The underdogs, Rajasthan Royals clinched the first IPL Final and emerged as the winner after a memorable run throughout the tournament under the most able Captainship of Shane Warne in an exciting finish on Sunday at Mumbai. After two dull and one-sided semifinals this was a great match with the luck swinging from one side to the other in equal measures.
The Indian Premier League dropped the curtain today after 44 days of cricket extravaganza. The Final started after some extra ordinary entertainment dished out by the organizers in the form of Indian Movie Stars, Music, Laser Shows and to end with para-gliders descending on the Stadium with individual team flags. And just before the finals began the entire crowd was held breathless by an awesome performance by Cirque du Soleil.
Indian Premier League (IPL) Match Preview – The Grand Finale
The Armies – Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings
Rajasthan Royals made brief work of it with an emphatic 105 run win over the Delhi Daredevils on Friday. Chennai Super Kings, the firm non-favorites beat Kings XI Punjab by 9
wickets with overs to spare.
The Battleground – DY Patil Cricket Stadium, Navi Mumbai, Mumbai
While the pitch at Wankhede had help for spinners, the pitch at this ground has more pace and bounce. Rajasthan bowlers have bowled well on most pitches. Chennai with Ntini, Morkel and Gony will be happier to play on this sort of pitch and absence of Graeme Smith on this sort of pitch will be a factor. Rajasthan have played a match at this ground. Although they were shot out here by Mumbai but Warne would surely have picked a point or two.
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.
It’s the last league game for both these teams. Hyderabad are languishing at the bottom of the table and this is their last chance to win a game at home. For Chennai, this is an extremely important game. A victory here and they will progress to the next round. Though Chennai start as favourites, they haven’t been in the best of form of late: A shock defeat at the hands of Bangalore, when they failed to chase a meagre 127 was followed by a 10-run defeat against Rajasthan.
What if Chennai lose today? If Chennai lose today and Mumbai win tomorrow, Mumbai will advance on account of better net run rate. (Chennai’s current NRR is -0.241 while Mumbai’s is +0.531). Should Mumbai lose tomorrow, Chennai will go through to the semis(Chennai are on 14 points, Mumbai are on 12)
Even with a berth reserved in the semi-finals Shane Warne and his boys continued with a display of professional cricket and continued their winning spree once again.
The match today can be described as one of the best matches in recent time. Exactly what you can expect when two cool and scheming captains meet. An excellent start by Rajasthan Royals with a brilliant knock of 91 by Grahme Smith with 9 boundaries and 4 sixes.Equally bright innings of 41 by Swapnil Asnodhkar and 53 not out by Kamran Akmal saw Rajasthan Royals sail smoothly to a comfortable score of 211 for five in 20 overs.
But yet if you need to see a Captain stressed out after such a good start you must see Shane Warne constantly scheming using his plan a, plan b and plan c just to put a stop to the Chennai Super Kings run machine.
Chennai got off a to great start thanks mainly to Raina and Parthiv. Morkel took control of the situation later and with 35 required last off the last three overs, the match was evenly poised. But Warne’s smart field placements meant that Chennai lost 4 wickets in the last 3 overs and fell 10 runs short.
An early wicket of Stephen Fleming for an irresponsible run-out and brilliant fielding by the Royals caused much damage though Parthiv Patel (54) and Suresh Raina (45) added decent runs at the start. Morkel scored a high powered 71 of just 40 balls which also earned him the man of the match, apart from booking two wickets earlier. For Rajasthan Royals Sohail Tanvir needs a mention for getting 3 wickets for 33 runs in 4 overs.
Chennai has one match left to play with Deccan Chargers and they need to win that match desperately for a chance to be in the semi-finals.
