World Of T20 Cricket

India, say hello to the Mongoose, the shorter, thicker bat with the longer handle. You already knew Matthew Hayden, but might have forgotten him momentarily after his ordinary start this year. On Friday, the two combined in a deadly manner. Hayden smacked 93 off 43 balls to almost singlehandedly chase down Delhi Daredevils’ imposing target. Delhi’s innings featured a similarly dominant effort. If Hayden scored 93 of the 142 while at crease, Virender Sehwag pummelled 74 out of 103.

That Hayden’s effort was longer meant Chennai Super Kings prevailed in the battle of superb fielding. Three good catches from Chennai’s stand-in captain, Suresh Raina, and a spectacular effort at the boundary from Justin Kemp, a near replica of his ICL catch, kept Delhi under 200. Tillakaratne Dilshan took a blinder charging in from long-on to deny Hayden a century, and Chennai a jitterless finish.

Delhi, and their new captain Dinesh Karthik, will wonder if they brought Dirk Nannes back too late – in the 13th over – and why the bouncer was not tried against the Mongoose. It was not as if Hayden necessarily needed the new bat to cause wreckage.

By the time he called out for the Mongoose, Hayden had already smashed four boundaries off his first nine balls. That may have given him the confidence to call for the newest beast in town. It was not as if Hayden necessarily needed the new bat to hit the five fours and seven sixes that followed in the next 34 deliveries he faced.

His hitting was so clean that it perhaps didn’t need the rumoured 20% extra bat power on most of the occasions. Only the second of three sixes in Dilshan’s over – the eighth of the innings – was mis-hit, but the ball managed to sail over wide long-on. That six also brought up his fifty, off 24 balls, and by the end of the over, he had reached 61, and Chennai 85.

Match Meter CSK DD Kemp steals a wicket: With Virender Sehwag hitting almost effortlessly, Chennai were looking at a target of over 200 when Justin Kemp produced a blinder at the long-off boundary in the 12th over CSK DD Raina takes three: Catches, that is, but they were important wickets that kept pulling the Delhi innings back, and might have saved Chennai a crucial 10-12 runs CSK DD The Mongoose comes out: Matthew Hayden had felt good about smacking four boundaries off nine balls when he called out for the innovative bat in the fourth over. The stage was set for an exhilarating spell of play CSK DD Dilshan brings Delhi back: After the havoc caused by Hayden and Mongoose, Tillakaratne Dilshan produced a special catch to give Delhi a sniff, and two quick wickets followed to leave Chennai at 167 for 4 after 18 overs CSK Vijay hastens victory: When Vijay walked in, Chennai needed 17 off 13. A six and a four in the 19th over reduced the equation to two needed off the final over Advantage Honours even

More down-the-ground carnage followed in the next four overs, and Hayden had reached 87 off 37 with Chennai needing just 57 off 48, when Nannes was called back. A tight over later, Hayden hit Amit Mishra powerfully down the ground, and Dilshan ran in and caught it inches off the ground. Would it have carried had it been hit with a normal bat?

Albie Morkel and Justin Kemp failed to contribute much, and the onus fell on Raina after Chennai lost three wickets for 27 runs. However, he kept picking up boundaries – six of them – whenever the equation started to look tricky, and his unbeaten 49 carried Chennai home with five balls to spare.

With the way Sehwag was going, though, Raina’s team was looking at a much bigger target. His 38-ball 74 came as easy as his strolled singles, but Chennai managed to create and latch on to more catching opportunities to slow down Delhi just about enough in the last eight overs.

Sehwag’s innings took about as much time as it took David Warner and Dilshan to struggle and get out, managing 21 off 32 between them. Sehwag was in the scoring zone right from the first ball he faced, flicking it neatly to midwicket. He found the middle of the bat and the gaps started appearing from the second ball on. In the first eight overs, he displayed almost the whole array of effective Twenty20 shots: hits down the ground, through extra cover, over wide long-on and midwicket, and the square-cut.

The first over he faced from Muttiah Muralitharan, though, was the highlight. He came down the track first ball, Murali bowled flat, he checked his shot. Anticipated a flat delivery next up, he stayed back and opened the face to beat short third man. The standout shot came later in the over when he waited even more and took the ball from in front of stumps, guiding it to the left of short third this time. By the end of that over, eighth of the innings, Sehwag had scored 61 off 28, out of the team’s total of 79.

Just in time, Kemp produced the moment of inspiration, jumping at the right time and taking a one-handed catch behind his body at the long-off boundary. Immediately before and after that, Raina produced two good catches to get rid of Dilshan and AB de Villiers.

With 7.3 overs still to go, there was time enough for either side to win or lose. Although the balance was retained, the 78 that Karthik, Mithun Manhas and Rajat Bhatia added proved to be inadequate when compared to Hayden and his Mongoose.

	Delhi Daredevils innings (20 overs maximum)		R	B	4s	6s	SR
	DA Warner	c Hayden b Balaji	6	8	1	0	75.00
	3.3 that’s a forehand crosscourt! Picked Hayden at midwicket, he fetches that from outside the off stump and flat-bats it, Hayden has to get across to his right to catch it, poor shot in the end, the bowling change works 35/1
	V Sehwag	c Kemp b Muralitharan	74	38	10	3	194.73
	11.4 Kemp take a bow! Sehwag waltzes down the track and tries to clear long-off but makes contact off the splice of the bat, the ball swirls in the air and Kemp takes it one handed and falls backward just inches from the rope 103/3
	TM Dilshan	c Raina b Muralitharan	15	24	1	0	62.50
	11.2 chips down the track and he tries to clear midwicket but he fails to keep it down, Raina’s alert and he takes it easily 102/2
	KD Karthik*†	lbw b Joginder Sharma	19	14	2	0	135.71
	16.2 the fuller delivery sends him back,close to a yorker length, Karthik bravely tries to sweep him away but the ball thuds his boot just outside the line of off stump 146/5
	AB de Villiers	c Raina b Ashwin	2	3	0	0	66.66
	12.3 The captain sets an example! Ashwin drags the ball short of a length and it doesn’t bounce as much to de Villiers’ liking, he pulls powerfully and Raina shows sharp reflexes at midwicket to fall to his right and pull it off 107/4
	M Manhas	not out	32	22	5	0	145.45
	R Bhatia	c Raina b Balaji	21	9	1	2	233.33
	19.2 Raina again! The captain’s not letting go of any today, Bhatia swings a slower delivery across the line and Raina charges to his right and pulls it off one-handed, timed his jump well 177/6
	A Mishra	not out	6	3	1	0	200.00
	Extras	(lb 4, w 5, nb 1)	10
	Total	(6 wickets; 20 overs)	185	(9.25 runs per over)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	JA Morkel	3	0	26	0	8.66	(1w)
	R Ashwin	4	0	40	1	10.00	(1w)
	12.3 to de Villiers, The captain sets an example! Ashwin drags the ball short of a length and it doesn’t bounce as much to de Villiers’ liking, he pulls powerfully and Raina shows sharp reflexes at midwicket to fall to his right and pull it off 107/4
	Joginder Sharma	4	0	43	1	10.75	(1nb)
	16.2 to Karthik, the fuller delivery sends him back,close to a yorker length, Karthik bravely tries to sweep him away but the ball thuds his boot just outside the line of off stump 146/5
	L Balaji	3	0	21	2	7.00
	3.3 to Warner, that’s a forehand crosscourt! Picked Hayden at midwicket, he fetches that from outside the off stump and flat-bats it, Hayden has to get across to his right to catch it, poor shot in the end, the bowling change works 35/1 19.2 to Bhatia, Raina again! The captain’s not letting go of any today, Bhatia swings a slower delivery across the line and Raina charges to his right and pulls it off one-handed, timed his jump well 177/6
	JM Kemp	1	0	14	0	14.00
	M Muralitharan	4	0	25	2	6.25	(2w)
	11.2 to Dilshan, chips down the track and he tries to clear midwicket but he fails to keep it down, Raina’s alert and he takes it easily 102/2 11.4 to Sehwag, Kemp take a bow! Sehwag waltzes down the track and tries to clear long-off but makes contact off the splice of the bat, the ball swirls in the air and Kemp takes it one handed and falls backward just inches from the rope 103/3
	SK Raina	1	0	12	0	12.00

	Chennai Super Kings innings (target: 186 runs from 20 overs)		R	B	4s	6s	SR
	PA Patel†	run out (de Villiers)	6	6	1	0	100.00
	2.1 from Nannes, AB! Patel nearly loses his balance while digging out a yorker, the ball rolls towards short midwicket and Hayden doesn’t want the single because there wasn’t one in the first place, AB swoops and under-arms the throw to the batsman’s end 21/1
	ML Hayden	c Dilshan b Mishra	93	43	9	7	216.27
	13.3 excellent catch by Dilshan! How crucial will that be? Flighted on middle and off and Hayden swings, he’s not in full control of the shot and the ball dips towards Dilshan who falls forward and takes it inches off the turf at long-on 142/3
	S Badrinath	c Mishra b Yadav	14	15	3	0	93.33
	6.6 smart field placement! Yadav drops it short of a length on the off stump, Badri tries to club it over the on side but finds Mishra who takes it comfortably at short midwicket 64/2
	SK Raina*	not out	49	34	3	3	144.11
	JA Morkel	c Mishra b Dilshan	0	3	0	0	0.00
	15.2 Do we have a twist here? Morkel goes back to a delivery pitched on a good length, the ball doesn’t sit up too much and he ends up slapping it to midwicket, sharp catch 154/4
	JM Kemp	b Nannes	4	8	0	0	50.00
	17.5 the middle stump is flattened! Nannes bowls it dead straight on middle and Kemp goes for a wild slog, misses it and loses the woodwork 169/5
	M Vijay	not out	14	6	1	1	233.33
	Extras	(lb 2, w	10
	Total	(5 wickets; 19.1 overs)	190	(9.91 runs per over)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	DP Nannes	4	0	18	1	4.50	(3w)
	17.5 to Kemp, the middle stump is flattened! Nannes bowls it dead straight on middle and Kemp goes for a wild slog, misses it and loses the woodwork 169/5
	U Yadav	4	0	38	1	9.50	(2w)
	6.6 to Badrinath, smart field placement! Yadav drops it short of a length on the off stump, Badri tries to club it over the on side but finds Mishra who takes it comfortably at short midwicket 64/2
	PJ Sangwan	4	0	46	0	11.50
	R Bhatia	2	0	31	0	15.50
	TM Dilshan	2.1	0	30	1	13.84
	15.2 to Morkel, Do we have a twist here? Morkel goes back to a delivery pitched on a good length, the ball doesn’t sit up too much and he ends up slapping it to midwicket, sharp catch 154/4
	A Mishra	3	0	25	1	8.33	(3w)
	13.3 to Hayden, excellent catch by Dilshan! How crucial will that be? Flighted on middle and off and Hayden swings, he’s not in full control of the shot and the ball dips towards Dilshan who falls forward and takes it inches off the turf at long-on 142/3

written by Swapnil \\ tags: Chennai Super King, Delhi Daredevils, IPL