Cricket Tournaments

Yuvraj Singh

After being axed yet again, for the Test series against Australia, Yuvraj Singh might be beginning to wonder what the future holds for him, at least as far as his Test career is concerned. Injury, fitness and poor form, the former Kings XI Punjab skipper has seen it all in what has been a forgettable year for him. However, the lanky and now extremely experienced left-handed batsman must not feel completely disheartened.

Every one goes through bad times. However, he must remember that tough times don’t last, but tough people do. This is the time for introspection for Yuvraj, with five months left to go for the World Cup. His Test cricket career can take a backseat for the moment. As of now, he needs to concentrate on getting himself fit for the big test in one-dayers. But obviously, he will be in the scheme of things for next year’s cricketing bonanza. But, for that, he needs to bring himself to prime form.

Yuvraj cannot be blamed for everything that has gone wrong with him in the last year. At the same time, he cannot be absolved of his wrongdoings. It has been a bit of both bad luck and lack of professionalism that has contributed to Yuvraj’s latest downfall. Nothing much can be done about the luck factor, but considering the amount of experience behind him, he must surely have found out what else went wrong with him. And so, this isn’t a bad time for Yuvraj to pick up the pieces. After all, he is still 29, an age when most batsmen are at their peak.

Yuvraj Singh

He needs to start from scratch though, and must have the tenacity to go back to a lower grade of cricket and get his act right. It won’t be easy especially after ten years at the top. But then, the best in Indian cricket, from Sourav Ganguly to VVS Laxman, have done it and come back as better players. So also, Yuvraj has the capability to make a strong comeback. He has done it before and there is no reason why he can’t do it again. After all, he is more mature now compared to the last time he was dropped.

Apart from the batting aspect, he needs to work his way back on his fielding skills as well. And for that staying fit is of utmost importance. It is not easy considering the kind of lavish lifestyle the ‘prince’ enjoys and also the added distractions named IPL and T20 cricket, apart from fashion shows and TV appearances. And thus, this is where the real test will come for Yuvraj. Does he have the inspiration to battle his way back, or is he satisfied with what he has achieved so far, which isn’t unimpressive by any stretch of the imagination, but borders on the line of expected considering his humungous talent.

How Yuvraj shapes up in the next couple of months, will go a long way in determining how far his international career stretches from this point. Further, there will be two major challenges in front of Yuvraj in the times to come. One is to get his Test career back on track and the other will be to re-establish his one-day supremacy. If he fails in either, he will not have done absolute justice to his potential.

On a low, slow pitch at the Ferozshah Kotla, Kings XI Punjab bowled with great heart and were ably supported by some insipid batting and poor running from Delhi Daredevils, who won the toss and elected to bat. The home team were bowled out for a paltry 111, Irfan Pathan and Piyush Chawla once again starring with the ball for Punjab. When it was their turn to bat, the visitors opened with Pathan partnering Mahela Jayawardene, a clear indication that they wanted to attack the Delhi bowlers upfront.

The ploy did not come off. But, Jayawardene kept the runs flowing from the other end. Then, despite some tight bowling from Delhi, the experience of Yuvraj Singh and Kumar Sangakkara saw Punjab causing another upset, after the defeat they handed out to Mumbai Indians.

Without a doubt, it was their batting effort which hurt Delhi big time. After Pathan got Virender Sehwag in the second over of the match, they recovered well via some aggressive batting by their skipper Gautam Gambhir.

With five fours, he raced to 26 in 11 balls before a moment of madness cost him his wicket. A confusion between him and David Warner saw him being stranded out of his crease and getting run out for the third time in this IPL, clearly something he needs to work on. For Punjab, this was just the breakthrough they needed.

Warner (7) joined Gambhir in the pavilion soon, being dismissed in a similar fashion to his skipper, Paul Collingwood was his partner on this occasion. On a pitch where, as it is, batting was extremely difficult, Delhi could not have afforded to give away wickets so cheaply; the fact that they did, compounded their woes manifold.

Piyush Chawla joined in the act for Punjab, producing another mesmerising spell. On a wicket that seemed tailor-made for his style of bowling, the leg spinner trapped Collingwood with a perfectly directed googly and did the same to Daniel Vettori a little later.

At 63 for 5, the innings was in tatters. But, if Delhi had a reason to be positive, it was that they too had two potent spinners in Vettori and Amit Mishra. Before that, however, they needed to put up a challenging total. In Mithun Manhas and Dinesh Karthik, they had two men who were capable of staging a fightback. But, Punjab were determined not to let that happen.

Pathan returned to end Karthik’s resistance for 17 while Manhas gave his hand away, falling to Juan Theron on 26. The mop-up job did not take long.

Delhi needed to strike early with the ball to have sniff. That was not to be. And, though the bowling was competitive, Jayawardene ensured that he picked up a few boundaries here and there, including a mighty six, thereby not allowing the pressure to build. When he was eventually dismissed for 38, Punjab had reached 65 in the 11th over. A couple of quick wickets would have still put the pressure back on batting side.

But Sangakkara and Yuvraj (21*) joined hands and featured in a sensible partnership. By the time, Sangakkara was dismissed for 33, Punjab were on the doorsteps of victory. They might not make it to the semis, but Punjab are clearly beginning to show their capabilities. Better late than never.

In the battle of the best versus the worst in the IPL so far, the latter surprisingly came on top, thanks to a disciplined bowling effort and a competent performance with bat.

Kings XI Punjab were playing their last match at their home ground in Mohali and were determined to give the crowd something to cheer about at last. Piyush Chawla and Irfan Pathan combined to pick three wickets each while the Sri Lankan duo of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara prospered with the willow to guide Punjab to only their third victory in the tournament.

On their part, Mumbai Indians put in a tough fight with the ball, but their batsmen had left them with a little too much to do.

While there were a number of significant contributions from Punjab’s side, none was more vital than the one by leggie Chawla. Mumbai had recovered from the early loss of Shikhar Dhawan, cleaned up by Pathan, and were beginning to from gain the ascendancy courtesy a flurry from boundaries from Ambati Rayudu. This is where Chawla stepped in and turned the game… literally.

He began by castling the ominous looking Rayudu for 33 (off only 18 balls) with a wrong that the batsman clearly failed to pick. But, what was to follow was even more impressive and shattering for the batting side. Saurabh Tiwary, one of the finds of the season for Mumbai, was forced to drag his feet out of the crease by Chawla, only to be cleverly stumped.

Chawla had picked up two big wickets in his three overs, and could have easily been taken off. However, here is where Sangakkara played his masterstroke. Noticing that Sachin Tendulkar wasn’t at his fluent best, he threw the ball to Chawla for his last over.

History too has proved that the leg-spinner has had some amount of success against the legend. The combined effect of both these factors was enough to see the back of him. Sachin went for a blind swish on the on-side and had his stumps shattered for an unimpressive 25. From 52 for 1, Mumbai had collapsed to 70 for 4 in a matter of minutes.

It was not all over for Mumbai though. They still had hope from the likes of Kieron Pollard and JP Duminy while the fact the Punjab hadn’t exactly been finishing off the job appropriately would have been at the back of their minds. This was a different outfit though, determined to deliver the killer blows.

And so, Pathan returned to claim R. Sathish and Pollard, the latter again disappointing, perishing after a couple of good hits. Duminy held fort for Mumbai with his 35, the flick six off Brett Lee being his best stroke. But, Love Abhilash’s wonderful last over in which he picked up two wickets saw Punjab go into the break carrying the momentum.

When they returned, Jayawardene caressed the ball to all parts of the boundary and, in no time, Punjab were off like the kings. With Adrian Barath and Sangakkara also contributing, the home side won by an easy 6-wicket margin despite some disciplined bowling from Mumbai, who lost their second consecutive game. It is too early for Sachin’s men to worry, but another hiccup and one would begin to wonder whether they peaked a little early.

A scintillating cameo of 22 from 8 balls by Robin Uthappa and a mature, unbeaten 66 by Kevin Pietersen was equally well aided by some atrocious fielding by Kings XI Punjab in front of their home crowd as the Royal Challengers Bangalore resurrected themselves in IPL 3 after a couple of disappointing losses.

Chasing 182, Bangalore batted smartly right throughout and despite the loss of some crucial wickets, got home safely by six wickets in the end. That said, this is a game Punjab should have won and have only themselves to blame for ending up on the wrong side yet again.

A number of fielders, skipper Kumar Sangakkara included, dropped what were sitters by international standards. To add insult to injury, Uthappa blasted speedster Brett Lee for two mighty sixes and a four at a time when Punjab were on top. 25 runs came off the over and the momentum had clearly swung the other way.

Earlier in the evening, the Punjab batters put up a rather impressive performance with bat to give their team some hope of winning their second game.

The innings was build around three equally significant contributions, the first of those came from the captain Sangakkara himself. Punjab had lost Shaun Marsh early to Vinay Kumar and needed to overcome the hiccup soon. Sangakkara proved to be the man, taking on the bowlers. He crunched eight boundaries and found good support in Manvinder Bisla, who contributed a useful 26 with the help of four fours before falling prey to the guile of Anil Kumble.

After Bisla’s dismissal, Punjab required Sangakkara to carry on. But, unfortunately for the struggling side, it wasn’t to be. While on 45 he tried to take on Dale Steyn and only managed to find the safe hands of Kallis in the deep. Sangakkara’s knock, coming off just 27 deliveries was highly attractive.

However, following his departure, Punjab desperately needed another partnership. And, that came in the form of the one between Ravi Bopara and Yuvraj Singh.

Following everything written in the papers regarding his differences with Sangakkara and the team management, Yuvraj must have been raring to prove a point. And that was evident in his strokeplay today. He lofted Kumble and Jacques Kallis into the stands and, in between, hit three powerful boundaries. But, like Sangakkara, he too perished without finishing off the job, caught by Cameron White off Kallis’ bowling.

Still Bopara’s steady batting and a couple of lofty hits by Irfan Pathan enabled Punjab to reach 181, a highly competitive score on a pitch that was going to slow down.

Punjab did not get off to a great start with the ball, thanks to another wayward effort by the disappointing S Sreesanth, who went on to drop the easiest of catches later in the game. They were lucky though as Shalabh Srivastava once again got his act right and sent back orange cap holder Kallis cheaply, getting him to edge an outswinger.

Manish Pandey (29) kept the runs flowing a steady rate until his unfortunate run-out. For most part though, Punjab continued to hold the ascendancy. Despite a good partnership between Virat Kohli and Pietersen, the run-rate had climbed to 12. But, one poor over from Lee and some unacceptably bad fielding from did them in.

A superbly constructed, unbeaten 75 off just 47 balls from Manoj Tiwary enabled Kolkata Knight Riders to come out of their batting slumber and post a challenging 183 for 5 against Kings XI Punjab at their home ground, Mohali. Comeback man Ajit Agarkar then struck two crucial blows to pave the way for Kolkata’s first win in four games, that by an impressive margin of 39 runs.

The home side were never in the hunt during the tough chase. After an unlucky start, losing the in-form Ravi Bopara (0), who was erroneously declared lbw to Shane Bond, Kolkata kept things tight for a couple of overs before Yuvraj Singh opened up. He began to look in his elements, dispatching Ashok Dinda and Agarkar to the fence on couple of occasions each.

But, the latter had a last laugh when Yuvraj mistimed a quickish short ball and lobbed it straight up in the air, Tiwary taking an amazing catch, diving sideways. Not much later, Agarkar sent back Bisla as well for 22 to peg Punjab back, the batsman not being given room to free his arms by the experienced bowler.

As things turned out, that was the game, with Sri Lankans Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara struggling again.

Earlier, Sourav Ganguly won the toss and decided to take first strike on a belter of a pitch. Kolkata’s innings comprised of two distinct phases – a great start and a sensational end followed by a consolidatory phase in between. 19 runs came off the first over from Brett Lee, Chris Gayle deciding to take on the Aussie speedster returning from a serious injury. But, if Kolkata fans thought it was the beginning of some slam bang viewing to follow, they were completely false.

On the contrary, Gayle’s short blitz ended up being the storm before the calm. The West Indian ended up falling for a disappoint 14 from 12 balls, Shalabh Srivastava getting him with a well-planned shorter one.

Srivastava continued with his good work when he sent back Mandeep Singh as well for 4. The left-armer’s effort, coupled with good support from Vikramjeet Malik, saw Kolkata’s run rate falling drastically, and they were in serious danger of ending up short of a desirable target yet again. Ganguly and Tiwary, who was recalled after his surprise exclusion for the earlier games, went about doing the rebuilding task.

However, the question remained whether they would be able to accelerate in the nick of time. When the strategic break was taken at the end of 9 overs, Kolkata were disappointingly placed at 65 for 2. However, realising the value of runs, Ganguly came out of his shell and timed a couple to the boundary.

Tiwary too joined in the act and played some delectable strokes. But, just when Kolkata seemed to be on the up swing, Ganguly fell for 50. His knock, which consumed 40 balls was a good one, but not electrifying by T20 standards.

Kolkata would have ended up with another under par score, but for the efforts of Tiwary. His late hitting, slamming 21 off the last over bowled by Irfan Pathan, which included two punchy sixes, shifted the momentum back in Kolkata’s favour. Still, the total wasn’t match-winning. But, the Kolkata bowlers were competent enough to keep a hapless Kings XI down.

An uncannily insipid batting effort by Chennai Super Kings allowed Kings XI Punjab to register their first win in a tournament in a game which went into the super over, the first of the tournament. Chasing Punjab’s disappointing 136/8, Chennai were cruising at one stage at 96 for 1, but committed hara-kiri and were left stranded at 136 for seven in the final over.

Juan Theron, who was responsible for getting Punjab back into the game with an excellent spell for 2/17, then capped off a perfect game, claiming Matthew Hayden and Suresh Raina in the super over, conceding just nine runs. Chasing 10 to win, Mahela Jayawardene created further drama when he followed up a lofted six off Muttiah Muralitharan with another airy shot, which landed into the hands of the fielder just short of the boundary. Yuvraj Singh, with a reverse sweep, however ensured that Punjab did not lose this golden opportunity.

With all due credit to Punjab for their first win, it has to be said that Chennai kicked themselves in the foot. After openers Hayden (33) and Pathiv Patel (57) gave them another flying start, they should have easily won the game. However that was not to be. Instead, skipper Raina ran himself out for 15 and Murali Vijay was trapped in front of the stumps for a duck by the impressive Theron.

S Badrinath did not help the team’s cause by edging Yuvraj behind the wickets for 2, Kumar Sangakkara taking a brilliant fumbling catch, standing up to the wickets. Despite the quick loss of wickets, at 104/4 and with Patel still at the crease, Chennai continued to remain favourites. But, the momentum was now with Punjab and they used it to the best possible advantage.

Patel, who was well set having reached his half-century, threw his wicket away, blindly going for a slog against Piyush Chawla, Truly, the pressure had got to him. The remaining batsmen found it equally tougher. Chennai were not helped in the cause as big-hitting Justin Kemp was hurt earlier in the day and could not bat at his usual position.

Instead, Manpreet Gony came in and went without having made much of a contribution and when R Ashwin was dismissed in the final over, try to hit the winning runs, Punjab knew that they had a great chance of pulling it off in the super over.

Chennai’s poor batting effort meant the excellent bowling effort of Muralitharan earlier in the day went in vain. The Sri Lankan great picked up his two countrymen from the opposition – Jayawardene and Sangakkara — and later added Mhd Kaif to his kitty, as Punjab came up with yet another disappointing batting effort. Murali was excellently supported by Albie Morkel, who picked up the other two big fishes from Punjab, Ravi Bopara and Yuvraj.

The Kings XI did experiment with their batting order, sending Irfan Pathan in to the open the innings. It did click as he smashed 39 from 32 balls. However, with Yuvraj (43) being the only other substantial contributor, they could accumulate only 136, good enough on a day Chennai faltered.

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.

On a day when Bangalore Royal Challengers successfully chased down a target of 204 against Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders should have done better than succumbing to a 55-run loss against Chennai Super Kings. After all, there was no devil in the pitch at Eden Gardens and the home team were on a high following two successive wins in the tournament.

As such, the loss has to be attributed to some poor batsmanship, and possibly a sense of complacency. In stark contrast, Chennai recovered from a precarious 55 for 3 to post a challenging score of 164. MS Dhoni (66*) and Subramanian Badrinath (43*) combined brilliantly, blending caution and aggression in the right proportions, to see to it that the bowlers had a reasonable total to defend.

Chennai had some good fortune early on with the ball as a fierce hit from the in-form Brad Hodge (0) landed straight into the hands of R. Ashwin in the very first over of the innings bowled by Albie Morkel. And from thereon, Chennai made sure that they capitalized on the great start.

They were aided to quite an extent by the Kolkata batsmen, who played some atrocious slogs in between some flourishing strokes. A case in point was Manoj Tiwari (8), who hit a couple of spanking boundaries only to throw it away, playing across the line. Wriddhiman Saha’s exit was no different. He raced to 22, which included five wonderfully timed boundaries before he fell prey to some smart captaincy by Dhoni. The Indian skipper left the field open on the on side, and looking to play across the line, Saha was cleaned up by Laxmipathy Balaji.

At 34 for 3, Kolkata were in a similar position to Chennai earlier in the innings. But, instead of looking to rebuild, they continued to go for the big shots and perished one after the other. To be fair to Owais Shah, he got a good outgoing delivery from Balaji and couldn’t do much better than edging it behind the wickets while on 5. However, the rest, including skipper Sourav Ganguly (11 from 20 balls) succumbed to the pressure and the game sadly meandered to a one-sided result.

Due credit needs to be given to all the Chennai bowlers for sticking to their guns. Balaji (2/9) was highly impressive at the top while Justin Kemp (3/12) picked up crucial wickets in the middle overs.

The win though wouldn’t have been possible without the efforts of Dhoni and Badrinath. The duo joined forces when Chennai were struggling and the Kolkata bowlers were in complete control of the situation. Ishant Sharma had knocked over Matthew Hayden for 1. Murali Vijay and Suresh Raina also fell after getting starts. But, Dhoni came up with the special act expected of him.

After playing himself in, he unleashed an array of lofted, bottom hand strokes that spoiled the figures of Shane Bond, who was sensational at the start, as well as Ishant and Laxmi Shukla. Murali Kartik was the only one who escaped without punishment. At the other end, Badrinath too joined in the act with a mighty six towards the end.

On another day, 164 might not have been enough. But, considering that Kolkata were committed to falter, it proved to be more than handy.