IPL day-13

Delhi Daredevils x Deccan Chargers

It was a match between front runners. Deccan was invited to bat first by Sehwag who thinks defending a total in these small grounds of South Africa is next to impossible.

I have to side with Sehwag on that thought. Some of the grounds in SA are too small for bowler’s comfort. Anyway the match did not see huge totals as pitch was on the slower side, making it difficult for batsmen to time their shots. Only vagary from that was the inning played by Dwayne Smith. He powered a quick fire 47 to help Deccan to some kind of respectable total. I have to say some of the Deccan batsmen played some vacuous shots to gift their wicket to Delhi bowlers.

Bowlers from both sides were deliberately trying to pitch short, making the slowness of the pitch to come into effect. I am quite impressed with Nannes who is keeping Glenn Mcgrath in the “dug-out” match after match. Even though IPL authority decide to give Man of the Match to Nannes, it was Dilshan’s long and prudent inning which help them to chase Deccan’s target of 149.

Delhi’s rockstar opening pair of Sehwag and Gambhir once again failed to the sorrow of the fans across the world. Gambhir particularly is struggling in this season, even though he tried to stay put in today’s match.

Another surprise for me was Dinesh Karthik’s inning. I never thought he could manage the pressure of a chase like in today’s match. He was always a good test batsmen for me, but he played to the situation and helped Dilshan to overcome the threat from Deccan.

Gilchrist will be hoping that this defeat will look after the law of average. Amish Sabeha, the umpire, had a horrible day today. He is making wrong decisions one after the other. I wonder how on the earth he climbed into the international panel, representing India.. !

Rajasthan Royals x Chennai Super Kings

I always felt Raina wasnt playing good at number 3 position in 20-20s, but today, he proved he can play and be a decisive factor of the match. Even though he missed an elusive hundred by the mistake of scorer, it will be a signature inning for him in the times to come. It also got him his first Man of the Match award of the season.

He always had the talent, but having seen him played in the last 4-5 matches for Chennai and few 20-20 matches for India, I thought that he was always egging to hit that big shot too often and getting out in the process either by not getting to the pitch of the ball or by simply mishitting the ball. Today, his hitting was precise and he always had a good partner at the other end to give support.

Even though Yusuf Pathan dismissed ever-solid Hayden for a duck, Raina and Badrinath never allowed Rajasthan bowlers to dominate the match.

Dhoni’s decision to send Badrinath above himself proved a good one in the end, even though i initially thought that was a negative move. Badrinath played a “Dhoni inning”, giving good support to Raina. It is the first time that i have seen him playing with some authority. He was alway been a batsmen to look out for in the longer versions of the game.

Dhoni was an enigma today. He stayed at the wickets for long time, but one did not see that OLD DHONI MAGIC. Those big SIXs were absent. I am sure fans would be loving to see those from Captain’s bat.

It was worrying to see Kamran Khan getting injured in the match. He is the real find of the season. Shane Warne will be struggling to find another bowler who can fill his shoes if he do not recover from his injury.

It was always going to be a dual batsmen effort if Rajasthan were to successfully chase Chennai’s imposing score of 165. Rajasthan’s chase was cut short at the beginning itself when Graeme Smith was dismissed by Morkel. Yusuf Pathan was awesome to watch when he was at the crease, but the pressure on him was too much on this occasion.

IPL day-12

Bangalore Royal Challengers x Kolkata Knight Riders

Royal Challengers were on the park for the last time under the captaincy of Kevin Pieterson for this season, and the team give a good send off to its captain.

Kolkata were on back foot from the very first ball when McCullum cut a short ball from Pieterson into the hands of Kohli at point. Gayle tried to play a long sedulous and prudent inning, but he was just not build to do that. I appreciate him for his effort though. Bangalore tried 4 slow bowlers and was very successful in their effort. Pieterson and Kumble bowled well, as expected.

The new South African recruit van der Merwe had a good IPL debue. For Kolkata apart from Gayle, the new guy van Wyk looked good with bat. He also kept wickets relieving his captain McCullum. Kolkata post a meagre 140, thanks to Gayle and Van Wyk. Ganguly once again failed to impress, falling yet again to a good short ball from Praveen Kumar.

Bangalore started their inning very prudently. It was understandable with target being 140. They almost pushed Kolkata out of the game by going into STT without losing a wicket. After STT, as often as it seen in this IPL, wicket started falling and Kolkata marched right back into the game. One particular bowler who impressed me in Kolkata team was Ishant. He almost provide the victory for his team, but for Mark Boucher who was pugnacious enough to guide his team to victory in the last over. Boucher made a timely cameo – 25 off 13 balls with 2 FOURs and 1 SIX. He was awarded the Man of the Match award for his performance, a right choice in my view.

Mumbai Indians x Kings IX Punjab

Punjab won the all-important toss, but lost that early advantage the moment when they decide to play out first 3 overs for practically nothing. Goel and Bopara played blind cricket – giving the momentum to the Mumbai team. Zaheer and Malinga happily bowled line-and-length with no pressure from the batsmen. Karan Goel went into the offensive when Harbhajan was introduced in the 5th Over by Tendulkar by slog-sweeping him for SIX. That euphoria did not last too long for Punjab as Goel ran down the wicket on the very next ball, only to be foxed by Harbhajan and getting stumped. Bopara and Yuvraj soon followed Goel, trying to push their runrate up.

In the end, Punjab just couldnt find that momentum they were looking for, and the purple cap owner Malinga ran through their lower middle order to make matters worse. Slinger Malinga ended his day’s work by giving away just 14 runs and taking 2 vital wickets. It was truly a man of the match performance. Kumar Sangakkara remained notout, but he couldnt string through enough shots to take Punjab above 119 in their 20 overs.

I thought Mumbai will walk away with the match with Sachin and Sanath firing at the top. It did not happen. Sachin and Sanath were dismissed very early and for the first time in the season, Mumbai batting looked feckless. Their batting seemed rudderless till young Dumini found an able partner in Abhishek Nayar. They tried their level best and took safer options to take Mumbai close to the target. Their running b/w the wickets were not particularly good. At some points, they even ran into each other. With a pinch of luck with their side, it looked like they were going to take Mumbai to shore.

Irfan Pathan finally broke the Dumini-Nayar partnership with an in-swinging yorker, uprooting Nayar’s leg stump. That wicket once again put Punjab on top. Mumbai still had hopes as Dumini was at the wicket. After 18 overs, Mumbai needed 19 runs. Harbhajan was at strike. Stand-in skipper Sangakkara (Yuvraj was out because of injury) first opted for Yusuf Abdulla then retract back to Piyush Chawla to bowl the 19th over. That was a golden decision as Chawla not only took the wicket of Harbhajan, but he gave away only 6 runs in the over.

Final over was bit dramatic, as Abdulla bowled most of that with Long-off inside the circle, but Dumini, looking tired and with no timing, kept trying to clear midwicket boundary with big heaves. With the dismissal of Dumini in the 4th ball of the over, it was clear that Mumbai are going down in this match.

I dont understand one thing with Dumini…even after batting for an hour on that wicket..he was struggling to find some timing. If he could hit few boundaries when he was there, especially towards the end of the game, the result of the match would have been quiet different.

In the end, Kumar Sangakkara was awarded the man of the match and a kiss from preity zinta for his gritty 45. I thought Yusuf Abdulla or Lasith Malinga should have been awarded man of the match for their sheer effort to contain high-calibre batsmen on this spungy pitch.

IPL day-11

Rajasthan Royals x Delhi Daredevils

On form, one would have predicted an easy victory for Delhi, but cricket being cricket, a win for Rajasthan Royals will not surprise any at the end of the day.

At the half time, one would have thought it was going to be a repeat of other Rajasthan Royal matches where they have collapsed chasing very modest totals like the one they were chasing today.

Royals’ bowlers  once again did  a funtastic job by restricting Delhi to a meagre total of 144, but history suggested it was competitive considering the poor form of Royals’ batting lineup. Only 2 things were different today, and that was enough for Royals to scribe a memorable victoy – their second in the season. First was the Graeme Smith’s inning. He managed to stay put till the end, carrying his bat through. It is always nice for the opener (atleast one of them) to play a long inning, keeping the risks to minimum. The second and most important thing was Yusuf Pathan’s epic inning of 62 from 30 balls. It was a perfect Man of the Match inning.

Luck played an important factor in deciding the fate of the game. No doubt about it, but it is often said, one has to make one’s own luck. Delhi dropped crucial chances to send back Yusuf Pathan and paid heavily for it.

The turning point of the match came when Yusuf started thrashing Daniel Vettori, ending up with 19 runs in that first over of Vettori. Yusuf hit 2 booming hits, clearing the boundary with ease in each case. In total, Yusuf hit as much as 6 SIXs… many of them going deep into the stadium which was almost jampack.

This victory will once again reignite Shane Warne’s team. Shane Warne must be most thrilled with the way how Smith batted today .  Smith’s Form will be a big factor in the progress of Rajasthan, especially  in the absence of Shane Watson.

ICC needs to rethink its approach on chuckers

International cricket Council will have to rethink its approach on the way it see the “chucking phenomenon” that is going on in the game nowadays.

Many international bowlers who are playing the game now are chuckers. ICC is going “soft” on them just because they are high-brand and are needed for the entertainment value of the game, This is not good for cricket and will lead to further troubles in the future. Already commentators like Ramiz Raja and Jeffrey Boycott are calling to legalise chucking (doosra action) as it will empower poor off-spinners. Time wont be far away when someone realise that art of fast bowling is dying and cricket should adopt baseball like “pitching” instead of round-arm bowling.

Imagine a situation where ICC finally have to scrap Muralidharan’s record of most number of Test/ODI wickets because there surface a technology that can identify the flex from a camera film !! Nothing will be shameful to the world of cricket than scrapping the record of a player who has given his life for the game.

All this started with the ICC’s decision to increase the legal flexing to 15 degrees to “accommodate” Muralidharan into the legal side of the law. ICC may have different views in support of that action, but to an ordinary man, it was like…. hitting the wood and painting the dart circles around it.

According to me (i am nobody of course), Muralidharan, Shoaib Akhtar, Brett Lee, Harbhajan Singh, Jehan Botha, and Saeed Ajmal are some of the big names who are happily chucking in the International cricket today.

Botha and Ajmal are currently under the scanner, and I am sure they will easily clear their “test” and will be back in International cricket with their “bend arm”.

Truly speaking, I dont see any difference between the actions of Harbhajan’s doosra to that of Saeed Ajmal’s doosra.

Some say Akhtar and Lee are allowed to continue with their action because there is a serious dearth of real pace bowler in the world. I dont agree to that…especially, when one of the fastest bowlers with the cleanest of the actions is sitting in his home in New Zealand due to some ego clash between BCCI and ICL. Poor Shane Bond. My sympathy for New Zealand cricket board. They are showing immense self control on that issue.

All these tests done in these various Universities of Australia are a real sham. I am not questioning their scientific capabilities. I am just saying, anyone can ball with a controlled action while at the test and ball that “illegal” one with some more flex at a real match circumstance.

ICC must show some audacity and emulate International Olympic Committee in matters concerning illegal activities in the game.

IPL Day 10

Chennai Super Kings x Deccan Chargers

Fourth straight win for the Chargers really put them almost certain for the semifinal spot. With only one win from 5 matches, Chennai will have to pull their socks up fast if they want to register a place in the last 4.

Herschelle Gibbs He played really well. It was an examplar inning. A very few have carried their bat in this season, but I think this is what most players should try to do. People like Raina and Laxman should learn from this inning played by Gibbs. He was aggressive, but at the same time, ran hard and played his pushes and nudges to finesse. He really played the Man of the Match inning.

M Hayden Once again was the best bat of the Chennai inning. It was all a re-play of other matches with he going hell for leather for the first 6 overs, but Chennai losing the momentum after the strategic time out. He is still the owner of Orange Cap. I wonder what chennai would have done if Hayden was still playing for Australia. I am not sure why he is not playing for Australia though. 

SK Raina Again, Raina showed he is very much a confused individual when it comes to playing 20-20. He definitely struggled with short balls from Fidel Edwards. I guess he should play more nudges and hit big shots instead of other way around. He was a real surprise when he started to ball his off spinners. A real game changer. He was lucky in my book. Dhoni will use him more in IPL and international matches for India. His strength is the little stop that he has just before he deliver the ball.

MS Dhoni I dont think Luck is in his pocket captaining Chennai for this season. Unlike Team India, this Chennai team is seriously deficient with in-form players. This season also shows one thing – a good captain is only good as his team. Dhoni’s batting has also come down with the fortunes of his team. He has become more of a finisher who forgot how to hit big SIXs frequently. He now hits one or two… not more than that. I think he should try to emulate Gilchrist who is enjoying his captaincy and batting at the same time.

Jacob Oram He was the surprise in the Chennai inning for me. In the first match, he looked utterly out of touch. He connected some good hits in this match. He is the prime reason why chennai posted a reasonably good score of 165.

Albie Morkel His and Flintoff’s form was concerning Chennai. Now, Flintoff has gone home and pressure on him is more. I think Dhoni should start seriously thinking about axing Albie for Ntini in the next match. Albie is a good hitter, but he is nowhere near his top form in this season. He also got a golden oppurtunity to have an impact on the match when Dhoni gave him the 16th over with Deccan needing 35 Runs to win.  Even though that over saw a critical RUNOUT oppurtunity going against Chennai, he bowled poorly, giving away a NOBALL on height which ran into the boundary.

Fidel Edwards Undoubtedly, the best fast bowler in the match for me. He is amazingly quick and he brings that choice of small packet of unrelenting energy to Gilchrist. What Chennai is missing what Deccan has is a Fidel factor. Fidel has also given the stability on one side for RP Singh to take wicket on the other side. They are a good working pair for Deccan in this season.

Gilchrist Played the CAMEO-INNING of the match. It was relentless hitting. No one really escaped from his punishment. He turned the match from 50-50 balance to 80-20 in favor of Deccan with just 5 overs of power hitting.

RP Singh He was lucky today with none of is NO-BALLS hurting Deccan too much. It is really amazing how the leading wicket taker in the season can go horribly wrong on certain days.

VVS Laxman Once again disappointed to see a batsmen of his calibre going no where with his experience and talent in this format. I think his fault lies in thinking. He should put anchor instead of trying to take off whenever he is at the crease.

Rohit Sharma He played well for the time he was at the crease. He ran well with Gibbs. His dismissal was an untimely one for Deccan. It became the catalyst for Chennai resurgence at that point.

A Bilakhia Played well and gave Gibbs good support in a crucial 5th wicket partnership to take Deccan to their fourth consecutive victory.

Pragyan Ojha It is really amazing why he is not a regular member of Team India. He has outclassed all the world class spinners in this season with his lovely loop and line-&-length.

Kolkata Knight Riders x Mumbai Indians

The story of the match was the first-wicket partnership between Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasurya. Both batsmen were aggressive and targetting almost anyone who came on to ball with a gold-and-black jersey. Their 127-run parnership almost made one thing pretty clear – Kolkata will have to play out of their skin to chase down whatever Mumbai post in their 20 overs.

The other highlight of the day was the promotion of Harbhajan Singh in the batting order to one-down. It was the most successive creative move  in this season. In the end, Mumbai posted 187 – their highest total in the season. 

Kolkata inning started with a twin disaster. They lost the priceless wickets of Gayle and McCullum within the first 3 overs. That practically ended their hope of chasing down Mumbai’s mammoth total.

Sachin Tendulkar walked away with the  man of the match for his 68 runs off 45 balls with the help of 6 FOURs and 4 SIXs.