Cricket Tournaments

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.

On a batsman-friendly pitch at Mohali, Punjab Kings XI got themselves into a winning position chasing Rajasthan Royals’ imposing total of 183, courtesy a whirlwind start. Kumar Sangakkara, opening the innings, smashed an amazing 29 from 13 balls while Manvinder Bisla was even more astonishing, scoring 35 from 18 balls.

But, once Bisla was dismissed by Shane Warne, Punjab completely fell apart. From an impressive 85 for one in the eight over, they collapsed to 115 for 5 in the 13, the loss of Irfan Pathan taking the match well out of their reach.

Punjab’s batting effort was in complete contrast to Rajasthan’s innings, earlier in the evening. After losing the toss and being invited to bat, they made an extremely confident start for a change. Michael Lumb, from whom skipper Warne had great hopes, did not let his captain down.

Against a bowling attack which seemed low on confidence right from the start, Lumb was in his elements. Irfan Pathan, as in the earlier games, was wayward and the opener took full advantage of it, striking a number of boundaries using the width offered. The other left-arm seamer, Shalabh Srivastava, also went for plenty, nullifying the good work done by Juan Theron, who was impressive once again, keeping the ball in exactly the right areas.

Theron’s effort, though, was overshadowed by Rajasthan’s royal batting performance. After Lumb was smarty dismissed, stumped by Piyush Chawla for a well-made 41, Faiz Fazal once again proved his mettle in the middle overs. In partnership, first with Yusuf Pathan (28) and later with Adam Voges (45*), Fazal ensured that Rajasthan’s great start was not negated.

The beauty of his batting was that he picked the gaps in the field taking minimal risks. And even when he went for the boundaries, more often than not, he ensured that it was a calculated shot and not a mere slog. Fazal was unluckily run out by Chawla for 45, but his knock set up things perfectly for Voges.

The hard-hitting Australian found the boundaries without much trouble against Irfan and Srivastava. And when Kumar Sangakkara tried out Yuvraj Singh belatedly, he too was given similar treatment. Voges’ knock meant Royals had the cushion of an extra few runs in case the bowling wasn’t top notch. Punjab, themselves, did not help their cause being shabby in the field right throughout.

Putting the disappointing bowling and fielding effort behind them, they did make a sparkling start to their case. Sangakkara led from the front, taking both Munaf Patel and Shaun Tait head on. However, the innings did not last long enough and Tait got the better of him with a short ball, which he fended away and was caught near the boundary line.

In came Bisla and went all guns blazing from ball one. Neither Tait for Patel had any answer to his stand and deliver tactics. And, when Warne came on, he did not hesitate to go down the track and hit him into the stands. The veteran leg spinner had the last laugh though. Like Sangakkara, Bisla’s innings also promised a lot, but lasted only a while longer than his skipper. And therein lay Punjab’s problem.

On a slow, low pitch at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack, Deccan Chargers batted sensibly to post a challenging total of 170 after being invited to bat. Veteran pacer Chaminda Vaas then bowled a probing first spell, during which he claimed the important scalps of Kumar Sangakkara and Yuvraj Singh which all but put paid to Kings XI Punjab’s hopes of registering their first victory in the tournament. Vaas was well supported by the remaining bowlers as well.

Punjab, though, fought back as Irfan Pathan launched a marvellous late assault, slamming 60 from 29 balls. S. Sreesanth then hit three boundaries in the final over. But, it still wasn’t enough to see Punjab through as they fell short by a mere six runs in the end.

Coming back to Vaas, he brought all his experience into play to ensure that Punjab did not get off to a flyer in their chase. The slower delivery with which he cleaned up his Lankan team-mate and current skipper Kumar Sangakkara proved that there is still some fire left in him. As if he hadn’t made a strong enough point, he soon had Yuvraj Singh caught out.

Before the match, Punjab knew that for them to win Sangakkara and Yuvraj will have to play key roles. But, with Vaas consuming both of them, Punjab never recovered until the final flourish. The batting side did not help their cause as the in-form Manvinder Bisla was run-out early on following a mix-up with Ravi Bopara.

Punjab still had Mahela Jayawardene in their ranks, but the Deccan bowlers were on a roll and never allowed anyone to settle down. Andrew Symonds and Pragyan Ojha played their parts well Jayawardene and Adrian Barath respectively. All this while, Bopara was watching the carnage from the other end. He played some typical fluent strokes and reached 38.

But, with wickets tumbling, he had to go for the big shots and perished in the deep to Rohit Sharma. At 68 for 6, the match seemed out of grasp. However, credit to the ‘left-handed’ Pathan for almost pulling it off. The Baroda all-rounder played some breathtaking strokes, hitting five sixes in all to take his side to the brink.

Earlier in the day, Adam Gilchrist got his side off to a cracking start. He destroyed a wayward Sreesanth and dispatched him to all parts of the ground en route to his 12-ball stay of 33. Sreesanth’s performance was disappointing yet again for Punjab as he bowled length and gave ample room for Gilchrist to free his arms. As expected, the Deccan Chargers skipper did not miss out. It was eventually, the slow nature of the pitch that got the better of him, as he went for a half-hearted pull.

Gilchrist’s dismissal silenced the innings for a while. However, batting like a true pro, the bad boy of Australian cricket, Andrew Symonds notched up a half-century. Symonds got the measure of the slow pitch early in his innings and adjusted accordingly. It was his smart innings combined by useful contributions from Herschelle Gibbs and T Suman that helped Deccan post 170. And with Vaas in top form, they were able to successfully defend it.

The decade has changed, but India’s fortunes in finals haven’t. They slid to yet another defeat as Sri Lanka becalmed a familiar opposition in the game that mattered.

Mahela Jayawardene, recalled midway through the series, guided Lanka’s tough chase of 246 with a mature, unbeaten 71. There were useful contributions from Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan as well which ensured that India’s mighty fight back with the bat courtesy Suresh Raina’s magnificent century went in vain.

Batting first, the Indians slumped to 60 for 5 in no time before Raina’s rearguard action, in the company of Ravindra Jadeja, ensured the team ended with a respectable score. But, in the end, it was Jayawardene’s effort that mattered the most.

Coming into bat following the quick dismissals of Dilshan and Sangakkara, the former Lankan skipper anchored the innings to perfection to take Lanka home in the penultimate over.

Playing risk-free cricket, he began hesitantly, pushing and prodded at most deliveries. But, once he settled down, he brought out some of his classy strokes as well.

It was Jayawardene at his methodical best, just what the doctor ordered for Sri Lanka. He found an able ally in Thilan Samaraweera, with whom he added 48 crucial runs after the loss of two quick wickets.

The team found itself in a spot of bother after Samaraweera’s dismissal, bowled by Jadeja’s arm ball, was followed by Thilina Kandamby’s, who was accounted for by Harbhajan Singh. But, nothing affected Jayawardene on this day.

He had his share of deserved luck too when Harbhajan put him down at point, just after he had crossed his half-century. Suraj Randiv fell with another 18 runs still required.

But S. Sreesanth, who disappointed big time, released all the pressure by allowing Jayawardene to hit him for three boundaries to various parts of the ground and that was the series.

Earlier, Sri Lanka laid a solid platform for the win despite losing Upul Tharanga in the first over. Tharanga slashed at one way outside off-stump from Ashish Nehra.

But the unfit left-arm seamer couldn’t take much further part in the final and the in-from Dilshan and Sangakkara took full advantage of it. Neither Zaheer Khan nor Sreesanth could stop the flow of runs as Lanka progressed smoothly to 93 for one.

It needed the golden arm of Yurvaj Singh to break the partnership. Dilshan tried to cut glide one behind the wickets and ended up edging the ball into MS Dhoni’s gloves, one short of another 50 against India.

Buoyed by the breakthrough, Harbhajan snared Sangakkara for 55 with a rising delivery that spun away from the left-hander and induced the edge. Some tense moments followed, but Jayawardene and Samaraweera went about the rebuilding task without much fuss.

At the start of the game, bowling was the big worry for India. But on the big day, the batters ditched the side. India lost their first five wickets for a mere 60 runs, 42 of them coming from Virender Sehwag’s bat as Nuwan Kulasekara and Chanaka Welegedara shared the spoils.

Raina came in and played a splendid knock, but in hindsight, the damage caused by then proved to be irreparable.

With just one day to go in the Ahmedabad Test, Sri Lanka have been the dominant side without an iota of doubt. And with two Indian top order batsmen already back in the hut, India will have to bat exceptionally well on the final day to save the Test. More than Virender Sehwag, it is first innings saviour Rahul Dravid’s dismissal which could hurt India badly. The India number three, who was a tad unlucky to be adjudged lbw, has the perfect technique and temperament under the prevailing circumstances. Unfortunately, he won’t be around as India try to save the match on the final day. It is not to say that the others are not good enough. Also, the pitch is still pretty good. Yet, pressure can make people do funny things and it remains to be seen how the rest cope with it.

Sri Lanka’s delayed declaration will be a subject of discussion. However, there will be criticism only if India manage to save the Test. There are two ways of outdoing the opposition while setting a target — bat them out of the game and then apply complete pressure by having umbrella fields or dangling the carrot and giving the team batting last a sniff that they can win. Kumar Sangakkara decided to opt for the former. His logic definitely would have been that with the pitch playing well the visitors could not afford to give India the slightest chance of going for victory. The fact that Lanka have never won a Test in India might also have influenced the think-thank, so the delay in the declaration was understandable.

In spite of the time lost, Lanka still have a strong chance of going for a historic win. No matter how good a pitch is, the last day will always have something to offer for the bowlers. The spinners Rangana Herath and Muttiah Muralitharan, in particular, could prove a handful on the final day. And impressive medium pacer Chanaka Welegedara wicket-taking ability can also unsettle the Indians, especially early on when he has been at his deadliest. So India have a real fight on hand to come out unscathed.

The host will be under immense pressure when they take the field on day five. However, they can learn plenty from the manner in which the two Jayawardenes – Mahela and Prasanna – applied themselves over such a long period of time during the Lankan innings. As mentioned earlier, there is nothing much in the pitch for the bowlers. Still, a lot of determination and mental application is needed for the amount of time the duo applied themselves. Their knocks were nearly flawless, and their class made good international bowlers from India look extremely ordinary. Both the spinners Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra were extremely insipid and Ishant Sharma did not do a lot to repay the faith the selectors have shown in him despite his disappointing efforts recently. Only Zaheer Khan made an impression, but without support even he was far from lethal expect for a few incisive spells.

A lot will now depend on how Gautam Gambhir and the remaining middle-order batsmen apply themselves. If India do manage to pull it off it will be a genuinely hard-fought effort.

A sparkling century by Tillakaratne Dilshan, preceded by some excellent early morning bowling by Sri Lanka ensured the visitors ended day two of the Ahmedabad Test with honours even. India did strike back in the last session when Zaheer Khan dismissed Dilshan and skipper Kumar Sangakkara in quick succession. However, former captain Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera put their heads down and added an unbeaten 85 for the fourth wicket to take Sri Lanka to 275/3 at the close of play. Earlier in the day, India were bowled out for 426, losing their last four wickets having added only 41 to their overnight score. Dravid fell without adding to his overnight score of 177.

If day one belonged to Dravid, day two was undoubtedly Dilshan’s. His ton made sure that Lanka capitalised on the advantage they had gained after bowling India out early on the second day. Dilshan’s effort was all the more commendable since runs flowed from his bat even when MS Dhoni did his best to negate the Lankan opener’s favourite scoring areas. The Indian skipper blocked, the point, fine leg and square leg area early on, but Dilshan did not fall for the ploy. Instead, he was satisfied to place the ball in the gaps and turn over the strike whilst waiting for the loose deliveries.

Dilshan’s opening partner Tharanga Paranavitana also gave him good support at the other end. In fact, he did the bulk of the scoring early on. In a sense, he was lucky to have got more of the widish deliveries as both Zaheer and Ishant Sharma concentrated on dislodging Dilshan, whom they considered the more dangerous of the two. Nevertheless, Paranavitana did his job, adding 74 for the first wicket before falling prey to Ishant for 35. With a solid foundation laid, Dilshan and Sangakkara carried on the good work.

Except for a few moments at the start, Dilshan was in full flow. When the boundaries weren’t coming, he was uncharacteristically patient, running quick singles and twos. And when the width was offered, he did not back off. Having seen off the pacers without much trouble, he was at ease against the spinners, stroking both Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra for boundaries early on in their spell. At the other end, Sangakkara was more than happy to play second fiddle as Dilshan approached his 10th Test century and Sri Lanka went into tea well-placed at 155/1.

Dilshan reached his ton post tea. But just when the partnership between him and Sangakkara seemed to be assuming extremely dangerous proportions, Zaheer showed his true class. Going for a hook, Dilshan was cramped for room and ended up skying a catch to Dravid for 112. Five runs later, Sangakkara too perished in a similar fashion, beaten for pace by Zaheer. Post the two dismissals, Singh and Mishra managed to gain a degree of control over the innings. But though both were effective, they failed to dislodge either Jayawardene or Samaraweera, who were prepared to grind it out as Sri Lanka ended the day having gained a slight upper hand.

On, 19 June 2009 in second semifinal of ICC World T20 at Kennington Oval, we saw tremendous expertise from Lankans side and insensibility and spiritlessness from Indies. Opening batsman Dilshan played like a maestro and mesmerized whole audience with his unbeaten innings of 96 runs coming off just 57 balls. Dilshan is high scorer from Lankans side in ICC World T20, led Lankans to the truly deserved victory over uninspiring Indies.

Sri Lankan innings was fluctuating, in 15th over Lankans were at 98 runs off 3 wickets, reaching above 150 runs total was somewhat difficult on slower and bowler friendly pitch of Oval. But in the last five overs with the DIlshan on the field Lankans knocked whopping 60 runs, taking total to 158 runs off 5 wickets. Dilshan innings was the major contribution to the total, rest the Lankans batsmen were not able to put up better support. Sanath Jayasuriya (24), Kumar Sangakkara (0), Mahela Jayawardena (2), Chamara Silva (11) and Jehan Mubarak (7) were not able to sustain on field and support to Dilshan. Even though Dilshan remain consistent without any support from other teammates throughout the innings and aggregated challenging score of 158 runs on slower pitch like Oval.

As the Gayle’s bowler were being attributed mystique and powerful mix of spinners and pacers, all proved futile in front of Dilshan. Gayle’s bowlers were not able to confine Dilshan and still the bowling was commendable, every boundary was tough though but Dilshan knocks showed it lot easier. Tight field by Gayle’s company was commendable and fielders were diving for every single shoot to prevent boundaries even two’s. Jerome Taylor, Sulleman Benn , and Kieron Pollard took 1-1 wicket and Dwayne Bravo expensive though took 2 wickets.

West Indians came to bat to face 159 runs target; 159 runs target was pretty much tough on the slower pitch of Oval still it was expected from Indies, they would be tough competition. But the disaster happened Angelo Mathews took 3 wickets in very first over, Indies were dumbfounded. Roaring audience in support of Lankans with uninterrupted commentary started coming from commentary box of Lankans making it to the finals. Gayle (63) was the only batsman to sustain on the pitch rest batting line up of Indies felled like the stock rates on the Wall Street.

Sri Lankans bowlers and Dilshan were remarkable and outstanding in the last semifinal, purely out doing Indies in every aspect of the game. Angelo Mathews and Star Player Muttiah Muralidaran took 3-3 wickets, Ajantha Mendis took 2 wickets and Isuru Udana and Lasith Malinga took 1-1 wicket. Lankans jamboree of bowlers were superb and astounding; Lankans bowlers bowled every type of bowling with Yorkers to off spin, leg spin and short balls with the better line and length gave no room to Indies to go for the shoots.

Malinga taking the last wicket in the 17th over Indies were all out on 101 runs and Lankans winning the match by big margin of 57 runs.