Cricket Tournaments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

R Vinay Kumar picked up three wickets in one over, that of Sachin Tendulkar, Dwayne Bravo and Ambati Rayudu, to put the Mumbai Indians firmly on the back foot. However, the home side recovered well thanks to some lusty hitting down the order by Zaheer Khan and useful contributions from Kieron Pollard and R Sathish. 151, however, was still not going to be enough against Bangalore’s charged up batting line-up, and on a pitch that was highly batting-friendly.

Jacques Kallis continued his unbeaten run, slamming yet another 50, while Manish Pandey and continued with their big hitting spree as the Royal Challengers charged to victory without any trouble, and claimed their spot at the top of the table.

Clearly, it was that three-wicket over from Vinay Kumar that turned the tide in Bangalore’s favour. At 74 for 3 in the 11th over, Mumbai were still in the game courtesy of Sachin Tendulkar, who was looking good on 25. But, Vinay got rid of Rayudu, with a well-directed bouncer, a plan which had worked exceedingly well against the Rajasthan Royals.

Then Sachin, who was denied the strike for quite some time, was cleaned up when he shuffled too far and left his leg stump exposed. The skipper batted well for his 25, but the team needed a lot more from him on this day. If Sachin’s dismissal wasn’t bad enough, Bravo got a dose of his own medicine when an off-cutter from Vinay Kumar accounted for him. Bravo fell for one and Mumbai had slipped ton 76 for 6 in no time.

No doubt Vinay Kumar bowled a great spell, but he was greatly assisted by the ones who bowled earlier. Praveen Kumar swung the both ways and kept the Mumbai openers on their feet. At the other end, the aggressive Dale Steyn took out danger man Sanath Jayasuriya with a wonderful outswinger.

Kallis then came on and proved his merit with the ball claiming Aditya Tare, a smart bouncer doing the trick yet again. Next man Saurabh Tiwary, coming off the back of two 50s, had some troubles as well with the rising delivers, but was good enough to fend some off to the ropes. He was fooled, however, by Anil Kumble’s googly and had to be satisfied with 25.

In Mumbai did manage to cross 150, it were due to the efforts of Sathish and Pollard. Judging the situation well, they rotated the strike for a while. Towards the end, Pollard had to do what he was chosen for, some mighty hits. He managed to dispatch Praveen for a six and a four, but was unluckily dismissed as he guided a full toss from Steyn into the hands of Virat Kohli.

Sathish soon fell to a brilliant catch by Rahul Dravid in the deep. Zaheer Khan then punished Kumar’s length deliveries in the final over, claiming 16 runs.

It was far from enough though as Kallis and Pandey continued from where they left off in the previous game. The Mumbai bowlers tried their best, but there was nothing on offer for them. And, in the end, it was Bangalore did it rather royally.

In 20-20 cricket, the value of keeping wickets in hand is often underestimated. However, it is equally important to ensure that you don’t leave too much to be done at the fag end of the innings. Finding the proper balance is most important.

While the Kolkata Knight Riders managed to succeed in the first aspect, they failed miserably in the second and, as a result, handed the under pressure Rajasthan Royals their first win in the tournament at the Motera stadium in Ahmedabad. Chasing Rajasthan’s challenging 168 for 7 on one of the slowest pitches in the tournament, the Knight Riders could muster only 134 for the loss of five wickets.

The Royals, for the first time in this IPL, looked at ease as the pitch offered enough for their spinners. Skipper Shane Warne was smart enough to sense the occasion and open the bowling with Yusuf Pathan. And the all-rounder, who failed with the bat, responded immediately.

He sent back opener Manoj Tiwary with a quickish one, which Tiwary failed to read and was clean bowled. Brad Hodge and Cheteshwar Pujara then strung together a useful partnership. However, the Royals ensured that they remained in the hunt by not allowing either of the batsmen to run away with the game. Warne also played his part by keeping the runs down from his end though he could not pick up any wickets. And the tactics paid rich dividends.

As the pressure and required run-rate mounted, Pujara was taken out for 29 by pacer Siddharth Trivedi and the aggressive Pathan returned to knock out Hodge, bowling him through the gate as the batsman tried to break free from the shackles imposed. Hodge contributed 36 from 34, but in the context of the game, it was a poor effort.

He fell at the start of the 15th over, by which time the Knight Riders had scored only 95 and had a tall mountain to climb despite having wickets in hand.

Also, it did not help that the ball wasn’t coming on to the bat towards the later part of the match. Sourav Ganguly struggled like to time the ball at all as Munaf Patel and Shaun Tait finished off things very well for the Royals, bowling some accurate Yorker length deliveries.

Ganguly’s ordeal ended in the final over when he was dismissed for 33 by Patel. But, the match was over long before. Owais Shah hit a couple of mighty sixes, but in between those two strokes, he also found the going tough. The Royals took a cue from the battering they received against Bangalore and bowled some good short deliveries as well.

With the bat too they put in an improved performance. Abhishek Jhunjhunwala led the way with a composed 45, but Adam Voges quickfire, unbeaten 37 from 22 balls, 17 of which came in the last over from Ishant Sharma was equally crucial. In between too, the Royals batted sensibly.

After losing Michael Lumb early, Naman Ojha and Faiz Fazal too turns to go after the attack. Thus, the runs kept coming despite the loss of wickets. This approach saw them garner a fighting total pf 168, which was enough to earn them their first points as Kolkata mistimed their chase.

A scintillating 63 from Sachin Tendulkar and an equally smashing 61 from Saurabh Tiwary helped Mumbai Indians post an imposing 218 for 7 against the in-form Delhi Daredevils, a score which proved more than enough for Mumbai to register their second successive win, and hand Delhi their first defeat. Chasing the huge target, Delhi began on an aggressive note with Tillakaratne Dilshan opening the innings with Virender Sehwag in place of the injured skipper Gautam Gambhir.

The duo went hammer and tongs right from the start, but a smart piece of bowling by Lasith Malinga ended Dilshan’s threatening knock. Dilshan was cleaned up by a slower ball for 17 and that opened the floodgates as Mumbai cruised to a comprehensive win.

The victory was achieved thanks in main to two utterly entertaining and typical T20 knocks. One was played by none other than the master blaster Tendulkar. He batted as if he was the 16-year-old Sachin, fearlessly thrashing the bowlers all around the park. It was a great sight to watch the Mumbaikar in great flow.

Over the years, the heavy burden of expectations has forced him to play in a rather measured manner. But, thanks to T20 we can again see glimpses of the batsman, who dominated bowlers the world over with utter disdain. As usual, his innings featured lofted drives down the ground and deft touches behind the wicket. However, it was the sight of him charging down the wickets and hitting the spinner over the top that remains a favourite with Sachin fans.

When the little master eventually fell striving for quick runs, Delhi heaved a sigh of relief. But, they could not have fathomed what was to come. Saurabh Tiwary was equally explosive if not more and sent the Delhi bowlers on a massive leather hunt. With four boundaries and three sixes, he ensured that Mumbai easily crossed 200. Tiwary got great support from Ambati Rayadu, who contributed 34, an innings which also included three sixes.

While the Mumbai batsmen benefited from a number of useful partnerships, the Delhi bowling was completely out of sync. For a change even Dirk Nannes went for runs, bowling length deliveries and being punished accordingly against a strong batting line-up. Still, his figures of none for 35 were respectable in comparison to the rest. Though Farveez Maharoof picked up two wickets, that of Sanath Jayasuriya and Rayadu, he leaked 50 runs.

Spraying the ball all over, he was easy meat for the Mumbai batsmen. Left-arm quickie Pradeep Sangwan and the two spinners, Ladda and Mishra, did not fare any better. While Sangwan managed to sneak in one economical over, the latter who were torn apart by Sachin, Tiwary and Rayadu.

The onslaught did not seem to dent Delhi’s confidence though as Dilshan and Sehwag began merrily. However, they missed Gambhir big time, which was evident from the fact that no one was prepared to stick around once they lost a few quick wickets. Bravo, Harbhajan and Jayasuriya took advantage of the situation and added a couple of scalps each to their kitty.

This win by Mumbai has now set up the tournament nicely, with no team being able to extent their winning steak beyond two. Whether Mumbai will break the hoodoo remains to be seen.

A scintillating innings by Jacques Kallis (89 from 55 balls) and a whirlwind half-century by Robin Uthappa (51) helped Royal Challengers Bangalore overhaul a stiff target of 204 set by Kings XI Punjab. For Bangalore to remain in the hunt during the chase, they needed a speedy start without losing too many wickets.

Openers Manish Pandey (38) and Kallis scripted the Bangalore reply perfectly. Pandey was especially severe at the top of the order, taking on S. Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan successfully even as the experienced Kallis was prepared to bide his time by and watch the action from the other end. Sreesanth and Irfan made the mistake of bowling either short or on a length, giving the young Pandey enough opportunities to swing his bat around. Left-arm pacer Yusuf Abdulla also did not fare any better, feeling the pressure.

The Bangalore openers added 74 very quickly and Kumar Sangakkara was forced to turn to spin in an effort to break the deadly partnership. Piyush Chawla eventually did the trick for Punjab. Pandey went for a mighty heave against the impressive leggie and only managed to end up hitting one straight in the air. Irfan Pathan, who dropped a skier in the previous game, managed to hang on to this offering rather easily. However, if Punjab though they could heave a sense of relief, they were absolutely wrong.

In walked India discard Robin Uthappa and took full advantage of the great platform set. Uthappa was in only for 21 deliveries, but by the time he left, he had more or less sealed the fate of the game. The ultra-talented Uthappa did not slog his way around. Instead, he tried to hit as straight as possible and was rewarded rather fruitfully. In Sreesanth’s comeback over, he slammed the bowler for three monstrous sixes, turning the tide of the game in Bangalore favour.

He eventually to debutant left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma fell going another big shot on the off side. But, not before ensuring that the run-rate was well within the home side’s grasp.

The best innings of the game was yet to be played though. Kallis, who was quiet all this while, suddenly went into overdrive mode and finished off the game in whisker. He was extremely severe on Sharma, who was rather economical until that point, slamming him for three huge sixes in one over.

Later, Abdulla who was recalled also went for a few boundaries, making things worse for Punjab. Virat Kohli came in and played a nice cameo to finish off the game in the company of Kallis.

The South African all-rounder’s magical knock overshadowed fine efforts by the Punjab openers Ravi Bopara (77) and Manvinder Bisla (75). Batting first, the duo was in fine striking form, adding 129 for the opening wicket in just over 14 overs. Praveen Kumar, Dale Steyn, Kallis and Anil Kumble all went for plenty.

Mahela Jayawardene played a splendid cameo of 26 to help Punjab post an imposing 203. However, Bangalore had enough in their tank to overhaul the score.

Needing an asking rate of just over seven runs per over, Delhi Daredevils were undoubtedly the favourites to clinch the game against the home side, Kings XI Punjab, at Mohali. However, a double strike by the often erratic S. Sreesanth, sending back the batting side’s two most dangerous hitters, Virender Sehwag and Tillakaratne Dilshan, meant Punjab were in with a chance.

The impact of those deadly blows saw them take the game into the very last over. However, an authoritative half-century by Daredevils skipper Gautam Gambhir ensured that Delhi had their noses in front for most part of the chase.

Gambhir played a typical captain’s knock, forging three fruitful partnerships with AB de Villiers, Dinesh Karthik and finally with Mithun Manhas, who eventually hit the winning runs. Though de Villiers and Karthik were not able to clear the field at will, they pitched in by giving Gambhir most of the strike on a wicket that wasn’t the easiest to score on, in particular against the spinners. And here is where Gambhir’s skills came in very handy.

He used deft touches and manoeuvred the ball around in the gaps smartly to find the boundaries. And occasionally when he stepped out, he ensured that the ball found the middle of the bat. Even though Gambhir was dismissed when Delhi where within striking distance of victory, he had done enough to see his side through safely.

On a day when his brother Yusuf became a hero for Rajasthan Royals even in a losing cause, Irfan Pathan ended up playing villain for his side. The skier he dropped at long-off, that of Mithun Manhas, could have easily given Punjab a window of opportunity. The target was still a little distance away and the bowlers had just managed to build up some pressure with a few precious dot balls. Unfortunately for the home team, Irfan could not hang on to the chance, probably losing it in the lights and letting it slip through his palms.

That definitely wasn’t the turning point of the match through. In hindsight, it came much earlier when Punjab were asked to take first strike by Delhi’s new skipper, Gambhir. Of course, Punjab also had a new skipper in Kumar Sangakkara. However, only one captain could have luck on his side on this day and that was to be Gambhir.

Dirk Nannes put in a superb first spell, bowling with extreme pace. The left-arm pacer was consistently pitching deliveries short of a length and the Punjab batsmen had no answer to it. The batting side did not do themselves any favour either when Manvinder Bisla ran himself out unnecessarily. Farveez Maharoof went for a few runs. More importantly though, he managed to strike telling blows by scalping Kumar Sangakkara and Yuvraj Singh cheaply. If that wasn’t bad enough, Punjab lost Mahela Jayawardene as well pretty soon, which put them in extreme trouble.

Ravi Bopara batted sensibly and in the company of Irfan Pathan helped Punjab reach a respectable total. However, as it turned out, the damage had already done. And despite a disciplined bowling effort, Punjab could not undo Gambhir’s good work.