Indian Premier League 2020: Auction Round-Up

20th Dec 201920th Dec 2019 ~ olivrbb ~ Leave a comment

Draft-based cricket has exploded in the past decade, with the BBL, TheHundred and the Caribbean Premier League all adopting this format. However, it is the Indian Premier League (IPL) that garners the most attention, and for good reason. With some of the richest families in India owning most of the clubs, the IPL has the money and stature to attract the best players from across the globe, making for a star-studded competition that very few leagues can replicate.

I first started watching the IPL in 2012, during my first ever exam season. After a stressful day of revision and past papers, it was nice to have three hours of cricket waiting for me. Even now, the IPL coincides with my essay deadlines, but knowing I’ll be able to procrastinate or relax watching some cricket is already putting me at ease, at least for now.

Before the IPL starts, the franchises compete in an auction to draft available players. Each franchise/team will have a certain budget and amount of slots in their squad to fill, and this will depend on which players they retained from the previous year. Going into the auction, Chennai Super Kings had only five slots left to fill having kept the bulk of their squad, whereas Royal Challengers Bangalore, off the back of another disappointing season, still had twelve players to draft. This makes analysing the draft much more difficult, as whilst some teams may be fairly restrained in their spending, this is only because they already have such a strong squad. As such, I will analyse each teams’ purchases and their overall squad, giving an accurate portrayal of their chances.

Chennai Super Kings (CSK):
CSK are the most consistent team in the IPL, having made the playoffs 10 times in 10 seasons. Their strong core of capped Indian players, as well as established foreign cricketers means little was needed to bolster MS Dhoni’s team going into the auction. CSK eventually purchased the likes of Josh Hazlewood, Sam Curran and Piyush Chawla to bolster their bowling line-up which already contains some of the trickiest bowlers in Harbhajan Singh and Imran Tahir. My concern with CSK is not for this season, but for when MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Shane Watson- all IPL veterans- consider retiring from cricket, as without these heavy hitters, CSKs top order looks frail.
Predicted Line-up: Watson/du Plessis, Rayudu, Raina, Dhoni (c)(wk), Jadeja, Curran, Chawla, H. Singh, Chahar, Hazlewood, Ngidi

Delhi Capitals (DC):
After a rocky start to the IPL 2019, Delhi managed to rally around replacement captain Shreyas Iyer and finish in third place. Much of this success is attributed to their solid base of domestic batsmen, meaning their purchases going into the auction should look to strengthen their overseas pool of players. By picking up Marcus Stoinis and Chris Woakes, Delhi have created a formidable batting line-up, so long as they remain consistent. It confused me that they also bought both Jason Roy and Shimron Hetmyer for a large portion of their budget when these two batsmen will be unlikely to make the starting eleven until Dhawan retires, but these are solid back-up players if things go wrong in the opening games.
Predicted Line-up: Dhawan, Shaw, Shreyas (c), Rahane, Pant (wk), Stoinis/Hetmeyer, R. Ashwin, Woakes, Lamichhane, Rabada, Sharma

Kings XI Punjab (KXIP):
Kings XI never looked like breaking into the play-offs in 2019, and much of that can be blamed on the lack of strong Indian talent in their team. Aside from Agarwal, Shami and KL Rahul, none of their domestic players made an impact. With Chris Gayle still opening at 40 years old, and captain Ravi Ashwin leaving, KXIP needed serious investment in all areas of their squad. Unfortunately for their fans, they failed to do this. Sheldon Cottrell and Jimmy Neesham are two great signings, especially as Neesham was bought for relatively little money, but spending 10.75 crore on Glenn Maxwell seems steep, especially after his dip in form over the last few years. KXIP missed out on capped Indian players, too. Their bowling line-up looks especially poor aside from their overseas signings. As the IPL only allows four overseas slots, KL Rahul, the new captain, will have to rely on inexperienced Indian players to fill his team.
Predicted Line-up: Gayle, KL Rahul (c), Agarwal, Pooran, Maxwell, Hooda, Gowtham, Shami, Porel, M. Ashwin, Cottrell

Kolkata Night Riders (KKR):
After a disappointing season in 2019, KKR removed much of the deadwood and stagnant players from the squad, including Uthappa, Lynn, and Chawla. It was a chance for a fresh start. As a KKR fan, I wasn’t that confident going into the auction, however, as KKR have a tendency to spend big on players they don’t need. Despite my reservations, KKR did well in their overseas purchases, picking up Eoin Morgan and Pat Cummins, two of the best performing players in the ODI World Cup, in the first few rounds. With Morgan as a batsman and Cummins as an all-rounder, this pair will ease the dependence on Andre Russell in the middle order. Cummins also offers some much needed fast bowling to the KKR attack, with Lockie Ferguson as another option. Tom Banton is a favourite amongst English fans and commentators. With T20 averages of 34.89 and a strike rate of 156.36, he will be a great back-up in case Russell or Morgan pick up injuries, and should be one KKR look to retain for the future. KKRs problem will come in selection, with Dinesh Karthik making a few mistakes in who he chose for the starting eleven in his first season as captain. There is also uncertainty surrounding who will open the batting, and with no replacement for Chris Lynn, KKR must look to form this partnership sooner rather than later.
Predicted Line-up: Gill, Narine, Rana, Morgan, Karthik (c) (wk), Russell, Cummins, Pradish, K. Yadav, Mavi, Chakravarthy

Mumbai Indians (MI):
As the reigning champions, Mumbai went into the auction having retained most of their roster, only needing a few players as reserves. They signed former KKR opener Chris Lynn as a potential back-up for de Kock, and Nathan Coulter-Nile as another overseas option. With Coulter-Nile looking fairly poor in the World Cup, Mumbai may have overspent on him, especially as he has failed to perform in the IPL in previous seasons. This won’t bother Rohit Sharma, however, as the strength of their team from last year should carry them easily into the play-offs this season. MI have the best collection of Indian players in the IPL, with Bumrah, Chahal, the Pandya brothers, and Rohit Sharma all regularly appearing in the Indian set-up. Even with Bumrah recovering from an injury and Lasith Malinga getting older, Trent Boult is an feared death bowler who could replace either of them.
Predicted Line-up:
de Kock (wk), Sharma, S. Yadav, Kishan, H. Pandya, K. Pandya, Pollard, Coulter-Nile, Chahal, Bumrah, Malinga

Rajasthan Royals (RR):
If you’re an English fan with no allegiances to any other IPL team, Rajasthan are likely the team you’ll be supporting. With Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes, and Jos Buttler, their overseas cohort is already powerful enough, especially when combined with a certain Steve Smith. Therefore, the goal for Rajasthan at the auction was to improve on their domestic base. Robbie Uthappa was signed as a replacement for their former captain Rahane, and Tom Curran as a back-up overseas player capable of replacing the likes of Ben Stokes. Uthappa is not getting any younger, however, and I am unsure whether he will match Rahane’s consistency at Rajasthan, which is especially important if the overseas players leave early for international matches.
Predicted Line-up: Uthappa, Buttler (wk), Samson, Smith (c), Stokes, Tewatia, Parag, Gopal, Archer, Unadkat, Rajpoot

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB):
You would think with the best Indian cricketer on the planet as captain, RCB would be a major player in the challenge for the IPL title, but with no top-four finishes in the last three seasons, Virat Kohli’s side need some serious changes to the team. Ever since Chris Gayle left RCB, the team were lacking in IPL experience, and so the purchases of Chris Morris, Dale Steyn and Aaron Finch– all IPL veterans- should make for some consistency in their performances. I have to be cautious when saying they could do well this year, as the middle order is weaker than most other sides in the IPL, and so they may lack the power hitting needed to get them over the line once the top order are dismissed.
Predicted Line-up: Finch, Patel (wk), Kohli (c), de Villiers, Moeen Ali, Dube, Sundar, Morris, U. Yadav, Saini, Y. Chahal

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH):
Sunrisers have the best top-order in the IPL. Fact. Bairstow, Warner and Williamson will frighten any young Indian bowler given their chance in the IPL, and their ability to hit hard without losing their wickets meant that the Bairstow-Warner partnership tore apart the rest of the competition. The area SRH needed to improve in was once these three do eventually get out, as Pandey and Shankar are not aggressive players in the middle order who can change games with boundary-after-boundary. Virat Singh and Priyam Garg were brought in to do this, but with a lack of IPL experience for these young Indian batsmen, it would be foolish for Kane Williamson to rely upon them entirely towards the death.
Predicted Line-up: Bairstow (wk), Warner, Williamson (c), Pandey, Singh, Shankhar, K. Sharma, R. Khan, B. Kumar, S. Sharma, Ahmed

A Sequel to Golf Story? Yes Please!

12th Dec 2019 ~ olivrbb ~ Leave a comment

Sidebar Games’ Golf Story is in my top 10 games of all-time. This quaint little indie game about a aspiring golfer stole my heart with its solid golf mechanics, gorgeous art style, and its classic Aussie humour. It was also the first game I ever reviewed for The Boar, and so I can say with relative ease that I am incredibly excited for the upcoming de facto sequel, Sports Story.

I first had hope for a sequel earlier this year when Sidebar Games tweeted they were working on something else and also announced they were looking for a pixel artist. Whilst this could have been a full-length version of Galf, or porting Golf Story over to other consoles, I was always hoping for a sequel.

Nindies Showcases are often overlooked by most fans, as they rarely show off much new aside from the announcement of indie games that have been on Steam for five years, and for half the price. Granted, there is the occasional hidden gem in Untitled Goose Game or Celeste, but I never go into the presentations with high hopes or expectations.

In fact, I’m willing to admit that I didn’t even watch the Nindies Showcase- it wasn’t until I received a notification on Twitter from Sidebar Games (yes, I’m that fan) announcing the trailer that I even knew it existed.

The trailer showed that this new game has gone far beyond what I ever expected this small Australian studio to produce. Indie studios will usually seek to gradually expand their games, or look for more outside help (in the form of an AAA publisher) to revolutionise their game. Not Sidebar. In just two years, they have multiplied the amount of sports available to play at least three-fold (yes, I’m counting disc golf as a separate sport).

The first thing I noticed about Sports Story from the trailer was the interaction between sports and almost sandbox-like aspect of the game. In the original Golf Story, players could drop the golf ball anywhere and play from there. This new title appears to expand on the freedoms it offers players, allowing them to use all sporting equipment or techniques for any sport, making for some hilarious combinations. Due to my love for cricket and football, I’m especially excited these sports are involved, and I’m interested to see how they work with each other and other sports.

Given the name of my blog, Games & Googlies, it is quite obvious that I would enjoy sports video games. Whilst this is true, the genre has become fairly stagnant and boring, with most AAA publishers focusing on licensing players and improving graphics to make the game more realistic rather than fun. This is why I particular enjoyed Golf Story, as it flipped the genre on its head, adding RPG and story elements to what some would describe as a fairly mundane sport.

Sports Story releases in mid-2020, solely on the Nintendo Switch (sorry guys!)- if there’s ever an incentive to purchase a Switch, this is it. With Animal Crossing likely coming out at a similar time, it’s going to be a great (and expensive) year for Nintendo fans.

Where are the Christmas Video Games?

9th Dec 2019 ~ olivrbb ~ Leave a comment

Unlike in other forms of entertainment, Christmas video games never really caught on. Aside from a few poorly made Wii party games, game developers have stayed away from making fully fledged Christmas titles, instead opting for Christmas-themed events or costumes, which don’t really have the same impact in spreading the Christmas cheer as watching Elf, for example.

This doesn’t mean, however, that there aren’t suitable games to play around the Holidays. Winter is the best time to play ‘comfy’ games’. These games are perfect to play all cosy by a fire, drinking hot chocolate and watching some festive films. They are laid-back, low pressure games that require little strenuous thought or reflex actions.

Animal Crossing is the obvious choice, and for good reason. Tom Nook, as much criticism and mockery he receives, puts no pressure on the players to payback their loans (which are interest free) and instead pushes you to enjoy your time in the town decorating your new home, collecting fish and insects; all to the sound of relaxing piano tunes and the oddly soothing language spoken by the Animal Crossing Villagers.

I have also always enjoyed training up competitive Pokémon for online battles during particularly stormy nights. Breeding Pokémon to have the best natures, stats, and moves may frustrate some players who find it too time-consuming, but for me, this process is cathartic. The satisfaction from finally hatching your 6IV, Jolly Darumaka is just as good as actually fighting with your team in stressful battles you will inevitably lose.

If cosiness isn’t really your thing, I’ve put together a collection of winter-themed levels that will really get you into the Christmas spirit.

My favourite snow-styled level is ‘The Exchange’ in James Bond 007: Nightfire. Here, players are tasked with infiltrating a party at a mansion in the Alpes, and whilst the last half of this level is inside, the sneaking around the cold mountain-top using covert rifles leads to an incredibly satisfying experience; nothing beats the sound of one of the guards in the towers falling out and hitting the snow with a slightly muted ‘thump’. What’s more, Nightfire’s multiplayer level Skyrail, a snowy hillside ski resort, is an iconic FPS map that I believe needs to be up their with Rust and Nuketown in terms of nostalgic video game maps.

The snowy planet Hoth is amongst the most iconic of Star Wars locations, and it therefore makes sense that it has starred in a plethora of Star Wars related video games, dating back 35 years to the Atari 2600. Of these, Star Wars Battlefront (2015) gives the best representation of the planet. Say what you will about EAs first attempt at a next-gen Star Wars game, but it is visually stunning, replicating the vast openness of Hoth, contrasted by the death and destruction caused by the AT-ATs and AT-STs, to perfection.

Mario Kart has had its fair share of winter-themed courses over its lifetime, and so it was hard to narrow this down to just one. Sherbet Land is one of my favourites, purely based on the slippery nature of the course. Given its name and rather cute setting, players are mistaken in thinking this track will be easy. The Shy Guy’s and penguins that dance around the course are pretty hard to avoid, as is the large body of water on the last corner which I’m sure has caused plenty of broken controllers in its time.

Pokemon Diamond was the first game to make me feel absolutely helpless. I could be talking about my failure to beat Cynthia and her Garchomp in less than two weeks, but instead it was Route 216 on the way to Snowpoint City that caused me the most trouble. As a naïve 8-year-old, my team was not prepared at all for any ice-typed escapades, with my Torterra and Staraptor fainting far too many times. It was only when I went back and caught a Machoke that I dispatched of the Sneasel on the route and swiftly move on through the game.

My final recommendation, which I’m sure will feature a lot in this blog, is Breath of the Wild. I have always said it is so easy to get lost in BOTWs amazing landscape, and so the snowy mountaintops of Hyrule are a perfect place to explore whilst cosied up under a blanket. BOTW is a game that can go from high-paced, intense fights against Lynels and strange monks to a more quiet and subdued, ‘comfy’ video game experience. Reaching the summit of the Gerudo Highlands after defeating the Yiga clan and avoiding the roaming Lynels is an immensely satisfying experience that very few games can replicate. If I could recommend any game that allows you to traverse a winter wonderland from the comfort of your living room, Breath of the Wild should be at the top of your Christmas list.

Solidarity Supporter- How to Act as a Neutral at a Football Match

6th Dec 20196th Dec 2019 ~ olivrbb ~ Leave a comment

As a Blackburn Rovers fan, it can be particularly difficult to attend matches now that I’m studying and living in the Midlands. The nearest major club, Coventry City, now also play in Birmingham after problems negotiating with the Wasps over the Ricoh Arena, meaning that if I want to watch any football matches involving Blackburn, I’m restricted to away fixtures an hour away, or wait until the Christmas schedule when I’m back home.

Clearly, this won’t do.

Luckily, my flatmate is an avid Wolves supporter, and so he regularly buys an extra ticket to games at the Molineux for me or another flatmate to use, as it’s not that far away, and it is nice to see some Premier League football- which Blackburn haven’t seen for seven years now.

Even though I’m a Blackburn fan, I find myself celebrating, getting annoyed, and chanting along with the Wolves supporters. After watching Wolves beat West Ham earlier this week, I questioned whether this is ‘cheating’ on Blackburn. Should I boo every team that doesn’t play at Ewood Park?

My conclusion- probably not. Since Blackburn are unfortunately not in the same league as these clubs, the result has no impact on their chances of promotion.

Instead, my main priority is cheering on players in my Fantasy Football team, the only aspect of the match I have a stake in. Luckily, Wolves have performed fairly well recently, and so Matt Doherty and Raul Jimenez are staples in my line-up, making cheering for goals and hoping for clean sheets important (if you can consider Fantasy Football to be important) for me.

There’s also a psychological element to supporting other teams. When you’re surrounded by a group of fans, all cheering and celebrating, it’s hard not to get caught up in the excitement. You’d also get some strange looks (or something much worse) if you remained emotionless when the team scored, and so it’s easier to give in to the buzz of the crowd.

It’s hard to remain a neutral in any football match, so I’d suggest acting in solidarity with the fans you’re sat with. Just make sure not to blurt out the wrong chants when you finally watch your own team play.

Why I am Jealous of Village Green Cricket Stadiums

3rd Dec 2019 ~ olivrbb ~ Leave a comment

Given the extraordinary amount of cricket that has taken place in England over the past year, I’ve grown accustomed to a certain style of cricket ground.

Lords, Old Trafford, Edgbaston, and The Oval all have capacities well over the 20,000, mimicking a football stadium in a certain sense. Hell, the amount of steps I had to climb to get to the top of the Party Stand in the Fourth Test of The Ashes is a big step up from the fifteen benches scattered around the edge of my local club.

But now winter has arrived and the English pitches will be used only for snowball fights or dog walking, my attention has turned to grounds in the Southern Hemisphere- mainly those in New Zealand.

What immediately struck me as different about New Zealand’s two grounds used in the opening two tests against England is the ‘village green-styled’ seating around the pitches. Both the Bay Oval and Seddon Park lack the traditional seating most stadiums in England have, opting instead for a grassy embankment where fans can sit, stand, or sunbathe whilst watching England lose another test series.

Immediately, I became immensely jealous at the prospect of having the space to lie down and watch Colin de Grandhomme mysteriously tear apart England’s batsmen once again. My experiences at cricket grounds are filled with memories of cramped seating and spilled drinks, so being able to spread out and essentially have a picnic whilst world-class cricketers are just a few metres away seems like a fantastic experience.

Would this work in England? Probably not.

As I mentioned earlier, English stadiums seat over 20,000 fans, and so giving each of them the space to lie down would probably not be feasible without seriously reducing the capacity of stadiums. It’s already hard enough to buy tickets to international cricket fixtures, especially given the sheer number of tickets reserved for corporate sponsors.

Even if I managed to buy a ticket, it’s unlikely that the experience would mirror that in New Zealand. English weather is infamously unreliable. I can’t imagine anything worse than sitting on a wet blanket in the pouring rain, hoping play will resume shortly.

It’s probably for the best we don’t have these types of stadiums in the UK. British holidaymakers are notorious for their awful beach etiquette, and this would carry over into cricket grounds. Images of cramped sun loungers, saving spaces with towels, and screaming children would soon replace the ideal in my head of a luxury cricketing experience, and I don’t know if I’m ready to let go of that any time soon.