Cricket Tournaments

The ultimate dream of an aspiring, young cricketer is to book a place for himself in the national team. And the national cap is a proof of this. Indeed, the world population is increasing from time to time.

As a result, the number of people who wish to enter the world of cricket as players is increasing at an alarming rate. The top cricketing nations in the world want to continue to dominate so players, who have worked hard in domestic cricket, might easily get a call-up into the national team.

India, for instance, has emphasized on the importance of a mix of the young and old. Greg Chappell, the former India coach, started this tradition through the rotation policy in 2005, which allowed newcomers to prove their worth at the international level.

Although Chappell’s tenure was forgettable in the history of Indian cricket, he could be given enough credit to have worked upon young players in order to win more matches for India in the future. RP Singh, for instance, earned his national cap in 2005 against Zimbabwe.

So did Suresh Raina, against Sri Lanka in the same year, at the time when the 2007 World Cup was just 18 months away and India was suffering a leadership crisis as well as team fighting.

These two players have turned out to be important for the Indian ODI team, and RP Singh is also a good Test match bowler. And since 2008, India has been giving away national caps to players than ever before. It is due to a phenomenon called the IPL.

There are many examples in this case, such as Pragyan Ojha, who had an exceptional first year with the Deccan Chargers, considering his team’s poor performance. In the same season, Manpreet Gony, a talented fast bowler, did well to steer the Chennai Super Kings into the finals, which allowed Dhoni to pick him in the playing XI in the Asia Cup, soon after.

Ravindra Jadeja played a crucial role in helping the Rajasthan Royals win and this made Shane Warne, his captain recommend him to play for India. And his wish came true in February 2009 when Jadeja made his debut in Sri Lanka.

And recently, R Vinay Kumar of the Royal Challengers Bangalore also played a match in the World T-20, after a terrific IPL where he finished in the Top 5 wicket-takers category and a decent Ranji Trophy too.

Abhimanyu Mithun also got his national cap in an ODI against South Africa in February 2010 when he ended as the highest wicket-taker in the Ranji Trophy last season.

It is not just India, even England are following the same method by keenly following county cricket. Jonathan Trott was picked first in 2007 after a fantastic season with Warwickshire as England were looking to build a strong team in all three formats of the game considering a poor Ashes series and an extremely disappointing World Cup campaign in the West Indies.

One of the toughest selections that England had ever made was for the Ashes series in 2005. A young, swashbuckling batsman named Kevin Pietersen was picked ahead of a far more experienced and reliable Graham Thorpe in the squad of 15.

Michael Vaughan and Duncan Fletcher believed that a youthful English side was all that they needed to beat a strong Australian team, and that proved to be correct.

The transition happened in one series where Ian Bell and Pietersen played memorable knocks to get the Ashes back in England after a long gap of 19 years. Thus, in a country like England, where soccer is followed passionately by many youngsters, the ECB is giving incentives by allowing young players to enter the cricketing fray, in order to make their careers in cricket and help England become a top nation in cricket in the long-run.

Australia and South Africa are ranked highly in all three formats of the game as they believe that it is through playing T-20 for the national side, that youngsters can be tested and then can make the cut in the ODI and the Test teams respectively.

The performances in the IPL and the KFC Big Bash are crucial criteria for selection. For example, Australia’s team which made it to the finals of the World T-20 in 2010 had many players who played first in the T-20 format and then the ODIS. David Warner, for instance, played for Australia first in a T-20 game against South Africa and he made a name for himself in the same match to qualify for playing in the ODIs.

Players like Daniel Christian and Steven Smith are established, young T-20 players who are trying to pave their way into the ODI team as well. Australia have a strong and an overall young bowling attack in ODIS which can help them rotate so that the best XI can be chosen in major World Events or in important series such as the Ashes.

South Africa too have players such as Rory Kleinveldt and Loots Bosman who are T-20 specialists and are bound to be in the ODI team if they perform well in T-20s and domestic cricket. David Miller, too had a good T-20 outing against West Indies recently, and as a result earned a call-up into the starting XI recently, with South Africa axing JP Duminy!

Other teams such as New Zealand and Sri Lanka already have a good amount of youngsters playing at the international level. So, giving away national caps doesn’t make sense, though they should be doing this wisely in the long-run, in order to rise in the ICC rankings.

Minnows such as West Indies, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are not able to groom youngsters in order to mentally prepare them to play for their country.

Although the IPL and the Champions League has helped, yet their players are motivated my money and so would prefer playing more in such tournaments. And lastly, teams like Pakistan should be united enough to accept young blood in the side any further after the country has been suffering due to a callous administration, which has no interest in the welfare of the team.

Pakistani players also need to be taught that their country is more important to play for rather than themselves. It is only then that the meaning of giving out a national cap becomes more valid.

This is the first game of the Micromax Cup in Zimbabwe between the hosts, India and Sri Lanka. Zimbabwe is entering this tournament with a disastrous performance in the World T-20, being knocked out in the first round.

However, they did learn important lessons after beating Australia and Pakistan in the warm-up matches of the tournament, under a new captain, Elton Chigumbura. India, also didn’t do well in the same tournament, having being knocked out in the Super 8s stage.

They are under pressure back home and as a result most of the seniors have been rested in order to give youngsters a chance to perform. So all this makes it an interesting match as India have a new-look team and a new captain in Suresh Raina and Zimbabwe also are looking to start afresh in order to prepare for the World Cup next year.

At the Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo the conditions favoured the batsmen to a certain extent. As a result, India won the toss and elected to bat first. Dinesh Karthik, and Murali Vijay, both Tamil Nadu players too, were out in the middle to open the batting.

India tried to take control of the game thanks to horrendous bowling from the Zimbabwean skipper himself, which resulted in 36 runs coming in 2 overs. And the sundries read 24.

However, Zimbabwe fought back in no time. Vijay’s running between the wickets could be described as if he was walking in a park. As a result, a run-out sometime or the other was evident, and it did happen. Three balls later, the usually athletic Virat Kohli, batting one down, got run out without scoring and facing a ball!

And much sooner, the settled Karthik also edged a flighted delivery from the former captain Prosper Utseya and Brendan Taylor, the Zimbabwean wicketkeeper held on to the catch.

It was 61/3 in just 12.3 overs when the two biggies in this second-string Indian team, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma were at the crease. Raina, tried to play a captain’s knock by nudging the ball here and there responsibly, thereby curbing his aggressive shots.

In the end, it proved to be slightly slower innings than expected as he scored 37 runs off 53 balls, with just two boundaries. However, Sharma batted extremely well, considering the flak that he had been facing over the pub incident in the Caribbean and the issue of him being overweight.

He certainly proved his critics wrong by scoring 114 runs off 119 balls at an impressive strike rate of 95.79, which included 6 boundaries and 4 sixes. Ravindra Jadeja, was also a bright spark of the Indian batting scoring a run-a-ball unbeaten 61 and with some help from Yusuf Pathan’s lustrous hitting, India managed to reach a competitive total of 285/5 in 50 overs.

For Zimbabwe, it was Chris Mpofu who was the best bowler as he finished with figures of 2/63 in 10 overs. Utseya bowled well to keep India below 300. Yet, it was a tough task for Zimbabwe to chase 286, against an Indian attack which is young and has proved its ability in tournaments like the IPL and Ranji Trophy.

However, the Indian bowlers didn’t bowl to their potential as Zimbabwe started off in blazing fashion. It had to take a slider from Amit Mishra, by far India’s most experienced bowler in this match, to remove Hamilton Masakadza who in the end scored 46 runs off 43 balls. Despite the loss of this wicket, Zimbabwe was in a dominant position at 88/1 in 13 overs.

The pace trio of Ashok Dinda, R Vinay Kumar and Umesh Yadav struggled to stop Zimbabwe from putting up good partnerships and allowed Zimbabwe to bat freely as Brendan Taylor, a very underestimated batsman scored as many as 81 runs off 103 balls, as the required rate never went out of reach. Although at one stage, Zimbabwe required 50 runs off 36 balls, they deserved to win.

Charles Coventry, whose ferocious hitting is known courtesy the innings of 194 against Bangladesh last year, also went at a strike rate of 128. Chigumbura is a clean hitter of the ball and the captain couldn’t have felt more delighted than seeing the youngster on debut, Craig Ervine, scoring a half-century and winning the match in his debut one-day game as captain with him himself being at the other end! Ervine played a calm, controlled knock which made Zimbabwe overhaul India’s score with 10 balls to spare.

Raina’s captaincy and team selection came into question. Using Jadeja in the last few overs was not the best of tactics and so he paid the price for it. Yusuf Pathan wasn’t given more overs and instead Raina banked on inexperience to deliver. This caused a major upset and opens up the triseries in dramatic fashion.

Brendan Taylor was named man-of-the-match and he could lead Zimbabwe to more wins in the future against top nations, if he continues to perform in this vain. On the other hand, Raina and India has a lot of thinking to do as they would face Sri Lanka (yet again!), next up. And the Tigers would be looking to pounce on the prey which has already been wounded so severely.

The Asia Cup is one of the most highly-awaited events in the international cricket calendar. After all, it is this ODI tournament which decides who are the champions of Asian cricket. Asia is the world’s biggest continent and contains some of the biggest cricketing superpower nations. This time around, the tournament would only be played between India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Sri Lanka is the confirmed host of this tournament with Dambulla hosting all the matches.

The matches would be day-night starting from June 15 and ending on June 24, when the final takes place. All teams will play each other once, and the top two teams in the points table will qualify for the final. However, all the 4 teams have enough in them to win this tournament. Let’s have a look at their prospects –

Sri Lanka

Alongside India, Sri Lanka has the fire-power to go all out at the Asia Cup. Being the home team can be tricky as there will be a lot of support, yet extreme pressure of winning to satisfy the home crowd. However, Sri Lanka can gain solace that they have been the defending champions of the crown since 2004. They beat India comprehensively in the finals of the last two editions. Unlike their opponents, Sri Lankan cricket is in a good state. The team did very well in the World T-20 by entering the semi-finals. They also discovered the USA by playing New Zealand in 2 T-20s in that country, which resulted in a 1-1 level.

Co-incidentally, Sri Lanka will play in the tri-series in Zimbabwe with a young team, just as India. And also a new captain in Tillakratne Dilshan. Sri Lanka has their sights on the World Cup next year. So Sri Lanka would definitely give everything to win this tournament, that too, at home. Having said that, Sri Lanka would be tired of looking at the faces of the Indian players because both the countries have played each other so many times in the last two years!

India

Definitely, the favourites to win the tournament. The second-best ODI team in the world would look to move one step further after making the finals in the previous two editions of the tournament (2004 and 2008). Indian cricket is on a low at the moment, with various issues to tackle with from the IPL mess to India’s below-par performance at the World T-20 in the Caribbean. Yet a month or two is a long period of time for matters to get normal. Before the tournament, India will play Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka in a triangular ODI series in Zimbabwe, under the leadership of Suresh Raina.

Raina will be leading a young, inexperienced team as all the seniors have been rested. So, expect the youth to flourish in Zimbabwe, as the selectors are looking at the formation of the World Cup 2011 squad. The youngsters can get an opportunity in the Asia Cup as well, as a test of their consistency at the international level. A rejuvenated India would look to gain their lost confidence and pride, which they need in order to prepare well for next year’s world championship in the Indian sub-continent itself!

Pakistan

Undoubtedly, Pakistan are the dark horses to win this tournament. It’s an unpredictable team even in 50-over cricket. However, Pakistan cricket is in complete turmoil at the moment due to the match-fixing allegations rising during their ill-fated, winless tour of Australia. In fact, they haven’t even announced their new ODI captain as yet. Although it is likely that Shahid Afridi would be given the responsibility to lead the side in the Asia Cup as his first assignment, yet it seems that the PCB is hell-bent on wasting time by sitting in meetings and criticizing players for their poor performances in Australia earlier this year. Instead, the future is not being looked at.

In this state of darkness, the only bright spot to be seen is Pakistan making it to the semifinals of the World T-20 this year. Afridi lead a young team exceptionally well as they beat Bangladesh and South Africa in the tournament and qualified for the semis with a good net run-rate. All this considering the ban of senior players such as Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan. Perhaps, the bans could be a blessing in disguise for Pakistan as the new team will have 9 months in hand to prepare for the World Cup next year, with the popular and ‘Boom Boom’ Afridi as their leader.

Bangladesh

A very under-estimated team and the minnows of the tournament, Bangladesh hasn’t had many great cricketing moments ever since a successful tour of the West Indies back in July last year. Though the team is improving slowly, yet a question mark remains on whether it can compete at the international level with the top 8 ODI teams. A first-round exit at the World T-20 did them and the game no good, although they did bowl well against Australia.

Their run-up to the Asia Cup will depend to a certain extent upon their performances in the Test matches in England, although ODIs is a different format altogether. They desperately need Mohd. Ashraful to bring back the spark that he had produced at the beginning of his career. And a raging Tamim Iqbal can also be dangerous prospects for the opponents. If Bangladesh performs as a team on the whole, then at least the team can get a berth in the finals, although there is less chance looking at the opposition Bangladesh are up against.

The knives are out as India have to failed to progress past the Super Eights of the T20 World Cup for the second year in a row. However, the question that needs to be asked is was the result really that unexpected? We saw a precursor last year when India struggled against the short ball in England. What was different this time? Nothing. And that is precisely the reason why India failed to deliver the goods yet again.

One shouldn’t be too critical of the IPL factor, since most players from the other participating countries also featured in the cricketainment package. However, the fact of the matter is that playing in the IPL wasn’t the best possible preparation for India, prior to heading for the Caribbean. And, this was evident as soon as the first Super Eight fixture against Australia.

The 360 degree shift from the low bouncy tracks of India to the pace and bounce of Barbados caught India unawares. And, this was the most disappointing factor. It’s one thing to try and fail as opposed to not trying at all. Everyone saw what happened in England last year.

Yet, they were not an inch better prepared this time around. With such an attitude the team can hardly go places, at least when they play on bouncy tracks.

No doubt there is a wealth of talent in this Indian squad. But to beat world beaters consistently, they need to adapt to all kinds of conditions rather than chickening out and waiting for the surface that is to their liking to succeed. The case of Suresh Raina is a perfect illustration.

On the slow, low bounce tracks, he batted like the IPL was still very much on. However, when he got his turn to prove his mettle at Barbados, he preferred to back out of the challenge. Instead to trying to bide his time by, the left-hander was content trying to pull the short ball without ever getting to the pitch of it and was totally rattled.

The most worrying aspect of India’s loss wasn’t the fact that they were beaten, but the manner in which they went down. When even a quality batsman like Gautam Gambhir is caught behind, embarrassingly fending off a little-known West Indies quickie, you know you are in real trouble.

The Windies bowlers fed off the confidence they attained by just watching the Aussie pacemen unsettle the Indian top order. And despite knowing what to expect, the Indians had not prepared their answers for the ‘short’ test.

In hindsight, all and sundry are questioning why someone like a Robin Uthappa, who had an unbelievable run in the IPL, wasn’t on the flight to West Indies. But, selection isn’t the moot point here. For that matter, even Murali Vijay was equally devastating in the IPL, only to come a cropper in the World Cup.

The problem goes beyond individuals. Their batting shortcomings apart, India need to do something drastic to improve their shoddy batting and fielding. All above though, what ails Indian cricket is a champion-like attitude, to be the best in any given situation.

It was a game India could have won even though they might not have made it to the semi-finals.

Instead, they fumbled yet again, this time against familiar opponents Sri Lanka to lose by a comprehensive five-wicket margin and get knocked out of the T20 World Cup in a rather embarrassing manner – ending up as the only team in the Super Eights not to win a single game.

The script looked a lot different for India at the start of the game, when upon winning the toss, India elected to bat. Ninety runs were smashed in the initial 10 overs despite the early loss of Dinesh Karthik thanks in main to Suresh Raina, who looked more at home on the slowish track at St. Lucia.

However, the Lankans fought back excellent in the slog overs to restrict India to a disappointing 163 for 5, only 73 runs coming in the second half of the innings.

Sri Lanka’s reply did not begin emphatically, but they won the crucial moments and stayed in the hunt till the very end to pip India at the post.

The reply was built on three significant contributions, none more crucial than the skipper Kumar Sangakkara, who led the Lankan fightback.

The other equally important knocks came from Angelo Mathews (46) and Chamara Kapugedera (37), who hit a last-ball six to seal the semi-final birth for his side.
At the closing stages, Sri Lanka needed 25 runs from an over and two deliveries left. But Kapugedera slammed a nervous debutant Vinay Kumar for two massive sixes, both over long on – the first of which knocked India out of the tournament – to bring the game back on a even keen.

The experienced Ashish Nehra was entrusted with the responsibility of bowling the final over, but had a rare off day and could not prevent the Lankans from getting the requisite 13 runs.

Mathews slashed a six off the first ball, and despite Nehra hitting back by running him out hit, Lanka managed to loft themselves to victory thanks to a smashing six over cover by Kapugedera.

While Mathews and Kapugedera did all the big hitting, it was Sangakkara who began the turnaround for Sri Lanka by lofting Harbhajan Singh over the top in the 12th over.

This was after Mahela Jayawardene and Sanath Jayasuriya fell early and Tillakaratne Dilshan perished after a breezy cameo. Sangakkara went on register a crucial 44, which included two sixes off Yusuf Pathan to help Lanka stay afloat.

Earlier, Dilshan stroked five fours in two overs to lead Lanka’s mini-recovery after they were 6-2 after the first two overs. It wasn’t a match-changing effort, but certainly gave Lanka the momentum they were so desperately seeking.

For India, their best phase was when Gautam Gambhir and Raina were at the crease as India looked desperate to set a stiff target.

Raina, in particular, was ultra-aggressive taking on all the bowlers, lofting and driving them with the IPL-gained confidence. It helped that the ball did not rear up near the head.

Gambhir, who was clearly out of sorts, also began to find his touch, as India reigned supreme in the first 10 overs. Everything though changed with the fall of Gambhir for a well-compiled 41.

He tried to run Lasith Malinga down to thirdman, but only ended up guiding one straight to Sangakkara.

Malinga then combined with surprise package Thissara Perera to choke India in the final five overs. It did not help that Raina and Yuvraj Singh fell to low full-tosses and that Dhoni’s massive bat swing could not translate into boundaries.
If India still had a faint hope, it disappeared as soon as Kapugedera walloped that massive six of Kumar to take the score past 143. As far as India was concerned, the tournament had ended.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Suresh Raina stood up to be counted for the Chennai Super Kings as M S Dhoni’s men got the better of the Mumbai Indians in the title clash of IPL 3. In front of a capacity Sunday evening crowd at the D Y Patil stadium, Raina first blasted an unbeaten 57 from 35 balls to help his side recover from a slow start and post a highly challenging 168 for 5.

Then, when it was Chennai’s turn to defend the score, the youngster chipped in by dismissing Harbhajan Singh and also took a magnificent running catch to dismiss the dangerous Saurabh Tiwary as Mumbai’s batting fell apart. In a baffling move, the home side sent in Kieron Pollard at the fall of the sixth wicket, by which time the required rate had sky-rocketed to nearly 17.

And, so despite a last-ditch, big-hitting effort of 27 from 10 balls from the tall West Indian, Mumbai were left stranded, eventually falling 22 runs short.

There was nothing dramatic at the start of Chennai’s innings to suggest that they would end up posting a winning total. After winning the toss and promptly deciding to bat first, Matthew Hayden and Murali Vijay were kept quiet in the wake of some accurate bowling from Mumbai bowlers.

Dilhara Fernando was particularly impressive, mixing his deliveries up very well and keeping the batsmen on their toes. Still, Chennai’s openers did well to add to keep their wickets in tact and add 44 for the first wicket at a steady pace.

But, once Vijay fell to Fernando, trying to break the shackles, the momentum clearly shifted in Mumbai’s direction. Hayden followed soon after struggling for his 17. And, with S Badrinath also not firing, Chennai had their back to the wall at 67 for 3 in the 12th over.

Chennai needed something special to recover. And, it came in the form of Raina, who timed and the placed the ball with ludicrous ease, on a pitch where most other struggled. Raina was lucky to be dropped twice in two overs.

But, to his credit he rode his luck. He played some superb lofted shots against Zaheer Khan and Kieron Pollard and also drove on the up, finding the gap with precision.

The left-hander raced to his half-century as Mumbai were made to pay dearly for their misses. While Raina, was brilliant at one end, it was actually skipper Dhoni who began the turnaround by smashing a couple of boundaries after the fall of the early wickets.

However, such was the impact of Raina’s knock that everything else paled in comparison. Chennai did not mind it though as they went into the mid-innings break having the upper hand.

The match was far from over as Mumbai had the arsenal in their ranks to chase it down. But, Chennai made things extremely tough for them right from the start. Doug Bollinger not only bowled a tight line, he also got an edgy Shikhar Dhawan to nick one in his opening over.

At the other end, R Ashwin carried on with the good work he had been doing throughout the tournament. For a change he wasn’t among the wickets, but kept runs at a premium, which aided Dhoni add extra pressure.

Mumbai did shine briefly during the chase. Sachin Tendulkar and Abhishek Nayar combined to bring their side back on track with a 66-run partnership. Tendukar found the boundary at regular intervals while Nayar hit a couple of big sixes off the spinners. However, once the partnership was broken, following a mix-up, things fell apart.

Mumbai did not help their cause by holding back Pollard for the last three overs. It was 114 for 6 by the time walked and there was just too much for him to do. He did give it his best shot, slamming three fours and two mighty sixes in the space of 9 deliveries.

It was far from enough though. In the end, Mumbai were left ruining the missed opportunities that let Raina get away and swing the final in Chennai’s favour.

The inability of Sachin Tendulkar to continue his innings after the first strategic break, owing to poor health conditions, dented Mumbai Indians so badly that they collapsed embarrassingly in their chase of 166 against the Chennai Super Kings at the Chepauk.

Eventually, they fell way short of the target and lost by a disappointing 24-run margin. But, the game turned when Ambati Rayudu replaced Sachin at the beginning of the 10th over. Mumbai crumbed from 62 for 1 to 89 for 7 in no time. And even though Sachin returned to bat after that, the game was already out of Mumbai’s grasp. The heartbroken skipper himself fell for a valiant 45.

While MS Dhoni’s men should be credited for their superlative comeback, it has to be said that Mumbai kicked themselves in the foot. Some of the shots they played were completely inexplicable, and that is to say the least. Rayudu began ‘mission catastrophe’ when he blindly charged down the pitch to Suresh Raina and was stumped by yards by Dhoni.

What was to follow wasn’t any better. Dwayne Bravo tried to breakfree against Thilan Thushara before getting his eye in and had to return disappointed, while Saurabh Tiwary threw his hand away after eating up 18 balls for 14.

All this was happening whilst Chennai bowlers were struggling to even grip the ball properly. There was dew on the ground right from the start of the game and, as expected, it got much worse in the second half.

As such, Mumbai had everything going for them – they weren’t chasing a big score and, under the conditions, the ball wasn’t going to do much.All Mumbai had to do was to bat sensibly to achieve the target. Instead, they seemed hell-bent on committing hara-kiri.

After the loss of wickets in a heap, here was one great opportunity for big-hitting Kieron Pollard and R. Sathish to stand up and be counted. They also preferred to join the mess though. One has to acclaim that Pollard’s cheap dismissal was the product for an unbelievable catch by Murali Vijay, the fielder was unsighted by the man in front of him, yet managed to hang on to a skier.

But, Sathish’s silly run-out embodied Mumbai’s batting effort – lacklustre, without Sachin’s guidance. Harbhajan Singh late blast off 33 from 22 balls was just a reiteration of the fact that Mumbai had done themselves in.

There was no inkling of the disaster to follow when Mumbai were in the field. It was a near perfect bowling performance. Harbhajan, opening the bowling, got the better of in-form Vijay, with a smart, quickish delivery. Chennai’s suffered majorly because all their batsmen got starts, but none went on to convert them.

Suresh Raina briefly sparked during his 23 before the short ball got him again. The bigger blow though was dealt by the unassuming medium pace of Pollard. In the space of two deliveries he consumed Dhoni (31) Matthew Hayden (35), both perishing while going for big hits as Chennai struggled to accelerate. It should have been the turning point of the game. However, Mumbai were all too keen to change that.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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