He is very aggressive, quick and uses the ball and pitch conditions to his advantage.

During IPL, most batsmen had adopted a passive approach towwards him- avoided playing improvised shots against him.

What Steyn lacks is PATIENCE. Like Kohli, he too is a short tempered player. He often gets involved in verbal duels with the batsmen or keeps throwing remarks on them during his follow through , al the time staring at the batsmen.

Is this a good technique for a bowler to adopt. to adopt? Did Glen McCgrath do it? No way.

This temperament of Steyn will let him down in the match against KKR. And maybe, he will soon find him declining in performance because of his far too aggressive attitude.

Patience is the keyword. If a player loses patience in cricket, he will soon run out of steam and decline in performance.

Let us wait and watch what happens in the match against KKR.

1. Hansie Cronje- Popular captain of South Africa. Charged for match fixing along with H Gibbs, N Boje and P Styrdom in 2000. Banned from playing cricket for life. Later, died.

2. H Gibbs- Banned for 6 months. Admitted that he had agreed to accept money from match fixers to score less than 20 runs in one of the matches while playing under captain H Cronje. He could not keep up the promise and scored more than 70 runs.

3. Manoj Prabhakar- In 2000, a five year ban imposed on him after he was found guilty of match fixing. Tried to involve Kapil Dev also in the controversy.

4. Mohd Azharudin- Stylish Indian captain from Hyderabad. H Cronje had named him as the main person who had introduced him to the bookies. After a CBI inquiry, Azharuddin admitted to having fixed 3 ODI matches. Banned by BCCI in 2000 from playing cricket for life. Ban lifted after 6 years.

5. A Jadeja- Banned by BCCI for 5 years after CBI inquiry found him guilty of match fixing. Later, was captain of Delhi and Hyderabad.

6. Ajay Sharma- Played for India. Found guilty of match fixing. Imposed life ban.

7.  Maurice Odumbe- Found guilty of match fixing.  Banned for 5 years. later played domestic cricket for Kenya.

8. M Samuels- Had leaked out information to a bookie about a match against India in 2008. banned by ICC for 2 years.

9. Saleem Malik- Banned for life after being accused of accepting bribes. Claimed innocence. Later found innocent. Ban overturned in 2008.

10. Salman Butt, Mohd Asif, Mohd Amir- Found guilty by a London court for involvement in spot-fixing in a match in London in 2010. Jailed in London prison and banned for lengthy periods.

11. S Sreesanth, A Chandila, A Chavan- Accused of spot-fixing three separate matches during IPL 2013. Inquiry in progress.

There are many more cases of match fixing in various countries in league/ county and other first class matches.

The punishment should be exemplary that no body dares to get involved in match/spot fixing.

Let us hope that CRICKET- Gentleman’s Game remains a clean game in the right spirits of the game.

KKR will try their best to end up campaign on a winning note with respect.

SRH has been lucky to thrive on good bowling of Steyn.

SRH

• Lucky to win matches due to bowlers efforts.
• Has no steam without Steyn.
• Average batting.
• Watch out for Sangakkara and White to score.
• Complacency will let down the team.

KKR

• Unlucky in this IPL.
• Players did not click well despite strong line up on paper.
• Watch out for Gambhir and Kallis.
• Good bowling line up.

Comparison

• SRH has a better bowling line up
• SRH batting is poor.
• KKR has better all rounders.
• KKR batting line up much stronger.
• KKR will outclass SRH due to batting strengths.

Chances Of Winning- KKR 70%, SRH 30%

• Waking up at the last moment,
• Watch out for Uttapa, Smith, Wright and Mathews,
• Poor fileding
• Very poor bowling
• Players lack the will to win.

DD

• Another dis jointed team.
• Erratic performance.
• Watch out for Warner, Pathan and Chand.
•  Poor bowling.
•  Bad fielding.

Comparison

• Both are below average teams.
• Both are poor in bowling and fielding.
• Batsmen of both sides are careless.
• Yet DD can do better than PWI

Chances Of Winning- DD 60%, PWI 40%

So, Why single out Cricket and raise hue and cry over match/ spot fixing in IPL?

Haven’t we heard of match fixing in prominent sports leagues in Portugal, Germany (Bundesliga), Brazil ( Brazilian Football match Fixing Scandal), and United States (Tim Donaghy Scandal)?

And, have we forgotten that in 2012 Summer Olympics, members of Chinese, Indonesian and South Korean badminton teams were disqualified for intentionally losing matches to allow better pairings in knock out stages of the competition?

In Cricket History itself, there have been more than ten cases of match fixing in last10 years. Read more on this aspect in my next post.

Where ever organized sports are being played, cases of betting and match/spot fixing and tanking will always come to light.

What is The Solution?

Betting is considered legal in most of the sporting countries these days. In India too, betting should be made legal. This will have the following advantages :-

• Betting will generate additional revenues to the state in terms of income tax recoveries from people earning out of betting.
• Sports will become more popular in the country.
• Corruption will be eliminated to a great extent.

To bring in more transparency in all sporting events and conduct of IPL as well as all formats of cricket matches (test matches, ODIs and T20), it is strongly felt that legalising betting and gambling in sporting events will be a right step.

Don’t we gamble in Casinos?

Let us have a Sports Casino for gambling and betting.- No harm in trying out this new concept.

Watch out for my next post on cricketers who were involved in match fixing controversies in recent past.

Should betting be Legalized?- Cast Your vote.

• Crucial match- A win takes them in top four.
• Gayle, Kohli and AB De Villiers will score runs.
• Must play more all rounders/ batsmen.
• Rest Muralitharan.
• Play Henriques.
• M Karthik and Unadkat will pick up wickets.

CSK

• Murali Vijay failing regularly.
• raina and Hussey will score.
• Dhoni , Bravo may not score.
• Ashwin and Moriss will be wicket takers.
• Jadeja may chip in some runs.

Comparison

• RCB will go all out to win.
• RCB batsmen need to strike form.
• RCB bowling is average.
• CSK have strong batting line up.
• CSK bowling is better.
• Yet, RCB likely to go all out and surprise CSK.

Chances Of Winning- RCB 55%, CSK 45%

• Lucky to get past DD in last match.
• Only overseas players carrying team.
• Hussey and Harris will score.
• Bowlers are average.
• Sathish, Gurkeerat and Mana will fail.
• Gilchrist and Miller may not score enough runs.

MI

• Rest Tendulkar. Play Ponting.
• Karthik, Rohit and Pollard will score.
• Johnson and Harbhajan will take wickets.
• Play D Smith.
• Rayudu will also contribute.

Comparison- MI have an edge due to better bowling and batting .

Chances Of winning- Mi 60%, Kings XI 40%

His contribution in IPL 2013 has been immense.

As per my choice, he is the fifth best captain of IPL 2013.

K Sangakkara- SRH

• Personal Traits- Cool, Smiling, Mature, Aggressive and Elegant left hand opening batsman and wicket keeper. Known for his attacking game.
• Temperament- Very alert and vocal on the field,Bats with great concentration and manages crisis situation well.
• Performance- A consistent run getter who has remained out of form in this IPL. Handed over the reigns of captaincy to C White.
• Dealing With Players- Does not hesitate in Admonishing a player for his faults, Encourages and Lauds good efforts, Popular leader due to his pleasing manners.
• Miscellaneous- Placed at No 2 in ICC test rankings, maintains good personal conduct on field and avoids brawls.

Watch out for my next post.

• Constant batting failure- Top order not giving good start.
• Over dependence on Steyn, Ishant and Amit Mishra.
• Poor domestic batsmen.
• Sangakara will score if played.
• White and Sammy will chip in some runs.
• Perera will take wickets.

RR

• Strong batting line up but batsmen running out of form.
• Dravid and Rahane, Samson will get runs.
• Hodge will score. baby will get wickets.
• Watson will be a wicket taker.
• Play Amit Singh and Harmeet Singh.

Comparison- RR have an edge due to stronger batting line up.

Chances Of Winning- RR 60%, SRH 40%

One has heard about the match fixing at international levels and there were speculations in the past that some of the matches of World Cup/ IPL could be fixed but, the revelations at this stage (when RR is among the top four teams at this stage of the league), may make things difficult for RR in the remaining matches- morale affected.

The following matches are under scanner :-

• 06 May- RR Vs PWI
• 09 May- RR Vs Kings XI
• 15 May- RR Vs MI

Soon, the truth will be known to the cricket lovers.

A sad day in the history of Indian Cricket.

Source Of information- Internet/ News Channels