Fake IPL Player Blogpost: Awards Night and Farewell

While the IPL closing ceremony is on, I am pleased to share with you an exciting piece of news. IPL's FIP Reader's Choice Awards will be given in a glittering function at the Buckingham Palace Lawns on 4th June. The Queen and the Prince have declined their presence because of prior engagements. However, the rest of the glitterati are expected to attend the event in full splendour.

True to his style Saala Slimeball has already ordered for a gold coloured Shamiana studded with all sorts of stones. The brief is to make something more hideous than the trophy itself, which will take some doing I tell you. The Shamiana vala is currently busy slapping all the sponsors' logos on gold sheets. All speeches at the event are sponsored by Sprite, which automatically disqualifies Slimeball from giving this customary Thank You speech. Kishen Kanhaiyya lost the job as soon as he said "I will be there like a tracer bullet". And Nanny Horrible-son was, at the time, trying out his latest stunt of lifting 4 cheerleaders on his shoulders and 2 on his lap, and couldn't muster up a good enough reply. The show will now be anchored by all Set Max anchors. Doesn't get straighter than this as they know all TVs would in any case be on Mute.

As readers of this blog, you have the privilege of knowing all the winners well in advance because, well, you guys have picked them anyway.

IPL FIP's READER'S CHOICE AWARDS

Pair pe kulhaadi Award:
Appam Chutiya for his marathon run after claiming wicket of Cool Dude and ruining own prospects in Indian team.
Contributed by Vimmmie

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Champ Chargers charge from bottom to top

What a tournament it was. After all the drama of 59 matches in 37 matches which included 3 hat-tricks, 2 centuries, plenty of controversies, Fake IPL player it was the bottom placed team of last year the Deccan Chargers that triumphed as the champions this year.

Gilchrist: It could have gone either way. Would like to acknowledge RCB on an outstanding series and to turn it around after the disappointments of last season is a real credit to them and their whole franchise. Pragyan Ojha did a wonderful job and two wickets in two balls that really starts to eat away at a team when they are chasing. In a final it is always a good position to have runs on the board. Harmeet took an amazing catch, amazingly he played in 7 games and we did not lose one of them. Maybe we should have played him in all 15 or 16. Would like to thank SA, and the sponsors. Also thank the owners, it was a tough year last year, but thanks for having faith on us. Also would like to say HI to everyone in Hyderabad, I know it is almost like a Diwali over there.

Anil Kumble: Congrats to Deccan Chargers, the way both teams finished last year and I would like to thank all my team members for their support. I think chasing 144 on this wicket was not a big task, but the wickets of Rahul, Rossco and Virat probably put the brakes on and then the run-rate shot up. Whenever the situation was tough I had to put my hand up and it worked well. I would like to thank everyone who has prayed and wished us back home. Also would like to thank Mallya and team for their support.

Rohit Sharma: Always South Africa has been lucky as we won the World cup so I was happy it was staged here. For the first few games the it was not easy to bat on, but as it progressed I really enjoyed my batting as it suits my style. I just kept it simple and backed myself.

Adam Gilchrist is named the Golden Player of the League.
RP Singh wins the Purple Cap for being the leading wicket taker in this season of the IPL. He picked up 23 wickets.
Orange Cap stays firmly on Matthew Hayden's head.
Rohit Sharma bags the Under-23 Success of the Tournament award.
Anil Kumble is the Man of the Match

Kumble heroics not enough as Deccan win IPL

Runs on the board proved the key, Deccan Chargers captain Adam Gilchrist said after his team beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by six runs in the Indian Premier League final at Wanderers Stadium Sunday.

Even though Deccan were restricted to 143 for six - mainly due to a superb bowling performance by Bangalore captain Anil Kumble - it was just enough as a slow pitch, a lack of substantial partnerships and the pressure of a final combined against Challengers, who could manage only 137 for nine.

"It could have gone either way," admitted Gilchrist, who was named player of the tournament.

Deccan finished last in the first IPL in India in 2008, with Bangalore second from the bottom.

"Bangalore felt the same disappointments last year as we felt," said Gilchrist. "To see them turn it around and to put up such a great final is a credit to their franchise."

Gilchrist said left-arm spinner Praghan Ojha, who took three for 28, did a "wonderful job" for Deccan.

"As they say, in finals to have runs on the board is always a good position to be in."

Kumble, named man of the match for taking four for 18, said he was proud of his team for winning five games in a row to reach the final.

"On this wicket, chasing 144 was not a big task."

He said the loss of Ross Taylor and Virat Kohli off succcessive balls from Andrew Symonds, soon after the departure of batting mainstay Rahul Dravid, put the brakes on his team's challenge.

"In spite of that we were one hit away from victory."

Leg-spinner Kumble opened the bowling after sending Deccan in and dismissed danger man Gilchrist with his third ball.

Fresh from his match-winning innings of 85 off 35 balls against Delhi Daredevils in the semi-final on Friday, Gilchrist showed impatience after failing to score off the first two deliveries from Kumble.

He charged down the pitch to the third ball but failed to read a googly which went past his bat into the stumps.

Mission accomplished, Kumble took himself off, but came back into the attack in the ninth over and ended a promising innings by Symonds, who hit 33 off 21 balls.

Once again Kumble took himself off, with figures of two for five from two overs.

He returned to dismiss Rohit Sharma, who was named Indian under-23 player of the tournament, and Venugopal Rao.

But Herschelle Gibbs batted through the innings to make an unbeaten 53. Gibbs was unable to dominate the bowling and did not get enough of the strike, facing only 48 of the 120 balls of the innings. But his innings proved crucial. At the mid-innings break he had scored only 13 off 22 balls.

Bangalore made a cautious start but Roelof van der Merwe, sent in as a pinch hitter at number three, gave the innings impetus with a typical mixture of wild swings and solid hits.

He hit two sixes off Ryan Harris and another off Symonds before he was stumped off Ojha for 32 off 21 balls.

Despite the loss of Dravid, bowled by Harmeet Singh when he tried to flick the ball to leg, Bangalore looked to be cruising to victory until Taylor and Kohli fell off successive balls.

Taylor top-edged a pull to long leg and Kohli was superbly stumped down the leg side by Gilchrist.

Mark Boucher cut Harmeet Singh to South African team-mate Gibbs at backward point and suddenly Bangalore needed 37 off 25 balls with only three wickets left.

It proved too many.

Gilchrist: Inspiring Generations

by Goutham Chakravarthi

Bang! Four! Bang! Bang! Bang! Six! Six! Six! Delhi hardly knew what hit them; Gilchrist had swept them off their feet. It was like watching a golfer practise. Gilchrist just teed off and hit six after six, each longer and higher than the previous. We have seen him do it for well over a decade, but still each time he demolishes an opposition, and once more in a big game, you wonder how he does it.

Boycott once said that he played himself in on his walk to the middle from the pavilion. I don't think he bothers about gauging the opposition and the wicket, he just goes for it. Such belief in himself! He destroyed Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka in the '99, '03 and '07 world cup finals respectively. He has got to be among the greatest big-match players of his time.

He plays the Aussie way in the effect he goes after the opposition. If anything, he really targets the opposition's best bowler. Yet he became a walker in the latter part of his career. The Aussies believe in letting the umpires do their job and they never contemplate walking. The standing joke was that the Aussies never walked unless they were perhaps bowled. And that too, only if it was not a windy day!

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The blooming of Pandey

Manish Pandey’s unbeaten 114 at the SuperSport Park in Centurion on Thursday night, might seem to be the story of an ‘unknown Indian’ enjoying his sudden success. However for those who know him well, the innings has vindicated his enormous talent.

At the National Cricket Academy, there is joy amidst the coaching staff. Pandey often spends his entire day at the academy. “Before leaving for South Africa, we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant and he had said that he will make a mark. Right from our director Dav Whatmore, all are happy,” said an academy official.
Talented lad

Until now Pandey was a talented lad who played for India under-19 and Karnataka. On his Ranji Trophy debut against Railways last November, Pandey scored a 64 before getting a blob in the second innings. The up-and-down ride continued through the season in which he scored 193 runs.

The 19-year old in an earlier interview with The Hindu summed up his batting style. “I am an orthodox batsman who prefers to settle down initially. I like to get those singles and then play my shots. But if the situation demands I can play big shots as well,” he had then said. The shots were evident on Thursday night.
Natural cricketer

Pandey’s uncluttered mind is the key to his success, said Vijay Bharadwaj, who coached Karnataka, last season. “Pandey is a natural cricketer and he is so focused on his own game that other factors don’t affect him. He is talented and needs to be consistent. Having Anil Kumble as the Royal Challengers’ skipper has also helped Pandey,” said Bharadwaj.

Pandey’s story has been that of travel all over India thanks to a father, who is an army officer juggling with transfers. However Pandey’s love for cricket, forced him to strike roots in Bangalore though his father has moved to Rajasthan.

His exploits in the local league helped him secure a berth in the State under-19 team and eventually he was part of the India under-19 squads that toured Sri Lanka, South Africa and eventually won the junior World Cup at Malaysia in 2008.

The spotlight is now on Pandey and Bharadwaj added a note of caution: “There will be expectations but people should give him space. He is not yet a finished product and he needs guidance.”

The final no one expected

Chennai committed the same mistake as Delhi Daredevils on Saturday, slowing down after the strategy break. No wonder then that they met with the same fate. Bangalore Royals Challengers knocked last year's runners-up out with a six-wicket win to set up the unlikeliest of title clashes against the Deccan Chargers on Sunday.

Chasing 147 after the bowlers had done superb job, Rahul Dravid and Manish Pandey anchored the innings with 72-run stand for the third wicket before Ross Taylor and Virat Kohli completed the rout with seven balls to spare.

Manish Pandey, who hit a century in the last game, started the chase off in style, hitting Albie Morkel past cover and then square-driving him with great finesse. At the other end, Jacques Kallis smashed two consecutive fours past point off Manpreet Gony to get them underway.

Kallis and Roelof van der Merwe fell early, leaving Bangalore at a precarious 22-2, but Chennai's new-ball bowlers couldn't keep Pandey quiet.
With the pacers disappointing, Dhoni turned to Shadab Jakati's left-arm spin in the fifth over, but Dravid proved up to the challenge as they maintained a run-rate just under 10-an-over. As a last throw of the dice, Dhoni introduced Murali in the 10th over, but while there were two big appeals, nothing went Chennai's way as Bangalore got to the break at 82/2.

Earlier in the evening, Mathew Hayden and Parthiv Patel gave Chennai an enterprising start after being put into bat. Parthiv often outscored Hayden as the duo added 61 runs for the first wicket before Vinay Kumar got rid of the Aussie.

Bangalore realised the need to take the pace off the ball as Dhoni, who walked in at number 3, and Raina, one of their leading run-scorers, couldn't keep the momentum going.

Kumble kept the pressure on the Chennai batting, rotating his bowlers smartly, and Chennai kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Only a few big hits from Morkel took them to a respectable total.

Anyone's game: Bangalore, Deccan eye IPL gold

After brushing aside two of the strongest teams in the IPL, Deccan Chargers and Bangalore Royal Challengers have reversed the fortunes they endured last year.

After finising last and second last respectively last season, the two sides have come roaring back in the IPL, which makes the clash even more unpredictable. Who would bring its best game to the table?

Deccan Chargers: Winners of the wooden spoon in 2008, Deccan Chargers contest the top spot this time. They changed their captain to Adam Gilchrist, and so did their fortunes. They won their first four games in a row, before slumping to a string of defeats during the middle of the competition. But their form players came to the fore to ensure a spot in the last four.

One more win will be nice: Anil Kumble

Bangalore Royal Challengers' skipper Anil Kumble was not willing to celebrate after the team's six-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings at the New Wanderers here on Saturday propelled it into Sunday's final of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Former India captain Kumble, who took over the reins from an unimpressive Kevin Pietersen midway through the league, said the party will start with one more win - the final, that is.

"One more win will be nice," said Kumble after Saturday's second semi-final that set up Challengers' date with Deccan Chargers in the final.

Kumble lauded both his batsmen and bowlers for the confidence boosting win over last year's runners-up Super Kings.

The bowlers restricted Super Kings to 146 for five in 20 overs and then 19-year-old Man of the Match Manish Pandey (48) and the veteran Rahul Dravid (44) played some solid knocks as Royal Challengers achieved the target with seven balls to spare.

"Their score was not even a par score. Our batsmen backed themselves to clear the boundary. I thought Praveen and Vinay bowled very well at the end," Kumble said.

Pandey thanked Kumble for allowing him to go after Super Kings bowling.

"Today, I got the license from Anil bhai to hit. I didn't want to get out to Murali and wanted to give Rahul the strike," he said.

Super Kings' skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni felt his team was 15 runs short of a winning total.

"The wicket was a bit slow but they (Royal Challengers) played better cricket. We were looking for a 160 score but we lost wickets at the wrong time. They outplayed us. Our bowling was a bit fragile, but we could have made it tougher for them," he said.

Pandey has left his coach shell-shocked

Royal Challengers’ Manish Pandey has taken the cricketing world by storm and his coach at the Karnataka Institute of Cricket and Jawans Club Irfan Sait is shell-shocked at the way the youngster tore the Deccan Chargers’ attack to become the only Indian to score a century in the on-going IPL and then played sensible to guide his team to victory over Chennai Super Kings in the semi-finals on Saturday.

"Manish has left everyone speechless with his attacking and match-winning knocks. And all of us are proud of him. I have known him to be a very stub-born customer while batting and rarely throws away a chance to score big runs.

"But what has surprised me is his maturity to tackle bowlers like Muttiah Muralitharan, Rudra Pratap Singh and Abiel Morkel. He just went after them as if he has been playing them since his schooldays," Irfan Sait told Cricketnext.com on Sunday.

Dravid and Pandey carry Bangalore to finals

Dhoni probably missed a trick by not bringing on Muralitharan earlier on. The body language of the CSK was not upto the mark as RCB raced away to the finish. It is the 5th win on the trot for RCB and they have all the momentum going into the final tomorrow.

It was a stunning performance from the RCB side as they outplayed the CSK. Manish Pandey carried on from his previous innings as he played a blinder to set it up for RCB. Dravid brought all his experience to the fore as he complemented Pandey stroke for stroke. Then Ross Taylor and Virat Kohli finished it off magnificently.

Which Indian cricketer said this - "I never thought that being fat was a negative point, I dont want to lose weight for the sake of it, to look like a model"?
And in a rather surprising turnaround, the two bottom-placed teams from IPL 2008, Bangalore and Hyderabad are the finalists this year. Who would have thought?
Mallya is ecstatic, the RCB squad members run out onto the field as a dejected MS Dhoni walks away!

Manish Pandey: This is my second game I am performing and really happy for that. The pitch was stopping a little bit, but Anil Bhai gave me the license to go out there and play my natural game.The game plan against Murali was to work it around and give Rahul Bhai the strike. Waiting for the final tomorrow and hopefully we will win.

Anil Kumble: One more win will be nice tomorrow. We regrouped after the strategy break when they were 75/1. 146 on this wicket was not even a par score, we really bowled well. Manish batted brilliantly, that is the way the current youngsters bat, they back themselves to go out there and clear the boundary. To give away only 3 boundaries in the last 7 overs against such a batting line-up is brilliant.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni: They played better cricket than us. We were looking for a score around 160, but me and Raina got out at the wrong time. We were short by 15 runs. Overall disappointed, but they outplayed us. Our bowling department was a bit fragile right through the tournament.

Manish Pandey is the Man of the Match for the second consecutive time for his blinder at the top.

2nd Semi Final Preview: Chennai Super King vs Royal Challengers Bangalore

Nicknamed the 'Bullring', Wanderers is situated south of Sandton in Illovo and is home to the Highveld Lions. While Chennai have played just one match on this ground, Bangalore have played two matches and have a 100% record here. The combination of high scores and low scores over the past few matches have shown that the pitch provides equal assistance to both the batsmen and the bowlers.
Temperatures: Min - 46F Max - 69F | Conditions: Clear skies
Team updates:

Bangalore: After restoring their pride in season-II, Royal Challengers Bangalore will look to stretch their dream run when they clash with Chennai Super Kings in their Indian Premier League semifinal match. Having turned around things for themselves under the inspiring leadership of Anil Kumble, Bangalore look capable of shattering Chennai's IPL dreams. But for that to happen Bangalore bowlers have to produce something extraordinary against the formidable batting line-up of Chennai. Ross Taylor has played a significant role in re-shaping the Bangalore campaign and the Kiwi batsman will have to shoulder the burden yet again though Manish Pandey has been a revelation of sorts for them. However, Bangalore top-order has been inconsistent and it has to fire in the semi-final clash.

Chennai: Chennai dominated in the first-half of the league stage before suffering some close defeats towards the latter part of the tournament. Chennai would bank on the batting troika of Matthew Hayden, Suresh Raina and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni to fire in the match against Bangalore. Hayden has treated the bowlers with utter disdain in the tournament and with his powerful batting while Dhoni with his midas touch, has also found his rhythm, shrugging off the initial lean patch. To add to that is the diminutive Raina who is a precious asset for the team with his all round abilities. The bowling department is secure in the hands of Muralitharan and co. However, Chennai have to lift themselves in the fielding aspect if they look to pursue their IPL goal.

Key Partnerships:
Kallis and Taylor: The Protea has been a consistent performer for Bangalore having scored 337 runs including 3 fifties. His Kiwi partner had a dull start but made it up with two vital knocks towards the end. Bangalore would count on the duo to secure the batting department and help Bangalore's cause.

Hayden and Raina: The bulky Australian has been the batsman of the tournament, having scored 546 runs in this edition of the IPL. He has the ideal partner in the talented Raina, who has been a revelation for Chennai with both the bat and the ball. Chennai would bank on the duo to fire in the semi-finals.

Numbers game:
6: The number of fifties scored by the Bangalore batsmen in this edition of the IPL.
58: The number of fours scored by Hayden in IPL 2009, putting him on the top of the list of boundary hitters.

Fake IPL Player Blog Post: Rest in Pieces

It ain’t over till it’s over folks. I was all set to rest in peace after my ‘don’t tell all’ video, but the ferocity of comments has shattered my rest to pieces and compelled me to return for this one last post for this IPL season. I can take anything you guys hurl at me, but the line needs to be drawn somewhere. You can call me anything you want and I won’t mind a bit, but one particular anonymous commenter simply crossed the final frontier of my tolerance by calling me Bishen Singh Bedi. Even the guy who called me Himesh had some sense level of decency, although how he recognised Himesh without a mike held at a precise 47.5 degree angle is a little hard to understand.

If you are still reading this post after my obituary, I assume that you are amongst the 37% of readers who have enjoyed the blog in the right spirit, have contributed to the quality of the blog with your intelligent, witty comments and constructive criticism. I hope I am safe to assume that all the Mr. Anonymous’ and Ms Anonymous’ who started and continued inane & immature discussions in the comments section won’t find this blog interesting enough after the last video post.

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We didn't miss McGrath: Sehwag

A legend he might be but Glenn McGrath was not missed by Delhi Daredevils as the Australian pace great was not in form, insists skipper Virender Sehwag.
"I don't think we missed McGrath because he hasn't played in the last one year. He was not in that kind of form the way he bowled last year. (Dirk) Nannes was fantastic right through the tournament," Sehwag said after the crushing six-wicket loss to Deccan Chargers in the semifinal.

Asked whether McGrath's experience would have come in handy when Adam Gilchrist went berserk last night to take the game away from Delhi, Sehwag said no bowler could have stopped the rampaging Aussie.

"I think he batted extremely well. I don't think anyone could have stopped him. It was Gilchrist's day," he said.

However, his opposite number Gilchrist said he was surprised by Delhi's decision of not playing McGrath.

"I am very surprised that Glenn McGrath didn't get a chance to bowl in the tournament. But you can't be too critical. They had set the benchmark during the entire tournament. They were the team who were at the top and the other teams were chasing them. Their overseas players have served them really well.

"I was surprised that McGrath didn't get an opportunity but that does not means that they needed him to play today. Considering the fact that Dirk Nannes and other overseas players have done well, it is hard to leave out international guys out of the playing XI," Gilchrist said

How Gilly predicted Delhi’s fall

Much before he scripted Delhi’s fall with a blistering 35-ball 85, Adam Gilchirst had penned down the result of the match on a piece of paper: a six-wicket win for Deccan Chargers. “I don’t know if anyone will believe me but before coming to the ground, I actually wrote on a piece of paper what the result of the game would be,” said Gilchrist showing the piece to everyone.

Gilchrist also admitted that this was one his best T20 innings. “I scored a 100 last year but it wasn’t a semi-final. We hadn’t beaten Delhi in two years and it’s nice to get that monkey off the back.

“I was really upset getting out a ball before the strategy break. You expect people to learn from experience but 15 years at the top doesn’t seem to have done me any good.” Virender Sehwag, who ended up on the wrong side of a semi-final result yet again, felt there was little a team could do when Gilchrist got going. “I tried everything, bowled every bowler, including myself but he finished the match in 10 overs.” Despite the hammering, or perhaps because of it, Sehwag said he was backing Chennai to win the IPL.

Gilchrist blitz inspires Deccan to crushing win

DD again fall at the semi-final hurdle. But to be fair to them no attack in the world can stop a player like Gilly when he is playing like that. Remember Gilchrist comes up trumps on all the big matches, he has scores of over 50 in three World cup finals including a hundred against SL in 2007. So Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Gibbs departed early, but Gilly was on another planet as he plundered everyone to all corners of the ground. By the time he left only 52 were needed. Then after the break, Symonds also smashed a cameo to put the result beyond doubt. Then Suman and Rohit applied the finishing touches.

Gilchrist just came out like some super natural power had invaded his body and tore apart the Delhi side. The opening over set the tone as he crashed 5 consecutive boundaries off Dirk Nannes. It was a deliberate strategy to target Nannes as he was the most potent weapon of the Daredevils attack. It was just one of the most exhilarating experiences if you are a Cricket fan. Even Harsha Bhogle said that he will remember the Gilchrist innings until he lives. It was pure joy to see such batting from a champion cricketer.

Gilchrist: Amazing what a little bit of freshness does right, in response to Ravi Shastri's question of not playing for a year and then to play like this. I have had plenty of hits since I have been here. It has been a great experience to comeback after a year off. Our game plan was to be ahead of the run rate, put a little bit of pressure on them. Our plan worked really well tonight. The guys did a great job to keep them to 153. We started the tournament with a lot of energy and enthusiasm and hopefully finish out the same way. 20-20 we know the reality of it, we are in a better position than we were last year. It is a two way horse and hopefully we can win.

Sehwag: It was not our day. The way Gilly batted today, there was no clue. The bowlers tried everything, yorkers, good length, full toss, short pitch but everything went for four and a six. I thought 153 was defendable, but the way Gilly batted we could not do anything. I tried everything, including myself, but today is Gilly's day, you cant stop him. Thank the BCCI for organising the IPL and hopefully the Indian players will do well.

There is not an iota of doubt as to who the Man of the Match is. Gilchrist it is.

Delhi favourites in first semi-final

The Conditions After the way the two matches went yesterday on this ground, teams will be backing themselves to chase high totals if fielding first, and will look to post in excess of 170-180 if batting first. However, the pitch should have some wear and tear after two matches and the spinners could come into play towards the later part of the innings. The forecast for today is the same as yesterday: partly cloudy.

The Teams Hyderabad has lost both its league matches to Delhi, but the second one was a heart-stopping affair, that Rajat Bhatia stole from Hyderabad with his accurate bowling. However, now that it's come down to a one day perish or perform scenario, Delhi will not be taking any comfort from their previous two wins.

Deccan Chargers: They are the only team who have not won their last match going into the semi-finals. However, from this stage on it is a matter of stringing together two good performances is what they'll be telling themselves. And in Gilchrist, Gibbs, Rohit Sharma and Andrew Symonds they have the firepower to be able to deliver two knock-out punches in a row to any team. What has stood out in their losses though is the inability of more than 2 of these powerful hitters to fire together.

Delhi Daredevils: The timely return to form of Sehwag and Gambhir, makes Delhi look formidable once again. They had lost that aura, when the two dashing batsmen failed repeatedly, but now they are looking very dangerous. Their batting is comprised of Sehwag, Gambhir, AB de Villiers, Dilshan and Karthik - enough to post or chase any total. Their bowling has Nehra, Mishra, Nannes and the canny Bhatia - a nice mixture of attacking and containing bowlers. And with fielders like AB de Villiers, Dilshan and a reliable keeper in Karthik, they do look like the complete package. While Sehwag has always been a batsman who is one innings away from regaining form, the knock by Gambhir would have pleased Delhi more. Gambhir, as he has shown last year, is a batsman who keeps going once he is in good touch, and against Mumbai, Gambhir showed enough glimpses of his best form to worry all future opposition.

Contest to Watch

Dirk Nannes vs Adam Gilchrist - Nannes will be playing for the Netherlands in the World T20 Cup, but he'd like to remind the Australian selectors just what they've missed by not picking him, and there is no better batsman than Gilchrist for that. If Nannes can get the better of a marauding Gilchrist, he would have made his point.

Numbers Game:

3 - The number of batsmen Hyderabad have who have scored 300+ runs in the tournament. They are Gilchrist, Gibbs and Rohit Sharma. The only other team who has an equal number is Chennai. No other team has more than 2 such batsmen.

1 - The number of batsmen from the non semi-final making teams who make it to the top 10, in the list of the tournament's highest strike rates (min. 100 runs). The batsman in question is Yusuf Pathan who comes in at no. 10. Of the rest, Hyderabad have 3, and the Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi have 2 each.

Trivia:

Even though Virender Sehwag hasn't scored as many runs as he would have liked, whatever he's scored has been as fast as one would expect him to. He is his team's top batsman in terms of strike rate, and the third overall in the tournament (min. 100 runs)

Teams:

Delhi Daredevils (From): Virender Sehwag(c), Gautam Gambhir, AB de Villiers, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Dinesh Karthik(w), Mithun Manhas, Rajat Bhatia, Daniel Vettori, Dirk Nannes, Pradeep Sangwan, Ashish Nehra, Manoj Kumar Tiwary, Aavishkar Salvi, Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh, Glenn McGrath, Amit Mishra, Andrew McDonald, David Warner, Farveez Maharoof, Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood, Tejashwi Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Yogesh Nagar

Deccan Chargers (From): Adam Gilchrist(w/c), Herschelle Gibbs, Tirumalsetti Suman, Andrew Symonds, Rohit Sharma, Venugopal Rao, Azhar Bilakhia, Ryan Harris, Jaskaran Singh, Rudra Pratap Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Dwaraka Ravi Teja, VVS Laxman, Scott Styris, Harmeet Singh, Abhinav Kumar, Arjun Yadav, Chamara Silva, Chaminda Vaas, Doddapaneni Kalyankrishna, Dwayne Smith, Halhadar Das, Manvinder Bisla, Nuwan Zoysa, Paidikalva Vijaykumar, Sarvesh Kumar, Shoaib Ahmed

Bangalore victorious after Deccan collapse

A comfortable victory for Bangalore in the end then. Gilchrist and Gibbs started off in great fashion with the Chargers nicely placed at 85/2 at the halfway stage. Symonds and Gibbs seemed to have things in control before Gibbs' wicket sparked off the collapse that ultimately cost Deccan the match. This win has lifted Bangalore to third place on the table.

Manish Pandey: I got a chance to open the batting today and wanted to make the most of it, that is what I did. The wicket was nice to bat on, the ball came on nicely. I'll go back and see the replay. Importantly, we are into the Semis now, it's going to be an important day and we are looking forward to play well.

Kumble: It's a great thing for us, we started off well, string of bad losses and then we came back strongly, all credit to the boys, the way they responded has been fabulous. Brilliant hundred, Manish never really got an opportunity, so we thought of promoting him. Defending this total was brilliant. We're really happy to get into the Semis, we will back ourselves and try to play like we have done for quite sometime now.

Gilchrist: I think it was bad luck, mate. We weren't as sharp as we would have liked to be, we were outplayed. It would have been great to go into the Semis with a win but then, we need to freshen up for tomorrow. Anyone can beat anyone else on a given night, that is how the tournament has been, it can be one person doing well, it can be the whole unit. It all comes down to how you play on that particular day.

Manish Pandey is the Man of the Match for his brilliant hundred.

Interestingly, in their last 3 games, Bangalore have beaten the other three semi-finalists.

With today's victory RCB have won their last 4 games while DC have lost their last 2 games in a row.

Semi-final line up: Delhi v Deccan on Friday (22nd May), Bangalore v Chennai on Saturday (23rd May)

All About Latest Sports Action: Yuvraj’s self-destruction hurts Kings XI Punjab

The sequence of unexpected results continued as the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2009 entered in the final phase of its league matches. Both the games on May 20, the penultimate day of the first round, followed unusual patterns and produced amusing results.

The pitch at the Kingsmead in Durban was not very conducive to stroke-play and the conditions were indeed tough for batting. Yet one expected more number of runs to be scored since it was a Twenty20 contest and the participating teams had quite a few masters in their folds. Such has been the trend in the tournament that anything cannot be taken for granted and the unlikeliest of things could happen any moment.

All About Latest Sports Action: Yuvraj’s self-destruction hurts Kings XI Punjab

Mumbai to play for pride, Delhi for momentum

The Conditions The ground has seen consistently good battles between bat and ball, and is expected to be the same for the final league matches too. The forecast is for a partly sunny, partly cloudy day, and the seam bowlers will be hoping the clouds come on when they're bowling as it would make the conditions slightly more favourable to them.

The Teams After what seems like an eternity, we have an inconsequential match in the tournament, in the sense that the result of this match will neither affect Delhi's standing at the top of the table, nor give Mumbai any chance of qualifying for the semi-finals.

Mumbai Indians: Even though they're out of the semi-finals, they would want to win here so that they go above Rajasthan in the final points tally. They will be ruing their missed chances in a few close games, which has left them with no hope of a semis berth. Their problem has been that they have rarely fired as a team, and rode on individual performances to get their victories. Their exit must hurt them, because before the tournament they had looked amongst the best balanced teams on paper, but sadly that strength stayed on paper. Their bowling has suffered in Zaheer's absence and it doesn't look likely that he will play this match, and risk worsening his injury before the World T20 cup. Overall, a disappointing outing for them, which they would like to redeem with a win against the league leaders.

Delhi Daredevils: They would be eager to get back to their winning ways after the reverses against Punjab and Bangalore. However, that will not happen on a consistent basis unless Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag find their form and do it fast. It is unreasonable to expect de Villiers, Dilshan and Dinesh Karthik to bail Delhi out of trouble in every single match. Delhi can thank their stars that they have done it so far, but they need a more wholesome contribution from their openers. Glenn McGrath has still not got a game, and with this being the last league game, and Delhi giving chances to those on the bench, he might hope to finally make the playing eleven. If he doesn't, it will be a very strange decision indeed, and one which Virender Sehwag ought to perhaps explain.

Contest to Watch

Lasith Malinga versus T Dilshan - The Sri Lankan team-mates have been stand-out performers for their respective teams, but Dilshan has been part of a successful outfit, while Malinga has lost more often than he has won. However, their individual performances have been top-class, and if the two do face-off in the middle, it will be an intriguing contest.

Contest that fans would wish to watch

Glenn McGrath versus Sachin Tendulkar - Every fan who has watched cricket from the mid-nineties to the mid-200s, will want to watch what used to be amongst the most classic contests in all cricket - be it Test matches, ODIs or even if these two stalwarts ever came face to face in club cricket or a 'galli' match! One more time, one last time - we want to see them go at each other.

Numbers Game:

85 - The number of runs by which AB de Villiers has outscored the combined totals of Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag. de Villiers has 429 runs while the opening duo have 348 (Gambhir 239 and Sehwag 109).

1 - JP Duminy's rank in the 'Best Economy Rate' charts for the Mumbai Indians. He is also by far their leading run scorer in the tournament, and has proved to be worth every dollar of the massive 950,000 shelled out for him.

Teams:

Delhi Daredevils (From): Virender Sehwag(c), Gautam Gambhir, AB de Villiers, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Dinesh Karthik(w), Andrew McDonald, Rajat Bhatia, Amit Mishra, Pradeep Sangwan, Ashish Nehra, Dirk Nannes, Daniel Vettori, Mithun Manhas, Aavishkar Salvi, Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh, Glenn McGrath, Manoj Kumar Tiwary, David Warner, Farveez Maharoof, Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood, Tejashwi Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Yogesh Nagar

Mumbai Indians (From): Sachin Tendulkar(c), Sanath Jayasuriya, Ajinkya Rahane, Jean-Paul Duminy, Abhishek Nayar, Ryan McLaren, Yogesh Takawale(w), Harbhajan Singh, Chetanya Nanda, Dhawal Kulkarni, Lasith Malinga, Rohan Raje, Shikhar Dhawan, Zaheer Khan, Pinal Shah, Dilhara Fernando, Graham Napier, Jaydev Shah, Kyle Mills, Luke Ronchi, Mohammad Ashraful, Rahil Shaikh, Saurabh Tiwary

CSK send Punjab almost out of contention

That's it Punjab choked under pressure. It was a must win game for them and they flunked it big time. They were under no pressure as it was a low target, but the spinners did it for CSK. The spinners bowled a total of 12 overs for 38 runs and took 6 wickets. That is where the Punjab side lost it. Now they need Bangalore to lose heavily against Hyderabad tomorrow to go through to the semi-finals. They are virtually tetering on the brink.

Muralitharan: Dhoni asked me to bowl early on today, I stuck to the right line and length and got wickets. The other bowlers maintained the pressure and that helped. Raina has done a good job for us in so many matches. Semi-Finals are big games, the one who performs well will win, it's that kind of a contest.

Dhoni: Well, ofcourse, the bowlers were brilliant. We picked Ashwin for the first time, he was shuffled a lot but he still managed to bowl well. Murali was outstanding and so was Raina. The pacers managed it well too. Battingwise, we are a good side, it was just one of those days when we didn't click. We were a couple of batsmen short, Haydos wasn't there and Albie has injured himself. Once they get back, it should be good for us.

Yuvraj: Yeah, we're pretty disappointed, we needed to win to go into the Semi-Finals, unfortunately we couldn't do it. I think we had a decent start, we just didn't get a partnership, none of our batsmen got a 40 or 50. Well, we have had a lot of injuries coming into this tournament, everyone has performed the role assigned to them. It has been a bits and pieces tournament for us, when you are in a good position, one needs to nail the opposition. We couldn't do it.

Muttiah Muralitharan is the Man of the Match for his spell of 2/8 in 4 overs.

Today's win by CSK keeps their unbeaten record against Punjab intact. CSK have now won all the 5 matches against Punjab in the IPL.

Match #54 Preview: Chennai Super King vs Kings XI Punjab

Ground Reality and Pitch:

Having witnessed 14 matches played so far at the Kingsmead, the players would be familiar with the pitch and the ground conditions. Although it is not a easy scoring pitch, intelligent batting have helped the batsmen prosper at this ground. With the pitch offering consistent bounce, it would be an even contest between bat and ball.

Temperatures: Min - 60F Max - 74F Conditions: Partly Cloudy

Team Updates:

Chennai: With a semifinal berth at stake, Chennai Super Kings, smarting from a stunning defeat to tournament-laggards Kolkata Knight Riders, take on Kings XI Punjab in a do-or-die encounter. Chennai are currently placed second with 15 points after notching up seven wins from 13 matches. Even without their run-machine Matthew Hayden, Chennai posted 188 against the Kolkata team but couldn't defend the total, due to poor bowling. For Chennai, orange cap winner Hayden has done the bulk of scoring and Dhoni would desperately want him back in the squad. Skipper Dhoni would hope his team shrugs off the disappointment of the loss to Kolkata and comes out firing all cylinders against Punjab.

Punjab: Currently placed fifth on the points table, Punjab is battling inconsistent batting form of the top order. Sri Lankan import Kumar Sangakkara is doing the bulk of scoring while their opening pair of Sunny Sohal and Simon Katich and Yuvraj Singh in the middle order have failed to provide the impetus. Punjab has depended more on their bowlers to defend low totals, with all-rounder Irfan Pathan leading the pack with 15 wickets and Yusuf Abdulla and Piyush Chawla bagging 14 and 11 wickets respectively. A part-time spinner, Yuvraj himself has been in ominous form with the ball, picking up two hat-tricks so far in IPL II and he would hope to continue with the good work.

Contest to watch:

Hayden vs. Sreesanth: The maverick seamer has had a tough couple of matches while beginnings his IPL campaign, though he has come back well during the matches against Delhi and and Hyderabad. His first encounter with Hayden saw the bulky Australian score heavily against him. Sreesanth would hope to extract his revenge while Punjab face-off Chennai at Durban.

Numbers game:

3: The number of sixers hit by Hayden off Sreesanth during Chennai's previous encounter with Punjab.

8.89: Sreesanth's economy rate during this season of the IPL.

Sound Bytes:

It is disappointing to lose the match. We had (enough) runs on the board (to defend) but they (Kolkata) had some brilliant batting and on the other hand we had one of the worst bowling performance in the IPL: MS Dhoni after the team's loss to Kolkata

Teams:

Chennai Super Kings (From): Matthew Hayden, Parthiv Patel, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni(w/c), Subramaniam Badrinath, Albie Morkel, Jacob Oram, Sudeep Tyagi, Shadab Jakati, Laxmipathy Balaji, Muttiah Muralitharan, Joginder Sharma, Manpreet Gony, Arun Karthik, George Bailey, Makhaya Ntini, Mike Hussey, Murali Vijay, Palani Amarnath, Ravichandran Ashwin, Thilan Thushara, Viraj Kadbe

Match #51 Preview : Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings

Ground Reality: Most of the matches played here have seen an even contest between bat and ball, and more of the same is expected today. With light winds, and sunny weather forecasted, the day should be fine for cricket.

The Teams: It seems like an unequal battle on the face of it, with one team looking formidable, and the other looking forlorn. This will be the first meeting between the teams, since their previous match was rained out.

Kolkata Knight Riders: They must now be firmly convinced that they are cursed or that someone has put a spell on them. No matter what they do, they just can't seem to win a match, often being extremely unlucky or being at the receiving end of some brilliant innings. It is highly commendable that McCullum has still managed to put on a brave face and not lost his smile, since a lesser man would have wilted long ago beneath the pressure. However, being tough does is not the only quality that goes into making a good captain, and Kolkata would be wondering if Buchanan's orchestrated removal of Ganguly has not hampered them largely. It is tempting and easy to think that had Ganguly been leading, a lot of the close matches would have fallen the Knight Riders' way.

Chennai Super Kings: Even though they have almost sealed their semi-final spot, they will not relax an inch against Kolkata. For one, they would want to keep their winning momentum, and for another, with the table still so close, no one knows how one loss will affect teams later. However, the batting is still too dependant on Hayden - which is a worrying sign for a side that has players like Dhoni, Badrinath and Raina. They are all in the mix for being regulars in the Indian team, but they need to take more responsibility. Makhaya Ntini could get his first game today instead of Jacob Oram.

X Factor:

Brendon McCullum - The Kolkata skipper has looked like getting back into his best form for the past few matches, and if he does explode, then there is little the opposition can do. Just ask Bangalore.

Shadab Jakati - He has arrived with a big splash, but the key to being successsful is maintaining his initial form, after the opposition has had time to study and sort him out. He looks capable of doing it, and against a team that is struggling, should be looking to make a good contribution.

Numbers Game:

7 - The number of matches that Chennai has won this year, which is equal to the total number of matches Kolkata has won last year and this year.

2 - The position on Kolkata's run charts of its much maligned skipper Brendon McCullum. It says a lot about the team, that even though he has struggled for a large part of the tournament, McCullum is still its second highest run scorer.

Teams:

Chennai Super Kings (From): Matthew Hayden, Parthiv Patel, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni(w/c), Subramaniam Badrinath, Jacob Oram, Albie Morkel, Sudeep Tyagi, Laxmipathy Balaji, Shadab Jakati, Muttiah Muralitharan, Joginder Sharma, Manpreet Gony, Arun Karthik, George Bailey, Makhaya Ntini, Mike Hussey, Murali Vijay, Palani Amarnath, Ravichandran Ashwin, Thilan Thushara, Viraj Kadbe

Kolkata Knight Riders (From): Brendon McCullum(c), Saurav Ganguly, Bradley Hodge, David Hussey, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Yashpal Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Mashrafe Mortaza, Murali Kartik, Ishant Sharma, Shoaib Shaikh, Laxmi Shukla, Ajantha Mendis, Charl Langeveldt, Aditya Dole, Ameya Shrikhande, Abhisek Banerjee, Angelo Mathews, Moises Henriques, Anureet Singh, Anustup Majumdar, Arindam Ghosh, Ashok Dinda, Avik Chowdhury, Bhavik Thaker, Chetan Suryavanshi, Debabrata Das, Dhiran Salvi, Gaurav Chabra, Gnaneswara Rao, Iqbal Abdulla, Ishwar Choudhary, Kshemal Waingankar, Mark Cameron, Mohammad Sanuth, Mohnish Parmar, Murtuza Hussain, Natraj Behera, Rajesh Verma, Ranadeb Bose, Rohan Banerjee, Sachin Rana, Sanjay Bangar, Sanjib Sanyal, Saurasish Lahiri, Shatrunjay Gaekwad, Sheldon Jackson, Siddarth Kaul, Sourav Sarkar, Sunny Singh, Vinit Indulkar, Morne van Wyk

Clinical Delhi roll over rusty Royals

A rather comfortable victory for Delhi, something's that's been rare over the past few days. Rajasthan started poorly but Botha and Jadeja put on a good stand to keep them in hunt. They fell at crucial junctures and with Yusuf failing to fire, the Royals fell apart in quick time.

de Villiers: Pretty tough upfront with the new ball and then after I got to 30 scored freely after that. My plan was to get in for the 20 balls and then score. Our coach mentioned before the game it is a big field and run well, it worked well in the end. I thought 140 was a decent score on this. Expecting Viru and GG to come through in the important part of the tournament, Sky is the limit if they do.

Sehwag: AB and Dilshan are in good form and they did a fantastic job after me and Gauti did not click. I thought 150 was a good score on this wicket as we have a good bowling side. Our plan was to bat out the 20 overs and later Karthik, Manhas can hit the ball. I am looking forward to getting some runs in the next couple of games.

Warne: I thought it was a par score, we did not play well upfront, that's where we have struggled in the whole tournament. 150 I thought was a gettable score, unfortunately none of the top order batsmen put their hand up. Hopefully we can win our last game against KKR and you never know we can still make it to the semifinals.

AB de Villiers is the Man of the Match for his brilliant innings of 79*

Kings XI Punjab will have to perform or perish

Having revived its semifinal hopes with a morale-boosting six-wicket win over table topper Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab will look to continue its winning form against Deccan Chargers in its must-win Indian Premier League match here on Sunday.

With 12 points from 12 matches and only one match left after this, Punjab will have to beat Deccan Chargers, which has 12 points too — but with a match in hand — if it has to be in the running for the remaining three semifinal spots; Daredevils has already reserved its place in the last four.

Inconsistent so far

Kings XI has not been a consistent side in this year’s IPL, having failed to establish a winning momentum but its win over Daredevils on Friday has shown that it can beat any team in the tournament on its day.

Yuvraj Singh’s side will have the psychological advantage going into the match as it had beaten Adam Gilchrist’s men by three wickets in their earlier meeting.

What will boost Kings XI’s confidence further is the return to form of fit-again Australian fast bowler Brett Lee, whose man-of-the-match winning three for 15 against Delhi kept its semifinal hopes alive.

Welcome return

Lee has added sting to the Kings XI bowling department which also has tough competition within, with South African Yusuf Abdulla warming the bench. Lee bowled with fire and penetration to make life difficult for Delhi batsmen. He also got ample support from S. Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan.

In the spin department, Piyush Chawla has been doing a decent job of choking the run flow though without much luck with wickets.

Among the batsmen, Kumar Sangakkara has been in consistent form and Yuvraj has been among the top run-getters though he has not exactly set South Africa on fire so far. Irfan has been chipping in with useful runs in the lower order.

Mahela Jayawardene, who is suffering from a hamstring injury is unlikely to return to the side, as indicated by Yuvraj after the match against Delhi.

Deccan Chargers will have to get over what Glichrist called “cricket suicide” against Delhi. The middle order will have to stop gifting away wickets and focus on finishing strongly. The side will also have to show improvement in the fielding department.

Rohit Sharma, who has failed in his last three outings, is due a big score while Gilchrist could be tempted to bring back Herschelle Gibbs at the top and push T. Suman down the order after Luke Pomersbach failed against Delhi.

Sri Lankan veteran Chaminda Vaas’s impressive form after sitting out in the early part of the event would in come handy for Gilchrist while Pragyan Ojha has been consistent in the spin department.

R.P. Singh, though, will have to return to his wicket-taking ways to create trouble in the Kings XI top order.

Match #49 Preview: Kings XI Punjab vs Deccan Chargers

The Conditions The conditions have shown themselves to be conducive to batting in the previous matches, and the teams will look to take advantage of them, especially in the powerplay overs. The weather is forecast to be mainly sunny, so it should be a fine day's cricket.

The Teams The importance of this match for both teams cannot be stressed enough. A win will set them firmly on the path to the semi-finals, and a loss will set them firmly on the path to the travel agent for flight tickets home. Well not quite, but a loss will hurt their chances immeasurably.

Deccan Chargers: They have the two points more than Punjab, in as many number of games played. After their whirlwind start, they have tapered off a bit, winning just 2 of their next 7 games. However quite a few of their losses have been in extremely tight games that could have gone either way, so they can take heart from the fact that they have been in the running for 99% of the games. But ultimately it's winning games that will get them further in the tournament and they have to learn to close out tight games. If they do win, it will have to be their batting that will do it, since it is by far their most potent weapon.

Kings Eleven Punjab: They have also had an up-and-down campaign, but will take a lot of heart from their win against table-toppers Delhi. They put in a top-notch bowling performance and never let Delhi's powerful line-up find its feet. Up against a similarly powerful line-up in Hyderabad, they would hope for a repeat of the last match. Their batting would have looked solid had Jayawardene been available, but Luke Pomerersbach has not been an adequate replacement so far. However he is capable of hitting it big, and Punjab would be hoping that the fact that he's due for a big one comes good for them in this match.

Contests to Watch

Brett Lee vs Adam Gilchrist and Andrew symonds - It's always a great sight when players who are team-mates take on each other, but it's all the more enticing when the players in question happen to be in great form. Lee and Symonds are both coming back after layoffs, while Gilchrist is retired, but to see them perform you'd never guess it.

Pragyan Ojha vs Yuvraj Singh - Ojha has had a wondeful tournament so far, and against a player known to have a weakness for spin, he should be licking his lips. Yuvraj generally comes in at 4 or 5, while Ojha will bowl the middle overs, so there is a good chance of this contest materializing.

Numbers Game:

1 - The number of bowlers on each side (min. 8 overs) who have an economy rate of under 6. for Punjab it's Brett Lee with 5.33, while for Hyderabad it's Rohit Sharma with 5.86

6 - The most number of balls that Punjab have had left, while successfully chasing a target. They have never successfully chased a target with more than 6 balls to spare.

Trivia: Rohit Sharma's strike rate has been the second least amongst Hyderabad's specialist batsmen. Though he is second on the run scorers list, Symonds, Smith, Gilchrist, Suman and Gibbs have all scored their runs at a faster pace than him. Only Venugopal Rao has a lower strike rate than him.

Who was the first Test cricketer to finish his Test career with over 2000 runs but without a century? Answer and win KF airtickets

Teams:

Deccan Chargers (From): Adam Gilchrist(w/c), Herschelle Gibbs, Tirumalsetti Suman, Rohit Sharma, Andrew Symonds, Venugopal Rao, Dwaraka Ravi Teja, Ryan Harris, Harmeet Singh, Rudra Pratap Singh, Pragyan Ojha, VVS Laxman, Scott Styris, Abhinav Kumar, Arjun Yadav, Chamara Silva, Chaminda Vaas, Doddapaneni Kalyankrishna, Dwayne Smith, Halhadar Das, Jaskaran Singh, Manvinder Bisla, Nuwan Zoysa, Paidikalva Vijaykumar, Sarvesh Kumar, Shoaib Ahmed, Azhar Bilakhia

Kings XI Punjab (From): Sunny Sohal, Simon Katich, Kumar Sangakkara(w), Yuvraj Singh(c), Mahela Jayawardene, Irfan Pathan, Wilkin Mota, Brett Lee, Piyush Chawla, Ramesh Powar, S Sreesanth, Karan Goel, Taruwar Kohli, Yusuf Abdullah, Vikram RV Singh, Ajitesh Argal, Amanpreet Singh, Burt Cockley, Luke Pomersbach, Ranadeb Bose, Ravikant Shukla, Ryan Ninan, Sahil Kukreja, Tanmay Srivastava, Uday Kaul, Vikramjeet Malik

Unbelievable Rohit wins a lost cause for DC

With this win DC move one step closer to the semis, while for KKR this is their 9th defeat in a row.

Spare a thought for McCullum, he has done everything that he could and still KKR dont seem to finish it off. This is a heartbreaking loss for them and especially after that loss to RCB in the previous game. It seems KKR are not destined to win a game as cruelly victory is snatched from their grasp for the second game in a row.

What an unbelievable match it was. KKR did everything but win. Mortaza had 21 runs in his kitty but still could not win it in the end. Tempers flared after the no-ball was called in the final over, and then KKR as a whole lost it. The momentum swung decisively towards DC as Rohit slammed home the advantage.

DC started off well with Gilly and Gibbs getting quick runs. Then KKR pulled things back thanks to a lovely spell from Karthik and Hodge. Symonds was run out when 34 was needed and it seemed that was game over for DC.

Rohit Sharma: Definitely there was pressure, but I thought if both of us bat six balls we can get any target. The wicket was coming on nicely. After hitting a boundary of the no-ball, I thought 16 of 6 was gettable on this surface. The bowling is coming out well, and it is clicking and very happy to contribute to the team.

Gilchrist: I thought we burned another one. Rao was fantastic, he held his nerve and backed himself. Not pleased with the way we are finishing with the ball. Glad to drag 2 points from this one. Their spinners did a very good job. It is a difficult ground to defend on. I thought Symo was the one, but Rohit played some great innings last year and to stand up at the crucial time was very pleasing. All was not lost if we missed out today, we will be back in 12 hours tomorrow and hopefully fresh enough to be up for that.

McCullum: First of all I want to apologise for the actions out there. It was just pure passion and emotion, and something I am not proud of. We are disappointed as a team, we tried our hearts out today and things have not gone our way. We just got to stay positive and confident. We got to keep getting up and come back. I guess the decision will be debated long and hard over a couple of beers over the night and over the next few weeks. But we have got a committed bunch and we are completely dedicated to turning this around.

Rohit Sharma is the Man of the Match for his blitzkreig in the end.

Deccan pummel Royals into submission

It was a thoroughly inept performance from RR as they chased down 167. Smith did not fire as he was sent packing by a dodgy decision from Dharmasena. Then the asking rate got out of hand as Yusuf succumbed to the pressure. Rohit and Ojha wiped out the late middle order as DC won by 53 runs.

Dwayne Smith: All I needed to do is get to the end overs before having a real blast. I got a lot of help from the players and coaches, I am happy with my performance. I hope we continue winning like this and perform well till the end.
Gilchrist: I think Dwayne played beautifully towards the end, the bowling was clinical. Selection was a headache but thankfully Dwayne and Vaas did justice. Rohit has started to feature in the purple cap more than the orange cap list. Flexibility is the key.
Warne: Yeah, it was a really disappointing day today. All credit to Dwayne Smith for the way he played today, we did well for 14-15 overs but the last 5 overs went to them completely. Bowling and fielding have always been our strength but it let us down today. We were just not there, we will have to regroup and come back strong.
Now DC swap places with RR. DC are 3rd on the table while RR slip one spot down to 4th.
Dwayne Smith is the Man of the Match for his all-round show

Fake IPL Players Blog: It's decision time folks

Yet another intense fielding session. And not surprisingly, hardly any dropped catches during practice. Looks like we always save our best for the real thing

2-3 changes are expected in the side for this game. But, it's almost sure that that Lordie's playing. Don't know whether Skipper pushed it through, or a late night call from Dildo did the trick, or the "warning" comments on this blog made the decision, but Lordie's in. Skipper and Lordie chatted for a longish period during training. Skipper has asked Lordie if he'd like to open today. Bhookha was opposed to the idea till yesterday, but speculation is rife that Bhookha may play along thinking that this is a better way to get rid of him than not letting him bat at all.

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Match Preview: Chennai Super King vs Rajasthan Royals

Ground reality and pitch:
Formerly known as the Kimberly Country Club, the De Beers Oval is home to the Grinqualand West cricket team. With a seating capacity 11,000, the De Beers Oval was specially designed for the ODI format. The wicket at the De Beers is an ideally designed ODI pitch inclined to favour the batsmen.

Temperatures: Min - 45F Max - 70F | Humidity: 91% | Conditions: Sunny

Team Updates:
Chennai: Chennai have had a good outing recently, with four consecutive wins. The batting has been firing all along with the retired Australian Matthew Hayden leading the charge and Suresh Raina and Dhoni in good form. In bowling department, Laxmipathi Balaji has been in fine touch with 11 wickets from seven matches while veteran Muttiah Muralitharan and little known Shadab Jakati have been doing wonders for Chennai in the spin department. One area of concern for Chennai has been the fielding. Dhoni was understandably angry with the shoddy fielding of his side during the last match. He would expect his team-mates to pull up their socks as Chennai aim at notching up their fifth win.

Rajasthan: Rajasthan had a huge blow when Shane Watson was ruled out of the IPL after suffering a groin injury. With their two bowlers Kamran Khan and Amit Singh reported for suspect action, Rajsthan would count on the likes of Munaf Patel and their captain Shane Warne to come up with good spells while bowling against the formidable batting line-up of Chennai. Rajasthan's batting has looked good with their stroke-makers Graeme Smith, Naman Ojha, Yusuf Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja being amongst runs. Shane Warne would look for a good performance from his side as they are looking to avenge their defeat in the last match against Chennai.

Contests to watch:
Dhoni vs. Warne: The explosive Indian captain has looked in good touch during the recent games. Kimberly would be witness to a mouthwatering clash when MS Dhoni and the Australian Spin Wizard Shane Warne face-off.
Pathan vs. Muralitharan: Yusuf has been a revelation in the shortest form of cricket. However, his ability to power the ball out of the stadium would be put to test when he faces the Sri Lankan Maestro Muralitharan.

Trivia:
Besides having the same points (11), Chennai and Rajasthan have the same number of wins (five), losses (three) and no results (one) after playing 9 games each, so far in the 2009 edition of the IPL.

Which cricketer has the best bowling figures in a innings on ODI debut? Answer and win KF Air tickets

Teams:
Chennai Super Kings (From): Matthew Hayden, Subramaniam Badrinath, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni(w/c), Albie Morkel, George Bailey, Shadab Jakati, Sudeep Tyagi, Laxmipathy Balaji, Manpreet Gony, Muttiah Muralitharan, Joginder Sharma, Arun Karthik, Parthiv Patel, Jacob Oram, Makhaya Ntini, Mike Hussey, Murali Vijay, Palani Amarnath, Ravichandran Ashwin, Thilan Thushara, Viraj Kadbe

Rajasthan Royals (From): Graeme Smith, Naman Ojha(w), Lee Carseldine, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Niraj Patel, Abhishek Raut, Shane Warne(c), Morne Morkel, Amit Singh, Munaf Patel, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Tyron Henderson, Mahesh Rawat, Kamran Khan, Aditya Angle, Swapnil Asnodkar, Atul Sharma, Gajendra Singh, Mohammad Arif, Parag More, Paul Valthaty, Raiphi Gomez, Rob Quiney, Shane Watson, Shane Harwood, Shaun Tait, Siddharth Trivedi, Siddharth Chitnis, Sumit Khatri

All About Latest Sports Action: Shadab Jakati spins Chennai Super Kings to top

The spinners continue to dominate the second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) being held in South Africa and it was the turn of the left-armer Shadab Jakati to steal the limelight for the second time running in a matter of three days.

He has spun Chennai Super Kings to the top of the points table, having returned his second successive four-wicket haul, something that’s rather unusual in the shortest version of the game. He had earlier engineered the victory for his team over Delhi Daredevils with the magnificent figures of 4 for 24.

All About Latest Sports Action: Shadab Jakati spins Chennai Super Kings to top

Match Preview: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Mumbai Indians

Ground Reality and pitch: Situated south of Sandton in Illovo, Wanderers nicknamed 'The Bullring' is the home of the Highveld Lions. This ground goes down in history as hosting one of the greatest ODI matches when South Africa chased down a colossal target of 434 runs set by Australia. Wanderers posts a hard wicket providing assistance to the seamers. The bounce is also favoured by the batsmen because the ball comes on to the bat quicker enabling better strokes.

Humidity: 88% | Chances of Rain: Showers expected

Team Updates:

Bangalore: Gradually finding its feet in the Indian Premier League, Royal Challengers Bangalore will aim to spring another surprise when it takes on the in-form Mumbai Indians for the first time in the tournament's second edition. Back to back wins over Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab in the last two matches has not just lifted the Royal Challengers' spirit but has also helped the team rise from the bottom to fifth in the points table. The side's regular skipper USD 1.55 million buy, Kevin Pietersen, has left for national duty after leading it to the win over Knight Riders but it didn't seem to have affected the side much the other night when it stunned fourth-placed Punjab.

Mumbai: The Mumbai team is in good form. After the narrow defeat against Kings XI, the Sachin Tendulkar-led outfit bounced back to beat the struggling Knight Riders. The team is currently third on the points table with three wins from six matches, one of which was washed out. J P Duminy, who was subdued in the early part of the tournament, is now also among the runs after notching two half centuries in as many matches against Punjab and Kolkata. Mumbai's explosive batting gives it a slight edge over Royal Challengers.
Contest to watch:

Tendulkar vs. Kumble: One is a master batsman while the other is a wily craftsman in the art of spin bowling. The old war horses of Indian cricket would face-off at the 'Bullring' much to the delight of the cricket fans around the world.

Numbers game:
11: The number of wickets taken by Lasit Malinga in the IPL 2009
7: The number of catches taken by Virat Kohli in this edition of IPL
8.50: Jesse Ryder's batting average in the IPL 2009
About whom did Fred Trueman say this: "I sometimes used to wonder, in his playing days, if he realised just how great a bowler he was. When he was really spinning the ball, you could actually hear the fingers click as he delivered. He really was a prodigious finger spinner". Answer and win KF Airtickets

Teams:

Mumbai Indians (From): Sachin Tendulkar(c), Sanath Jayasuriya, Ajinkya Rahane, Jean-Paul Duminy, Abhishek Nayar, Graham Napier, Saurabh Tiwary, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Pinal Shah(w), Lasith Malinga, Rohan Raje, Dwayne Bravo, Shikhar Dhawan, Chetanya Nanda, Dhawal Kulkarni, Dilhara Fernando, Jaydev Shah, Kyle Mills, Luke Ronchi, Mohammad Ashraful, Rahil Shaikh, Ryan McLaren, Yogesh Takawale

Bangalore Royal Challengers (From): Jesse Ryder, Shreevats Goswami, Jacques Kallis, Rajesh Bishnoi, Robin Uthappa, Virat Kohli, Mark Boucher(w), Roelof van der Merwe, Praveen Kumar, Anil Kumble(c), KP Appanna, Balachandra Akhil, Vinay Kumar, Dale Steyn, Abhmanyu Mithun, Bharat Chipli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Cameron White, Devraj Patil, Dillon du Preez, Gaurav Dhiman, Ishank Jaggi, Jagadeesh Arunkumar, Jitendra Patil, Karan Sharma, Kedar Jadhav, Manish Pandey, Muralidharen Gautam, Nathan Bracken, Pankaj Singh, Raju Bhatkal, Rohit Sabharwal, Ross Taylor, Saurabh Bandekar, Sreenath Aravind, Sunil Joshi, Tinu Yohannan, Udit Patel, Wasim Jaffer

Match Preview: King's Eleven Punjab vs Kolkata Knight Riders

Preview by Saurabh Somani

Ground Reality: The ground has hosted four matches already, though all have not been played on the same pitch. There have been some big totals scored, and one of the boundaries is short, which both teams would look to exploit. The weather forecast is for clear skies, so there should be a good day's cricket to look forward to.

The Teams: In my preview for the teams before their first match, I had written that Punjab have one advantage over Kolkata because their boat hasn't quite sunk as low yet. That gap has only widened, with Punjab stringing together some good victories, while Kolkata can't seem to do anything right - on and off the field.

Kolkata Knight Riders: They desperately need to manufacture a victory from somewhere, and get back the belief in the side. Had they had self-belief, they might well have pulled off a victory against Mumbai in their return match. Their one explosive batsman who looked to be in some kind of form is gone, and with Gayle's departure the pressure on McCullum to find his form is immense. The silver lining for them is that Hodge looks to have found some touch, while the bowlers put up an improved showing in their last match.

King's Eleven Punjab: Even though they lost to Kolkata the last time through Duckworth-Lewis, they'll go in this match as firm favourites. They have uncovered a good bowler in Yusuf Abdullah, while Irfan Pathan has got his outswinger going again, making him a difficult proposition to face. Sangakkara has been their rock in the middle order, and with Yuvraj too finding form in the last match, they seem to be settling down into a workable combination.
Contests to Watch:

Ishant Sharma vs Yuvraj Singh - They've played with each many times, and know each others games pretty well. It would be interesting to see if Ishant can exploit Yuvraj's initial hesitancy at the crease, or whether Yuvraj can come out swinging against Ishant.
Ajantha Mendis vs Sangakkara and Jayawardene - The young prodigy against his mentors - the current Sri Lannkan captain and the former one. Can Mendis use his variations to good effect against the men who've overseen his baptism in international cricket?

Numbers Game:
1 - The number of innings out of 11 that Shaun Marsh failed to cross 20, while playing for Punjab in IPL 2008. No wonder they miss him up the order.
3 - The number of 50+ partnerships that Kolkata has had this year. Only Mumbai has fewer (2) but they have the bowling to withstand that, while Kolkata doesn't.
Trivia:
Yuvraj Singh in-form has been one of the most outstanding Twenty20 batsmen, but he has under-performed while playing for Punjab. His average for them across all matches last year and this year is 24.72, while his average in other Twenty20 matches is 28, and in Twenty20 internationals it is 32.75. If he hadn't scored a 50 in his last match, the difference would have been even more stark.
Teams:

Kings XI Punjab (From): Karan Goel, Yuvraj Singh(c), Simon Katich, Kumar Sangakkara(w), Mahela Jayawardene, Irfan Pathan, Taruwar Kohli, Piyush Chawla, Yusuf Abdullah, Ramesh Powar, Vikramjeet Malik, Luke Pomersbach, Vikram RV Singh, Ajitesh Argal, Amanpreet Singh, Burt Cockley, Ranadeb Bose, Ravikant Shukla, Ryan Ninan, Sahil Kukreja, Sunny Sohal, Tanmay Srivastava, Uday Kaul, Wilkin Mota

Kolkata Knight Riders (From): Brendon McCullum(c), Chris Gayle, Saurav Ganguly, Bradley Hodge, Morne van Wyk(w), Wriddhiman Saha, Laxmi Shukla, Ajit Agarkar, Murali Kartik, Ashok Dinda, Ishant Sharma, Ajantha Mendis, Charl Langeveldt, Aditya Dole, Ameya Shrikhande, Abhisek Banerjee, Angelo Mathews, Moises Henriques, Anureet Singh, Anustup Majumdar, Arindam Ghosh, Avik Chowdhury, Bhavik Thaker, Chetan Suryavanshi, Debabrata Das, Dhiran Salvi, Gaurav Chabra, Gnaneswara Rao, Iqbal Abdulla, Ishwar Choudhary, Kshemal Waingankar, Mark Cameron, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mohammad Sanuth, Mohnish Parmar, Murtuza Hussain, Natraj Behera, Rajesh Verma, Ranadeb Bose, Rohan Banerjee, Sachin Rana, Sanjay Bangar, Sanjib Sanyal, Saurasish Lahiri, Shatrunjay Gaekwad, Sheldon Jackson, Siddarth Kaul, Sourav Sarkar, Sunny Singh, Vinit Indulkar, Yashpal Singh

Chennai win opens up the league

It was a disastrous start for the DareDevils as they lost Gambhir and de Viliers off consecutive balls and Dilshan was quick to follow them back into the dug-out. Just when Delhi was being written off, Warner and Karthik got together to treat us with some high quality batting, fireworks all around as they carted the bowlers to every possible corner of the park.

Both of them got to their fifties and looked good to seal the game for Delhi too but just then Jakati spun his side back into the contest. He removed the two key men and since then it was a landslide and by that time we knew Delhi stood no chance. Well, one positive thing that comes out of this Delhi defeat is that the tournament has heated up further with the points table looking a lot more competitive than it was sometime before. What a wonderful contest this is panning out to be. You just blink and you miss it!

Jakati: I was just waiting for my chance. I knew the wickets are quite helpful now. I have been working hard in the nets with Venky and Fleming. I just wanted to bowl wicket to wicket. Vary my pace, the straighter ones with the quicker ones and the slower ones.

Dhoni: Of course it is nice to win games, especially back to back. Suresh Raina and Badri batted superbly. I, Oram and Albie failed to capitalise on the start. We did not hit a single big hit. Tyagi got us a couple of crucial wickets and then everyone chipped in. Jakati was brilliant in the nets, Joginder was not bowling well so we picked Jakati. Even if it is a good flat track, left arm spinners can definitely have an impact on the game.

Gambhir: 160 was a very chaseable total on this track. This is the kind of a tournament where all the sides are very close to each other. We cant afford to be complacent. It will be great to have Sehwag back at the top of the order. Fantastic to see David Warner get runs, got his opportunity and he grabbed it with both hands. First IPL match, first fifty, fantastic achievement.

Shadab Jakati is the Man of the Match for his match winning spell of 4/24.

Rajasthan sneak through in thriller

It was a battle within a battle - a battle of two captains. Both members of an all-conquering Australian team, both legitimate contenders for an all-time eleven, both retired now but leading their respective teams in the IPL. Most importantly perhaps, both known to respect the other's skill, but not best friends off the field. They would both be going in with extra determination in this contest, irrespective of the state of the tournament or the points table.

As it happened, this was an important match in any case. Rajasthan had to win to not fall back and make it that much harder to reach the semis, while Hyderabad had to win to get back the winning momentum after the loss to Delhi.

Rajasthan were without new find Kamran Khan who had injured himself in the previous match against Chennai.

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Match Preview: Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Daredevils

Ground Reality and pitch:

Situated south of Sandton in Illovo, Wanderers nicknamed 'The Bullring' is the home of the Highveld Lions. Host of the 2003 cricket world cup finals, this ground goes down in history as hosting one of the greatest ODI matches when South Africa chased down a colossal target of 434 runs set by Australia. Wanderers also hosted the first match and the finals of the 2007 Twenty20 World Cup. Known as a typical South African wicket, Wanderers posts a hard wicket providing assistance to the seamers. The bounce is also favoured by the batsmen because the ball comes on to the bat quicker enabling better strokes.

Temperatures: Min - 51F Max - 66F | Humidity: 63% | Chances of Rain: Light showers expected

Team Updates:
Chennai: The team is on a come-back trail after having lost 3 matches. The team's strenghts lie in the inclusion of legends like Hayden and Muralitharan. However, Parthiv's form at the top and the inconsistency of the bowlers is the worrying factor for the Superkings. Currently placed in the sixth position, Chennai would look at more wins under their belt to move up the points table.
Delhi: Delhi have by far been one of the best teams in the current edition of the IPL. Having lost only one match so far, Delhi look to be one of the favourites to win the tournament. While the batting of Dilshan and de Villiers have been Delhi strenghts, Sehwag and Gambhir's performance at the top of the order has been a concern. The opening duo would look to have a good outing against Chennai and get amongst the runs.

Captains' form guide:
Dhoni: The Superkings captain has got off to good starts in the tournament by not been able to convert them to big scores. Dhoni would look to lead by example and hope for his bat to rule the show.
Sehwag: The 'Nawab of Najafgarh' has had a roller-coaster IPL 2009. Having been good only in patches, Sehwag would hope for a big score against the Chennai Superkings and put his critics to rest.

Head to Head:
The teams have faced each other 3 times (including IPL 2008). Delhi leads Chennai 2-1.

Teams:
Chennai Super Kings (From): Matthew Hayden, Parthiv Patel, Suresh Raina, Subramaniam Badrinath, Mahendra Singh Dhoni(w/c), Jacob Oram, Albie Morkel, Shadab Jakati, Laxmipathy Balaji, Sudeep Tyagi, Muttiah Muralitharan, Joginder Sharma, Manpreet Gony, Arun Karthik, George Bailey, Makhaya Ntini, Mike Hussey, Murali Vijay, Palani Amarnath, Ravichandran Ashwin, Thilan Thushara, Viraj Kadbe

Delhi Daredevils (From): Virender Sehwag(c), Gautam Gambhir, AB de Villiers, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Dinesh Karthik(w), Mithun Manhas, Daniel Vettori, Amit Mishra, Pradeep Sangwan, Dirk Nannes, Ashish Nehra, Manoj Kumar Tiwary, Aavishkar Salvi, Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh, Glenn McGrath, Andrew McDonald, David Warner, Farveez Maharoof, Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood, Rajat Bhatia, Tejashwi Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Yogesh Nagar

Yuvi’s Hat-trick & 50 Couldn’t save KXIP

What a exiting match with superb climax, Bangalore Royal Challengers beat Kings XI Punjab by 8 runs to win a thrilling match of IPL at Durban.

After Kevin Petersen left for country game, Kumble the new Captain of Royal Challengers shown that he also lead the team to smashing victory with his classic experience .

Chasing a victory target of 146 runs, Punjab managed 137/7 as Bangalore bowlers held their nerves till the end to win a cliffhanger.

Yuvraj Singh was adjudged the Man of the Match for taking a hat-trick and slamming a half-century.

Anil Kumble, Roelof van der Merwe and Praveen Kumar took 2 wickets each as Bangalore won their second match in a row.
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