Cricket Tournaments

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Suresh Raina stood up to be counted for the Chennai Super Kings as M S Dhoni’s men got the better of the Mumbai Indians in the title clash of IPL 3. In front of a capacity Sunday evening crowd at the D Y Patil stadium, Raina first blasted an unbeaten 57 from 35 balls to help his side recover from a slow start and post a highly challenging 168 for 5.

Then, when it was Chennai’s turn to defend the score, the youngster chipped in by dismissing Harbhajan Singh and also took a magnificent running catch to dismiss the dangerous Saurabh Tiwary as Mumbai’s batting fell apart. In a baffling move, the home side sent in Kieron Pollard at the fall of the sixth wicket, by which time the required rate had sky-rocketed to nearly 17.

And, so despite a last-ditch, big-hitting effort of 27 from 10 balls from the tall West Indian, Mumbai were left stranded, eventually falling 22 runs short.

There was nothing dramatic at the start of Chennai’s innings to suggest that they would end up posting a winning total. After winning the toss and promptly deciding to bat first, Matthew Hayden and Murali Vijay were kept quiet in the wake of some accurate bowling from Mumbai bowlers.

Dilhara Fernando was particularly impressive, mixing his deliveries up very well and keeping the batsmen on their toes. Still, Chennai’s openers did well to add to keep their wickets in tact and add 44 for the first wicket at a steady pace.

But, once Vijay fell to Fernando, trying to break the shackles, the momentum clearly shifted in Mumbai’s direction. Hayden followed soon after struggling for his 17. And, with S Badrinath also not firing, Chennai had their back to the wall at 67 for 3 in the 12th over.

Chennai needed something special to recover. And, it came in the form of Raina, who timed and the placed the ball with ludicrous ease, on a pitch where most other struggled. Raina was lucky to be dropped twice in two overs.

But, to his credit he rode his luck. He played some superb lofted shots against Zaheer Khan and Kieron Pollard and also drove on the up, finding the gap with precision.

The left-hander raced to his half-century as Mumbai were made to pay dearly for their misses. While Raina, was brilliant at one end, it was actually skipper Dhoni who began the turnaround by smashing a couple of boundaries after the fall of the early wickets.

However, such was the impact of Raina’s knock that everything else paled in comparison. Chennai did not mind it though as they went into the mid-innings break having the upper hand.

The match was far from over as Mumbai had the arsenal in their ranks to chase it down. But, Chennai made things extremely tough for them right from the start. Doug Bollinger not only bowled a tight line, he also got an edgy Shikhar Dhawan to nick one in his opening over.

At the other end, R Ashwin carried on with the good work he had been doing throughout the tournament. For a change he wasn’t among the wickets, but kept runs at a premium, which aided Dhoni add extra pressure.

Mumbai did shine briefly during the chase. Sachin Tendulkar and Abhishek Nayar combined to bring their side back on track with a 66-run partnership. Tendukar found the boundary at regular intervals while Nayar hit a couple of big sixes off the spinners. However, once the partnership was broken, following a mix-up, things fell apart.

Mumbai did not help their cause by holding back Pollard for the last three overs. It was 114 for 6 by the time walked and there was just too much for him to do. He did give it his best shot, slamming three fours and two mighty sixes in the space of 9 deliveries.

It was far from enough though. In the end, Mumbai were left ruining the missed opportunities that let Raina get away and swing the final in Chennai’s favour.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

If ever there was an award for the worst IPL team performance, the Deccan Chargers would have won it hands down. 82 is all they got in the third place play-off against the upbeat Royal Challengers Bangalore at the D.Y. Patil stadium. Okay, this wasn’t the best surface for the batsmen – both the pacers and spinners extracted enough from the pitch to trouble Deccan’s batsmen.

The figures of Praveen Kumar (2/18) and Anil Kumble (4/16) amply reflected this. Still, this was by no stretch of the imagination an 82 all-out pitch, as proved by Anirudh Singh’s fluent 40. Bangalore too had their moments of trouble during the chase, with the ball stopping on the pitch regularly.

What went in their favour though was that they were completely devoid of pressure, owing to the partly total they were after and, in the end, they cruised home by 9 wickets.

Clearly, it was their accurate bowling performance combined with some unreasonable batting by the opposition that won it for Bangalore. Deccan lost their first five batsmen with a mere 35 on the board, and after a steady partnership of 43 between Anirudh Singh and Venugopal Rao, gifted their last five wickets for the addition of just four runs.

Yes, you heard it right. So swift was the collapse that even the Royal Challengers looked rather embarrassed at having done so exceedingly well.

When a team performs so miserably, it is but natural for them to be criticised. And, there will be plenty of it for Deccan for the manner in which they capitulated with the bat. It all went wrong for Adam Gilchrist and co right from the time they won the toss and elected to bat.

The skipper’s miseries in the tournament continued as he failed for one final time – this time a full toss from opposition skipper Kumble found its way into the lone fielder in the deep. While Gilchrist can be considered a tad unlucky, the shot selection from a few others was far from sane.

Monish Mishra was trapped in front for a duck trying to play across the line while Rohit Sharma gave some easy catching practice to mid-on, also without opening his account. The most disappointing of strokes came from the blade of Andrew Symonds.

He had just been dropped in the previous over by Dale Steyn, but instead of making Bangalore pay, he fell to the South African in the very next over, driving a ball that was too close to his body.

The only phase during which Deccan looked in some semblance of control was when Anirudh and Rao combined to add a few important runs. Both had their moments, hitting one six each of the spinners. However, once Jacques Kallis pegged back Anirudh’s off-stump, things took a drastic turn as Kumble joined Kallis in finishing off the innings in a flash.

A word of praise has to be reserved for left-arm spinner Nayan Doshi, who beat the batsmen in the air more than once and ended with impressive figures (1/17).

There really wasn’t much to do when the Challengers went into bat. Still, Rahul Dravid and Kevin Pietersen batted with authority to take their side home after losing Kallis for 19.

Dravid’s five fluently-timed boundaries and Pietersen’s two sixes were enough to kill Deccan’s hopes, if at all they had any. Overall, an utterly disappointing contest. But, for those seeking solace, be grateful this wasn’t the final.

On a pitch where there was plenty of assistance for the faster men, the Chennai Super Kings outsmarted the Deccan Chargers at the D Y Patil Stadium to book their place in the finals against the Mumbai Indians. Under normal circumstances, 142 would not be a match-winning score, but on this surface, it was worth a lot more.

That said, it would be unfair to take anything away from Chennai’s bowlers, especially R Ashwin and Doug Bollinger, who kept things ridiculously tight in the first six overs, not allowing the opposition to score even at the pace of a run-a-ball. The fact that they managed to pick up wickets at will made the task doubly difficult for Deccan, who never recovered from the clumsy start and succumbed to a 38-run loss.

Earlier, Deccan were also effective with ball and, at one stage, had managed to reduce Chennai to 96 for 5 in the 15th over. Death bowling, however, proved to be Deccan’s Achilles Heel yet again as they allowed Chennai to recover to 142 for 7.

Despite the late surge by Chennai, Deccan would still have fancied their chances to chase down the target. However, their batsmen couldn’t stand up against a charged up opposition, who were going for the kill right from ball one. Dhoni opened with the trustworthy duo of Ashwin and Bollinger and the spin-pace combo did wonders for Chennai.

While the leg spinner tied up both Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibss, Bollinger troubled the openers with his seaming deliveries. In between, he mixed things up with yorkers and well-directed slower balls, and was handsomely rewarded for it. After struggling for his 20-ball 15, the Deccan skipper fell to the left-arm quickie while trying to flick a good length delivery.

In the very same over, T Suman came in and blasted a four before being sent back, going for his second big hit. At 23 for 2 in the 6th over, Gilchrist’s men were off to an unimaginably poor start. Things were only to get worse though.

With the run-rate creeping up with each passing over, Rohit Sharma lofted Albie Morkel straight into the hands of Muralitharan at long-on for 4, while Gibbs (18 from 26 balls) was put out of his misery by Shabad Jakati, when his attempted cut missed the bat and crashed into the stumps.

At 48 for 4 in the 11th over, a miracle from Andrew Symonds was the only hope for Deccan, albeit a faint one. That too evaporated when he fell to Ashwin for 23. Bollinger returned to claim two more wickets and end with sensational figures of 4 for 13, which told quite a story.

It was a far from happy tale earlier in the day, however, after MS Dhoni won the toss and took first strike. Symonds, who opened the bowling along with Ryan Harris, made full use of the bowler-friendly conditions to have Chennai on the mat.

Harris, in particular, was lethal claiming both Matthew Hayden and Murali Vijay, the former after he was dropped twice. All the bowlers, except an erratic RP Singh, chipped in to keep Chennai under the pump.

S Badrinath and skipper Dhoni did feature in a steady half-century partnership. But, that did not hurt Deccan much though. What did hurt was the fact that S Anirudha smashed 24 from 15 balls to help his side cross 140.

The bowlers did the rest for Chennai. As far as Deccan were concerned, it wasn’t just destined to be their day. Two simplest of catches dropped at the start of the game was the earliest omen.

Kieron Pollard

Kieron Pollard proved why he was the most expensive buy during the auction for IPL 3. He put in a magnificent all-round performance against the Bangalore Royal Challengers in the first semi-final as Mumbai sealed their place in the final with an emphatic 35-run win.

The fiery West Indian first slammed a sizzling, unbeaten 33 and in the company of Saurabh Tiwary (52 not out) enabled Mumbai to recover from a dicey position and post an imposing 184 for 5. Such was the brutality of the duo’s attack in the last five overs that as many as 77 runs were scored and the total skyrocketed from 107 for the loss of 4 wickets in the 15th over as roar at D Y Patil got bigger.

In reply, Bangalore never quite got going during the chase. The pressure of the semi-final clearly got even to the strong batting line-up. In the big game, Bangalore opened their reply Rahul Dravid joining Jacques Kallis at the top of the order. But, the move failed to work. While Kallis (11) was consumed by a brilliant outswinger from Lasith Malinga early in the innings, Dravid fell victim to a mix-up between him and Ross Taylor.

His hard-earned 22 did not do much to help the team’s cause. In between, a dangerous looking Kevin Pietersen (19), who was rightly sent in one down, was brilliantly stumped down the leg side by Ambati Rayudu off Harbhajan Singh’s bowling. In what appeared to be a well-planned move, the off-spinner fired one down the leg-side and Rayudu completed the smart stumping as Pietersen blindly charged down the track.

It was wide delivery, but Mumbai would have happily exchanged an extra run and delivery to see the back of the England’s world-class player.

With the top guns gone, all hopes were now pinned on Robin Uthappa. Could he turn batman again? Unfortunately not, for Bangalore even though he shone briefly. Uthappa lofted Harbhajan’s for two massive sixes. The 18-run over gave Bangalore some hope. But, with the run-rate always on the ascendancy, Uthappa had to keep on going for the big ones consistently.

One such stroke led to him downfall. Pollard chipped in with a smart slower ball. It was one of the rare occasions when Uthappa failed to time one and, as a result, holed out in the deep for 26. In walked Taylor, but out walked Dravid the very next ball, confused over taking a quick single. At 81 for 4, Bangalore needed something miraculous from the woefully struggling Taylor.

He did chip in with 31*. However, with wickets falling at the other end, he was deprived of the strike during the most crucial occasions. For Mumbai, Pollard and Malinga complemented each other perfectly – one slowing things up and causing trouble and other beating the batsmen with pace.

Mumbai’s batsmen played an equally significant part in the victory, earlier in the evening. Sachin Tendulkar fell early courtesy and the next three also departed with only 77 on the board. It was only Rayudu, who kept the runs flowing from one end, throwing his bat wherever and gathering a number of boundaries. He eventually fell for 40, but his dismissal put Mumbai back in trouble. It was here though that the game changed drastically.

Tiwary and Pollard put in a special exhibition of power-hitting. Tiwary began by slamming a wayward Kallis all over the park in the 16th over. The home team never looked back from then. Even Anil Kumble was taken for plenty in his final spell by the left-hander. Pollard took no time to get his eye in. He took care of Vinay Kumar and Dale Steyn as Mumbai were rollicking away. Bangalore could not recover from the brutal assault.

A chase of 146 shouldn’t have proved all difficult for the Delhi Daredevils even on the slow turner at the Ferozshah Kotla. After all, the home side possessed one of the most potent batting line-ups in the tournament. However, a sense of complacency and some extremely charged-up bowling by the Deccan Chargers led to their downfall as the visiting side advanced to the semi-finals.

Delhi lost their top four with only 39 on the board. And the rut never stopped. There was an unexpected fight towards the end when Ashish Nehra joined Paul Collingwood to feature in an undefeated eighth wicket stand of 48. Deccan still got home by a comfortable margin of 11 runs.

Looking back at the game, it was one knock which stood out as the difference between the two sides. Like Deccan, Delhi too had got off to a promising start with the ball. At one stage, the batting side were struggling at 66 for 4 after Adam Gilchrist won the toss and decided to take first strike.

Delhi were comfortably on top when Andrew Symonds decided to take charge. He lofted the ball with consummate ease against the slower bowlers and, in the process, helped Deccan gain some momentum. Amit Mishra, Paul Collingwood as well as Tillakaratne Dilshan were slammed for sixes.

He hit five in all en route to a scintillating 34-ball 54. During this phase, he was well supported by rookie Mitchell Marsh. The youngster’s contribution of 13 from 19 balls may look ungainly in the scorecard. But, in the context of the game, it was precious. His most significant contribution was handing the strike over to Symonds, which was the need of the hour for Deccan.

Once Symonds fell though Delhi got themselves back on track. The bowlers conceded less than a run-a-ball in the last five overs to restrict Deccan’s mini-resurrection. Like at the end, the home side were sensational with the ball in the early part of the innings too.

The out of sorts Gilchrist was once again consumed early by Ashish Nehra while Umesh Yadav’s extreme pace did the trick for him. The bowler’s speed was too much to handle even for the in-form T Suman and Rohit Sharma, the former had his stumps shattered while the latter edged one behind the wickets.

At the halfway stage, Delhi would have fancied their chances to booking their semis berth. But, they only have themselves to blame for letting a golden opportunity pass by. Virender Sehwag was given a reprieve very early in the innings when Rohit Sharma spilled a tough chance off Chaminda Vaas’ bowling.

The same combination though combined to end Sehwag’s short stay at the crease not much later. Disappointingly, David Warner and Dilshan fell to rash strokes. The left-hander flirted outside the off-stump while the Sri Lankan went for a predetermined lap sweep, which saw him being trapped in front off Harmeet Singh’s bowling.

Coming in at 25 for 3, there was extreme pressure on the skipper. But, this time even Gautam Gambhir couldn’t bail the side out. With the pressure mounting, Mithun Manhas was run-out for 23 following a mix-up with Collingwood. Clearly, Delhi had underestimated Deccan’s bowling prowess. And by the time they realized this, it was too late. Collingwood did smash a few big ones towards the end, as did Nehra. But, after the initial disaster, they were always fighting a losing battle.

A scintillating, unbeaten 93 by Mahela Jayawardene was overpowered by an equally brilliant 68 not out by Rohit Sharma as the Deccan Chargers chased down a tough target of 175 set by the Kings XI Punjab at the scenic setting in Dharmasala. Rohit and T Suman joined forces after their team got off to a rapid start, at 54 for 2 in seventh over.

And, by the time, Piyush Chawla managed to have Suman caught behind for 43 (from 31 balls), the score had progressed to 120 in the 14th over. There were some anxious moments for Deccan after Suman’s dismissal. But, Rohit batted with great maturity to see his side through.

The beauty of the partnership between Suman and Rohit was that they attacked from the word go and never let the bowlers get on top of them. Both batted with supreme confidence, which came courtesy their successes in the recent games. They were especially severe on the seamers, lofting them with ease.

Neither among Vikramjeet Malik, Irfan Pathan or Shalabh Srivastava could make any kind of an impression. Pathan did strike early, getting the big scalp of the struggling opposition skipper Adam Gilchrist. Unfortunately for Punjab, he was the man to let Deccan off the hook when things got tight towards the end. Rohit took a liking to him, driving him with ease on the off-side and plucking twos and also lofting him for a magnificent six to level the score.

Suman, on the other hand, struck to his tried and tested formula of his inside out strokes and succeeded yet again. In all, he hit three fours and three sixes, supporting Deccan perfectly as they went about approaching the target in an aggressive manner. Kumar Sangakkara tried to distract the duo by constantly chopping and changing the bowling. But, it did not work as both the batsmen looked well-settled at the crease.

Eventually, it needed one from Chawla that turned away to end Suman’s resistance. Soon, Juan Theron cleaned up Andrew Symonds for 4 with one that kept low. But, Sharma ensured that there were no more hiccups. A couple of lusty blows by 18-year-old Mitchell Marsh helped as they registered a five-wicket win and kept their hopes of progressing to the semis very much alive.

Sharma’s genius undid some splendid work by Jayawardene earlier in the day. The former Sri Lankan skipper was in his elements once again after Gilchrist won the toss and inserted the opposition in. Punjab got off to the worst possible start as Shaun Marsh edged a superb outswinger from Ryan Harris first ball. However, that only brought a fired up Sangakkara to the crease.

Taking on RP Singh and Marsh, Sangakkara got Punjab into a position of strength. He did not slog but struck to his natural game, timing the ball to perfection. Thanks to his blistering half-century, Punjab raced to 87 in the 12th over, before indiscretion got the better of him, a predetermined reverse sweep was lapped up by Pragyan Ojha.

Following the skipper’s dismissal, Jayawardene’s bat fell silent and Yuvraj Singh’s lack of form did not help either. But, once Jayawardene broke the shackles dispatching Marsh to the fence, there was no looking back. He punched five consecutive fours off RP Singh to lift Punjab to 174 for 3. At the break, it seemed a competitive score. And, but for Rohit’s blaze, it could have been a match-winning one.

On a slow, low pitch at the Sawai Mansingh stadium at Jaipur, Rajasthan’s batsmen had a torrid time, which resulted in them being trumped by the Royal Challengers Bangalore by a comfortable margin of five wickets. What began well for Shane Warne when he won the toss and elected to bat first, only got worse.

In the most inauspicious of starts, Michael Lumb was run out cheaply and the Bangalore bowlers then combined brilliantly to have Rajasthan on the mat right through. It was only a stubborn partnership towards the end between Abhishek Raut and Adam Voges that enabled Rajasthan to touch 130. But, with Kevin Pietersen in the most murderous of moods, the match was a no-contest, despite the loss of a few cheap wickets late in the game.

Returning to Rajasthan’s insipid batting effort, in the season of run-outs, Lumb (9) added one more to his kitty. Not for the first time in the series, there was a total lack of co-ordination between him and Naman Ojha. As a result, Lumb was stranded more than halfway down the pitch and had only one way to go from thereon, back to the dugout.

The only consolation for him could have been that Pietersen’s run-out later in the day was uglier. But, this wasn’t a battle to score brownie points. Following Lumb’s dismissal, Amit Paunikar (0) was smartly trapped by R Vinay Kumar off a short ball in the same over. Ojha too couldn’t make amends for the run-out of Lumb as he chipped one up in the air off Pankaj Singh’s bowling for 7.

At 3 for 21, Bangalore were well on top, but they knew they had thrown it away from a similar position in the previous game. There were no mistakes this time, however. Shane Watson (22), who cracked a couple of boundaries and was looking ominous, was brilliantly caught by Pietersen, diving in front of him off Kallis’ bowling. And, if Royals were hoping for some Yusuf Pathan magic, it wasn’t coming.

Anil Kumble’s decision to bring back Dale Steyn worked immediately as the speedster knocked out the big-hitter with a short of the length delivery, which beat his tentative defence and crashed into the stumps. If Rajasthan managed to reach a decent score after being 72 for 6, it was thanks to some dedicated batting from Raut and Voges. Neither could go for the big strokes but ensured that they at least rotated the strike, before finally delivery a couple of lusty hits at the very end.

The target was too miniscule for Bangalore though, despite the early loss of Kallis, who was castled by Kamran Khan by one that kept really low. What followed was the Pietersen show, an exhibition of ruthless batting, which reiterated why Vijay Mallya was so bent on having him in his franchise. Khan was given a lesson in how not to ball at the start of an innings.

The usually economical Siddharth Trivedi as well as Watson were also taken to task. And, when Shane Warne came on, Pietersen made his intentions clear immediately charging down the pitch, making the legend look hapless.

Pietersen raced to 62 from 28 balls. He was out the only way he could have got out. Adamant on getting the strike, he overpowered a refusal from Virat Kohli for a sharp single, but only had to return to the dugout, fuming. A couple more wickets fell instantly. However, Rajasthan were left to rue not having enough runs on the board.

What Dale Steyn’s vicious spell couldn’t do for Bangalore Royal Challengers, Ravichandran Aswhin’s super effort did for Chennai Super Kings against the Kolkata Knight Riders in a do or die encounter for both sides at Chepauk. While Deccan Chargers managed to recover from Steyn’s three-wicket burst, Kolkata were not as lucky as they were tamed by Chennai’s lions by a thumping 9-wicket margin.

Ashwin, who opening the bowling after Sourav Ganguly won the toss and elected to bat, sent back Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum and David Hussey in no time to have Kolkata reeling at 19 for 4 at the completion of the fourth over. Thanks to some lusty hitting by Angelo Mathews (48) and good support from Manoj Tiwary (27), the visitors recovered somewhat to post 139 for 8.

But, Kolkata’s hopes of making a match out of it evaporated rather quickly as Suresh Raina (78 from 39 balls) went on an all-out attack after the early dismissal of Matthew Hayden. With Murali Vijay (50 off 40 balls) giving him company, the Super Kings never looked in even an inch of trouble.

Looking back, the game was decided within the first 20 minutes itself. Things weren’t all that bad for Kolkata when Gayle spanked Ashwin for a mammoth six. However, the very next ball, the off-spinner had his revenge when the tall West Indian was stumped for 7 going for a repeat of the stroke.

McCullum followed almost immediately, a mistimed sweep ending up in the safe hands of Muttiah Muralitharan. David Hussey did not last long either. He was brilliantly stumped down the leg side by MS Dhoni. Ashwin was now on a hat-trick, and should have had it, but for a rare blip by Simon Taufel, who could not spot the ball taking Angelo Mathews’ gloves on its way to the fielder. Still, Ashwin finished with memorable figures of 3 for 16. At the other end, Doug Bollinger beat Ganguly for pace and trapped him lbw for 10.

Everything was looking downhill for Kolkata. But, Mathews made use of the luck that came his way and helped his side gain some amount of control on the innings. He was particularly severe on his countrymate Murali, who was being recalled into the side. With two massive sixes off him, he made a run-a-ball 48 before Murali had his revenge. Following his departure, Laxmi Ratan Shukla blasted two sixes off Raina’s bowling to help his side post a target of 140 for the Super Kings.

The only way Kolkata could have won would have been if somebody did an Ashwin. But, while Gayle promised a little by cleaning up Hayden, whose slog sweep found the stumps, what followed was nothing short of disheartening for the bowling side. Raina began by caressing Ashok Dinda for three boundaries in his opening over.

And, when Gayle returned for this second over, he was hammered all over the place. As a result, Chennai reached their best score at the end of the powerplay overs during this edition, 67 for 1. All this while, Vijay, himself in belligerent form, was prepared to be silent spectator.

Raina cut, drove and lofted with ease and even when he mistimed his pulls, he made sure that the ball headed in the safest direction, over his keeper. Vijay joined in the act towards the end as Chennai cruised to victory and kept their semi-final hopes alive.