Cricket Tournaments

Its been a long tough schedule for India all around this year. With just some breaks in between the World Cup and the IPL, the South African tests just got over 10 days before the World Cup. On top of that, the West Indies tour is going to take just 6 days to kick start. Unfortunately, it puts a lot of pressure on the players and their fitness because of this packed-up schedule.

Indian Cricket Team With World Cup 2011

The test squad as well as the ODI squad for the West Indies tour have been announced and its quite disappointing to not hear some of the big names. Virender Sehwag already pulled out of the ODI squad because of injury, while Gautam Gambhir cannot play both the test tour as well as ODI tour because of a shoulder injury which was apparently caused in KKR’s last game against Mumbai Indians. Yuvraj Singh too has a throat infection which ultimately leaves Dhoni and Zaheer Khan to take rest off this schedule. This is not all, as Sachin Tendulkar too gets off the flight to West Indies as he wants to spend some time with family.

Such a schedule just takes a lot of toll on its players and just can’t be acceptable. All the big names being injured all the time and begging for some rest just makes it tough to live a life for them. A bowler has to be prevented from injuries, but as the number of games is increasing, the injuries can certainly go long-term. With Indian fast bowlers are even more susceptible to injuries it just makes it worse. And an injury to a player like Zaheer Khan, where we don’t even have a back-up bowler just makes it even tougher.

As every coin has two sides, this tour and the rest taken by players, has its own advantages too. This tour certainly gives an exposure to younger players in the team to take more responsibility and gives an opportunity to more players to show their talent on an international base. An opportunity, which would give India a larger pool of players to select from and would be an extremely nice opportunity to rotate the players, especially the fast bowlers. This could reduce the chances of players getting injured which will ultimately help India on the whole.

But its sometimes extremely disappointing to look when you see the players still selecting the club and money over country. As per the news, Gambhir was already injured before the start of the IPL season, though he didn’t know the intensity of the injury. On top of that, most of the players preferred playing in IPL with their respective clubs instead of taking the much needed rest. But preferring to take rest during the West Indies tour instead of playing the game for the country just amuses me. Which clearly states, that players have started giving much more importance to the club over country.

Obviously big money lures people and has quite an impact, but why put money over country. They say money is not the only answer but it makes a difference. Country and money are the only answers for the players and they let money make the difference here.

Its extremely important to give an opportunity to every player who is truly deserving, but not on the cost of so many senior players being rested. BCCI needs to keep some basic strategies in mind, and give opportunity to some players at a time, instead of giving every player just to show their talent on one stage. An extremely phenomenal scheme, they can certainly try and make 2 pool of players and try and rotate players at a regular interval. This can certainly help the team. But for that, we unarguably need to get in more talent to play for the country and not waste the talent.

West Indies tour on its way, its time for players like Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina to take up the big responsibility and try and carry the team on their shoulders. Apart from that its definitely a good opportunity for youngsters like Dhawan, Vinay Kumar and some more to shine and steal the limelight away from the other cricketers who have already put themselves in the list of top-level cricketers. Even in the test squad, Badrinath has atlast got a chance to prove himself that he is the lone and vivid player who has the skills to fill the big shoes ahead of Yuvraj Singh and Chateshwar Pujara.

Chennai Super Kings 205 for 5 beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 147 for 8 (Ashwin 3-16) by 58 runs
Man of the match: M Vijay

It was a perfectly scripted victory by the Chennai Super Kings. That would be the best way to describe the mauling they gave the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL final on Saturday night. Almost everything went according to plan for M S Dhoni’s men in yellow. They won the toss and batted first on a slowish pitch. Their openers, who had not put their best foot forward in recent games, came to the party and registered a record opening wicket partnership. Chennai ended up with a score in excess of 200 and, most importantly, man of the tournament Chris Gayle was sent back for a duck in the first over. What more could Chennai have asked for as they successfully defended their IPL title.

Murali Vijay was the star of the match. He had an ordinary tournament till date. However, cometh the hour, cometh the man. Vijay combined with Michael Hussey in a sensational 159 run opening stand, which lifted Chennai to a mammoth total on their home ground. R Ashwin then took care of Chris Gayle, by sending him back in the opening over for a duck and virtually sealed the fate of the game.

Vijay and Hussey looked in little or no trouble as they went about building their match winning partnership. Interestingly, even as a number of big shots were played in the opening overs, there was hardly an element of risk in those. Very few chances were offered. There was one from Vijay in the 10 over, when he played a flick that only just cleared Luke Pomersbach near the boundary. Had the fielder judged it perfectly, he might still have been able to hold on to it. But, it wasn’t to be. He then slogged the next ball, but survived an edge. That was about it though as Vijay learnt from his mistakes and did not play any more rash shots until he was approaching his ton.

The opening partnership lasted for one ball less than 15 overs and both the players matched each other perfectly. Hussey played his chip shots and also drove well. Well the occasion arose, he lofted the ball and got his fours and sixes as well. However, for most part he was content rotating the strike. A majority of the big hitting was left to Vijay at the other end. Vijay timed his lofted strokes perfectly on the big day. In between, he placed the ball properly in the gaps and ran exceedingly well between wicket. As a result, Vijay started cramping up and eventually fell short of his ton by five runs. Before him, Hussey also fell. But, by that time a great platform had been laid.

After their job with the bat was done, the bowlers took over and did an equally good job. R. Ashwin gave Chennai the best possible start with the ball sending back Gayle off the third ball of the innings. In a smart move, Ashwin bowled two deliveries that turned away from Gayle. The third one came in and skidded on. Gayle tried to cut it, but only ended up falling into the trap and edging one behind to Dhoni. A B de Villiers came in and hit a few fours, but did not last long enough to trouble Chennai. He was trapped by Shadab Jakati and when Suresh Raina accounted for Virat Kohli, the faintest of Bangalore hopes had disappeared as well.

Bangalore Royal Challengers 185 for 4 beat Mumbai Indians 143 for 8 by 42 runs

Man of the match: Chris Gayle

And Chris did it again! Bangalore sealed their spot in the finals of IPL 4 thanks to yet another magnificent effort from their ‘man Friday’ Chris Gayle. Co-incidentally, it was a Friday as well. The West Indian swashbuckler slammed 89 murderous runs to guide Bangalore to a match winning score. Gayle was dismissed 11 runs short of what would have been his third IPL ton this season. And after his dismissal, Bangalore struggled to up the ante. Even so his performance was enough to end up as the difference the two big sides.

Mumbai could not answer to Gayle’s exploit with the bat and eventually fell short by 42 runs. The openers did get off to a great start, but Gayle played his part with the ball too, bowling a tight over which produced just two runs. Following that the pressure built up and the innings started crumbing. Everything went according to plan for the Royal Challengers post the opening stand by Mumbai openers, which meant that Vijay Mallya’s team easily made it to the final of the tournament, which has produced some very ordinary cricket.

Though Gayle contributed in the field as well, it was his effort with the bat which, undoubtedly, made all the difference. Gayle also helped his opening partner, Mayank Agarwal, find his feet. The 20-year-old Agarwal wasn’t overawed by the occasion and contributed a handsome 41 off 31 in an excellent 113-run opening partnership, which set the tone of the game for both sides. Bangalore were rarely the second best after that.

Of course, the batting side was assisted in a big way by Mumbai Indians’ bowlers and some of their captains’ baffling tactics. First of all, Sachin Tendulkar elected to bowl first on a track where the side batting first has lost all but one game. Even more shocking was the fact that the new ball was given to Abu Nechim ahead of the best bowler of the tournament, Lasith Malinga. And they had to pay and extremely heavy price for it, that of losing the match itself.

Nechim tried his best to keep the Bangalore openers under check. Yet, he ended up conceding 27 runs. The first four came when an edge went past the slip region, another beat skipper Tendulkar, who was patrolling the mid-off area. This got worse for Nechim as Gayle slammed a six and an easy four and the tone of the game was set. At the other end, Agarwal took on Harbhajan Singh and came out first. Agarwal took most of the balls from Harbhajan’s first two overs, crashing him straight down the ground and also hitting with the turn. The World Cup winning off spinner was rather clueless.

For a change, Mumbai were shabby in the field too. Malinga dropped a catch offered by Agarwal at square leg. 57 came in the first four overs and then Gayle took on the other bowlers as well. In between, Malinga bowled and excellent over which went for a solitary run. However, the others were picked up for special treatment. Rohit Sharma bowled a few tight deliveries, before Agarwal launched for a four and a six. The first ten overs of the innings produced 111 runs, which culminated with Gayle slashing Nechim into the side screen for yet another maximum.

After dropping Agarwal, Rohit finally was the one who got. However, Gayle continued on his merry ways lofting a clueless Harbhajan for four consecutive sixes, all in the midwicket region. Munaf Patel finally managed to help Mumbai see the back of Gayle. A slower one foxed him as he missed a well deserved ton. Following Gayle’s dismissal, the runs dried down. The balls started playing tricks and suddenly Mumbai were left wondering why they couldn’t do the same earlier. Sadly, they knew the answer too. The Gayle effect.

During the tough chase, Tendulkar kept Mumbai in the hunt briefly. He played some proper cricketing shots and improvised as well during his impressive knock of 40 which came in just 24 balls. However, J Syed Mohammad turned out to be the hero for Bangalore as he managed to turn one sharply across Tendulkar and get his stumped, a rarity in cricket. The result struggled. Kieron Pollard, who has done nothing in the tournament, had one last chance to turn hero, but failed again. He was caught brilliantly in the deep by Abhimanyu Mithun, who lunged full stretch over the boundary and managed to claim a brilliant catch. By now though Bangalore were already celebrating as the match was over long before.

Chennai Super Kings 177 for 4 beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 175 by six wickets
Man of the match: Suresh Raina

The Chennai Super Kings never looked like winning it and the Royal Challengers Bangalore never looked like losing it. Yet the end result was a sensational six wicket win for the former, who eventually became the first team to make it to the IPL finals in the fourth season. In a dramatic late assault, Suresh Raina and Albie Morkel carted Zaheer Khan and S Aravind all over the park to completely tilt the momentum of the game, which they easily won in the end with ample wickets in hand. The efforts of Raina in particular undid all the good work done by Virat Kohli earlier in the evening, whose unbeaten 70 had taken Bangalore to a challenging 175 in spite of the early loss of their dynamo, Chris Gayle.

The win saw Chennai make their third final in the four year old competition while the task for Bangalore suddenly becomes a lot more challenging. Not only do they have to beat the winner of the eliminator, but even if they do so, they will meet Chennai again in the final and that too at the latter’s home ground, the M A Chidambaram stadium. And statistics point out that Chennai have not lost a single match on their home ground this season.

Looking back at the game, it was definitely their bowling that cost Bangalore a game they should clearly have won. However, a few bad overs was all it needed for things to turn around. It all began in the ninth over bowled by Virat Kohli. In an over full of full tosses, 16 runs were leaked to give Chennai some much needed. A few overs later things got even worse for Bangalore. Abhimanyu Mithun sprayed it all over the place and conceded 23 runs. It was about the time Raina was beginning to settle in. In this particular over, he carted Mithun for a six over covers and slammed another over covers. Despite all that, Bangalore still held the edge as the equation read a difficult 82 from 42 balls. And it only got worse from there as Gayle, who could not contribute with the bat, chipped in with a excellent spell of 0 for 19 from four overs to make the equation 58 from 24.

Bangalore held the edge clearly, but this is when Raina proved his worth to the tea. He took on Zaheer Khan, who bowled a marvellous first spell, during which he not only took out Michael Hussey, but was extremely mean as well. But, just like in the World Cup final, he was taken apart in his second spell, which had only one over left. Raina carted two big sixes in the midwicket region. At the other end, M S Dhoni brought him bottom-hand into play to get another six. Even though Dhoni fell on the same over, 20 runs came off it and Chennai were well and truly on track.

The arrival of Morkel signaled the beginning of the end for Bangalore. S Aravind was slammed over both long-on and long-off by him before Raina slashed a full toss into the midwicket boundary. The over cost one more than Zaheer’s and left Chennai needing only 12 off the last over to be bowled by Daniel Vettori. It was easy for Chennai having done all the hard work. Morkel hauled a boundary to wide long-on and deposited the fourth ball over midwicket to launch Chennai into yet another IPL final.

The assault of Raina and Morkel outdid the impressive effort of Kohli, who blended caution with aggression to guide Bangalore to a healthy total. All this after Gayle was trapped lbw by R Aswhin cheaply. Kohli, in the company of Luke Pomersbach, made sure the scoreboard kept ticking. Pomersbach took on Dwayne Bravo and collected 17 runs in the 15th over. Kohli, on the other hand, batted with mature aggression never looking ugly even while going for the big stroke. He scored comfortably against Raina and Morkel, with two sixes off the latter’s in the 19^th over. However, the same duo extracted their revenge by featuring in a match-winning partnership.

Kolkata Knight Riders 119 for 3 beat Pune Warriors 118 for 7 by seven wickets

Man of the match: Yusuf Pathan

What was built up as the Kolkata vs Ganguly game turned out to be quite a damp squib in the end as the Gautam Gambhir led Knight Riders were way too superior to the Yuvraj Singh led Pune Warriors, who succumbed to yet another defeat in their debut year in the Indian Premier League. With this victory, the Knight Riders have all but ensured that they are through to the play offs. Unless they lose extremely badly to Mumbai Indians and then Kings XI Punjab pull off yet another big win, they should be through rather easily.

The victory against the Warriors was set up courtesy the excellent attempt of Kolkata’s spinners. Shakib Al Hasan, Iqbal Abdulla and Yusuf Pathan picked up five wickets amongst themselves. And, as it happens when wickets fall, the run rate never assumed dangerous proportions. Pune Warriors managed a disappointing 118 in their allotted 20 overs, losing as many as seven wickets. In response, Gambhir led from the front, striking an impressive half century on a difficult, turning track. With desired support from Manoj Tiwary and Pathan himself, they cruised to victory in the end.

Clearly, it was the trio of Kolkata’s spinners that made the major impact in the game as the Warriors were in complete disease from the very start. Admittedly, it wasn’t the best track for T20 cricket, but the better team still won. Manish Pandey could not survive Abdulla’s early burst. He missed a straight delivery from the left arm spinner and was trapped right in front. At the other end, Jesse Ryder tried to hit out against Pathan, but only managed to give a simple catch to mid off. The Warriors’ trouble began there, but never really ended

They tried to innovate by sending Callum Ferguson ahead of Sourav Ganguly. For a brief period it worked as the talented Aussie placed the ball with ease and looked in no trouble at all. It was too good to last though from the Warriors’ perspective. Ferguson, in an attempt to up the scoring, chipped down the track to Shakib, but the ball turned away and the keeper easily effected the stumping. Ganguly came in next, but unlike his comeback game, he clearly wasn’t at his best. He edged the ball for most part and even survived a stumping chance. His only stroke of authority was when he lifted Abdulla for a six straight down the ground. He too perished after a struggle though, sweeping Shakib straight into the hands of Pathan.

Just like the rest of the tournament, this time too it was left to Robin Uthappa and Yuvraj Singh to lift the Warriors out of trouble. But, Uthappa fell in an effort to go after Pathan. He hit the ball hard, but couldn’t find the gap and handed Lee a catch in the outfield. Yuvraj hung around for a while, but with no support, he too lost motivation and top edged a pull off L Balaji’s bowling as the Warriors ended their innings on a low.

Alfonso Thomas got an early breakthrough for the Warriors, but it was nothing more than a flash in the pan. Even without their injured mainstay, Jacques Kallis, the Knight Riders got home easily. Gambhir was the best batsman on show on the turning pitch. And so it was no surprise to see him going down the track to the impressive Rahul Sharma and Yuvraj. Runs came at ease, with Yusuf and Tiwary chipping in with handy cameos even as Gambhir played the role of an anchor to perfection. In the end, it was all too easy and the better side clearly won.

Kings XI Punjab 232 for 2 beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 121 by 111 runs

Man of the match: Adam Gilchrist

In an ideally scripted world, the Royal Challengers would have outdone Kings XI Punjab with Chris Gayle going hammer and tongs at the picturesque Dharamsala. However, it was pretty much the other way round as Punjab skipper, Adam Gilchrist, who for a day returned to the Gilly of old and smashed Bangalore’s bowlers all over the park in a display of batting reminiscent of the equally big-hitting Gayle’s batting. Gilchrist found an exceptional partner in Shaun Marsh, who was equally aggressive, and the duo featured in a world record partnership of 206 runs as the Kings XI finally ended Bangalore’s winning streak. The mammoth 111-run win not only ensured that Gilchrist’s team was level on points with Kolkata, but also gave a massive boost to their net run rate as Bangalore folded up for a meagre 121.

Though there were other impressive performances in the game, the match was all about Gilchrist. Following his heroics with the bat, he made his impact on the game in the field too, taking an excellent catch diving to his left hand side. More that the wicket, it was the fact that Chris Gayle was dismissed that mattered the most. Bangalore are used to Gayle getting the team off to a great start. But, on this occasion, they were clearly in unknown territory and things only got worse. Ryan Harris sent back both Gayle as well as the other in form man, Virat Kohli. Then, Praveen Kumar continued his association with maidens, bowled his fifth of this IPL. With runs not coming, the Bangalore batsmen were forced to go after Piyush Chawla, who cleaned up the lower order, helping himself to four wickets.

Returning to the man of the moment Gilchrist, his knock would certainly give a run for its money to some of equally devastating innings by Gayle. Gilchrist took his time to flourish. In fact, most of the runs were scored by Paul Valthaty in the early part of the innings. It was only in the company of Marsh that Gilchrist really began to open up. He began by thumping a short ball from Abhimanyu Mithun and then sashayed down the wicket to loft S Aravind, who until then was proving rather economical, and then slammed him down the wicket again. At the other end, Marsh also got into the act and dispatched him for a six and a boundary. 21 runs came off the over, and Punjab were well and truly underway.

Kohli, taking over from the injured Daniel Vettori, brought in Gayle to try and slow down the scoring. But, on this day, everything was in vain. Gilchrist lofted for two mammoth sixes and Bangalore continued to bleed, left right and centre. Nothing changed even with the introduction of South African pace man Charl Langeveldt. Gilchrist pulled him for two massive sixes before completing a batting hat trick of sixes by depositing him over the midwicket boundary. The bowler and the captain could do nothing but watch in amazement.

Their expressions remained the same as Punjab weren’t done yet. Marsh also took the opportunity to prove some of his big hitting skills. He looted 30 runs off a Johan van der Wath, all on his own, which would have almost made Gilchrist jealous. The over was perfectly divided with three sixes and three fours. The boundaries came in the extra-cover region while the sixes ranged between midwicket, long-off and one straight down the ground. While for Punjab it rained fours and sixes, the same cannot be said of Bangalore, who clearly capitulated under pressure.

Chargers cruise to easy win over Warriors

Deccan Chargers 138 for 4 beat Pune Warriors 136 for 9 by six wickets
Man of the match: Amit Mishra

For once, the Deccan Chargers bowled to their potential and the result was that they were successful in keeping the Pune Warriors down to a chaseable total. Their batsmen too did not falter for a change as Kumar Sangakkara signed off with a consolation win for his team. All the Decaan bowlers, pacers Dale Steyn, Ishant Sharma as well as spinners Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha were all over the Pune Warriors batsmen, as a result of which, the Yuvraj Singh-led side never found themselves in any position of strength. Daniel Christian too played his part in the bowling department as the Deccan Chargers cruised home to an easy six-wicket win.

The only thing that went right for Pune was when the aggressive Mitchell Marsh went after the bowlers. However, that only proved to be a flash in the pan for the Warriors. Kumar Sangakkara’s experiment of opening the innings with JP Duminy did not work. But, once the ball was in Steyn and Ishant’s hands, the Warriors’ collapse began. Jesse Ryder was sent back by an awesome catch taken by Ravi Teja in the cover region. Teja dived to his left and successfully plucked the ball. Sourav Ganguly could not repeat hits heroics of his comeback game. He offered a simple chance to Ojha at mid-off, off Christian’s bowling. Ojha, himself, got into the wicket-taking act when he fooled Pandey with an incoming delivery and disturbed his furniture.

Pune were in deep strife losing three wickets for 45, but things only got worse for them. Amit Mishra got back to back wickets to put paid to the Warriors hopes. He first forced Robin Uthappa to edge one which was held gleefully by the bowler himself. The very next ball, Mithun Manhas failed to read a googly and went for a cut, which proved fatal as his stumps were dislodged. From a disappointing 45 for 3, the Warriors slumped to a pathetic 45 for 5 and they were was no looking back from there.

Skipper Yuvraj Singh tried to steady the ship once again. Yuvraj slashed Ojha for two boundaries in a row, but could not last long enough as fell to Christian, top edging one. If at all the Warriors to gain some credibility to their scoreboard, it was due to a wonderful counter attack by the other Marsh – Mitchell. He slammed the spinners for some big hits as 34 runs came in the last three overs of the innings, Marsh finding some support from Wayne Parnell. It wasn’t enough though as Shikhar Dhawan and Sunny Sohal got their team off to a good start, before Sangakkara and Duminy shut them out of the game, and the tournament as well.

Kochi Tuskers Kerala 98 for 2 beat Rajasthan Royals 97 by eight wickets
Man of the match: Brad Hodge

In what was one of the worst batting performances in this edition of the IPL, the Rajasthan Royals were shot out for 97 and Kochi then chased the target down with 8 wickets and 76 balls to spare to keep their hopes of progressing in the tournament alive. Batting first on a smallish ground, the Royals tried to bat Kochi out of the game, but only managed to embarrass themselves. Brad Hodge helped himself to four wickets and an unbeaten 32 as Kochi cruised home and, in the process, knocked the Royals out of the tournament.

While Hodge picked up four, S Sreesanth was equally impressive and it was his opening spell during which he picked up the wickets of Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane that set the tone of the game. The Royals had faint chances of progressing further in the tournament at the start of the game, but the chance evaporated rather quickly as the partnerships never built. Faiz Fazal fell lbw early on in the piece. However, the bigger wickets were those of Dravid and Rahane. With three wickets down for 26, Rajasthan were in the dock very on.

Unfortunately, Rajasthan decided not to try and rebuild. Instead the batsmen continued to go for their strokes and perished one after the other. There were some positive moments too. Ashok Menaria slammed a six off Sreesanth and Shane Watson, in fact, got three off little known left-arm spinner P Prashanth. However, it did not last long. Watson was clean bowled by a fuller length ball from Prasanth Parameswaran, the 37-run over bowler! And then, Hodge took over.

The Aussie discard got the easy scalps of Pinal Shah, Jacob Oram, Shane Warne and Menaria, all of whom perished in an effort to loft the ball out of the ground. At the loss of the four wickets, Rajasthan had slid to 89 for 9 and eventually folded up for a paltry 97.

Kochi then took the opportunity to improve their net run rate. Brendon McCullum started by going after the erratic Shaun Tait. After being clean bowled by Tait off a no ball, McCullum slashed Tait for a four and six. Next, he lifted Oram for three sixes straight down the ground, before falling for 29 off just 12 balls. Hodge and Parthiv Patel continued the good work as the game was brought to an end in 7.2 overs. Not surprisingly, it was among the biggest wins in IPL history.

Kings XI Punjab 170 for 6 beat Delhi Daredevils 141 for 8

Man of the Match: Piyush Chawla

Paul Valthaty returned to form slamming a stroke filled 62 as Punjab notched up an impressive 170 batting first, more than enough against the increasingly hapless Delhi Daredevils. The latter put up another pathetic effort in the field and followed it up with yet another below par batting effort as they clearly missed Virender Sehwag’s exploits at the top.

In contrast, Punjab found a new hero in Piyush Chawla, who has been under the hammer for a while. Chawla took the opportunity to get some easy wickets against the struggling Daredevils as the Kings notched up their third consecutive win to keep their campaign alive, just like Kochi did later in the day.

Punjab weren’t on top of their game per se, but what Punjab did badly, Delhi did worse. Irfan Pathan swung the ball and picked up three wickets, but found nothing in the form of support from the other end. Morne Morkel troubled Valthaty with his pace and bounce. As a result, he offered plenty of chances, but Delhi spilled everything. Yogesh Nagar and Irfan were equally responsible for allowing Valthaty to survive an easy run out  chance. Soon, Venugopal Rao also put down an easy chance.

Looking at Punjab’s flaws, Gilchrist threw his wicket away. Shaun Marsh tried to keep the game in the balance, but Valthaty continued his ugly ways and kept getting away. He tried to cut, pull and slash all balls at his disposal, but did not succeeded. Valthaty finally managed to slam two sixes off James Hopes to give himself some confidence. Hopes made another mistake bringing on S Sriram in the 13th over. Marsh slogged him for three big sixes on the on side as the over went for 25 runs. Punjab raced away. Marsh and Valthaty both fell to Irfan in the second spell. However, Naman Ojha dropped Dinesh Karthik and that ensured Punjab ended up with 170.

Delhi chase did not get underway in a great fashion. David Warner had another bad day. He and Naman Ojha could not press the accelerator and as a result the pressure built. Praveen Kumar bowled another maiden over. Ojha finally found the middle of the bat, slashing Shalabh Srivastava for two sixes and a four. However, Ojha soon fell for 28 and Warner too fell soon after.

Piyush Chawla, who had a bad World Cup, which has cost him a place in the national side, finally found some groove against the equally struggling Daredevils batsmen. He reined himself him, not showing over reliance on the googly. He was rewarded with the important wickets of Sriram, Rao and skipper Hopes, all in consecutive overs. As a result, Delhi went down without a fight and, deservedly, stayed at the bottom of the IPL table.

In the battle of the two Ks, Kings XI Punjab got the better of Kochi Tuskers Kerala by an impressive six wicket margin in a high scoring game at Indore. The win means Kings XI’s chances of making it to the next round remain faint but alive at the same time. The win was set up an excellent effort by Dinesh Karthik and his smashing 111 run stand with Shaun Marsh, which ensured Punjab beat Kochi easily, on a typical batting surface at Indore.

Karthik and Marsh’s brutal partnership made sure that the equally impressive effort of Mahela Jayawardene earlier in the day went in vain. Kochi’s skipper made a stroke filled 76, combined with his usual well timed strokes. The innings was punctuated with graceful flicks, cursory lofted hits and also featured some crispy hits, which was primarily responsible for Kochi lifting themselves to 178.

In reply, Punjab were dealt with some early blows, but Karthik and Marsh counter attacked with great purpose and knocked Kochi out of the game. They took on the bowlers with ease and made sure that a minimum of one four came per over, during their stint at the crease together. A few overs, they scored at much better than a boundary per over. Marsh comfortably drove length deliveries all over; he got plenty while Karthik slammed the short balls to all parts of the ground.

Karthik hit the ball very hard of the two, and raced to a well deserved half century with a slashing stroke to midwicket. The two batted so fiercely that Punjab at one stage needed to score only at a run a ball to clinch victory. However, RP Singh who had claimed two wickets earlier, came back to send back both and rejuvenate Kochi’s hope. However, David Hussey and Mandeep Singh ensured there were no further hiccups as Punjab got home rather easily in the end.

Kochi themselves got off to a great start, as their openers put on 93 for the first wicket. Brendon McCullum, Ravindra Jadeja and Owais Shah all assisted Jayawardene as Kochi ran riot. Shah slammed 23 in only 11 balls. However, his run out resulted in Kochi ending well below 200, eventually it made big difference to the result of the match.