Cricket Tournaments

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

Man of the match: Yusuf Pathan

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kolkata Knight Riders 148 for 7 beat Delhi Daredevils 131 for 9 by 17 runs

Man of the match: Manoj Tiwary

A poor batting effort saw Delhi Daredevils stay at the bottom of the table following yet another disappointing loss. The Delhi bowlers would be especially shattered as they did an excellent job to restrict the Kolkata Knight Riders to 148 for 7 despite a measured half century by Manoj Tiwary. However, the Kolkata Knight Riders outdid the Daredevils with the ball to coast to victory in the end at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium. Left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla was the star for the Knight Riders with the ball, his three scalps derailing the chase on a pitch that offered ample turn.

In hindsight, Delhi clearly had gone the wrong way as they went out with an all-out pace attack. Even so, they did an excellent job. Irfan Pathan found his rhythm for a change and sent back Jacques Kallis early to get Delhi off to the perfect start. Umesh Yadav continued to impress with the pace which claimed the crucial scalps of the dangerous men Yusuf Pathan and Eoin Morgan. Also, Ajit Agarkar, who was playing his second game of the tournament, kept things tight and even got a wicket with the first ball he bowled.

The only disappointment for the Daredevils with the ball was unusually off colour performance of Morne Morkel, who gave away the most runs. Still, Delhi did not allow Kolkata to get away and only a mature half century from Manoj Tiwary, who remained unbeaten, took KKR close to 150. However, Delhi weren’t at their best with the bat either. David Warner had a rare failure. The only phase when Delhi looked in control was when James Hopes and Virender Sehwag were at the crease together. They took the score to 43, but the partnership needed to last longer from Delhi’s point of view.

The came turned around completed once Jaidev Unadkat managed to get rid of Sehwag. The ball was moving around and Unadkat chipped in with a couple of short ones, and Sehwag not one to back down went for one, which led to his downfall. The introduction of Abdulla had already slowed down the scoring. As the pressure grew Irfan Pathan fell, attempting to slog the left arm spinner but only perishing into midwicket’s hands. The unknown Travis Birt fell soon after, which meant also hopes were placed on all-rounder Hopes. However, he too lost his patience and hit one straight to cover off Abdulla’s bowling. The Mumbai lad added another scalp to his kitty as Naman Ojha slogged one in the outfield. Six down for 86 and the game was all but over.

Delhi managed a brief flutter. However, Shah Rukh’s team had no reason to worry as Brett Lee conceded just two runs in the penultimate over, and also helped out in getting two run-outs. The best moments for Delhi in the game came when Jacques Kallis was consumed by an incoming delivery by Irfan and Gautam Gambhir lost his wicket to Hopes’ far from threatening bowling. Yadav got Yusuf and Morgan cheaply to enable Delhi stayed ahead of the race. The boundaries were kept to the minimum in the last five overs.

Following the victory, the Kolkata Knight Riders moved up the table to second spot, but with the teams so close one wonders for how long. For Delhi though, they remain at the bottom and need something inspirational to turn things around.

Mumbai Indians 164 for 4 beat Chennai Super Kings 156 for 9 by eight runs

Man of the Match: Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh picked up three wickets in one over to quell Chennai Super Kings challenge completely against the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday. The off spinner’s deciding over was the 18^th over of the match, and until then, it was anybody’s game thanks to a superb innings by Subramaniam Badrinath, who remained unbeaten on a brilliantly compiled 71 off 48 balls, but his team fell short of victory by eight runs. Earlier, in the day, Rohit Sharma played a rare knock that did complete justice to his abundant talent, caressing the ball with ease en route to his 48 ball 87, a potential man of the match performance but for the antics of Harbhajan later in the day. The Mumbai Indians were also exceptional with their fielding, which only added to the pressure on the Super Kings, who eventually succumbed.

Coming back to the Harbhajan over, chasing 165 the Super Kings were 136 for 5 in the 18^th over and looked like they would easily coast to a win. However, Albie Morkel fell off the second ball of the over, his slog sweep only making contact with thin air as the ball breached the bat and crashed into the middle stump. That was the beginning of the end. Ravichandran Ashwin, trying to clear the field himself after facing one ball, instead of giving back the strike to his well-set mate, perished giving a catch in the deep. And to make matters worse, Joginder Sharma hit one up in the air the very next ball to offer Harbhajan his third wicket of the over and fifth overall. A helpless Badrinath could only watch from the other end as one after the other his partners departed. Sachin Tendulkar smartly brought Lasith Malinga on in the next over to ensure the game was put beyond Chennai’s reach. And despite, Badrinath’s best efforts, including a six in the last over, the target was beyond reach for Chennai.

Earlier, in the innings as well, Malinga and Harbhajan were responsible for keeping Mumbai ahead of the game by striking crucial blows. Malinga got rid of the dangerous looking Michael Hussey, who had unhurriedly rushed to 41 off 33 balls and was threatening to take the game away from the Mumbai Indians. However, a brilliant piece of catching cut short his innings and brought Mumbai back in the game. Harbhajan, at the other end, got the big scalps of Suresh Raina and Srikkanth Aniruddha to start the Chennai collapse. At the fall of Aniruddha’s wicket, Chennai were 123 for 5 and things only got worse for them, with Harbhajan scalping three more and Malinga added a wicket to his kitty as well.

Harbhajan’s effort pretty much overshadowed the one by Rohit Sharma earlier in the day. His contribution was equally crucial to the team’s cause though. Mumbai had lost their openers Rajgopal Satish and skipper Sachin Tendulkar to great deliveries under seam-friendly conditions earlier in the day. But, on this day, Rohit was unfazed. Of course, he was aided by some poor bowling as he was offered three boundary balls in his first four balls and accepted all of them – the wicket-takers Doug Bollinger and Albie Morkel being the guilty party. That got Rohit off, setting the tone for his innings, and he never looked back.

Rohit found solid company in the form of Ambati Rayudu, with him he did the repair job with great élan. Rayudu is a special talent himself, but this Mumbai innings was all about Rohit. He was severe in his gentle manner on every bowler. Joginder Sharma’s half volleys were dispatched, Suraj Randiv’s flighted spinners were lofted with ease and the penultimate over from Suresh Raina went all over the park. Rohit deposited him over long on, slog swept him and banged him over midwicket as 17 runs were added to the total. At the other end, Andrew Symonds also took charge, slamming two huge sixes in his unbeaten knock of 31. But, even Symonds brutality paled in comparison to Rohit’s sublime knock, which indicated why the Indian selectors have been so exasperated by his underperforming was. He is special talent for sure, but he needs to deliver more knocks like the one on a good Friday.

Royal Challengers Bangalore 175 for 1 beat Kolkata Knight Riders 171 for 5 by nine wickets

Man of the match: Chris Gayle

Chris Gayle arrived, he slammed the ball and he conquered the Kolkata Knight Riders. Yes, that in short was the tale of the game between Shah Rukh Khan’s team and the Vijay Mallya owned franchise. Flown in as a replacement for the injured bowler Dirk Nannes, Gayle batted as if he had a point to prove to his former team, bludgeoning 102 off 55 balls, inclusive of seven huge sixes to make a mockery of KKR’s challenging target of 171. It was a win the Royal Challengers were desperately seeking and Gayle addition certain has come as a force to be reckoned with for the Challengers, making one wonder how he wasn’t selected in the initial auctions, and even more surprisingly, how he was left out of the West Indies squad.

That topic can be discussed on a later day, but on Friday, it was all about Gayle massacring the Kolkata bowlers, but Gautam Gambhir forced to sit back and watch in dazzled amazement. He featured in two partnerships with Tillakaratne Dilshan and Virat Kohli and dominated both. Dilshan it was who began as the aggressor taking on Yusuf Pathan, who opened the innings on a tricky pitch. But once Gayle got his eye in, it was all him, but even the aggressive Dilshan happy playing second fiddle.

He began by whacking the left arm seam of Jaidev Unadkat for six well over long-on. Shakib Al Hasan was next in line and was given the same treatment. The Bangladesh skipper’s deliveries disappeared over midwicket and deep square leg. The Gayle party had just begun though. Yusuf was lofted over covers, Manoj Tiwary over long-twice on, one of them being mistimed, which also went for six. When Gambhir tried medium pace, it didn’t work either. Rajat Bhatia was hit all over the park, conceding 17 in an over. And just to prove that he was not all about hard force, he guided one down to third man to pick up one of his 10 boundaries.

All this while Dilshan, who was once running neck and neck with Gayle, fell way behind. The only time one realised that he was also batting was when he perished in the 13^th over, trying to remind everyone that he too could play the big strokes. But Laxmipathy Balaji was good enough to get through his defence. But, by that time Bangalore had raced to 123 for 1 and the game was over. If KKR believed they had any grim hopes, Virat Kohli blew that away pretty soon. In fact, he nearly blew away Gayle’s chances of getting a ton when he instinctly dispatched a full toss to the boundary, with Gayle still needing two for his 100. There was no more drama though as the West Indian crashed Hasan to get to his 100 as well as take his new franchise to victory.

Earlier in the day, it seemed that KKR would get back to their winning ways courtesy an impressive batting performance. Zaheer Khan was taken to the cleaners once again as KKR raced to 33 in two overs. Sanity was restored when spin was introduced, but KKR continued to build on the start. The opening pair of Kallis and Brad Haddin added 44 inside 5 overs, Kallis, Gambhir and Pathan all contributed 40s, but no one could build on from there. Still, KKR reached 171 for 5, which was handy. In hindsight though, it was far from enough, and Kolkata were left ruing the fact that they could not cross 190 after garnering 33 in the opening two overs. To be fair to KKR though, with the mood Gayle was in, even that wouldn’t have been enough.

Kochi Tuskers Kerala 132 for 7 beat Kolkata Knight Riders 126 for 9 by six runs

Kochi Tuskers Kerala managed to outshine the Kolkata Knight Riders in a game the latter would have expected to win but did not since the opposition had a bagful of tricks on a surface that suited them more than KKR. The slow Eden Gardens wicket saw Kolkata spinners Yusuf Pathan and Shakib Al Hasan combine to keep Kochi down to an extremely manageable 132 as both picked up three wickets each. However, even though Kochi’s tweakers, the spin trio of Muttiah Muralitharan, Ramesh Powar and Ravindra Jadeja did not get as many wickets, they proved to be equally hard to get away and in the end throttled the Knight Riders by six runs.

In the end, Kochi overall bowling performance outdid the Kolkata batsman. While for Kolkata Brett Lee and Laxmipathy Balaji picked up only a solitary wicket between them, with the former also going for a few runs, the Kochi pacers were far more effective and successful too. While R. Vinay Kumar got Jacques Kallis with a shorter one, which the latter hooked but straight to the fielder, skipper Gautam Gambhir was cleaned up by a fuller length delivery from R P Singh. Despite the modest target, 27 for 2 in the 5^th over with two of their main batsmen gone was not the kind of start KKR needed. And it only was to get worse.

Manvinder Bisla, who was proved that he can be quite a handy bat at the top, perished trying to take on Ravindra Jadeja, as he was clean bowled while missing a drive. The much needed partnership at last developed for Kolkata when Manoj Tiwary and Eoin Morgan joined forces. However, even as they went about the rescue mission, they found the going extremely tough against the spinning trio. Muralitharan was back at his wily best, Jadeja stuck to his strength of not giving the ball any air while Powar did exactly the opposite.

As it often happens in such a pressure situation, a wicket fell courtesy a run out. Morgan, normally a quick runner between wickets, went for a single which was never there and Jayawardene scored with a direct hit to push Kolkata into further trouble at 73 for 4 in the 13^th over. It was now left to Manoj Tiwary to take the game into the Kochi camp. Tiwary played his part by flaying RP Singh for a couple of boundaries, but Singh got Shakib at the other end, the Bangladesh skipper missing a low full toss, to keep Kochi ahead of the race.

Along with Tiwary, Yusuf was KKR’s last hope. The latter was batting down the order following an injury he picked up in the field. However, the big hitter couldn’t work any wonders. His slammed his customary six over cow corner off Powar, but in Shahid Afridi-fashion tried to repeat the stroke and perished to the same bowler the very next ball. Left all alone and with the run rate mounting, Tiwary was forced to take on Jadeja, but only managed to get himself stumped down the leg side.

Iqbal Abdulla and Rajat Bhatia threw their bats around and kept KKR’s hopes alive faintly. But Vinay Kumar bowled a smart last over, most of the slower balls, to keep KKR in check. All this was after Shakib and Pathan had restricted Kochi to 132. Brendon McCullum and Jayawardene got starts, but failed to go on. The middle order capitulated and it was only a late burst of 29 from Jadeja, inclusive of three sixes, that got them to 132. It did not seem enough at the halfway mark. But, the Kochi bowlers did enough to ensure it was.

Mumbai Indians 124 for 3 beat Pune Warriors 118 by seven wickets

A poor batting performance by the Pune Warriors put paid to their hopes of pulling off another upset, against the Mumbai Indians, as they went down to Sachin Tendulkar’s men by seven wickets, off the last ball of the match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. They managed a miserable 118, getting bowled out inside 18 overs. Things could have been even more worse for the Warriors had Robin Uthappa not chipped in with a 35-ball 47. But, even Uthappa’s effort did not nothing more than lend a semblance of respectability to the Warriors’ total. Mumbai did make heavy weather of the chase, but in the end the Warriors’ total was just not good enough.

Mumbai opened the bowling with the spin of left-armer Ali Murtaza, which clearly caught the Warriors off guard. The openers just could not get away and, as a results, the wickets started falling soon. Abu Nechim got rid of Jesse Ryder and Mithun Manhas while Munaf Patel chipped in with the big wickets of Tim Paine and Yuvraj Singh. In the fifth over of the game, the Warriors had slumped to 17 for 4 and there was no way back from there.

Things could have been worse for Pune had Andrew Symonds managed to disturb the stumps with an underarm throw when Uthappa was dangling out of his crease. Thanks to the reprieve, Warriors managed to stage a fightbacj of sorts. Uthappa took on the medium pace of Kieron Pollard and James Franklin and added some easy boundaries, and there were some free hits too. Wickets continued to fall at the other end though as Murtaza and Lasith Malinga combined to pick up a couple of wickets each. Having no option, Uthappa also fell going for a big stroke in the 15^th over. Despite his knock, the Warriors had only managed 98 when he was dismissed, such was the extent of damage done in the earlier overs.

With no pressure on them at all, Sachin Tendulkar and Ambati Rayudu went about their task in an easy manner after the experiment with James Franklin at the top failed. Tendulkar and Rayudu combined to add 74 for the second wicket. Both fell when the game was well within striking distance, reducing the run rate. Rohit Sharma and Andrew Symonds combined to tick down the remaining runs. But, for sure, Mumbai would not have wanted the game to go down to the last ball as it did. In a somewhat dramatic fashion Murali Kartik was slammed for six off the last ball of the match to bring the curtains down on what should have been a one-sided game and was but for the fact that Mumbai weren’t proactive. Still, it was a game Pune deserved to lose and they did.

Kolkata Knight Riders 85 for 2 beat Rajasthan Royals 81 (Balaji 3-15) by eight wickets

Man of the Match: Laxmipathy Balaji

The Kolkata Knight Riders certainly look a different and more confident outfit under Gautam Gambhir as opposed to the previous three seasons. And this difference was clearly evident on Sunday, when the thrashed the Rajasthan Royals by eight wickets in a thoroughly comprehensive manner, in this case the margin of defeat said it all. Batting first, Rajasthan Royals crumbed under the pressure of some good bowling, especially by Laxmipathy Balaji and some incredible fielding, which culminated in run outs, to knock down the Rajasthan Royals to a miserable 81 all out. In reply, Gautam Gambhir and Manoj Tiwary then combined forces to kill any hopes of a Royal fightback courtesy two quick wickets by featuring in a sedate partnership that eventually blossomed into a match winning one.

Even as contributions came from all around, it was Balaji’s man of the match winning effort that was most crucial. After all, he took out the dangerous Shane Watson, who had come at the back of his record breaking 185 not out in Bangladesh. It needed something special to see the back of Watson, and Balaji produced one such delivery on Sunday, which pitched on the middle stump and left Watson enough to beat his wide bat and click the off stump. Not surprisingly, wild celebrations followed. Balaji returned in his second spell to claim two more victims. The dismissals weren’t as dramatic but crucial nonetheless and were taken with two wicket taking deliveries indeed. He first cleaned up with an off cutter which kept low and two which the batsman from Mumbai had little idea how to deal with. Next, he got Ashok Maneria, who perished trying to break the shackles but only ended up skying a catch.

Balaji finished with figures of 3 for 15 and inspired the others too. The fielding was, in particular, exceptional. Faiz Fazal fell following a misunderstanding as Iqbal Abdulla produced a diving stop off his own bowling and threw down the stumps at the non striker’s end. To make matters worse, another confusion between Abhishek Raut and Maneria resulted in the dismissal of the former. Shakib Al Hasan did not make any mistake in the field and wicket keeper Manvinder Bisla easily did the rest. A key moment in the game came when Ross Taylor was at the crease. The one man who could turn any game on its head overbalanced going for a flick of a delivery down the leg side. Wicket keeper Bisla was alert enough to take off the bails in a flash and Taylor was found short of his crease.

At 67 for 5, it was good as a hopeless case for the Royals and, along with Balaji, Shakib too took the occasion to get among the wickets. He cleaned up both Amit Singh and Shaun Tait with arm balls of varying length, but neither had a clue. The hat trick was averted, but Brett Lee returned to dismantle Siddharth Trivedi’s furniture and the Royal mess was complete. Tait gave some faint hopes to the Royals as Kallis failed to read a bouncer from the speedster and fell hanging his bat embarrassingly. A little later, Bisla was overpowered by the genius of Shane Warne after the former had an almighty struggle in the middle. However, Gambhir and Tiwary bided their time by and once they got their easy in it was an ‘as easy as it gets’ victory.

Delhi Daredevils 190 for 7 beat Pune Warriors 187 for 5 by three wickets

Man of the match: Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh was the man of the match in the game between the Pune Warriors and Delhi Daredevils, but it was one of those rare occasions when a person from the losing side gets the player of the game award. It was one of those days on Sunday at the D. Y Patil stadium as Yuvraj bludgeoned 66 from 32 balls and later picked up four wickets for 29 runs. Yet, the Daredevils had enough firepower left to sneak in a victory. It was a tough chase made tougher thanks to Yuvraj’s all round effort. First, he and Jesse Ryder put up a magnificent effort with the bat to take the Warriors to a highly challenging 187 for 5. Later, Yuvraj got breakthroughs at crucial intervals to keep the Daredevils innings in check after some explosive early batting. However, there was precious little from others in the form of support, which allowed Delhi to escape and snatch their first win of the tournament.

The foundation for the Daredevils’ win was laid by a superb opening stand between David Warner and Virender Sehwag. The two swashbucklers were in their elements as they added 75 in seven overs before Warner fell in the only was he seemed likely to get out – run out. But, before his departure, he ensured Delhi had the upper hand in the game. He took a special liking to Wayne Parnell as well as Alfonso Thomas, and most of his boundaries and sixes came of the duo’s bowling. The South African pair had no answer to the Aussie’s assault as Delhi made the most of the power play overs.

Skipper Sehwag too played his part in the opening act, slamming six fours in a 23 ball knock of 37 before his stumps were knocked back by an innocuous Ryder delivery. At 97 for 2, Delhi were still on top, but this where Yuvraj took over. He sent back Irfan Pathan and Naman Ojha off consecutive deliveries to bring the game back on an even keel. Rahul Sharma assisted him at the other end dismissing Matthew Wade as 97 for 2 quickly became 120 for 5. However, Delhi had an ace up their sleeve which turned the game right back in their favour.

Venugopal Rao and Aaron Finch were both held back, a move which could have easily backfired but didn’t. On the contrary, they combined to score 56 runs between themselves in 32 deliveries, one over from Shrikant Wagh going for 20 runs and changing the equally. And in spite of the fact that Yuvraj dismissed both Rao and Finch in the penultimate over, James Hopes saw them through with a couple of crushing hits.

Yuvraj would have believed he had done enough, but the combined forces of Delhi outpowered his solo act.

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.

What Dale Steyn’s vicious spell couldn’t do for Bangalore Royal Challengers, Ravichandran Aswhin’s super effort did for Chennai Super Kings against the Kolkata Knight Riders in a do or die encounter for both sides at Chepauk. While Deccan Chargers managed to recover from Steyn’s three-wicket burst, Kolkata were not as lucky as they were tamed by Chennai’s lions by a thumping 9-wicket margin.

Ashwin, who opening the bowling after Sourav Ganguly won the toss and elected to bat, sent back Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum and David Hussey in no time to have Kolkata reeling at 19 for 4 at the completion of the fourth over. Thanks to some lusty hitting by Angelo Mathews (48) and good support from Manoj Tiwary (27), the visitors recovered somewhat to post 139 for 8.

But, Kolkata’s hopes of making a match out of it evaporated rather quickly as Suresh Raina (78 from 39 balls) went on an all-out attack after the early dismissal of Matthew Hayden. With Murali Vijay (50 off 40 balls) giving him company, the Super Kings never looked in even an inch of trouble.

Looking back, the game was decided within the first 20 minutes itself. Things weren’t all that bad for Kolkata when Gayle spanked Ashwin for a mammoth six. However, the very next ball, the off-spinner had his revenge when the tall West Indian was stumped for 7 going for a repeat of the stroke.

McCullum followed almost immediately, a mistimed sweep ending up in the safe hands of Muttiah Muralitharan. David Hussey did not last long either. He was brilliantly stumped down the leg side by MS Dhoni. Ashwin was now on a hat-trick, and should have had it, but for a rare blip by Simon Taufel, who could not spot the ball taking Angelo Mathews’ gloves on its way to the fielder. Still, Ashwin finished with memorable figures of 3 for 16. At the other end, Doug Bollinger beat Ganguly for pace and trapped him lbw for 10.

Everything was looking downhill for Kolkata. But, Mathews made use of the luck that came his way and helped his side gain some amount of control on the innings. He was particularly severe on his countrymate Murali, who was being recalled into the side. With two massive sixes off him, he made a run-a-ball 48 before Murali had his revenge. Following his departure, Laxmi Ratan Shukla blasted two sixes off Raina’s bowling to help his side post a target of 140 for the Super Kings.

The only way Kolkata could have won would have been if somebody did an Ashwin. But, while Gayle promised a little by cleaning up Hayden, whose slog sweep found the stumps, what followed was nothing short of disheartening for the bowling side. Raina began by caressing Ashok Dinda for three boundaries in his opening over.

And, when Gayle returned for this second over, he was hammered all over the place. As a result, Chennai reached their best score at the end of the powerplay overs during this edition, 67 for 1. All this while, Vijay, himself in belligerent form, was prepared to be silent spectator.

Raina cut, drove and lofted with ease and even when he mistimed his pulls, he made sure that the ball headed in the safest direction, over his keeper. Vijay joined in the act towards the end as Chennai cruised to victory and kept their semi-final hopes alive.