Sachin Tendulkar. The night belonged to the little genius as he guided the Mumbai Indians to victory over the visiting Chennai Super Kings at the Brabourne here today.
After Sachin’s master class against the Kolkata Knight Riders, it was the turn of the Super Kings to have the privilege of seeing another great knock from the Master. Sachin played around his partners and his chanceless innings of 72 had eight boundaries and a solitary six. A lot has been written about Sachin’s batting over time and journalists all over the world would repeat all the superlatives and adjectives to describe his innings tonight.
Ironically, Sachin couldn’t see the team home. A tired Sachin played an uncharacteristic pull to get out with Mumbai Indians needing a mere nine to win. Dwayne Bravo then completed the formalities hitting a six off Lakshmipathy Balaji to reach the target of 181 with one over to spare.
Shikhar Dhawan came out with Sachin Tendulkar as if he wanted to end the match within 15 overs. But after scoring a quick-fire 50, which included two towering sixes off Balaji, Dhawan (56) departed looking to repeat his lofty hitting once too often.
Thissara Perrera’s debut IPL match for CSK was one he would wish to forget soon. The match, which could have gone either way till then, turned on its head in the 16th over, with Kieron Pollard and Sachin Tendulkar milking Perrera for 19 runs.
Pollard also got the opportunity to show Mumbai why so much was spent to buy him, when he casually flicked a Muralidaran ball for six over long-on. But next ball he also showed his inexperience getting out by chopping the doosra onto his stumps.
Earlier, Chennai Super Kings who had their talismanic captain, MS Dhoni, back at the helm got off to a good start. The innings truly took off in the second over when Matthew Hayden hit Zaheer Khan for four boundaries, setting the stage for a huge score. But Haydos didn’t stay long enough, getting trapped leg before to Harbhajan in the fourth over. Sadly, the Mumbai crowd got to see the Mongoose bat only for two deliveries. Parthiv followed his opening partner soon and it looked as if the Mumbai Indians were getting the better off the visiting Super Kings.
But Suresh Raina, relieved of the pressures of captaincy, went after the bowling from the start, pulling and cutting with ease. He was particularly hard on Bravo whom he hit for two huge sixes. S Badrinath, at the other end, was also gathering runs and together the duo shared a 142-run partnership, the second highest stand in IPL. Raina reached his fifty of 32 balls, while Badri got to his half-century off 41 balls.
With this win, Mumbai Indians will go to the top of the points table, and CSK will continue to languish in the middle.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Finally Royal Challengers lost a match convincingly
Delhi Daredevils were back to their winning form beating the Royal Challengers Bangalore by 17 runs after they put up 183 for 4 off 20 overs.
David Warner’s opening over blitz was just the kind of start RCB weren’t expecting. The last two matches had seen David Warner outshine Virender Sehwag with the bat. He took the attack to the opposition and made his intentions pretty clear at the start itself. It seems the brief given to Warner was to go out there and attack from the word go. Although he had a short stay at the wicket, he gave the Delhi middle-order the perfect platform to launch from, scoring 33 off 14 balls.
Sehwag left soon and after a brisk start of 58 off 5.1 overs Karthik and de Villiers put together a steady partnership of 43 runs. His fall got debutant Kedar Jadhav on strike who impressed with some fine stroke-play. Scoring a fifty in just 29 balls the youngster provided the innings an impetus DD badly needed. They were 139/4 by the end of the 17th over, when Jadhav and Andrew McDonald stepped on the gas and scored 44 runs of the last three. A total of 183/ 4 seemed quite competitive considering that the average first innings total on this ground in IPL 2010 has been about 155. The Delhi Daredevils seemed confident of being able to defend the total as they believed the medium pacers in the team would be able to extract some good bounce and movement to snap early wickets.
The RCB innings started on a cautious note as both Manish Pandey and Jacques Kallis did not go for too many boundaries scoring just 46 off the first six overs. Kallis was the first to go, bowled by an Amit Mishra googly with the score at 71. The turning point of the game was the eleventh over when they lost Manish Pandey and number three batsman Rahul Dravid both in the same over. Pandey played all over a McDonald delivery giving himself some room to smash the ball and missed it completely, while Dravid went for an ambitious second run to a ball that he edged behind the ‘keeper off McDonald.
RCB lost the plot thanks to some soft dismissals and a couple of run-outs in the middle. Robin Uthappa played another reverse sweep which caused his downfall as he top-edged it to Karthik who took a simple catch. The biggest highlight of the match was the catch taken by AB de Villiers. Praveen Kumar hit an Umesh Yadav delivery to long on - AB jumped and was airborne when he took a brilliant one-handed catch, turning and falling face in front, inches before the boundary rope.
Eoin Morgan too could not get going as he got run-out before scoring 17 off 13 balls. A rearguard action by Virat Kohli was a little too late as RCB was way behind the asking rate. After they lost Morgan there was little hope.
Delhi Daredevils would be happy to have broken the losing streak and with the comeback of Gautam Gambhir and Ashish Nehra expected in the next match, would become an even stronger team. RCB on the other hand should take this as a wake-up call for the middle order. Some cause for concern for the RCB captain.
David Warner’s opening over blitz was just the kind of start RCB weren’t expecting. The last two matches had seen David Warner outshine Virender Sehwag with the bat. He took the attack to the opposition and made his intentions pretty clear at the start itself. It seems the brief given to Warner was to go out there and attack from the word go. Although he had a short stay at the wicket, he gave the Delhi middle-order the perfect platform to launch from, scoring 33 off 14 balls.
Sehwag left soon and after a brisk start of 58 off 5.1 overs Karthik and de Villiers put together a steady partnership of 43 runs. His fall got debutant Kedar Jadhav on strike who impressed with some fine stroke-play. Scoring a fifty in just 29 balls the youngster provided the innings an impetus DD badly needed. They were 139/4 by the end of the 17th over, when Jadhav and Andrew McDonald stepped on the gas and scored 44 runs of the last three. A total of 183/ 4 seemed quite competitive considering that the average first innings total on this ground in IPL 2010 has been about 155. The Delhi Daredevils seemed confident of being able to defend the total as they believed the medium pacers in the team would be able to extract some good bounce and movement to snap early wickets.
The RCB innings started on a cautious note as both Manish Pandey and Jacques Kallis did not go for too many boundaries scoring just 46 off the first six overs. Kallis was the first to go, bowled by an Amit Mishra googly with the score at 71. The turning point of the game was the eleventh over when they lost Manish Pandey and number three batsman Rahul Dravid both in the same over. Pandey played all over a McDonald delivery giving himself some room to smash the ball and missed it completely, while Dravid went for an ambitious second run to a ball that he edged behind the ‘keeper off McDonald.
RCB lost the plot thanks to some soft dismissals and a couple of run-outs in the middle. Robin Uthappa played another reverse sweep which caused his downfall as he top-edged it to Karthik who took a simple catch. The biggest highlight of the match was the catch taken by AB de Villiers. Praveen Kumar hit an Umesh Yadav delivery to long on - AB jumped and was airborne when he took a brilliant one-handed catch, turning and falling face in front, inches before the boundary rope.
Eoin Morgan too could not get going as he got run-out before scoring 17 off 13 balls. A rearguard action by Virat Kohli was a little too late as RCB was way behind the asking rate. After they lost Morgan there was little hope.
Delhi Daredevils would be happy to have broken the losing streak and with the comeback of Gautam Gambhir and Ashish Nehra expected in the next match, would become an even stronger team. RCB on the other hand should take this as a wake-up call for the middle order. Some cause for concern for the RCB captain.
Kings XI did a Super Kings to lose it from winning position
Timely wickets from Yusuf Pathan and Siddharth Trivedi combined with a middle order collapse helped the Rajasthan Royals beat the Kings XI Punjab by 31 runs. In the process, the team notched their second win of the competition in this bottom of the table clash.
Chasing an achievable, yet dicey, target of 184, Kumar Sangakkara seemed to be in a hurry to finish off the game, smashing Tait and Co. to the boundary with immense confidence and authority.
The Aussie did get his own back when Sangakkara smashed the ball straight to Fazal at the third man boundary. If the Royals thought it was going to get easy after seeing the back of the Sri Lankan, they were in for a surprise, as Manvinder Bisla came out of nowhere and absolutely massacred the Royals’ bowlers.
Bisla’s 35 off 18 gave the Kings some breathing room before being dismissed by Warne. Yuvraj Singh 15 (13) couldn’t make the most of a second chance thanks to some smart bowling from Siddharth Trivedi.
The wheels came off the Kings’ chase from then on - leaving them with a mountain to climb. Mahela Jayawardene 23 (22) did provide some resistance, but all in vain as the Royals easily saw the game out.
After being put in to bat, the Royals began with much gusto - Michael Lumb and Naman Ojha piled up the boundaries with consummate ease. But Ojha was sent packing after he hit a Sreesanth delivery straight into mid-on’s lap. Lumb, on the other hand, continued to milk the bowling and pick up the odd boundary. The Englishman lost his concentration for a moment and that was enough for Piyush Chawla to get Lumb out stumped, thanks to some alert thinking from Sangakkara behind the wickets.
That brought the Royals talisman Yusuf Pathan on the field, and the all-rounder tried to do justice to his hard-hitting tag, smashing a boundary and a six before holing out to long-on. But the Royals were still scoring at a fair rate and Adam Voges’ inclusion only added an extra impetus to the Royals cause. The Aussie along with a determined Faiz Fazal made sure the Royals set a competitive target of 184.
After the highs in Chennai, the Kings XI once again flattered to deceive and will need to vastly improve their home form to stand any chance of qualifying for the semi-final stages.
Chasing an achievable, yet dicey, target of 184, Kumar Sangakkara seemed to be in a hurry to finish off the game, smashing Tait and Co. to the boundary with immense confidence and authority.
The Aussie did get his own back when Sangakkara smashed the ball straight to Fazal at the third man boundary. If the Royals thought it was going to get easy after seeing the back of the Sri Lankan, they were in for a surprise, as Manvinder Bisla came out of nowhere and absolutely massacred the Royals’ bowlers.
Bisla’s 35 off 18 gave the Kings some breathing room before being dismissed by Warne. Yuvraj Singh 15 (13) couldn’t make the most of a second chance thanks to some smart bowling from Siddharth Trivedi.
The wheels came off the Kings’ chase from then on - leaving them with a mountain to climb. Mahela Jayawardene 23 (22) did provide some resistance, but all in vain as the Royals easily saw the game out.
After being put in to bat, the Royals began with much gusto - Michael Lumb and Naman Ojha piled up the boundaries with consummate ease. But Ojha was sent packing after he hit a Sreesanth delivery straight into mid-on’s lap. Lumb, on the other hand, continued to milk the bowling and pick up the odd boundary. The Englishman lost his concentration for a moment and that was enough for Piyush Chawla to get Lumb out stumped, thanks to some alert thinking from Sangakkara behind the wickets.
That brought the Royals talisman Yusuf Pathan on the field, and the all-rounder tried to do justice to his hard-hitting tag, smashing a boundary and a six before holing out to long-on. But the Royals were still scoring at a fair rate and Adam Voges’ inclusion only added an extra impetus to the Royals cause. The Aussie along with a determined Faiz Fazal made sure the Royals set a competitive target of 184.
After the highs in Chennai, the Kings XI once again flattered to deceive and will need to vastly improve their home form to stand any chance of qualifying for the semi-final stages.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Super Kings only have to blame themselves
It was Robin Uthappa all the way for the Royal Challengers Bangalore against the visiting Chennai Super Kings at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here. From a mediocre 119 for 5 in the 17th over to 171 in the allotted 20 overs, it was the lone hand played by Uthappa that took the Challengers to the imposing, and ultimately match-winning, score.
Royal Challengers’ win by 36 runs over CSK was their third successive win at home.
The injury-hit Chennai Super Kings were never in the race and with Matthew Hayden (32) getting run out early, there was no fight left in the CSK ranks. They surrendered to the disciplined bowling of Kumble and co. It was one of the most lopsided matches with CSK needing 48 of the last six balls. The Super Kings seem to be missing their talismanic captain MS Dhoni.
Vinay Kumar was again the leading wicket-taker for RCB with four scalps, but it was the skipper, Anil Kumble, whose four overs went for a mere 15 runs, who was the real hero with the ball.
Earlier, Uthappa led a charmed life, being dropped twice. First when he was on five and then 25. He made the best use of his lives, hitting the CSK bowling out of the park. The unbeaten 52-run partnership between Uthappa, 68* off 38 balls (4x3, 6x6), and Mark Boucher (11*) off just 19 balls helped RCB maintain their winning streak.
The Bangalore boy hit six sixes, including three consecutive ones off L Balaji in the 19th over. It was an exhibition of power-hitting the likes of which Bengaluru has not seen in this IPL.
CSK, who were till then in the game, having taken wickets at regular intervals, would feel hard done by their own fielding. They dropped catches galore, but still their bowlers managed to restrict the hosts. Balaji even had the privilege of claiming the wicket of hitherto unbeaten Jacques Kallis (19). Stand-in captain Suresh Raina was clueless as to how to stem the run flow and make his boys take those catches.
With this win RCB go to the top of the table and the Chennai team will continue to languish in the middle.
Royal Challengers’ win by 36 runs over CSK was their third successive win at home.
The injury-hit Chennai Super Kings were never in the race and with Matthew Hayden (32) getting run out early, there was no fight left in the CSK ranks. They surrendered to the disciplined bowling of Kumble and co. It was one of the most lopsided matches with CSK needing 48 of the last six balls. The Super Kings seem to be missing their talismanic captain MS Dhoni.
Vinay Kumar was again the leading wicket-taker for RCB with four scalps, but it was the skipper, Anil Kumble, whose four overs went for a mere 15 runs, who was the real hero with the ball.
Earlier, Uthappa led a charmed life, being dropped twice. First when he was on five and then 25. He made the best use of his lives, hitting the CSK bowling out of the park. The unbeaten 52-run partnership between Uthappa, 68* off 38 balls (4x3, 6x6), and Mark Boucher (11*) off just 19 balls helped RCB maintain their winning streak.
The Bangalore boy hit six sixes, including three consecutive ones off L Balaji in the 19th over. It was an exhibition of power-hitting the likes of which Bengaluru has not seen in this IPL.
CSK, who were till then in the game, having taken wickets at regular intervals, would feel hard done by their own fielding. They dropped catches galore, but still their bowlers managed to restrict the hosts. Balaji even had the privilege of claiming the wicket of hitherto unbeaten Jacques Kallis (19). Stand-in captain Suresh Raina was clueless as to how to stem the run flow and make his boys take those catches.
With this win RCB go to the top of the table and the Chennai team will continue to languish in the middle.
Sachin guided Mumbai to victory
Sachin Tendulkar played one of his finest knocks in Twenty20 cricket on Monday night to lead Mumbai Indians to a famous win over Kolkata Knight Riders.
Tendulkar's controlled master class ensured that the Mumbai Indians maintained a clean slate against Kolkata Knight Riders in DLF-IPL.
Tendulkar slammed 71 (48b, 10x4) as Mumbai Indians chased down a modest Kolkata Knight Riders target of 156 at their home ground, Brabourne Stadium.
In the end, the seven-wicket win was an apt end to a clash where the home team played through the course of the game.
Right from the time Sourav Ganguly promptly chose to bat first after winning the toss, Mumbai Indians seemed to have an edge. Both sides made changes to their playing XIs and more importantly, right at the top of the order.
Ganguly and Chris Gayle walked out to form a new opening pair for Knight Riders in the tournament. Gayle and Ganguly made a measured start of 70. Ganguly (31: 34b, 5x4), still not at his best, let Gayle take charge.
After Ganguly departed, Gayle and Owais Shah put on 82 runs as the slow nature of the pitch ensured that the partnership never really took off.
Gayle (75: 60b, 7x4, 2x6) in his first game of IPL 2010 stood out for Knight Riders, but it was an uncharacteristic knock. Mumbai Indians pace attack responded well to the Gayle challenge and then Harbhajan Singh bowled a miserly spell.
What looked like a modest target was further diminished by a new opening pair for Mumbai Indians. Tendulkar, though, held the innings together after new partner Shikhar Dhawan departed.
A brief lull in the chase created excitement but Kolkata Knight Riders’ bowling was rather wayward. Ishant Sharma raised hopes but along with Shane Bond, disappointed with his extravagant approach.
Ganguly marshalled his resources reasonably, and even pulled off a stunning catch, but it was never going to be enough.
In the end it was only fair that the wave of blue at the Brabourne Stadium got what they asked for, a Mumbai Indians win.
Tendulkar's controlled master class ensured that the Mumbai Indians maintained a clean slate against Kolkata Knight Riders in DLF-IPL.
Tendulkar slammed 71 (48b, 10x4) as Mumbai Indians chased down a modest Kolkata Knight Riders target of 156 at their home ground, Brabourne Stadium.
In the end, the seven-wicket win was an apt end to a clash where the home team played through the course of the game.
Right from the time Sourav Ganguly promptly chose to bat first after winning the toss, Mumbai Indians seemed to have an edge. Both sides made changes to their playing XIs and more importantly, right at the top of the order.
Ganguly and Chris Gayle walked out to form a new opening pair for Knight Riders in the tournament. Gayle and Ganguly made a measured start of 70. Ganguly (31: 34b, 5x4), still not at his best, let Gayle take charge.
After Ganguly departed, Gayle and Owais Shah put on 82 runs as the slow nature of the pitch ensured that the partnership never really took off.
Gayle (75: 60b, 7x4, 2x6) in his first game of IPL 2010 stood out for Knight Riders, but it was an uncharacteristic knock. Mumbai Indians pace attack responded well to the Gayle challenge and then Harbhajan Singh bowled a miserly spell.
What looked like a modest target was further diminished by a new opening pair for Mumbai Indians. Tendulkar, though, held the innings together after new partner Shikhar Dhawan departed.
A brief lull in the chase created excitement but Kolkata Knight Riders’ bowling was rather wayward. Ishant Sharma raised hopes but along with Shane Bond, disappointed with his extravagant approach.
Ganguly marshalled his resources reasonably, and even pulled off a stunning catch, but it was never going to be enough.
In the end it was only fair that the wave of blue at the Brabourne Stadium got what they asked for, a Mumbai Indians win.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Super Kings fall in Super over
Super. A Super Over contest that is. The most exhilarating match of IPL 2010 saw Kings XI Punjab snatch victory from the jaws of defeat over Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk.
Yuvraj Singh and Mahela Jayawardene came in to bat after Chennai’s Hayden, Raina and Morkel had scored 9 from their Super Over. KXIP’s new face, South African ‘Rusty’ Theron, an unknown name in India, came on for the Super Over and bowled Hayden off his second delivery to take the Punjab team close to victory. But Raina hit a six off the next ball to change the dynamics again. Theron, a great death over bowler, got his revenge taking Raina’s wicket to end the CSK Super Over. Theron was deservedly named the Man-of-the-Match.
Needing ten to win, KXIP’s Jayawardene faced his wily Sri Lankan teammate Muralidaran. A six off the first ball convinced KXIP supporters, but Murali took Jayawardene’s wicket to leave the match in the balance. Yuvraj then stepped up and hit a reverse sweep for a boundary to seal the victory for KXIP.
Earlier, Parthiv Patel and Matthew Hayden came out to bat and complete the formalities for CSK, but the night was to take a different turn. After the intial Hayden salvo, 33 run from 24 balls and Parthiv Patel’s rollicking half-century 57 off 58 balls, CSK’s middle-order let them down. They went from a position of strength at 96 for 2 to 136 for 136 for seven. Theron was one of the heroes giving away a mere 17 runs off his four overs.
Sent in to bat after losing the toss, Kings XI Punjab experimented at the top of their order by sending in their last match’s hero Irfan Pathan to open the innings with Ravi Bopara. The move paid off with Pathan Jr. playing his role of a pinch-hitter to perfection.
But Pathan was again playing a lone-hand with Muralidaran bewitching his two Sri Lankan opponents: Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. First the off-spinner enticed the Punjab captain Sangakkara down the track and got him stumped. Then he got Jayawardene to play across the line and miss the ball, and he was plumb leg before.
Pathan did hit one huge six off off-spinner R Ashwin in his cameo of 39 runs off 32 balls before getting out to L Balaji. At 64 for 4 after 11 overs, KXIP were tottering towards the lowest score of this edition of IPL, but Yuvraj Singh, looking out of touch till now, took over from Pathan. His six off Morkel over the midwicket region announcing his return to form. But even he didn’t stay till the end, departing just as he was looking good. He had scored 43 from 28 balls.
With this win, Kings XI Punjab opened their account on the points table and should take the confidence of winning a close one into the next match.
Yuvraj Singh and Mahela Jayawardene came in to bat after Chennai’s Hayden, Raina and Morkel had scored 9 from their Super Over. KXIP’s new face, South African ‘Rusty’ Theron, an unknown name in India, came on for the Super Over and bowled Hayden off his second delivery to take the Punjab team close to victory. But Raina hit a six off the next ball to change the dynamics again. Theron, a great death over bowler, got his revenge taking Raina’s wicket to end the CSK Super Over. Theron was deservedly named the Man-of-the-Match.
Needing ten to win, KXIP’s Jayawardene faced his wily Sri Lankan teammate Muralidaran. A six off the first ball convinced KXIP supporters, but Murali took Jayawardene’s wicket to leave the match in the balance. Yuvraj then stepped up and hit a reverse sweep for a boundary to seal the victory for KXIP.
Earlier, Parthiv Patel and Matthew Hayden came out to bat and complete the formalities for CSK, but the night was to take a different turn. After the intial Hayden salvo, 33 run from 24 balls and Parthiv Patel’s rollicking half-century 57 off 58 balls, CSK’s middle-order let them down. They went from a position of strength at 96 for 2 to 136 for 136 for seven. Theron was one of the heroes giving away a mere 17 runs off his four overs.
Sent in to bat after losing the toss, Kings XI Punjab experimented at the top of their order by sending in their last match’s hero Irfan Pathan to open the innings with Ravi Bopara. The move paid off with Pathan Jr. playing his role of a pinch-hitter to perfection.
But Pathan was again playing a lone-hand with Muralidaran bewitching his two Sri Lankan opponents: Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. First the off-spinner enticed the Punjab captain Sangakkara down the track and got him stumped. Then he got Jayawardene to play across the line and miss the ball, and he was plumb leg before.
Pathan did hit one huge six off off-spinner R Ashwin in his cameo of 39 runs off 32 balls before getting out to L Balaji. At 64 for 4 after 11 overs, KXIP were tottering towards the lowest score of this edition of IPL, but Yuvraj Singh, looking out of touch till now, took over from Pathan. His six off Morkel over the midwicket region announcing his return to form. But even he didn’t stay till the end, departing just as he was looking good. He had scored 43 from 28 balls.
With this win, Kings XI Punjab opened their account on the points table and should take the confidence of winning a close one into the next match.
Deccan an inch above Delhi
Deccan Chargers made it two in two at their new home as they beat Delhi Daredevils in a closely fought match. DC beat DD by 10 runs in a last over finish.
Sunday started on the wrong note for debutant Monish Mishra of Deccan Chargers as he got bowled by an Amit Mishra googly. The match had two R Sharmas playing for DC today, Rohit - the batsman and Rahul – the bowler and two Mishras – Amit Mishra - the leggie for Delhi and Monish Mishra - the opening batsman for DC.
DC had quite a few batsmen who got starts but none got going as they lost wickets after every few overs, yet managing to reach a healthy 171 for the loss of six wickets. Top-scorer Rohit Sharma gave the innings an impetus with a 30-ball 45 playing his first significant knock of the tournament. Earlier Herschelle Gibbs and Andrew Symonds struck together a small but important partnership after losing Gilchrist during the Power play. T Suman’s 29 off 19 too was an important contribution.
The innings for Delhi started unusually, as for a change it was David Warner who shocked the batsmen with attacking stroke-play. Warner stole the limelight from Sehwag as he got stuck into RP Singh scoring 20 runs off his first over and the innings’ second. It seemed Sehwag did not like this as he soon got out having faced seven balls for his three before getting out to Ojha.
Warner continued with a fine half-century keeping DD in the hunt. They were very much in the game when AB de Villiers and Warner were at it. After they lost de Villiers at 98, it was left to captain Dinesh Karthik to steer the team home. Karthik fought hard for a well compiled 46 of 27 with a couple of sixes but it was not enough as he got out at the wrong time with his team still needing 16 runs off 10 balls. Symonds should come in for a special praise as he bowled an excellent 17th and 19th over dismissing Karthik and Mishra off consecutive balls almost sealing a victory for his team. Purple Cap holder Chaminda Vaas showed signs of brilliance as he kept the batsmen under check with a fabulous last over picking one wicket and getting a great direct hit off his own bowling, restricting the batsmen to just 3 runs. Delhi just could not cross the last hurdle – there were run-outs, wickets falling and continuous misunderstandings in the last over.
Sunday started on the wrong note for debutant Monish Mishra of Deccan Chargers as he got bowled by an Amit Mishra googly. The match had two R Sharmas playing for DC today, Rohit - the batsman and Rahul – the bowler and two Mishras – Amit Mishra - the leggie for Delhi and Monish Mishra - the opening batsman for DC.
DC had quite a few batsmen who got starts but none got going as they lost wickets after every few overs, yet managing to reach a healthy 171 for the loss of six wickets. Top-scorer Rohit Sharma gave the innings an impetus with a 30-ball 45 playing his first significant knock of the tournament. Earlier Herschelle Gibbs and Andrew Symonds struck together a small but important partnership after losing Gilchrist during the Power play. T Suman’s 29 off 19 too was an important contribution.
The innings for Delhi started unusually, as for a change it was David Warner who shocked the batsmen with attacking stroke-play. Warner stole the limelight from Sehwag as he got stuck into RP Singh scoring 20 runs off his first over and the innings’ second. It seemed Sehwag did not like this as he soon got out having faced seven balls for his three before getting out to Ojha.
Warner continued with a fine half-century keeping DD in the hunt. They were very much in the game when AB de Villiers and Warner were at it. After they lost de Villiers at 98, it was left to captain Dinesh Karthik to steer the team home. Karthik fought hard for a well compiled 46 of 27 with a couple of sixes but it was not enough as he got out at the wrong time with his team still needing 16 runs off 10 balls. Symonds should come in for a special praise as he bowled an excellent 17th and 19th over dismissing Karthik and Mishra off consecutive balls almost sealing a victory for his team. Purple Cap holder Chaminda Vaas showed signs of brilliance as he kept the batsmen under check with a fabulous last over picking one wicket and getting a great direct hit off his own bowling, restricting the batsmen to just 3 runs. Delhi just could not cross the last hurdle – there were run-outs, wickets falling and continuous misunderstandings in the last over.
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