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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.