*** Rahul Dravid's Rajasthan Royals - Halla Bol ***

[Puliyan_Biryani]

Yaay . Still feel we are one good batsman short.

Now onto the Match Review.
Warne - Didn't watch him bowl. But figures suggest he bowled well. Also looks fitter than previous season. Looks like he might have a good IPL with the ball. Spot on with the captaincy, I feel.
Dravid - Personally not happy with the way he batted today. Was not timing it at all. Still stuck on gamely to avoid a collapse and exposing the thin batting lineup.
Paunikar - nallaa thuru thurunnu aaduraan. The cover drive off Steyn was good. nallaa aaduneenga thambi. Hope he will play even better against lesser bowling attacks.
Trivedi - .
Botha - Another rabbit out of the hat from Warne. Played with a very cool head and saw the chase through. Showed why SA rate him as a good captain and leader of men.

[Puliyan_Biryani]

Puli, watched A Menaria's innings for Central Zone vs South, the Royals have definitely found a gem in him Clean hitting, no sign of nerves and comfortable against pace and spin Lets hope he makes it big Hope I have not jinxed him

Satish marupadiyum for your prediction way back. Saw today's highlights. The boy certainly has a confident air about him. Lets hope he goes on to achieve great things at national level.

And he seems to be in good hands too.

"Rahul Dravid has been advising us on the mental aspect, things like playing in front of a big crowd in a major tournament and how to focus amid the noise levels."

[Puliyan_Biryani]

Dravid - Personally not happy with the way he batted today. Was not timing it at all. Still stuck on gamely to avoid a collapse and exposing the thin batting lineup.

Liked his knock today which was in total contrast to the previous game. Those on-drives were a treat to watch, as always. Especially the one he hit off Van der Merwe. And he hit a six too against Irfan . konjam konjama form-ku varraarunnu nenaikkaren. innum nalla aadunga Jammy .

[VinodKumar's]

Liked his knock today which was in total contrast to the previous game. Those on-drives were a treat to watch, as always. Especially the one he hit off Van der Merwe. And he hit a six too against Irfan . konjam konjama form-ku varraarunnu nenaikkaren. innum nalla aadunga Jammy .

Super. Veetuku pona udanae first highlights paakanum

[satissh_r]

Officlela irunthathala matcha suthama pakkala, good to know RD played a gem Mothal matchla fantasy team captaina pottu intha matchuku Warne-a drop panna enna

[Plum]

puLi nAn sonnEnla shane warne vettu shaving settum six adikkum.

BothavellAm Orange cap contender
indhALu EdhO maayam mandhiram paNdrAnpA!

[Puliyan_Biryani]

Plum, idhai vachu oru case study-e pannalaam pola. Asnodhkar, Trivedi, Kamran Khan and now Botha. How do these limited players perform so well for Warne?

Take Dravid and Warne for comparison. In cricketing acumen and knowledge they are equal. Warne apart from being charismatic is also self-centered, attention-seeking show-boat who needs constant reassurance that he is the greatest. Dravid is the hard working, well-prepared, prim-and-proper, down to earth and be-in-the-background type man. Now imagine if both of them are managers. Who would I like to work for and give my best? No question that it'll be Dravid. Warne for all his charisma is most likely to either irritate or scare the hell out of a team member. And yet these minions tend to do well for Warne .

Vivek: adhu epdiyyaa intha ponnunga thedi thedi fraud panravan, pithalaatam panravanaye virumburaanga .

[Plum]

I think it's got to do with "Who can get me the rewards for my work". A guy like Dravid scores a big zero in that. Warne is the charismatic manager whose primary leverage with the senior management is his individual skills and untouchable reputation and performance as an individual contributor. Such a manager can pretty much demand and get from senior management what he wants for his people, and he makes sure everyone in the chain understands that with the right publicity for his power all the time.

Plus, he has the motivational skills and an ability to understand human weaknesses - so I guess he'll be able to accept a small fault in discipline from a team member and take it in his stride while making it clear that performance should not suffer. A guy like Dravid possibly cannot understand even a small digression from discipline which makes him an intimidating manager to face up to. You feel guilty when you face up to him having transgressed discipline.

Warne's personaility will fail with a team full of high-performing individuals who have their own ego and dont depend on the motivational or reward-giving skills of their manager.
In other words, he may not have been a succesful Aussie Captain although based on his Rajasthan experience people call him the best Aussie captain that never was.

[kid-glove]

Hayden's autobiography dissects number of players. Most interesting excerpts with regards to both Warney & Dravid. He's completely adulatory towards latter while criticizes Warne's showboat(which would backfire as a Aussie Captain)/ineffectiveness(in Indian pitches). At least it'd help sell the book eh!

[Puliyan_Biryani]

Kid, quite a few of the Aussie players hate Warne. Steve Waugh, Gilchrist, Ponting, Hayden, etc are the most prominent names in the opposing side. And Warne has his own gang of friends like Mark Waugh, Healy, Langer, Clarke, etc. So such one-upmanship from Hayden isn't very surprising. And Warne himself isn't devoid of such behavior either. He placed Mark over Steve Waugh and Healy over Gilchrist when he made his list of best players and he never misses a chance to make fun of Buchanan.

The one who got most affected due to rivalry with Warne would be Ponting. He got chastised by Warne for choosing to bowl first in Edgbaston 2005. And the poor fella never ever chose to bowl first after that (~ 6 years) IIRC .