Yes, this was match number 50 of the second season of the IPL! The Delhi Daredevils (DD) are not at the top of the ladder for nothing. Even though their position in the semis is fixed, they did not use it as an excuse to remain complacent against the Rajasthan Royals (RR).
The toss was won by the DD, and they elected to bat first. Their openers were Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, while Munaf Patel bowled the first over. The first over was very eventful, because Patel gave two Free Hits in it. Luckily for the RR, however, no runs were scored off them. After a ‘happening’ first over, the third over was fruitful, because the first wicket of the DD fell, the batsman to depart being Gambhir. He got out on a ball (and catch) by Patel after making only eight runs. AB de Villiers came in after that.
The second wicket which fell was that of skipper Sehwag, who got out on a beauty of a ball by Patel (LBW) after making only two runs off eight balls. T. N. Dilshan came in after Sehwag’s departure. He was dropped at 16 runs (in the eighth over) by Amit Singh, while Johan Botha was bowling, but Botha was the one responsible for getting him out in the end, and Dilshan was bowled out after he had made 33 runs off 41 balls. Dinesh Karthik came in after Dilshan.
It was a lucky day for Villiers because not only did he complete his third IPL 50, but was also dropped by Rob Quiney in the 18th over. The RR paid heavily for this misfield when, in the 19th over, Villiers scored four runs off a Free Hit. The RR had bowled very well for a long time, but in the 19th over Munaf Patel undid all his good overs by bowling an extremely expensive one, consisting of one No Ball, one six, and two fours. Thus, at the end of 20 overs, the DD were at 150-3.
Graeme Smith and Rob Quiney opened batting for the RR, while Ashish Nehra did the same at the bowling end for the DD. The first wicket of the RR fell early on in the second over, when Smith got out on a ball by Dirk Nannes (catch A. Salvi) without having made even a single run. Naman Ojha came in at one down. Before the batsmen were allowed any breathing space, the second wicket fell; this time it was the other opener, Quiney, who fell prey to Nehra’s bowling (catch Nannes) and got out after making only six runs off 10 balls. Johan Botha came in after Quiney.
The third wicket, that of Ojha, fell on a ball by Salvi and the batsman was caught by Viru (Sehwag) after making nine runs. Ravindra Jadeja was the next man in. Jadeja and Botha had just started building a partnership, when the former was caught behind the wicket (ball Salvi) after having made 24 runs off 18 balls. Yusuf Pathan came in next, and while everybody was hoping that he’d lead the RR to victory, he got out after making only one run. Abhishek Raut came in after Pathan’s dismissal.
Botha was the sixth man to be sent back to the bench after he had made a good score of 37 runs off 31 balls (ball Farveez Maharoof, catch Viru). Shane Warne came in next. The seventh wicket was that of Raut, who was bowled out by Amit Mishra after he had made 11 runs off 13 balls. Amit Singh came in next, but he got out on the very next ball, and thus, Mishra was on a hat trick! Siddharth Trivedi came in next, and, instead of taking a wicket, Mishra bowled a No Ball, so Trivedi got a Free Hit, off which he scored one run, while Mishra missed his hat trick.
Warne’s was the ninth and last wicket of the innings, once again taken by Mishra (stumping Karthik). The captain made six runs off three balls before getting out. Munaf Patel came in at nine down. At the time of Warne’s departure, the RR scoreboard read 107-9. But, Munaf Patel started hitting fours and sixes as soon as he came in. While there was no hope of the RR winning the match in spite of this phenomenal – not to mention unique – display of batting, the difference between the required runs and the actual runs was considerably reduced. The DD must have hoped to get the RR all out, but instead, Patel stuck on and recorded the highest ever total for a batsman at number 11 position, both, in IPL season one, as well as two!
Thus, at the end of 20 overs, the RR ended at 136-9, courtesy Munaf Patel, and the DD won the match by 14 runs. Due to the KXIP winning the match which was played just before theirs, and subsequently their losing the match against the DD, the RR were pushed to number five spot on the rank table. Now, in order to get back into the top four, they will have to hope that both the other teams who can make it to the semis, namely Bangalore and Punjab, do not win their remaining matches, but this seems highly unlikely!
Match number 37 of the IPL was like a repeat of sorts, with the two finalists of last year’s tournament facing each other once again. Yes, the match was between the Rajasthan Royals (RR), and the Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
The RR won the toss and elected to bat first. Their openers were Graeme Smith and Naman Ojha, while the bowling attack was opened by Albie Morkel.
They say a good beginning is half a match won, and this was proved true when, on the very second ball of the innings, Morkel struck gold in his dismissal of Ojha, whom he bowled out. The score now stood at 1-1.
Swapnil Asnodkar came in at one down. He was dismissed by Mutthiah Murlidharan after he made 26 runs off 25 balls. Ravinder Jadeja came in next. The third blow for the RR came when Smith was dismissed after making 30 runs off 33 balls (ball Murlidharan, stumping, Mahendra Singh Dhoni). Yusuf Pathan was the next man in.
Soon, it was Jadeja’s turn to leave the crease as he was dismissed on a superb ball of Balaji’s (catch Suresh Raina). Jadeja had made 27 runs off 19 balls. While Lee Carseldine came ‘in’, Pathan went ‘out’ after having made only seven runs off 11 balls, thus resulting in the biggest blow to the RR (ball Jakati, catch Jacob Oram).
Abhishek Raut came in next. He and Carseldine didn’t last too long on the field either, as first Carseldine, and then Raut were dismissed after having made only nine and seven runs, respectively.
Batting at the crease now were the players with the same name, Shane Warne, the skipper, and Shane Harwood, well, not the skipper. Both the players tried their best, but could not put up too many runs. At the end of 20 overs, the RR scoreboard read 140-7.
Matthew Hayden and Murali Vijay opened the batting for the CSK, but Vijay didn’t last long and got out after a fantastic LBW by Trivedi after making only 10 runs off 12 balls. Suresh Raina came in next, but the player who had wowed the crowds with his amazing bowling abilities in the last match, couldn’t be of much help in this one, and returned to the pavilion (ball Amit Singh, catch Carseldine) after making only 13 runs off 11 balls.
Subramanian Badrinath came in next. He, along with Hayden, played so well, that it looked as if achieving the total of 141 would be a piece of cake. But their hopes were soon dashed as Hayden got out on a ball by fellow countryman Warne, and was stumped by Ojha after he had made 48 runs of 44 balls, just two short of a half century.
Oram came in next. In the 17th over, while the batsmen were running to get runs, Amit Singh, who was bowling, got hit and was injured, but he continued to play. Between Badrinath and Oram, and owing to the extras (10 extras) – as also to the incredible contribution of Hayden – the CSK achieved the target of 141 runs in only 18.2 overs at the loss of only 3 wickets. The DLF Maximum award for hitting the most sixes was shared by nine players, from the winning, as well as the losing side, while the Man of the Match award was given to S. Badrinath, his first of the season.
Thus, it was a face-off between the two finalist teams of last year’s IPL, but the results, this time, were different!
Remember that match between the Mumbai Indians and the Kolkata Knight Riders when ‘it rained fours and sixes’? Well, the match held between the Rajasthan Royals (RR) and the King’s XI Punjab (KXIP) on May 5, 2009, was just like that.
The RR won the toss and chose to bat. While the RR team remained unchanged, the KXIP had a new (old) player – Sreesanth. Sreesanth was playing his first match of this season of the IPL.
Naman Ojha and Graeme Smith opened the batting for the RR. The match was a great entertainer right from the first over, in which two sixes and one four were hit. As a result of this, by the end of 10 overs, the score of the RR stood at 93, without the loss of any wicket!
The fours and sixes continued to come down even after the Strategic Break, when on the very first ball of the 11th over, Smith hit a six, to complete his half century in style. Naman Ojha also completed his half century. However, in the 15th over, the first wicket of the RR fell, and Smith was dismissed by Ramesh Powar (catch Piyush Chawla) after he made 77 runs off only 44 balls! (Fall of wicket – 135-1).
By this time, the RR had great momentum going in their batting, and at this stage Yusuf Pathan came in. Also known to be a big hitter, Yusuf started hitting fours and sixes as soon as he was in. But he didn’t last long, and was dismissed on a ball by Chawla once again, and was caught by Karan Goel. He had made 12 runs off seven balls.
Next person in was Ravinder Jadeja. In the meantime, Ojha stayed on and continued hitting fours and sixes and it looked as if he would never stop! Nevertheless, in the 17th over, he hit a six, and got out on the next ball; Chawla once again weaving his magic spell on the ball (catch Simon Katich). But Ojha played a fabulous innings of 68 runs off 51 balls. Carseldine came in next.
Sreesanth, who had conceded the least amount of runs in the three overs which he bowled, also bowled the 19th over. However, his hard work of the previous overs went down the drain when he bowled a No Ball in the 19th over, because of which Jadeja got a Free Hit and made two runs. If that were not enough, the very ball of the Free Hit was also a No Ball! Thus, Jadeja got yet another Free Hit, and he didn’t miss that opportunity, and went straight for a six. The over proved very expensive for the KXIP with two No Balls, one six, and one four. 23 runs were made in the over, one of the highest ever!
The fourth wicket, which fell on the first ball of the 20th over, was that of Jadeja, who was dismissed by Irfan Pathan (catch Mahela Jayawardene). He made 33 runs off just 12 balls! Next person in was Abhishek Raut, and at the end of the innings, the RR total stood at 211 runs at the loss of four wickets.
The KXIP had a great total to make. Sunny Sohal and Karan Goel opened the innings. But the timing was just not right for the KXIP, and Sohal got out on the first ball of the innings on a ball by Amit Singh (catch Shane Warne).
While Kumara Sangakarra came in a one down, the second wicket followed on the heels of the first one, and Goel got out (ball Amit, catch Shane Harwood) after making only one run! Simon Katich came in next.
Warne, who is generally a fantastic fielder, dropped Sangakarra in the second over. The first four of the innings came as late as the fifth over!
The third wicket came in the form of Katich, who was bowled by Trivedi. The KXIP scoreboard now read 25-3. While Jayawardene came in after that, Sangakarra got out (ball Yusuf, stumping Ojha) after making 11 runs off 15 balls.
Skipper Yuvraj Singh was the next man in, and what was needed was that he build a good partnership with Jayawardene, but that was not to be, as the latter got out on a ball by Harwood, and was caught by Trivedi after he made nine runs off 11 balls.
The 11th over was interesting to watch because it started with Yusuf Pathan bowling to Irfan Pathan! But they didn’t face each other long, as, in the 12th over, Warne saw to it that Irfan was dismissed by way of a LBW. Irfan had made 19 runs off 17 balls. Piyush Chawla was next, but he didn’t last on the crease either, and Ramesh Powar soon took his place.
The final blow came when Yuvraj got out after making 48 runs, just two short of a half century, but, more importantly, his wicket sealed the fate of the KXIP, and, after 20 overs, their score, in spite of 19 extras, was 133-8.
The Man of the Match award was given to Graeme Smith for his fabulous innings.
By– Rashida Shabbir Arsiwala http://rasharsiblog.blogspot.com/
You sure can call it that, considering that the ‘Royals’ were playing against the ‘Super Kings’. Yes, the match we are talking about it is the one between the Rajasthan Royals (RR) and the Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
Loyalties of the fans were divided, since both teams are hot favourites, and it was a clash between the finalists of IPL – Season 1. The RR won the toss, and elected to field. The bowling attack was opened by D. Mascarenhas, while Mathew Hayden and Parthiv Patel were the openers for the CSK.
An appeal for an out was made in the very first over, but it was not granted. However, the relief of the CSK didn’t last long, as their star batsman, Hayden, got out after getting only one run off two balls, the bowler being Yusuf Pathan.
Suresh Raina came in at one down, and soon, the second wicket, that of Parthiv Patel, fell, (ball Yusuf Pathan, catch Khan, three runs off 11 balls), and thus ended the stint of the opening batsmen. Next man in was Badrinath. After the first two wickets having fallen quickly, Raina and Badrinath played steadily and built a good partnership. At the end of 10 overs, the CSK had made 81 runs and lost two wickets.
The third wicket fell soon after the Strategic Time Out, and Badrinath was the man to go. He had made 29 runs off 27 balls before he got out on a ball by Warne (stumping Rawat). Jacob Oram came in next, but didn’t stay long, and got out after making two runs off six balls (ball Munaf Patel, catch Mascarenhas).
Next person to come on the field was Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the skipper himself. In the 18th over, Dhoni got a Free Hit (because of a No Ball), but he managed to get only two runs off it. Raina’s wicket was dropped in the 19th over. Also, there was a misunderstanding in the scores; the scoreboard showed a 100 runs for Raina, while he had actually made only 98. But before he could complete his ‘actual’ 100, he got out, thus marking the end of a fabulous innings just two short of a century, that too in just 55 balls (ball Munaf, catch Graeme Smith). Albie Morkel came in at five down, and CSK ended at 164 – 5.
The RR had to make 165 runs in 20 overs at 8.25 runs per over. Graeme Smith, called ‘The Rock’ in the team, didn’t prove to be one as he fell victim to Albie Morkel’s delivery (catch Badrinath) after having made only two runs off five balls.
S. Asnodkar came in next and hit the first six of the innings in the fifth over. Immediately on the next ball, he hit another six, and the very ball after the two consecutive sixes proved to be fatal for him, as he got out after making only 10 runs (ball Morkel, catch Sudeep Tyagi).
Next person in was Ravinder Jadeja. Then, Quiney’s (opener) wicket fell and Yusuf Pathan came in. A lot of hopes were pinned on Pathan, but due to pressure, he was unable to deliver, and got out on a ball by L. Balaji, (catch Raina) after making 20 runs off 13 deliveries. The fifth wicket, that of Mascarenhas, fell soon after, as did that of Jadeja after him, who made a decent 37 runs off 33 balls before falling on a ball by Balaji (catch Hayden). Finally, the skipper for the RR, Warne, came in to bat, and got out after making three runs off nine balls, falling, once again, under Balaji’s expert bowling (superb catch by Badrinath).
The eighth and the ninth wickets fell soon after, and at the end of 20 overs, the RR were at 126 – 9, having lost the match by 38 runs. The Man of the Match, as expected, was Suresh Raina, for a brilliant innings of 98 runs off only 55 balls.
One can surely say that about the 15th match of the IPL, held on April 26, 2009, between King’s XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals.
What started out as a fantastic game for the Rajasthan Royals, (what with the first wicket falling on the very first ball of the innings) soon became anybody’s match. After the fall of four wickets, all in quick succession of one another, the King’s XI looked under mighty pressure.
None of the players from the team of Punjab managed to stay on the field for very long under the expert bowling of Kamran Khan, and excellent fielding by Asnodkar (responsible for the fall of Karan Goel’s wicket on the very first ball due to stumping) and the rest of the team.
After the fall of the wickets of Yuvraj Singh – who looked very upset about it – and Irfan Pathan – who made sure that the team made a respectable total – it looked like all was lost. But the saving grace (and eventual Man of the Match) for the King’s XI, was Kumara Sangakarra, with his commendable 60 runs off only 51 balls. At the end of 20 overs, King’s XI Punjab were 6 wickets down and had managed to make a decent, if not great, 139 runs, while in the beginning, a total of even 120 looked difficult for them.
Then, it was the turn of the defending champions to bat. It looked like an easy total which they should have gotten without difficulty, but Irfan Pathan, still going strong and carrying on in the bowling from where he left off in the batting, took two important top order wickets. Soon, the wickets started falling, and after the fall of Ravinder Jadeja and Yusuf Pathan’s wickets – the last hopes of the Rajasthan Royals – the team’s fate was pretty-much decided.
Although the Rajasthan Royals lost the match by a big margin, (making this the second win for the King’s XI team on the trot) what is worth mentioning is Shane Warne’s amazing captaincy. He may not have shown his true worth as a bowler, (and indeed, his bowling did contribute to the opposition scoring many runs) his spirit on the field was very encouraging. Although he couldn’t run between the wickets very often, he did make it a point to stay right till the end, and, even while his team was fielding, whenever the opposite team’s player played well, he acknowledged it by applauding. Also, whenever his own team members mis-fielded – unlike other captains – he did not reprimand them; instead, he spoke to them about where they were going wrong; just like a true captain would.
All in all, it was a great game, and while it must have acted as a morale booster for the King’s XI, the Rajasthan Royals can be expected to come back stronger and better the next time!
