Predictions - By Srikantha - week-3

RoyalBlues Vs Megabytes
I don’t think anybody can beat MegaBytes in DCL

GLCC Vs Stars
GLCC has upper hand. Last couple of years GLCC Vs Stars always a close one with GLCC winning most of the times.

Bridges Vs Brownstown
BT should win this one with great margin, I am expecting a quick 50 from Rehan Mallick. Watch out for tall leg spinner Phani Gundamraj and Off spinner Adhitya Bommaraju.

Gladiators Vs Strikers
50-50, anybody's game. One and only watchable game of the week. Strikers open with Minesh and my man Rajesh Singh. Minesh should plan on playing all 25 overs and Raj should take the gamble by going after the bowling.
Don't know much about glads other than the lion hearted Raj Gumbar.

Indus Vs DarkHorses
DH has no chance against Indus line up, expecting big score from Raj Sehgal and Nitya

Greens Vs Beavers
Expecting another forfeited game.

Tigers Vs Lions
Lions all the way and expecting Kiran to fire again.

Falcons Vs Spiders
Falcons with big margin

PTS Vs VisionPhoenix
Tough one to predict, leaning towards VP.

'Out' in the crowd..

This post is related to this article in Avinash Joshi's blog.

All it takes is an extra mileage in the thought process and the effort to implement.

It is always very inspiring to know about people's positive change at the root level.

POOL Y - Ranking By Ravish -week-3

POOL Y

Since Indus and Falcons weren‘t active this week, the ratings for the top 5 teams changed substantially. Not much action like POOL X, since a lot of teams is new. Most of the games this week were low scoring ones and didn’t carry much zest like the Pool X ones.
Need a more competitive spirit to make the games interesting.

Rank	Team	Why
1	Cougars	After two successive wins and leading the POOL Y with 25 points, Cougars take the No 1 spot. Sent to bowl after losing the toss, Cougars meant business right away. Stand-in captain Anand led the team and made sure Mallik’s absence didn’t cost them much. Still with a lot of bowling options, Anand didn’t give much time for the batsmen to settle down with his bowling changes. Once the opening pair fell, Cougars ripped through the middle order and the tail enders could resist only till the 15th. Part time bowler Murugan had an impressive 3-5-3. Batting, Cougars took full advantage of the weaker VP bowling. Ajay was his usual self and made a mockery of the VP bowling with an unbeaten 20. Another two more victories and Cougars will retain the top spot.No match this weekend.
2	Falcons	Unlucky Falcons – had to split the points with A2C2 since the umpire couldn’t stand ground for just another 30 minutes until the sun came out. The other four teams in the same park were just lucky to have umpires who were determined to see the game go through. Not a fair deal for the Falcons. Would have been anyone’s game but Falcons had more chances of winning considering their current form. Request to all the umpires coming for games that are likely to be affected by rain - please be fair to both the teams and be patient enough to see the possibility of a game played. Since the decision is in your hands, please make a wise one. Try and give the teams a fair weekend of cricket. I hope the Falcons had their weekend cricket satiation by playing the MDCL.Playing Spiders this week. Falcons will be charged up after missing the match last weekend. 90:10 against Spiders.
3	Greens	Move up the table after beating Dark horses convincingly. As expected Sathish delivered the goods along with a telling spell from Sriram and some useful contribution from Mustafa, Vinay and PC. They packed the DH for 54 reflecting a much disciplined bowling. Arvind and Ashish chipped in with the batting. Playing Beavers this week. 90:10 against Beavers.
4	Lions	Lions came back with a much deserved victory against Spiders after losing to Cougars last week. Expected result, but they made it look very easy. A good fuel for their confidence. Harsha, Vamshi and Venu bowled a conditioned spell restricting the spiders to 70. Chasing a low score they rushed to the target in 10.2 over – 7 an over. Wonder what the score would have been if they batted first. No change in Venu’s aggression with the bat, but this time they also had Kiran who made a quickfire 38 with two boundaries and a sixer. Lions need to keep this going for the next few games to stay in the top 5. They can’t afford complacency. Playing another family of cats – Tigers this week. Since the Tigers are low in confidence after a streak of losses, Lions might grab the opportunity to go for the kill.
5	Indus	Missed in action, since they didn’t get to play last weekend after Beavers gave a walk over. Playing Dark horses this week. Odds against DH. If batting first Indus should look to post a big score, and if bowling first they could try and do what Greens did last week.
6	Vision Phoenix	A lot was expected from the VP this game. Their strength was batting, but wasn’t even a shade evident. May be they were missing some key batsmen. Batting first they had a lull start, and found it hard to pick up the line of the bowlers. Opener Satish showed some aggression in the beginning, but was made to go back foot with some tidy Cougars bowling. Kannan hasn’t clicked this season yet. Once the openers fell, the rest of the batsmen paid short visiting hours to the crease. Manoj showed some resistance and also managed to clear the ground once, but he didn’t get good support in the other end. They ended their innings with trifling 49. Trying to defend this low score, they started their first over conceding 10 runs. The Cougars didn’t take long after that to put them of their misery. Lot of patch up to do, they need to re-visit their bowling options and also plan their batting order. A very good team, but the skipper (whoever that is) needs to address the problems as soon as possible.Playing PTS this week, it’s a tough call, both have their failings. 50:50.
7	A2C2	Got lucky by splitting the points. I mean it’s still anyone’s game, but still were lesser favorites than the Falcons considering the stats. Not a team to write off, since they have all the potentials - good batsmen and killer bowlers. But their lesser experience with DCL is working against them. They are quite capable of beating any team, but not yet. Still need to use their bowling options effectively and revive the batting order. Alex should come up and try to play a long innings which he is quite capable of. Bowling, they should give more overs to Samir. He is a smart bowler like Kondal who has variation.No game this week.
8	Tigers	No game last week. Hope they were able to get more practice and are ready for the rest of the round 2 games. Wonder what happened to Tushar bhai. Man, he is a clean striker of the ball. Got the privilege to see him hitting all over the park against Indus. Will he be back to the rest of the games? Tigers still have chances of making the final cut to pre-quarters. Need the same confidence they had in the initial two games against Indus and Greens. Vishal is an able captain of leading his team efficiently to the next level. Go Vishal! You can do it.Playing Lions , they need to stop their losing streak and look ahead with confidence. 60:40 against Tigers. Surprise us Tigers!!
9	PTS	No match last weekend. They had a week to recover from the beating they got from Indus. Hope that has changed their strategy and they are looking eagerly for the next match. Being a new team, PTS has shown a lot of improvement from the first game. Quick learners, I am sure by next season they will be a lot better. Playing Vision phoenix, PTS should just stick to the basics and not try anything extra. 50:50. Anyone’s game.
10	Spiders	As predicted last week, Spiders caved in without a fight. What happened to Karthik? His usual contribution would have taken them close to 100. I guess it just wasn’t their day. Lions proved too good for them. Spiders need two or three more Karthiks in their batting line up and a couple more Nags to the bowling. In the 11th position now, they need to win all the games here on which I think is a herculean task. Karthik should go up the order and play an anchor to rest of their batting. There are a couple more batsmen who just didn’t click yet. Who was that guy who hit those towering sixers against Bytes? He needs to play more games.Against Falcons: The charged up Falcons may just be overwhelming for the Spiders. 90:10 against Spiders.
11	Dark Horses	After their last win(first win for the season), they just got a bit complacent. Either that or they were no match for the Greens. No idea what their batting distribution was. No scores are entered yet in the website. Anyways I am assuming Adnan, Diwakar or Sudhanshu didn’t do well. But then against Greens bowling, its not easy to score runs. They have some crafty bowlers who have threatened even good teams in the past. So I don’t blame DH. DH are no. 10 now, close to Spiders and in the same situation as them. Need to win almost all the games. Tough!!Against Indus : Indus without a doubt.
12	Beavers	Gave a walk over to Indus, Something that all the teams must try and not do. You might as well come and play with 7 players rather than not playing. Its just not about winning or losing. Hope they show up against Greens and give a good fight.Against Greens: 90:10 against Beavers.

POOL X - Ranking By Samish Kilam - week-3

Well, picking a #1 wasn't easy this week. On one hand we've Megabytes, who with all their talent are blowing the opposition away and on the other hand we've the current champions, Brownstown, who are doing the same even with some of their top players missing. After a lot of thought, We've decided to declare both teams the joint #1's this week.

On a side note, with respect to a comment from Raghu - I wasn't joking. I've been saying it for years - every chance I get ;)

Rank	Team	Why
1	MegaBytes	Megs scored 100 runs in 20 overs. Gautham is back among runs - by his standards. He scored a cool 38 with one 6 and two 4s. Only 14 of his 38 runs came in boundaries and 24 came in ones and twos - which, if you ask me, is a sign of a very good batsman especially in DCL. Here's more - if you don't think Gautham, Jeet, Matta, Aditya and Binod (add Raghu, Ranga, Hari etc etc) are enough to give you nightmares, they've added a new player to their roster - Mr. Praveen Kumar. A solid middle order batsman and a very capable bowler. It may be wise for the opposition captains to carry some aspirin with them when playing Megs, just in case ;) Megs bowling was just what you expect - excellent. Jeet, Hari, Matta and Gautham were among wickets and no bowler gave more than 3 runs an over. Next up RBCC. RBCC better brace themselves. This is going to be a tough game for them. 80:20 Megabytes.
2	Brownstown	Have muscled their way back to top. With Yasir missing from the playing 11, others had to step up to fill the void, and boy did they do a good job. Rehan scored an awesome 46 and was supported well by Kamran with an excellent 38 (only two 4s) to post a big score of 143 in 25 overs. They were supported well by their bowlers to bundle RBCC for 81, hence making a mockery of my pregame prediction of a close game. Bukhari had 2 wickets for 13 runs and Javed finished with 2 for 12. All of a sudden this BT team looks better than last years - what can be more scary than the Champions getting better?Next up Bridges. A 80% BT team should win this easily. They need to watch out for Phani though. 80:20 BT.
3	GLCC	Beat Strikers by 13 runs and finally have the monkey off their backs. No team in DCL can now claim to have played GLCC and NEVER lost to them, oh wait, Gladiators can. Damn you Viju!! (I can see Manjit laughing his a$$ off). Mind you though, it wasn't easy. Strikers fought till the end before going down to some good GLCC bowling and fielding. Samish scored a quick 28 and was supported well by Avinish and Manpreet to post a decent score of 83 runs in 18 overs. Vijay, Manpreet and Samish had 3 wickets each to finish Strikers off with 70 on board. The highlight of the game was GLCCs fielding - Avinish, Manpreet,Vijay and Anil all had some great catches. Next up Stars. Stars have usually batted well against GLCC, but in DCL, it is the bowling that wins you the games. Should be an easy game for GLCC. 70:30 GLCC
4	Juggernauts	Beat Gladiators in a close game and hence settled the debate for the #4 position as both Glads and Strikers lost their games. Ajay, Ramesh and Anand took care of the batting and our own Saxena along with Ramesh and Nilesh handled the bowling department. Anand was as usualy miser with his bowling. Nothing spectacular, but that is how Juggernauts are. The whole team contributes and more often than not, they end up on the winning side. They've a bye week and play BT a week after that.
5	Strikers	Lost to GLCC but gave them enough fight to occupy the #5 spot. Shailesh was excellent with the ball claiming 5 wickets for just 10 runs. He took the fight to GLCC when they looked set for a big score. He was well supported by Parthiv, Kapil and Ashok. Strikers batted well enough to keep the required run rate in check but kept losing wickets at regular intervals. They were undone by some great catching by GLCC - one of which was that of Tushar's who had scored a compact 18 runs until then. Tushar is by all means one of the best batsmen in DCL and his record this year is for everyone to see. Strikers surely missed Amitabh who could've helped them close the game in their favor.Next up Gladiators: Should be a close game if Gladiators can field their best team. Strikers are known to lose focus every now and then. I'll have to lean towards Strikers or I wouldn't keep them ahead of Glads in the ranking - but only by a bit. 55-45 Strikers.
6	Gladiators	I may be wrong but I was told that Gladiators were missing some of their top players going into the game. Even then they were able to give Juggernauts a great fight. Rakesh and Raj had a good all-round game and Sudharson and Srinivas were excellent with the ball. They were one good knock away from the win. I was told that the highlight of the game was some great catching by both teams. In his email, Viju mentioned that his Gladiators enjoyed playing with Juggs. Just so you know Viju, we all do ;)
7	Bridges	Had a bye and take on the Champions this week. Bowling will be the key. They'll need to use Phani wisely to have any chance in the game.
8	RBCC	Have disappointed me again. As mentioned before, they've some of the most talented players in the team, but some how they are not as consistent as the should be. I'm not sure if they were able to place their full team and I won't be able to talk much about their batting (incomplete score sheet) but their bowling was mediocre at best. They allowed BT to score close to 150 runs which doesn't often happen in Pool X. However, Praveen and Naveen were able to get some wickets, not sure at what cost though. They are facing Megabytes this week and I don't see it getting any better for them. They've to beat one of the top teams to be considered an elite team.
9	Stars	Stars did well considering their ranking. They were able to score over 60 runs against one of the best bowling attacks in the league. However, as mentioned earlier, their weakness is their bowling. They gave away 100 runs in 20 overs. Just like RBCC, they'll have to beat one of the top teams before anyone can consider them a threat. They are capable of surprises though and let's hope they don't surprise the next team they play (GLCC) ;)

Monday Blues

Thanks from DCL family to all those umpires who waited patiently to conduct the games.

GLCC (83all out in 16.4 overs) beat Strikers (70/10 in 16.4 overs)
Strikers lost to GLCC for the first time. Strikers lost but don't count them out yet.
GLCC has taken some great catches but their bowling was not up to their standards.

Cougars (50/1 in 10 overs) beat VisionPhoenix (49/10 in 14.5 overs)
VP lost as expected but this team has great talent.
Cougars are dominating pool Y, watch out for Ex GLCC opener and 2003/2004 champion Ajay C.

Juggernauts (84/10 in 24.3 overs) beat Gladiators (74all out in 20.1 overs)

Zups brothers on either side rocked. It was Ramesh and saxena Vs Raj Gumbar, always pleasure to watch these energetic guys. I miss Zups a lot. I request these guys to come together and bring back Zups.

Lions (72/2 in 10.2 overs) beat Spiders (70/10 in 16.4 overs)
One sided game, when lions are on song nobody can beat them.

Brownstown (143/8 in 25 overs) beat RoyalBlues (81/10 in 24 overs)
I am clueless about RBCC, the only team that threatened the champions last year. I thought its going to be a close game.
Great knock by Rehan, BT ended up making highest total of the year for pool X.

Indus (2/0 in 1 overs) beat Beavers (1/0 in 1 overs)

Beavers forfeited the game, anyways they are not expected to win.

DH Score 51 all out. Greens 52 in 11.2
As expected totally one sided game.

Falcons Vs A2C2
Shame on A2C2 and shame on umpire for allowing A2C2 to walk away for no apparent reason, especially when all others finished their games.

Megabytes - 100/6 in 20 Stars - 63/10 in 19.2

Power house Vs Lucky to be in Pool X, as expected one sided.

Predictions - By Srikantha - week-2

Gladiators Vs Juggernauts
With Bala, Joy, Sriram looks a strong contention this week with Viju/Raj of Gladiators. Juggs might take this.

GLCC Vs Strikers
Both the teams are strong on their bowling attack. Strikers batting relies on 3 Tushar, Jegan and Parthiv. GLCC has an edge with experienced team.

Stars Vs Megabytes
It will be Megabytes with all the correct ingredients for a good team. Stars have to put a brave front to defend any score or attack.

RoyalBlues Vs Brownstown
Shastri & RK alongwith Ghanta Rao can turn the match to their favor if Brownstone does not bring their full strength. Brownstone has better chance of winning this game.

Indus Vs Beavers
Indus is getting back in games… Nitya & Raj had good knocks in previous game. Beavers have not displayed winning yet. It will be Indus for this week.

Falcons Vs A2C2
A2C2 had a good win against Tigers last week. But to beat Falcons they have to play some pretty strong team. My take it will be Falcons.

Lions Vs Spiders
Spiders with lone wolf Karthik is yet to make it big against good teams. Lions are waiting to roar back after their defeat against Cougars last week.

VisionPhoenix Vs Cougars
Cougars are going impressive so far. They will play against a decent VP. However, Cougars has high chance of winning this one.

Greens Vs DarkHorses
Greens have not played their games for past 2 weeks. This might cause some issues. It should be evenly poised for either team to win. Leaning towards Greens.

POOL Y - Rankings by Ravish - week-2

POOL Y

Rank	Team	Why
1	Falcons	Retained their position with a handy victory over PTS. An expected result, but the margin of victory was massive. Sai was terrific and Srikanth excelled yet again, both with the ball and bat. The new Falcon Rajeev delivered a lethal spell 5-3-6, just like he does in his leather ball league games. Quite a valuable addition to the team. The Aravinds had their share of the victory with some checked bowling and some valuable runs. On the whole they were fantastic in all their departments and made a mincemeat of the inexperienced PTS. Playing A2C2 this week. I am sure it will be a tough contest. Odds against A2C2 considering the current form of Falcons and a tad inconsistent A2C2
2	Indus	Had to come back strong this round and they sure did. One of the Indus Vetran mad a difference – Nitya. Raj made a valuable contribution too. When playing their full potential Indus can be a dangerous customer. I remember their last season’s quarterfinal against Falcons. Incredible game! They lost wickets quickly but then held their fort with some persistent and sensible batting. They have all the ingredients, many a superstars in their line up, and a cool captain in Azeem. All rounder Anand is just one match away from making a difference for his team and hope he uses the Beavers to do that. They move one up because of their convincing win against a good batting team like VP and hope this begins their winning streak.Playing Beavers this week. Indus might look on taking advantage of this match and make the most of it to boost their confidence. Look for some big scores from Nitya, Raj, Saagar….
3	Greens	No game last weekend. Starting the second round this week with the less (DCL) experienced Dark horses. Can’t take that game lightly, since DH are slowly coming of age. Sathish – a wizard with the ball, will be the key in Greens’ bowling department. A lot of batsmen they can rely on – Nepo, Mustfa, Sumit, Sathish, Meenakshi. My pick would be the Greens, considering their experience with DCL.
4	Cougars	Cougars roared back at the Lions last weekend. Were aggressive right from ball one after they were sent to bowl. With Mallik and Chowdry leading the pack, Cougars made less mistakes and banked on the early wickets of Lions especially of Venu, who was looking to go big from the first delivery he faced. After Venu, Cougars literally prowled! Batting still needs some fixing. Moved up one rank after this victory. Still a long way to go, since they have played some easy games. One big game would be a moral encouragement for them.Playing VisionPhoenix this week. Tough call, since VP is a well composed team with a lot of talent. Its anyone’s game. 50-50.
5	Lions	The Lions surrendered meekly to their weaker cousins – Cougars. Last year Lions were known for their impeccable bowling. This year they lack that zing in bowling. Batting also lacked lustre and appeared insipid. It was quite hard to believe that these were the same Lions who beat the Lansing Lords in the quarter finals last year after making Lansing chase a paltry score of 60 some runs. Their ace bowler Gouri is missing in the squad this year, but they still have the dangerous Venu who is such a cool customer with the bat and the bowl. They need more contributions from other players.With some new players and a new skipper Lions have some refining to do for their next games.Playing Spiders this week. Like Indus, Lions should look this as a stepping stone for their confidence boost. Lions will probably get this one with some big scores.
6	Vision Phoenix	Like I said last week, VP’s bowling needs some improvement. Indus were all over them and every VP bowler was targetted. Batting, Satish’s 44 wasn’t enough for VP to even cross the 100 mark. But they have some depth in their batting with Satish, Vijay, Suresh and Manoj. If they fix their bowling they will are capable of beating good teams. They have been going 100 + in most their games. So that’s their might! Unlike last year(Alpha) , VP has improved a lot better and look like a good contenders for the big games.With Cougars this week, they have a good chance if their batting is as usual and make a mark with their bowling. Anyone’s game. 50-50..This for sure will be THE game of the week in Pool Y.
7	A2C2	Got away somehow with their victory against Tigers. Chasing 59 they kinda choked to finish. Bowling as usual was up to the mark. Batting failed miserably. With the kind of batsmen they have it should have been fairly easy to finish. Bobby, Saurab and Alex have to get their groove back since the team relies on them for their batting. Moved up one rank after defeating Tigers.Playing Falcons this week. I am sure it will be a tough contest. Odds against A2C2 considering the current form of Falcons and a tad inconsistent A2C2. But then being inconsistent sometimes is an advantage J since it sends mixed signals to the opponents. Falcons, watch out!
8	Tigers	Tigers continue their losing ways going to the second round. 59/10 says that they might have missed some key batsmen. Bowling wise, Tigers are a lot disciplined than the most of the teams in DCL. They got close to beating A2C2, but failed trying to defend a low score. I umpired their first game this season against indus and was very impressed by their bowling. Batting needs to make an impression. Vishal has to put his thinking cap on and come up with some better strategies for the next coming games, or else they might just lose the plot. Go down one rank after losing to A2C2.Don’t have a game this weekend. Might as well use it for getting more practice and re-evaluate themselves.
9	PTS	As predicted lost to Falcons. They were mangled by the Falcons. Had no chance of recovery any time and surrendered without a fight. PTS had showed some talent at end of the first round, but failed to get that going. Will need to regroup.No match this weekend.
10	Spiders	Karthik’s army faces the Lions this week, hopefully they come back strong, because Lions won’t be quite after the last defeat. All the spiders need are a little more confidence in themselves. Go spiders! You can do it.Against Lions : 90 to 10 against Spiders
11	Dark Horses	First win. Congrats guys!! Adnan seems to be a surprise inclusion, made all the difference in the batting department along with Sudhanshu and skipper Diwakar contributing with the bat. Will they take this same intensity against Greens this week ? Have to really work hard against the experienced Greens. Against Greens : Greens without a doubt!!
12	Beavers	Nothing changed since their first round, are still being mauled by teams.It was DH’s chance last week and they didn’t miss the oppurtunity. Against Indus : Indus’s chance set some big score.

POOL X - Ranking By Samish Kilam - week-2

When I ranked the teams last week, I thought I was doing it for the whole season. I didn't know I would be doing it weekly. If I knew that, I would've let the Editor in Chief (Viju) take up the role. It isn't easy for me to fill his enormous shoes, but I'll try to keep it honest. Any inputs are appreciated. Also, maybe Viju can grace us with his analysis once in a while.

Rank	Team	Why
1	MegaBytes	Had a bye week, but nothing has changed. They still have the best team in the league. Superstar Matta will be looking to put behind a string of low scores and start round 2 just the way he started round-1. Look for the Megabytes to dominate both batting and bowling charts in the all-star categories. The more I think about it, the more headaches I've. I mean imagine Raghu coming 3rd, 4th or even 5th change bowler - who by the way according to me is one of the best bowler in closing overs. Next up Stars: Stars will have their hands full. If they're able to give Megs a good fight, they can count themselves among the elite. I'm sure Megs won't take it easy though. Look for a crushing win for Megabytes. 99 to 1 Megabytes.
2	Brownstown	Brownstown forfeited their game with Gladiators. I wouldn't encourage such thing in the league as the whole idea behind the league is for the people to play some cricket. We've seen a lot of backouts this season for one reason or another, which is a little disappointing to the teams that are ready to play. However, I wouldn't blindly blame BT. I'm sure they had a good reason to skip. I just hope that the other teams don't use this as a pretext to forfeit their games. Since we didn't have much to judge the top two teams on, they occupy their standings. Next up Royal Blues: The game depends on which BT shows up. If BT are without a couple of big names, RBCC may match up evenly man to man. But BTs experience and leadership should get them through. It will be a closer game than it looks, but I'm leaning towards BT. 65 to 35
3	GLCC	Finally hitting the top gear? Some would say yes, but I feel there is still a lot of room for improvement. They're surely going in the right direction. Anil and Chaitanya are probably among the best bowlers in the league and they've only played around 7 games between them. The young batting talent that GLCC invested in last summer is starting to pay off, much to the relief of the team oldies who were seemingly looking worn-out with all the workload. Next up Strikers: As usual it is a high profile game. The interesting fact being that Strikers have never lost to GLCC - even in practice games. Let's not talk about how convincing those wins have been ;) - 60-40 for Strikers, because they know how to beat GLCC and GLCC doesn't.
4	Strikers	They are performing clinically. Minesh seems to have brought some discipline in the team. Credit must go to Tushar as well. He's been controlling the tempo of the batting with some consistent scores. Along with Megabytes and of course Bridges, Strikers will hog the bowling charts. Parthiv is one of the most destructive bowlers on his day. And he has a great support cast with Abhishek, Jegan, Kapil, Ashok and Amitabh. Not to forget other 5 people who can bowl well too ;). If I was them, I'd be worried about the batting. Tushar is a key wicket and besides him, there aren't many who are able to control the batting as well. Next up GLCC: Based on history, they start as favorites.
5	Juggernauts	They are one spot down from last week, just for the fact that their win wasn't as convincing as that of Strikers. However, they're one of the most balanced teams in the league and have a lot of experience. If we look at the big picture (whole season), I would put them ahead of Strikers but on form basis, Strikers beats them by a good margin. I wouldn't rate them the best bowling or best batting side but as a whole team, they're contenders for the cup. Sriram and Ashwin along with Sundar and others can bat through the game. They play Gladiators. I would rate the two teams equally but Juggs have the slight edge. 55-45 Juggs.
6	Gladiators	Had to be the victim of a forfeited game. Looking at the brighter side, they've 5 points in their bag. Not much to write about them this week. But I think with disciplined bowling and batting, they should be able to pull off another upset (I'm sure Viju won't think of it as an upset ;) ). They'll be playing Juggernauts in one of the closest matchups of the week. May the best team win!
7	Royal Blues	Gained a spot after the loss. You don't see that happening much. But they played a closer game than Bridges and have more experience. Shastry was a factor right after his return, taking 4 wickets and RK, one of the best and most underrated openers in the league scored a cool 21 in the loss. They've all the ingredients but some one needs to give them the recipe! They've another tough game with BT. If I was them, I would look to take advantage of any missing BT players. They may not be able to beat the full strength BT team, but they match up evenly even if one or two of the BTs best players don't show up.
8	Bridges	Bridges have some great individual talent and at the start of the game, they played together as one unit, especially after an early breakthrough. However, that didn't last too long. They were not able to sustain the pressure and as a result leaked a few runs too many. Aditya and Phani are a formidable pair, but they need just enough support from others. Even though, I've them at 8, I can easily see them come up to 3 or 4. They've the talent, but need to know when and where to use it. They've a bye week.
9	Stars	Stars had to face an in-form team first up in second round. And frankly, it doesn't get any easier for them. But Rajesh and co. have surprised us before and I'm sure they've a couple up their sleeve for round 2. There isn't much to write about them. Only one batsman scored in double figures and they were able to get only 1 wicket. If I was them, I would look to introduce more discipline in bowling. Look to bowl lines to stop runs than to get wickets. I see only a couple true wicket takers in their team, others need to support them by choking the batsmen for runs. The next game doesn't get any easier. They're taking on the "unbeatables"!! Good luck to them.

Monday Blues

Indus (133/8 in 25 overs) beat VisionPhoenix (84/9 in 21.4 overs)

Indus never loses when Nitya scores big. With Raj Sehgal joining the party, the total was huge by DCL standards. Look out for more such scores by Indus. As expected VP lost by big margin.

Falcons (158/8 in 25 overs) beat PTS (29/10 in 16 overs)

First 50 of the round by Sai. Congratulations. Excellent batting by Falcons. Just when I thought that PTS had got themselves going, they disappointed me big time. Now, I'm not sure where they stand in the league.

Juggernauts (98/10 in 25 overs) beat RoyalBlues (86all out in 24 overs)

Royal Blues lost to Juggernauts in a close game. RBCC has enough talent to win it all - "The Cup" but they fail in the crucial games. RK, Vinod, Vikas, Sastry, Praveen Gujja, Naveen and the list goes on ... are all match winners any day. I would say that RBCC needs discipline with ball and needs a strong leader who can enforce that discipline. I would say give the headache of leading the team to Sai and others can just concentrate on cricket.

DarkHorses (153/3 in 25 overs) beat Beavers (80/10 in 18.5 overs)

First win for Dark Horses, congratulations. I still believe that beavers is better team with lot of DCL experience and I hope they do better in coming matches.

GLCC (129all out in 24.4 overs) beat Bridges (51/10 in 15.4 overs)

It was a somewhat one sided game. I blame it on the inexperience of Bridges' team. They waited too long to bring in his best bowlers Aditya and Phani. Any ways it is very difficult to beat any pool X team with good performance from just two bowlers - other bowlers need to step up if they want to beat good teams. Adhitya should plan on playing long innings. There is no need for him to slog right from the first ball.

BrownsTown Vs Gladiators

What ever happened is no good for DCL and I hope others teams don’t follow this BS by BT {sorry for my language}, wait for my next article for details and damage such an act can cause to the league.

Question to DCL Disciplinary committee!!

2009 DCL first round ended successfully, thanks to DCL committee. Its worth mentioning the hard work put in by Anand to come up with Schedule and always on time and Vijay puts in so much time (even driving to the city of Farmington and Livonia in the week days to pick up receipts and make sure all the teams have grounds to play). If we take out questioning umpiring abilities by some teams every thing went fine with just two incidents.

Now lets talk about complaints. One with PTS missing umpiring duties, which was the first official complaint of the year. DCL committee was quick to react and PTS ended up with decent amount of money as fine and additional duties of umpiring. League sent a clear message to teams about how serious they are about running the show.
The second was the fight between strikers and A2C2, I guess this the first time DCL received an official complaint by Umpire. Mr swaroop of Dark Horses was that unfortunate umpire. His email clearly state that somebody used “language unsuitable and not on par with the spirit of the game” and “There were talks of cracking somebody's skull, a fight after the game, calling 911 and deporting the whole team to India. Further, there were wickets raised for physical assault, payers were pushed, family background were commented on and swear words were extensively used.”
Anand from committee immediately responded requesting both teams not to respond to the complaint in DCL group, which I felt very good. This one happened on June 21st, one month gone and nobody knows what happened.
DCL family eagerly waiting to know what happened with this case. What was the out come of the complaint?.
Failure to answer this question leads to lot of assumptions, which is not good for DCL family. Luckily poor PTS was not involved in such a stupid act other wise committee might have been responded in no time with BIG and LONG mail… Sorry bunch of mails..

POOL Y- Ranking By Ravish

POOL Y

Rank	Team	Why
1	Falcons	Looks balanced even though they lost some good players. Skipper Srikanth leads with an example. New players are a good addition to the team. Had a good chance of getting into Pool X , but lost some crucial games – close ones. Got some good bowling attack in Jaffer, Rajeev, Srikanth and Aravind(s). They bat deep and if everyone contributes they can pose a threat to any team. Vs PTS : Falcons have a good chance of winning.
2	Greens	A bit inconsistent in the first round, Greens have a lot to prove. I am sure they will come back strong. Satish has been the only person in limelight for Greens so far. Nepo and Mustafa will be relied upon a lot in the second round with the bat. Given the experience of Greens in DCL, it shouldn’t be difficult for them to get to the top 5.No game this weekend.
3	Indus	Were surprsied by Tigers in their first game this season. Lacked a little confidence in their next few games, but came back strong towards the end of round one by beating GLCC. Big Guns – Anand, Nitya, Azeem and Saagar are expected to fire this round to stay on top. Got some easy games in this round.Vs VP : Odds against VP 60 to 40.
4	Lions	Lost some key players, but Hari, Venu and Sashi are working real hard to keep the team in same mode as they were last season. Their games against Indus and Cougars will be the one to watch for. Should be easy for them to be in the race.Vs Cougars : Evenly poised. Will be a close game.
5	Cougars	A totally revamped team with a few old Cougars, the team still needs to set in for big matches. First round they had some easy games on which they capitalized totally. Their real might will be tested against some good teams in Pool Y. Long way to go!Vs Lions: Evenly poised. Will be a close game.
6	Vision Phoenix	New bottle, old wine! Blend of Alpha, Hurricanes and some other team. A lot of talent , VP will be a team to watch for in Pool Y. They have been improving with every game and skipper Vijay’s contribution has been instrumental in their victories so far. Satish Sankara is another good batsman in VP. VP’s bowling department needs some improvement.Vs Indus : Odds against VP 60 to 40.
7	Tigers	Started the season with a bang by beating Indus and Greens, and then started to fade away with some measly scores. With Tusharbhai in the squad they were quite dominant in their batting department along with Ronak, Keyur and Mitesh. Need to start fresh in the second round and work hard to compete for pre-quarters.Vs A2C2 : Tough call. Both the teams are good. More inclined towards Tigers though.
8	A2C2	A very competitive team, but needs a little more consisitency to get in to pre-quarters. They have some good bowlers in Himanshu and kondal, batting needs to improve.Vs Tigers : Tough call. Both the teams are good. More inclined towards Tigers though.
9	PTS	New team, started slow but picked up the pace quickly. Will know more after their performance in Pool Y.Vs Falcons: Falcons may win this.
10	Spiders	Karthik’s one man show isn’t enough for this team. Need more players to chip in with some key contributions.No game this weekend
11	Dark Horses	New Team, will take some more matches to evaluate them.Vs Beavers : Beavers may get this one.
12	Beavers	Poor guys, were mauled by many teams, some to set up a highest score. Beavers need to work real hard.Vs DH: Beavers may get this one.

Predictions - By Srikantha

RoyalBlues Vs Juggernauts
RBCC has great talent and with the addition of Rao Ganta they are tough to beat. Lack of strong leader or I would say too many leaders is the major issue with this team. If I were the captain, I would open with RK and Rao Ganta and allow RK to plan for long innings and giving all freedom to Rao.
There isn't much to talk about Juggs and are yet to impress the league this year. Mentally strong, intelligent cricketing skills and experience are strong points, Sriram , Joy and Sundar are match winners any time. I expect RBCC to win in a close game.

Gladiators Vs Brownstown
With Rehan’s and Brownstown’s experience it would in all probability straight win for Brownstone unless Viju/Raj show the magic.

Stars Vs Strikers
This match might be evenly poised. However I am not aware of Stars much.
With Strikers strong bowling line up, I see Strikers might take this.

GLCC Vs Bridges
Ofcourse it will be GLCC. With all its core team GLCC is going to come back strongly in this round. However watch out for expolsive Aditya and dependable Phani Gundamraj.

Indus Vs VisionPhoenix
With the last win against GLCC, Indus will be on high and take on lesser known VisionPhoenix.
But Indus watch out as this year experience is not completely sweet yet.

Beavers Vs DarkHorses
Beavers should win easily

Tigers Vs A2C2
Tigers: if they can bring in their best team and play down, It should be good win for Tigers this round. However, With Alex, Kondal, Bobby, A2C2 can turn the match in their favor.

PTS Vs Falcons
PTS is lesser know team this season. Should be fairly easy start for Falcons in the second round.
Falcons though missing the infamous Matta from their team, should do good with new additions such as 2 Aravind’s, Jaffer and ofcourse senior player Srikanth performing all-round in this season.

Lions Vs Cougars
Match to see. Both teams are strong. Cougars with some new additions in both bat & ball will give a tough one for Lions.
Though Lions is slowly getting on the grove this season after the blast they had last year. Watch out for Cougars

POOL X - Ranking By Samish Kilam

POOL X

Rank	Team	Why
1	MegaBytes	They look like the best team of the year. At one point or another, every body has contributed with the bat. Matta adds a whole new dimension in batting (that has been traditionally on the weaker side). Bowling has always been their strength. Now they've Matta too - just in case someone has a bad day. I would like to have that luxury - It is like having a 7 Series to drive, when my S-Class isn't up to the mark ;) Frankly it is hard to find a team in the league that will be a favorite going in against them.
2	Brownstown	Are the champions and are loaded with experience. Good leadership and batting has been their strength. The are good at both setting and chasing totals. Some younger bowlers (who can bat too) have just made them harder to beat. They could be considered slightly weaker in bowling when compared to Megs, but Rehan times two, Imran, Yasir and others will make up for that with the bat.
3	GLCC	Is back with their core, with a little tweaks here and there. With other teams upgrading, GLCC hasn't looked very convincing in the first round as they normally do. They're yet to hit the 5th gear, but with their experience and some new pieces put together, they cannot be counted out, at least not this early in the season ;)
4	Juggernauts	Have a great captain in Anand. They've added some of the best free agent talent in town to their already formidable team. Sriram will head the batting with a lot of support from some new-comers aka Ashwin. Joy and Saxena who have historically been wicket taking bowlers, will add that extra sting to their bowling. They know how to win and are at par with the top 3 teams, if not better.
5	Strikers	May have the best bowling line up after Megabytes, but batting hasn't changed much. However, Tushar has been giving them great starts, followed by some Bevan-ish finishes by Amitabh. Any team that has a bowling attack of Parthiv, Jegan, Amitabh,Ashok and Kapil cannot be taken lightly. Good leadership should take them to top. The question is who'll step up in that role.
6	Gladiators/Bridges	Both teams have had a tremendous first round. Gladiators have some great tried and tested players and good leadership. Bridges have some great young talent - which will be tested for the first time in pool X. Both teams are capable of causing some big upsets. It is hard to pick between the two. On one side, we've Viju with Gumbar and on the other side we've the all-stars in Aditya and Phani. However, the real test for both the teams starts now.
7	Royal Blues	Has great talent from 1 to 11 and are capable of beating any of the top 7 teams. Venkat, Naveen and Vinod can destroy any batting attack. At the same time, the addition of Ghanta Rao has just made them that much better with the bat. A fearless attitude should get them over the hump.
8	Stars	It was a great achievement for this team to come to Pool X last year after losing some big players. This year again, they've played some great cricket to come to Pool X. Rajesh has a good knack of using his talent. In Ram, they've an excellent bowler. But he'll need more support from others if they're to beat any of the top 8 teams. Their batting is stable and can post some good scores with Gopi leading the pack. They've good allrounder in Sachin. They may cause one or two upsets, but in general, it'll be an uphill task for them from here on. Pool X will be dominated by bowlers and you need more than 3 good bowlers to win consistently.