Cricket Tournaments

David Warner scored a glorious 107 not out and was well supported by Paul Collingwood (53) to raise Delhi Daredevils to 177/4 at the Feroz Shah Kotla against Kolkata Knight Riders, a good enough score to pin Kolkata down.

This was after they lost three big wickets in the first three overs of the game post winning the toss and electing to bat on a pitch that had little for the pacers, but sharp turn for the spinners. In reply, the Delhi bowlers kept the pressure on the Knight Riders right from the start and eased to a 40-run win.

The match though belonged to Warner. The comparatively tough batting conditions meant his knock was all the more special. There was plenty of pressure on the left-handed bat after Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Dinesh Karthik all fell cheaply. But, Warner responded by taking on the bowlers and muscled them all over the park.

Taking a cue from Shane Warne and Anil Kumble, Sourav Ganguly had opened the bowling with the spin of Chris Gayle. And, while Sehwag slammed him to the fence on a couple of occasions, the West Indian was smart enough to drag him out of the crease a third time and have him stumped.

At the other end, Charl Langeveldt trapped Gambhir in front — a marginal decision, but certainly one that had Delhi on the backfoot very soon. Karthik was well deceived by a slower ball from a struggling Ishant Sharma and fell for a first-ball duck. At 38 for 3 in the third over, Delhi were in great strife, the only positive being that they were scoring at a phenomenal pace thanks to Warner.

What Delhi needed was for someone to support Warner. And, as luck would have it, they had Collingwood, a perfect fit for the situation. While Warner took on all the bowlers with ease, Collingwood made sure he gave the Australian a majority of the strike, manoeuvring the ball in the gaps.

Even while going after most of the bowlers, Warner batted with common sense and treated the spinners with respect, on a pitch that demanded it. The beauty of the Warner-Collingwood partnership was that they never allowed the run-rate of plummet. When Warner was approaching his century, Collingwood took over the mantle of boundary-hitting and raced to his half-century – chipping down the pith and dragging the ball to the on side boundary proved to be his most effective stroke.

It eventually needed a spectacular catch by David Hussey, nudging the ball over the ropes, but managing to keep it in the field of play and eventually pulling off the unthinkable.

Kolkata’s batting effort was not half as good. They lost Ganguly early, the left-hander exposing his stumps and being cleaned up by Dirk Nannes. The inexperienced Mandeep Singh felt the pressure and succumbed, going for an almighty swing against Amit Mishra, only to find the ball turning the other way.

The wicket then played its part in Kolkata’s downfall. Last match hero Manoj Tiwary’s stumps were castled by a straight delivery from Andrew McDonald. The problem was that the ball did not rise above knee-high.

Gayle was the only man looking comfortable, playing in his typical brawny style. And, he was lucky too as a mistimed sweep was dropped by Sehwag when he was on 24. Despite the respite, the loss of three cheap wickets meant that Kolkata needed Gayle and Hussey to replicate the efforts of Warner and Collingwood respectively.

On a slow wicket though, the medium pace of Rajat Bhatia was enough see him drag one into the outfield for 30 and Umesh Yadav took care of Hussey for an uncharacteristic 29. Clearly, Kolkata were outplayed.

Harbhajan Singh has always been a capable bat, but he hasn’t done well enough to be categorized as an all-rounder. Against Deccan Chargers though, he came up with a truly all-round effort to lead Mumbai Indians to yet another victory.

First, it was his blistering knock of 49 not out from a mere 18 balls that saw Mumbai garner as many as 52 runs in the last three overs. The late onslaught meant they ended on an impressive 172 after struggling at 119 for 7 following Sachin Tendulkar’s crucial dismissal.

Buoyed by his awesome effort with the bat, Harbhajan, who was asked to open the bowling by Sachin, the removed Adam Gilchrist in the very first over. It was a methodical execution as Harbhajan Singh went round the wicket and denied any width to Gilchrist, who tried to cut one, but the sharp edge found an agile Sachin in the slips.

The celebrations to follow said it all. Harbhajan added the wickets of T Suman and Jaskaran Singh too later in the day to end with match-winning figures of 3 for 31. But, surely this time it was his batting effort which made the bigger difference and saw Mumbai romp home by 41 runs.

After being put into bat by Gilchrist, Mumbai made a steady start, but failed to maintain the momentum. Shikhar Dhawan was trapped in front of the stumps for 8 by a brilliant Jaskaran yorker. And, Deccan thereafter ensured that they had Mumbai on the mat, despite Sachin’ presence at one end. R P Singh was especially lethal, sending back Dwayne Bravo and Saurabh Tiwary in the same over. At 68 for 3, Sachin needed a dependable partner.

Unfortunately, all he could do was helplessly wait and watch as one batsman after the other ditched him. Young Ambati Rayadu went for a senseless slog against left-arm Pragyan Ojha and was stranded mid-way down the pitch. R Satish did not do any better, also falling prey to Ojha.

At this stage, Mumbai needed Kieron Pollard to show why he is ‘worth’ so much. Instead, he top-edged a short one from Jaskaran to leave Mumbai in further strife.

All this while, Sachin continued to find the gaps and the boundaries at will, without taking any risks at all. It was yet another illustration that there is place for sane play even in 20-20. With nine wonderfully timed boundaries, Sachin raised his fourth 50 in the IPL.

The pressure of accelerating the scoring though got to his and RP Singh had his third scalp. When Sachin departed, Deccan’s morale was sky-high. But, not for long as Harbhajan’s blitz grounded them.

The late momentum gained saw Mumbai take the field with renewed vigour. And the results were instantly visible. Gilchrist’s loss did not help Deccan’s cause, but they still had a batting line-up good enough to overhaul the total. It wasn’t too be though.

Herschelle Gibbs’ brief flurry of 27 from 16, which comprised two typically wristy sixes, gave them hope. But, once he was dismissed off a high full toss from Zaheer Khan, the innings crumbed. Rohit Sharma held things together for a while. However, for the second game running, it wasn’t enough. They needed someone to do a Harbhajan. But, the man was in the opposition.

A superbly constructed, unbeaten 75 off just 47 balls from Manoj Tiwary enabled Kolkata Knight Riders to come out of their batting slumber and post a challenging 183 for 5 against Kings XI Punjab at their home ground, Mohali. Comeback man Ajit Agarkar then struck two crucial blows to pave the way for Kolkata’s first win in four games, that by an impressive margin of 39 runs.

The home side were never in the hunt during the tough chase. After an unlucky start, losing the in-form Ravi Bopara (0), who was erroneously declared lbw to Shane Bond, Kolkata kept things tight for a couple of overs before Yuvraj Singh opened up. He began to look in his elements, dispatching Ashok Dinda and Agarkar to the fence on couple of occasions each.

But, the latter had a last laugh when Yuvraj mistimed a quickish short ball and lobbed it straight up in the air, Tiwary taking an amazing catch, diving sideways. Not much later, Agarkar sent back Bisla as well for 22 to peg Punjab back, the batsman not being given room to free his arms by the experienced bowler.

As things turned out, that was the game, with Sri Lankans Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara struggling again.

Earlier, Sourav Ganguly won the toss and decided to take first strike on a belter of a pitch. Kolkata’s innings comprised of two distinct phases – a great start and a sensational end followed by a consolidatory phase in between. 19 runs came off the first over from Brett Lee, Chris Gayle deciding to take on the Aussie speedster returning from a serious injury. But, if Kolkata fans thought it was the beginning of some slam bang viewing to follow, they were completely false.

On the contrary, Gayle’s short blitz ended up being the storm before the calm. The West Indian ended up falling for a disappoint 14 from 12 balls, Shalabh Srivastava getting him with a well-planned shorter one.

Srivastava continued with his good work when he sent back Mandeep Singh as well for 4. The left-armer’s effort, coupled with good support from Vikramjeet Malik, saw Kolkata’s run rate falling drastically, and they were in serious danger of ending up short of a desirable target yet again. Ganguly and Tiwary, who was recalled after his surprise exclusion for the earlier games, went about doing the rebuilding task.

However, the question remained whether they would be able to accelerate in the nick of time. When the strategic break was taken at the end of 9 overs, Kolkata were disappointingly placed at 65 for 2. However, realising the value of runs, Ganguly came out of his shell and timed a couple to the boundary.

Tiwary too joined in the act and played some delectable strokes. But, just when Kolkata seemed to be on the up swing, Ganguly fell for 50. His knock, which consumed 40 balls was a good one, but not electrifying by T20 standards.

Kolkata would have ended up with another under par score, but for the efforts of Tiwary. His late hitting, slamming 21 off the last over bowled by Irfan Pathan, which included two punchy sixes, shifted the momentum back in Kolkata’s favour. Still, the total wasn’t match-winning. But, the Kolkata bowlers were competent enough to keep a hapless Kings XI down.

If ever Rajasthan Royals wanted to assure themselves that they are still good enough to compete against the best despite the loss of their big guns, they only need to look at their performance today against defending champions Deccan Chargers.

Stating the game as perceptible underdogs, they ended up hammering the Chargers by eight wickets and made it a hat-trick of victories after the three setbacks at the beginning of the tournament. The stand out aspect of Rajasthan’s performance was the thoughtful manner in which they went about their task.

Things weren’t going to be easy once they lost the toss and were faced with the prospect of having to deal with a rampaging Adam Gilchrist. However, Shane Warne’s men stood up to the task on this day. The captain himself had some shrewd tactics up his sleeve, most of which worked wonderfully well for his side.

He opened the bowling with Sumit Narval, who responded with the massive wicket of Gilchrist in the very first over, the Deccan skipper wanted to make a statement at the outset, but only managed to lob one straight up in the air.

Following the poor start, Deccan were in desperate need of some runs from their experienced men, VVS Laxman and Herschelle Gibbs. The latter looked dangerous for a while, taking on Abhishek Jhunjunwala in one over and despatching him all over the park. But, if Warne’s one weapon had failed, it only forced him to dish out the next one in his armoury, a more lethal one named Shaun Tait.

Usually erratic, Tait was in his elements for a change, in sync with Warne’s script. Laxman failed to time a short ball and was sent back for 10. The skipper himself played a significant role with the ball. Rolling back the years, he forced a well-settled Gibbs to drag his feet to a ball that pitched on middle and left him, totally deceiving him in the air, and had him stumped. The Warne magic might be waning, but against the Proteas, he still seems quite a handful.

Gibbs went for 25, leaving the Chargers struggling at 58 for 3. Pretty soon all the hopes of a recovery died a volcanic death. Andrew Symonds (22) came up with a couple of delectable drives before running himself out, going for a non-existent run.

The ball had left the fielder’s (Jhunjhunwhala) hand when a hesitant Symonds went for the inexplicable. More hesitations followed which resulted in a couple more batsmen being stranded. Rohit Sharma was the common factor in all the dismissals, though he wasn’t the culprit on each occasion.

To his credit, at least he tried to bat sensibly and ended up as the innings’ top-scorer with 49. However, a total of 148 was never going to be enough unless Deccan had something exceptional up their sleeve.

On the contrary, Micheal Lumb and Yusuf Pathan provided the extraordinary stuff as Rajasthan cruised home. Lumb hit a hapless RP Singh cruelly for four consecutive fours. And after he was unfortunately run-out for 45, Pathan ensured that the dismissal was forgotten in a flash.

With eight mighty sixes, most of them off the spinners, he ended up unbeaten on 73 from 34 balls. The underdogs had done it again.

The script could not have been written for Delhi Daredevils as they looked to end their somewhat surprising losing streak against the rampaging Bangalore Royal Challengers at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Apart from the losing the toss, almost everything went right for them.

A sensational start provided by David Warner, a good consolidating knock by A B de Villiers in the middle and an unbelievably brilliant half-century by a little known Kedar Jadhav, who incidentally was with RCB last year, made sure that Delhi ended up with a highly impressive 183 for 4.

Then, despite another good start provided by Jacques Kallis and Manish Pandey, Delhi managed to stage a comeback courtesy Amit Mishra and Andrew McDonald and some atrocious running by the Bangalore batsmen.

Delhi had their noses in front right from the start. Warner went hammer and tongs from ball one and Delhi ended up crossing 50 in just over four overs. The Australian hammered 33 from 14 balls, inclusive of three fours and two sixes, and even Virender Sehwag looked sedate in comparison.

Post Warner’s dismissal, Bangalore did fight back, dismissing Sehwag and skipper Dinesh Karthik before they crossed 100. However, a smart partnership between de Villiers and Jadhav made sure that Delhi were in the hunt to post a challenging score. And after the South African was run out, five short of a deserved half-century, Jadhav took over and played an astounding knock.

His half-century came off a mere 29 balls and featured five fours and two sixes. None of the bowlers could make any impact on him as he slammed a couple of memorable boundaries off Kallis and opposition skipper Anil Kumble.

For Bangalore to overhaul the 183 set by Delhi, they needed another great start from Pandey and Kallis. And, while they did add 71, the fact that Delhi bowlers did not allow them to run away with the game, proved crucial in the end. Dirk Nannes kept things tight as usual and his bowling partner Umesh Yadav proved to be a surprise package.

The speed with which he bowled unsettled both Pandey and Kallis and different times. Still, Bangalore managed to reach a steady position before the cookie crumbled.

Kallis, after reaching a sedate 29-ball 27, fell trying to open his arms. An attempted slog sweep was missed and Amit Mishra had struck once again for Delhi. That was the beginning of the end for Bangalore. The chase deteriorated rather rapidly thereafter. Yet again, Pandey fell in the 30s.

On a day when Kallis failed, he should have gone on to do much better. Some dreadful running by Bangalore did not help matters either. Rahul Dravid lasted just one ball and Eoin Morgan could not prove his big-hitting prowess.

The lower half of the batting collapsed in a heap. If Bangalore lost by a somewhat respectable margin of 17 runs, it was only due to some good hitting by Virat Kohli (38*) towards the end.

All said and done, Delhi were the better of the teams on the day and deserved to win.

What was supposed to be a tough chase for Mumbai Indians at the Brabourne Stadium against Chennai Super Kings, was transformed into a rather easy victory, thanks to yet another superlative effort by skipper Sachin Tendulkar (72) and an equally important, whirlwind 56 by his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan.

Mumbai had to score 181, in reply to Chennai’s imposing 180 for 2, and got home convincingly in the penultimate over, with five wickets in tact. The opening partnership of 92 in under nine overs was extremely crucial in the chase. The quickfire efforts of Sachin and Dhawan ensured that the required run rate was always under control. And, as such, there was no pressure on the batsmen to come.

Mumbai planned their chase extremely well. It was Dhawan who went after the bowlers at the start, while Sachin ensured that he gave the youngster ample strike. Even as Albie Morkel kept things tight at one end, Dhawan went after L Balaji, Joginder Sharma and even spinner Shadab Jakati, hitting some ferocious boundaries off their bowling as well as three huge sixes.

He never looked in any sort of trouble against any of the bowlers, which was the most striking aspect of his batting. The fact that even Sachin was content to take the back seat and watch the action unfold from the non-striker’s end said a lot about the quality of his innings. As such, Dhawan could only have got himself out.

And that is exactly what happened when he tried to go after Jakati once too often. The ball ballooned high in the air, and Chennai were lucky to have their best fielder, Suresh Raina, in position to take the catch.

Dhawan’s dismissal gave Chennai hope, though only a faint one as Mumbai were halfway past the target. Still, Muttiah Muralitharan worked his charm and trapped Saurabh Tiwary plumb in the front for 2, a rare failure for the youngster during this IPL. The door was again opened slightly by Chennai when Joginder Sharma managed to dislodge Rajagopal Sathish’s stumps.

At 120 for 3 in the 14th over, Chennai sensed they had a sniff. However, this is when Sachin stepped in and decided to seal it in Mumbai’s favour. The authoritative six he hit off Murali not only reminded one of their yesteryear duels, but also showed that Sachin was determined to prove who the boss was.

With a mixture of well-calculated strokes and some elegant drives, he brought Mumbai to the brink of victory. Kieron Pollard, who hasn’t got much of a chance to prove what he is worth, showed some glimpses, striking the ball as clean as a whistle en route to his 9-ball 20. And, though both were dismissed before the target was achieved, they had done enough to take Mumbai to safety.

The win did not look such an easy proposition earlier in the day, when Chennai recovered from 38 for 2 to post 180. Suresh Raina was the chief architect of the recovery.

The talented left-hander struck the ball with ease during his magnificent, unbeaten 83 off 52 balls. He found the perfect foil in S Badrinath, who contributed 55* from 45. Thanks to them, at the halfway stage, Chennai looked favourites. But, midway through the Mumbai innings the equation had completely changed.

On a batsman-friendly pitch at Mohali, Punjab Kings XI got themselves into a winning position chasing Rajasthan Royals’ imposing total of 183, courtesy a whirlwind start. Kumar Sangakkara, opening the innings, smashed an amazing 29 from 13 balls while Manvinder Bisla was even more astonishing, scoring 35 from 18 balls.

But, once Bisla was dismissed by Shane Warne, Punjab completely fell apart. From an impressive 85 for one in the eight over, they collapsed to 115 for 5 in the 13, the loss of Irfan Pathan taking the match well out of their reach.

Punjab’s batting effort was in complete contrast to Rajasthan’s innings, earlier in the evening. After losing the toss and being invited to bat, they made an extremely confident start for a change. Michael Lumb, from whom skipper Warne had great hopes, did not let his captain down.

Against a bowling attack which seemed low on confidence right from the start, Lumb was in his elements. Irfan Pathan, as in the earlier games, was wayward and the opener took full advantage of it, striking a number of boundaries using the width offered. The other left-arm seamer, Shalabh Srivastava, also went for plenty, nullifying the good work done by Juan Theron, who was impressive once again, keeping the ball in exactly the right areas.

Theron’s effort, though, was overshadowed by Rajasthan’s royal batting performance. After Lumb was smarty dismissed, stumped by Piyush Chawla for a well-made 41, Faiz Fazal once again proved his mettle in the middle overs. In partnership, first with Yusuf Pathan (28) and later with Adam Voges (45*), Fazal ensured that Rajasthan’s great start was not negated.

The beauty of his batting was that he picked the gaps in the field taking minimal risks. And even when he went for the boundaries, more often than not, he ensured that it was a calculated shot and not a mere slog. Fazal was unluckily run out by Chawla for 45, but his knock set up things perfectly for Voges.

The hard-hitting Australian found the boundaries without much trouble against Irfan and Srivastava. And when Kumar Sangakkara tried out Yuvraj Singh belatedly, he too was given similar treatment. Voges’ knock meant Royals had the cushion of an extra few runs in case the bowling wasn’t top notch. Punjab, themselves, did not help their cause being shabby in the field right throughout.

Putting the disappointing bowling and fielding effort behind them, they did make a sparkling start to their case. Sangakkara led from the front, taking both Munaf Patel and Shaun Tait head on. However, the innings did not last long enough and Tait got the better of him with a short ball, which he fended away and was caught near the boundary line.

In came Bisla and went all guns blazing from ball one. Neither Tait for Patel had any answer to his stand and deliver tactics. And, when Warne came on, he did not hesitate to go down the track and hit him into the stands. The veteran leg spinner had the last laugh though. Like Sangakkara, Bisla’s innings also promised a lot, but lasted only a while longer than his skipper. And therein lay Punjab’s problem.

For the second game in a row, Chennai Super Kings allowed the opposition to get the better of them, after having dominated nearly one half of the match. For 17 overs after winning the toss and asking the Bangalore Royal Challengers to bat, the Chennai bowlers had Bangalore under the pump.

Jacques Kallis was finally dismissed after having made a rather streaky 19, on a day he surprisingly seemed off colour. Manish Pandey and Rahul Dravid, who hadn’t had a hit in the last three games, were accounted for by some wily bowling by the legendary Muttiah Muralitharan.

But, Robin Uthappa, who bided his time by and was dropped more than once, smashed 68 from 38 balls to help Bangalore finish on an impressive 171 for 5. Most of those runs came in the latter part of the innings. He was especially severe on Laxmipathy Balaji, whom he hit for three consecutive sixes in the penultimate over.

The bowler too didn’t do himself any favours by constantly pitch the ball in the same areas. Still, it was an amazing show of power and skill by Uthappa. At one stage it seemed like Bangalore would struggle to reach 150, but with Uthappa in such fine form, they managed to go well beyond that. It has to be said that Uthappa paced his innings beautifully.

When the early wickets fell, things were quite tough. Also, the bounce on the pitch was quite spongy. As such, he did well not to throw his wicket away.

What Uthappa’s knock did was it ensured the momentum was with Bangalore, going into the break. And this facet was evident when they came out to bowl. Praveen Kumar took out Parthiv Patel in the very first over. And though Matthew Hayden threatened to unleash the Mongoose effect once again, this time its impact was rather brief courtesy a smart piece of fielding from Dravid, resulting in his run-out. All this while, the batsman at the other end, George Bailey, was also kept quiet, which meant Hayden’s dismissal was a body blow for the Super Kings.

Skipper Anil Kumble chipped in with yet another remarkable four-over spell during which he leaked just 15 runs. He troubled Bailey bowling his typically nagging line to which the batsman had not answer. Kumble was eventually rewarded with the wicket of Murali Vijay. But, the biggest beneficiary of the pressure built up by Kumble and Kumar was R Vinay Kumar. With the batsmen having no option but to go after him, he ended up claiming four scalps.

He did go for plenty, and S Badrinath, in particular was impressive against him, caressing the ball for a few pleasing boundaries while not trying to hit the cover off the ball. Albie Morkel too joined in the act towards the end with some monstrous hits. Kumar, though, had the last laugh claiming both of them.

After having Bangalore five down for 119 in 17th over, Chennai should never have allowed them to get away. The fact that they did and were ragged in the field as well rubbed on to their batsmen, who also came up with an uninspired showing.