Cricket Tournaments

Kochi Tuskers Kerala 135 for 3 beat Chennai Super Kings 131 for 4 by seven wickets (D/L method)

Man of the match: Brendon McCullum

A superlative knock of 47 from 33 balls and crucial cameos from Parthiv Patel and Brad Hodge enabled Kochi Tuskers Kerala to upset reigning champs Chennai Super Kings by a comfortable margin of seven wickets in a rail curtailed game at Kochi’s Nehru Stadium. Earlier, Chennai struggled their way to 131 for 7 in 17 overs, which was build on the back of an 18 ball 28 from Murali Vijay and a laboured half century from Suresh Raina. The Duckworth Lewis revised the target to 135, which the home team got to without much trouble thanks to McCullum’s early burst.

The Kiwi opener was in his elements right from the very start. He began by depositing Albie Morkel straight over his head and never looked back from there. Continuing to be severe on Morkel, McCullum slammed him through his favoured extra cover region as well. The only consolation for Morkel was that he want the only one being taken to the cleaners. Doug Bollinger too was treated the same way when he resorted to bowling length. And when Shadab Jakati got a chance to bowl, he too was taken for plenty. As such, M S Dhoni pinned a lot of his hopes on Tim Southee, who is known to bowl some great yorkers. However, he too strayed in line and was taken away for boundaries.

At the other end, Mahela Jayawardene departed after a couple of big hits off R Ashwin. But, McCullum soon found solid company in the form of little Parthiv Patel. The diminutive wicket keeper played a couple of lovely drives apart from miscuing a few to the boundary to keep Kochi on par with the run rate. McCullum eventually departed miscuing Ashwin while Patel also fell while trying to clear the boundary. But, Hodge and Ravindra Jadeja batted sensibly to see their team through without much trouble and with as many as two overs to spare, the duo opening up their arms towards the end after getting set.

In contrast, Chennai found the going much tougher with the bat. It did not help that there was rain around, and the match had to be stopped after nine overs. In that time, Chennai lost the big wicket of Michael Hussey, who was done in by the conditions, which made even R P Singh look lethal. Vijay was the only batsman for Chennai who looked in control of the proceedings. But, he too threw his wicket away, gifting it to Thisara Perera, when on 28. Raina did get a half century, but he clearly was undone by the conditions. This is apparent from the fact that he took 40 balls to complete his 50, an innings replete with edges and mishits, with only luck favouring him.

The story wasn’t too different with S Badrinath and even Dhoni struggled to break the shackles. R P Singh troubled him towards the end with some nagging yorkers as Dhoni managed on 14 in 13 balls. A big hit by Morkel improved their score marginally. But, once McCullum unleashed his fury, it was clear Chennai hadn’t got enough runs on the board.

Pune Warriors 113 for 3 beat Kings XI Punjab 112 for 8 by 7 wickets.

Man of the match: Shrikant Wagh

Two unknown quantities came to the fore for Pune Warriors in their debut game at the Indian Premier League as they crushed Kings XI Punjab by 7 wickets and 41 balls to spare at the D.Y. Patil Stadium in Mumbai. The two gentlemen we are talking about are the Warriors’ opening bowlers – Alfonso Thomas and Shrikant Wagh. They struck four deadly blows in as many overs as Punjab were left reeling at a pathetic 9/4. It all began with the dismissal of Punjab skipper Adam Gilchrist, who walked after nicking Thomas behind the wickets. This was in the first over of the game. In the very next over, Wagh had Shaun Marsh caught at short fine leg as Punjab got off to a disastrous start. But things were only to get worse. Paul Valthaty fell to Thomas in the third over and, in the next, the experienced Dinesh Karthik also perished, holing out to third man.

Following the disastrous start, Punjab needed a miracle to recover. But, it wasn’t to be as Sunny Singh and Abhishek Nayar, after hitting a few impressive strokes, also threw their wickets away. Singh’s dismissal was embarrassing with a confusing leading to both players heading to the same end and trying to make their ground safely. And when Nayar fell soon after, presenting a catch to opposition skipper Yuvraj Singh off Jesse Ryder’s bowling, the scorecard read an equally miserable 45 for 6 in the ninth over.

At that stage, it seemed almost certain that Punjab wouldn’t even touch the 100 mark. But, thanks to a fighting effort by Ryan McLaren and some support from Piyush Chawla, they did get there. McLaren judged the situation well and rotated the strike in the company of Chawla, hitting the odd ball to the fence, whenever the rare opportunity came by. But, he did explode towards the end and finished with six fours and a six in his 43-ball 51. Had Chawla stayed with him for longer, they could have got a few more runs. However, when on 15, Wagh came back to break the resistance and have the leggie caught behind. To his credit, Chawla assisted McLaren in pushing the score from 45 to 80. Thanks to the latter, Punjab went into the halfway mark with a brief sense of confidence of at least crossing the three figure mark.

As if to prove that the momentum had indeed shifted, Praveen Kumar sent back Graeme Smith first ball, caught by their star batting performer McLaren. But, the joy was short-lived. Jesse Ryder and Mithun Manhas combined forces to take the attack into the Punjab camp. They were boundary balls on offer almost every over as the pressure eased on the batting side in no time. Both Ryder and Manhas raced into their 30s, but the excitement of finishing the game early led to their downfall. At 68 for 3, Gilchrist’s men still had the faintest of hopes. But Robin Uthappa and Yuvraj Singh combined to hit three big sixes and seal the game in a flash. The early loss of too many wickets had clearly come back to haunt the Kings.

Mumbai Indians (99/2) beat Delhi Darevils (95) by 8 wickets

Man of the match: Lasith Malinga

When Lasith Malinga is no fire, even the best struggle. And so, it wasn’t that tough an ask for the Sri Lankan slinger against an inexperienced Delhi Daredevils side. He yorked four with toe-crushing deliveries and fooled the fifth with a slower one to end with unbelievable figures of 5/13 and shoot Virender Sehwag’s team out for a miserable 95. In response, the Sachin Tendulkar led-Mumbai Indians lost a couple of wickets to some good bowling and an exceptional piece of fielding. But that was about it as, devoid of any kind of pressure, Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma saw the team home in an unhurried fashion.

Undoubtedly, it was Malinga’s two spells which made all the difference and the result a foregone conclusion. Among a bunch of relatively unknown players, openers David Warner and Sehwag were Delhi major hope, as the home team batted first. However, Malinga had his own plans. He cleaned up Warner and Unmukt Chand with his trademark deliveries in his first over and the second over of the innings. Later, when a partnership was developing for the Daredevils, he returned to derail them again. Malinga began his destruction act part two by bowling Venugopal Rao (26) with yet another and followed it by breaking Morne Morkel’s bat, a precursor to yet another ‘bowled Malinga’ dismissal. As if for variation sake, he foxed Ashok Dinda with a slower one to claim his five for.

Thanks to Malinga’s sensational spell, the other bowlers too faced no pressure at all. Harbhajan Singh, who opened the innings, bowled a tight spell of 2/14 and was rewarded as batsmen were forced to go after him, with no runs coming from Malinga’s bowling. Ali Murtaza chipped in with the crucial wicket of Delhi top scorer Naman Ojha, while the rest of the bowlers had precious little to do.

The only hope Delhi had of a recovery from a disastrous start came to the fore during the partnership between Ojha and Rao. The duo was forced to rebuild the innings in 50-over style, with singles and twos interspersed with the odd boundary. With them at the crease, Delhi had a semblance of hope, but the alliance did not last long enough. Ojha perished trying to go for the requisite big hit, while Rao became another victim of Malinga’s yorking beauties. Earlier, skipper Sehwag tried to stem the rot, making an uncharacteristic 19, which included playing out a maiden off Malinga. But, a misunderstanding with Aaron Finch led to his downfall, as Tendulkar hit down the stumps to catch his opposite number short of the crease. An equally bigger blow was in store for Delhi as their priciest buy, Irfan Pathan, lasted a solitary ball, falling prey to a run out after another misunderstanding.

For Delhi to make a match out of it, they needed something Malingaesque with the ball. Morkel began well claiming Davy Jacobs very early in the piece and then a Jonty Rhodes-type fielding effort by Roelof van der Merwe saw the back on Ambati Rayadu. But, Tendulkar and Sharma knocked down the target with rather ease thereafter. There was no way back for Delhi following the Malinga show.

Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Kochi Tuskers Kerala by 5 wickets

(Challengers: 162/4(, Kochi: 161/5). Man of the match: AB de Villiers

Two poor overs from Kochi Tuskers Kerala in crunch situation, which was preceded by the some shoddy batting display, and a great exhibition of big hitting for A B de Villiers saw Royal Challengers Bangalore shut out the debutants Kochi Tuskers Kerala in third game of IPL 4. At one stage, Kochi looked as if they possessed the upper hand, with 59 needed off the last six overs. However, R P Singh sprayed it all over the place in the 15^th over, and Saurabh Tiwary and de Villiers capitalized on it, punishing the left arm seamer for 15 runs.

With Singh guilty of bowling length, Kochi skipper Mahela Jayawardene was forced to turn to Raiphi Gomez, who hadn’t bowled till then. Unfortunately, Jayawardene did not have Warne-like luck or the Midas touch of Dhoni. While Gomez did send back Tiwary, caught going for the big shot, de Villiers took a liking to him, spanking him for two sixes on the on side and finishing off the over with a smacking boundary. As many as 20 runs came off the Gomez over, and despite the wicket, the result was now a foregone conclusion.

Asad Pathan came in and spanked three fours off R. Vinay Kumar, and the game was over in a flash. What was supposed to be a close contest had turned into a no contest in a mere 10 balls, with Bangalore eventually cruising home by six wickets. A lot was expected of home boy S. Sreesanth, but he came out with his erratic streak once again, conceding 15 in one of his overs, to swing the momentum Bangalore’s way.

It was a highly disappointing result for Kochi in their debut especially considering the manner in which they started. Brendon McCullum was at his attacking best while VVS Laxman proved that there is still some place for the sublime in his game as the duo added exactly 80 in nine overs. McCullum began well with a customary boundary off Zaheer Khan before taking the usually economical Dirk Nannes to the cleaners. He drove and pull the left arm seamer with aplomb as Nannes had to answer to McCullum’s exploits.

While the New Zealander went on the attack, Laxman too played his part. He crunched a couple of VVSesque boundaries to keep the scoreboard flowing, but shocked one and all, including himself, by flat batting Abhimanyu Mithun straight down the ground for a maximum. Unfortunately, the stroke gave Laxman false confidence as they tried to slog sweep his way against Tillakaratne Dilshan but perished caught in the deep. Laxman knew this was not his strength and even admonished himself. As he was walking back to pavilion, little did Laxman know that he had given Bangalore a foot in the door, which would transform into an eventual victory.

Following Laxman’s dismissal, innings just fell apart. McCullum perished to Virat Kohli for 45, his cute paddle sweep not working for a change. Skipper Jayawardene and Brad Hodge got stuck in the midst of a superb spell from Daniel Vettori. Taking over from Kumble, the left-arm spinner returned with exceptional figures of 01/17 from his four overs, including the wicket of his opposite number. Some smart batting from Ravindra Jadeja enabled them to cross 160, a highly disappointing total considering their flashing start, and one which was well below par in the wake of de Villiers’ onslaught.

Rajasthan Royals beat Deccan Chargers by 8 wickets

(Royals: 141/2), Chargers (137/8). Man of the match: Siddharth Trivedi

Deccan Chargers, led by Kumar Sangakkara, were clearly the more talented of the two sides, but Shane Warne and his brigade were cunning enough to help Rajasthan Royals outwit the Deccan charge. First, Siddharth Trivedi came up with a super effort of 3/15 from his allotted 4 overs and then Johan Botha, promoted to number three, cracked a sparkling half-century to lead Rajasthan to a royal win, with nine balls to spare and as many as eight wickets in hand.

Even as Botha was the star with the bat, it was undoubtedly Trivedi, who set up the victory charge as Deccan clearly struggled to come to terms with the pitch and conditions. They did get off to a great start though, with Shikhar Dhawan cracking 24 from 5 balls. However, once he perished going for a slog against Amit Singh, who also picked up three wickets, it was all downhill for the Chargers. Skipper Sangakkara fell caught behind off Trivedi, nicking the third ball he faced, for a duck. What Chargers needed at that stage was a partnership to steady the innings. But, that did not come as Bharat Chipli inside edged one, again off Trivedi.

The stagnant story continued for the Chargers as Warne brought himself into the attack. In spite of a year of being away from competitive cricket, Warne was effective as ever. He put opener Ishank Jaggi out of his misery, who had way to 25 off 28 balls, failing to give Chargers the momentum they were so keen for. For the home team to put up a competitive score from that point, they needed the now experienced Jean Paul Duminy to fire. However, the left-hander from South Africa struggled, exposing his limitations against quality spin bowling. As Warne cast a spell around him, Duminy had no answer for it and eventually perished to the legendary leggie.

Daniel Christian and Ravi Teja added a few crucial runs. Though they were not scored at lightning pace, the duo managed to propel the Chargers total to a sense of respectability. Still, 137 was never going to be enough unless the Chargers bowling came up with something exceptional. Instead, it were the Royals who came up with an extraordinary move, promotion Botha to number three, which made the big difference in the end.

Chargers did begin the pursuit of defending their total well, with Dale Steyn keeping things extremely tight. The run rate was under six for most part of the opening partnership, before Steyn was finally rewarded for his efforts – Amit Paunikar falling caught behind for 20. At the other end, Rahul Dravid also struggled, but to his credit he still scraped to 28 off 35 balls, a significant contribution in the context of the game. He also fell to the guile of Steyn, failing to read a slower ball.

Despite the loss of their openers, Royals were never under extreme pressure considering the small total and the number of wickets they possessed. Botha went about his task in a methodical manner, picking the singles and twos, but not failing to find the boundary whenever the opportunity presented itself. Ross Taylor came in a plundered a couple of big sixes to ease the nerves if there were any, and Botha finished off things in the penultimate over, the winning runs coming off the struggling Pragyan Ojha. Steyn aside, the bowlers let Chargers down with Amit Mishra and Ishant Sharma failing to rise to the occasion, but their batmen were the bigger culprits.

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.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is one of the most awaited cricketing events, especially in 2010. This is primarily because the IPL is back in India for its third season after South Africa hosted the cash-filled event last year. As well as the hype that it has generated this time around from Pakistan’s exclusion to signing a historic deal with Google.

However, talking about cricket, there were many new players picked by the franchisees to play this season. Let’s review the prospects of the two bottom-ranked teams last season -

1) Kolkata Knight Riders

KKR is one of the most popular teams in the tournament. However, the last season was forgettable as they finished 8th.

Kolkata have a new coach in Dav Whatmore who backs Sourav Ganguly to the fullest. Who wouldn’t remember Whatmore helping an underdog Sri Lankan team to the 1996 World Cup win? Who knows, Whatmore can do the same with Kolkata by winning the IPL.

And, Ganguly, the team’s icon player, is back as captain. ‘Dada’ is a true leader as he can inspire players to give their 100% on the field and is the darling of the team. Ganguly and Whatmore’s combination would be the one to watch out for in the IPL 3.

Kolkata looks formidable with additions of England’s Owais Shah and India’s Manoj Tiwary who can add depth to the middle-order. Shane Bond, New Zealand’s fast bowler was purchased for $750,000 in the auction this year. Ganguly has the option of allowing Bond to open the bowling with Ishant Sharma, therefore making a dream opening pair. Other bowlers like Ajit Agarkar, Ashok Dinda, Murali Kartik and Ajantha Mendis make Kolkata no underdogs.

Batting-wise, the Victorian duo of Brad Hodge and David Hussey can’t be sidelined. Hodge was the top-scorer for Kolkata in South Africa whereas Hussey is a good finisher. Chris Gayle and Sourav Ganguly can make a good opening pair. This provided if they are supported by Laxmi Shukla, Wriddhiman Saha and Rohan Gavaskar. Brendon McCullum is unavailable due to international commitments and Australian captain Ricky Ponting’s contract has been bought out. But this shouldn’t affect the team much.

The pattern in the IPL suggests that teams who have been considered as underdogs have gone on to win the tournament. Rajasthan Royals in the first season and then the bottom ranked team of the same season Deccan Chargers prevailed in the second season. So, Kolkata can take heart from this. They have a chance to enter the top four this season, if not win which could give them a ticket to the Champions League 2010.

2) Mumbai Indians

Despite finishing second-last in South Africa, Mumbai have shown that they are a team that deserves to be ranked in the top four. They missed out on the semi finals in the first season, as they ended at the 5th spot, which was played in India.

The franchisee captured West Indies star all-rounder Kieron Pollard for $750000 this year, making him the costliest player ever perhaps.

They have got an enviable batting line-up with captain Sachin Tendulkar opening the batting with another veteran, Sanath Jayasuriya. Followed by the West Indies duo of Pollard and Dwayne Bravo. JP Duminy is South Africa’s star with the bat as well as on the field. In bowling, Lasith Malinga was one of the highest wicket-takers last season in South Africa. Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh make Mumbai’s bowling attack threatening, as both of them are experienced and excellent T-20 bowlers.

Indian youngsters however are strength to this team. Ajinkya Rahane is Mumbai’s latest talent, Dhawal Kulkarni who is an in-form bowler who helped Mumbai win the Ranji Trophy, Abhishek Nayar who can be a real force with the bat, Harshal Patel, the U-19 player is a good pick this season. England all-rounder Graham Napier and Indian spinner Chaitanya Nanda played a few games in South Africa and represent the team’s strong bench strength.

However, Mumbai’s perennial weakness is that there have no experienced wicket-keeper. Pinal Shah and Yogesh Takawale didn’t impress in the two seasons. Luke Ronchi is more of a batsman than a wicketkeeper.

Another issue which is troubling is their peculiar ability of losing matches towards the end of the IPL. This shows that Mumbai’s performance goes down in a nervous situation. Can Tendulkar use his magical influence to make his team win? Well, he can as long as the players believe in their abilities and work as a cohesive unit, and not depend on individual success.

ICC T20 World Champions 2007 India, in ICC T20 World Championship 2009 turns out to be IPL millionaire’s underdogs. They didn’t sustain for long in T20 World Cup due to injuries, underperformance, listlessness and controversy over Shewag’s injury. ICC T20 World finished with the Pakistani’s becoming champions and just after that cricket fans have been provided with another dose of cricketing; India touring Caribbean for four match ODI series against West Indies. West Indies have proved its talent and potential in ICC T20 World. Now Indies going to face retarded India which is having its important player injuries.

India is going to face West Indies in four ODI matches in Caribbean from 26th of June 2009. 1st ODI will be played in Jamaica on 26th June, 2nd ODI again in Jamaica on 28 June, 3rd ODI in St Lucia on 3rd July and 4th match in St Lucia on 5th July.

Gayle has warned India that Indies can sting like a bee; we can sense the toughness and expect Gayle proving the same expression true. We have seen that Gayle often been true with his words and not only fired with mouth but with bat also. Indies have been performing well enough with powerful set of bowlers, Gayle’s stewardship and stronger batting line up; India could be eating humble pie.

India during the ICC T20 World was much in controversy due to Dhoni’s attitude towards Shewag injury. And at the same time they were facing heavy pressure as they were 2007 T20 World champions. It was important for any side to beat India during ICC T20 World to establish their potentiality for T20 World Cup. That was another reason for their losing even though greater reason was their surrendering to pressure. That’s not all team was having injured players playing for the team which was recklessness from Indian Cricket Board (BCCI). BCCI knew that most of the players were retarded as they just appeared in millions dollar event Indian Premier League matches. Indian cricket players kept themselves engaged in advertising, earning more money besides doing net practice.

In ICC T20 World it was apparent India lacks focus, team spirit and concentration. With the much hype up series of controversies and off field drama and stress, India lost before appearing in the match. Still in these tough and perturbing time Star player Yuraj Singh performed well as expected. But rest his teammates where their just in the name of “Indian team”. Dhoni’s company with exception of Yuraj none performed consistently and none came out match winner for Team India.

Indian team arrangement has been kept unchanged, except Nehra included to the Indian Team. West Indies lineup has also been unchanged consisting of commanding young and experienced batting line up and excellent mix of bowling set. Lot of drama, action and entertained will surely be in this 4 match ODI Series.

Now, question is will India be again going down with humiliation or will it rising to play with dignity?