Kolkata Knight Riders with only one win in their bag after four games in IPL season two will look to register their second win of the competition when they take on all-round Mumbai Indians.
Both teams play with each other after coming from defeat in their last games. At presently Mumbai Indians placed at fifth place in the table after playing three games while Kolkata Knight Riders are at sixth place after playing four games. So from Kolkata point of view this is the right time for them to make a move on from here onwards if they would hope for making into last four.
Kolkata Knight Riders have struggled for consistency, losing their opening game to Deccan Chargers, in next game with D/L method they beat Kings XI Punjab in a rain-hit match and then losing to Rajasthan Royals via Super Over. They gained a point when their match against Chennai Super Kings was washed out without a ball being bowled.
On the other hand Mumbai Indians started the tournament on bright note beating last year runners up Chennai easily in their first game, in their next game against Rajasthan Royals they gained a points without a ball being bowled and in their recent outing they have beaten in a close game by Deccan Chargers.
Mumbai Indians bowling looks more settled than KKR, with Lasith Malinga bowling well in depth overs. Their top orders specially Sanath Jayasurya is little concerned for them as he is yet to fire in the tournament. So far the work loads of batting is handled well by Tendulkar but he needs support from others also to win matches for Mumbai Indians.
Team News
Mumbai Indians though they lost their last games against Deccan Chargers they may stick with same XI that played against Deccan Chargers. On the other hand Kolkata Knight Riders already cut down their squad from 54 players to 20 players (11 from India and 9 Foreign Players). So they would like to give a chance to player like W.Shaha, A.Dinda who performed well last season in place of Agarkar (Who looks wayward with bowl in all games he has played so far).
Likely Playing XI for both teams (Match is schedule to begin at 20:00 PM India Time on 27th Of April)
Deccan Chargers who finished almost last in the points table last year now for season two they are leading the points table sitting pretty well with six points from three win out of three games they have played. They start as favorites when they take on struggling last year runners-up Chennai Super Kings.
Last year Deccan Chargers struggled to deliver with bat and bowl together but in IPL twenty20 season two they are doing well with bat and bowl together. Likes of H.Gibbs, A.Glichrist and Rohit Sharma played really well to post respectable total on the board or chase down the target with ease. Top order batting has been backed by the efforts of R.P.Singh, P.Ojha and F.Edwards who have not only picked wickets at crucial time but also manage to control the opposition run rate by some accurate bowling.
From Chennai Super Kings point of view the game against Deccan Chargers is really important for them and they would like to make big statement by beating in-form Deccan Chargers. Chennai Super Kings is also get big set back after Andrew Flintoff ruled out of IPL season two due to ankle injury, however in the absence of Flintoff they will rely on Jacob Oram to deliver for them.
The main worry of concern for Chennai Super Kings is their middle order since they didn’t capitalize on the start given by their openers and that’s why they defeated by Delhi Daredevils. Rain also played spoilsport in the game against Kolkata Knight Riders as the game was abandoned without a single ball bowled and both team end up with sharing a point each.
For Deccan Chargers R.P.Singh is in prime form and with his current form he would like to continue this for as long as possible by keeping twenty20 World Cup selection in mind. In batting department A.Gilchrist and H.Gibbs looks in superb touch and they have given their team a flying start in each and every game they have played so far.
For Chennai M.Hayden lead the table for highest run accumulator in the tournament for his team and it will be of no surprise if he came out all guns blazing against Deccan Chargers in-form bowlers.
Team News
Deccan Chargers looks settled with their playing XI and they don’t want to tinker with their winning lineup. On the other hand Chennai Super Kings might think of playing additional spinner in place of Joginder Sharma and with A.Flintoff already out of IPL due to ankle injury another all-rounder Jacob Oram will play in place of Flintoff.
Likely Playing XI for both teams (Match is schedule to begin at 16:00 PM India Time on 27th Of April)
Chennai Super Kings: Parthiv Patel, Matthew Hayden, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (Captain & WK), Albie Morkel, Jacob Oram, S Badrinath, Joginder Sharma, L Balaji,Manpreet Gony, Muttiah Muralitharan.
Deccan Chargers: Adam Gilchrist (Captain/WK), Herschelle Gibbs, Dwayne Smith, Rohit Sharma, VVS Laxman, Venugopal Rao, Ravi Teja, Harmeet Singh, Pragyan Ojha, RP Singh, Fidel Edwards.
Like IPL 2008 most of the teams have same players for IPL twenty20 2009 except few shuffles and few teams have changed their captain also. Few Franchises bought new players in their team and few have sacked few players from their squad. The tournament has already begun in the South Africa with two games producing unexpected results. Rajasthan Royals beaten comprehensively by Royal Challengers Bangalore and CSK beaten by Mumbai Indians.
The tournament will feature 59 matches in total, this time all the games will be played at Neutral Venue in South Africa. Top four teams with maximum points will qualify for the semifinal round. 1st and 2nd Semi Final will be played on 22nd and 23rd of May 2009. Final of IPL will be played on 24th of May 2009 in Johannesburg.
Here is the complete IPLtwenty20 Squad Lists for all team:
Foreign Players: Kevin Pietersen (Captain), Jessy Ryder, Dale Steyn, Ross Taylor, N.Bracken, Jaques Kallis, Mark Boucher, Cameron White, Roelof van der Merwe, Dillon du Preez.
Chennai Super Kings
Players From India: M.S.Dhoni (Captain), Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay, Parthiv Patel, S. Badrinath, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Manpreet Gony, Joginder Sharma, Palani Amarnath, R. Ashwin, Shadab Jakati, Viraj Vilas Kadbe, Arun Karthik, Sudeep Tyagi.
Foreign Players: Albie Morkel, Matthew Hayden, A.Flintoff, T.Tushara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Makhaya Ntini, Jacob Oram, George Bailey, S.Fleming.
Delhi Daredevils
Players From India:Virender Sehwag (Captain), Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Karthik, Amit Mishra, Rajat Bhaitia, Ashish Nehra, Yo Mahesh, Pradeep Sangwan, Manoj Tiwary, Mithun Manhas, Yogesh Nagar, Aavishkar Salvi, Umesh Yadav, Tejasi Yadav.
Foreign Players: Glenn McGrath, Tillakaratne Dilshan, AB de Villiers, P.Collingwood, David Warner,Daniel Vettori, Owasis Shah, Dirk Nannes, Farveez Maharoof, A.McDonald.
Ravi Bopara brilliant inning of 84 runs helped Kings XI Punjab to register an easy win over Royal Challengers Bangalore. At one stage the win was looking tough for them, though they have wickets in hand but required run rate was almost 12.5 runs per over. But Yuvraj Singh (30 runs of 17 balls) and R.Bopara (84 runs of 59 balls) achieve the target quite easily in the end.
Now in four matches Royal Challengers have just one win to their name and now they have to play really well in the rest of tournament if they would like to make it into the semifinals of IPL season two.
On the other hand Kings XI Punjab registered their first win of the tournament out of three games they have played so far.
Earlier Kevin Pietersen won the toss and decided to bat first at Kingsmead wicket. But their top orders once again failed to deliver for the team, R.Uthappa out for first ball duck. However Jessy Ryder (32 runs of 21 balls) and J.Kallis put on quick 42 runs of just 25 balls for the second wicket to bring Bangalore back on track. In the sixth over of Bangalore innings left arm local boy Yusuf Abdulla strike twice for his team by removing dangerous looking J.Ryder and K.Pietersen (another duck in IPL for KP) to peg back Royal Challengers Bangalore inning.
South African all rounder J.Kallis (62 runs of 46 balls) and Ross Taylor (35 runs of 22 balls) played really well to get Bangalore score pass 150 run mark. At one stage they were looking to get closer to even 180 but both batsmen dismissed at wrong time to allow Kings XI Punjab to bounce back into the match.
Yusuf Abdulla and Irfan Pathan were the two top pick bowlers for Kings XI Punjab as they picked up four and three wickets respectively.
Ravi Bopara was declared Man of the Match for his quick fire 84 runs of 59 balls.
Kings XI Punjab whose last two games were decided o the basis of D/L method and in both game they are on the loosing side, so now they will hope for at least full game to show their batting class and their capability.
In the first rain washed game they lost the game to Delhi Daredevils by 10 wickets and in next game Kolkata Knight Riders declared winner by 11 runs. But they will hope for better luck this time when they take on struggling Royal Challenger Bangalore in Kingsmead, Durban.
Kings XI Punjab batsman’s are in prime form as we have seen in last two games. However their main concern is their bowling department which looks weaker than all team in the competition. Except Irfan Pathan no one has that much experience or fire power to restrict the opposition. So they will rely heavily on their batsman to put huge runs on the board.
On the other hand, Royal Challengers Bangalore started their journey in style by comprehensively beating defending Champions Rajasthan Royals by 75 runs, but since then are suffering from lack of consistency.
Royal Challengers Skipper Kevin Pietersen is really struggling with the bat and from his team points of view he needs to come good as quickly as possible. Apart from K.Pietersen all eye will be on Jaques Kallis who has also not performed well up to his reputation.
Rahul Dravid is in prime form and he needs to continue so, for his team and for himself. With the team management sticking with Robin Uthappa behind the wickets, instead of South African Mark Boucher, Uthappa needs to deliver at the top for his team to post a good total on the board or to chase down stiff target.
Likely Playing XI for both teams (Match is schedule to begin at 20:00 PM India Time on 24th Of April)
Royal Challenger Bangalore: Jesse Ryder, Robin Uthappa (WK), J.Kallis, Kevin Pietersen (Captain), Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, Balachandra Akhil, Praveen Kumar, R Vinay Kumar, Anil Kumble, Dale Steyn.
First time in the history of IPL twenty20, the game between Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders decided via Super Over after the game ended in a tie. In Super Over Kolkata Knight Riders batted first and they have chosen Gayle, McCullum and Ganguly as their three batsman two play in the Super Over and Rajasthan Royal decided to give Kamran Khan to bowl the decisive Super Over.
With three consecutive boundaries from Chris Gayle KKR manages 15 runs for the loss of one wicket in their one Super Over. Needing 16 runs to win, Rajasthan Royals selected Yusuf Pathan, R.Jadeja and D.Mascarenhas as their three batsmen and KKR chosen Mystery spinner A.Mendis to bowl the Super over for his team. But Yusuf Pathan has other idea and he smashed Mendis for 6,2,6,4 to finish the game in just four balls and allowed his team to register their maiden win in IPL season two.
Earlier Rasthan Royals posted 151 runs target for the Kolkata Knight Riders to register their second win in IPL. However Chasing a competitive target of 151 runs, Kolkata where struggling at half way stage. At 91/5 in 14 overs the chances of winning the game were looking slim. But Prince of Kolkata Saurav Ganguly (46 runs of 30 balls) and Yashpal Singh (20 runs of 18 balls) guided their team almost to a memorable win. But seven runs behind the partnership of 49 runs were broken by Shane Warne in his last over to give Rajasthan Royals an outside chance of winning the game.
Needing 7 runs to win in the last over, Saurav Ganguly batted with patience by picking up single and two till the second last delivery of the over and he nicked that one to keeper M.Rawat leaving Kolkata requiring two to win on the last ball of the over. However Ishant Sharma just manage one run ending the game as tie, which was finally won by Rajasthan Royals via Super Over.
Rajsthan Royals with the help of Yusuf Pathan blistering knock of 42 runs and some useful contribution from lower down the order posted a good total of 150 runs on the board. For Kolkata Knight Riders A.Mendis, I.Sharma and Anureet Singh picked up two wickets each.
Yusuf Pathan was declared Man of the Match for his super batting display during Rajasthan Royal innings and in Super Over bowled by A.Mendis.
Match Summary (Rajasthan Royals won via Super Over)
Top two teams Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Daredevils will fight for win at Durban
Both teams started their IPL twenty20 campaign differently. Chennai Super Kings bounce back well beating Royal Challengers Bangalore quite convincingly by 92 runs in their second game of IPL after loosing to Mumbai Indians in their first game.On the other hand Delhi Daredevils won their first game quite comfortably in the rain reduced game beating Kings XI Punjab by 10 wickets.
Chennai Super Kings has the variety to tackle the Delhi Daredevils powerhouse batting lineup and Delhi Daredevils have top class batsman to tackle any bowling unit that’s make game between these two side more interesting.
Both teams will fight for win to continue their winning momentum. Chennai Super Kings bowlers will enjoy the bounce offered at Kingsmead wickets. Let’s hope that rain stays away for this game as we have seen last two IPL games were affected badly due to rain. One game outcome was decided on D/L method and other was abandoned without a single ball bowled.
However Chennai Super Kings will start the game with firm favorite because of their solid batting lineup and wicket taking bowlers in their rank. The fates of Delhi daredevils will lot depend on how two opener plays tomorrow.
For Chennai Super Kings, their openers are in great form and middle order batting lineup looks more solid and dangerous than Delhi Daredevils. Likes of Flintoff, Dhoni, Morkel, Raina can change the course of the game in quick succession. Muralitharan is also in prime form with the ball as we have seen in last game how dangerous bowlers he is.
Likely Playing XI for both teams (Match is schedule to begin at 16:00 PM India Time on 23rd Of April)
Delhi Daredevils: Virender Sehwag (Captain), Gautam Gambhir, AB de Villiers, Manoj Tiwary, T.Dilshan, Dinesh Karthik (WK), Daniel Vettori, Yo Mahesh, Avishkar Salvi, Pradeep Sangwan, G.McGrath.
Chennai Super Kings: Matthew Hayden, Parthiv Patel, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (Captain/WK), Andrew Flintoff, Albie Morkel, S Badrinath, Joginder Sharma, L Balaji, Manpreet Gony, Muttiah Muralitharan.
Rajasthan Royals will be keen to put up good show against Kolkata Knight Riders
IPL champion Rajasthan Royal will be keen to register their first win of IPL season2 when they take on Kolkata Knight Riders. After loosing their first game badly against Bangalore Royal Challengers, they didn’t get a chance to bounce back in their second game against Mumbai Indians as the game is abandoned due to rain.
They will be hopeful of turning things around like last year. Their bowling looks ok but lacks the firepower in the absence of S.Tanvir and Shane Watson. The batting looks thin without Shane Watson and Younis Khan, putting immense pressure on Graeme Smith at the top of the order. A weak lower order is also a worry.
Graeme Smith is key for Rajasthan Royals and he needs to play big innings and let other shot maker to play their natural game. The likes of Yusuf Pathan, D.Mascarenhas, T.Henderson and R.Jadeja are very good in using long handles when needed.
If they would like to beat Kolkata Knight Riders then their new ball bowler have to remove two dangerous KKR batsman’s McCullum and Gayle and then hope that their captain Shane Warne will run through in experienced middle-lower order KKR batting lineup.
Kolkata Knight Riders so far didn’t perform well as their fan hope for. Apart from win in the last game and that too with the help of D/L method they don’t have too much success in the tournament.
Let’s hope for better show from both the team to watch a entertaining battle.
Likely Playing XI for both teams (Match is schedule to begin at 20:00 PM India Time on 23rd Of April)
Deccan Chargers celebrates their second successive wins in IPL by beating Royal Challengers Bangalore by 24 runs. Electing to bat first Deccan Chargers posted huge total on the board with the help of half century from A.Gilchrist (71 runs of 45 balls) and Rohit Sharma (52 runs of 30 balls).
A.Gilchrist and H.Gibbs (13 runs of 7 balls) gave perfect start to the team by putting 46 runs on the board in just 23 deliveries. The most important partnership of Deccan Chargers innings was between Rohit Sharma and Gilchrist, both went on to put quick-fire 61 runs of just 36 balls.
A.Gilchrist was finally dismissed for 71 runs in 14th over of Chargers inning, however Rohit Sharma picked his momentum and smashed 5 huge sixes and one fours to complete his first fifty of the season.
Chasing a stiff target of 185 to win, Royal Challengers Bangalore didn’t get the start as they were expecting from their openers. Jessy Ryder once again failed with bat as he has been dismissed for first ball duck by F.Edwards. Last match top scorer J.Kallis also failed with the bat getting out after making just 50 runs.
In first six over Royal Challengers Bangalore just manage 32 runs while Deccan Chargers at same stage scored 58 runs. Loosing too many wickets at start didn’t helped Bangalore course. Rahul Dravid (48 runs of 27 balls) and Virat Kohli (50 runs of 2 balls) did put up a good show with bat in the end but it was too late for the Bangalore to win it from there.
R.P.Singh once again proved too hot to handle as he manage to grab two wickets in his quota of four overs. Styris was the highest wicket taker (3 wickets) for Chargers.
With the inning of 48 runs, Rahul Dravid able to grab his orange cap back from Australia Mathew Hayden and R.P.Singh gets the Purple cap as the leading wicket-taker.
Next game of IPL will be played on 23rd of April between Chennai Super Kings Vs Delhi Daredevils (Kingsmead, Durban) and Rajasthan Royals Vs Kolkata Knight Riders (Newland, Cape Town).
A.Gilchrist was declared Man of the Match for his sparkling knock of 71 runs.
Deccan Chargers are flying after performing well against Kolkata Knight Riders in their opening game and there last game performance makes them firm favorite when they take on Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 8th game of IPL twenty20 2009 on Wednesday.
Royal Challengers Bangalore will hope that there batsman will pull their shocks and perform better than their previous two outings. Last game was lost because of some poor shot selection by Bangalore Batsman.
On the other hand Deccan Chargers would love to register their second consecutive win in the tournament. With their bowlers looking good and batsman are in prime form there will be no surprise if they came out as winner on Wednesday game.
The main worry for Bangalore Captain is their top order batsman; so far the opening pair didn’t able to gave the platform for middle order batsmen to follow to play freely. In last game they have changed their openers by sending Praveen Kumar with Robin Uthappa to open the inning and that didn’t help either. Ross Taylor also looking out of form after good show against Indians in recently concluded Test series.
Likely Playing XI for both teams (Match is schedule to begin at 20:00 PM India Time on 22nd Of April)
Royal Challenger Bangalore: Jesse Ryder, Robin Uthappa (WK), J.Kallis, Kevin Pietersen (Captain), Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, Balachandra Akhil, Praveen Kumar, R Vinay Kumar, Anil Kumble, Dale Steyn.
Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab will fight for their first win of tournament
Both team started their campaign with the loss to their names, however after the game on Tuesday one of the two teams will have two points in their bag. Kings XI Punjab will blame rain for their loss against Delhi Daredevils after setting a stiff target of 105 runs in 12 overs, they have left with only 54 to defend in 6 overs (on D/L Method) with two Delhi big guns at the crease, leaving Punjab's bowlers with little chance.
Kings XI Punjab will be happy by their openers performance during their first game as both Karan Goel and Ravi Bopara showed their power hitting at start; both added 67 runs in just 6 overs.
On the other hand Kolkata Knight Riders outplayed in all department of the game by Deccan Chargers, first their batsman performed poorly and then their bowlers were smacked all around the park to leave them lot to think about their performance.
Kolkata Knight Riders with power hitter at the top will hope to get good start from their captain B.McCullum and C.Gayle in the game against Kings XI Punjab. The ground where the game will took place also suits power hitter Yuvraj Singh, who has record of hitting six 6’s in an over at same venue.
Likely Playing XI for both teams (Match is schedule to begin at 16:00 PM India Time on 21st Of April)
Kings XI Punjab: Karan Goel, Ravi Bopara, Yuvraj Singh (Captain), K.Sangkara (WK), M.Jayawardne, I.Pathan, P.Chawla, T.Kohli, V.R.V Singh, V.Malik, Y.Abdulla.
Rajasthan Royals will be keen to put good show against professional Mumbai Indians
It’s too early to write off last year IPL twenty20 champions Rajasthan Royals after disastrous start to their IPL 2009 campaign against Royal Challengers Bangalore. If you didn’t forget then remember how Rajasthan Royals started their 2008 campaign and in the end they emerged as IPL twenty20 2008 winners.
They don’t have big names like Sachin, Dhoni or Yuvraj but they have squad full of talent and anyone can turn the game on their heads. Both teams batting didn’t click in their first game, so they will look forward to improve in that area.
Going by the fire power in all department of the game Mumbai Indians will start as firm favorite in the game against Rajasthan Royals. Given the young Rajasthan line-up, Mumbai - with the presence of Sanath Jayasuriya, J.P.Duminy and D.Bravo - will always threaten a big lusty innings.
Mumbai Indians bowling department will once again rely on Zaheer, Malinga and Harbhajan.
The most interesting battle of this match would be between Sachin Tendulkar and Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Warne. It is expected to be cracking battle between these two. Dont’s miss a single ball bowled by Warne to Tendulkar. We hope Sachin will be there till Warne came out to bowl.
Likely Playing XI for both teams (Match is schedule to begin at 20:00 PM India Time on 21st Of April)
Chennai Super Kings after loosing to Mumbai Indians in their first game finally showed good all round performance against Royal Challengers Bangalore to beat them by record 92 runs to register their first win in IPL 2009.
Electing to bat first CSK got off to flying start as M.Hayden (65 runs of 35 balls) and P.Patel (30 runs of 26 balls) put on a record first wicket partnership of 106 runs in just 10 overs before the 71/2 Minute break. However it seems that the midway interval is working against the team going well before the interval. So far we have witnessed the same in more or less all the matches of IPL.
Just after the break Chennai Super Kings lost Parthiv Patel bowled by Bangalore Captain Kevin Pietersen. In the same over Mathew Hayden got run out which somehow peg back Chennai. However with some lusty blow in the end Chennai Super Kings able to achieve the highest inning total in twenty20 at Port Elizabeth.
Royal Challengers Bangalore, chasing 180, were only able to manage 87 runs. They bundle out in just 15.2 overs. The star of the day for Chennai was M.Muralitharan who picked up three quick wickets and two in one over (Pietersen and Uthappa) to halt the Bangalore run chase.
The Royal Challengers lost too many wickets and were just not good enough to handle the pressure today. Muttiah Muralitharan and Andrew Flintoff were the stars with the ball after Matthew Hayden appropriated the Orange cap from Rahul Dravid.
Apart from Rahul Dravid (20 runs of 18 balls), J.Kallis (24 runs of 19 balls), R.Uthappa (20 runs of 19 balls) and V.Kohli (11 runs of 13 balls) no batsman able to reach the double figure mark.
After the first five game of IPL twenty20 2009, the points table looks even stevens.
Next game of IPL will be played on 21st of April. There will be total two number of matches will be played. First between Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders and then Mumbai Indians will take on Rajasthan Royals.
M.Muralitharan was declared Man of the Match for his superb bowling figure of 11/3 in his four overs.
Match Summary (Chennai Super Kings won by 92 Runs)
Bangalore Royal Challengers after superb performance in their first game will look to continue their winning momentum going as they take on Chennai Super Kings who showed little bit rustiness against Mumbai Indians in their first game. Apart from M.Hayden and M.S.Dhoni their batting looks bubble.
Royal Challengers Bangalore will also look forward to improve in the batting area, in first game they were reduced to 17/3 at one stage but hard fought fifty from Rahul Dravid game some respectability to their score and in the end that proves too tight for Rajasthan Royals. Anil Kumble also bowled one of the memorable spell of his life by taking 5 wickets for just 5 runs.
So far all four matches has been played at Newland, Cape Town and for the first time two teams clash in Port Elizabeth and it will be important for both the teams to assess the situation and condition well before eying a big total. Both teams made the mistake of eying big score or tried to score too quickly at the beginning of their innings, in that process they lost too many wickets at start.
Chennai Super Kings will eye a win against Royal Challengers Bangalore. A loss here will mean the early laggards of IPL season 2. M.S.Dhoni knows how to handle this type of situation and he must pick a best playing eleven to come out as winner against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Apart from Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble no one performed up to their reputation and Bangalore captain K.Pietersen would like his team to put 100% in this match to make two out of two.
So far both teams have one win against each other during IPL season one.
Watch out for
A.Flintoff vs K.Pietersen: The two English men will take on each other. Both have big names in England Cricket and it will be interesting to see how these two highest bid IPL 2009 players will perform against each other.
Anil Kumble Vs M.S.Dhoni: Both players are attacking players in their department of the game. M.S.Dhoni likes to hit the ball out of the park and Kumble like to get the batsman out in doing so. As we have seen how Anil Kumble could be a dangerous bowler when he is on song in the previous game.
Pitch and conditions
The pitch and condition at St George’sPark, Port Elizabeth is dry and will support the batsman. We can witness high scoring game here. Team batting first will eye score in excess of 180 in the 20 overs quota to put pressure on opposition.
Team News
Royal Challengers Bangalore is likely to play with same XI, apart from top order batting failures their bowlers performed exceptionally well against Rajasthan Royals. So they would love to give their batters one more chance to show the fire power they have.
On the other hand Chennai Super King will most likely make few changes in their squad. A.Morkel and M.Muralitharan may replace J.Oram and T.Tushara to give variety in the bowling attack.
Likely Playing XI for both teams (Match is schedule to begin at 20:00 PM India Time on 20th Of April)
Royal Challenger Bangalore: Jesse Ryder, Robin Uthappa (WK), Ross Taylor, Kevin Pietersen (Captain), Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, Balachandra Akhil, Praveen Kumar, R Vinay Kumar, Anil Kumble, Dale Steyn.
Chennai Super King: Parthiv Patel, Matthew Hayden, Suresh Raina, Andrew Flintoff, MS Dhoni (Captain & WK), S Badrinath, Albie Morkel, Joginder Sharma, Manpreet Gony, L Balaji, Muttiah Muralitharan
Danniel Vettori helped Delhi Daredevils to beat Kings XI Punjab by 10 Wickets
In the first game on day2 of IPL twenty20 in Newlands, Cape Town Delhi Daredevils registered an easy win against Kings XI Punjab by beating them by 10 wickets in rain reduced game.
New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori played an important role by picking up three wickets for 15 runs in his quota of three overs that helped Delhi Daredevils to restrict Kings XI Punjab for just 104 runs in the rain reduced 12 overs game.
Chasing a target of 105 runs to win in 12 overs dashing opener Virendra Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir gave perfect start by smashing 24 runs in just 11 balls before rain came again. When play resumes the target was revised to 54 runs in 6 overs. Virendra Sehwag (38 runs of just 16 balls) and Gautam Gambhir (15 runs of 13 balls) just took another 18 balls to score remaining 30 runs.
Earlier Virendra Sehwag won the toss and put Kings XI Punjab into bat. However Karan Goel (38 runs of 21 balls) and Ravi Bopara (22 runs of 16 balls) gave perfect start to their team by putting on 67 runs in just 6 overs. D.Vettori who came on to bowl after mid inning breaks picked three quick wickets and then two run-outs in successive overs restricted the Kings XI Punjab from setting a stiff target.
D.Vettori was declared Man of the Match for his superb bowling performance.
Match Summary (Delhi Daredevils won by 10 Wickets)
Kings XI Punjab – 104/7 in 12 Overs
K.Goel- 38R.Bopara –22
D.Vettori– 3-0-15-3A.Salvi– 2-0-17-1
Delhi Daredevils – 58/0 in 4.5 Overs
V.Sehwag- 38*G.Gambhir –15
I.Pathan– 1-0-9-0V.R.V.Singh– 1-0-5-0
Deccan Chargers crush Kolkata Kight Riders by 8 wickets
R.P.Singh magical bowling spell of 22/4 helped Deccan Chargers to bundle out Kolkata Knight Riders for just 101 runs and then Rohit Sharma (36 runs of 32 balls) and H.Gibbs (43 runs of 26 balls) put on unbeaten sparkling 69 runs unbeaten partnership for the third wicket to guide Deccan Chargers to register 8 wickets win over KKR.
Earlier B.McCullum won the toss and decided to bat first at Newlands, Cape Town wicket. However dangerous B.McCullum (1 runs of 3 balls) was removed in the very first over bowled by R.P.Singh caught down the leg side by A.Gilchrist. Two overs later R.P.Singh got another dangerous man C.Gayle (10 runs of 12 balls) back in the hut. Then it was all the way Deccan Chargers who looks completely different side from the last season IPL.
Their fielding was superb and that showed in the field. Apart from R.P.Singh superb bowling effort another man who went without notice was F.Edwards (4-1-6-0). F.Edwards kept the line and length tight giving nothing away to KKR batsman’s and finished his bowling spell by conceding just 6 runs in his quota of four overs.
R.P.Singh was declared Man of the Match for his superb bowling performance.
When ODI cricket took over the game in the mid 70s, there was still a balance between bat and ball mainly because of those nasty tall boys from the West Indies. But by the mid 90’s that balance had tilted in favor of the batsmen. It was a time when bowlers weren't really that important. It was then that Murali, Warne, McGrath, Akram, Pollock and co came along and proved that good bowlers are always going to be in demand and without them, cricket would be like watching 11 Bradman’s face up to an attack consisting of Mick Lewis's.
Twenty20 cricket was not designed with bowlers in mind. And like ODI cricket in the 90s it sought to put bowlers back where they belong into the stands. 'The best way to slow the run rate down is to pick up wickets' - that's a code by which most captains and cricketers and especially bowlers lived by. Twenty20 has changed that philosophy.
When the run rate is consistently 10 or 9, getting it down to 6 or 7 is an acceptable consolation prize. In that sense, bowlers have had to re invent themselves more times than Puff Daddy or is it P Diddy or Diddy now? Getting wickets is good but if you can keep the runs down to a decent rate, its good enough. Forget the ODI specialist, the most in demand commodity in cricket now is the 20-20 specialist bowler.
And with the Indian Premier League season two moving to South Africa, it opens up a new debate about what kind of bowler would do well there. The wickets will be a lot different than what the bowlers would have been expecting to bowl on a month ago. There won't be much help for spinners, except possibly getting some bounce. Pitches aka Roads designed for batting will offer limited movement for the faster men.
So which bowlers should you have in your ideal Fantasy Cricket team? Here are our top five picks that have the ability to make a world of difference in IPL v.2 in the bowling compartment.
5. Dale Steyn - South Africa number 1 hit-man will be licking his lips at the chance to have a go at the world’s best batters on his pitches. He is quick; he gets bounce and is deadly accurate. However his, too accurate for comfort, assessment last year of the IPL being a 'paid holiday' means his franchise owners will be wondering whether he is putting in his best efforts. All the more reason for Dale to rip it up at home.
4. Ajantha 'Splendid' Mendis - When the first IPL was played, Mendis was an unknown, a few months later he was heralded as the next great mystery spinner. Under the apprenticeship of Muralitharan, they dismantled India and Splendid Mendis became the fastest man to pick 50 wickets in ODI Cricket history. After having had shrapnel removed from his head, twice, Mendis has had a great return to cricket in Sri Lanka’s domestic 20-20 competition picking up wickets and keeping the runs down. This IPL might just be where Mendis announces his arrival well and truly to the rest of the world.
3. Shane Warne - You have to wonder how much Warne would sell for if he was put on an IPL auction again. You also have to wonder what the man who has been called 'Showbiz' Warney has in store for us this year. Forget pitches not offering spin, Warne has tricks up his old sleeve that no one in the game could pick when he played much less after he retired. Most remember him leading the Royals to a win last year, but don’t forget he was the 2nd highest wicket taker in the IPL 2008 season. 2. Ishant Sharma - Arguably one of the best fast bowlers in the world at the moment, he is coming across as a fine bowler has been the highlight of Cricket News all over. He loves bouncy pitches, as Ricky Ponting would attest to in Perth. And he would be dead set keen to put his poor IPL season last year behind him. He has already warmed himself in New Zealand condition and is ready to show his immense talent against big names in IPL season two.
1. Dirk Nannes- Wild Card, Wild Man, known to the cricket blogging community as the Wild Beast Man, Dirty Dirt Nannes, is set to light SA and some batsmen on fire with his raw pace and energy. He has lifted two teams in two parts of the world to 2020 Championship wins at Middlesex and Victoria. His psychotic pace can change matches instantly in a couple of balls. Plus he wants to prove a point to the Australian selectors who have incomprehensibly left him out of the national twenty20 team.
Weather at Wellington played a big role for New Zealand which helps them to save the third test match for them. At 281/8, New Zealand was on the mat and it was certain that India will clinch the series 2-0 however the rain god has other ideas that save New Zealand from big defeat.
Fifth days play doesn’t belong to India as they dropped three catches and that allowed New Zealand to save the game. The game could have been over few overs back before rain arrival, if Ishant Sharma doesn’t dropped a simple chance at square leg after Iain O'Brien had slogged Tendulkar. Then umpire S.Taufell turned a lbw shout from Harbhajan down which was probably plumb. H.Singh got one ball to turned sharply and that hit Daniel Vettori right in front of the wicket but umpire thought otherwise.
But that didn’t prevented India from registering a famous series win in New Zealand. M.S.Dhoni became only second Indian captain to win the test series on New Zealand soil and that to after 41 years. First captain to achieve this was Mansur Ali Khan Patuadi who let the side to 3-1 victory in 1968.
The Indian team who played an excellent cricket in both forms of the game whether it was ODI’s or Test series and they are on well verge of famous win at Wellington after taking four New Zealand wickets on fifth day play before light rain stopped play after 30 minutes post lunch session. At that time New Zealand Captain D.Vettori (15 runs) and I.O’Brien (19 runs) was at the crease.
Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh was pick of the bowler in third test match. Both bowled extremely well and ended with match figure of 122/7 and 102/7 respectively.
Earlier Indians were frustrated by the overnight not out batsman Ross Taylor (107 runs) and J.Franklin (49 runs) as both put on 142 runs fro the fifth wicket. R.Taylor after completing his test century was dismissed by Harbhajan Singh which was India first wicket of morning session. Then man with Golden Arm Sachin Tendulkar removed J.Franklin and B.McCullum (6 runs) to give India hope of bowling out New Zealand quickly. Just after tea Harbhajan Singh removed T.Southee to picked his fourth wicket of an inning and seventh wicket of the match.
However rain started to get heavier as the time pass by which prevented India from registering their 100th test win.
Stats after Test Series Completion
Most Runs scored by Batsman in IndiaNew Zealand Test Series 2008/09
Player Name
M
I
Runs
HS
Avg.
100’s
50’s
G.Gambhir
3
6
445
167
89.00
2
1
S.Tendulkar
3
5
344
160
68.8
1
2
J.Ryder
3
5
327
201
65.40
2
0
R.Taylor
3
5
322
151
64.40
2
0
R.Dravid
3
6
314
83
62.80
0
4
Most Wickets taken by Bowlers in IndiaNew Zealand Test Series 2008/09
Player Name
M
WKTS
BBI
BBM
Avg.
5wkt
H.Singh
3
16
6/63
7/102
21.37
1
C.Martin
3
14
4/98
7/168
32.71
0
Z.Khan
3
13
5/65
7/122
30.76
1
I.O’Brien
3
9
3/103
4/189
50.22
0
I.Sharma
3
8
4/73
4/135
41.75
0
G.Gambhir was declared Man of the Match for his brilliant century in second inning.
