FIESTA de IPL: INDIANS THUMP AUTHORITY IN DEVIL’S DEN

Delhi Daredevils got a taste of their own medicine as excellent batting display and immaculate bowling performance propelled the Mumbai Indians to the top of the table vanquishing the ever dangerous Delhi by 98 runs.

TEAMS

MUMBAI INDIANS: There was no need for Sachin Tendulkar to make any changes in his squad, but again if you have the costliest player coming in and a player of Dwayne Bravo’s caliber; you are bound to make that change for sure. West Indian Keiron Pollard came in for Ryan Maclaren as Ali Murtaza had to sit out for Bravo, Rayadu and Tiwary were in good knick and a big score was definitely on the cards.

DELHI DAREDEVILS: Punjab and Rajasthan did not pose any serious competition for the Devils, so this was definitely the first litmus test for them in IPL 3.Gambhir, the captain had to show his class in this match, Gambhir fielded an unchanged squad.

Delhi won the toss and elected to bowl first.

GENIUS AT WORK

The mainstay of Delhidardevils, Dirk Nannes did not have the start he would have expected against two legends, starting of with 3 wides on the trot as he over pitched one to Sachin who got it past the cover region with ease for the first boundary. Sachin had started of ominously. Daredevils missed couple of run out chances and the little master went on at his business striking the ball neat and clean, Things worsened for Delhi as captain Gautam Gambhir had to limp back to the dugout due to a pulled hamstring. Substitute Yogesh Nagar though made his presence felt with a stunner of a catch to dismiss the dangerous Jayasurya. Tendulkar though continued nonchalantly picking up the gaps beautifully and timing, exquisite. Aditya Tare seemed to have a gameplan, he just tried to whack every ball, and after failing to connect two pulls, he smashed one over the midwicket boundary of Pradeep Sangwan, Sangwan later got his revenge knocking over Tare. Promising Saurabh Tiwary joined the Little Master as spinners operated from both ends. Tendulkar after delicately placing the ball to third man boundary and dancing down the wicket for a full blooded on drive got holed out at long off, 63 of 32, Tendulkar had done his job.

YOUTHFUL EXUBERENCE

Amabati Rayadu then joined Tiwary as both continued their good form from the first match maintaining the 10 run per over rate. While Tiwary used his feet against the spinners playing them on full, Rayadu decided to utilize the crease shifting his weight to the backfoot clearing the rope with ease on quite a few occasions. By the time Rayadu and Tiwary departed, the later hitting his consecutive 50, the stage was set for Pollard and Bravo to provide the late fireworks. The inning’s final over bowled by Ladda yielded 14 runs and the score was a mammoth 218.

BRISK START

With a batting line up that of the devils, no target was improbable, Dilshan and Sehwag  showed glimpses of that as they amassed 33 of 3 overs, Dilshan scored his first IPL 3 runs smashing Zaheer Khan towards the mid off boundary. Sehwag flicked with vengeance while Dilsan improvised innovatively.

DEVILS COME CRASHING DOWN

The decisive blow was given by Malinga as he foxed his counterpart Dilshan with a slower one; the off stump did a cart wheel. AB De Villiers came in dispatching the very first ball for 4, timing immaculate. In order to up the run rate, Sehwag tried to clear the long off, but with Bravo’s medium pace he failed, Rayadu taking a straight forward catch. Sehwag back in the hood, the same over resulted in the demise of De Villiers. Mahroof and Karthik came in; no signs of Gambhir yet. Delhi were in a spot of bother. Kathik hit three pure cricketing shots for boundaries, he needed to hit a dozen more but when he was brilliantly stumped by Aditya Tare, the spot of bother had turn into a black hole for revival. Mahroof hit some lusty blows to reach 28, the highest for the devils, but the only thing left to see was how big the margin will be. Eventually Harbhajan knocked over Nannes. A 98 runs defeat, Mumbai went on top of the table.

MI 2_ DD 2   

FIESTA de IPL: CHARISMATIC KALLIS ANCHORS BANGLORE

A batting paradise conquered by the throwback named Jacques Kallis, he is probably the most critiqued player, deemed not fit for T20, but what conspired on that 22 yard strip of Chinnaswamy Stadium is perhaps the best reply the ace all rounder could have given. Building an innings is considered a substratum for any batsmen, but it’s a rarity in the crash bang version and so is Kallis, a rare species of genius. He built an innings of substance and blossomed into variance.

THE MYRIAD

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE: Their first game at home was all the more important as they looked for their first win of IPL3.Boucher was in for Van De Merwe as Goswami was benched for Vinay Kumar.

KINGS XI PUNJAB: A comprehensive lose to Daredevils delineated the loopholes for the Punjab outfit, openers needed to give the firepower, though Bopara looked convincing, middle order needed to click and bowlers had to bowl with much  more conviction. Sangakarra dropped Romesh Pawar for offie Bipul Sharma.

Sangakarra won the toss elected to bat first

KINGS XI TO A ROYAL START

Bopara started of well and looked to play the sheet anchor role as both Styen and Kallis treated Manvinder Sultansingh Bisla with an array of short balls, Bisla though not at all convincing against the pacy short ones, was caught in awkward positions, edging and trying to duck, but he survived the adrenaline rush of the Bangalore bowlers. Bisla gradually made himself comfortable as he faced most of the strike in the powerplay. He edged his way to the boundaries and pulled twice of Kallis in majestic fashion, he has got his early nervousness out of the way. Bopara seemed to be content to play the second fiddle, as Bisla danced down the track hitting Kumble for an imperious long off six. He greeted Vinay kumar with another maximum. The duo amassed plenty of runs as Bangalore bowlers continually fed them length bowls.

By the end of 14^th over Punjab were 129/0 at a run rate of 9.21, 200 definitely on the cards. Bisla eventually got out and was soon followed by Yuvraj Singh. Jayawardene then stepped up his game with a wonderful cameo of 13 ball 26, innovation personified the Sri Lankan’s inning, as Bopara flourished in the final over. 204, was the target for the challengers.

GUTSY ONSET

Sangakarra hoped that his bowlers would exploit bowling under lights to make some early inroads. Sreesanth and Pathan though got the ball to swing, but they were not penetrative enough as Kallis and Manish Pandey played out the first few overs cautiously, more importantly without losing a wicket. It was infact in 5^th over Kallis walloped a half tracked from Yusuf Abdulla towards the midwicket boundary for the first six. Pandey then showed some aggression favouring the on side and taking  18 of Pathan’s over. Chawala was introduced into the attack, who bowled in a perfect rhythm reading the batsmen cleverly, resulting a Manish Pandey wicket, Pandey had  played his part with a quick fire 38 of 25.Kallis on the other hand also played some handsome strokes but rotated the strike regularly.

ROBIN’S FUROR

Robin Uthappa came to the crease, as commentator Russel Arnold described him as one of India’s underachiever, truly so, a class act seldom seen to play an innings of substance, and now here was his chance at atonement and he it grabbed with both hands, brutality prevailed as he hit Chawla for consecutive boundaries, then Abdulla for a long on six and a four, before unleashing a torrent of sixes of sreesanth, 25 from that over, tide had shifted to the Royal Challengers ancillary. Robin raced to a 19 ball 50, second fastest in IPL. He is one of the exotic breed whose brute force is as elegant as it can get.

KALLIS SEALS IT

Bipul Sharma had a good start to his IPL career picking up Uthappa in his very first over, as Kohli walked to the middle, I thought Morgan would have been a better choice, but when Virat hit a six courtesy a dropped catch by M.Kaif, the Chinnaswamy crowd roared like anything chanting RCB. Kallis impelled after a valiant knock of 62 of 48 as he hammered Bipul Sharma for 3 humungous hits towards the deep midwicket region. The game was set and duly so Kallis hit the winning runs with an over to spare, he ended up at 89 not out in 53 balls becoming the highest run getter of IPL 3 and a proud holder of orange cap.

RCB 1 _ KXIP 0

FIESTA de IPL: ANNIHILATATION BY PRINCE OF NAJAFGARH

DEVILS AND ROYALS

DELHI DAREDEVILS: On paper this is the best team of IPL, most well balanced side, everyone expects them to reach no less than the semifinals stages. With enough ammunition to destroy any bowling attack, batting is definitely their strong point, but one aspect that makes Delhi Daredevils more lethal is the performance of their non international players like Pradeep Sangwan, Mithun Manhas, Yo Mahesh and Sarbjeet Ladda.

RAJASTHAN ROYALS: A close finish in their opener, the royals were not at all disheartened, as big things were expected from Yusuf Pathan once again. Warne fielded an unchanged squad for their home match in Motera.

Delhi Daredevils won the toss and elected to field first

DIRK NANNES AS USUAL, DELHI ON TOP

Dirk Nannes has been a revelation for the devils since his inclusion in the Delhi team. After a wayward first over by Mahroof which yielded 14 runs, Nannes produced a stellar of an over beating the batsmen on many occasion and also got rid of Asnodkar.  Mahroof was not at his bowling best as Naman Ojha displayed his might with the bat. He launched one over long off, after hitting two majestic boundaries of 1 Amit Mishra over, but his inexperienced undid him as in a greed to get more runs he could not pick up the googly and Mishra got his revenge. But the decisive blow was given by Mahroof as he cameback strongly after being drubbed in his first two overs, to dismiss Yusuf Pathan, Pathan tried to heave a slower one over long on to be caught in the deep by AB De villiers. It was good thinking on the part of Mahroof to pitch it a touch short without any pace as Pathan had to reach out and generate more power, which he was not able to do.

JHUNJHUNWALA SCRATCHES ROYALS OUT

Debutant Sarbjeet Ladda started of brilliantly, and didn’t hesitate in giving ample air to the ball. Pradeep Sangwan’s persistent resulted in Graeme Smith’s wicket, the Royals losing the plot. Abhishek Jhunjunwala and Paras Dogra were denied any kind of room by both the spinners as the run rate came down drastically to below 6.A partnership was the need of the hour, Jhunjhunwala and Dogra provided one; after being bogged down, they went for the kill, putting Sarbjeet Ladda to the sword in his final over hammering 17 runs. Rajasthan crossed the hundred run mark as in an attempt to accelerate; Dogra fell for 29.The dangerous Dimitri Mascarenhas proved to a flop as he was run out brilliantly without causing any stir. Jhunjhunwala held on reaching his maiden IPL 50 putting up a decent score of 141.

 PRINCE OF NAJAFGARH PREVAILS

As if he is playing for fun, Sehwag puts bat to bowl, and it flies all over the place. 2 boundaries of the first over, another couple of 4s of Tait’s second, a Six and a four of Munaf patel, the scorecard reads 40/0 of 3 overs of which 30 is scored by Sehwag. Mascarenhas came back and got Gambhir and Dilshan of consecutive balls, Royals might have seen a glimmer of hope, but Viru curtailed any kind of hope. His magnificent 34 ball 75 consisted of not a single miss hit, all pure cricketing shots, yet it can not be termed as brutal or barbarous, it was clinical at best. At the other end De villiers struggled to get going, but well no one bothered to care, Amit Uniyal was torn apart with precision ,Mascarenhas massacared skillfully, the only respect he gave was to Shane Warne ,may be considered his old age and nagging wrist. The game was all set before Sehwag miscued a slower one by Munaf and skied it, Graeme Smith took a Karbonn Kamal catch. Mithun Manhas was joined by Karthik and they ensured that Delhi gets 2 wins of 2 matches. Rajasthan Royals were yet to open their account.

FIESTA de IPL: DECCAN PLAY LIKE CHAMPS

SETUP

CHENNAI SUPERKINGS: Over the two IPL seasons, Chennai have been the most fearsome outfits, the most persistent team, Dhoni packed in power hitters for the opening match in the form Hayden, Kemp and Morkel. Ravichandran Ashwin got a place alongside Murlidharan.

DECCAN CHARGERS: It had been an ominous start for the defending champs, a win here for Gilchrist was a necessity. He named an unchanged team from the last match. Jaskaran Singh would have felt lucky to retain his position in the team.

Deccan Chargers won the toss and elected to bat

TORRID START

Adam Gilchrist had one plan, to lift his team to grand total, and he targeted the UP lad, Sudeep Tyagi for this, He hammered a full length ball outside off stump to produce the first six of the match, the second one followed a ball later in the same region, Gilly milked 19 of the over. Morkel’s third over yield 14 runs courtesy 2 fours and a 6 by Adam Gilchrist making him the first player to break the 1000 runs barrier in IPL. .Dhoni was forced to use his spinners in the power play and they duly obliged.

SPINNERS REBOUND

Murali conceded only 6 of his first over. Ravichandran Ashwin was geared to bowl the 4^th over and he fired in the first four balls giving away 2 wides and a boundary, Ashwin bowled the 5^th ball slower through the air enticing Gilchrist to come down the track and walaah, ball evaded the blade of the bat crashing into the off stump, a spinners delight, Dhoni’s ploy had worked, The captain of the Chargers back in the hood. The very next ball saw the demise of VVS Laxman courtesy sharp fielding by Suresh Raina. Superkings had recovered the early onset. Balaji and Kemp maintained the pressure created by the spinners, Ashwin in particular stood out through his variable length and diverse balls.

EXPERIENCE COMES IN HANDY

Gibbs and Symonds were bogged down for the majority of the innings but they ensured that their wickets were intact till the time came to accelerate; the early run rate set by Gilchrist gave both the experienced campaigners’ time to negotiate the spinners. but once they got their eye in the shots began to arrive, Symonds blasted Balaji for a six over long off and again his brute force prevailed. Both batsmen were eventually run out playing handy knock of 45 and 50.at the end of the 19th over the scorecard read 168/4.Dhoni took chance and gave the ball to tyagi, and was it, Suman and Rohit generated 22 of the final over to take the total to a hefty 190.

EARLY SETBACK

There was a lot of talk that Hayden will bring out his mongoose bat, but that was not to be as Chminda Vaas once again opened the bowling with conviction. Adam Gilchrist surprised many by giving the bowl to part timer Rohit Sharma as Hadyen hit him for a mammoth six. Vaas’s second over produced the wicket of Murali Vijay. Raina came in and without taking any time heaved a short pitch delivery toward the mid wicket boundary for a maximum, but Vaas came back strongly as Raina tried to hit the ball hard rather than timing it resulting in a simple catch for Adam Gilchrist, Vaas had got his second. But Still Superkings batting depth meant that the game was not over yet. Hayden hit his second six of the innings of the bowling of R.P. Singh and he was looking dangerous. But it was Chaminda Vaas again coming to the resue, Hayden tried to scoop the ball over short fine leg, but with Vaas’s pace it was a disastrous shot selection, Hayden gone, Chennai were in a spot of bother.

Dhoni and Kemp tried to consolidate the innings as Jaskaran Singh was put to the sword in his very first over, he gave away 3 boundaries and a wide. But Pragyan Ojha and Rohit Sharma exploited the slowness of the Chennai pitch and continuously applied pressure on both Dhoni and Kemp. Kemp got a move on as he danced down the track to hit Ohja for a six, but when Ojha flighted the ball, Kemp was foxed to come out of the crease and a straight forward stumping by Gilchrist.

The superkings never recovered from that blow and when Dhoni was bowled by  Symonds, the last nailed in the superkings coffin was in its place, Albie morkel hit a few lusty blows little late in the innings. Superkings finished 31 runs short, a big blow to their IPL campaign.

FIESTA de IPL: KNIGHTS REBUFF THE CHALLENGE

LINEUP

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS: With a win under their belt, they aimed to carry the day at their home, the Eden Gardens. Rohan Gavaskar was in for Laxmi Ratan Shukla as Kolkata went in with 4 specialist bowlers.

BANGALORE ROYAL CHALLENGERS: To start of with a win is always important, and Banglore would know that a winning momentum can do wonders. Anil Kumble opted for young brigade for the opening match as Shreevats Goswami got a chance ahead of Boucher to accommodate Eion Morgan from the foreign recruit.

Knight riders won the toss and elected to field first.

KNIGHTS TAKE THE INITIATIVE

Kolkata stared of from where they had left the last game, succinct bowling spell, Charles Langeveldt and Ishant Sharma bowled a probing line well assisted by the slowness of the pitch. Bangalore gambled by putting Goswami alongwith Kallis to open even though they had Robin Uthappa in the playing eleven who eventually came at 5 down. The experienced campaigner Charles Langeveldt showered Goswami with an array of well directed bouncers, Goswami was getting wary at each dot delivery; he was moving to the leg side, trying to make room and throwing his bat at about everything. He charged down to another bouncer but was caught at third man. The revelation of 2^nd IPL Mansih Pandey walked out to the middle and walked back without troubling the scorers, Angelo Mathews picked up his first of the match. Another youngster Virat Kolhi also fell cheaply, as Murali Karthik smelled success in the first over itself. Eion Morgan showed glimpse of his approx. 99 lakh worth, when he lofted Brad Hodge coolly over the long off boundary for a maximum, but Karthik stuck again as Morgan’s reverse sweep attempt failed and had to pay the price with his wicket. Dravid tried to build a partnership, and he looked  be in good touch but unluckily Dravid dragged an inside edge to the wicket, Angelo Mathews got his second. At the other end Kallis hung on but was not at his ruthless best for sure. Eventually he survived till the end to post a total of 135 courtesy a massive six and a four of the final over. Angelo Mathews finished with an impressive 4-19 in allotted 4overs.

CLINICAL RUNCHASE

Manoj Tiwary and Brad Hodge had no pressure at all, 136 in any kind of pitch is very gettable.Praveen Kumar and Kallis started of with an intention of picking up early wickets, Tiwary and Hodge though started of slowly but denied any success for the bowlers upfront. But after a farce mix-up, where Tiwary picked up an ankle injury, he stepped on the acceleration crashing Kllis to 2 fours and a six. Tiwary continued as he hoisted Styen for a long off maximum. Hodge joined the party with 2 consecutive boundaries as Kolkata cruised to 52 in 5 overs. Kumble himself came in to bowl the last power play over, but Tiwary with deft touch past backward point and a powerful slog treated himself with couple of fours .Van de Merwe and Anil Kumble restrict the run flow but fail to get any breakthrough. For major part of the innings both Brad Hodge and Tiwary rotated the strike with odd boundaries in between. Van De Merwe got the breakthrough a bit late though, pouncing on a sharp return catch of Tiwary and Hodge getting holed out at long on. Both gone for a well made half centuries. Pujara joined Dada as the equation read 20 runs from 30 balls.No alarm bells rang in KKR camp till now, as Ganguly and Pujara accumulated singles and inched closer to victory. Dada then hit Styen for a mammoth six, typical Dadagiri, getting his front foot out of the way, the ball sailed over long off. Eden Garden Erupted. Ultimately Pujara and Shah completed the formality to hand KKR their second win in as many matches.

THE SHINING KNIGHT

There were many good performances, Angelo Mathews’s 4 -19, Tiwary and Hodge’s magnificent 50s, but the shining Knight at least for me was Eden Garden’s own Dada. Saurav Ganguly was at his tactical best as he rotated the bowlers splendidly, not allowing the batsmen to settle down for one kind of bowling, his field placements were spot on and icing on the cake ,The trademark dads six over long off. He can not  get it wrong at Eden, can he???

FIESTA de IPL: DAREDEVILS TAME LIONS OF PUNJAB

KINGS AND DEVILS

KINGS XI PUNJAB: Lead by Kumara Sangakkara the Mohali outfit opted for two genuine spinners for a lively pitch and included Manvinder Bisla of Haryana ahead of his more flamboyant counterpart, Karan Goel. Kings have lead the Daredevils 3 – 1 in head to head encounters in IPL.

DELHI DAREDEVILS: They could be termed as the proverbial chockers of IPL, two semifinals finishes in last two editions, Daredevils lead by new captain Gautam Gambhir would be eyeing to do one step better this season . They opted to bench explosive David Warner for an extra bowler in Farveez Mahroof, alongside speedster Dirk Nannes and young sensation Pradeep Sangwan and YO Mahesh with Amit Mishra being the only spinner.

Delhi won the toss and elected to field first.

KINGS SUCCUMB TO DEVILS PLAY

Ravi Bopara and Manvinder Bisla walked out to the middle in a hope to give their team a flying start but Dirk Nannes started of as usual with speed, swing and conviction. The first over yielded only a single and a direct hit from Mithun Manhas put Manvinder Bisla back to the hood. The opening bowlers Dirk Nannes and Mahroof extract maximum bounce and swing making batsmen’s life a misery. After a lusty blow straight over the top of bowler Mahroof, Sangakarra departed soon followed by Yuvraj and immediately superseded by Jayawerdene for a golden duck. After 7 overs scorecard reads 49/4 in favour of the Devils. Bopara on the other end played himself in negotiating the good deliveries and pouncing on the loose one with good effect. Irfan Pathan joined Bopara and scored a handy 21 of 15 before being foxed by Dilsan. Good captaincy shown by Gauti to give the ball to Dilsan who has the knack of taking wickets at crucial juncture. When Bopara was holed out in deep square leg of the bowling of Yo Mahesh, all hopes of a late flourish smoked out and in the end Kings managed to put up a decent but below par 142.

KINGS RESURGENCE, GAUTIS PURSUANCE

When Virender Sehwag is on the crease, Devils look formidable and others mere minions, but when Sehwag departs the roles are reversed and that’s what exactly Southern Sizzler Sreesanth did for Kings XI Punjab. After many months Sree looked sharp for the first time and bowled full to produce sterling out swingers. Sehwag and Dilsan out in the second over itself and Devils where in a spot of bother. Pathan and Sree exploited the new ball, and bowled superbly to put Delhi in the same position as they were while batting. The good work by the opening bowlers was carried on by Yusuf Abdulla and Piyush Chawla as they stuck to the basics giving away nothing building pressure on Gambhir and AB De Villers. The stress showed as AB went for a non existent single eventually getting run out. Dinesh Karthik came in and scratched his way to 18 balls 20 before getting caught at long off. Amidst all this ataxia, Gambhir was determined nudging the ball here and there and producing some exquisite cuts and paddle sweep to keep his team in the hunt. The veteran Mithun Manhas joined Gauti and he played excellently without any urgency rotating the strike and running hard between the wickets. The match looked like to be hanging in a balance, until Sangakarra introduced off spinner Romesh Pawar into the attack in the 14^th over as Gambhir launched his assault over the spinner, milking 16 of the over. Mithun and Gauti continued to inch closer to victory without any further fuss. The 19 over saw Pathan drop a sitter of Manhas, and when Manhas crashed one into the fence, Pathan would have thought that he had dropped the match. Gambhir assured a victory hitting the 5^th ball of the penultimate over high superbly over long off for a 6.The equation read 4 from 6, though Gauti got out for a valiant 72 of 53 Mithun Manhas and Mahroof ensured a clinical victory for the Devils.

THE REAL DEVIL

Captain Gautam Gambhir proved to the deciding factor in the match as he guided his beasts from hell to victory, a real captain’s knock this will definitely boost his morale in the coming matches both as captain and a batsmen.

FIESTA de IPL: MI SURVIVE A PATHAN BLITZKRIEG

A Butcher with a knife would have looked more civilized than Yusuf Pathan with a piece of wood. It was onslaught at its best as powerhouse Pathan brought up the first ton of IPL-3 in ridiculously 37 deliveries, second fastest in the history of T20 format, yet his team was not able to pull of the victory against Mumbai Indians.

SQUAD

Mumbai Indians: After finishing in the bottom 4 on previous editions of IPL, MI were keen to start of with a winning note. The Master blaster alongside Jayasurya ,Zaheer and Lastish Malinga had the ICL recruits Ali Murtaza, Ambati Rayadu, and Rajgopal Satish for this opening encounter.

Rajasthan Royals: Warne opted for Speedster Shaun Tait, Mascarenhas and Graeme Smith, as he rested Munaf and Siddharth Trivedi for debutant Amit Uniyal and Imran Khan.

Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to bat first

DETONATIVE START

Jayasurya started the proceedings with an array of boundaries with the very first over milking Mascarenhas for 13 runs. Tait bowled the second over with conviction Sachin greeted him with disdain. Amit Uniyal’s very first IPL over yielded him with the wicket of Jayasurya, a clever slower one, jayasurya out LBW. Tait bowled off radar conceding 5 wides in a single over, not an ominous start for the Royals as Sachin leg glanced and cover drived Uniyal for two exquisite boundaries before Aditya Tare launched one over the boundary line, Mumbai Indians to a stellar of a start.

YOUNG BRIGADE TAKE CHARGE

Mascarenhas returned strongly to pick up Sachin and Tare in the same over, bringing Amabati Rayadu and young Saurabh Tiwary to the crease. Rayadu started of well flicking Mascarenhas for 4 before dancing down the track flicking Warne to mid wicket, class written all over it. Tiwary joins the party with powerful drives and back foot jabs as both the lads accumulate runs maintaining the 10 runs per over rate, for most part of the innings scoring their maiden half centuries in the process. A 19 runs 14^th over bowled by Abhishek Jhunjhunwala assures Indians a score par 200. Mumbai Indians end up with their highest total of 212/6, but a Shuan Tait full toss hits Harbhajan on the knee roll, the turbanator has to retire hurt.

ROYALS DISINTEGRATE

Fantasitc opening spell by Zaheer Khan and Ryan McLaren backed up by superb fielding puts royals to the wall; by the end of 7^th over royals were 43/3 with asking rate over 15.MI were definitely on top as Malinga castled one more in the 10^th over. The first half surely belonged to the Indians.

PATHAN PANDEMONIUM

The firework instigates; Yusuf Pathan blasts three consecutive sixes, one over long on, another over mid wicket and third past long off. The 11^th over reads 1, 6, 4, 4, 6, 1wd, 4

Sachin gives the bowl to Ryan Mclaren, and after a lengthy deliberation the long on is brought inside the ring, clearly hinting full length deliveries. But there is nothing to stop this powerhouse; he digs out Yorker length deliveries to 4.Indians looked perplexed.  In a matter of 2 overs, the current run rate and required rate becomes equal, and Rajasthan royals sense something marvelous. A tight Malinga and Zaheer over puts the pressure back on the batsmen, but Pathan continues his rampage with 2 sixes and a 4 of one Jayasurya over. Pathan gets his hundred of just 37 deliveries which includes 9 boundaries and 8 maximums. Satish is back into the attack after a total drubbing by Yusuf, first ball to Pathan’s silent partner Dogra, he hits the ball straight back to the bowler, and Satish whips of the bail, third umpire rules the decision in favor of the bowler , and Mumbai Indians suddenly look a happy bunch, Pathan departs after a whirlwind innings. Yet the drama continues as Dogra launches a late attack with two sixes and couple of boundaries.

The equations reads 19 from 12.With Zaheer and Malinga to bowl, the Indians look like to be the favorites. Finally, the seasoned campaigners hold on to their nerves and produce 2 near perfect overs, the Mumbai Indians wrap up the match, maybe in hope of not experiencing the blitzkrieg like this for the entire tournament.

MI 1 _ RR 0

FIESTA de IPL: THE KNIGHTS OVERWHELM THE CHARGERS

 LEGIONS

Deccan Chargers – They dwelled at the bottom of the table for most of the Season 1; Season 2 witnessed their phoenix like rise from the ashes The defending Champs lead by the inspirational Adam Gilchrist wanted a win under their belt in their new home. Anirudh Singh was making his debut, with Gilly, Laxman, Gibbs, Symo and Rohit completing the famed batting array.

Kolkata Knight Riders – After a nightmarish Season 2, KKR and SRK would have been more than happy to return to India. They have to prove a point in this season, and what better way than a win. Highly rated Cheteswara Pujara, was in the eleven consisting of stalwarts Dada, Hodge, Ishant, Langeveldt.

Deccan won the toss and elected to field first.

EARLY SETBACK

Chaminada Vaas, the wily old fox, struck gold in the very first over, Tentative Manoj Tiwary gone for a nought, Dada followed 3 balls later, Late swing undoing both the batsmen. Chargers were of to an awesome start. Pujara showed glimpses of his art through two exquisite leg glances; Harsha Bhogle was reminded of the bequest this Saurashtra lad was carrying forward, legacy of the great Ranjitsinhji. Hodge targeted the nervous Jaskaran Singh with good effect; KKR seemed to be get going. Pujara departed when he failed to clear Pragyan Ojha stationed at mid on and when Jaskaran got the wicket of Hodge, the scorecard read 31- 4 in 5.1 overs. A Deccan Chargers steamroll was on the cards.

CONSOLIDATION

Angelo Mathews hit his very first ball into the stands for a maximum and there on started the comeback process, alongside Owais Shah he knitted a 130 run partnership to build a reasonable target and a late flourish ensured that the chargers needed to score at over 8 to open their account in the IPL. Ojha bowled with conviction though R.P was disappointing.

THE CHASE

Gilly and Laxman started of rather cautiously, while KKR embarked with sloppy fielding. Hodge dropped Gilly in the second over and Gilchrist made KKR pay with 2 successive boundaries in the very same over. Ever tried Bhatuure with sambhar, well,

Laxman was pretty much in that kind of a situation. The ever elegant Hyderbadi was trying to slog every other ball, and that too to some good effect, eventually he was holed trying a slog against the spin of Murali Karthik, but not before giving his team a solid and decent start. Gilly on the other hand carried forward strongly with a trademark flick to deep square leg for a massive six. The captain reached his fifty with another inside out lofty hit for maximum. He seemed to be in a hurry, but when Brad Hodge turned his arm for the first time, it yielded with a Gilchrist wicket, probably the turning point of the match.

PALTRY SHOT SELECTION

The wicket of Adam Gilchrist somewhat threw open the floodgates and poor shot selection led to Deccan loosing grip over the match. Karthik, Mathews and Shukla bowled brilliantly in the middle overs giving away nothing, sticking to basics. After a very subdued 24 ball vigil Gibbs tried to show some aggression, dancing down the pitch reaching out for an outside off stump delivery and throwing his wicket away. Symonds went similarly attempting to pull of a wide short pitch ball in no position to play that shot. Rohit sharma was undone by superb slower short pitch  by Angelo Mathews and KKR were in with a chance. Some tidy bowling in the fag end of the innings put pressure on Deccan batsmen, eventually the bowlers coming out triumphant.

KKR 1 _ DC 0

MAN AT ARMS

Clearly Angelo Mathews was the Shining Knight both with the bat and bowl, aptly supported by Owais Shah. He is not only a power hitter to the core but a sensible cricketer with brains. He will definitely prove to be a cardinal force for the Knight Riders in the coming matches.