Potential player rivalries and personality clashes in IPL

For all the team-work dynamic and "Chak De India" or "God Save The Queen" or "Come On Aussie" or any other versions of "All for One, One For All" motivating songs, anthems and ditties used by various international cricket teams or team psychologists or mental coaches as unifying themes to gee up the players and build team spirit in cricket, it is still the skills-based player-versus-player rivalries in matches, clashes between temperamental players in match situations and even in dressing rooms or 'feuds' played out in the larger media arena/marketplace that continue to fascinate followers of the game.

Expect the same even in the essentially "domestic" Indian Premier League (IPL) with all its external "add-ons" and "frills" to get people to the stadiums. Even accounting for the long-known and largely non-committal nature of city and state-based loyalties of the Indian fans - though bound to be under-the-radar or in reserve for this year's IPL season at least - there are enough strong personalities, highly temperamental players and other players motivated enough to keep their professional pride and reputation intact in the League for most of the matches to have an intense competitive flavour and generate riveting cricketing action for viewers and spectators alike.

Also, the lovers of all 3 formats of the game - if not the outright purists and connoisseurs who prefer watching Test cricket and well-fought ODIs between teams - won't need any induced or artificial excitement incentives to watch the many "duels" between marquee players and other "flashpoints" between international cricket players assorted together in one grand arena primarily as "warriors".

Purely because of the influence captains and natural leaders can have on this game, just the potential rivalries between the various captains in the League offer mouth-watering possibilities for some high-intensity clashes between their respective teams. Mahendra Singh Dhoni because of the sheer force of his talismanic playing attributes, his much-lauded achievements as both a captain and a player in the shorter versions of the game and his iconic status amongst the millennial generation will unwittingly and perhaps unwillingly be matched up against at least four captains- and perhaps five with perennial ODI fall guy and Deccan Chargers captain V.V.S. Laxman reportedly having felt slighted at being overlooked for a sure shot chance of playing in the recent CB ODI series in Australia despite his red-hot form in the preceding Tests - in the League.

For the alleged "hatchet role" played by Dhoni in ousting ODI titans Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid (with their still large fan base and immensely fanatical followers), clashes between the Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings and Ganguly's Kolkata Knight Riders and again between Dhoni's team and Dravid's Bangalore Royal Challengers will draw large eyeballs from the followers of the respective players. Street fighter Ganguly with his never-say-die spirit will also be expected to crank up both his and his team's performance in any match against Dhoni's team.

While the "docile" Dravid might not necessarily juice up his playing instincts (though he would definitely be hurting from his ODI axe after just two poor series and especially after he as a captain had backed Dhoni through his lean Test match periods and generally poor form in South Africa and England last year) but trust this gritty competitor to get his mental faculties and playing skills to be at their sharpest best in clashes with Team Chennai. The distinct undercurrents of a healthy rivalry - in life, the endorsement sweepstakes and the playing arena- between Kings X1 Punjab's captain Yuvraj Singh (who did make his displeasure quite evident at being overlooked for the ODI captaincy) and Dhoni - both avowed and committed Team India players though - will certainly add spice to any one-on-on contests between them as well as between their teams.

Both the India team ODI captain and vice-captain also take utmost pride in their individual performances and their big -hitting abilities and so the sixes column will see some serious competition in headline matches between the two teams. Delhi Daredevils captain Virender Sehwag and potential successor (in direct competition with the Dhoni again) to the Test match captaincy with the eventual near-term retirement of Anil Kumble will also surely attempt to showcase his acknowledged blitzing batting style, to break some records and to generally outdo Dhoni in any batting face-off - and in the bargain hope to reclaim his India ODI spot.

Another potential spicing up of the League in the form of intra-team rivalries - much to the delight of the 'nuanced' voyeurs of the game - will be the presence of high-profile international captains in most of the teams which will put the incumbent captains under tremendous pressure to perform and to be seen to be thinking quickly on their feet to get the desired results in this blink-and-you-miss format of the game. Prickly, cantankerous and highly successful international captain Ricky Pointing will be second guessing every move of Ganguly and might even start marshalling the bowlers (especially his bete noire in the international arena- Ishant Sharma!) by habit from his position at mid-on or mid-off.

Though the shrewd Ganguly renowned for his man-management skills as a former Team India captain would not mind such a sharing of responsibilities - much on the lines of the way he allowed Sachin Tendulkar to shepherd Ajit Agarkar through his occasional wayward spells in ODIs in the past. Straight talking South African captain Graeme Smith can be expected to go up to his current captain-cum-coach Shane Warne (their previous run-ins on the field in international matches has been well-documented ) in the League to perhaps offer some unsolicited suggestions and tips. The luminous presence of the cerebral former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming in Team Chennai will put even the normally unflappable Dhoni under pressure.

In fact, Ganguly because of the sheer force of his charismatic persona - or irascible depending on which side of the divide his critics are on - and a Julius Caesar-like approach to leadership can be expected to have many differences of opinion with the essentially back-room strategist but quietly persuasive coach John Buchanan with his penchant for rigid fitness routines and "details" approach to cricket (much like the regular Warne-Buchanan face-offs on cricket playing philosophies and pre-match preparation methods). Dhoni will also have to deal with the highly individualistic and tough cookie of a coach Kepler Wessels known for his hard-nosed competitive attitude while playing for both Australia and South Africa (avid cricket followers will always remember his slamming of the cricket bat on Kapil Dev's shin on India's historic tour of South Africa in 1992-93).

As for the many player-versus-versus player match-ups, there are plenty of mouthwatering, potentially match turning and perhaps league defining individual clashes between a number of legendary players of rival teams. Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Brett Lee will all renew their one-on-one 'hostile' playing field rivalries with Tendulkar. In fact, with Tendulkar being the benchmark player for every domestic bowler to pit his skills against for nearly two decades, trust all the catchments area bowlers and the under-19 age group bowlers playing in all the teams to be at their best while bowling to him and put forward their credentials for national recognition and possible India caps with some good spells against him. Much on the lines of what S. Sreesanth and Piyush Chawla did in previous Challenger Trophy tournaments to get instant recognition.

Undoubtedly, the no-quarters-given-or-taken gladiatorial-like one-on-ones between Harbhajan Singh and Matthew Hayden and Bhaji and Andrew Symonds and even between Sreesanth and the two Aussie hulks will capture the largest eyeballs (and ensure potential pressure-cooker atmospheres in the stadiums) in the early league phases of this season's matches. On a humorous note, if Shoaib Akthar gets cleared to play in the IPL, he just might take out his anger on former Pakistan captain Younis Khan and current captain Shoaib Malik (for perceived slights against him during the recent Pakistan series in India) by going full tilt at them in the league matches.

Another under-the-radar but quite a long running domestic cricket rivalry- already having showcased itself in the very first match of the IPL - is the one between Ganguly and Zaheer Khan. Ganguly's low run of scores in both domestic and county cricket just prior to his quite successful comeback on the tour of South Africa in 2006-07 was primarily due to the wood that Khan held over him before Ganguly took him to the cleaners in the Ranji Trophy final in the same season. There are bound to be many other individual match-ups and adrenaline pumping clashes between other players to keep the viewers and spectators on tenterhooks all through and garner near top-drawer attention for all the matches.

In these days of larger-than-life personas of the cricket coaches and with them being vested with great powers, the back-room planning strategies, the chess-like maneuvers and player baiting tactics during press conferences of some of the coaches will also generate a lot of heat and discussion in the blosgosphere and on television news channels cricket programmes. You can thus bank on a fair bit of brinkmanship and a friendly rivalry brewing between Venkatesh Prasad (with his stated intent to be the long-term coach of India as against just a bowling coach) and Lalchand Rajput (who it must be said did quite an effective job as a manager for a number of recent Indian tours), another ambitious claimant eyeing the Team India assistant coach's position for now.

On another front, expect the understated but intensely competitive rivalry between Aussies Tom Moody (of Team Punjab) and Buchanan -both proud of their coaching legacies with the Sri Lankan and Australian teams respectively- to also hold the followers of the game and even the media in thrall as they plot game strategies like war generals. Incidentally, continuing in the military phraseology vein, both these coaches will expect their attacking front-line commanders in Singh and Ganguly respectively to go all guns blazing and in sustained attack mode in all the battles in the IPL war theatre. All the other coaches well understand that good performances of the teams will automatically transform into greater exposure for them or promise of other better offers on the cricketing circuit during the non-IPL season phases and thus will spare no efforts or tricks to outdo each other.

Most of the keen followers of the game would rather have on-field drama in the form of performances and lead acts by the players rather than the pre-match and in-between innings tamashas and assortment of performances by film stars, singers and other artistes. Many new rivalries or potentially shaping ones in this year's much-watched and followed League will also carry forward into the international arena in the future.

Like the ones between Michael Hussey and Ishant Sharma or Dale Steyn versus all three Indian gladiators namely Sehwag, Yuvraj and Dhoni or Steyn versus the two Sri Lankan super-performers namely Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene or even the one between Lee and Rohit Sharma (with potential future clashes between them in at least two future Test series). These and many more rivalries will raise the ante during the late evenings and nights as the Indian summer truly heats up- with cheerleaders, cricketers et all.