Yes, it was that time in the series when the trophy was claimed by one of the two finalists – either the Deccan Chargers (DC), or the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). We all know who it was in the end, but to know just how they did it, read on!
The RCB won the toss and decided to field first. Skipper Adam Gilchrist (Gilly) and Herschelle Gibbs opened batting, while – keeping in mind Gilly’s performance in the semis – skipper of the RCB, Anil Kumble, decided to lead by example and took it upon himself to dismiss Gilly. And what do you know – he did! Thus, skipper dismissed skipper; that too without Gilly’s having made even a single run! Tirumalasetti Suman came in at one down, but was sent back to the bench by R. Vinay Kumar (catch Manish Pandey) after making 10 runs off 11 balls.
Andrew Symonds came in after Suman. Rahul Dravid, who is a fantastic catcher of the ball, dropped Symonds when he was batting at five! Symonds eventually did get out, but it was after he had made 33 runs off 21 balls. The man responsible for the dismissal was Kumble once again, who bowled him out. Rohit Sharma came in next. At the end of 10 overs, the DC were at 62-3. Sharma played a good innings, but got out after making 24 runs off 23 balls – the bowler, once again, being Kumble (catch Pandey).
Venugopal Rao came in next, but he was dismissed on a duck by Kumble again – the fielder this time being Ross Taylor. Azhar Bilakhia came in next, but was LBWed by V. Kumar after making only six runs. This wicket fell in the 20th over, and Ryan Harris came in for the last few balls. Thus, the DC ended at a very ‘gettable’ score of 143-6, with Gibbs at 53/48 (his fourth IPL 50) not out, and Harris at 9/5 not out.
Jacques Kallis and Pandey opened batting for the RCB, while Harris bowled the first over, in which he conceded only one run to the opposition. The next two overs were uneventful, but in the fourth over, R. P. Singh bowled out Kallis after the latter had made 15 runs off 17 balls. Roelof van de Merwe came in at one down. The second wicket – that of Pandey – fell in the seventh over, after he had made four runs off eight balls. Pandey was caught behind the wicket on a ball by Pragyan Ojha. Rahul Dravid was the next batsman in.
The third wicket which fell was that of Merwe, who was stumped out by Gilly on a ball by Ojha. Merwe had made 32 runs off 21 balls by then. Ross Taylor came in after Merwe’s dismissal, which took place in the ninth over. Funnily enough, after nine overs, both the teams were at the same score – 59-3. After 10 overs, though, while the DC had been at 62-3, the RCB ended at 69-3. The fourth wicket, and probably one of the biggest blows dealt to the RCB, was that of Dravid, who was bowled out by Harmeet Singh after making nine runs off 13 balls. Virat Kohli came in next.
Taylor, on whom a lot of hopes were pinned, got out on a ball by Symonds (catch Rao) when he was batting at 27 runs. Mark Boucher came in next at the non-striker’s end. At the striker’s end was Kohli, who was also dismissed by Symonds (stumping Gilly). Thus, Robin Uthappa came in and faced Symonds’ hat trick ball! However, he didn’t get out. By now, the RCB were six down. The seventh wicket fell, claiming Boucher, who got out on a ball by Harmeet (catch Gibbs) after he’d made five runs off six balls.
V. kumar came in next. After making eight runs off eight balls, he was sent packing by Harris (beautiful catch by Harmeet!). Skipper Kumble came in next, looking desolate, because he knew what was going to happen. The second last over was bowled by Harris, and Uthappa hit him for a couple of big boundaries; for a moment it looked as if the RCB would make it. But the last over was bowled by none other than the holder of the purple cap, R. P., and he delivered a fantastic few dot balls, as a result of which, the RCB lost the match by a mere six runs!
It was a great match, truly worthy of being called a ‘final’, where either team could have won. After the game, and after an ecstatic Gilly and team departed to the dressing room, a fantastic show – which included performances by Katrina Kaif, Eddy Grant, Akon, a fabulous fire and drum show, and dance performances by Shiamak Davar’s troupe – was held to mark the official close of IPL season 2. After the fabulous show, during which the ‘Miss IPL’ was also declared (a certain Dune Kozzats), the prizes for the match (and the entire series) were given out. The DLF Maximum award for the match was given to Merwe, while the Man of the Match was given to Anil Kumble – in spite of being from the losing side – for his unbelievable four wickets in four overs.
Other prizes that were given were:
Under 23 Success of the League – Rohit Sharma
Leading Run Scorer (Orange cap) – Mathew Hayden
Leading Wicket Taker (Purple cap) – R. P. Singh
Fair Play award – King’s XI Punjab (KXIP), and
Golden Player of the League – Adam Gilchrist
After all the awards were given out, the victorious DC team posed for photographs with the prestigious IPL trophy, leaving us, the audience, waiting eagerly for the next season, which will , we hope, be held where it truly belongs – in India!
Yes, this was the prelude – the first one – to the final showdown. I’m talking about the first semi-final between the Delhi Daredevils (DD) and the Deccan Chargers (DC).
Morales on both sides were high as the DC won the toss and decided to field first. Gautam Gambhir and David Warner opened batting for the DD, while Ryan Harris bowled the first over – and what an over it was! The first four balls of the over were dot balls, while the fifth and sixth ones saw the fall of a wicket each, that of Gambhir (catch R. P. Singh) – who got out on a duck –and Warner (catch Herschelle Gibbs) – who also got out on zero. The DD now stood at 0-2!
At the crease now were skipper Virender Sehwag (Viru) and T. N. Dilshan. After losing two wickets so quickly, one would’ve expected the DD to take it slow and steady, but not these two. Soon after stepping onto the field, they started hitting fours and sixes, and soon gained momentum. The two saw to it that the score steadily climbed higher and higher, until the Strategic Time Out, when the DD stood at 83-2. Immediately after the break, in the 11th over, however, the third wicket fell, thereby putting an end to a terrific partnership. The man to be dismissed was Viru, who got LBWed by Andrew Symonds after he’d made 39 runs off 31 balls.
AB de Villiers came in after Viru. He and Dilshan took up from where Viru left off, and Villiers soon started hitting boundaries too. However, he was dismissed by R. P. (catch Rob Quiney) after he made 26 runs off 21 balls. Dinesh Karthik came in next, but was bowled by Harris after making only nine runs. Rajat Bhatia was the next man in, but he, too, was dismissed by R. P. after making only four runs (catch Venugopal Rao). Next batsman in was Amit Mishra.
Dilshan, who had stayed on in the field till the end, was dropped twice – once when he was batting at 30, and the second time at 58 runs. However, he could not remain not out till the end, as, in the last over, he was run out by skipper of the DC, Adam Gilchrist (Gilly), when he was at 61 runs, which he had made off only 51 balls. Pradeep Sangwan came in next, but lost his wicket on the last ball. Thus, the DD ended at 153-8.
Gilly and Gibbs opened batting for the DC, while Dirk Nannes bowled the first over. While the DD had made no runs and lost two wickets in their very first over, the DC, on the other hand, faced a wide ball on the first delivery, followed by five fours in a row, all hit by Gilly. Thus, at the end of the first over, the DC stood at 21 runs! What’s more, thanks to all the big hits by Gilly, Gibbs never even got on strike in the first over!
The second over was bowled by Ashish Nehra, whose first ball was a wide, but the third claimed a wicket, that of Gibbs, whom he bowled out. Gibbs had not made even a single run. Azhar Bilakhia came in at one down. Pradeep Sangwan bowled the next over, which saw Gilly hit two fours and one six in it! Thereafter, Nehra took the ball, and delivered a No Ball, thus giving Gilly a Free Hit; like he even needed it! But Gilly said, “Thank you very much,” and hit a six off it anyway! As a result of these big hits, Gilly completed his sixth IPL 50 in just 17 balls! It was the fastest 50 in both seasons of the IPL, and the fifth fastest in all T20 forms.
Another time when Gilly got a Free Hit, was when Viru was bowling, and he delivered a No Ball on the ball which Gilly hit for a four. Thus, Gilly got four runs, plus six off the Free Hit, and then another six after that! In the meantime, Bilakhia got out after making 10 runs off 20 balls (ball Mishra, stumping Karthik). The seemingly unstoppable Gilly did get out, but not before he had caused irreparable damage by scoring a massive 85 runs of only 35 balls! He got out on the last ball of the 10th over on a ball by Mishra (catch Nannes).
Andrew Symonds came in next, and played well, until he too got out on a ball by Mishra (catch Warner) after he made 24 runs off 15 balls. Rohit Sharma came in next, and stayed on till the end and completed the match for the DC. Thus, the DC achieved the target of 154 and ended up as one of the two finalists of the IPL – season 2! The Man of the Match award, as well as the DLF Maximum award went to – like there’s any doubt! – Adam Gilchrist for his unearthly, but stupendous, performance with the bat!
Deccan Chargers, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab are all locked at 14 points each. The winner of the RCB-DC match on Thursday will go to 16 points and the loser will remain on 14 with Punjab. But in all likeliness, Punjab will lose out on the semifinal berth owing to their poor net run rate. Currently Deccan has the best run rate at +0.265, while RCB are at -0.253 and Punjab at -0.483.
So if there is any chance of Punjab making it to the semis it will have to be a thrashing for Bangalore at the hands of Chargers. But chances are very remote and let us see why. To qualify, Bangalore need to have a net run rate higher than -0.483 after tomorrow’s match. So, let us check some possibilities.
The calculations done here are rough and may not be accurate to decimals.
Case Scenario 1 – Chargers bat first
Chargers’ Score
For Punjab to qualify, Bangalore must score less than
100
32
120
52
140
72
160
92
180
112
Case Scenario 2 – Bangalore bat first
Bangalore’s Score
For Punjab to qualify, Chargers need to win in
100
11.0 overs or less
120
11.1 overs or less
140
11.2 overs or less
160
10.0 overs or less
180
10.1 overs or less
What do you think are Punjab’s chances of qualifying?
That’s right. The Delhi Daredevils (DD), who have lost hardly any matches this season – the ones they did lose being close ones – lost the match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), who literally cruised to victory!
The DD won the toss and decided to bat first, their openers being the duo of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, while Praveen Kumar opened the bowling attack. Right from the word ‘go’, the action was on. After just one run on the board, Sehwag got out (catch Ross Taylor), and the DD stood at 1-1. Mithun Manhas replaced Sehwag, but he got out after two deliveries without making any runs (catch Jacques Kallis). The scoreboard now read 1-2. AB de Villiers came in next.
After losing two quick wickets, the DD tried to put up some runs on the board, but, in the sixth over, Gambhir got out on a ball by Kallis (catch Taylor) after making only 27 runs, thus putting an end to a fledgling partnership. Dinesh Karthik was the next man in, and at the end of 10 overs, the DD stood at 63-3. After the Strategic Time Out, however, immediately in the 11th over, the fourth wicket, that of Villiers, fell, as he was bowled out by Roelof vd Merwe after he had made 28 runs off 29 balls. Andrew McDonald, who was playing the first match of this season, came in next, but got out on a ball by Anil Kumble after making only three runs.
Yogesh Nagar was the next man to walk on to the field. He made a decent score of 20 runs off 20 balls, but then was caught out by Robin Uthappa on a ball by Kumble. Farveez Maharoof came in next. While Nagar’s wicket fell in the 17th over, the next wicket, i.e., the seventh wicket, that of Karthik, fell in the 18th over after he had made 31 runs off 29 balls (ball Kumar, catch Uthappa).
Daniel Vettori came in after Karthik’s dismissal, and was dropped by Uthappa in the 20th over. Not only that, but Uthappa also overthrew the ball, resulting in three extra runs for the DD. Thus, at the end of 20 overs, the DD made 134-7, with Maharoof and Vettori at 18 and four runs not out, respectively.
The RCB opened batting with Kallis and Uthappa, while Ashish Nehra opened bowling. However, in the very first over, Uthappa lost his wicket after making merely one run off five balls, as he was caught behind the wicket. Rahul Dravid came in next. Between them, Kallis and Dravid did build a partnership, but not too many runs had come off it. Finally, in the 13th over, the partnership was broken when Dravid got out. He had made 38 runs off 34 balls before he was caught and bowled by Nagar.
Ross Taylor came in next, and in the very same over, got a Free Hit. However, he managed to make only one run off it. Then, in the 15th over, Taylor got out on a ball by Nagar – which was caught by Vettori – after making 25 runs off only 12 balls. Mark Boucher was the next batsman in. In the second last over, Kallis got a Free Hit, off which he made just one run. However, during the course of his innings, he made a half century – his fifth in the IPL. Thanks to Kallis’s batting, not to mention the efforts of the RCB bowlers earlier, the team won the match by seven wickets, thus beating the (almost) invincible DD.
The DLF Maximum award was given to Ross Taylor, while Jacques Kallis was declared the Man of the Match for his brilliant half century. This win, while not changing the position of the DD on the ranks table, took the RCB to number four position.
This may only be their second win in this year’s IPL, and may have come too late to help them qualify in the semis, but the Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) win against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) sure must have been a great morale booster for them!
The match started with the CSK batting first. Mathew Hayden was missing from action, and in his place, George Bailey – who was playing his first match of this season of the IPL – and Parthiv Patel opened batting, while Ashok Dinda bowled the first over for the KKR. Five runs were made in the first over. The CSK seemed in great form, and by the seventh over, had already made 59 runs, when Patel was run out by Laxmi Shukla after he had made 25 runs off 19 balls. Suresh Raina came in at one down.
The second wicket fell relatively soon, when, in the ninth over, Bailey was run out by Brad Hodge after making 30 runs off 26 balls. Skipper M. S. Dhoni came in next, and, at the end of 10 overs, the CSK were already past 80 runs. Raina completed his fifth IPL 50 in only 36 deliveries by hitting a six, but the very next ball saw him lose his wicket to Dinda (catch Shukla) in the 17th over. Albie Morkel came in after Raina’s dismissal, and played a fantastic innings. The last over proved extremely expensive, as two sixes and one four were hit in it. At the end of 20 overs, the CSK were at 188-3, with Dhoni and Morkel at 40 and 21 not out, respectively.
Now, it was time for the KKR to bat. As usual, skipper Brendon McCullum and Saurav Ganguly opened batting, while Morkel started with the bowling. In the very first over, Ganguly was in danger of getting out as he dropped his bat while taking a run. The fielder threw the ball at the stumps, and had it been a direct hit, Ganguly would’ve been out, for his bat had fallen just in front of the line! Similarly, in the fourth over, once again, Ganguly could’ve been run out, but was saved.
In spite of all his close shaves, Ganguly ultimately did return to the pavilion after making only four runs off 14 balls; he was bowled out by Muttiah Muralidaran. Brad Hodge came in next. McCullum, who had been playing the most fantastic innings so far, finally fell prey to Shadab Jakati’s superb bowling, and was bowled out after making an amazing score of 81 runs off just 48 balls! David Hussey came in at two down, but was run out by Dhoni after he made only two runs.
Wriddhiman Saha came in after Hussey’s dismissal, but after sometime, got injured. Thus, a runner (Hussey) was called on to the field. Between Hodge and Saha, and thanks to McCullum before them, the KKR continued to hit huge fours and sixes, as a result of which, the difference between the number of balls and the runs required reduced drastically. In the end, the KKR needed one run to win off one ball, and every person – CSK and KKR fans alike – was on the edge of his or her seat. Saha was on strike, and he hit very well, as a result of which the ball went far in the field, and they managed to take one run. The KKR thus won the match by seven wickets!
It is amazing, how a team which had won only one match in this season so far, managed to chase – and meet – a total of 188 runs. But meet it they did, and with style! Even though this match will not get them anywhere on the ranks table, the good that it did the team can not be understated!
P.S.: Will SRK return to support his team now? Well, let’s wait and watch!
