Cricket Tournaments

Kings XI Punjab (166 for 2) beat Deccan Chargers (165 for 8) by 8 wickets

Man of the Match: Paul Valthaty

Paul Valthaty put up yet another sterling performance, this time with both bat and ball to steer Kings XI Punjab to an easy eight wicket win over Deccan Chargers at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Uppal, Hyderabad. Valthaty first ensured that he restricted Deccan to a challenging total with some cunning slow cutters, following a threatening partnership between Kumar Sangakkara and Shikhar Dhawan, that was on course to take the game away from then. Next, he opened the innings with the bat and continued from where he left off against Chennai Super Kings to seal the game for Punjab in no time, with some great support from his skipper Adam Gilchrist.

Following the early loss of Sunny Sohal, the Chargers fought back well courtesy a counter-attacking partnership between Sangakkara and Dhawan. The duo was severe on Praveen Kumar, Ryan Harris as well as Ryan MClaren and looked in charge as they added 75 in quick time. However, one brilliant piece of fielding by Shaun Marsh was enough to turn around the fortunes of the sides. Marsh dived full length and stopped a fierce stroke from Sangakkara at extra cover. The loss of a run made the former Lankan skipper uncharacteristically slog sweep the next ball off Piyush Chawla, only to find the safe hands of McLaren in the deep. That was the beginning of the end for Deccan.

Three runs later, Dhawan perished to what was to be a leg side wide from Valthaty, but his effort to get too smart got the better of him as he was gobbled up at short fine leg. From there onwards, Deccan’s innings hit a roadblock and Valthaty was in charge. Bharat Chipli, who was Deccan’s hero in the last game, found Valthaty’s slower ones extremely tough to handle. He was lucky to survive on one occasion, but perished soon after going for a big shot. At 112 for four, in the 15^th over, Kings XI were clearly in the commanding position. However, the big hitting Daniel Christian raised Deccan’s hopes by slamming 30 off 14 balls.

Once again, it was Valthaty who turned the game in Punjab’s favour with two strikes in two consecutive balls. He first cleaned up Christian and very next ball trapped Amit Mishra plumb in front as the latter tried to go for a scoop shot he is clearly not adept at. Valthaty found good support in McLaren at the other end, who got the bog scalps of J P Duminy and the big hitting Manpreet Gony. Thanks to their efforts, Deccan were restricted to 165 for 8.

The home side still had a chance, considering they had Dale Steyn in their ranks. But, Valthaty and Gilchrist sealed the game inside the first five overs itself. Runs flowed at an easy pace off Steyn and his opening partner Ishant Sharma. However, it was Gony who had to bear the brunt of Valthaty’s attack 23 runs came in his one over, in which Valthaty charged him, drove him and lofted him with utter ease. Valthaty had an answer to every delivery Gony bowled. With no pressure on him, Gilchrist also found the going easy and soon eased into his game. In fact, he went on to beat Valthaty in the race for 50 in typical Gilchrist style. In all, he slammed five fours and three sixes before perishing to Mishra. Valthaty’s numbers were even more astounding, but not surprising considering his previous knock. He faced a mere 47 balls for his 75, clearing the boundary on as many as five occasions before he too fell to Mishra, the only wicket-taking bowler for Deccan.

Abhishek Nayar and Dinesh Karthik completed the formalities and the match was over with more than two overs to spare. A comprehensive win indeed.

Hussey set up Chennai’s win

Chennai Super Kings 183 for 5 beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (162 for 7) by 21 runs

Man of the Match: Michael Hussey

Michael Hussey batted through the entire Chennai Super Kings innings and scored a brisk, unbeaten 83 from 56 balls to set up an easy 21 run win for the Super Kings along with some good support from his team mates as well as the opposition, Royal Challengers Bangalore, who suffered their third defeat in the tournament. Hussey’s brilliance was well supported by quick cameos by Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina and M S Dhoni as, batting first, Chennai put up an impressive score of 183 for 5. Bangalore were miserable in the field, with misfields, overthrows and dropped catch from even their better fielders. While a couple of experienced bowlers did well to keep down the runs, the rest like Johan van der Wath, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Ryan Ninan were taken for plenty as Chennai set up a match-winning total. Then, when their turn with the bat came, Bangalore were equally miserable. They lost too many early wickets. And even though A B de Villiers and Virat Kohli got among the runs, the intent was clearly missing.

The match, thus, was essentially about Hussey and Chennai’s batting effort. Hussey hit eleven boundaries in all, eight of them coming on the on side, signifying that Bangalore’s bowlers had not got their act right. But, Hussey went along on his merry ways and found the fence on the other side too when the opportunity presented. In between, his running between the wickets was amazing, typifying the Aussie in him.

Hussey got good support from his mates as well. His opening partner Vijay raced to 31 from 21 balls. He slammed van der Wath for three big hits, which included one six, as Chennai shifted gears. At the other end, Hussey had it easy against Dilshan finding the fence on a couple of occasions. Even as Ninan sent back Vijay, Raina came in and kept Chennai ahead of the game. He got the better of both Ninan and van der Wath, racing to 29 in 16 balls, before handing over the baton his skipper Dhoni, who himself blasted 22 in 16 balls.

184 was a chaseable target provided Bangalore got off to a Valthaty-style start. On the contrary, the first three wickets, including the big one of Dilshan, fell with a mere 31 on board. And with de Villiers and Kohli also struggling to up the ante during their alliance, Bangalore were always playing catch up. No surprising, they came second by some distance.

It was a high scoring game, worthy of a final. Batting first, the Chennai Super Kings plundered 188 for 4 despite losing Srikkant Anirudha and Suresh Raina off the first two balls of the innings. They recovery was thanks to a superb counter attacking partnership between Subramaniam Badrinath and Murali Vijay and the expected late onslaught from skipper M S Dhoni. At the halfway stage, the Super Kings would have been extremely confident of victory. However, the Kings XI Punjab found their own king in Paul Valthaty, who singled handedly changed the fortunes of the game, playing one of the best T20 knocks ever. His numbers said it. He slammed an unbeaten 120 in 63 balls, which comprised of 19 fours and 2 sixes and undid all the good work of Chennai’s batsmen.

It was a surprise to see Valthaty open the innings with skipper Adam Gilchrist. However, by the end of the game, everyone knew why. Such was the ferocity of his attack that even Gilchrist reduced to a mere spectator in the wake of the Valthaty onslaught. The Mumbai lad was severe on each and every bowler. Ravichandran Ashwin, who is normally economical, was swept with ease and slammed on the on side as Punjab began in a rollicking fashion. Last match hero, Tim Southee was also taken for plenty was Valthaty, while Albie Morkel’s innocuous medium pacers were pulled and lofted with disdain. 61 were added for the opening wicket inside the first six overs, with Gilchrist’s contribution being a mere 19 before he perished to Morkel.

The rest of the batsmen came in and played decent cameos to assist Valthaty, not that he need much support from the other. He continued on his merry ways as the slow bowling of Shadab Jakati and Surav Randiv were introduced. Both were given severe treatments, slammed through the off side field. Dhoni tried everything, but for a change, nothing worked in his favour. Even the experienced Scott Styris was hit for the maximum. Even as Sunny Singh and Abhishek Nayar fell in quick succession, Valthaty was not deterred. He continued hitting out against Morkel in his second spell and took 17 from an over that literally sealed the game.

Valthaty completed his century off a mere 52 deliveries and, in the company of Dinesh Karthik, who also slammed a couple of crucial big hits to take Punjab home. The victory ensured that Praveen Kumar’s effort of two wickets in two balls did not go in vain. At one stage it did seem that it would be the case as Vijay and Badrinath laid a solid foundation. The former using power play and the latter his magical timing. They added well over a hundred in no time and gave the perfect opportunity to Dhoni to blast away, who did exactly that. However, it was Valthaty who made sure that Punjab eventually had the last laugh.

In T20 games, one wicket can often swing the momentum of even a one-sided match. And the opening game of the Indian Premier League between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders witnessed something similar. Chasing a modest 154 for victory, Kolkata were cruising at 93 for 1 in the 13^th over when Yusuf Pathan was brilliantly run out by a direct hit from who else but the man with the Midas touch, M S Dhoni. Prior to that, Manvinder Bisla and Jacques Kallis had got the team off to a flying start, adding 64 for the opening wicket inside nine overs before the former was stumped off Shadab Jakati’s bowling. Even when Yusuf left the target was more than achievable for KKR, but his dismissal began a procession of wickets, which ended in a heartbreaking two-run loss for the Shah Rukh Khan-owned franchise.

Kallis, who had till then batted in a sublime manner as expected of him, fell going for a cheeky paddle sweep. Ravichandran Ashwin once again getting the key wicket. The South African batted with aplomb and looked at ease during his half-century until an unnecessary attempt to prove that he too can bat T20 style led to his untimely downfall. By this time, Dhoni’s moves had, not surprisingly, began to work their wonders. The dangerous Eoin Morgan was stumped Dhoni in the 17^th over as the equation kept getting tougher for KKR. And, as if to make matters worse, skipper Gautam Gambhir relived his crazy run-out moment against Australia in the World Cup as Kolkata plunged into further trouble.

With 33 needed off the last three overs and their men gone Chennai looked favourites, but just like a wicket can turn things around in this format of the game so can one big over. And Kolkata got one such in the penultimate over bowled by Sri Lankan Suraj Randiv. Laxmi Ratan Shukla first reverse-swept him to the boundary ropes following which Manoj Tiwary hit to massive sixes on the leg side. KKR were back in the contest and with a bag. However, there was further drama in store as Randiv dismissed Tiwary off the last ball of his over to keep Chennai in the hunt as well.

Nine were needed off the last over, but Tim Southee only conceded six. He was bowled a tight previous over as well, but it was undoubtedly the last over which the Chennai fans would cherish more. Shukla perished trying to finish off the game for KKR, which meant too much was expected of Iqbal Abdulla and Rajat Bhatia, especially when perfect yorker after yorker was being fired at them. Eventually, Dhoni’s charm worked.

It hadn’t looked the case when the defending champions put up a mere 153 on board, which was thanks to a mature effort by Srikkanth Anirudha, who slammed 64 off 55 balls as the others around him struggled. Raina and Dhoni did play good cameos, but their strike rates weren’t lightning by T20 standards. In the end, if they managed to cross 150 it was due to a couple of big hits by Albie Morkel towards the end of the innings. It was enough for Dhoni and his men to eke out a close victory.

IPL 4

The fourth season of the Indian Premier League or IPL 4 or IPL 2011 is being held from April 8 to May 28. IPL 4 begins less than a week after the cricket World Cup final at Wankhede Stadium on April 2. The opening ceremony will be held in Chennai, with Chennai Super Kings also being the defending champions. Unlike the previous years, which featured eight teams, this edition will see 10 teams taking part. Pune Warriors and Kochi Tuskers Kerala are the two new teams to have joined the league.

New format

With the introduction of two new teams, the format has also been tweaked. This new arrangement will feature 74 matches. This was worked out since staying with the older format would have meant playing a whopping 94 matches compared to the 60 in the earlier seasons, where teams played each other twice in the league stage.

As per the new format, the ten teams have been split into two groups of five each, but the IPL standings table will not be separate. In the group stage, each team plays 14 games. First, they face the other four teams in their group two times each (one home and one away game). Further, the four teams in the group will play once match against the four teams placed in the other group. Finally, each team will play two league matches home or away against a fifth team that is selected randomly.

A four-game playoff stage will then be held after the group stage. The top 2 teams in the points table will play each other in first playoff. The winner of this match will straightaway make it to the final. The second playoff will be between the third and fourth ranked team. The loser of this game will be knocked out of the tournament, but the winner will face the loser of the first playoff in the third playoff. Whoever wins this match will become the second finalist.

The top three teams will also qualify for the 2011 Champions League Twenty20. As per the revised format, the qualifying teams will be the top two teams of the group stage and the winner of the second playoff.

The auctions

Fresh auctions for players for this season were held on January 8 and 9. The auction put up a total of 350 players for bidding. Each player in the auction pool had a bidding base price under which franchise owners could not bid. Players were allowed to set their base price between $200,000 to $400,000. After the bidding the top 15 priced players sold stood as follows:

Gautam Gambhir – 2.4 Million US$ (Kolkata)

Yusuf Pathan – 2.1 Million US$ (Kolkata)

Robin Uthappa – 2.1 Million US$ (Pune)

Rohit Sharma – 2 Million US$ (Mumbai)

Irfan Pathan – 1.9 Million US$ (Delhi)

Yuvraj Singh – 1.8 Million US$ (Pune)

Saurabh Tiwary – 1.6 Million US$ (Bangalore)

Mahela Jayawardene -1.5 Million US$ (Kochi)

David Hussey -1.4 Million US$ (Punjab)

Dale Steyn – 1.2 Million US$ (Deccan)

Muttiah Muralitharan – 1.1 Million US$ (Kochi)

AB de Villiers – 1.1 Million US$ (Bangalore)

Cameron White – 1.1 Million US$ (Deccan)

Jacques Kallis – 1.1 Million US$ (Kolkata)

Ross Taylor – 1 Million US$ (Rajasthan)

Some big names in international cricket remained unsold after the auctions. They included Sourav Ganguly, Brian Lara, Mark Boucher and Herschelle Gibbs.

Previous winners

Rajasthan Royals won by inaugural edition in 2008 by defeating Chennai Super Kings in a last ball thriller. In 2009, the venue was shifted to South Africa owing to general elections in the country. Deccan Chargers, who had finished last in the first edition, trumped Royal Challengers Bangalore in the final, to be crowned champions. And, in last year’s final M S Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings defeated Mumbai’s Indians by 22 runs to become the third team to win the crown.

IPL 4 teams

Chennai Super Kings

Chennai Super Kings

Owner: India Cements

MS Dhoni (Cap), Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay, Michael Hussey, Scott Styris, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Albie Morkel, Tim Southee, Subramaniam Badrinath, George Bailey, Doug Bollinger, Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Ben Hilfenhaus, Shadab Jakati, Joginder Sharma, Suraj Randiv, Nuwan Kulasekara, Srikkanth Anirudha, Yo Mahesh, Sudeep Tyagi, Abhinav Mukund, Kuthethurshri Vasudevadas, Ganapathi Vignesh

Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians

Owner: Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries

Sachin Tendulkar (Cap), Kieron Pollard, Andrew Symonds, Rohit Sharma, James Franklin, Harbhajan Singh, Lasith Malinga, Munaf Patel, Davy Jacobs, Clint McKay, ADilhara Fernando, mbati Rayudu, Dhawal Kulkarni, Ali Murtaza, Abu Nechim, Aiden Blizzard, Yuzvendra Chahal, Moises Henriques, Sarul Kanwar, Rajagopal Sathish, Tirumalasetti Suman, Pawan Suyal, Aditya Tare (wk), Santosh Yadav, Suryakumar Yadav

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Owner: Vijay Mallaya

Daniel Vettori (Cap), Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Saurabh Tiwary, Cheteshwar Pujara, Mohammad Kaif, Abhimanyu Mithun, Zaheer Khan, Charl Langeveldt, Dirk Nannes, Ryan Ninan, Asad Pathan, Luke Pomersbach, Rilee Rossouw, Johan van der Wath, Jonathan Vandiar, Mayank Agarwal, Sreenath Aravind, Arun Karthik, BN Bharath, Raju Bhatkal, Abrar Kazi, Nuwan Pradeep, Muralidharen Gautam

Delhi Daredevils

Delhi Daredevils

Owner: GMR Group

Virender Sehwag (Cap), David Warner, Naman Ojha (wk), Irfan Pathan, James Hopes, Colin Ingram, Andrew McDonald, Morne Morkel, Roelof van der Merwe, Venugopal Rao, Umesh Yadav, Ajit Agarkar, Varun Aaron, Travis Birt, Robin Bist, Unmukt Chand, Ajit Chandila, Ashok Dinda , Aaron Finch, Robert Frylinckl, Yogesh Nagar, Rajesh Pawar, Aavishkar Salvi, Sridharan Sriram, Vikas Mishra, Matthew Wade, Tejashwi Yadav, Vivek Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem, Prashant Naik

Kolkata Knight Riders

Kolkata Knight Riders

Owners: Shahrukh Khan, Juhi Chawla & Jai Mehta (Red Chillies Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.)

Gautam Gambhir (Cap), Yusuf Pathan, Jacques Kallis, Brad Haddin (wk), Brett Lee, Shakib Al Hasan, Eoin Morgan, Jaidev Unadkat, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Iqbal Abdulla, Sarabjit Ladda, Rajat Bhatia, Manvinder Bisla, Shreevats Goswami, James Pattinson, Pradeep Sangwan, Shami Ahmed, Laxmi Shukla, Ryan ten Doeschate, Manoj Tiwary

Deccan Chargers

Deccan Chargers

Owners: Deccan Chronicle, Deccan Chargers Sporting Ventures

Kumar Sangakkara (Cap/wk), Kevin Pietersen, Cameron White, Jean-Paul Duminy, Shikhar Dhawan, Michael Lumb, Ishant Sharma, Dale Steyn, Rusty Theron, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, Ashish Reddy, Anand Rajan, Ankit Sharma, Akash Bhandari, Bharat Chipli, Daniel Christian, Kedar Devdhar, Manpreet Gony, Harmeet Singh, Ishank Jaggi, Chris Lynn, Dwaraka Ravi Teja, Jaydev Shah, Sunny Sohal, Arjun Yadav, Ishan Malhotra

Kings XI Punjab

Kings XI Punjab

Owners: Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia, Karan Paul & Mohit Burman

Adam Gilchrist (Cap/wk), Shaun Marsh, David Hussey, Stuart Broad, Piyush Chawla, Ryan Harris, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Praveen Kumar, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Abhishek Nayar, Ryan McLaren, Love Ablish, Siddharth Chitnis, Vikramjeet Malik, Nathan Rimmington, Nitin Saini, Shalabh Srivastava, Sunny Singh, Amit Yadav, Bhargav Bhatt, Bipul Sharma, Mandeep Singh, Paras Dogra, Paul Valthaty

Rajasthan Royals

Rajasthan Royals

Owners: Emerging Media, Shilpa Shetty & Raj Kundra

Shane Warne (Cap), Shane Watson, Ross Taylor, Shaun Tait, Rahul Dravid, Paul Collingwood, Johan Botha, Swapnil Asnodkar, Deepak Chahar, Aakash Chopra, Aditya Dole, Ashok Menaria, Pankaj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Abhishek Raut, Siddharth Trivedi, Dishant Harendra Yagnik, Ankeet Chavan, Nayan Doshi, Samad Fallah, Dinesh Salunkhe, Amit Singh, Stuart Binny, Deepak Chahar, Faiz Fazal, Sumit Narwal, Amit Paunikar, Pinal Shah

Pune Warriors

Pune Warriors

Owner: Sahara Group

Yuvraj Singh (Cap), Robin Uthappa, Graeme Smith, Jesse Ryder, Callum Ferguson, Murali Kartik, Ashish Nehra, Nathan McCullum, Angelo Mathews, Wayne Parnell, Jerome Taylor, Tim Paine (wk), Dheeraj Jadhav, Ganesh Gaikwad, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Kamran Khan, Harshad Khadiwale, Mitchell Marsh, Shrikant Mundhe, Alfonso Thomas, Eklavya Dwivedi, Mohnish Mishra, Manish Pandey, Sachin Rana, Rahul Sharma, Imtiyaz Ahmed, Harpreet Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mithun Manhas, Shrikant Wagh

Kochi Tuskers Kerala

Kochi Tuskers Kerala

Owner: Kochi Cricket Pvt Ltd

Mahela Jayawardene (Cap), Brendon McCullum, Michael Klinger, Owais Shah, VVS Laxman, Brad Hodge, Steve O’Keefe, Ravindra Jadeja, Balachandra Akhil, Deepak Chougule, Gnaneswara Rao, Raiphi Gomez, Parthiv Patel (wk), Muttiah Muralitharan, John Hastings, Sreesanth, Thisara Perera, Ramesh Powar, RP Singh, Steven Smith, Kedar Jadhav, Chandan Madan, Sushant Marathe, Prasanth Padmanabhan

Schedule

Apr 8

Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Chennai.

Apr 9

Deccan Chargers vs Rajasthan Royals in Hyderabad.

Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Kochi.

Apr 10

Delhi Daredevils vs Mumbai Indians in Delhi.

Pune Warriors vs Kings XI Punjab in Navi Mumbai.

Apr 11

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Deccan Chargers in Kolkata.

Apr 12

Rajasthan Royals vs Delhi Daredevils in Jaipur

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Mumbai Indians in Bangalore.

Apr 13

Kings XI Punjab vs Chennai Super Kings in Mohali.

Pune Warriors vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Navi Mumbai.

Apr 14

Deccan Chargers vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Hyderabad.

Apr 15

Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Jaipur.

Mumbai Indians vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Mumbai.

Apr 16

Chennai Super Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Chennai.

Deccan Chargers vs Kings XI Punjab in Hyderabad.

Apr 17

Pune Warriors vs Delhi Daredevils in Navi Mumbai.

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals in Kolkata.

Apr 18

Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Chennai Super Kings in Kochi.

Apr 19

Delhi Daredevils vs Deccan Chargers in Delhi.

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Rajasthan Royals in Bangalore.

Apr 20

Mumbai Indians vs Pune Warriors in Mumbai.

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Kolkata.

Apr 21

Kings XI Punjab vs Rajasthan Royals in Mohali.

Apr 22

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Kolkata.

Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings in Mumbai.

Apr 23

Delhi Daredevils vs Kings XI Punjab in Delhi.

Apr 24

Deccan Chargers vs Mumbai Indians in Hyderabad.

Rajasthan Royals vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Jaipur.

Apr 25

Chennai Super Kings vs Pune Warriors in Chennai.

Apr 26

Delhi Daredevils vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Delhi.

Apr 27

Pune Warriors vs Chennai Super Kings in Navi Mumbai.

Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Deccan Chargers in Kochi.

Apr 28

Delhi Daredevils vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Delhi.

Apr 29

Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians in Jaipur.

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Pune Warriors in Bangalore.

Apr 30

Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Delhi Daredevils in Kochi.

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kings XI Punjab in Kolkata.

May 1

Rajasthan Royals vs Pune Warriors in Jaipur.

Chennai Super Kings vs Deccan Chargers in Chennai.

May 2

Mumbai Indians vs Kings XI Punjab in Mumbai.

Delhi Daredevils vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Delhi.

May 3

Deccan Chargers vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Hyderabad.

May 4

Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals in Chennai.

Pune Warriors vs Mumbai Indians in Navi Mumbai.

May 5

Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Kochi.

Deccan Chargers vs Delhi Daredevils in Hyderabad.

May 6

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kings XI Punjab in Bangalore.

May 7

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings in Kolkata.

Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Daredevils in Mumbai.

May 8

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Bangalore.

Kings XI Punjab vs Pune Warriors in Mohali.

May 9

Rajasthan Royals vs Chennai Super Kings in Jaipur.

May 10

Deccan Chargers vs Pune Warriors in Hyderabad.

Kings XI Punjab vs Mumbai Indians in Mohali.

May 11

Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Jaipur.

May 12

Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Daredevils in Chennai.

May 13

Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Kings XI Punjab in Indore.

May 14

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Bangalore.

Mumbai Indians vs Deccan Chargers in Mumbai.

May 15

Kings XI Punjab vs Delhi Daredevils in Dharamsala.

Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Rajasthan Royals in Indore.

May 16

Pune Warriors vs Deccan Chargers in Navi Mumbai.

May 17

Kings XI Punjab vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Dharamsala.

May 18

Chennai Super Kings vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Chennai.

May 19

Pune Warriors vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Navi Mumbai.

May 20

Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals in Mumbai.

May 21

Kings XI Punjab vs Deccan Chargers in Dharamsala.

Delhi Daredevils vs Pune Warriors in Delhi.

May 22

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Chennai Super Kings in Bangalore.

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians in Kolkata.

May 24

Qualifier 1: First Placed Team vs Second Placed Team in Mumbai.

May 25

Eliminator: Third Placed Team vs Fourth Placed Team in Mumbai.

May 27

Qualifier 2: Winner of Eliminator vs Loser of Qualifier 1 in Chennai.

May 28

Final: Winner of Qualifier 1 vs Winner of Qualifier 2 in Chennai.

Chennai Super Kings

The finale battle was always going to be one between a supremely balanced outfit and a challenging but not dominant opposition. Having said that, the scales can easily tilt in any one direction in a 20-20 battle.

That wasn’t to be though as favourites and IPL champions Chennai Super Kings crushed the Warriors to deservingly lift the Champions League T20 trophy. While the Warriors can be proud of themselves for having surprised many and coming thus far, the lack of depth in their batting and inadequate support for spinner Johan Botha did them in at the final hurdle.

Conversely, Chennai had the ammunition to recover even after getting off to a poor start and once on top ensured they stayed there till the end, like champion teams do.

For Warriors to have a fair chance of winning, they needed their skipper Davy Jacobs to be in top form yet again. And the way things began would have made the home team rather optimistic. The dashing opener plundered quite a few boundaries to give his side the early advantage.

However, the challenge did not last long enough to trouble Chennai. As on so many previous occasions, it was the off-spin of the lanky Ravichandran Ashwin that did the trick. Once Jacobs failed to connect a reverse sweep off Ashwin, it all went downhill for Warriors.

The middle-order batting was always a worry for Warriors, and it was mainly due to Jacobs that they managed to get this far despite the batting failures. And although his contribution in the final can by no means be considered a failure, he was bound a get a lower score.

Unfortunate for the skipper and his team that it had to come on the big day. It was also sad to see that Craig Thyssen apart, no one made a decent contribution with the bat after the departure of their inspirational skipper. The batting woes of Warriors all but set up a disappointing one-sided final. Surely the Chennai Super Kings couldn’t flounder considering the kind of form they were in and the commanding batting line-up they possessed.

Like with their batting, a similar tale was retold with the Warriors’ bowling. Johan Botha held one up end and did not allow the runs to leak. But, they was little support from the others. The early breakthrough never came and, as a result, the Super Kings did not have to take any sort of risk when Botha came into the attack. He was seen off watchfully.

A couple of wickets were claimed, but that was hardly some consolation. The writing was on the wall much before then. Chennai openers Michael Hussey and Murali Vijay had yet another match-winning partnership to offer. The left-hand right hand combination have complemented each other perfectly in the series and the final was no different.

While Vijay went for the big strokes, Hussey was content playing the anchor even whilst scoring at a brisk pace. Such was the magnitude of their opening stand that the services of semi-final hero were hardly needed, and he ended up with a failure he wouldn’t bother about.

Even though the Chennai openers set up the victory charge perfectly for their side, it was undoubtedly the spinners who put them on the road for victory. While Ashwin made the crucial strike, it was Muralitharan who ensured the advantage was completely capitalised, destroying the middle-order and nullifying Warriors’ advantage of winning the toss.

The others just had to do the support role as Chennai marched to their second consecutive T20 title, adding to the IPL glory. It was another feather in M S Dhoni’s cap and should silence doubts over his captaincy credentials, if there still are any.

Chennai Super Kings vs Royal challengers Bangalore

It will be great from India’s point of view that at least one of the IPL teams will make it to the summit clash of the Champions League T20. That might be either the Chennai Super Kings or the Bangalore Royal Challengers, depending on who gets the better of the other in the first semi-final at Durban. Both teams are equally matched and well-balanced, a fact their head-to-head record demonstrates – Bangalore have won four and Chennai three. And so, another tight contest can be expected on the big Friday.

Interestingly, both teams have charted a similar path enroute to get to the last four. It was only a victory in their final league game that got them through. However, the mistakes can’t be repeated now as the tournament heads into the knockout stage. It would be difficult to say who holds the advantage since both Bangalore and Chennai have varied strengths.

While Bangalore have a solid pace attack backed by the experienced hand of their leading spinner and skipper Anil Kumble, Chennai rely heaving on spin, with both R Ashwin and Muralitharan tasting a good amount of success. Even though the Durban pitch is expected to favour the faster men more than the slower bowlers, Ashwin and Murali are good enough to trouble the best, irrespective of the surface. And so, it might all boil down to the batting of the two sides, which boasts of rather impressive names.

There is the rock solid Rahul Dravid at the top of the order along with the rollicking Manish Pandey, who have been giving Bangalore worthy starts. And then, there is Virat Kohli, who has been scintillating down the order, notwithstanding the mixed results. The problem for Bangalore lies in between. Ross Taylor hasn’t lived up to the expectations yet. But, he is experienced enough to come good on the big day. Also, Robin Uthappa and Cameron White will get another chance to enhance their big-hitting reputation. On their day, they can be the most destructive.

If Bangalore’s batting line is imposing, Chennai need now worry. They have their own arms of giants. The experiment of Michael Hussey at the top of the order with Murali Vijay has worked nicely thus far and should continue. Another good opening stand would mean the big hitters like Raina, Dhoni and Anirudha can free their arms from the word go. And if any from the trio gets going, Bangalore’s bowlers, especially the ones short on pace like Vinay Kumar and Praveen Kumar, can be taken to the cleaners.

As if to set up everything evenly, both sides also have a South African injury problem and that too with their chief all-rounder. However, while Jacques Kallis has been ruled out of the tournament with a neck injury, Albie Morkel can still make it to Chennai’s XI provided he has recovered from his illness. In that case, it would be advantage Chennai, since Morkel will give his side better balance as compared to Bangalore.

Having weighed all permutations and combinations, a close contest seems imminent. Over to the teams to live up to the bidding.

Suresh Raina

Suresh Raina and Murli Vijay combined forces in a brutal manner to help Chennai Super Kings maul a miserable Wayamba by a massive margin of 97 runs. The left-right hand duo of Raina and Vijay smashed 137 runs in their match-winning partnership as Chennai posted exactly 200 for the loss of three wickets.

In reply, even the entire Wayamba side could not the partnership as they succumbed to 103 all out. None of the batsmen from the Lankan side could make any sort of an impact on a pitch that had nothing extraordinary for the bowlers. Still, the pressure of runs was just too much for them to handle. It has to be said though that it was poor bowling from Wayamba that let them down.

The bowling was totally wayward – short, full or on an easily driving length. And to their credit, Raina and Vijay took the best possible advantage for it. On this day, everything went Vijay’s way. And so, he brought out those delectable flicks, soothing drives and controlled pulls with utmost success. At the other end, the veteran Australian Matthew Hayden was struggling to time the ball. But Vijay ensured that the scoring rate wasn’t affected drastically. And once Hayden fell, Raina and Vijay launched their gregarious assault.

The mediocrity of the Wayamba attack enabled Vijay to move around in the crease and picks the gaps at ease and, at other times, clear the field. twenty three runs were leaked in the fifth over, bowled by Chanaka Welegedara. And the smashing paid did not look back after that. Every time it looked that one was dominating the bowling attack, the other would could come out with something equally impressive, or even better. And the Wayamba bowlers had no clue at all how to stop the rut.

Some of Raina’s memorable strokes included an inside-out hit six off Thisara Perera to start off with. As spin and medium pace was introduced, he swept, drove and lofted them with consummate ease. Once India’s biggest nemesis, Ajantha Mendis was hoicked for four biggies in the same direction even though the lengths of all the deliveries were different. The crowds were enjoying the barrage, while, at the same time, searching for cover. Wayamba pulled things back to an extent when Vijay and Raina fell off consecutive deliveries and a possible score of 220 was kept down to 200. Still, it was going to be a hugely challenging chase.

As it turned out, the Wayamba batsmen had nothing to offer in the form of resistance. For them to have a chance, Mahela Jayawardene needed to come up with a chanceless knock. Unfortunately for the Lankan side, he perished as early as the fourth over, cutting Doug Bollinger to Muttiah Muralitharan. The rest followed suit, as if the perfect example had been set.

The Chennai bowlers helped themselves to some impressive figures – off spinner R Ashwin grabbing four wickets and deserving each one of them as well. Home boy Albie Morkel also made his presence felt. While he did not have much to do with the bat thanks to Raina and Vijay, he chipped in with three wickets, to break the back of Wayamba’s chase. It was just all too easy for the IPL champions.

Subramaniam Badinath

Subramaniam Badinath came up with another brilliant performance as the Indian Premier League champions, the Chennai Super Kings went on to trounce the Champions from New Zealand by a mammoth 57 runs in what was the 3rd match of the tournament.

Having won the toss earlier in the day, MS Dhoni predictably chose to bat once again. Both captains seemed to have got what they wanted with Dhoni wanting to bat and How to bowl. The pitch looked a typical early season Durban wicket with a tinge of green on it and batsman having to be weary of the immediate new ball. The Chennai Super Kings went in with a similar team that one them the IPL earlier this year while the Central Stags were forced to do without the services of Ross Taylor and Jacob Oram.

Having said this, the Stags had the super kings on the mat early on in the match as the Super kings who decided to pick Hayden over hussey lost the former in the first over itself as hayden top edged a short delivery of Michael Mayson only to be caught at deep square leg. The Super kings were in trouble straight away as the wicket of Hayden was followed by that of Raina who fell to another ball and managed to fend it away to the waiting slip cordon.

Badrinath and Vijay managed to string a small partnership together before the latter flayed at one outside the off stump and was caught at slip. Dhoni threw in another surprise where he promoted Anirudh Srikkanth, son of former Indian opener K Srikkanth ahead of himself. Fortunately for the Super Kings the duo played sensible cricket aided by the bowling from the Stags as the total raced to 113 where Srikkanth was dismissed for an impressive 42 coming of just 29 deliveries. Local boy, Albie Morkel was promoted ahead of MS Dhoni once again and Morkel did not disappoint.

Morkel with his short cameo (26 of 15 balls) helped provide the impetus to the Super kings total thus aiding them get to a respectable total of 151 on a fast and seaming deck with the pitch offering some spungy bounce.

The bowling from the stags looked impressive early on in the piece but as the innings wore on the zip seamed to deteriorate. One could argue whether their choice of 4 seamers was the right one with a pitch offering some spungy bounce. Having said this, at the first look it looked a very green wicket.

Given a choice at the beginning of the match the Stags would have fancied themselves to get to a target of 152. However, that was not to be as the Stags were bundled out for a paltry 94.

Nothing seemed to be going right for the stags. There’s nothing much to comment on about their batting. A lack lustre display to say the least. However, a lot to talk about the bowling of the Super king bowlers. They were spot on, Bollinger up front was supported brilliantly by Albie Morkel who seems to have tinkered a wee bit with his action after inconsistent bowling displays early in his career. Dhoni keeping in mind the conditions refrained from using R Ashwin to open the bowling, something he did quite regularly in the IPL. The other off spinner, the legend, dint seem to look as if he was out of the game for a bit. Murali just went about work candidly, “going through the motions is what they would say” returning brilliant figures of 2 for 15 in his quota of 4 overs.

Laxmipathy Balaji was brilliant as he got seam movement of the wicket more than anything else and bagged another 3 for improving his Twenty 20 record all the time.

The problem with the Central districts is, the resources. As much as they would want to there’s not much that they can do with their team line up. The Super Kings played like champions, in a very professional manner and are huge threat to the opponents. A formidable side, loaded with former international greats and potential ones in the future.

The Central Districts have another huge match coming up, something that could decide how they go in the competition. They play the favourites of the tournament, the Victorian Bushrangers (Champions from the KFC BIG BASH Down under) in 3 days time and have a lot of work to do. The super kings on the other hand will be licking their fingers in anticipation as they go head to head with Wayamba. A loss for Wayamba and they could well be on their way out.

Lots to look forward to in the coming week. Another exciting week of sports.