News From The Teams

We are fast approaching the business end of the ACL, so it's a good time to see what's going on in the individual camps -
The Anda-Bondas are in high spirits. As long as they have Super Supari on their side, no opposition is unbeatable. Not that their next 2 opponents - BlackBucks & Crayditors - are likely to cause much trouble anyway. Betaal is excited that his bowling is now considered legal (News flash for Betaal: It isn't). KaaliZabaan has learnt a valuable lesson - matches *can* be won by playing cricket too. Humpty Dumpty has demonstrated fantastic leadership (Psychat: Pay attention) - he over-positioned his team after the first round, but has learnt his lesson. After the Taliban game, I expected another broadcast from him, praising his decision to buy Supari at an extraordinary price. However, he was exceptionally muted - he showed off to only 20-25 people at the ground.
The Black-Bucks remain quiet as ever. They're one team that looks completely terrified of being featured in this blog. Everyish's body language shows that he is quite worried about life in general, and his team's performance hasn't helped. Something special is going to be required to bounce back after their almost-100 run loss last week. RRC has been following his owner's lead, and has also been pretty quiet. I guess he wants to let his bat do the talking. B-Shoe is the only one who continues to wear the look of a fighter - let's hope the other Blackbucks get there soon.
The Crayditors have pretty much given up on this edition of the ACL, and are already looking forward to season 2. Craydit desperately wants at least 1 win, but that's not likely to happen any time soon. Dushman has vowed not to turn up for any other matches, and is scheduling "leadership" meetings strategically. Peda wants to start his own football league, so that he too can enjoy the power to make random decisions, just like the ACL's Lalit Modi. What surprises me is that Craydit is surprised with his team's performance. I've been saying from day 1 that this is a top-heavy team. News from the Crayditors camp is that heads will start rolling shortly - the big question is who? With so much leadership in a team, who will "demonstrate accountability"?
The Merchants have been without Psychat for a few days now. Impact? Zero. Nil. Null. Zilch. Not one bit. Not surprising, given that his only contribution to the team has been making arbitrary statements on this blog. He will be back soon, and that will not have much impact either. Kudos to him on his strategy though - buy overpriced players (including 2 organisers), get Lalit Modi to make rules in your favor, add home umpires and poor sportsmanship, and voila!, a winning team! So they're through to the semis, to no one's surprise. No one's scared of them in the semis though - take the lion out of his den, and you'll find he's just an overgrown cat. KaaliZabaan needs to share his learnings (see above) with the Merchants. On a side note, Radio Bharati continues to inflict her painful broadcasts on people after every Merchant win. Quite a few people have said that they wouldn't mind seeing her "crushed" (please see her emails for context).
The Taliban surprised everyone with their performance in the last game, even themselves. The batting finally clicked (okay, I'm exaggerating - 1 batsman finally clicked), although the bowling and fielding remained pretty much non-existent. If it weren't for the Crayditors, this would be the team that everyone would want to play against. Morale in the camp is strangely okayish - everyone is seeing the 30-run loss to the Anda-Bondas as a positive. When a team starts being okay about losing, that says something. Fortunately, their next game is against the BlackBucks, who are equally poor. This should be a good one - maybe even another tie, like the Taliban-Crayditors match. Like Everyish, Osama has also been pretty muted off late. Surprising for a team that is, incredibly, still on the verge of making the semis.
The Vindaloos are desperately trying to avoid the "favorites" tag. Big Vindaloo has been telling anyone who will listen to him (mostly his own team - no one else pays much attention to him) that "the best team never wins". Pretty much everyone thinks that's a load of $%&@. No one has told him that though - after all, he *is* bigger than most people. Frustoo Madrasi continues to claim that he is the real brain behind the team. Not sure how true that is, but running this team is hardly difficult - just let AnotherBun and Daffy bat, bowl and set the field, and they'll win the game for you. I wonder what Big V's contribution has been so far, besides setting up weekly team meetings?