Mediocrity met mediocrity on Sunday night, and somehow produced the first tie of the third edition of the IPL, leading to a Super Over, which gave Kings XI Punjab an unlikely victory. Irfan Pathan and Yuvraj Singh managed 82 runs in the 10 overs they faced between them, but the others batted poorly to score just 54 in the other 10. In the chase, even after a 65-run opening stand, the Chennai Super Kings batsmen contrived to be needing 10 runs off the last over. Fittingly for a match of low quality, the last over of the regulation game – bowled by Irfan and faced by Albie Morkel and R Ashwin – read: edge for four, missed slog for two byes thanks to an overthrow, single, another edge for two, a missed waft, and a powerful, nervous hit straight to mid-off with one needed off the last ball.
 Juan Theron, playing his first IPL match and Punjab’s bowling hero in the regulation time, bowled Matthew Hayden off the second ball in the Super Over, and despite a slogged six from Suresh Raina, once again 10 were needed in the last over. Muttiah Muralitharan was hit for a six first ball by Mahela Jayawardene, but he came back with a wicket and a dot to set the match up again. Yuvraj chose that extremely nervous moment to execute a delicate reverse-sweep, a shot he hardly ever uses, to finish the game off with two balls to go.
By halftime, though, Murali, the second Sri Lankan spinner to bowl the losing Super Over in as many tied matches in IPL, wouldn’t have expected to play any further role in the game, let alone bowl the pressure over. In regulation time, he was the perfect spy, taking out two of the most prolific batsmen from his country, with 3 for 16 in his four overs. It wasn’t as if Chennai needed any extra-ordinary bowling effort: the Punjab batsmen were hapless again.
Match Meter
- CSK
 KXIP
-
Parthiv and Gony lose their heads: With 16 require off 17, half-centurion Parthiv Patel got stumped, and Manpreet Gony slogged without watching the ball, getting bowled in the next over, leaving Chennai 10 to get in the last over.
- CSK KXIP
-
An over that summed up the night: Irfan Pathan kept producing length deliveries, the batsmen kept edging, and the match went to a tie. Albie Morkel edged the first ball for four, managed two byes off the next, R Ashwin edged the fourth ball for two, missed the next, and hit the final delivery into Mohammad Kaif’s lap at mid-off.
-
KXIP
-
Super Over I: Theron came back to produce the goods again as Matthew Hayden missed the first ball he faced, a straight length delivery. Suresh Raina slogged one for six, but left Punjab only 10 to win, with the momentum clearly the other way.
-
KXIP
-
Super Over II: Jayawardene got a swift payback, hitting Murali for a six ball first ball, but holed out on the second delivery. Yuvraj Singh pulled a reverse-sweep out of the hat to finish the game off with two balls to go.
Advantage Honours even
|
Irfan, promoted to open the innings, and Yuvraj would have felt the rest of the team had turned on them. They got zero support from the other end, and the two batted together for only nine deliveries. There was a time when Irfan had scored 29 off 17 balls with five crunchy boundaries, but thanks to the struggling Ravi Bopara and Kumar Sangakkara, Punjab were 30 for 1 after five overs. Yuvraj, too, scored 43 out of the 70 runs that came while he was at the crease. He got to face only 28 out of 64 deliveries bowled when in the middle.
Between those spells of ordinary cricket from Punjab came Murali’s genius. In his first over, inside the Powerplay, he beat Sangakarra twice in the flight, but the real beauty came in his second. This time he didn’t bowl it flat when he saw Sangakkara charging down, just got it to dip more and then the bounce left him high and dry.
Jayawardene was made to look poorer than that. Murali first beat a late-cut with a topspinner from round the stumps, and then got a flighted offbreak to turn enough to beat the bat and get an lbw decision. At 64 for 4 after 11 overs, Punjab were looking at a freak innings from Yuvraj to keep them alive.
Yuvraj hit four fours and two sixes, but Mohammad Kaif and Manvinder Bisla at the other end wasted too many deliveries. The trend for Punjab, until this game, had been for one aspect of their game to do well, and the other to let it down. Still, to defend 136 against an in-form Hayden was too much to ask for. What’s more, they had dropped their only bowler who could produce wickets, Sreesanth.
Hayden was not at his murderous best, but he was good enough he overtake Yusuf Pathan for maximum sixes in the IPL so far, and leave Chennai only 72 to get off the 68 deliveries. Punjab, the whipping boys of the tournament until then, used to letting matches slip after getting into winning positions, were about to turn one around from a losing position.
Their newest player, Theron, a medium-pacer, provided the turning point. Parthiv Patel dropped one at his feet and called Suresh Raina for a single, but Theron ran faster than Raina and kicked the ball into the stumps, from a good-length area on the pitch. Umpire Daryl Harper, who had earlier called a clear six a four, joined in the fun, sending M Vijay off when the ball was clearly sliding down leg.
About five overs later, the six call was corrected, and Parthiv was seeing Chennai through with what seemed a sensible fifty. Then came the rush of the blood. Just after having hit a boundary, he jumped out to Piyush Chawla and was stumped, leaving Chennai 16 to get off 16. Morkel and Manpreet Gony, who had earlier bowled poorly to give 20 runs in two overs, started slogging as if the requirement was sixty and not sixteen.
Theron, bowling the 19th over, only had to be straight when Gony produced the worst bit of cricket on a night that had had its fair share already. Throwing his front leg out of the way, and his head up, he slogged and lost his middle stump. An injury had confined Justin Kemp to the dressing room and Ashwin, like a hare in the headlights, couldn’t do much with the last two deliveries of that over, setting up an exciting finale.
Continue reading »
written by Swapnil
\\ tags: Chennai Super Kings, IPL, Kings XI Punjab
MS Dhoni, the Chennai Super Kings captain, could be sidelined from the IPL for 10 days after picking up an injury during his team’s victory against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens on Tuesday. Suresh Raina has been named captain in his absence.
Dhoni was hit on the arm by a rising delivery from Shane Bond during Chennai’s innings but continued batting, scoring an unbeaten 66 off 33 balls to lead his team to a match-winning 164. He kept wickets as well during Kolkata’s unsuccessful chase but was seen wearing an ice pack during the post-match presentation ceremony.
Chennai will face Delhi Daredevils in their away match on March 19.
written by Swapnil
\\ tags: Chennai Super Kings, IPL, MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina
MS Dhoni and S Badrinath added an unbroken 109-run stand from 65 deliveries to push Chennai Super Kings to a competitive total before their bowlers turned in an inspired performance to bowl them to a surprisingly facile win at the Eden Gardens. It was Chennai who had ended Kolkata’s winning streak after the first two games in 2008 and history played out yet again.
Chennai were wobbling at 55 for 3 in the 10th over when Dhoni joined Badrinath to slowly change things around on a track with slightly variable bounce. It wasn’t the traditional hit-everything-in-sight Twenty20 innings from them as they first strived to settle in with dabs and nudges before freeing their arms at the end.
Match Meter
-
CSK
-
Star batsmen fail: Kolkata lost two batsmen, who had starred in their victory in the first game, in the first nine deliveries of their chase. Hodge was smartly caught by Ashwin, while Tiwary was bowled by Gony.
-
CSK
-
Kemp’s double-strike: There wasn’t going to be a recovery. Ganguly, who limped to 11, mistimed one to midwicket off Kemp in the ninth over. Thirteen balls later, Mathews was trapped in front and Kolkata were shut out.
Advantage Honours even
|
It was off the final delivery of the 15th over that Dhoni managed his first big hit – a six over long-on. And it wasn’t till the 18th over that he really went berserk, hitting Laxmi Ratan Shukla for two fours and another six over long-on as he started to work his bottom hand over time.
In the next over, bowled by Shane Bond, he looted three boundaries that included a scorching flatly-pulled six. Badrinath too got in the act, pulling Ishant Sharma for a six in the final over.
Until the final assault from the Chennai duo, nearly everything went according to Plan A for Kolkata. Bond got to swing it at pace, Ishant probed with his seam movement, Murali Kartik was at his canny best, Angelo Matthews was at his nagging self and Shukla kept it really tight as well. But Dhoni’s knock proved the difference between a below-par total and a defendable one.
Kolkata needed a similar partnership but with wickets falling at regular intervals, the chase lacked any momentum and fizzled out very quickly. Within nine deliveries, their heroes from last game, Brad Hodge and Manoj Tiwary, were dismissed – Hodge pulled Albie Morkel to square-leg and Tiwary was bowled, going for an expansive on-the-up drive against Manpreet Gony. And when L Balaji produced the delivery of the game – it kicked up from short of length even as it straightened outside off stump – to catch the edge of Owais Shah, Kolkata were struggling at 46 for 4.
It required someone to seize the game but there weren’t any inspired bursts lower down. Sourav Ganguly dawdled along for a while, unable to break free against a relentless attack of short deliveries into his rib cage, and he fell, swinging Justin Kemp to deep mid-wicket. Much depended on Matthews if Kolkata were to effect a jail break, but he was trapped in front trying to paddle sweep a straight delivery from Kemp. The tail couldn’t produce any miracle and Chennai wrapped up the win with five balls to spare.
Continue reading »
written by Swapnil
\\ tags: Chennai Super Kings, IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders
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 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
-
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.
Continue reading »
written by Swapnil
\\ tags: Chennai Super Kings, Deccan Chargers, IPL
Chennai Super Kings
They are the IPL’s ‘nearly men’, coming close to the summit in the first and second season, only to falter in the knock-out stages. However, Chennai Super Kings will begin the 2010 tournament on the back foot. Two key allrounders, Andrew Flintoff and Jacob Oram, are missing in action because of injury, though Oram may play later in the season. Two other overseas players, Muttiah Muralitharan and Makhaya Ntini, are on the wane and that puts a lot of pressure on the captain MS Dhoni.
Flintoff’s absence ought to have led to a big signing at the 2010 player auction but there were no major purchases. They bid aggressively for Kieron Pollard, Shane Bond and Kemar Roach, and also tried for Eoin Morgan, but lost all of them to other franchises. They ultimately settled for South African allrounder and ICL returnee Justin Kemp and Sri Lankan allrounder Thissaara Perera. With no apparent world-beaters in the bowling department, Chennai will bank on their batsmen to carry them through again.
The buzz
Unlike teams such as Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals, Chennai’s build-up has been relatively low profile and they prefer it that way. Last month, they announced a five-year deal with a merchandising company to reach out to the fans. In fact, the team has been rated as the “most valuable” in this year’s IPL with a brand value of $48.4 million, according to a study conducted by the UK-based Brand Finance.
On the cricketing front, the team began training on March 8, now with the arrival of coach Stephen Fleming. With South Zone out of the Deodhar Trophy, the local players will be available for the training camp.
New faces
Perera, a left-hand batsman who bowls nippy right-arm medium pace, recently won a match for Sri Lanka against India in a tri-series in Bangladesh. The IPL scouts were taking notes. Kemp and Albie Morkel will compete to fill the void left by Flintoff and Jacob Oram.
Missing in action
The high-profile Flintoff unfortunately hit his umpteenth injury crisis and will be out of competitive cricket till July. The team was further jolted by news that Oram will be out of action for a month due to a patella tendon tear. There’s speculation that he too may miss the entire tournament. VB Chandrasekar, the team’s director of cricketing operations, said contingency plans for Oram would be discussed in the coming days. Michael Hussey has Australia commitments till the end of this month, by which time the tournament’s first fortnight would have ended.
Watch out for
If Hayden fails, there’s always Dhoni to back Chennai up. The captain is in great touch. Re-run the tapes of India’s recent home series to see why.
Strength
Undoubtedly the batting. Hayden, Suresh Raina and Dhoni were Chennai’s top three run-getters last year, giving the team good starts. They will be a handful to contain on Indian pitches.
Weaknesses
The lower order hasn’t been tested enough – the flipside of having a power-packed top order. Muralitharan has struggled for form with Sri Lanka but he will be expected to carry this attack.
X Factor
Ignored by his country due to recent indifferent form, fuelled by mass speculation of imminent retirement, Ntini will use this IPL as a platform to show that he still belongs. Unlike Matthew Hayden, his selection isn’t guaranteed but Chennai will need his experience to shore up the bowling attack.
IPL 2009 – the key figures
Final position: Semi-finalists
Top-scorer: Hayden with 572 runs at 52.00
Top wicket-taker: Muralitharan with 14 wickets at 18.64
Best result: 92-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore
Worst result: Six-wicket defeat in the semis to Bangalore
Highest team score: 188 for 3 v Kolkata Knight Riders
Lowest team score: 129 v Bangalore
Prediction for 2010
May find it difficult to make the final four
written by Swapnil
\\ tags: Chennai Super Kings, IPL
|
