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.