IPL Cricket 2008 Thread

Kolkata Knight Riders v Delhi Daredevils, IPL, Kolkata

Shoaib leads Delhi drubbing

The Bulletin by Siddarth Ravindran

May 13, 2008

Kolkata Knight Riders 133 for 6 (Butt 48, Maharoof 2-25) beat Delhi Daredevils 110 (Shoaib 4-11, Shukla 3-6) by 23 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out


Shoaib Akhtar made a dramatic IPL debut taking four wickets in a blistering new-ball spell to condemn the Delhi Daredevils to their fourth straight defeat. In what could be a key match in the scramble for a spot in the semi-finals, the Kolkata Knight Riders batting fizzled and they posted only 133 but Shoaib and an inspired fielding effort vindicated captain Sourav Ganguly's decision to bat first and saw them through to a 23-run win, their third successive triumph.

Shoaib has played only one match in the last five months but showed no sign of rustiness, as he removed the dangerous Virender Sehwag for a golden duck in the first over. There was a hint of outswing and Sehwag's footwork-free waft edged the ball to wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha as the Eden Gardens crowd, quiet after Kolkata's poor batting performance, regained its voice. Gautam Gambhir, the tournament's leading run-scorer, lashed a couple of boundaries off Ishant Sharma before becoming Shoaib's second victim. A short and wide delivery was cut straight to David Hussey at point and Shoaib set off on his trademark arm-outstretched airplane celebration.

An inside-edge saved AB de Villiers on the first delivery off Shoaib's third over but de Villiers fell next ball as he top-edged a bouncer to square leg. Manoj Tiwary fell in the following ball, trapped lbw off the very next delivery and while Tillakaratne Dilshan prevented the hat-trick, Delhi were reeling at 32 for 4. Shoaib, playing after his five-year ban was suspended for one month, finished with outstanding figures of 3-0-11-4.

Three overs later Ashok Dinda uprooted Shikhar Dhawan's off stump but Dilshan was unflustered by the fall of wickets and kept going for his shots. As he raced along to 25 with the help of five boundaries, the required rate for the last nine overs was a gettable 7.5. However, Delhi were dealt a blow as he was run out while trying to steal a quick single.

With franchise owner Shah Rukh Khan acting as cheerleader and the Kolkata's anthem "korbo, lorbo, jitbo re" booming through the loudspeakers, the crowd was creating a raucous din but Amit Mishra and Farveez Maharoof gave them some anxious moments with a fighting 34-run stand. A poor piece of running from Maharoof though snuffed out Delhi's hopes - after gloving a short ball to the leg side, he neither got between the throw and the stumps nor ran in a straight line towards the non-striker's end to be caught inches short. With Kolkata in the ascendancy, Laxmi Ratan Shukla was given an over and he took the remaining three wickets to seal the victory as the crowd erupted.

Earlier, Glenn McGrath was typically miserly with the new ball and Pradeep Sangwan also didn't offer too many loose balls as Kolkata struggled to inject some momentum. Aakash Chopra's troubles with the bat continued and he managed only 13, despite being reprieved early on by Gautam Gambhir at wide slip.

His dismissal was greeted with a roar by the crowd as local boy Ganguly strode out. They had more to cheer as he imperiously slammed his second ball, a free hit, over the bowler's head for six, but were silenced two deliveries later when he was bowled by Yo Mahesh after his attempted pull failed to make contact with the ball.

With Kolkata at 47 for 2 after seven, Salman Butt and David Hussey tried to rebuild and while they strung together a 40-run stand, there were unable to provide the acceleration the innings desperately needed. Besides Butt's two powerful drives through cover off Yo Mahesh, there weren't too many boundaries and the runs came mainly in the form of singles. Just as they were giving Kolkata a platform from which they could take off, Butt perished for 48, slicing a Mahesh delivery to McGrath at mid-off.

Hussey then had to play his by-now-familiar role of trying to rescue Kolkata from the top-order's failings. He is the world's leading six-hitter in Twenty20s but he failed to provide the necessary fireworks; there were a couple of huge sixes on the leg side but Hussey fell attempting another for a run-a-ball 31, lobbing a catch to midwicket.

However, Shoaib's heroics helped Kolkata defend the paltry total and consolidate their fourth spot. Delhi, meanwhile, again demonstrated their inability to win when the top order fails and now less than two weeks after being in the top spot, they face an uphill battle to make the semi-finals.
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Really a disappointing game by Delhi.

Shukla got 3 wickets in 5 balls :eek:. Shoaib certainly made an impressive debut in the IPL.
 
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Jayasuriya opened up a can of whoopass: 114 off 48 balls.

Chennai Super Kings 156/6 (20/20 ov)
Mumbai Indians 158/1 (13.5/20 ov)
 
Mumbai Indians v Chennai Super Kings, IPL, Mumbai

Sizzling Jayasuriya pounds Chennai

The Bulletin by Siddhartha Vaidyanathan

May 14, 2008

Mumbai Indians 158 for 1 (Jayasuriya 114*) beat Chennai Super Kings 156 for 6 (Badrinath 53) by nine wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out


Sachin Tendulkar's return dominated most of the pre-match buzz but it was the eruption from Sanath Jayasuriya that Mumbai toasted at the end of a comfortable nine-wicket win, their fourth in a row, at the ****hede Stadium. Chennai appeared to have cobbled together a fighting total, in conditions that assisted swing bowling, but Jayasuriya's sizzler, the second-fastest IPL hundred that was punctuated with 11 sixes, put an emphatic end to the contest.

Mumbai's bowlers set-up this win with a fine new-ball exhibition that knocked off the top order. Shaun Pollock wasn't leading Mumbai today but his immaculate early spell (4-1-9-1) led an impressive effort that justified their decision to field first. Mahendra Singh Dhoni and S Badrinath stitched together a 95-run stand but 156 was never going to be challenging if even one batsman got going.

It was inevitable. Jayasuriya, who had made a short trip home during Mumbai's extended break, was yet to explode in the IPL and there was nothing Chennai could do once sixes began to drip off his bat. Nonchalant short-arm jabs sailed over the midwicket fence and a few powerful slashes soared over third man. The bowlers were rattled - they leaked wides and drifted on the pads too often - and fed Jayasuriya in his favourite areas. The fact that 102 off his 114 runs came in boundaries, told a story.

It was an innings reminiscent of the mid-90s, a time when Jayasuriya filled bowlers with a sense of fear. In fact it was at the same ground when he hammered an unforgettable 151 not out in the Independence Cup in 1997, an innings that was appreciated in hushed silence. This, though, was a celebration in power-hitting, with the crowd getting fully behind Jayasuriya in his fiery mission. One can only imagine the possibilities if Tendulkar had decided to bat first, allowing Jayasuriya a full 20 overs.

The manner in which he treated his fellow Sri Lankan bowlers was interesting - he attempted a couple of audacious reverse-paddles against Muttiah Muralitharan before blistering Chamara Kapudegera for 26 runs in five balls. He rushed to his hundred with two pulled sixes off Kapugedera - celebrating like a schoolboy who reached his maiden ton - and capped it off with one more that landed on the roof of the ****hede. It was an unforgettable innings and Mumbai's response to what Adam Gilchrist did to them a few weeks back.

The bowlers deserve an honourable mention. It was a slew of medium-pacers who propelled Mumbai to an upset win over the Rajasthan Royals in the previous game and they utilised bowler-friendly conditions here too. The ball swung around through the innings and six medium-pacers shaped the ball either way to make life difficult for the batsmen.

Pollock turned in a typically miserly spell, including a maiden to finish off against a relatively new Dhoni. Dhoni, who said he would have fielded first had he won the toss, watched his side slump to 46 for 4 with the top order struggling against the accurate medium-pacers.

Pollock should have had Stephen Fleming in the first ball of the second over - when an edge fell just short of first slip - or even in the third - when Jayasuriya muffed a skier at point - but he had to settle for S Vidyut's wicket two balls later when Rohan Raje clung on to another skier at mid-off. Suresh Raina fell poking to an away-swinger from Dwayne Bravo before Kapugedera, the right-hander, did exactly the same to Dhawal Kulkarni's nippy away-cutter.

Dhoni and Badrinath redressed the balance somewhat. The pair improvised when the opportunity presented but it was Dhoni's fierce hitting that gave the bowlers no chance - even if he wasn't in position, the power behind the shots was always going to take it to the boundary ropes. Badrinath, who repertoire ranges from the square drive on the back foot to the paddle over short fine leg, brought up his second successive fifty. It appeared as if it could be a defendable total but Jayasuriya's blitz sunk them in a trice.
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Mumbhai are definitely on the up and up after the departure of Harbhajan:D.
 
Mumbai Indians v Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL, Mumbai

Kolkata embarrassed in record rout

The Bulletin by S Rajesh

May 16, 2008

Mumbai Indians 68 for 2 (Jayasuriya 48*) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 67 (Pollock 3-12) by eight wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out


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Shaun Pollock led the way as the Kolkata Knight Riders were bundled out for 67, the lowest total of the IPL (file photo) © AFP




Shaun Pollock led a stand-out seam-bowling performance as the Mumbai Indians notched up the most convincing win of the tournament, and their fifth in a row, handing the Kolkata Knight Riders an eight-wicket drubbing at the W.A.N.K.hede Stadium. None of Kolkata's batsmen came to terms with the seamer-friendly pitch, crumbling to an embarrassing 67 all out - the lowest score of the tournament and the fifth-lowest in all Twenty20 matches - before Sanath Jayasuriya hastened the finish with a 17-ball 48, as Mumbai sailed home with 87 deliveries to spare - a record in all Twenty20 games - significantly boosting their hopes of a semi-final berth.

The visitors were put in by Sachin Tendulkar, who won his second toss in a row, but even he wouldn't have dreamed of the display his bowlers served up. The pitch helped significantly, offering bounce and plenty of seam movement to each of the five bowlers who were used - in fact, so good were the conditions for seam bowling that Rajesh Pawar, the left-arm spinner who made his IPL debut, wasn't even pressed into the attack.

The start was deceptively normal, with Salman Butt moving away to club Pollock down the ground for four, and then carving Ashish Nehra for the 400th six of the IPL. From then on, only one team did all the celebrating.

Pollock led the way, bowling with impeccable control, seaming the ball both ways from a perfect length, and giving the batsmen no chance. Against a top four that has an equal mix of right- and left-handers, Pollock kept his line around off stump against both, extracting bounce and seaming the ball away to induce the edge. Butt was the first to perish to the movement, getting a leading edge while trying to flick, offering Tendulkar the first of four catches.

Thereafter, the slide was swift. Kolkata made the situation worse when Aakash Chopra was involved in his second mix-up with Sourav Ganguly in three games, charging down the pitch even as Ganguly didn't respond. Another perfect delivery in the corridor from Pollock accounted for David Hussey, and when Tendulkar decided to bowl his four overs on the trot, Pollock responded by inducing an edge off Mohammad Hafeez, which was snaffled by Robin Uthappa at a wide second slip.

Pollock was done, finishing with figures of 3 for 12, but there was no respite for Kolkata, as Dwayne Bravo continued from where Pollock had left off, getting exaggerated seam movement in both directions. Wriddhiman Saha was defeated by the bounce and movement, and slashed to Tendulkar, and Kolkata had lost half their side for 29.

With the conditions so friendly for the seamers, Tendulkar cleverly decided to use Dominic Thornely and Rohan Raje, both medium-pace bowlers, and the results came almost instantly. Raje removed the dangerous Laxmi Ratan Shukla with a superb delivery which pitched on middle and seamed away to take off stump.
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Kolkata never recovered after suffering a double blow in the third over, and were eventually bundled out in less than 16 overs



Through the destruction at the other end, Ganguly hung on patiently, hoping to weather the storm and guide Kolkata to a respectable total. He came in to bat in the third over and stayed till the 13th, but was stuck at the non-striker's end most of the time, facing only 20 deliveries as the batting line-up was destroyed at the other end. He finally perished in tame fashion, as Yogesh Takawale hung on to a catch with his second attempt as Ganguly tried to cut. With Kolkata's last hope falling, the rest followed quickly.

Kolkata's only hope of avoiding complete embarrassment was for Shoaib Akhtar to do an encore of the previous game. He began with a fiery first over, having Jayasuriya dropped at slip off the first ball, and then winning his personal battle with Tendulkar, who nibbled one to the wicketkeeper, slightly dampening the spirits of the home crowd.

Jayasuriya's response to that dismissal was emphatic, as he waded into Ishant Sharma and Shoaib in the next two overs. After clipping Ishant unconvincingly over mid-on, he found his timing perfectly in Shoaib's next over: a flick and a short-arm pull both sailed over the boundary, while two crisp drives raced through the covers in an over which leaked 23, more than one-third of the target.

The Shoaib threat was over, and the end came soon after, as Jayasuriya flicked a no-ball off Ishant for his 17th six of the IPL, the highest for a batsman in the tournament, and then finished it off next ball. Mumbai now have the best net run-rate, and with ten points from nine games, have given themselves an excellent chance of making the last four.
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Mumbai destroyed Kolkata:eek:.
 
Delhi Daredevils v Kings XI Punjab, IPL, Delhi

Two overs to regret

Cricinfo staff

May 17, 2008

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Will that 22-run over come back to haunt Virender Sehwag? (file photo) © AFP




This was a tale of two overs, the last of the Delhi Daredevils' innings and the fifth of the Kings XI Punjab's reply. Even with Virender Sehwag at the crease, Delhi managed only three runs off James Hopes to finish with a whimper, and Mahela Jayawardene and Luke Pomersbach ruthlessly targeted Sehwag's bowling to flay 22 in an over that completely transformed the game. If Delhi do miss out on the final four, those 12 balls will come back to haunt them.

The choice of Hopes could have been termed an inspired decision from Yuvraj Singh if not for the fact that he had been truly woeful in previous outings. He had just two wickets and the economy-rate was a profligate 10.5 an over. To trust such a man was as much a leap of faith as it was an admission that Punjab had no other options left. With the batsmen ready to swing at everything, the spin of Piyush Chawla and Yuvraj himself would have been too much of a risk.

As it was, Hopes once again resembled the bowler who did so well in Australian colours in India not so long ago. Both Tillakaratne Dilshan and Farveez Maharoof fell trying to slog him over the leg side, and he finished with a superb yorker as the 17 balls after a lengthy rain delay yielded just 24 runs to a Delhi side that had started in such rampant fashion. "I don't go by stats like you guys," Yuvraj said later. "I go by my instincts and James was the guy."

After the peerless Glenn McGrath started with a three-run over, with a drizzle and a dust storm as the backdrop, this was Delhi's match to lose, and despite a dashing eight-ball 23 from Yuvraj, Punjab needed 90 from 42 balls when Sehwag crucially decided not to bowl out McGrath.

His two overs had cost just 18, but the Punjab batsmen found Sehwag's offbreaks a different proposition. A delicate dab to third man and a reverse-sweep in the same direction got Jayawardene going, and when a miscued paddle made it to the boundary at fine leg, you sensed that the Gods were smiling on Punjab. That feeling was reinforced when Pomersbach slammed Sehwag over midwicket for a huge six.

"I thought it was better to bowl then rather than later," a subdued Sehwag said. "It was a crucial time in the match." He defended his decision to keep McGrath for later though. "We needed him in the slog overs," he said, ruing the fact that the rain prevented a denouement.

Jayawardene admitted that the six balls from Sehwag had been decisive. "We were 15 to 20 runs behind at one stage, and we needed one big over," he said. "I felt Veeru was the best option to go after. Once we got that big over, we were only five or six behind."

With two home games to come, Punjab are now as good as through to the semi-finals, while Delhi's hopes hang by the most slender of threads. They need to win in Bangalore on Monday night, and then finish off with home victories against Kolkata and Mumbai to ensure that their fate isn't dependent on others. After a blistering start to the competition, the wheels have slowly come off. This loss, despite three stunning catches and clear superiority in the field, will hurt a lot more than most.
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D/L and questionable decisions strike again.
 
alf101 said:
And twats throwing paper on the field.
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You reckon they were throwing it? The commentator insinuated as much but with wind like that I pretty much think it would have ended up on the field anyway. Even the advertising boards and banners on the stadium roof were blowing off... and the players dugout!
 
They should have continued. Why call off the game for wind FFS? Bunch of fking babies!
 
Wow, the royal challengers are poor...caught highlights of their slaughter at the hands of Rajastan.

Tough times...
 
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