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.