Clan News » win it and may not even make the play-offs.Kolkat

There is a distinct calm in Rajkot. The new stadium is a fair distance outside the city, on the highway to Jamnagar. A grand structure in the middle of nowhere; remote enough that as the players practise in the nets, over the wall behind them, a herd of buffaloes shuffle about, slowly, contentedly, peacefully. Virat Kohli punch off drives off throwdowns from Anil Kumble on one side. From the other, a big old moo sounds.There has been a smattering of people at the ground every day since the Indian team has been in town. Kids mostly, phones shooting out of pockets faster than guns did in the old westerns.Century lage, na? Arvind Pujara chuckles, and says, Why should he stop there? when asked how much hed like Cheteshwar to score a ton on his home ground in its first Test. It will be the first time the father will watch his son bat live.There is another player for whom this would be special. The portraits of him in the stadium make careful note of the twirl in his moustache. The Rajputana twirl. Ravindra Jadeja has already displayed the sword celebration at Lords, the home of cricket. Plenty will be wishing to see him do so again, at the home of his cricket.He learnt the game in Jamnagar, a few kilometres down the road, becoming a fine addition to the towns heritage of left-arm spin. One of their residents, Vinoo Mankad, helped India to their first Test win. Jadeja would be expected to follow suit and win Rajkots first Test too.Considering the citys history, its almost disarming to see how quiet things are. A few people were at the airport when India arrived. A few at the ground to catch a glimpse of the men theyve only seen on TV or on paper. Life simply goes on. Perhaps the people have already been spoilt. They have two entire tournaments named after men with roots in Saurashtra. The Ranji Trophy - for Ranjitsinhji who also gave cricket the leg glance. And the Duleep Trophy - for his nephew Duleepsinhji. Their domestic team has been active since the 1950s and were the runners-up last season. This is just five little days of international cricket.There is nervous energy among the administrators though. The Saurashtra Cricket Association president Niranjan Shah has made a few trips out to the middle, to check on the pitch, and then other proceedings. On Wednesday, he would have completed the ultimate achievement. He has invited the states chief minister to watch the game. Arrangements have been made to felicitate Test players from the region - all the way back to Salim Durani, the great allrounder of the 60s and 70s - and also those like Sitanshu Kotak and Jaydev Shah, who have been part of over 100 domestic games.The Pujara family has been in Rajkot for 50 years. Cheteshwar grew up in the heart of the city. With his father having worked for the railways, living quarters came with the job and there was a ground close-by as well. Every morning he would wake up at six and get some training in until nine, when school started. He wouldnt even change out of his uniform before heading off to play some more, his father in tow. Both of them began thinking about cricket seriously when Cheteshwar was seven-eight years old.Jadejas path was harsh. He trained at Cricket Bungalow, an academy in Jamnagar, where making mistakes would earn a beating. He had to dive around on hard, abrasive surfaces. He was taught flight by avoiding the head of a boy who would stand on the middle of the pitch. Outrageous things happen here. That a Test match has finally come along is no real biggie. Cheap Shoes Online Free Delivery . The news was first reported on Gonzalezs Twitter account and confirmed by the Rockies. Gonzalez has a six-week window before position players have their first workout at spring training in Arizona. Authentic Shoes Wholesale . 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"Its embarrassing to be at home and play the way we did," said defenceman Josh Gorges.Royal Challengers Bangalores batting line-up contains Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers and Shane Watson – but Sky Sports IPL presenter, Matt Floyd, reckons they WON’T make the play-offs… Caught your breath back after that stunning finish to the World T20?Its going to be hard to top that but the IPL is probably the only tournament that might be able to - it was, after all, this giant of T20 entertainment that helped mould some of the stars who shone for their national sides in India. A large number of them have stayed on for IPL 9, an edition that will have a slightly different feel to it.Firstly, IPL wouldnt be IPL without some sort of front-page controversy in the off-season. To cut a long story short, Gurunath Meiyappan (ex-team principal of Chennai Super Kings) and Raj Kundra (former co-owner of Rajasthan Royals) were found to have been involved in betting activity and their teams have been suspended for two years.Obviously this came as a huge shock to many and it will seem a little odd not to see MS Dhoni masterminding another tight win in yellow or the Royals unearthing another local star from nowhere, but the show must go on and we have two new franchises.Dhoni will captain in a mixture of pink, purple and blue this time (think Harlequins rugby) as he was snapped up by the Rising Pune Supergiants. I know what you are thinking: What on earth is a Supergiant? No idea, but it sounds big.Anyway, Dhoni took CSK stalwarts Ravi Ashwin and Faf Du Plessis with him, and many are intrigued to see how he will handle Kevin Pietersen. Kevin Pietersen will play for Rising Pune Supergiants in 2016 Gujarat Lions are the other new team and arguably theyve done even better in the draft - captain Suresh Raina could have some hard decisions to make with a squad containing the likes of Brendon McCullum, Aaron Finch, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, James Faulkner, Dwayne Smith and Dale Steyn.Looking a little deeper at the two new squads, though, it suggests they may have been hampered by a lack of options overall, with the six other teams having already retained the players they wanted. How Pune and Gujarats unproven local players perform could be vital to their success. The IPL returns on Saturday with Mumbai Indians versus Rising Pune Supergiants. KP and Eoin Morgan are back but the ex-England international might get more game time than the current limited-overs skipper. The Supergiants look a little short on batting fiirepower so I expect KP to play an important role.dddddddddddd Morgans Sunrisers, though, dont have the same issues.Only four overseas can play from Kane Williamson, Morgan, David Warner, Moises Henriques, Ben Cutting, Trent Boult and Mustafizur Rahman, and it may be that the Hyderabad franchise feel they need to go for a bowler or all-rounder ahead of the England captain. Hopefully not! Will Eoin Morgan get regular game time at Sunrisers? The other two Englishmen in the competition will have plenty of intrigued fans keeping an eye on their scores. but will Jos Buttler and Sam Billings see much game time? I reckon they will, especially Buttler.Reigning champions Mumbai are a very strong outfit but a) hes got an X factor rarely seen around the world and b) there is an injury cloud over Lasith Malinga. He couldnt have picked a tougher side to break into for a foreigner (barring RCB perhaps) but his stock is high after the World T20 and IPL 9 could be the time when he fully announces himself on the big stage.Billings will find it harder, especially as Delhi have two excellent keeper/batsmen in their squad in Quinton De Kock and Sanju Samson, but he could play as a specialist batsman as that is an area where the Daredevils look a little thin.So, whos going to take home the trophy? Looking at the squads it seems a bit of a lottery (every side has a few match-winners!), so Ill go with the usual tactic of favouring the best bowling attacks as stats will tell you they generally win tournaments. AB de Villiers adds to a powerful Bangalore batting line-up Royal Challengers undoubtedly have the best top three with Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers and theyve signed Shane Watson, but with no Mitchell Starc their bowling could potentially be toothless, so, at the risk of looking extremely stupid, I dont think theyll win it and may not even make the play-offs.Kolkata finished fifth last year and theyve hardly changed their squad but I fancy them to improve on that. Even if Sunil Narine isnt the force he once was they still have an impressive array of spinners to prosper on a pitch that usually takes turn - step forward Brad Hogg, Shakib Al Hasan, Piyush Chawla and Yusuf Pathan.Its hard to look past Mumbai as well and I reckon Sunrisers could spring a surprise - new signings Yuvraj Singh, Deepak Hooda, Ashish Nehra and Mustafizur could well drive them into the knock-out stage for the first time since 2013. Ill go for the Gujarat Lions as the final team to go through as theyve got some great all-round options.It all kicks off with a bang on Saturday as Mumbai Indians take on Rising Pune Supergiants at the Wankhede Stadium. Champs v Newbies, Buttler v KP, Rohit v Dhoni. Well see you then!Sky Sports is the only place you can watch all the action from the 2016 IPL, starting on Saturday as Kevin Pietersen and the Rising Pune Supergiants face defending chapions Mumbai Indians, including Englands Jos Buttler, live on Sky Sports 3 from 3pm. Or watch live without a contract, on NOW TV. Also See: Best of Buttler Kevin Pietersens year IPL: How to watch Johnson pumped for IPL ' ' '