RSS Feed   Twitter

Sunrisers through to the play offs

May 20th, 2013 abhishek rajan

Kolkata Knight Riders 130 for 7 (Yusuf Pathan 49, Dale Steyn 2-24)
Sunrisers Hyderabad 132 for 5 (Parthiv 47, Dhawan 42, Abdulla 3-29)

 

Kolkata-Knight-Riders-vs-Sunrisers-Hyderabad

KKR’s fan following had increased considerably before their last match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Apart from their own fans, the whole of Bangalore was supporting them too and hoping them to sneak in a win so that RCB could make it to the play offs.

But, the fans don’t win matches for you. It’s your performance on the field which determines which side you are going to end up. KKR once again played very ordinary cricket and although, Sunrisers crumbled a bit at the end, they eventually grabbed those 2 points which they required for a place in the play offs.

It was another dead track at Uppal and Gautam Gambhir decided to put runs on the board after winning the toss.

The run scoring was always going to be difficult on that wicket. It was a 130-sort of a track and the KKR batsmen seemed to have known that. They didn’t go for glory shots. They just looked to hang in there.

The run rate of KKR never climbed. It remained around 5 and a half till the 17th over. In the last three overs, Yusuf Pathan connected a few and that helped KKR get to 130 which was close to par on that wicket.

In chase, the Sunrisers’ openers blazed and had an 89-runs partnership between them. The Knight Riders were looking completely out of the game until the first wicket fell.

The asking rate was just around 5 and it was an easy task for the Sunrisers. But, as usual, they panicked and let the game slip away.

Sunil Narine sneaked in a maiden over in the meantime and the asking rate went over 7. It was game on at Uppal and if anything, the Knight Riders had their noses in front just because of the nature of the pitch and the kind of bowlers that they had.

However, Darren Sammy used his power to good effect in the penultimate over and smashed Iqbal Abdulla for a couple of massive sixes to finish things off. The whole SRH team ran on the ground as they were through to the play offs.

 

Delhi finished last with another defeat

May 19th, 2013 abhishek rajan

Pune Warriors India 172 for 5 (Finch 52, Wright 44, Kaul 2-27)
Delhi Daredevils 134 for 9 (Gautam 30, Mathews 3-14)

 

Watch-Live-Delhi-Daredevils-vs-Pune-Warriors-India-Match-39-28th-April-Online

It was a dead rubber, it was a match which didn’t have a great value, it was a match which was going to be played between two bottom placed teams, despite all these things, it was a full house at Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium and that was enough to motivate the home team.

An all round performance by Pune Warriors India gave them their 4th win of the season and made sure that they would not finish last in the table.

It was another slowish pitch at Pune and it was an easy decision for Aaron Finch to bat first as soon as the toss of the coin went in his favour.

Robin Uthappa looked to take the attack to the opposition right from the word go. He was throwing his bat at almost everything. Some cracking shots came off his bat and the Warriors were going at a good rate.

Uthappa was removed by Umesh Yadav in the 6th over, but, that didn’t slow down the run rate. Finch took over the charge and started smashing boundaries. The PWI skipper got another half century in the tournament before being dismissed by Siddharth Kaul.

Yuvraj Singh also perished just a few deliveries later and things were not looking good for Pune at 96 for 4.

But, the comeback man Luke Wright walked out in a counter attacking mood and with his muscular shots, he changed the scenario completely.

On a wicket which was looking difficult for batting, Wright found the fence with utmost ease and took the Warriors to a score of 172 which was at least 20 more than par.

In chase, Sehwag was again held back by the Daredevils management. But, this time, they were a little more sensible than the last time and sent Warner to open with Jayawardena. The move didn’t work though and Warner was out without even hitting a boundary.

Jayawardena also fell to Murtaza in the 5th over and that brought Sehwag at the wicket. He was underway with a couple of fours and was looking ominous before being holed out at sweeper cover trying to play an inside out drive.

A 50-odd runs partnership between CM Gautam and Irfan Pathan for the 6th wicket kept Delhi in the game for a short while, but, once Gautam fell to Mathews in the 17th over, the game was almost over.

The asking rate was more than 17 in the last three overs and that was out of reach. The Daredevils eventually remained 38 behind Pune’s total.

 

 

 

Captain Kohli kept his team alive

May 18th, 2013 abhishek rajan

Royal Challengers Bangalore 106 for 3 (Kohli 56*, Gayle 28)

Chennai Super Kings 82 for 6 (Vijay 32, Zaheer 4-17)
images

It started raining in Bangalore around 5 in the evening and it continued for about 5 hours or so. The match was in clear danger of being washed out, but, not even a single spectator in the Chinnaswamy moved from his seat. Their spirit forced even rain gods to show some mercy and then, the ground staff did an amazing job to make the ground ready for play in just 40 odd minutes.

The game which was a do-or-die one for RCB eventually began at 11 pm and it was an 8-over fixture.

The captains generally like to bat second in such short fixtures and MS Dhoni also did the same after winning the toss.

Since, it was an 8-over game, there was no point sending mediocre players up the order. The best players of a side had to be out there facing bulk of those 8 overs and that’s why, it was Virat Kohli who walked out with Chris Gayle to open the innings for the hosts.

Chris Gayle generally likes to have a bit of look in before going for full monty and he did nothing different yesterday as well. He was just looking to take singles in the first few overs and it was Virat Kohli who was the aggressor.

The RCB skipper was getting it from the meat of his blade right from the word go. He was going after everything and Gayle was happy playing the second fiddle.

However, the big Jamaican had to go bang bang at some point in time and he chose Jason Holder as his target. He smashed his countryman thrice out of the ground successively and suddenly, the run rate was over 12.

Bravo removed Gayle in the next over, but, that didn’t make much of a difference. Kohli continued on his merry way and with some big hits in the last couple of overs, he took his side past 100.

In chase, CSK didn’t get their tactics right. Instead of sending their big hitters up the order, they went with a normal batting order. That was a big mistake.
Murali Vijay never got going and neither did Bravo. They ate up too many deliveries as well and by the time Dhoni arrived at the wicket, the task was impossible. CSK eventually fell short by 24 runs.

 

 

 

 

« Older Entries
Powered by WordPress | Designed by: Premium WordPress Themes | Thanks to Themes Gallery, Bromoney and Wordpress Themes