Mumbai: Partho Mitra

South African batsman Graeme Smith, opener for Rajasthan Royals has been ruled out of the Final on Sunday due to a hamstring injury. Smith who was quite fit on the field was injured during the semi-finals with Delhi Daredevils yesterday.

Shane Warne is considering either Yunus Khan or Kamran Akmal  to open in the finals with Swapnil Asnodkar. However, Khan with only one IPL match in which he scored three runs and Akmal with five matches (avg 30) is no match to Smith but everyone is aware how Warney handles his players and install confidence in them.

Shane also acknowledged Smith’s role in shaping up the teams success. Smith has scored a total of 441 runs (11 matches) with an average close to 49 and is considered as one of the strongest opening pair along with Swapnil.

Editorial: Mohit Goyal

Indian Premier League Match Preview – Semi final 2

Kings XI Punjab Vs Chennai Super Kings

Semi final 2 is to be played between the teams which stood at the second and third positions in the league.

The Armies – Kings XI Punjab v Chennai Super Kings

Kings XI Punjab with 20 points stood at the top of the league winning 10 of their 14 matches.Delhi Daredevils qualified by grabbing the third. They were victorious in 8 of their 14 matches. They ended on 16 points.

The Battleground – Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Wankhede always has purchase for spinners and there was enough encouragement for spinners in the first semi final.

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Editorial

Rajasthan Royals is a team which was virtually written off by all Cricket Guru’s in the initial stages of the Indian Premier League (IPL) just after the auction . Even Lalit Modi was not too happy with the amounts spend for acquiring Crickets in the auction as his expectations were high given the financial clout of Lalchan Murdock – an heir of the billion dollar star TV / Fox Tv empire and son of Media Moghul Rupert Murdoch. Rajastnan Royals remained a passive observer of the ignorant hype of bollywood kings and badshah’s and million dollar splash from the Ambanis and the Mallaya’s.

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Mumbai:

Indian Premier League (IPL) performance fianlly got Yusuf Pathan and Pragyan Ojha earn berths in the one-day match sqad in the Indian National Team for the tri-series in Bangladesh starting next month as also in the Asia-Cup in Pakistan.

Selectors held a meeting at Mumbai on Friday and decided on a much young squad for both the tournaments and dropped older player Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. Earlier the duo was also ignored for the one-day team during the recently concluded triangular series in Australia.

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Editorial: Mohit Goyal

Indian Premier League has taken everybody by storm. The amount of fresh talent that’s been exposed would lead people to believe that there may be many new faces in team India. But the fact of the matter is that, only 15 or 16 players can be selected in the team and the players who were already there and there about have performed really well. There might be just a few inclusions in the batting and in the spin bowling departments.

Looking at the eight teams and the Indian players who have been the best in each its interesting to find that they are already in the national team.

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Editorial: Mohit Goyal

Indian Premier League Match Preview – Semi final 1

Rajasthan Royals Vs Delhi Daredevils

Semi final 1 is to be played between the teams which stood at the first and the fourth position in the league.

The Armies – Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils

Rajasthan Royals with 22 points stood at the top of the league winning 10 of their 14 matches and winning all 7 they played at their home ground, Jaipur.

Delhi Daredevils qualified by grabbing the fourth and the last spot. They were victorious in 7 matches while one was washed by rain. They ended on 15 points.

The Battleground – Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

The pitch here is the one that seems most likely to help the spin bowlers. The run scoring can be controlled in the middle overs if the spinners have a good day.

Knock out time

The stage is all set and the performers are raring to go. Its knock out time and the Daredevils have made the cut. This is a team, most would have liked to avoid in a knock out situation. But Shane Keith Warne would probably be the last man on earth to be thinking about it.

The spin wizard from Victoria leads his men, the pre-tournament underdogs as the favorites now to win the inaugural Indian Premier League.

Jab we met

When these teams first met in Delhi, it was the first match in the league for both. Delhi then, bowled out Rajasthan for a meager total of 109 and then got home pretty quickly.

In the next tie at Jaipur, Rajasthan managed to beat Delhi comfortably. The clash has adrenaline flowing high with Sehwag getting charged up in the field and Royals management lodging a complaint against him.

Leading from the front

Both Viru and Warny have led by example. Both have had a good tournament personally and that’s been a reason why things have sailed smoothly for them.

The clash between these two too promises to be a high voltage affair. Watch out for a run out that is not referred to the third umpire.

Left Right Right

Left-Right seems to be right for both the sides. With southpaws Smith and Gambhir opening the innings with Asnodkar and Sehwag respectively there is lot for bowlers to work out. Smith and Asnodkar have been rotating the strike with consistency and this has given many a bowlers some headache. Gambhir is very swift between the wickets and Sehwag more often than not has responded to his calls.

Sub continental Curry

Royal Tanveer and Daredevil Maharoof have been successfully tried as pinch hitters by their captains. It will be interesting to see if this has a bearing on the game.

There and there about

Glen Mc Grath seems to wake up from sleep and still be able to bowl that nagging line and length in and around the corridor of uncertainty.

Munaf Patel sees Mc Grath as his idol and has emulated him pretty well in this league. The change in his attitude and body language has been refreshing to watch.

Firing them or not firing them in

Sohail Tanveer has been an absolute revelation in the tournament. He has bowled with immense control. He’s bowled good bouncers, fired in yorkers and got the slower one going. He’s even managed to find yorker length with slower ball consistently.

Maharoof too has slipped in some useful bouncers and been in the channel outside the off stump. He too would be looking to use the slower one to good effect.

Spinning it square

Wankhede is one venue in the league where spinners would get the most purchase. If they can bowl well they will play a huge role. And if bowling well is required, one man who does it on any pitch is Shane Warne. This pitch will suit him and he could run away with the match if fast bowlers get a couple of early wickets.

Sehwag would look to use Amit Mishra to lure batsmen into big shots and then pulling the trap. He should be looking to use Dilshan and rolling his own arm over too.

Keeping it safe

Dinesh Karthik and Mahesh Rawat have done a good job behind the stumps. For Rajasthan, Akmal is unlikely to play because of restriction on the number of foreign players that can take the field. Dinesh Karthik would be looking to contribute with the bat too. He won Delhi their match against Mumbai.

© IPL Cricket Forum

Editorial

IPL started with Brandon McMullum firing for Kolkata Knight Riders and today the league ended with one of the most powerful batting display by none other than Shaun Marsh with a superb knock of 115 (seven sixes and eleven fours) of just 69 balls. His knock ensured a smooth and confidence-boosting win for Kings XI Punjab just before the semis while it put a break to the no one team Rajasthan Royals winning streak.

Rajasthan Royals played the match today under the captain ship of Shane Watson in absence of Shane Warne who after winning toss decided to field.

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Editorial: Mohit Goyal

Indian premier League Match Preview

Kings XI Punjab v Rajasthan Royals at Mohali

Mother of all clashes, this could well be the dress rehearsal for the finals of the inaugural Indian Premier League and both sides would be looking to score points over the other.

Men at the Helm

Yuvi and Warny both have been inspirational. Yuvi hasn’t performed as well himself but he has a great influence on the younger players. The way he has handled Sreesanth and Chawla and encouraged Marsh and VRV has been phenomenal. Warny has been Midas for the team. Both have handled pressure like only few can in the world.

We have the bat

On paper, Punjab may look a better batting side but apart from Marsh and Sangakkara, others havn’t had many big scores. On other hand for Rajasthan, Smith, Asnodkar, Watson and Pathan have consistently made good scores.

We have the ball

If Punjab have Sreesanth, Pathan and Chawla superb form, Rajasthan have the bowler of the tournament thus far, Sohail Tanveer and the spinner of the tournament, Shane Warne in their ranks. Munaf, Siddharth and Watson too have hit the right line and lengths more often than not. Yusuf Pathan has come in real handy as well.

Patrolling Party

Rajasthan have been very good in the field, while Punjab have had a few poor fielding games. Both will want to eliminate lapses in fielding to give their bowlers an edge over the opponents.

High on betting meter

Rajasthan are slightly high on certain betting meters owing to their better record, while the teams are at level on others.

Who gets the tick?

Rajasthan are on a roll and it will take either an outrageously superb spell of bowling from Sreesanth or Pathan or a lapse on the part of Rajasthan batsmen to make Punjab victorious.

© IPL Cricket Forum

Editorial: Mohit Goyal

Indian premier League Match Preview

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Mumbai Indians at Bangalore

This match was initially scheduled to be played on the 10th of May but due to polling in Karnataka, it had to be rescheduled. Now, both teams are out of contention for the semi finals but a match between the teams owned by the power man Mukesh Ambani and the liquor baron Vijay Mallya can not be short of fireworks.

Men at the Helm

Rahul aka Jammy has shown some superb resolve throughout the tournament and has shown what he is capable of at the few instances when his team mates have contributed a little. Sachin on the other hand has seemed short of strategy and innovativeness or may be he has prepared a lot of strategy and predetermined the moves and has thus been predictable.

We have the bat

Mumbai are a much stronger batting side than Bangalore but even Bangalore have shown some encouraging signs and their batsmen definitely have the class to come up with the goods. Watch out for Dravid, Kallis, Misbah and White.

We have the ball

Mumbai have Pollock in very good form but departure of Bravo has hit them badly. Others have been patchy at best. They must look to play Nel in place of Fernando. Bangalore have been quite good and Dale Steyn’s pace and accuracy gives them a definite edge over the other teams.

Patrolling Party

Bangalore have had odd off days, otherwise they have fielded pretty well. Virat Kohli and Cameroon White have been exceptional. Mumbai on the other hand been ordinary, spilling some pretty important chances.

High on betting meter

Mumbai are slightly higher on the betting meter courtesy their greater all round strength.

Who gets the tick?

Mumbai depend heavily on Jayasuriya for a big score and Pollock for early wickets. If Bangalore can take care of these two they can bag in one more win.

© IPL Cricket Forum

It will be the Rajasthan Royals taking on the Delhi DareDevils and Kings XI Punjab against the Chennai SuperKings in the Indian Premier League 2008 Semi-Finals.

Two classic clashes which hold promise for enough drama, action and fireworks plus exciting cricket to entertain the millions of 20Twenty Cricket lovers worldwide.

All the four Semi-finals spots have now been decided with Deccan once again losing a game in front of their home crowd to Chennai Super Kings and their home jinx continued to haunt them this evening too. They didn’t put enough runs on the board and it was always going to be tough for their under par bowling department to pull off something special. Chennai didn’t get off to the best of starts but Raina and Mahendra Singh Dhoni stayed there for quite sometime and steered their side to a rather comfortable victory.

The slim chance which Mumbai Indians had disappeared today with Chennai’s win. Basically Mumbai colud not hold on to their nerves in the last three matches – otherwise there was enough promise for them to reach the semi finals. And also Virender Sehwag will definitely sleep well tonight after a week of wait and watch other teams slog it out to decide their fate in the semis.

© IPL Cricket Forum