Indian Premier League and Cricket News by IPL Cricket Forum

Yesterday was another disaster day for Bangalore - Yes they do need a bit of luck also like Dravid said at the end of the match.

“They outclassed us. They played some good cricket. Came out
and chased beautifully. We kept losing momentum and we probably needed
around 175-180. We fell well short of that. We needed a bit of luck
too. We need to raise our game and hope for better results”
- said Rahul David at the end of the match.

Its pointless to try and put the blame on a particular person or persons. But of course defeat will always lead to such mud slinging. Its also obvious that only four team will make it to the final. So there will be four teams which will remain in the bottom rank of the table.

But Cricket does not end there. Nearly everyone felt sorry for Rahul - after all he is a nice human being and a good player. Its not the fact that he has many test players or players not suitable for 20Twenty - its a game of cricket and a 20Twenty situation even happens in one day cricket and also in test matches - so many balls and so many runs is a common feature in cricket.

Also one can do little with the like of Brandon McCullum and Shaun Marsh batting at their all time best.

What this team lacks is a team-spirit - loyalty to the team - and a zeal to win and perform. Lets hope Rahul and his boys cover it up with some good performance in the remaining matches.

© IPL Cricket Forum

After sacking Charu Sharma as the CEO of Bangalore Royals Vijay Mallaya takes aim of Captain Rahul Dravid for poor performance the team.

Mallya was quoted by a national daily as saying, “My biggest mistake was to abstain from the selection of the team. Though, I watch a lot of cricket whenever possible, I am no cricket expert at the end of the day.”

“I had a separate list of players that I wanted. But since Dravid is such an iconic player I trusted his judgment. And Charu Sharma also backed him. After seeing the final list, my friends told me it looked like a Test team. But I backed both of them thinking that they advised me properly,” Mallya added.

Earlier Charu Sharma was dropped unceremoniously and replaced by former Test player Brijesh Patel.

Mallya’s outburst was undoubtedly in the offing given the Royal Challengers’ poor performance in IPL.

Too many test players and an equal amount of baggage has already proved fatal for the Bangalore team which is yet to fit in the Twenty20 format with six loses in eight games, pushing them at the bottom of the league table.

Vijay Mallya’s frustration is aptly justified given the fact that his company United Spirits Ltd bought the Bangalore Franchisee at an overwhelming price of $111.6 million, making it the second-most expensive franchise in the IPL.

Ediitorial - Mohit Goyal 

Indian Premier League Match Preview

Kolkata Knight Riders v Bangalore Royal Challengers at Kolkata

Bangalore have been facing a lot of flack and being termed a test eleven while Kolkata who had been tagged favorites after the first two matches have lost four on the trot. Both will be out to prove their points.

Men at the Helm

They might say anything but the men at helm Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid have a lot to prove in the shortest version of the game. There is no doubt over their abilities but they need to put a stamp on this version by innovation, improvisation and adaptation.

We have the bat

None of the two teams has been batting well but Kolkata had a good game in terms of batting against Kings XI Punjab and that gives them an edge in this department. Ganguly needs to fire for them and so does Kallis for Bangalore.

We have the ball

Ishant has been a sensation with the ball for Kolkata but his costly last over against Punjab probably cost Kolkata the match. Other bowlers need to come good too. On the other hand, Bangalore are a superb bowling unit. Their bowlers have been doing well consistently. It’s their batting which has let them down. Watch out for Steyn and Zaheer.

Patrolling Party

Kolkata are not a great fielding unit but Hussey and Hafeez are live wires on the field. Bangalore took some sensational catches in the previous games but the last game was a fielding disaster for them. Kohli, Dravid and White are likely to come good.

High on betting meter

Kolkata are high on betting meter owing to their batters and home advantage. But a slow pitch could favour the visitors heavily.

Who gets the tick?

This may be dubbed as the clash of the minnows but it’s going to be a very exciting match. Probably its Bangalore’s turn to make the March

Bangalore Royal Challengers: 156/8 (20.0 Ovs)
Deccan Chargers: 153/6 (20.0 Ovs)

Bangalore Royal Challengers won by 3 runs

Bangalore Royals Challengers batted first but could only set a target of 156 for Deccan Chargers. Deccan chargers had a great going with VVS laxman and Rohit Sharma until these two wicket fell - the others followed suit and the total innings crumbled until the very end when the Chargers tried to pull back.

Bangalore won by 3 runs with relied coming only in the last ball. Rahul Dravid was extra jubilant today for this much awaited win and the home crowd had their moments with fireworks and the presence of the franchisee owner Vijay Mallaya and the Bollywood babe katrina Kaif cheering for the team.

Praveen Kumar bagged 3 wickets for 23 runs to claim the man of the match award.

The IPL opening ceremony was dazzling in all aspect with Bollywood Music directors Shankar-Ehshan_loy starting off with a Grand Musical, followed by Acrobatics and Laser Show and cheerleaders from Washington adding a new dimension to Cricket.

But the dazzling performance fell short in comparision to Brandon McMullum smashing his way to an unbeaten 158,
No surprises here, Brendon McMullum is the Man of the Match for his awesome 158.

He also picked up the DLF Maximum Sixes award for smashing 13 in his innings

An absolute blitzkrieg from McCullum ensured that the Bangalore Royal Challengers
had no other option but to go hammer and tongs from ball one. They
failed miserably, caving in for a pathetic 82. Ishant started the
procession, Agarkar picked up 3 wickets and Ganguly chipped in with 2
as Bangalore fell short by a whopping 140 runs.

The First Match of the DLF IPL league ended with Knight Riders winning it and also emerging as a strong contender for the Winners Trophy.

Please check the match results for details score. IPL Cricket Forum will keep you updated with all scores and match details.