Raina-Dhoni power Super Kings past 160 in IPL final

Mumbai, Apr 25: Power hitting by Suresh Raina and M S Dhoni at the end of their innings took Chennai Super Kings to a respectable total of 168 against the Mumbai Indians in the final of the DLF IPL at the DY Patil Stadium here tonight.
Raina, who was let off twice, made full use of the chances he got and hit three sixes in his fast-paced innings of 57 off 35 balls.
While the skipper Dhoni (22 off 15) provided the much needed impetus to the Chennai’s innings when they were once tottering at 3/67.
His 72-run partnership with Raina gave Albie Morkel (15 off 6) a perfect launch pad at the end.
Dilhara Fernando, who guised every Chennai batsmen with his split-finger slow deliveries, contributed with two wickets for the home side after Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat first.
Earlier, Harbhajan Singh started well against his old nemesis Mathew Hayden by bowling quicker deliveries and trying to trap the Aussie in front of the wickets and he was almost successful if umpire Rudi Koertzen could not miss the straight chance.
The burly left-hander broke the shackles by dancing down the track, hitting the off spinner for a six over the mid-wicket. Murali Vijay followed his opening partner with a free flow swing of the bat and ball crossed the boundary for a six.
Vijay looked in terrific flow from the outset and timed the ball as good as he could but his bravado came to a premature end when he was foxed by Fernando’s slow delivery and holed out to Saurabh Tiwary at deep square leg for 26 off 19.
The change of pace again did the trick for Mumbai Indians and Kieron Pollard when Hayden (17 off 31) lobbed the ball high in the air with Ambati Rayudu taking a simple catch behind the wickets.
S Badrinath (14 off 9) after hitting two fours was caught by Malinga at fine leg off Fernando.
MS Dhoni’s started his innings with a one-handed six that travelled 98 meters and followed it up with a boundary in the same over of Pollard.
Raina, who was a silent spectator at the other end up to that point, opened his hands and collected 17 runs in the fifteenth over of the innings and accumulated 19 in the next over.
Dhoni perished in the 18th over but gave his side a perfect platform to take score over 160.

Chargers surrender against Challengers (last year's champion bowled out at 82)

Mumbai, Apr 24: Deccan Chargers’ batsmen did not seem to learn anything from their semi final loss against the Chennai Super kings and once again let their team down with an abysmal batting performance in the contest for the third place with the Bangalore Royal Challengers here at the D Y Patil Stadium.
None of the batsmen except Anirudh Singh (40 off 39 balls) stayed at the wicket for long and the last year’s champion surrendered completely at 82 in 18.3 overs against the disciplined Challengers’ bowling attack.
Venugopal Rao too contributed with 24 off 27 balls for his side.
Anil Kumble led the Challengers’s bowling attack with 4 wickets in four overs. Praveen Kumar and Jacques Kallis got two wickets each, while Dale Steyn and Nayan Doshi chipped in with a wicket each.
Earlier, Adam Gilchrist started the Chargers’ innings with a four to the covers but he was once again shown the doors by Anil Kumble, who got him out at deep square leg boundary off a slow full tose.
Monish Mishra followed his captain soon. He moved too far across the off side, getting trapped in front of the stumps off Praveen Kumar. He went to the pavilion on the first ball without troubling the scorers.
Deccan’s score became 15 for three after Rohit Sharma played an irresponsible shot and gave a simple catch to Kevin Pietersen at long-on. He too got out without scoring.
Anirudh Singh, playing his first game of the event, struggled against the pace of Steyn, whose balls zipped through the pitch to the wicket keeper Robin Uthappa.
Steyn, after dropping Andrew Symonds (2 off 8 balls) in the last over off Praeen Kumar, repented immediately by taking the burly Aussie all-rounder.
Kumble got through the defense of Dwayne Smith (5 off 10 balls) with ball skidded off the wicket and hitting the batsman’s off stumps.
Anirudh finally gave in while slashing a Kallis delivery which hit the timbers after an inside edge.
Nayan Doshi, who plays for Surrey in the county circuit, impressed one and all with his flight in his first match here and got rid of Venugopal in the last over he bowled.

Cricket finally ready to shed jinx

The best thing that the shortest form of the game can do is to make cricket more global. Though, it is played by countries representing different continents, they are still far too less than most other games followed around the world.
Though, International Cricket Council (ICC) is associated with many countries where the game is being developed, thinking of them playing the highest form of the game – Test Cricket – would be absurd.
The problem most of the nations that play the game face is the patience and the temperament required to play Test matches, and another thing that comes straight away to our mind, is the result. We all want medals, trophies or success straight away, or at least we want to be in that medal winning ‘hunt’ from the word go.
Twenty-20, seems to be the perfect format, as it requires a different set of skills, involves more money, it takes less time to play a T-20 game than the other two forms, and it is entertaining at the same time.
The traditionalists would say that this format is slowly swallowing up the other two forms, especially Test cricket. I think their worry is quite obvious and true to a certain point.
The way T-20 has grown in stature in the last few years solidifies its claim to become the most popular form of the game, if not standard.
Though, it was fist played in the county circuit in England and later followed by the other countries. India was one of the countries who started following this format as compulsion and not by choice, as all the other ones had already gone ahead. But the way it gained popularity among the masses was just amazing.
The full houses in any T-20 game – international or domestic around the world – testifies the growing fan base this version gaining.
I think in the next five years, there will be a separate window for the domestic T-20 competition that ICC has to make. It will be played in the manner soccer is played around the world. With domestic competition flourishing, a lot more players’ will be transfered between clubs of different countries.
I also see, Champions League too will take off and take a global form – it would be played at home and away basis with the final in a different country each year. For example – if Bangalore Royal Challengers and Victoria Bushrangers are the two teams among the sides playing in the competition, then once the Challengers will go to Melbourne and latter, they will host the Australian side at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
With that, undoubtedly, there will be less number of Tests as well as one day internationals played with T-20 touching the shores of different countries of all the continents and not just few.

Gambhir takes Daredevils home (scores a half-century in 6 wickets win over Superkings)

Chennai, Apr 15: Gautam Gambhir did not do what Sachin did a few games before, going out of the ground when he was completely dehydrated. He waited and played a composed innings to take his side home with the experienced Mithun Manhas in their game against Chennai Superkings here tonight.
The visiting side got some jitters earlier in their innings when three of their top three batters – David Warner, Virender Sehwag and Tillakaratne Dilshan – got out cheaply inside the first two overs. But the half century by the skipper and a matured innings by Manhas (25 off 32 balls) proved enough to cross the target of 113 put by the Superkings with six wickets remaining.
For the home side, Doug Bollinger bowled superbly to take two wickets while R Ashwin and Shadab Jakati contributed with a wicket each.
Earlier, the turning track of MA Chidambaram stadium could not support the home side, whose batting surrendered completely to the disciplined Delhi Daredevils’ bowling attack.
For the visiting side, Ashish Nehra provided the two important breakthroughs early in the innings while the spin bowling of Sehwag proved too much for the home side to take in the middle of their innings. He also contributed with two wickets.
None of Chennai batsmen, except S Badrinath (30 off 29 balls) could cross the 20-run mark, after their skipper MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat first.
In reply, Delhi lost their three top order batsmen under the first two overs. Ashwin, who has been bowling sensationally with the new ball, did it again for the Superkings. Warner was undone by Ashwin’s rising delivery, which was caught brilliantly by Murali Vijay at covers.
Bollinger, with his two wickets in the second over, gave the home side more than a chance to come back in the game. He first got rid of the dangerous Sehwag (4 off 4 balls), who was caught marvelously at slip by Mathew Hayden, and then the ball took slight edge of Dilshan’s (1 off 2 balls) bat on its way to hitting the stumps.
Dinesh Karthik (13 off 16 balls) could not have played a more irresponsible shot in the whole tournament that he played tonight off Jakati. He tried to play a pull shot on the rising ball that came quite quickly to his liking, and was superbly holed out at mid wicket by Badrinath.
Manhas provided the much-needed support to Gambhir, who stood at one end while the wickets were tumbling at the other.

Chennai bowled by Delhi

Chennai, Apr 15: The turning track of MA Chidambaram stadium could not support the home side tonight, whose batting surrendered completely to the disciplined Delhi Daredevils’ bowling attack and put a target of 113 for them to chase.
For the visiting side, Nehra provided the two important breakthroughs early in the innings while the spin bowling of Sehwag proved too much for the home side to take in the middle of their innings. He also contributed with two wickets.
None of Chennai batsmen, except S Badrinath (30 off 29 balls) could cross the 20-run mark, after their skipper MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat first.
Earlier, Hayden (1 off 5 balls) could not make much use of the life he got in the first over bowled by Dirk Nannes and tried a lofted shot that was neatly taken by Paul Collingwood in the next over.
Murali Vijay seemed to be in the form of his life from the outset, playing equally well in the front foot and the back.
The idea of coming up the order did not pay-off for MS Dhoni, who could not control the perfect bouncer by Nannes and got out at square leg. He was followed by in-form Vijay (17 off 11balls), who played a similar shot and got the same result behind the wicket.
Suresh Raina, who has been scoring with a staggering average of over 51 in this year’s IPL, tried to take the innings forward with Mr. Cricket, Michael Hussey, but Tillakaratne Dilshan, making a comeback after playing the first four matches, provided the precious wicket of Raina (15 off 19 balls), who missed time the stroke completely and holed out at deep cover by Umesh Yadav.
Wickets of Hussey (15 off 18 balls) and Albie Morkel (1 off 4 balls) broke the back of the home side, who were reduced to 55/6 at the half way mark.
R Ashiwin (6 off 13 balls) and L Balaji (3 off 8 balls) came and went too quickly, leaving too much for Badrinath to do at the end, who tried hard but finally gave a simple catch to David Warner at long-on on the last ball of their innings.

Challengers humble Royals (beat the 2008 champion by 5 wickets)

Jaipur, April 14: Warne expected too much from his mostly inexperienced side, which crumbled under pressure in their crucial game against the Royal Challengers Bangalore here tonight.
The Royals were completely outplayed by the visiting team, who, after restricting their opponents to 130/6, finished the job in a clinical manner, thus registering a five-wicket win and virtually booked their place in the semifinal.
Kevin Pietersen, who was making a come-back in the side, made an impressive unbeaten 62 off 29 balls, while Robin Uthappa too continued his good run in the tournament with a fast paced 26 off 21 deliveries.
For Royals, their skipper Warne, Siddharth Trivedi and Kamran Khan chipped in with a wicket each.
Earlier, a well-planned effort by Royal Challengers’ bowlers proved too much for the home side, who could only manage a target of 130/6.
For the visiting side, Pankaj Singh, who was playing against his former team, picked up two wickets for 27 runs while Dale Steyn once again bowled aggressively to share a wicket each with Jacques Kallis and Vinay Kumar.
None of the Royals’ batsmen could pass the fifty mark and got out once getting set. A 58-run partnership for the seventh wicket between Adam Voges (28 off 27 balls) and Abhishek Raut (30 off 20 balls) took them to a respectable score.
In reply, Kamran Khan gave a perfect start for Royals by taking Kallis wicket in the second over of the innings, but Pietersen who replaced him seemed to be in a terrific form from the outset, hitting boundaries all round the ground.
Manish Pandey was undone by the slow delivery by Trivedi, giving a straight forward catch to Pathan in covers.
The in-form Uthappa, after supporting Pietersen, was beaten by Warne’s flight and Ojha did a sharp stumping to send the Banglorean back.
Pietersen was involved in a silly run-out with Virat Kohli, who did not leave his crease while the English batsman ran across the other end for a single. Kohli (14 off 13 balls) followed his teammate soon, but Ross Taylor (10 off 11 balls) and Rahul Dravid (4 off 3 balls) saw their side home without any further damage.

Clinical performance by Challengers (restrict Royals at 130)

Jaipur, April 14: A well-planned effort by Royal Challengers’ bowlers proved too much for Rajasthan Royals, who crumbled under pressure and could only manage a target of 130/6 in their game here tonight.
For the visiting side, Pankaj Singh, who was playing against his former team, picked up two wickets for 27 runs while Dale Steyn once again bowled aggressively to share a wicket each with Jacques Kallis and Vinay Kumar.
None of the Royals’ batsmen could pass the fifty mark and got out once getting set. A 58-run partnership for the seventh wicket between Adam Voges (28 off 27 balls) and Abhishek Raut (30 off 20 balls) took them to a respectable score.
Earlier, Anil Kumble began the bowling for the Challengers after Shane Warne won the toss and elected to bat first.
Michael Lumb (9 off 8 balls) ran himself out second time in a row. Everyone could see the ball going straight to Kallis’ hands except him. He was followed by Amit Paunikar, making a golden duck in his debut match. The short Vidharbha batsman gave a simple catch to Robin Uthappa behind the wickets.
Naman Ojha (7 off 9 balls), after some good runs in the middle of the event was back to his inconsistent form. He was too cautious from the beginning and paid the price for it when he tried to play a lofted shot in the on-side off Pankaj Singh, but could not control it, giving a simple catch to Manish Pandey at mid-on.
Watson took time initially but started playing the attacking game once he got his eye in. But his 25-ball 22 came to a premature end after Pietersen took a good low catch at square leg off Kallis. Abhishek Jhunjhunwala’s wicket at mid-off to Anil Kumble gave a sigh of relief to everyone in the stadium. His 13-run (22 balls) innings was neither taking him nor his team anywhere.
Shane Warne was expecting a big innings from hard-hitting Yousuf Pathan, who started off well with two fours off Pankaj Singh but did not have any answer to Dale Steyn’s full length straight delivery, which rattled his stumps.
Voges and Raut played sensibly to take their score to 130.