an important part in this year’s IPL, so much so that most of the teams are packing their sides with 2 specialist spinners. So why isn’t Jennings doing the same. Van der Merwe did extremely well against the Aussies in the twenty-20 and the ODI series, flummoxing the batsmen with his spin and variation and also stifling the run-flow. He is also pretty handy with the bat, shown by his 30-ball 48 in his very first International Twenty-20.

The IPL is still in its initial rounds, and there is time aplenty to turn things around. RBC shouldn’t think that it’s over until it finally is. They have the fire-power to turn it around and with some shrewd team changes they can definitely revive their sagging fortunes. But that would only happen if Mr. Jennings decides to end his woes and do what people call, “smart-thinking”.