World Of T20 Cricket

Each apparently content in their post-international careers, Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds and Chaminda Vaas still have the ability and sheer presence to turn a team’s mood upside down in one evening, proving that the IPL is as much about cool heads and years of experience as it is about youthful exuberance. Gilchrist began by winning the toss and larruping 38 from 17 balls, becoming the first batsman in the IPL to reach 1000 runs, Symonds overcame a sluggish start to slam the game’s only half-century, and Vaas snuffed out Chennai Super Kings’ chase with three wickets in his opening burst. The result was that the defending champions Deccan Chargers smoothed over their opening-day loss to Kolkata Knight Riders with a professional win.

This win was set up by Deccan’s batsmen, namely their three big overseas imports. A frenetic burst at the start, powered by Gilchrist, was followed by a sedate period when Deccan were tied down by Chennai’s assortment of spinners and medium-pacers, but the decisive spell that followed went the visitors’ way. Herschelle Gibbs’ innings was nowhere near as manic as his captain’s but it proved far more valuable, because he saw out a tough period on a surface with variable bounce and then accelerated at the end.

Symonds proved a good ally, initially playing second fiddle to Gibbs – at one stage he was 3 off 17 balls and then soared to 50. Gibbs and Symonds fell in succession, after getting Deccan past 150, and a 22-run final over, bowled by two men due to Sudeep Tyagi’s full-toss barrage, left Chennai needing 191 to win. Chennai conceded 63 in the last five overs and that proved to be the decisive period of the match.

Gilchrist, who at the toss said matter-of-factly that he wasn’t too concerned at his team’s first loss, set the tone by smashing Sudeep Tyagi’s first over for 18 runs. Albie Morkel was also tonked for fun runs and after three overs the score was 41 for 0. A double-wicket over from R Ashwin, called on to bowl the fifth over, changed the mood in the stadium and forced Deccan to consolidate. Ashwin was taken off after that big over and from 55 for 2 Deccan added just 12 runs in the next four overs.

Match Meter DC The early onslaught: Adam Gilchrist’s assault in the second and third over off Sudeep Tyagi and Albie Morkel yielded 33 runs, leading an aggressive start DC CSK Double blow: In the fifth over, with R Ashwin bowling, Chennai fought back to remove the openers. Gilchrist was deceived in flight to be bowled, and Laxman was run-out the next ball. DC Experienced hands step it up: The 95-run stand for the second wicket which lasted 12.3 overs set the foundation for a testing Deccan score. Gibbs and Symonds began slowly but opened up in timely fashion, striking seven fours and three sixes during their partnership. DC The failed gamble: MS Dhoni’s move to bring back Tyagi for the last over proved a major miscalculation, as T Suman and Rohit Sharma smashed him for 20 runs to stretch the total to 190. DC Vaas attack: The first five overs in the Chennai chase proved decisive, as Chaminda Vaas removed three aggressive batsmen – M Vijay, Suresh Raina and, Matthew Hayden to deliver an irreparable setback to the hosts. Advantage Honours even

Upon resumption after the strategic time-out, Gibbs created a few risk-free shots to keep the runs flowing. Justin Kemp, on his IPL debut, was taken for two calculated fours, wrists rolled on both occasions, and Muttiah Muralitharan was reverse-paddled to third man. Murali didn’t offer the batsmen any room and that meant they had to try different scoring options to make runs. Symonds had been especially bogged down after failing to score off Murali, Ashwin and Kemp, who in 16 balls allowed him just three singles, but in L Balaji’s second over he carved a six and four off consecutive deliveries to move to 14 from 20 balls.

A 95-run stand off 75 balls was ended when Morkel fielded and hit the stumps off his own bowling to send back Gibbs at the start of the 18th over, and five balls later Symonds was caught a frame short of his crease for 50 off 43 balls. Chennai had a good chance to keep Deccan down, but Tyagi’s horror evening culminated with Rohit Sharma and T Suman flogging three fours and a six before a second beamer ruled him out after five deliveries. Kemp bowled the final ball and allowed just one, but Deccan went into the interval all charged up.

That drive was clearly channeled into their effort in the field. Before this tournament few outside the Deccan camp would have backed Vaas to feature heavily for the defending champions, given that he had played just seven games in the past two seasons for indifferent returns. But for the second game running, he jolted the opposition top order with a double-wicket over, and by the time he took his third wicket, that of the bulwark Matthew Hayden, Chennai were hemorrhaging at 31 for 3. It was simple stuff; pitch straight, get some cut, let the batsmen cope with the rest. As he had in Mumbai, Vaas even snuck in a maiden over. It was top stuff.

Vaas began his second over by cleaning up M Vijay with an inside edge, had Suresh Raina pull him for six, but when he pitched fuller Raina was lured into a fatal prod to Gilchrist. Much was made of Hayden’s expected use of the Mongoose bat, but he came out with a normal piece of willow and fell for just 17, paddling Vaas to RP Singh at short fine leg. Pragyan Ojha struck with his third ball to get S Badrinath miscuing an attempted inside-out drive to long-off and at the end of the Powerplay, Chennai were 37 for 4.

Even a 16-run Jaskaran Singh over, during which Dhoni and Kemp plundered boundaries, didn’t deter Deccan. Symonds came on to bowl some seam-up stuff and cleaned up Dhoni (42 from 29), and in the next over Rohit struck to leave Chennai at 115 for 7. Symonds capped a good evening with a second wicket and Chennai finished on 159, a total that owed much to Morkel’s belligerent 42.

	Deccan Chargers innings (20 overs maximum)		R	B	4s	6s	SR
	AC Gilchrist*†	b Ashwin	38	17	4	3	223.52
	4.4 bowled’im, Gilchrist has been sent back, slower through the air and gave it some flight, Gilchrist stepped out of his crease to crack it through the leg side, it landed on leg to spin away and beat the swing of the bat to crash into middle and off 55/1
	VVS Laxman	run out (Raina/†Dhoni)	12	11	2	0	109.09
	4.5 Ashwin to Gibbs, Do we have a run out? Gibbs nudges it into the leg side in front of square leg, Raina charges forward and flicks an accurate throw to the keeper, there is hesitation out in the middle and Laxman is late to react to the single and is found short as Dhoni collects and whips out the bails 55/2
	HH Gibbs	run out (Morkel)	45	36	5	1	125.00
	17.2 Morkel to Symonds, run-out, excellent fielding by Morkel off his own bowling, yorker length outside off, digs it out back to the bowler who collects with his outstretched left hand, turns around and aims accurately at the stumps at the non-striker’s end to find Gibbs well short. Some problem with the light again, though the umpires in the middle have been given the word that Gibbs is gone. 150/3
	A Symonds	run out (Hayden)	50	43	3	3	116.27
	18.1 Balaji to Sharma, appeal for a run-out, it’s played just in front of Hayden at extra cover, he picks it up and hurls an accurate throw at the non-striker’s end after Symonds, halfway through the pitch, is sent back, replays indicate he is just inches short of the crease, timely wicket for Chennai, just when a late surge had been initiated 160/4
	RG Sharma	not out	19	10	2	1	190.00
	TL Suman	not out	10	5	2	0	200.00
	Extras	(b 2, lb 3, w 9, nb 2)	16
	Total	(4 wickets; 20 overs)	190	(9.50 runs per over)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	JA Morkel	4	0	41	0	10.25	(1w)
	S Tyagi	1.5	0	39	0	21.27	(2nb)
	M Muralitharan	4	0	28	0	7.00	(4w)
	R Ashwin	4	0	26	1	6.50	(2w)
	4.4 to Gilchrist, bowled’im, Gilchrist has been sent back, slower through the air and gave it some flight, Gilchrist stepped out of his crease to crack it through the leg side, it landed on leg to spin away and beat the swing of the bat to crash into middle and off 55/1
	L Balaji	4	0	36	0	9.00	(1w)
	JM Kemp	2.1	0	15	0	6.92	(1w)

	Chennai Super Kings innings (target: 191 runs from 20 overs)		R	B	4s	6s	SR
	M Vijay	b Vaas	3	6	0	0	50.00
	2.1 bowled’im! Some movement inward but that was always heading just one way, M Vijay gave him the charge and tried to smash him over midwicket, swung hard, got an inside edge and the leg stump was knocked off 12/1
	ML Hayden	c Singh b Vaas	17	11	0	2	154.54
	4.1 gone! Hayden’s dismissal is quite similar to Misbah’s in the World Twenty20 final in 2007, Vaas bowled it fullish on the off, Hayden bent low, went across and tried to scoop it over short fine but found more elevation than he would have desired, RP, waiting patiently, moved a few steps to his right and held on to a well-judged catch. What a blow! 31/3
	SK Raina	c †Gilchrist b Vaas	6	3	0	1	200.00
	2.4 Vaas bites back! Another audacious attempt but Raina falters this time, it’s short and wide, he makes room to cut it hard through point, gets a thick outside edge and Gilchrist reacts well, moving quickly to his left to snap a sharp one 18/2
	S Badrinath	c Singh b Ojha	5	12	1	0	41.66
	5.3 Badrinath has holed out, tossed up outside off and he saw the invitation, moved away and tried to loft him wide of long-off but couldn’t, found the fielder who just had to take a few steps to his left. The pressure was building with all those dot balls, and Chennai’s chase has been dealt another setback 32/4
	JM Kemp	st †Gilchrist b Ojha	22	16	1	1	137.50
	9.6 Ojha has his revenge, beautifully bowled, deceived the batsman in flight and altered his length to hold it back, it landed on the off stump as Kemp charged forward and tried to play it into the off side, and turned away to beat his reach while Gilchrist did the rest. Chennai are sinking, but Dhoni’s still there 70/5
	MS Dhoni*†	b Symonds	42	29	3	2	144.82
	14.6 Symonds gets the decisive blow, appeared to hurry on to Dhoni, short of a good length on middle, Dhoni, playing from the crease, tried to whip that through midwicket, missed and was bowled 108/6
	JA Morkel	not out	42	26	1	3	161.53
	R Ashwin	c Singh b Sharma	0	1	0	0	0.00
	15.3 Ashwin goes first ball, he struck that well but RP, who’s had a great day with catches, snaps another testing one, lofted inside out and he ran a few yards from long-off to stretch at just the right time and clasp it with both hands 115/7
	L Balaji	c Anirudh Singh b Singh	15	10	1	1	150.00
	17.5 the entertainment ends, bowls it full on the off, makes room and tries to clear extra cover but can’t, mistimes it straight to Anirudh 136/8
	M Muralitharan	lbw b Symonds	1	2	0	0	50.00
	18.1 Symonds strikes again, Murali, normally a batsman with plenty of spunk, has one of his off days, swinging across the line to a straight one on middle, is struck on the pads and we know the result 137/9
	S Tyagi	not out	3	4	0	0	75.00
	Extras	(w 3)	3
	Total	(9 wickets; 20 overs)	159	(7.95 runs per over)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	WPUJC Vaas	4	1	21	3	5.25
	2.1 to Vijay, bowled’im! Some movement inward but that was always heading just one way, M Vijay gave him the charge and tried to smash him over midwicket, swung hard, got an inside edge and the leg stump was knocked off 12/1 2.4 to Raina, Vaas bites back! Another audacious attempt but Raina falters this time, it’s short and wide, he makes room to cut it hard through point, gets a thick outside edge and Gilchrist reacts well, moving quickly to his left to snap a sharp one 18/2 4.1 to Hayden, gone! Hayden’s dismissal is quite similar to Misbah’s in the World Twenty20 final in 2007, Vaas bowled it fullish on the off, Hayden bent low, went across and tried to scoop it over short fine but found more elevation than he would have desired, RP, waiting patiently, moved a few steps to his right and held on to a well-judged catch. What a blow! 31/3
	RG Sharma	4	0	27	1	6.75
	15.3 to Ashwin, Ashwin goes first ball, he struck that well but RP, who’s had a great day with catches, snaps another testing one, lofted inside out and he ran a few yards from long-off to stretch at just the right time and clasp it with both hands 115/7
	RP Singh	3	0	30	1	10.00	(2w)
	17.5 to Balaji, the entertainment ends, bowls it full on the off, makes room and tries to clear extra cover but can’t, mistimes it straight to Anirudh 136/8
	PP Ojha	4	0	28	2	7.00
	5.3 to Badrinath, Badrinath has holed out, tossed up outside off and he saw the invitation, moved away and tried to loft him wide of long-off but couldn’t, found the fielder who just had to take a few steps to his left. The pressure was building with all those dot balls, and Chennai’s chase has been dealt another setback 32/4 9.6 to Kemp, Ojha has his revenge, beautifully bowled, deceived the batsman in flight and altered his length to hold it back, it landed on the off stump as Kemp charged forward and tried to play it into the off side, and turned away to beat his reach while Gilchrist did the rest. Chennai are sinking, but Dhoni’s still there 70/5
	Jaskaran Singh	1	0	16	0	16.00	(1w)
	TL Suman	1	0	8	0	8.00
	A Symonds	3	0	29	2	9.66
	14.6 to Dhoni, Symonds gets the decisive blow, appeared to hurry on to Dhoni, short of a good length on middle, Dhoni, playing from the crease, tried to whip that through midwicket, missed and was bowled 108/6 18.1 to Muralitharan, Symonds strikes again, Murali, normally a batsman with plenty of spunk, has one of his off days, swinging across the line to a straight one on middle, is struck on the pads and we know the result 137/9

written by Swapnil \\ tags: Chennai Super Kings, Deccan Chargers, IPL