Chennai Super Kings v Deccan Chargers, IPL, East London

May 4, 2009

Chennai Super Kings 178 for 3 (Hayden 43, Dhoni 58*) beat Deccan Chargers 100 (Smith 49, Jakati 4-22) by 78 runs

Chennai Super Kings soared to the top of the points table in dramatic fashion, recording their third consecutive win in a comprehensive defeat of Deccan Chargers at Buffalo Park. The game had everything: excellent swing that had Deccan reeling at 1 for 3, left-arm spin from Shadab Jakati that gave him his second consecutive four-wicket haul and ripped the heart out of Deccan's batting, and two whirlwind innings, one by Dwayne Smith that could only stave off the inevitable and another by MS Dhoni, at the start of the match, to set up the win. Much of that, and a dropped catch and a missed run-out, took place in a frenetic opening ten overs of Deccan's chase that had more twists, turns and frenetic passages of play than an entire Twenty20 match.


Deccan's win against their opponents in the previous encounter Durban was based on a powerful start from Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs but the change in venue brought about a shocking change in fortunes as both departed for ducks. Gilchrist was trapped first ball bang in front of the stumps off a loopy delivery by Albie Morkel and Gibbs played all over a full delivery by Sudeep Tyagi and lost his legstump to a ricochet.


VVS Laxman, desperately seeking runs to keep his place in the side, soon fell to a tame chip to midwicket off Morkel. With three ducks at the top of the order, Deccan's line-up was already resembling a poultry farm - a procession of headless chickens was, one felt, another wicket away.


That it didn't come to that owed itself to some luck and then lots of bravado. A huge mis-hit from Smith when he was on 2 fell towards three waiting fielders but, inexplicably, landed safely; the following ball produced a thick leading edge that was fluffed by Tyagi at third man. What followed in the next couple of overs stung Chennai more than those missed chances.


Choosing attack as the best form of defence, Smith bludgeoned boundaries over the on side with tremendous bat speed. One over from Albie Morkel yielded 19 runs, including two sixes; one, off a high full toss, was hit over midwicket and the next ball was flicked squarer on the on side. The next over from L Balaji was hit for 18 with Rohit Sharma joining the party.

Dhoni shuffled his bowlers and brought on Jakati when the 50 partnership came up in just 21 balls to try and make things happen. Things did happen, though not quite as Dhoni intended. First, Smith clubbed Jakati for a huge six into the grass embankment. In his next over Jakati got rid of Rohit before an amazing sequence that saw four - four run-out chances being fluffed off one ball. Smith hit it to deep point, Jakati couldn't collect the return, Badrinath backing up, threw it back to Jakati who again didn't collect the throw but broke the stumps with Smith and non-striker T Suman almost at the same end; Jakati then picked up the ball and tried to hand it to Badrinath, who had moved to the stumps but flicked it wide of him.


The bowler had his revenge the same over, though, when he trapped Smith in front for 49. That effectively ended Deccan's chase, the rest of the wickets a blur as the innings folded by the 15th over.


Chennai's win was built on their batting, though, as they won the toss and piled on a target which, by this tournament's standards, was way above par. Dhoni, having said before this match that his form was "pathetic", addressed the issue by promoting himself to No. 3 and the quality time spent in the middle helped recover his form.


The start provided by Matthew Hayden and M Vijay gave Chennai and Dhoni the impetus. Hayden feasted on some wayward bowling by biffing deliveries over the off side and walking down the pitch to set the bowlers off their rhythm. Suresh Raina matched Hayden in terms of power and intimidation. After Suman helped Deccan hit back with the wicket of Vijay, his figures were torn apart by Raina, who clubbed him for three consecutive boundaries over midwicket.


Dhoni was already well set at the crease and a six off Pragyan Ojha that landed on the roof at long-on was a sign of things to come. The tentativeness which affected his form in the earlier games was refreshingly absent as he kept busy at the cease, pushing the singles and bludgeoning the bowlers down the ground with his unconventional, yet powerful checked drives. He hammered Harris down the ground like a cannon and took on the same bowler for a reverse sweep that found the boundary. He reached his half-century with a savage pull off RP in the final over and led his team to a score that later exposed the shortcomings of the side heading the table when the match started. It ended, of course, with another team shooting to the top.

Rajasthan thrash Punjab to go second

May 5, 2009

Rajasthan Royals 211 for 4 (Smith 77, Ojha 68) beat Kings XI Punjab 133 for 8 (Yuvraj 48, Amit Singh 3-9) by 78 runs

Two changes, one of them a tactical masterstroke, made their impact in the very first over of each innings to hand Rajasthan Royals an imposing 78-run win against Kings XI Punjab, and propel them - in an intensely fluid tournament - to second place on the points table. The match was effectively decided in three overs: the first of Rajasthan's innings, when Naman Ojha hammered 16 off Ramesh Powar; the penultimate, when Sreesanth went for 23, and the first over of Punjab's innings when Amit Singh, playing his first Twenty20 game, took two wickets, including one off the first ball.

Rajasthan have stayed in this tournament through their bowling but managed today to rectify the blips in their erratic top order to build on a solid opening stand between Ojha - promoted for this game - and Graeme Smith. If Rajasthan got their tactics right, Punjab certainly did not, undermining their decision to field in seaming conditions by opening with a spinner. Powar was punished for 16 in the first over as Ojha, using his feet to counter the flight, smashed two sixes over long-on. Seven balls into the game and Rajasthan had equalled their highest opening partnership of 20 in this year's tournament - the first wicket had reached double figures just once in seven matches .

Though Yuvraj Singh realised his miscalculation and immediately reverted to pace the momentum had been seized. Smith and Ojha timed their innings superbly, latching on to any available opportunity and presumably heightening the sense of regret in the opposing captain for gifting them the initiative.

Ojha adapted to the conditions perfectly after the fielding restrictions were lifted. He combined his naturally aggressive flow with some deft touches, late-cutting Piyush Chawla for a boundary and following that up with an even more delicate dab wide of third man off Abdulla to put on display his varied repertoire of strokes.

Smith's innings marked a contrast to his guarded approach against Delhi Daredevils, when, struggling for form, he took a backseat to Yusuf Pathan's monstrous onslaught that won them the game. Here, he led the charge, smashing Powar for a six in the eleventh over, and finding the gaps in the leg-side consistently, favouring the short-fine and the midwicket region, and using the slog-sweep and the clip off the pads to good effect. The pair used their feet against spinners - Ojha charging down the pitch, and Smith favouring the sweep - to dent the tournament's main bowling weapon, and adding 135, the best opening stand this IPL.

Punjab sensed a comeback with three quick wickets, including the two openers and Yusuf Pathan, who entertained a sizable crowd with 7-ball cameo, and appeared within reach of restricting Rajasthan to around 180. But Ravindra Jadeja ensured there was no shift in momentum, with a blistering 33. Much of that came off the penultimate over from Sreesanth, returning from a three-month injury layoff - he overstepped twice, was dispatched for a six and a four over the leg-side field, and was left infuriated when a thick edge beat the keeper to the boundary to take Rajasthan past 200.

Yuvraj's opening gambit failed with the bowling and his batsmen failed to compensate. Amit, an unknown commodity on the international circuit from Gujarat, had a dream start with Sunny Sohal's wicket off his first ball. Karan Goel, given another go after a poor run of scores, belied the faith by holing out at deep square-leg while attempting an ugly swipe off the final ball.

Strategy, or the lack of it, failed Punjab yet again as Yuvraj kept himself off the top order, coming in at No 6 - by which time the match had been decided. Three more wickets in four overs sealed their fate as Kumar Sangakkara, Simon Katich and Mahela Jayawardene each fell while attempting to salvage an improbable chase. Eventually it was left to their captain to lessen the damage to his team's net run-rate and limit the humiliation.

Punjab's problems at the top of the order have resurfaced, while Rajasthan appear to have fixed theirs. More worrying, though, is Punjab's bowling as the failure of Abdulla and their spinners let them down at a crucial phase in the tournament.

Delhi canter to top of the table

May 5, 2009

Delhi Daredevils 157 for 1 (Gambhir 71*, Dilshan 42*) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 154 for 3 (van Wyk 74, Sangwan 2-29) by nine wickets

It's getting hard to keep track of who's on top of the IPL table. For the third day in a row, there was a new leader, now with the Delhi Daredevils occupying first place after strolling past a luckless Kolkata Knight Riders in Durban. To make victory even sweeter, one of their key batsmen, Gautam Gambhir, was back among the runs after an indifferent start to the tournament.

After Morne van Wyk made the most of his chance at the top of the order to push Kolkata towards a middling total, they fielded like millionaires, granting the Delhi batsmen innumerable chances to simplify the chase.

Gambhir, in particular, was virtually coaxed back to form. He was grassed a couple of times, that too by two of the better fielders in the side, on 22 by Brendon McCullum and on 65 by Moises Henriques, a run-out opportunity was wasted on 35, and he was given plenty of free runs as well. Even the umpire gave him a let-off by not picking a nick to the wicketkeeper when on 45.

An early exchange with Ishant Sharma showed how Delhi were helped along to victory. The first over had Ishant exchanging wry grins with his Ranji team-mate Gambhir after tying him down to an outside-edged four. The smiles were gone after some woeful fielding in his next over: Ashok Dinda made a mess at fine-leg, Sourav Ganguly gave away a couple of extra runs after a less-than-athletic effort at mid-off the next ball, and another Dinda fumble allowed the batsmen to return for two. Ishant lost his cool, and his line in the next delivery, presenting Gambhir a leg-side gift, which was glanced for four. Seventeen came off the over, and Delhi proved hard to rein in after that.

David Warner again showed his ability to clear the boundary, a Hayden-esque down-the-pitch pull off Dinda was the stand-out stroke in his blazing cameo. A couple of lofted drives for four off consecutive deliveries emphasised his ominous form but Ajit Agarkar beat Warner for pace two balls later, and had him holing out to Moises Henriques.

There was little relief for Kolkata, though, as Tillakaratne Dilshan demonstrated his form with a couple of cracking cover drives off Agarkar. Gambhir and Dilshan settled on a recipe of risk-free singles with a sprinkling of boundaries to keep Delhi on course. The missed chances already had the Kolkata camp frustrated, and the sight of several boundaries just beating a diving fielder added to their woes. It was only towards the end that the batsmen opened out, to finish the job with an over to spare.

Such a one-sided game didn't seem on the cards after van Wyk glued the fragile Kolkata top order to take them near 150. Their opening troubles seemed set to continue when McCullum struggled to get bat on ball in the first over. But in the first delivery of the third over, McCullum's bolt-down-the-track scythe finally connected and sent the ball rocketing over deep point. A controlled on-drive for four followed next delivery, and a swat sailed past the midwicket boundary three balls later fetched 21 runs off the over.

By the time McCullum clobbered Pradeep Sangwan over midwicket for a flat six, Kolkata were 48 for 0 after five overs, and the two batsmen were sharing a joke in the middle, not a common sight in Kolkata's campaign so far.

It was Sangwan who was laughing a couple of overs later, when he had McCullum slapping the ball straight to fine leg. The in-form Brad Hodge joined van Wyk, but Sangwan and Mishra kept the brakes on. Kolkata could only score in singles for the first five overs after the Powerplays, and the run-rate had flatlined to 6.45.

It was an uncharacteristic fielding error at long-on from AB de Villiers that helped release the pressure for Kolkata. The next delivery was cut away for four more by van Wyk, who caressed three more boundaries in the over that followed from Sangwan. Right through the innings, van Wyk showed his ability to finesse his way to the runs, rarely attempting one of the most favoured strokes in Twenty20: the mow over midwicket.

Just as the runs started to flow, Hodge was dismissed, slowing Kolkata down again. They were at 111 for 2 after 16, when Henriques and van Wyk opened out to lash 28 off the next two. Kolkata needed a couple more like that to finish off, but Nannes and the outstanding Ashish Nehra kept it full and straight to not let them get into fifth gear.

Kolkata finished with a total that was disappointing, with wickets still in hand, but it was nowhere as disheartening as the shoddiness in the field that was to follow.

Sharma heroics ensure Deccan win

May 6, 2009

Deccan Chargers 145 for 6 (Sharma 38) beat Mumbai Indians 126 for 8 (Duminy 52, Sharma 4-6) by 19 runs

Mumbai Indians squandered a crucial opportunity to grab a spot in the top four, losing to Deccan Chargers by 19 runs in a see-saw game where they had held the cards for the most part. An unlikely hat-trick by Rohit Sharma, who benefited from some immature shot-selection and accounted for the fall of the threatening JP Duminy, followed up on a pivotal double-strike by RP Singh to remove the explosive pair of Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya to shut Mumbai out of the game, and consolidate Deccan's position to second place.

The turning point came in the 15th over, after Duminy and Dwayne Bravo had helped get Mumbai's run-chase back on track. A rush of blood at the wrong time resulted in Bravo skying a flighted delivery from Tirumalasetti Suman to long-on, and some injudicious batting by Abhishek Nayar and Harbhajan Singh, who were both bowled by Rohit off successive deliveries, left Duminy with too much to achieve.

Mumbai were dented at the start. A disdainful slice over point, a trademark of Jayasuriya's, in the very first over off Ryan Harris bode ominously for Deccan, but the bowler had his revenge the next over, flinging himself to his right at third man to snap a thick edge from the same batsman. RP's impressive run in the IPL this season won him a place in the Indian squad for the World Twenty20, and as a sign of justification, he castled Tendulkar the next ball with an inswinger.

Pinal Shah was Mumbai's Naman Ojha, and though he displayed little signs of being gifted with sound technique, his enterprising 29, laced with a series of innovative shots, the best of which was a reverse-sweep off Harmeet Singh, relieved the pressure after a shock beginning. Duminy's presence was critical, and he immediately showed signs of intent, picking on anything loose and ensuring the required run-rate was kept within reach by combining his flourish with the natural dabs, nudges and clips that have come to typify his batting.

Shah's dismissal, an inopportune swipe to wide long-on, did little to unsettle Duminy, who picked up pace after the tactical timeout, dispatching Harmeet for two boundaries, one through cover and the other to third man, before pulling Harris wide of deep square leg. With 49 needed off six overs and seven wickets remaining, Mumbai held the edge but three quick wickets gifted by Bravo's mindless loft, Nayar's ill-judged paddle and Harbhajan's atrocious slog swung the match firmly in Deccan's favour. Rohit hammered the final nail in the coffin, having Duminy caught-behind off an attempted sweep on the first ball of the 18th over to complete his hat-trick and seal Mumbai's fate.

Mumbai's batsmen undid a disciplined bowling display by their pace attack, which boasted new inclusions in Dhawal Kulkarni and Rohan Raje, who impressed in their respective spells. Failure up the order had proved pivotal in Deccan Charger's stark turnaround after emerging frontrunners in the tournament with four consecutive wins, and had them in trouble again as their team struggled to a competitive score on a sluggish pitch.

Adam Gilchrist's decision to bat was motivated by a hard, dry surface which he felt would last out the day, but Deccan did have to contend with an out-of-touch Herschelle Gibbs who was sucked in by an away-swinger from Dhawal to edge a catch to slip, and finish with two ducks in three innings. Suman's excellent bowling effort preceded a promising cameo, including two massive sixes off Harbhajan, cut short by Bravo. Gilchrist had ceded the floor to Suman, and threatened to cut loose after his departure with a slog-swept six but failed to curb his frustration with the modest run-rate, swinging across the line to be bowled by an unspectacular, yet accurate Raje.

Rohit was restrained by some tight Mumbai bowling, patching together a laboured innings which only picked up pace when joined by Venugopal Rao, who showed some spunk towards the end with a brisk 28 to take his team to what, in the end, proved an adequate total.

A target of 146 would raise Mumbai's hopes of breaking into the top four but a suicidal rush by their middle order has now made that task significantly tougher, leaving them in seventh place.

Bowlers hand Rajasthan easy win

May 7, 2009

Rajasthan Royals 107 for 3 (Ojha 52*) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 105 (Singh 4-19, Jadeja 3-15) by seven wickets

Rajasthan Royals moved to the top of the table with a convincing seven-wicket win over Bangalore Royal Challengers, who looked out of depth as they were bowled out for 105 - the tournament's second lowest total - and conceded the win inside 15 overs. Naman Ojha scored his second consecutive half-century in the brief chase but the win was set up by Amit Singh and Ravindra Jadeja, who took seven Bangalore wickets to ensure a low target for their side.

The difference lay in how the two sets of bowlers exploited the bounce offered by the Centurion pitch; Bangalore's couldn't, Rajasthan's did to perfection. Bangalore used the short ball only after the strategy break, by which time the required run-rate was down to below five an over.

Shane Warne won a good toss and chose to field on a new pitch that had received rain overnight. Unlike in the last few games where he opened with spin from one end, he chose to give his fast bowlers a chance to exploit the conditions. Like the spinners, though, the fast bowlers gave favourable returns in their first spells. Batsmen found it difficult to counter the bounce when they tried to cut or pull though poor shot selection accounted for two of the first three wickets.

Amit struck first in the third over: Wasim Jaffer, who had been dropped by Amit in the previous over, drove a fuller delivery away from his body and popped a catch to cover. Jacques Kallis, after flicking a six off his pads from Munaf Patel, stepped out to a shorter delivery and top-edged a pull to Niraj Patel, who took the catch running from deep backward square leg to deep midwicket. Soon after, Rahul Dravid chased a Lee Carseldine delivery going down leg and gloved a catch behind for a duck.

Spin came into the picture in the eighth over when Warne brought himself on, and the steady fall of wickets continued. Robin Uthappa, Bangalore's top scorer with 17, survived a leg-before appeal in that over but fell off the first ball of the next, trapped plumb in front by Jadeja. Bangalore were reeling at 40 for four, which could have been five had Ojha collected a chance from Virat Kohli. The strategy break did them no good, Mark Boucher falling five balls after the re-start; he tried to cut an arm ball pitched full and just outside off from Jadeja, got cramped for room and was bowled for six.

Jadeja got Kohli next, outside-edging one that was pitched short and wide and Morkel holding on to a low diving catch behind point. The fast bowlers then returned to wrap up the innings as the last four wickets fell for 20 runs.

Bangalore bowled too many wide deliveries for a side defending such a low total and picked up their first two wickets as Rajasthan looked to wrap up the game quickly. Graeme Smith, after driving two fours each off Praveen Kumar and Dillon du Preez, stepped out to Jacques Kallis and was bowled after swinging and missing at a length delivery. Carseldine was given out after a mix-up with Naman Ojha saw the two batsmen at the bowler's end. Ojha made up for the dismissal with a massive six off Roelof van der Merwe in the next over Rajasthan went into the strategy break needing 44 with eight wickets in hand.

After the break Yusuf Pathan, Rajasthan's go-to batsman, and Ojha resisted the temptation to score off the short ball till du Preez returned to the attack. Pathan drove Kallis through cover for four and Ojha hit Vinay Kumar for a six over long-off. But Pathan fell, with Rajasthan needing only 15 more, when he tried to pull du Preez for a second time to fine leg and got a top edge instead. However, Rajasthan needed just two and a half an over by then and Ojha hit two fours and a six to wrap it up in the next over.

Hayden and Raina clinch thriller

May 7, 2009

Chennai Super Kings 185 for 3 (Hayden 89, Dhoni 56*) beat Kings XI Punjab 174 for 3 (Yuvraj 58*, Katich 50, Jayawardene 44*) by 12 runs (D/L method)

Kings XI Punjab made Chennai Super Kings really sweat in a spirited chase towards a Duckworth-Lewis revised target of 187, but when it mattered most MS Dhoni's tactical nous won it for Chennai. Simon Katich had set the tone for Punjab's bravado, and Yuvraj Singh and Mahela Jayawardene batted superbly in the face of adversity, adding 60 in just 4.3 overs under lights. Then, with 43 left to defend off 24 balls, Dhoni took pace off the ball by calling on Suresh Raina's part-time offspin. Only 10 runs came off his two overs, which provided to be the final twist of the match.

Chennai's big total was set up by Matthew Hayden's belligerent 89, either side of an hour-and-a-half rain delay that reduced the match to 18 overs, and Dhoni's sparky 56 from 27 balls. Up against the strongest batting line-up in the tournament, Punjab's bowlers were pummelled into submission for the second match running. Hayden's sublime effort at one point seemed to be going down the drain before Dhoni turned to Raina.

When the story of Chennai's 12-run win in this thriller is retold, Hayden will be in the headlines but Dhoni and Raina will deserve a significant body of text. Punjab needed 30 from 12 after a good over from L Balaji only went for nine. Dhoni knew Yuvraj and Jayawardene were swinging freely, but gave Raina a second over. Under immense pressure, he did a fabulous job to win the game for Chennai. Bowling flat through the air and angling the ball into Yuvraj's leg stump, he only allowed six runs, two of which were leg-byes.

Yuvraj, who until then was ruthless, erred by twice backing away to flat deliveries when he was better off shuffling across and letting them go for wides. Having batted so fluently, benefiting from sloppy catching in the deep, Yuvraj and Jayawardene couldn't keep the pace in the last over. They managed only 11 of the 24 required.

Punjab's last four overs were in stark contrast to how Katich attacked early and then the butchery from Yuvraj and Jayawardene between the 10th and 14th overs. Undeterred by a wicket in the first over, Katich batted with superb confidence and rare aggression, not once looking anxious. His nudging and cutting was deft, but nothing matched three consecutive sixes off Manpreet Gony in the fifth over, each pulled off with clinical precision.

Balaji then struck with his first ball to cut Katich off on 50 from 25 balls in the ninth over. Needing 97 from 48 - more than two a ball - Yuvraj and Jayawardene pulled their weight. Yuvraj opened his shoulders, swinging away almost effortlessly across the line, while Jayawardene's biggest contribution was how he handled Muttiah Muralitharan.

Yuvraj was dropped on 22 by Gony at the long-on boundary, while Jayawardene took Balaji for 15 in his next over, dabbing for a four and pulling for a six. Then he lofted Murali for a six inside-out over extra cover, the best shot of his innings. The 14th over, bowled by Albie Morkel, cost 19 with Yuvraj hitting a 118-metre six. It seemed the duo would pull off a miracle for Punjab with ease, but Raina and Balaji got their act together and swung it Chennai's way.

It had all looked much easier for Chennai after their innings. Pace has been Punjab's main bowling weapon, and the bowlers were taken to the cleaners, with Hayden bludgeoning his third and most dismissive half-century of the IPL. Hayden was rude to Punjab's bowlers from the time Dhoni opted to bat, but his assault after the rain hold-up was stunning, with Sreesanth feeling the brunt of his power.

Hayden and Raina added 75 in nine overs after Chennai lost S Badrinath first ball, uppercutting to third man. Sreesanth, after taking a pasting in his last two overs of Punjab's miserable loss to Rajasthan, wasn't allowed to settle. Hayden muscled him for fours by walking across and down the track, and won round one of what would ultimately prove a one-sided contest.

Raina didn't last long, lofting Piyush Chawla's first delivery to deep midwicket. At this stage Hayden was 43 from 34 balls. With the advantage clearly Chennai's way, Hayden turned belligerent. He gave himself room, gave the bowlers a look at the stumps, and ferociously deposited the ball into the stands.

Chawla's second over cost 16 as Hayden slammed sixes either side of the ground. Then back came Sreesanth, who went for 22 in five balls - the leg-side boundary receiving a peppering. Hayden walked across and hooked, one hand off the bat, for six over fine leg. Then he swung two more sixes with ferocity, both balls landing well over the ropes. Hayden was 89 from 57 balls when he holed out to long-on.

VRV Singh was carted for 24 in runs in six balls - the midwicket rope receiving a peppering - by Dhoni, who followed up with two wristy pick-up shots, which seemed out of the Saeed Anwar textbook. Dhoni needed just 24 balls to raise a hyper fifty, his second outstanding innings of the tournament. The target for Punjab was adjusted upwards by one run.

Dhoni had helped his side with offensive brilliance in the evening, but it was his strategic trump that ultimately took them to top of the table.

Sensible de Villiers backs up tight bowling

May 8, 2009

Delhi Daredevils 118 for 3 (de Villiers 50*) beat Mumbai Indians 116 (Bravo 35, Bhatia 3-14) by seven wickets

Delhi Daredevils didn't quite pull off the cakewalk expected after their bowlers set the batsmen a target of 117, but the end result was satisfactory because they took back the top spot. Chasing an easily achievable total Delhi's openers ate up overs and departed in succession to put undue pressure on the middle order, but AB de Villiers returned to form and saw Delhi through in the end.

Mumbai Indians needed a win desperately to mark a step towards a much-needed turnaround, but they utterly failed to cash in on the toss. Both openers were dismissed in the first over, two more fell before the end of the Powerplay, and there was no final hurrah. Dwayne Bravo and Abhishek Nayar stitched together a 57-run partnership but that too was snuffed out by Delhi's bowlers before it could really cause damage.

This was a win set up in the field, when Delhi were excellent with pace and spin, allowing just seven boundaries and three sixes. For the 22nd time in 21 days, a wicket fell in the first over of an innings. Luke Ronchi, in for Sanath Jayasuriya, was run out second ball and JP Duminy nicked Dirk Nannes behind.

Mumbai were hurting with the scoreboard showing four batsmen with 0 next to their names. Sachin Tendulkar, who had opted to bat, didn't last long either. Having inside-edged a length ball behind the stumps, Tendulkar set off, only to be set back by Pinal Shah. He failed to just ground his bat as Dinesh Karthik nailed the second damning direct hit in six overs. Mumbai were 30 for 3 after the Powerplay.

It got worse. Shah failed to cash in on a drop on 5, swinging Rajat Bhatia to the deep for a chalky 11 from 20 balls. In walked Bravo at 33 for 4. He looked gone for all money on 1, struck on the front pad in front of middle and leg, but the umpire Marais Erasmus was watching a different match. Amit Mishra cut a flustered figure.

There were just two boundaries littering the first ten overs, aptly displaying just how tight Delhi kept it. With singles and doubles and inside edges Bravo and Nayar gave the total some respectability. But just when it seemed Bravo might turn it on - he lofted two big sixes down the ground - Nannes got his man with a wide delivery. Nayar departed next ball, top-edging Ashish Nehra, and there was little oomph from the tail. Bhatia, notable for his clever slower balls, took two wickets and allowed only a single and a leg bye in the last over. It was eerily similar to how Delhi had started 19 overs earlier.

Delhi's chase toward a small target was nervy, with Gautam Gambhir and David Warner pacing themselves. It wasn't a crawl, but neither was the pair forcing the issue. There were only two fours and a six in the 50 balls Gambhir and Warner batted together. Duminy snapped a steady partnership of 42 with a gentle offbreak, luring Warner out of his crease. In the next over Gambhir sashayed out and sliced the ball to deep cover. But that was as good as it got for Mumbai, as de Villiers and Tillakaratne Dilshan eased into a 61-run stand.

It began slowly, with both batsmen struggling to get runs off the spinners. Duminy and Harbhajan Singh rushed through their overs, one relying on flight and the other firing them flat. Duminy only gave 15 from his four overs and Harbhajan was also frugal, but one over of pedestrian spin from Tendulkar got Delhi - at this stage needing 43 from 30 - back ahead of the rate. A floater was sumptuously clipped for four, a full toss was dumped over midwicket for six, and two half-trackers were duly deposited for boundaries. In six balls de Villiers doubled his score. Defending a small total, a 19-run over was not what Mumbai needed from their leader.

Dilshan fell with ten needed, but de Villiers brought up his fifty and ensured victory was sealed with seven balls to go.

Tenacious Punjab win tense game

May 9, 2009

Kings XI Punjab 169 for 7 (Jayawardene 43) beat Deccan Chargers 168 for 5 (Symonds 60*) by three wickets

A powerful start from the top four, followed by nerveless hands from Mahela Jayawardene and Brett Lee stole the thunder from Andrew Symonds' first IPL game, setting up Kings XI Punjab's win over the Deccan Chargers at the Kimberley Oval. The win won't take Punjab into the top four but they will hope it is an end to their poor run of three losses in the last four games. This was the game of the two returning Australians, Symonds and Lee, and though both starred, only one prevailed as the match went down to the final over.

Jayawardene had taken Punjab to 20 short of the win in the 18th over when he was run out for a measured 43, setting up a tense finale. Nineteen were required off 12 balls; Piyush Chawla and Lee collected three runs off the first three before Lee eased the pressure with a searing six over long-off. Two more singles meant Punjab needed eight off the last over and the game looked over as Chawla hooked a four off RP Singh's first ball. But RP hit back, leaving three needed off the final three. Lee scrambled two to long-off before finishing it off with one ball left.

Punjab's top four had added runs and lost wickets in pairs, but they set up the chase with 86 in first ten overs. The openers, Sunny Sohal and Simon Katich, gave their side an explosive start of 44 in four overs, before falling within two balls of each other to Rohit Sharma, fresh from four wickets in five balls earlier this week. Kumar Sangakkara and Yuvraj Singh diluted his effect, milking 11 from his second over. They also went after Symonds - taking 20 in one over - before being dismissed within two balls of each other to Shoaib Ahmed just before the strategy break. In trying to contain them, Deccan had used seven bowlers by then, with only Rohit bowling two successive overs.

After the break, Pragyan Ojha bowled two tight overs after which Gilchrist brought T Suman into the attack and was immediately rewarded with Irfan Pathan's wicket, swinging the game in Deccan's favour once again. But Jayawardene kept Punjab in the hunt with successive sixes, before Lee finished it off.

Earlier, Symonds' power-hitting had taken Deccan to a competitive 168, though a slow-down mid-innings - they added four runs for the loss of two wickets between overs 10 and 12 - was probably the eventual difference. Deccan owed their quick start - 44 in the first five overs - to Gilchrist, Suman and several Punjab misfields. Gilchrist hit Pathan for two fours in his first over, then pulled Sreesanth's first ball for a six before falling in the same over.

Suman came in and attacked right from the start, picking Pathan off his pads for six and also getting runs off edges. After Herschelle Gibbs fell, cutting Chawla to Jayawardene at backward point, Suman and Rohit began building on the quick start. They rotated the strike and picked boundaries off anything short - Chawla was hit for a six to long-off by Suman and lofted for four to wide midwicket by Rohit in an over that cost 12 runs.

A bowling change in the tenth over ended Suman's innings and it looked like Deccan were losing the plot before Symonds broke the shackles. After Yuvraj Singh missed a caught-and-bowled chance off him, Symonds picked a short ball by Piyush Chawla for a six over midwicket. Deccan crossed 100 in the 15th over after which he began attacking in earnest. Irfan Pathan went for 13 runs and Sreesanth for 20 - including consecutive sixes over long-on and long-off -as Symonds reached his fifty off 29 balls.


But for the second time in the IPL, Symonds played a big innings and ended up on the losing side.

Hayden and Badrinath mastermind tricky chase

May 9, 2009

20 overs Chennai Super Kings 141 for 3 (Badrinath 59*, Hayden 48) beat Rajasthan Royals 140 for 7 (Muralitharan 2-22) by seven wickets

Matthew Hayden and Shane Warne. Sixty-nine Tests together, the last 12 of them wins, but today they would decide who'd win this IPL game and go to the top of the table. There could be only one winner, and on the night it was Hayden. Chasing 141 Chennai Super Kings were in for a tough one, with the pitch turning square and staying slow and Warne looking like pulling off something special. Hayden, though, attacked clinically, played like a workman in between those assaults, and ensured Chennai beat Rajasthan for the second time in this IPL. He had with him S Badrinath, who went from being a supporting act to a lead player towards the end.

The two teams seemed inseparable till Hayden's one-on-one with with Warne. A disciplined Chennai, with a varied attack and well captained, had kept Rajasthan down to a total that - at the half-way mark - they would have backed themselves to chase. But Rajasthan were equally disciplined, smart, and well led. In the first eight overs, they had limited Chennai to 49 for 2, including Suresh Raina's wicket. Yusuf Pathan was bowling big turners at 95kmph.

More importantly Hayden had faced just 15 of those 48 deliveries. Even more importantly Warne had bowled an over of dip, drift and break when Badrinath couldn't even lay bat to ball. In the ninth over Warne bowled to Hayden for the first time, throwing the first ball wide, which was called wide despite big turn. The next one was flighted wide again, and Hayden decided to reverse-sweep late but perfectly. He then walked down to Warne, as if the keeper was standing back, and got to the pitch and hit him flat over long-on.

That over may have got Chennai only 12 runs, but the statement that Hayden made was huge. Warne was playable again, the required run-rate came back within manageable proportions, and soon Badrinath became comfortable too.

It showed in how Badrinath overtook Hayden's pace in the 16th over, bowled by Shane Harwood. The first ball he scooped over fine leg for six, steered one wide of point for four, whipped another over fine leg, and then upper-cut one over the keeper. This was a man bracketed as a Test batsman yet improvising to each and every delivery of an over, and providing the final game-breaker. He had come a long way in one innings, from looking out of sorts against Warne to finishing the game off.

Warne finally got Hayden with a stumping down the leg side when Hayden walked down once again, but by then - in the 17th over - the game had been decided.

This was also a battle between the two best captains in this tournament. And they had set the tone by exchanging indirect sledges at the toss. Warne had a go at Chennai, saying they were not good chasers. Dhoni retorted, saying given his strong batting line-up, the Rajasthan batsmen would be under immense pressure to set a defendable total.

The Chennai bowlers did their bit in accentuating that pressure. Rajasthan struggled for momentum right from the start, when Albie Morkel struck in his first over - for the third time in three matches. Dhoni rotated his bowlers around smartly, using seven of them in first 10 overs, who gave away only five boundaries.

Swapnil Asnodkar and Graeme Smith added 53 in 50 balls, but there was no sense of restlessness because of the slow run-rate. The key moment came in the third quarter of the innings, when after both Asnodkar and Smith had wasted those slow starts, Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja looked to open up, hitting Shadab Jakati for a six each in the 14th over, but Chennai accounted for both of them in the next two overs.

Dhoni made two smart moves then - he brought in L Balaji from the other end, and let Jakati continue despite that over. Balaji, helped by a superb diving-in-front catch by Raina at point, accounted for Jadeja, and Jakati got Yusuf who went for a repeat of the six in the next over. Again this dismissal was made possible by smart work from Jacob Oram at the long-on boundary.

Dhoni went back to rotating his bowlers, the fielders stayed sharp, and Rajasthan struggled to get going again. Dhoni himself made two stumpings. Warne hit 21 off 11 deliveries to give Rajasthan something to bowl to. As far as the battle of captains goes, they were probably locked, but Dhoni was leading the better side on the night.

Rahane and Duminy renew Mumbai's hopes

May 10, 2009

Mumbai Indians 157 for 2 (Rahane 62*, Duminy 59*) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 141 for 7 (Boucher 48*, Harbhajan 2-15) by 16 runs

Pushed into the corner after three successive defeats, Mumbai Indians turned in a fine all-round performance at St George's Park, converting a middling target of 158 into a match-winning one. Sachin Tendulkar failed with the bat, falling for a third-ball duck, but he didn't falter with his captaincy moves. Starting with the promotion of Ajinkya Rahane, who scored an unbeaten 62, it was the bowling changes which proved crucial in the end as they resulted in the fall of four wickets. The wheels came off Bangalore and the game was over when they needed an improbable 40 off the last two overs.

Mumbai had earned their revenge after being vanquished by Bangalore exactly a week ago at the Wanderers. Their defeat to Delhi Daredevils was just as demoralising when their batting imploded. Today, they reworked their batting order, turned in a much more commanding performance and lost just two wickets. A stand of 104 between Rahane and JP Duminy gave their comeback campaign a surge and the momentum rubbed off on the bowlers who all chipped in with equal measure to effect timely breakthroughs and in turn strangle the runs.

Bangalore had the momentum briefly early in the chase when Kallis whipped a couple of stylish boundaries through the on side. The introduction of Dwayne Bravo sent him back as he upper cut a short delivery straight to third man. Robin Uthappa's inconsistency showed up again as he slapped Kulkarni straight to short midwicket before Virat Kohli perished in the same manner. Kohli looked to get on top of the seamers but when Tendulkar brought on Chetanya Nanda, it immediately brought about a wicket.

The run-out of Rahul Dravid, done in by a flat throw from Malinga in the deep, sunk Bangalore and at the end of 10 overs, they were desperately in need of a recovery at 58 for 4. Ross Taylor heaved Nanda over deep square-leg to bring about the first six of the innings but the relief was only temporary as Malinga returned for a new spell and sent Taylor back with a lightning quick yorker. Malinga had set it up earlier in the over with similar deliveries and one could sense a wicket was around the corner.

Boucher at the other end tried to glue the chase together but the support wasn't forthcoming. Harbhajan returned for a new spell and sent back the dangerous Roelof van der Merwe thanks to a brilliant leg-side stumping by Yogesh Takawale. At the start of the 14th over, Bangalore ran out of specialist batsmen and by the end, needed 66 off the last six overs. Mumbai on the other hand managed 65 off their last six and that proved the difference.
Bringing back Sanath Jayasuriya gave the innings a much-needed push after Tendulkar's early fall. He ensured Mumbai held the edge in the first Powerplay with 46 on the board with a wicket down, a contrast to the way they started against Delhi where they struggled to find the ropes.


He fell soon after van der Merwe came into the attack but the spinners couldn't contain Rahane, who made the most of his promotion. He began by slogging Kumble over the on side, including a huge six over wide long-on on his knee.

His intention was to get positive against the spinners and he demonstrated that by regularly chipping down the track to smother the spin and loft inside out. Not all aerial shots found the boundary but it didn't matter as he and his partner Duminy kept rotating the strike.

Duminy broke the boundary drought - which lasted more than three overs - with a massive six, off a front foot pull, off the debutant Abhmanyu Mithun. That shot signalled his arrival after a quiet start as he lofted van der Merwe over his head and swung Vinay Kumar over backward square-leg for another half a dozen.

Between overs 11 and 14, Mumbai scored 25 runs. In the next three they managed 33, indicative of their revival. Rahane reached his fifty with a deft dab to third man and Duminy raced towards his as he went into fifth gear with some scorching drives through the off side. Mumbai went into the break with much cheer, and their bowlers stepped up to fashion a much-needed win to move up by one place in the points table. It will take a while to get up higher but at least they crossed the first hurdle.