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Now as an Australian who loves Test match cricket you can imagine that I don't have that much time for the IPL. Nevertheless with the IPL starting recently I decided to pick a team play a campaign. I chose the Rajasthan Royals as I thought their roster was one that I could really work with.
The first season was a bit scratchy. I finished with 9 wins, 1 tie, and 7 losses to make it to third on the table and book a spot in the eliminator, a game I promptly lost. So I finished that season in 4th.
The off season gave me a chance to recruit some players of my own that I felt could add to my team. In that off season I managed to recruit some gun players really cheap. I snared Abhinav Mukund (a great partner at the top for Ajinkya Rahane), Virat Kohli (Who would let him go!), Mohammad Kaif, Sudeep Tyagi, Praveen Kumar, and Joginder Sharma. As well as Gary Ballance, Jackson Bird and Steven Smith.
The second season did not start as promisingly as I had hoped, and I slipped to 1-3 before we won 6 on the trot. We then had another slump in form but managed to get to 9-7 by the end of the season and sneak into 4th on the table. Having lost our last two before the finals I was not exactly confident but my players managed to produce the good in the big moments three games in a row and remarkably we won the IPL from 4th on the table.
During the off season I decided to recruit some more players and it was during this period I managed to snare Ravi Ashwin, AB De Villiers and Naman Ojha.
We finished with a 10-6 record to go to 2nd on the table, and a loss in the first qualifier made me very nervous. We waltzed to victory in the second qualifier and in the final we smashed mumbai in an easy encounter, bowling them out for 93 with James Faulkner taking a career best 6/21.
For the 2016 season I made very few changes to the squad (and why would you) But I did notice Yuvraj Singh on offer for 400,000 and it was an opportunity I could not turn down. He turned out to be the biggest disappointment of the tournament and I dropped him mid season for Naman Ojha (to release De Villiers from the gloves).
We started slowly at 2-2 but Won 9 of the next 12 to finish with an 11-5 record and finished 2nd on the table again. Mid season I changed my tactics from playing 4 pacers and one spinner to 3 pacers and 2 spinners and after that move I didn't lose a game. We easily won the qualifier against Hyderabad, and in the final we met them again. I won the toss and elected to bat and went in with this XI:
1 A. Rahane
2 A. Mukund
3 V. Kohli*
4 S. Watson
5 A. De Villiers
6 M. Kaif
7 N. Ojha +
8 J. Faulkner
9 R. Ashwin
10 H. Singh
11 J. Bird
We had batted soundly for the first 17 overs and were in a decent position at 5-123 but a wicket or two could have derailed everything. Shane Watson and Naman Ojha went nuts scoring 58 runs in three overs (including 26 from Watson in the 19th) to drag us to 181-6 at the innings break (Watson 72* from 38 balls). From that moment I knew I had one the IPL as my bowling attack had not conceded 160+ once all season. Watson (3/19) and Bird (3/28) decimated Hyderabad with the ball as we rolled them for 113 and stormed to our third consecutive title. All of which were won without once finishing first on the table.
Please feel free to share you're IPL triumphs!
The first season was a bit scratchy. I finished with 9 wins, 1 tie, and 7 losses to make it to third on the table and book a spot in the eliminator, a game I promptly lost. So I finished that season in 4th.
The off season gave me a chance to recruit some players of my own that I felt could add to my team. In that off season I managed to recruit some gun players really cheap. I snared Abhinav Mukund (a great partner at the top for Ajinkya Rahane), Virat Kohli (Who would let him go!), Mohammad Kaif, Sudeep Tyagi, Praveen Kumar, and Joginder Sharma. As well as Gary Ballance, Jackson Bird and Steven Smith.
The second season did not start as promisingly as I had hoped, and I slipped to 1-3 before we won 6 on the trot. We then had another slump in form but managed to get to 9-7 by the end of the season and sneak into 4th on the table. Having lost our last two before the finals I was not exactly confident but my players managed to produce the good in the big moments three games in a row and remarkably we won the IPL from 4th on the table.
During the off season I decided to recruit some more players and it was during this period I managed to snare Ravi Ashwin, AB De Villiers and Naman Ojha.
We finished with a 10-6 record to go to 2nd on the table, and a loss in the first qualifier made me very nervous. We waltzed to victory in the second qualifier and in the final we smashed mumbai in an easy encounter, bowling them out for 93 with James Faulkner taking a career best 6/21.
For the 2016 season I made very few changes to the squad (and why would you) But I did notice Yuvraj Singh on offer for 400,000 and it was an opportunity I could not turn down. He turned out to be the biggest disappointment of the tournament and I dropped him mid season for Naman Ojha (to release De Villiers from the gloves).
We started slowly at 2-2 but Won 9 of the next 12 to finish with an 11-5 record and finished 2nd on the table again. Mid season I changed my tactics from playing 4 pacers and one spinner to 3 pacers and 2 spinners and after that move I didn't lose a game. We easily won the qualifier against Hyderabad, and in the final we met them again. I won the toss and elected to bat and went in with this XI:
1 A. Rahane
2 A. Mukund
3 V. Kohli*
4 S. Watson
5 A. De Villiers
6 M. Kaif
7 N. Ojha +
8 J. Faulkner
9 R. Ashwin
10 H. Singh
11 J. Bird
We had batted soundly for the first 17 overs and were in a decent position at 5-123 but a wicket or two could have derailed everything. Shane Watson and Naman Ojha went nuts scoring 58 runs in three overs (including 26 from Watson in the 19th) to drag us to 181-6 at the innings break (Watson 72* from 38 balls). From that moment I knew I had one the IPL as my bowling attack had not conceded 160+ once all season. Watson (3/19) and Bird (3/28) decimated Hyderabad with the ball as we rolled them for 113 and stormed to our third consecutive title. All of which were won without once finishing first on the table.
Please feel free to share you're IPL triumphs!
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