Ganguly’s captaincy came to fore in Pune’s win against Mumbai Indians: Gavaskar

The value of good captaincy was seen straightaway in the Pune-Mumbai game when Sourav Ganguly marshalled his resources superbly to defend a smallish total, writes Sunil Gavaskar in his column in The Times Of India. “It is important for Pune to win their first few matches and get their momentum going, because theirs is a relatively new team and in such a situation it does take time to find the right combination. Mumbai will be disappointed with not being able to chase 129. However, it could be just the wake-up call they need to stop being complacent,” says Gavaskar, adding that there is no doubt that the T20 format is the one that catches the fancy of spectators.

“Eden Gardens, for example, once again proved its love for the game. It was terrific to see a packed garden. Also admirable was the patience shown by the crowd when the rains came. Twenty-odd years ago, the Eden crowd would have expected the game to restart in 15 minutes after a rain break. If that didn’t happen, there would be ugly scenes. The fact that nothing of this sort happened is also an indication that the crowd has matured.”

Meanwhile Kumara Sangakkara in his column in TOI writes that though he won’t be making it for Deccan Chargers first game against Chennai on Saturday due to international commitments, he will definitely be there in spirit.

“The defending champions have lost their first match. So, many think that it gives us the edge. I think they will be smarting and will be looking to win; so we will have to expect them to come at us firing on all cylinders. Last year, Team Hyderabad had an up and down season. We came so close to making the knock-out stage but eventually missed out because we just didn’t get the basic things right, one of them being our fielding. We had a great mix of international and local players but we performed below par,” writes Sangakkara.

Meanwhile Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be playing at the venue which gave him the initial stardom. “History will list the YSR Reddy ACA-VDCA stadium here as the venue where exactly seven years ago India got a good first look at Mahendra Singh Dhoni when he tore Pakistan’s pace attack to shreds with a 148-run blitzkrieg. That was only Dhoni’s fifth international innings, but such was its intensity that India knew the man from Ranchi could be the next big thing, as well as ending the search for a durable wicket-keeper batsman,” writes Hindustan Times, adding that seven years and two world titles later, Dhoni, subdued by the thrashings at England and Australia, arrives at the venue that launched him to stardom.

“Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings haven’t had a good start this time. But they will fancy a fresh beginning on Saturday against the Deccan Chargers, who are without regular skipper, Kumar Sangakkara, who is on national duty. In his absence, Cameron White is set to lead the team but DC sorely miss a big Indian name. Parthiv Patel and Amit Mishra are the two most recognisable Indian faces,” adds the article.

According to Indian Express, defending champions Chennai Super Kings would look to bounce back after their humiliating defeat against Mumbai Indians in the campaign-opener when they take on a depleted Deccan Chargers.

“Chennai, the most consistent side in the short history of IPL, were beaten fair and square in front of their home crowd by Mumbai in the inaugural match of the season on Wednesday and they would look to register their first win of the edition against Deccan, one of the weaker sides this year,” writes Indian Express.