IPL 4: Kochi script yet another upset against Chennai

Kochi Tuskers Kerala yet again scripted an improbable victory against the defending champions Chennai Super Kings with 7 wicket victory to register their first win at home.

Ravindra Jadeja hit the winning runs with 13 balls to spare as Tuskers overhauled the modest target of 131 in the rain affected match at Nehru stadium on Monday. With this win Tuskers move into the fourth position in the points table and Chennai slip down to fifth.

Brad Hodge and Ravindra Jadeja made sure that there were no more hiccups to the Tuskers chase after the dismissal of Parthiv Patel who played a handy knock of 34 of 26 deliveries before holding out at deep mid wicket.

Earlier, Brendon McCullum’s whirlwind innings of 47 which proved to be the mainstay for Kochi chase came to and as he was holed out at long off trying for another maximum. This put the match hanging in a balance assuring a thrilling end.

After bludgeoning R Aswhin for a massive six and a four, skipper Mahela Jayawardene paid the price for being over ambitious as he miscued a big heave the very next ball to be caught by Aniruddha Srikanth.

Kochi Tuskers were off to a stellar start as McCullum clubbed Morkel for a massive 87m six in the very first over. Doug Bollinger playing in his first match of this edition looked rusty. Both the openers were at ease against the new bowl attack of Albie Morkel and Bollinger.

In the first half of the match, Chennai Super Kings managed to get a defendable score of 131 courtesy a late flourish, which saw the big hitting Albie Morkel and Dhoni hit two sixes in the final over bowled by Ravindra Jadeja.

A well set Suresh Raina who scored a half century gave away his wicket as he slipped on the pitch to get run out courtesy a brilliant effort from the bowler, Thisara Perera.

Kochi had got their third breakthrough in the form of S Badrinath, trapped leg before for 19 off Ralphi Gomez. After play resumed, Tuskers were able to keep a check on the run rate. Raina and Badrinath regularly rotated the strike but struggled to clear the boundaries.

Due to the rain delay the match was reduced to 17 overs per innings

Prior to the rain delay, Thisara Perera had got the wicket of Murali Vijay with a good length delivery nipping back in to trap the right hander. Vijay was in a good form timing the ball well. He smashed 6 boundaries in his knock of 28 and was building a good partnership with Raina. Earlier Kochi were off to a good start getting the wicket of dangerous Mike Hussey.

Mike Hussey had edged a moving bowl to the keeper to give RP Singh his maiden wicket of this IPL. Hussey had hit two boundaries, both in the third man region, one a full blood cut, other a delicate nudge off RP Singh’s very first over.

Kochi Tuskers Kerala had won the toss and elected to bowl first against Chennai Superkings at Kochi. Kochi fielded a an unchanged squad that won against the formidable Mumbai Indians, whereas Doug Bollinger got his first game of this edition for Superkings.

(This article was first published in Zeecric.com)
http://cricket.zeenews.com/fullstory.aspx?nid=37749

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.