Cricket Tournaments

Following their magnificent chase against the Pune Warriors, the Delhi Daredevils would have been in a confident frame of mind going into the match against the Deccan Chargers. However, everything came to naught as their batsmen struggled chasing a challenging, but hardly overwhelming, target of 169. Only David Warner, who has been the Daredevils’ best batsman, stuck it out for yet another half century, but the rest struggled and even a late assault by the relatively unknown Yogesh Nagar could not reduce the margin of deficit. This was after Sunny Sohal and Kumar Sangakkara combined to put Deccan in charge with a precision-like 92 run stand. The Daredevils did fight back well with the ball, following the dismissal of the two. But, with their weak batting faltering once again, it just was not enough.

At the end of the day, the partnership between Sohal and Sangakkara proved to be the decisive one. Things began well for the Chargers with Sohal driving the first ball of the day to the boundary. Shikhar Dhawan also got into the act, slamming a couple of fours. But, Irfan Pathan got the breakthrough for Delhi, pegging back Dhawan’s furniture. However, Delhi had little reason to smile after that as Sohal and Sangakkara went about their task in a refined manner. Neither player resorted to slog cricket. While Sohal used deft touches and drove with gentle ease, Sangakkara dominated the spinners, driving and lofting them with great success.

The important factor of their partnership was that both kept finding the boundaries at will, without taking too many risks. Sangakkara took left arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem to the cleaners, depositing him into the stands and also claiming a couple of boundaries. When the youngster Nagar was introduced, he too was treated with equal disdain, the former Lankan captain driving him for a couple of boundaries. All this while, Sohal was content with his deft play, before he too opened up after reaching his half century. Sohal took on Morne Morkel successfully, blasting him for a six and a four.

At 106 for 1 in the 12^th over, things did not look bright for the Daredevils, but they fought back thanks to some good bowling in the second half of the innings. Ashok Dinda made the breakthrough, getting Sangakkara caught in the covers, one short of a well deserved half century. A little later, Sohal also fell to Nadeem trying to move on with things. Cameron White did contribute an unbeaten 31, but it wasn’t his fluent or quickfire knock that could have taken the game away from the Daredevils.

Having chased down 180 the other day, the Daredevils would have been confident of surpassing this total as well. For that though they needed both Sehwag and Warner to fire. The initial signs were highly promising with Sehwag racing off the blocks with three successive fours. However, Harmeet Singh, playing in his first game, undid Sehwag and the wheels just fell off the innings from that point. Aaron Finch departed first ball while Naman Ojha was claimed by Daniel Christian before he had scored too many.

Once again, it was left to Warner and Venugopal Rao to do the rescue act. They did put their best foot forward, but with the pitch offering spin neither could repeat their heroics of the last game. Eventually, Rao fell for 21, which came at less than a run a ball, while Warner could manage on 51 despite being at the crease for 15 overs. When he fell, Delhi were still one short of 100. All the bowlers combined well to restrict the Daredevils, and Nagar’s final act was a mere consolation joy of some big hits.

(Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Rajasthan Royals match abandoned at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore without a ball being bowled due to persistent rain.)

Kings XI Punjab (166 for 2) beat Deccan Chargers (165 for 8) by 8 wickets

Man of the Match: Paul Valthaty

Paul Valthaty put up yet another sterling performance, this time with both bat and ball to steer Kings XI Punjab to an easy eight wicket win over Deccan Chargers at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Uppal, Hyderabad. Valthaty first ensured that he restricted Deccan to a challenging total with some cunning slow cutters, following a threatening partnership between Kumar Sangakkara and Shikhar Dhawan, that was on course to take the game away from then. Next, he opened the innings with the bat and continued from where he left off against Chennai Super Kings to seal the game for Punjab in no time, with some great support from his skipper Adam Gilchrist.

Following the early loss of Sunny Sohal, the Chargers fought back well courtesy a counter-attacking partnership between Sangakkara and Dhawan. The duo was severe on Praveen Kumar, Ryan Harris as well as Ryan MClaren and looked in charge as they added 75 in quick time. However, one brilliant piece of fielding by Shaun Marsh was enough to turn around the fortunes of the sides. Marsh dived full length and stopped a fierce stroke from Sangakkara at extra cover. The loss of a run made the former Lankan skipper uncharacteristically slog sweep the next ball off Piyush Chawla, only to find the safe hands of McLaren in the deep. That was the beginning of the end for Deccan.

Three runs later, Dhawan perished to what was to be a leg side wide from Valthaty, but his effort to get too smart got the better of him as he was gobbled up at short fine leg. From there onwards, Deccan’s innings hit a roadblock and Valthaty was in charge. Bharat Chipli, who was Deccan’s hero in the last game, found Valthaty’s slower ones extremely tough to handle. He was lucky to survive on one occasion, but perished soon after going for a big shot. At 112 for four, in the 15^th over, Kings XI were clearly in the commanding position. However, the big hitting Daniel Christian raised Deccan’s hopes by slamming 30 off 14 balls.

Once again, it was Valthaty who turned the game in Punjab’s favour with two strikes in two consecutive balls. He first cleaned up Christian and very next ball trapped Amit Mishra plumb in front as the latter tried to go for a scoop shot he is clearly not adept at. Valthaty found good support in McLaren at the other end, who got the bog scalps of J P Duminy and the big hitting Manpreet Gony. Thanks to their efforts, Deccan were restricted to 165 for 8.

The home side still had a chance, considering they had Dale Steyn in their ranks. But, Valthaty and Gilchrist sealed the game inside the first five overs itself. Runs flowed at an easy pace off Steyn and his opening partner Ishant Sharma. However, it was Gony who had to bear the brunt of Valthaty’s attack 23 runs came in his one over, in which Valthaty charged him, drove him and lofted him with utter ease. Valthaty had an answer to every delivery Gony bowled. With no pressure on him, Gilchrist also found the going easy and soon eased into his game. In fact, he went on to beat Valthaty in the race for 50 in typical Gilchrist style. In all, he slammed five fours and three sixes before perishing to Mishra. Valthaty’s numbers were even more astounding, but not surprising considering his previous knock. He faced a mere 47 balls for his 75, clearing the boundary on as many as five occasions before he too fell to Mishra, the only wicket-taking bowler for Deccan.

Abhishek Nayar and Dinesh Karthik completed the formalities and the match was over with more than two overs to spare. A comprehensive win indeed.

Hussey set up Chennai’s win

Chennai Super Kings 183 for 5 beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (162 for 7) by 21 runs

Man of the Match: Michael Hussey

Michael Hussey batted through the entire Chennai Super Kings innings and scored a brisk, unbeaten 83 from 56 balls to set up an easy 21 run win for the Super Kings along with some good support from his team mates as well as the opposition, Royal Challengers Bangalore, who suffered their third defeat in the tournament. Hussey’s brilliance was well supported by quick cameos by Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina and M S Dhoni as, batting first, Chennai put up an impressive score of 183 for 5. Bangalore were miserable in the field, with misfields, overthrows and dropped catch from even their better fielders. While a couple of experienced bowlers did well to keep down the runs, the rest like Johan van der Wath, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Ryan Ninan were taken for plenty as Chennai set up a match-winning total. Then, when their turn with the bat came, Bangalore were equally miserable. They lost too many early wickets. And even though A B de Villiers and Virat Kohli got among the runs, the intent was clearly missing.

The match, thus, was essentially about Hussey and Chennai’s batting effort. Hussey hit eleven boundaries in all, eight of them coming on the on side, signifying that Bangalore’s bowlers had not got their act right. But, Hussey went along on his merry ways and found the fence on the other side too when the opportunity presented. In between, his running between the wickets was amazing, typifying the Aussie in him.

Hussey got good support from his mates as well. His opening partner Vijay raced to 31 from 21 balls. He slammed van der Wath for three big hits, which included one six, as Chennai shifted gears. At the other end, Hussey had it easy against Dilshan finding the fence on a couple of occasions. Even as Ninan sent back Vijay, Raina came in and kept Chennai ahead of the game. He got the better of both Ninan and van der Wath, racing to 29 in 16 balls, before handing over the baton his skipper Dhoni, who himself blasted 22 in 16 balls.

184 was a chaseable target provided Bangalore got off to a Valthaty-style start. On the contrary, the first three wickets, including the big one of Dilshan, fell with a mere 31 on board. And with de Villiers and Kohli also struggling to up the ante during their alliance, Bangalore were always playing catch up. No surprising, they came second by some distance.

Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Kochi Tuskers Kerala by 5 wickets

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

If ever there was an award for the worst IPL team performance, the Deccan Chargers would have won it hands down. 82 is all they got in the third place play-off against the upbeat Royal Challengers Bangalore at the D.Y. Patil stadium. Okay, this wasn’t the best surface for the batsmen – both the pacers and spinners extracted enough from the pitch to trouble Deccan’s batsmen.

The figures of Praveen Kumar (2/18) and Anil Kumble (4/16) amply reflected this. Still, this was by no stretch of the imagination an 82 all-out pitch, as proved by Anirudh Singh’s fluent 40. Bangalore too had their moments of trouble during the chase, with the ball stopping on the pitch regularly.

What went in their favour though was that they were completely devoid of pressure, owing to the partly total they were after and, in the end, they cruised home by 9 wickets.

Clearly, it was their accurate bowling performance combined with some unreasonable batting by the opposition that won it for Bangalore. Deccan lost their first five batsmen with a mere 35 on the board, and after a steady partnership of 43 between Anirudh Singh and Venugopal Rao, gifted their last five wickets for the addition of just four runs.

Yes, you heard it right. So swift was the collapse that even the Royal Challengers looked rather embarrassed at having done so exceedingly well.

When a team performs so miserably, it is but natural for them to be criticised. And, there will be plenty of it for Deccan for the manner in which they capitulated with the bat. It all went wrong for Adam Gilchrist and co right from the time they won the toss and elected to bat.

The skipper’s miseries in the tournament continued as he failed for one final time – this time a full toss from opposition skipper Kumble found its way into the lone fielder in the deep. While Gilchrist can be considered a tad unlucky, the shot selection from a few others was far from sane.

Monish Mishra was trapped in front for a duck trying to play across the line while Rohit Sharma gave some easy catching practice to mid-on, also without opening his account. The most disappointing of strokes came from the blade of Andrew Symonds.

He had just been dropped in the previous over by Dale Steyn, but instead of making Bangalore pay, he fell to the South African in the very next over, driving a ball that was too close to his body.

The only phase during which Deccan looked in some semblance of control was when Anirudh and Rao combined to add a few important runs. Both had their moments, hitting one six each of the spinners. However, once Jacques Kallis pegged back Anirudh’s off-stump, things took a drastic turn as Kumble joined Kallis in finishing off the innings in a flash.

A word of praise has to be reserved for left-arm spinner Nayan Doshi, who beat the batsmen in the air more than once and ended with impressive figures (1/17).

There really wasn’t much to do when the Challengers went into bat. Still, Rahul Dravid and Kevin Pietersen batted with authority to take their side home after losing Kallis for 19.

Dravid’s five fluently-timed boundaries and Pietersen’s two sixes were enough to kill Deccan’s hopes, if at all they had any. Overall, an utterly disappointing contest. But, for those seeking solace, be grateful this wasn’t the final.

On a slow, low pitch at the Sawai Mansingh stadium at Jaipur, Rajasthan’s batsmen had a torrid time, which resulted in them being trumped by the Royal Challengers Bangalore by a comfortable margin of five wickets. What began well for Shane Warne when he won the toss and elected to bat first, only got worse.

In the most inauspicious of starts, Michael Lumb was run out cheaply and the Bangalore bowlers then combined brilliantly to have Rajasthan on the mat right through. It was only a stubborn partnership towards the end between Abhishek Raut and Adam Voges that enabled Rajasthan to touch 130. But, with Kevin Pietersen in the most murderous of moods, the match was a no-contest, despite the loss of a few cheap wickets late in the game.

Returning to Rajasthan’s insipid batting effort, in the season of run-outs, Lumb (9) added one more to his kitty. Not for the first time in the series, there was a total lack of co-ordination between him and Naman Ojha. As a result, Lumb was stranded more than halfway down the pitch and had only one way to go from thereon, back to the dugout.

The only consolation for him could have been that Pietersen’s run-out later in the day was uglier. But, this wasn’t a battle to score brownie points. Following Lumb’s dismissal, Amit Paunikar (0) was smartly trapped by R Vinay Kumar off a short ball in the same over. Ojha too couldn’t make amends for the run-out of Lumb as he chipped one up in the air off Pankaj Singh’s bowling for 7.

At 3 for 21, Bangalore were well on top, but they knew they had thrown it away from a similar position in the previous game. There were no mistakes this time, however. Shane Watson (22), who cracked a couple of boundaries and was looking ominous, was brilliantly caught by Pietersen, diving in front of him off Kallis’ bowling. And, if Royals were hoping for some Yusuf Pathan magic, it wasn’t coming.

Anil Kumble’s decision to bring back Dale Steyn worked immediately as the speedster knocked out the big-hitter with a short of the length delivery, which beat his tentative defence and crashed into the stumps. If Rajasthan managed to reach a decent score after being 72 for 6, it was thanks to some dedicated batting from Raut and Voges. Neither could go for the big strokes but ensured that they at least rotated the strike, before finally delivery a couple of lusty hits at the very end.

The target was too miniscule for Bangalore though, despite the early loss of Kallis, who was castled by Kamran Khan by one that kept really low. What followed was the Pietersen show, an exhibition of ruthless batting, which reiterated why Vijay Mallya was so bent on having him in his franchise. Khan was given a lesson in how not to ball at the start of an innings.

The usually economical Siddharth Trivedi as well as Watson were also taken to task. And, when Shane Warne came on, Pietersen made his intentions clear immediately charging down the pitch, making the legend look hapless.

Pietersen raced to 62 from 28 balls. He was out the only way he could have got out. Adamant on getting the strike, he overpowered a refusal from Virat Kohli for a sharp single, but only had to return to the dugout, fuming. A couple more wickets fell instantly. However, Rajasthan were left to rue not having enough runs on the board.

Despite a blazing start after being put into bat by the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Chinnaswamy stadium, the Kolkata Knight Riders went down to the home team in a crunch encounter. While Sourav Ganguly’s men will have to own up a lot of responsibility for the shattering defeat, one must admit the Bangalore bowlers pitched in with a high-spirited performance.

In the 12 over of the game, Kolkata were cruising at 103 for 1 when Ganguly fell for 33. The remaining batsmen, barring Brendon McCullum, lost the plot completely as the side ended on a rather mediocre 160 for 9, way short of what they should have ideally achieved. In contrast, Bangalore were consistent throughout their batting stint. Rahul Dravid and Robin Uthappa achieved half-centuries in their typical style as Bangalore were home with nearly three overs to spare.

For Kolkata, it was the story of what might have been. Chris Gayle and Ganguly looked in supreme touch at the start. The former was in an exceptionally murderous mood, akin to the one against Punjab. Utilizing his strength to the best of his ability, he put Pravin Kumar’s medium pace to the sword. Six boundaries and a mighty six came off his bat as Kolkata raced to their 50 at the rate of 10 runs per over.

They couldn’t have asked for a better start. Even though Gayle fell to Jacques Kallis for 34 (off 15 balls), going for another smashing hit, Kolkata should still have done much better than where he ended up. Instead their batting graph only plunged from thereon.

The game began to change drastically following Ganguly’s dismissal. A mistimed pull saw him depart for a rather slow 33. This dismissal buoyed the bowling side. Anil Kumble kept things extremely tight, so much so that one of his overs only went for a single. At the other end, Dale Steyn steamed in and beat the struggling Kolkata batsmen for pace on numerous occasions.

And, as it has happened before in the tournament, R Vinay Kumar was the chief beneficiary. With runs not coming at the other end, the batsmen took him on and perished one after the other. It was Kumble though who got the main scalp, ending McCullum’s smart knock of 45.

Chasing eight runs an over, all Bangalore needed to do was bat sensibly. Kolkata did come hard at them though and made matters somewhat tough. Ashok Dinda carried on from his impressive effort in the last game. This time he accounted for the red cap holder Kallis, inducing an edge off his bat when on eight.

That said, the South African should have been in the hut for a nought, if not for a difficult catch to Ganguly going down. This wasn’t Kolkata’s best performance in the field. Later in the night, Ajit Agarkar dropped a sitter offered by S Sriram.

In the midst of all this, Dravid, pushed up to number three, kept the runs flowing. He played some crunchy drives on both side of the wicket and also stroked a couple of authoritative sixes en route to his half century. When he fell in the 14th over, Bangalore still needed 59. But, with Uthappa in the form that he is, it was a breeze.

He took Ajantha Mendis and Ishant Sharma to task, and ended up with whirlwind 52 not out. It was a superlative batting effort even though the fate of the game was sealed much earlier.

A superlative 75 not out by Paul Collingwood, amidst the fall of regular wickets, and some extremely tight bowling and fielding later on saw Delhi Daredevils overcome a strong Royal Challengers Bangalore outfit at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Thanks to Collingwood’s effort, Delhi managed to post a handy 184 for 5. And, on a typical Kotla pitch, that was getting slower by the over, Bangalore never quite got going.

They fell well behind the run rate even before the first strategic break was taken. And, when they tried to open up, they only kept losing wickets to eventually succumb to a 37-run loss.

The first half of the game was essentially the tale of Collingwood vs the Bangalore bowlers, with the former triumphing hands on. He arrived at the crease after Virender Sehwag (35) had been dismissed after a brisk start and Gautam Gambhir was run out for only one soon after.

David Warner was still going great guns and seemed like he would be the man to pull Delhi out of trouble. But, he perished on 33, well-caught in the deep by Virat Kohli off Anil Kumble. At 83 for 3 in the 10th over, it was anybody’s game. Collingwood went on to lose, Dinesh Karthik to a brilliant diving catch by Cameron White. But, that only inspired him onto better things.

Collingwood lofted the ball with effortless ease and on occasions when he threw his bodyweight behind the ball, it delivered massive results. For a man renowned for being a street-smart cricketer, this was an extraordinary show of power hitting. He clearly demonstrated that there was more to his game than just the cheekiness.

The result was he ended up hitting as many as seven sixes. After Kumble bowled three dot balls to him in one over, he stepped out and responded with a mighty swing that went the distance. Other bowlers were treated with even more disdain as sixes flowed from Collingwood’s bat. Length balls from Vinay Kumar, Kallis and Mithun disappeared, perhaps also a result of Bangalore underestimating his firepower. Thanks to Collingwood, Delhi went on to register what turned out to be a match-winning total.

To compete, Bangalore needed a brisk start. In their endeavour, they opened with White, but it did not pay off. He perished for four while trying to fulfil his task. The Delhi bowlers then stifled the batsmen completely. Even those of the pedigree of Kallis and Kevin Pietersen struggled to find the gaps.

At one stage, nine runs came in three overs. Bangalore had no option but to break free after that dry spell and the result wasn’t what they were looking for. Pietersen was castled by Pradeep Sangwan for a hard-earned 16. And, from thereon began a procession that never ended. Amit Mishra and Sangwan both helped themselves to 3 wickets each, even as the rest were happy to keep things under control with some accurate bowling.

Kallis did register yet another half-century while Ross Taylor shone briefly, slamming three sixes in his 10-ball stay of 22. Both the contributions were rather futile though in the context of the game. Bangalore did have their moments of ascendancy earlier in the game, when Delhi lost four big wickets. However, they couldn’t get the man who eventually made the difference.