Madrid's moneybags out to make major changes
By Umaid Wasim
Florentino Perez's return as the president of the Spanish giants was the signal. The man behind Real Madrid's 'Los galacticos' era is back. Perez was elected un-opposed in this month's presidential elections at the nine-time European champions.

IPL was considered as a prelude to Twenty20 World Cup as it was scheduled right before it and was supposed to provide the players of the league with match practice for the bigger event to follow.

Almost all the nations competing in the 12-nation tournament had their representative in the league except for the associate nations and Pakistan -- Dirk Nannes of Netherlands was the only player representing the associate nations. Some of the Australian players also opted not to be a part of this slam-bang extravaganza (IPL) -- Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, Shane Watson.

But, the only nation whose entire team was part of the IPL was India; or put it this way, the IPL was part of the selection process for team India who entered the T20 World Cup as favourites and were also the reigning champions -- they won the first edition of the ICC T20 world cup in South Africa in 2007.

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni also termed his team as favourite before the start of the world cup and when they downed Pakistan, who were the other finalists of the inaugural world cup, in the warm-up game by nine wickets it was reassured that they still have the potential to retain the title.

Tall claims made by the team and the team captian were cut short as India were beaten in all of their three super eights matches by West Indies, England and South Africa. The only other team to have lost all of its matches in super eights are Ireland.

There are all sorts of rumors but the cause of the downfall of the cricketing giants is the main concern for cricket lovers in India. A rift between their Captain, Dhoni, and the vice captain, Virender Sehwag (who departed from England because of an injury), is said to be one of the biggest reasons of the debacle.

And the other factor was probably the oozing confidence. Sehwag's inclusion in the team is understood to have started the rift in the Indian camp. Sehwag, in spite of carrying an injury from playing the IPL, was picked by the selectors for the all important tournament.

Dhoni became more annoyed at the management when Sehwag started missing practice sessions of the team.

Many pundits, media and the people of India are of the opinion that the skipper's decision of constantly changing the batting order was the cause of the slump in the batting, which failed to fire in all of the three matches. They even failed to achieve a total as small as 131 against South Africa.

An opening stand of 48 in just six overs was not enough for the under performing Indian batting order when they were playing the Proteas. India only managed to make 118 for the loss of eight wicket in their quota of twenty overs.

In their first super eights match against the West Indies, India were beaten by 7 wickets as Dwayne Bravo milked Indian bowling to score 66 of 45 balls. They set a target of 153 for the Windies. Indian top order failed again and were down 4-66 when Yuvraj Singh and Yousuf Pathan gave them a fifth wicket stand of 64 runs to give some respect to the total. But Pathan-Yuvraj resistance went in vain because of a below-par bowling attack as the West Indies achieved the target with eight balls to spare.

When India faced England it was a do or die match for them, if they wanted to stay in contention for the title. Top order again crumbled as they lost two wickets when the score was 27 chasing a target of 154 set by a Pietersen (46) inspired England.

Then came a decision that will haunt Dhoni for many years to come as he promoted Jadeja ahead of Yuvraj Singh -- the only in form Indian player -- in the batting order. Jadeja managed to stop the fall of wickets by decreasing the run rate, which in the end cost them the match and a chance to progress to the next stage. With this loss Indian dreams of retaining the Twenty20 World Cup title were over.

But the real story started after the match; as furious fans back home burned effigies of the Indian captain in his home city of Ranchi.

When it comes to fans, India have the largest fan base in the world and some really passionte fans at that. India sometimes have more fans in the stadium than the home side, when they are playing in England especially. Even Collingwood at the end of the match admitted he could hear 'boos' from Indian fans present in the stadium and he said it boosted the morale of the English team.

Indian media started a slam bang of their own accusing Dhoni of everything except the Mumbai Attacks. Dhoni after being humbled by the English was trying to promote sportsmen spirit -- which India lacks the most -- by apologising to the fans. He said, they will bounce back; he also named fatigue as the main reason of their demise.

But what he forgot to mention in his conference was the reason of fatigue and tiredness of the team which was obviously the number of matches they played in the IPL, which was squeezed in by the BCCI between a very packed playing schedule of the Indian team.

Money was perhaps too much a temptation as all Indian player played in IPL.

Garry Kirsten, former South African batsman and the current coach of India, is also of the opinion that IPL was the main cause of the team's loss. He said that many players carried injuries over from the IPL which affected their game in the world cup.

After Kirsten comments against the IPL, a cash making baby of Indian cricket board, the BCCI became so furious that they rejected his comments all together.

Next edition of the IPL is proposed to be held in March/April next year and it won't be easy for the players to sit out of the tournament as it will mean losing a hefty sum of money.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's India now hope a one-day series in the West Indies later this month will help them recover from a dismal campaign in the World Twenty20.

They now embark on a tour of the Caribbean for four one-dayers and return home after the last game against at St Lucia on July 5 and will get a chance to rest till the Champions Trophy starts in South Africa in late September.

Skipper Dhoni wants his team to forget the disappointing performance in the World Twenty20 and look ahead towards the series against the West Indies.

But, as of now the whole world is enjoying the taste of some fresh Indian 'curry'.

Sri Lanka cricket team's promising comeback in the Twenty20 World Cup in London -- after surviving the deadly attack in Lahore -- is amazing.

Sri Lanka had not played a game since March 3 -- when the gunmen attacked the team convoy en route to a Test in Lahore where eight police men died and Thilan Samaraweera got severely injured.

"I feel the numbness after being shot," Samaraweera recalls. "The first week was terrible. I was scarred even by the sounds of firecrackers."

"Life moves on, cricket goes on," said Kumar Sangakkara. "The guys have realised that and they are prepared mentally now."

Aftershocks couldn't hold Sri Lanka on the backseat and they shone again in World Cup with all the courage and desire they had.

"Everyone has recovered after what happened in Lahore," coach Trevor Bayliss said. "We are back to normal. It's good that they've been playing cricket. When we get into the bus, we'll be a bit nervous, I guess."

Most of the Sri Lanka team members got the good experience and practice in Indian Premier League (IPL), which was held in South Africa last month. Captain Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene from Kings XI Punjab, Sanath Jayasuriya and Lasith Malinga from Mumbai Indians, Tillekeratne Dilshan from Delhi Daredevils and Muttiah Muralitharan from Chennai Super Kings got all the Twenty20 experience. The team has many experienced players, complemented with a few young players, such as uncapped all-rounder Isuru Udanamm, who took 16 wickets in the domestic Twenty20 competition.

Sri Lanka has dropped experienced bowlers like Chaminda Vaas and Dilhara Fernando but Lasith Malinga came back stronger than ever before. The coach said the gradual build-up in workload will help Malinga to improve.

"It's good to see him back in the side after a serious injury and, hopefully with a lot of cricket coming our way, he'll be fully fit," Bayliss said. "It's an ideal situation where he's now required to bowl just four overs. May be One-day International cricket is the next best thing for him, and then probably Test cricket," he said, at the start of the T20 World Cup.

Orthodox or unorthodox -- this is the beauty of Twenty20 cricket -- Sri Lanka are using both with lot of success. Mahela Jayawardene's reverse-sweep off the back of the bat during their World Twenty20 Super Eights against New Zealand at Trent Bridge on Tuesday is one of their shows. Tillekaratne Dilshan hit an extra-ordinary shot where he goes down on one knee as if to sweep only to lever the ball past the wicket-keeper's head.

West Indies coach John Dyson, who ought to be credited with the creation of these kind of strokes said: "This is something I've worked with Trevor Bayliss on. He was saying that Dyson used to do that in Australia. He used to tap it with the other side because he couldn't sweep. A lot of teams bring third man up these days and I thought I'll give it a go. Hopefully it will keep working."

Sri Lanka bowlers are not excluded in unorthodoxy either; bowlers like 'mystery' Ajantha Mendis, Muttiah Muralitharan and Lasith Malinga have become the biggest threat for other teams' batsmen.

Mendis, who puzzles batsmen by turning the ball both ways with one visible action, has so far picked up 11 wickets in the tournament, just one behind Pakistan seamer Umar Gul's 12 wickets haul.

Muralitharan has five wickets, while Malinga has picked up ten with a mix of toe-crushing yorkers and slower deliveries. Muralitharan, who is the highest wicket-taker in both One-day Internationals as well as Tests, can easily make a batsman's head spin with his 'doosra'.

"Murali can turn the ball on any surface as you can see," Jayawardene said. "And if Ajantha sticks to his plans, we have a fairly good chance of going all the way."

Kumar Sangakkara was excited about having a bowler like Mendis in the side.

"Ajantha was brilliant. He is very difficult to read and he has an attacking mindset. It's a great ability to have," Sangakkara said. "He has a great leg break, but he varies his deliveries depending on whether or not he is bowling to a left or right-hander."

Altogether as a team these are times of renewal for Sri Lanka as a nation, eliminating the sad memories of bitter and ugly civil war history and there is no doubt what-so-ever that Sri Lanka cricket deserves the credit, being unbeaten in ICC World Cup Twenty20 in England and looking forward.

Florentino Perez's return as the president of the Spanish giants was the signal. The man behind Real Madrid's 'Los galacticos' era is back. Perez was elected un-opposed in this month's presidential elections at the nine-time European champions.

And, after a season which saw arch-rivals Barcelona win it all, Real are determined to come bigger and better next season. The arrival of Portugese winger Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United and Brazil ace Kaka from AC Milan suggests that they mean 'serious business'.

So far Real have done good business in the transfer market after landing two of their main transfer targets for the summer. It, however, remains to be seen how the club perform on the pitch. That task is to be taken care of by the clubs' new manager and technical director Manuel Pellegrini. The Chilean, who was formerly at Villareal, was Perez's first acquisition after he was announced as the president on the 1st of June.

Pellegrini led the Yellow Submarines to a UEFA Champions League semifinal in 2006 and a club-best second place in the Liga in 2008 following his arrival as Benito Floro's replacement in May 2004 from CA River Plate.

Past History

Perez started his first term at the club's helm in 2000 and was re-elected four years later before leaving his post in February 2006. Under his stewardship, Madrid won two Liga titles (2001 and 2003), the UEFA Champions League (2002), a UEFA Super Cup (2002), two Spanish Super Cups (2001 and 2003) and one European/South American Cup (2002). Perez's first three years as the president were highly successful. Perez's transfer policy was to build a team of both "Zidanes and Pavons".

By this he meant that the club would only move into the transfer market in the future to sign the world's best players available each year, while filling out the squad with players from Madrid's 'cantera' or youth team.

The club broke the world transfer record twice in two years to bring in Luis Figo (2000) and Zinedine Zidane (2001). The arrival of Brazilian superstar Ronaldo in 2002 from Inter Milan made sceptics think that Real Madrid CF were merely 'buying success'.

And, it proved. A political divide between Perez and head coach Vicente Del Bosque in 2003 resulted in the departure of the tactician just 24 hours after securing a record 29th Liga title for the club.

Two league titles and two UEFA Champions Leagues in three-and-a-half years, Del Bosque did not deserve this ending. Nonetheless, it was powerful message that the balance of power at Madrid had shifted towards the president.

David Beckham became the latest big name signing at Real in 2003. Fellow Englishman Michael Owen signed from Liverpool in 2004 and was followed by Brazilian wonder kid Robinho the next year. Boasting an array of 'galacticos', Real could not manage to win a single trophy from 2003 till 2006.

Perez had made Real Marid the worldwide brand but results on the pitch were dismal. Frequent change of managers did not help either with Carlos Queiroz, Jose Antonio Camacho, Mariano Garcia Ramon, Vanderlei Luxemburgo and Juan Ramon Lopez Caro sharing the manegerial hot-seat in these two-and-a-half years before Perez's resignation in February 2006.

Back-to-Back titles

Real Madrid may have won consecutive Liga titles in 2007 and 2008, however, the club have not played the attractive brand of football that arch-rivals Barcelona have been playing. Real Madrid's two titles were won with slow and sluggish football with occasional glimpses of brilliance. Fabio Capello was fired after he led them to the title in 2007 to make way for German coach Bernd Schuster who in spite of having the likes of Arjen Robben, Wesley Sniejder, Rafael Van der Vaart, Higuain and Ruud Van Nistelrooy failed to produce the sort of free-flowing football the Madrid fans were craving for.

Although he won the title in 2008, he was sacked midway through the 2008-2009 season. Ex-Spurs manager Juande Ramos came into the job and he too was ineffective in producing the stlye of football that fans and the board wanted to see. His contract was not renewed at the end of a dismal season for Real. With the contract of interim president Vincent Boluda, who was appointed after the resignation of president Ramon Calderon in January 2009, ending at the end of the season; Perez returned as the president of Real on 1st June and Manuel Pellegrini was appointed manager the next day.

Barca competition

European Champions Barcelona have taken full advantage of Real Madrid's dip in form. Their style of play impressed many critics and their treble winning season included Real's 6-2 demolition at the Bernabeau. Their performance on that night at Madrid showed that the Merengues were miles apart from them on the pitch. Florentino Perez's main aim is to bring the same attacking type of play to Madrid and to wrest the title of Spain's best team from the Catalans. In order to achieve that aim, Perez is after some of the world's best footballers and coach Manuel Pellegrini has been given a euro 200m war chest to bring in new players. And, so far, they have got two of their main transfer targets in Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka.

The new 'galacticos'

During his presidential campaign, Perez promised that he would bring either Crisitiano Ronaldo or Kaka to the club. Now, he has managed to sign both. On monday, the reported fee of euro 68m made Kaka's move the second biggest transfer ever with Zinedine Zidane's euro 73m switch from Juventus to Madrid in 2001. A Scudetto winner in 2004, Kaka won the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup in 2007 while also being named UEFA Club Footballer of the Year and FIFA World Player of the Year.

Three days later, A euro 94m transfer fee for Ronaldo eclipsed the fee Madrid paid Juventus for Zinedine Zidane to become largest ever transfer fee for a footballer.

Real are now hot on the heels of Valencia striker and Euro 2008 top scorer David Villa. The Spanish striker was outstanding during Spain's victorious Euro 2008 campaign and is regared as one of Europe's top marksmen. Real Madrid are aslo after Wigan Athletic winger Antonio Valencia and Liverpool's midfield maestro Xabi Alonso.

What next?

If Real do secure the aforementioned players, they would have a fantastic squad that could take Real back to the glory days. It remains to be seen how Manuel Pellegrini keeps all his players happy by giving them sufficient playing time and how all these players gel together.

Nevertheless it would be a spectacle to see these players donning the legendary plain white kit of Real Marid and playing for the same club that was named FIFA's club of the century. The Santiago Bernabeau faithful will be hoping that the arrival of these superstars can help the club wrest the Liga title back from FC Barcelona while also challenging for a tenth European Champion Clubs' Cup -- especially with the 2009/10 final to be played in the Spanish capital.