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IPL 2021: Michael Hussey's salt n' pepper look, Riyan Parag's selfie celebration in lighter side of things

Time waits for no mane

Faf du Plessis of Chennai Super Kings and Michael Hussey of Chennai Superkings during match 15 of the Vivo Indian Premier League 2021 between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Chennai Super Kings held at the Wankhede Stadium Mumbai on the 21st April 2021. Photo by Arjun Singh/ Sportzpics for IPL

Colin de Grandhomme’s thumping batting and dibbly dobbler bowling - potentially potent on this year’s Chennai pitches - went unsold for the current IPL. His omission also means the tournament is missing out on the luscious mullet the former RCB man revealed this week. Fans of male grooming were not to be disappointed, however, as during a pitchside interview on Monday, CSK batting coach Michael Hussey was asked about the rather salt n’ pepper nature of his lockdown beard. Hussey said he should borrow a bit of boot polish from MS Dhoni, implying the Super Kings skipper tries to tamper with the condition of his facial hair. No shame in that, of course, but alongside his increasingly sketchy batting it was a reminder even a man as patient as Dhoni can’t ignore the effects of time forever.

Such follicular matters don’t concern India’s plethora of young stars, who the BCCI have now announced can play in future editions of The Hundred, the ECB’s much-hyped new white ball event focused, to a large degree, on getting children interested in cricket. The tournament has all sorts of edgy marketing to lure in the kids, but is this focus on youth culture all a terrible mistake? A couple of days after Hussey’s interview, his brother and KKR chief mentor, David, was to be found tweeting out a photo of “possibly the most stylish and comfortable pair of slippers I’ve ever had”, tagging in Harbhajan Singh, who is affiliated to the manufacturers concerned. Take note, ECB marketers. For the most successful franchise tournament in the world, beard dye and slippers is where it’s at.

Grace-less treatment of supporters

Given it’s a lucrative haven for both big hitters and bookmakers, WG Grace may well have been a fan of the IPL. It’s fan-pleasing nature certainly would further have appealed to his sense of showmanship, most famously illustrated when he was once bowled and then merely carried on batting having popped the bails back on. This was, he selflessly told the thwarted bowler, for the good of those in attendance.

A few months back Deepak Hooda and Krunal Pandya had a spat on the eve of Baroda’s campaign in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Hooda accused his captain of bullying, left the training camp, then found himself hit with a suspension for the rest of the season. So it was with considerable expectation that the feuding pair’s franchises faced each other on Friday, but regrettably they didn’t face each other for even a single ball. “They’ve come to watch Krunal bowl to Deepak, not everyone else potter about for a few hours in a fairly meandering encounter,” WG might have complained.

Perhaps it’s a good thing the two didn’t come directly into contact on the field given what happened the last time a Mumbai spinner got really angry in the IPL. How Sreesanth must wish Harbhajan’s slap to his face back in 2008 was the most infamous scandal in which he was ever involved.

Umpires’ dew diligence

Ed Smith left his role as England national selector this week after a tenure which has been intriguing but with mixed results. Smith seems the type of man who would want to leave a legacy rather than an impression and, although he undoubtedly embraced the sort of data analytics he often wrote about as a journalist, his stint might be remembered as being simply too conventional to be an absolute game-changer in this regard.

His reign nonetheless highlighted how England have drastically moved on from the time when former coach Peter Moores was mocked for his (misquoted) post-2015 World Cup exit lament that, “We’ll have to look at the data''. At the time England were regarded as too rigid and, when they once announced they wouldn’t be trying to hit sixes because the stats allegedly showed fours were more valuable to white ball wins, as a little silly. In terms of unusual approaches it was up there with Ravi Bishnoi’s to the crease.

Thanks to the IPL, vindication for that theory has finally arrived, because twice this week chasing teams discovered that smashing a maximum was counterproductive. In both CSK’s 45-run win against Rajasthan and King’s Punjab’s 9-wicket victory against Mumbai, the fielding team begged to have the dew-soaked ball changed, but the umpires only relented after a maximum had been hit. For the Royals, it precipitated a flurry of wickets, most of them involving the magnetic hands of Ravindra Jadeja. Kings Punjab got home comfortably, but not without the dry replacement ball turning far more than its ungrippable predecessor. Not hitting sixes was maybe a masterstroke after all.

What the Buttler wore

Jos Buttler was one of Smith's success stories, but his IPL form this term has been less favourable. On Saturday against KKR the Rajasthan batter again fell cheaply, but not before he’d been struck a nasty blow by Pat Cummins. What happens at the Wankhede in April may not have much bearing on what happens Down Under in November, but anytime an Australian fast bowler cranks it up in the IPL during an Ashes year, it brings back memories of Mitchell Johnson's rampaging tournament for Mumbai in 2013 and his home destruction of England six months later.

Even before Cummins' brutal intervention Buttler was looking a bit nervy. This is not least due to the reintroduction of a pre-delivery shoulder wiggle into his batting stance. The Royals actually released a video of team mate David Miller impersonating the feline quirk at the birthday bash of Buttler’s daughter. The tribute drew a muted round of applause and a begrudging, “Very good, Dave”, from the England man. Despite falling as flat on his face as he had done following a Siraj yorker on Monday, Miller proved - as his recent return to form has done - that he is nothing if not a resilient entertainer. In that KKR clash, he was spotted in the dugout showing off his juggling skills. When your slogan is “It’s Miller time!”, you always have to bring something to the party.

Christian, Rockstar

“Here, There and Everywhere” is Paul McCartney’s melancholic ode to the comforting omnipresence of someone amazing with lovely hair. It wasn’t written in honour of Ravindra Jadeja, but it certainly describes the Chennai rockstar and his week.

In that Monday game against Rajasthan, he nabbed two wickets and four catches. On Wednesday, a six from his only ball faced and a tidy 0 for 33 off his four overs at the high-scoring Wankhede against KKR. On Sunday, he hit the (previously superb this year) Harshal Patel for 37 off one over, the joint-costliest in IPL history, although technically Chris Morris’s overs are all the most expensive. He then followed it up by casually bowling both Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers in RCB’s doomed chase.

Jadeja had actually been put down on nought by veteran Dan Christian off Washington Sundar. This was a little ironic for the Indian all-rounder, who has presumably spent a lot of time recently teaching something with Australian connections - his cheekily named puppy “Gabba” - to drop things. It was a match-changing error from Christian, who has certainly done the rounds in his career. But when it comes to being a faithful, not to say successful, servant to the game, there are few players that can match him.

Parag-ing it square

Gaikwad and Paddikal have recently been very eye-catching, but another young player who could benefit from the BCCI's decision to relax the rules on participation in overseas T20 leagues is the Royals’ Riyan Parag. Now into his third IPL, the 19-year-old hasn’t quite yet cracked the tournament, but this week against RCB hit a helicopter shot Dhoni would have been proud of and is a generally effervescent presence.

Parag's occasional perpendicular bowling action, when he sometimes throws in a slo-mo Malinga to go with his more conventional leg breaks, has also again been drawing attention. It’s unclear where the action comes from, but he probably doesn’t get it from his mother, whose commitment to positioning her limbs and shoulders in streamlined fashion once saw her hold the Indian national record for the 50m freestyle. At least the youngster's “selfie” celebration, after taking a catch against KKR, saw him utilise a high arm.

Perhaps belatedly, there has this week been a lot of soul-searching within and without the IPL about its role during the current Covid situation in India and even whether it should continue at all. That Parag celebration attracted angry criticism - and induced an apology - as another example of how insulated from reality the tournament might seem.

There are now video messages broadcast during matches and players are using their powerful social media platforms to assist, and in the case of R Ashwin, even coordinate medical relief efforts. Despite these moves, and the valid argument matches at least help keep people at home watching on TV, in such difficult and emotional times it is understandable anger exists. There are, however, probably more legitimate targets for it than teenage cricketers showing a slight lack of awareness while living the giddy dream.



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