Chennai Super Kings crowned 2010 IPL Champions

The Super Kings from Chennai beat Mumbai Indians by 22 runs and won the IPL 2010 trophy at the end of a scintillating final.

The team from Chennai put up a spirited performance in the field, unlike the one by Mumbai Indians who dropped Suresh Raina twice to hand the match to CSK.

It was clearly Suresh Raina’s day - the southpaw scored 57* off 35 balls, took a brilliant catch and claimed the wicket of Harbhajan Singh with his off-spin helping the Chennai emerge winners for the first time on the grandest stage.

It was a difficult wicket to bat on and the slowness of the pitch was reflected in the sluggishness of the Mumbai Indians’ chase. Abhishek Nayar, who joined Sachin Tendulkar after the fall of Dhawan, initially looked out of touch.

But the all-rounder finally seemed to have found his groove. But then Nayar got himself run-out in the 12th over. Tendulkar’s angry reaction to Nayar’s run-out showed how desperate he was to win the trophy.

It was then that Mumbai seemed to lose the plot. Harbhajan Singh was sent ahead of Kieron Pollard. Harbhajan, though, failed in his pinch-hitting role. And when Tendulkar fell in the 15th over, the match seemed all over.

Pollard, though, had other ideas. The tall Trinidadian then decided to show what a big mistake sending him late was by letting his bat do the talking. He hit the unplayable Bollinger for 22 runs in the 18th over (the scorecard: 4, 6, 2, 4, 0, 6) to raise hopes of an improbable win. But when the all-rounder got out in the 19th over, it was actually all over.

Earlier in the night, Chennai Super Kings began on a cautious note with Matthew Hayden looking to settle down and find his form. The Super Kings’ strategy seemed to be one of not losing early wickets and then exploding at the end. They were hitting the occasional boundary and six, but nothing spectacular.

Murali Vijay was outscoring Hayden, but then the stylish CSK opener failed to read a slower one from Dilhara Fernando and holed out to Saurabh Tiwary. Haydos couldn’t deliver on the big night either, with another slower delivery getting a wicket. This time, Kieron Pollard was the bowler.

CSK skipper MS Dhoni and his deputy joined forces to rescue the innings. Raina and Dhoni set about making it a real contest.

Raina was his usual effervescent self finding the boundary at regular intervals. He would be grateful to the MI fielders, having first been dropped by Zaheer Khan on 28 and later being given another life – a moment that proved to be the funniest moment of the match. Fernando and Abhishek Nayar went after a Raina skier but ended up looking facing each other blankly having missed the catch altogether.

Dhoni departed after a quick-fire 22 that included one audacious six off Pollard.

Raina’s two lifelines proved costly for MI with the southpaw hitting Pollard for 18 runs in the 16th over. CSK ended the innings at 168, the highest target by a team in an IPL final.

Bangalore's consolation entry to CLT20

In what was the most lopsided contest of IPL 2010, the Royal Challengers Bangalore team defeated Deccan Chargers by 37 runs here tonight to make it to the Champions League T20 tournament.

DC scored a feeble 82, IPL 2010’s lowest total, which illustrated the lack of competition that Royals faced. Chasing such a small target is hardly enough to raise a sweat and the Bangalore boys managed to achieve their target with 37 balls to spare.

Jacques Kallis and Rahul Dravid set about chasing the target with cool confidence. But Kallis departed without having seen the side through. Kevin Pietersen and Dravid finished the job without any more hiccups.

The slow track was helpful for bowlers, but that wasn’t the reason for the Deccan team’s abysmal performance - it was the indiscipline in DC’s batting that helped RCB win. Anil Kumble with his four-for led from the front for RCB. Though Kumble was the star with the ball, his brothers-in-arms - Praveen Kumar, Jacques Kallis and Dale Steyn – who were equally responsible in bundling out DC with their impressive line and length.

Earlier, Adam Gilchrist was forced to make four crucial changes to the squad with injury ruling out T Suman, Herschelle Gibbs, RP Singh and B Sumanth. And the changes left the team too weak to even put up a decent fight.

Before you could list out the names of the Deccan Chargers’ squad, the Chargers had lost four wickets. First to go was the woefully out-of-form DC skipper Adam Gilchrist. He hit a full toss off his counterpart Anil Kumble down the throat of deep square leg.

Then next to depart was Monish Mishra - LBW to a fullish delivery from Praveen Kumar. Rohit Sharma tried to hit his way out of trouble but only found Kevin Pietersen, who took an easy catch to dismiss the dangerous batsman.

And then came the killer blow. In the seventh over Andrew Symonds, dropped off the previous delivery, wasted his chance to hand Dale Steyn his wicket.

DC’s two new recruits for this game - Anirudh Singh and Venugopal Rao – came together to try and make a fight of the game. The duo combined to score 43 runs with Singh hitting some lusty blows. But as was the case throughout the innings, Singh played one shot too many and got out. The complete domination of the RCB bowling is apparent from the fact that only Singh and Rao were the batsmen to reach double figures.

Royal Challengers Bangalore’s superb bowling display allowed them to restrict Deccan Chargers to 82 - the lowest total of IPL 2010.

With this comprehensive victory, RCB join IPL 2010 finalists Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings in the Champions League Twenty20 tournament set to take place in September.

Deccan lose charge vs CSK

Focus, conviction and clinical precision saw the Chennai Super Kings defend a paltry total and defeat Deccan Chargers here tonight by 38 runs.

Doug Bollinger bowled with the kind of fervour that is required to defend a small total. His four-for was the foundation on which the Super Kings built their victory tower. He was ably supported by the CSK spinners Shadab Jakati and R Ashwin.

Not even their staunchest supporters would have believed CSK had a chance to get back into the game after scoring 142, but an inspired bowling display, some desperation in the field and some brilliant field placements saw the Chennai squad make it into the IPL final.

Adam Gilchrist seemed to be rediscovering his touch but a fine catch by Anirudha Srikkanth off the bowling of Doug Bollinger sent the DC captain back to the dug-out. Bollinger struck again to send back the Chargers’ in-form batsman T Suman and have DC floundering at 23 for 2 after the Powerplay.

Rohit Sharma had to try and up the run-rate and Albie Morkel got his wicket making him mis-time a lofted shot. Herschelle Gibbs and Monish Mishra soon followed Sharma and the Chargers’ charge looked to have fizzled out even before it began.

With half the side gone with just 54 on the board, it was up to Andrew Symonds to rescue his team and take them into the final. But once Ashwin claimed his wicket as he was trying to clear the field, it was game over for the Deccan Chargers.

Earlier, MS Dhoni’s decision to bat first on a green and bouncy track backfired with the Chennai side unable to counter the dual threats of seam movement and bounce.

The Gods seemed to be smiling on Matthew Hayden and giving him not one but two lifelines. First RP Singh dropped a simple chance off the CSK opener and then B Sumanth at gully gave Hayden another chance. But Hayden didn’t seem interested in staying out there and gave an easy catch to Andrew Symonds off the bowling of Ryan Harris.

Harris was in the thick of things and claimed the second CSK wicket of Murali Vijay. Suresh Raina soon joined the CSK openers in the dug-out.

S Badrinath and MS Dhoni tried their hardest to rescue the sinking CSK ship and their 52-run partnership went some way in saving Chennai the embarrassment of scoring the lowest total in an IPL semi-final.

But first Dhoni (30) and then Badrinath (37) departed without really setting the stadium on fire - the Super Kings were tottering at the precipice of a dismal total at the stage. But a late charge by Anirudha Srikkanth saw Chennai to a respectable total of 142 for seven.

The Deccan bowlers stuck to a good line and length, extracted bounce and generally managed to rein in the Super Kings with Ryan Harris and Andrew Symonds being the only real performers.

Caribbean Calypso Pollard turn it for MI

KP came to the party to take his team to the final of IPL 2010. Lucky for Mumbai Indians’ fans, it was Kieron Pollard and not Kevin Pietersen.

The West Indian’s all-round show helped Mumbai Indians beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 35 runs and make it to the final of IPL 2010.

The match, which began with the promise of being an exciting contest, ended on an anti-climactic note with the boys in red being no match for the marauding boys in blue.

KP was the RCB’s nemesis tonight - his late blitzkrieg with the bat left the Bangalore boys stunned. He then returned to haunt the Royal Challengers’ batsmen, claiming the key wickets of Robin Uthappa, Virat Kohli and Manish Pandey. He seemed to be everywhere tonight, even being involved in the run-out of Rahul Dravid.

None of the RCB batsmen looked settled and the pressure of chasing a big total in a big game told on the side with the players looking to hit their way out of trouble. Harbhajan Singh and Lasith Malinga, with two wickets apiece, were Pollard’s brothers-in-arm in destroying RCB.

Earlier, the Mumbai Indians’ decision to bat first looked on a sticky wicket with the team losing wickets at regular intervals. It was only a late charge by Saurabh Tiwary and Kieron Pollard that saw MI put up a decent total.

Sachin Tendulkar looked as if the pressure of being MI’s talisman got to him and he departed for his first single-digit score of IPL 2010. Tendulkar had hit Dale Steyn for two boundaries earlier in the over, but the occasion forced the MI skipper to a play an uncharacteristic shot to lose his wicket.

The Mumbai Indians then lost quick wickets with even Kevin Pietersen getting into the act. The Mumbai side were tottering at 77 for four when Saurabh Tiwary and Ambati Rayudu did their by now familiar rescue act. The duo played sensibly to resurrect the innings, with Tiwary hitting the occasional six.

The match which looked to be going RCB’s way changed course suddenly in the 16th over with Tiwary going ballistic. Then came the 17-run over Anil Kumble would like to forget - the leggie was taken part by Tiwary (52).

But the partnership was stopped short by Steyn in the next over when Rayudu fell misjudging the RCB bowler’s slower ball thus setting the stage for Kieron Pollard.

The tall Trinidadian has been in good nick recently and he came to the middle with murderous intent. Pollard didn’t need time to get his eye in as he hit Vinay Kumar out of the park in the 18th over with two massive sixes. The all-rounder (33 runs off 13 balls) wasn’t finished yet and in the last over of the innings scored 16 runs off Steyn. RCB would rue their death over bowling - they conceded 77 runs, including six sixes in the last five overs.

Knight Riders bow out in Style

The Knight Riders ensured they bowed out of IPL 2010 on a high after defeating a clearly distracted and under-strength Mumbai Indians side by nine wickets.

Sans Sachin, the Mumbai Indians were slow off the mark while the Knight Riders were sharp and hungry for a win. Chasing a meagre 134, Sourav Ganguly made his intentions clear smashing Ali Murtaza for a six off the very first over. Ganguly and Brendon McCullum were particularly aggressive initially as they hammered anything off target.

The Mumbai Indians bowlers couldn’t stem the run flow or make any inroads. But they did taste some success with the ball after Bravo just about managed to snap up a skier from Ganguly’s bat.

Fellow opener McCullum was busy throughout his unbeaten innings of 57 and made up for lost time by guiding KKR to a well deserved nine wicket win.

Earlier, Dwayne Bravo won the toss and elected to bat as the Mumbai Indians think tank decided to make five major changes to their line-up. Openers Aditya Tare and Shikhar Dhawan came and went in a hurry, Shane Bond accounting for both their dismissals.

The away side were looking out of sorts playing a virtual dead rubber, even Mr. Consistent Jean Paul Duminy looked patchy and was put out of his misery by Jaidev Unadkat. But Mumbai had a saviour in the form of Saurabh Tiwary - the youngster has been a revelation this season and he gave a glimpse of his prodigious talent once again.

His masterful 46 off 37 balls gave the Mumbai Indians a necessary run boost. R Sathish and Dwayne Bravo also failed with the bat, giving Tiwary no choice but to go for it himself.

In his bid to increase the run flow Tiwary fell to the guile of Murali Kartik. Ambati Rayudu provided a bit of excitement at the end of the MI innings but it all went one way – that of Kolkata. Mumbai Indians tottered their way to a miserly 133/8 by the end of their allotted overs.

The two sides played with different motivations - the Knight Riders were in it to prove a point or two, while the Mumbai Indians were taking a breather before the bigger battles ahead. In the end, the side with the winning intent and squad to match emerged victors.

Deccan Chargers on a roll

Comeback kings Deccan Chargers once again turned in a tremendous effort to beat the Delhi Daredevils by 11 runs and book their place in the semis.

Lead by the frugal Pragyan Ojha (2-16), the Chargers ensured they got the job done despite some tense moments in the final overs. The Daredevils required 17 off the last over, but the experienced Chaminda Vaas held his own.

It was down to Paul Collingwood (51*) in the end but the Englishman couldn’t quite make it happen for the home side. The Daredevils chase began on a sour note with Rohit Sharma snapping up two marvelous catches to see the back of David Warner and Virender Sehwag.

Tillakaratne Dilshan (11), Gautam Gambhir (4) and Mithun Manhas (23) failed to rise to the occasion as the middle order simply capitulated. Delhi struggled through the middle overs and they paid for it in the end as they were restricted to a paltry 134/7.

The Deccan Chargers’ innings looked doomed from the beginning as skipper Adam Gilchrist continued is awful form with the bat sending an Ashish Nehra delivery to mid-off. Their predicament worsened once Umesh Yadav broke through the defense of in-form Charger T Suman.

Yadav appeared to be Deccan’s nemesis as he went on to dismiss Rohit Sharma (11) in the sixth over. But someone had to stand up and be counted for the away side and it was Andrew Symonds once again who steadied the ship. His attacking game in the circumstances bore rich dividends - he shocked the Dardevils into submission.

But Amit Mishra struck just at the right time to stem the run flow. Andrew Symonds didn’t quite middle it as it went straight into the hands of Mithun Manhas at long-off. With the top batsmen back in the dug-out, the Daredevils tightened the screws while the Chargers moved up to 145/7.

It’s five on five for the Chargers who will look to continue their good form in the semis where they face the Mumbai Indians. Delhi Daredevils have bowed out of the competition coming close to the finishing line thanks to Collingwood’s brave campaign right at the end.

Supreme Super kings sailed to semi finals

The mists cleared over the Himalayas to reveal MS Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings as the winners of the night by six-wickets here.

The visitors rode on the back of their captain’s class innings to end Kings XI Punjab’s IPL with a loss sealing a semi-final spot. Chennai’s win with their backs against the wall again showcased the warrior qualities of Dhoni.

Dhoni’s never-say-die attitude was on display tonight with the Chennai Super Kings skipper playing a captain’s knock. It was Dhoni’s knock that took the game away from the Punjab team which had been dominating the match till the 16th over. The skipper showed his class and stamped his authority on the hosts with beautiful wristy shots all over the park. The match was going Punjab’s way till the 17th over when the downfall began with the hosts giving away 46 runs in the last three overs.

MSD bludgeoned the bowling and won it for his team with a couple of humongous sixes, including one that disappeared from the stadium.

An asking rate of around 10 an over is never easy, but S Badrinath and MS Dhoni seemed to have the necessary answers. The duo strung along a 59-run partnership with Badri doing the bulk of scoring. But then the pressure of upping the run-rate told and Badri fell trying to slog sweep Piyush Chawla in the 17th over.

Ramesh Powar bowled beautifully today befuddling the batsmen with his flight and was justly rewarded with the wickets of Matthew Hayden and Murali Vijay early in the innings.

Suresh Raina (46), who was looking like a man on a mission, played a brilliant cameo to bring the visitors back in the game. But Juan Theron struck to dismiss the southpaw and brought the game back to an even keel.

Earlier, it seemed the Dalai Lama’s presence couldn’t calm the murderous intent of the Kings XI Punjab batsmen.

It started with Mahela Jayawardene hitting Sudeep Tyagi for a couple of sixes in the very first over. It needed some magic from the Chennai side to stop the Sri Lankan opener. And the third over saw Sudeep Tyagi at mid-off leap and come up with a magical catch to dismiss Jayawardene.

This dismissal signalled the arrival of Kumar Sangakkara who looked as if he was carrying on from the last match hitting boundaries at will. But again, the KXIP skipper couldn’t build on a great start and CSK’s main strike bowler R Ashwin struck a telling blow getting the wicket of Sangakkara. Yuvraj followed his skipper back to the dug-out in the next over.

The stage was now set for Shaun Marsh to recreate one of his exquisite knocks from the first IPL season and the Australian didn’t disappoint. Marsh, who was dropped on 10 by Tyagi, used his lifeline to good use.

His thank you note to the Super Kings was a masterful knock of 88*, with a peppering of sixes to the leg-side region, including one off Albie Morkel in the 17th over that actually sailed out of the stadium.

Irfan Pathan (44*), at the other end, wasn’t going to be outdone and tried to match Marsh in stroke-making - his hits and even mis-hits went for boundaries. The duo added 61 runs off the last five overs to set CSK a formidable target of 193.