Indian Premier League and Cricket News by IPL Cricket Forum

Editorial: Mohit Goyal

Indian Premier League Match Preview – Semi final 1

Rajasthan Royals Vs Delhi Daredevils

Semi final 1 is to be played between the teams which stood at the first and the fourth position in the league.

The Armies – Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils

Rajasthan Royals with 22 points stood at the top of the league winning 10 of their 14 matches and winning all 7 they played at their home ground, Jaipur.

Delhi Daredevils qualified by grabbing the fourth and the last spot. They were victorious in 7 matches while one was washed by rain. They ended on 15 points.

The Battleground – Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

The pitch here is the one that seems most likely to help the spin bowlers. The run scoring can be controlled in the middle overs if the spinners have a good day.

Knock out time

The stage is all set and the performers are raring to go. Its knock out time and the Daredevils have made the cut. This is a team, most would have liked to avoid in a knock out situation. But Shane Keith Warne would probably be the last man on earth to be thinking about it.

The spin wizard from Victoria leads his men, the pre-tournament underdogs as the favorites now to win the inaugural Indian Premier League.

Jab we met

When these teams first met in Delhi, it was the first match in the league for both. Delhi then, bowled out Rajasthan for a meager total of 109 and then got home pretty quickly.

In the next tie at Jaipur, Rajasthan managed to beat Delhi comfortably. The clash has adrenaline flowing high with Sehwag getting charged up in the field and Royals management lodging a complaint against him.

Leading from the front

Both Viru and Warny have led by example. Both have had a good tournament personally and that’s been a reason why things have sailed smoothly for them.

The clash between these two too promises to be a high voltage affair. Watch out for a run out that is not referred to the third umpire.

Left Right Right

Left-Right seems to be right for both the sides. With southpaws Smith and Gambhir opening the innings with Asnodkar and Sehwag respectively there is lot for bowlers to work out. Smith and Asnodkar have been rotating the strike with consistency and this has given many a bowlers some headache. Gambhir is very swift between the wickets and Sehwag more often than not has responded to his calls.

Sub continental Curry

Royal Tanveer and Daredevil Maharoof have been successfully tried as pinch hitters by their captains. It will be interesting to see if this has a bearing on the game.

There and there about

Glen Mc Grath seems to wake up from sleep and still be able to bowl that nagging line and length in and around the corridor of uncertainty.

Munaf Patel sees Mc Grath as his idol and has emulated him pretty well in this league. The change in his attitude and body language has been refreshing to watch.

Firing them or not firing them in

Sohail Tanveer has been an absolute revelation in the tournament. He has bowled with immense control. He’s bowled good bouncers, fired in yorkers and got the slower one going. He’s even managed to find yorker length with slower ball consistently.

Maharoof too has slipped in some useful bouncers and been in the channel outside the off stump. He too would be looking to use the slower one to good effect.

Spinning it square

Wankhede is one venue in the league where spinners would get the most purchase. If they can bowl well they will play a huge role. And if bowling well is required, one man who does it on any pitch is Shane Warne. This pitch will suit him and he could run away with the match if fast bowlers get a couple of early wickets.

Sehwag would look to use Amit Mishra to lure batsmen into big shots and then pulling the trap. He should be looking to use Dilshan and rolling his own arm over too.

Keeping it safe

Dinesh Karthik and Mahesh Rawat have done a good job behind the stumps. For Rajasthan, Akmal is unlikely to play because of restriction on the number of foreign players that can take the field. Dinesh Karthik would be looking to contribute with the bat too. He won Delhi their match against Mumbai.

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Tags: AMit mishra, cricket, Delhi Daredevils, gambhir, india, indian premier league, IPL, Maharoof, match preview, Rajasthan Royals, sehwag, Shane Warne, Sohail Tanvir, viru, Wankhade

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.

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Tags: Chennai Superkings, Deccan chargers, Delhi Daredevils, IPL Match Preview, Kings XI Pinjab, Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals, semi-finals, semis

Indian Premier League Match Preview

Delhi Daredevils vs Mumbai Indians at Delhi

This is do or die match for Delhi. A win doesn’t gaurantee them a place in the semis but a defeat definitely puts them out of contention. Mubai will like to win this one otherwise they will need to win both of their last two matches, one of them being against Rajasthan Royals.

Men at the Helm

Sehwag has been operating smoothly throughout the competition while Sachin looked out of sorts in the last match against Mohali where he probably mismanaged the distribution of overs amongst the bowlers. Well, thats just one issue but Sachin has done pretty well otherwise and seems to be learning the nuances of this game quickly.

We have the bat

Both are very good batting line ups but Mumbai have a slight advantage over Delhi. Delhi rely heavily on Sehwag, Gambhir and Dhawan and need at least two of them to play well. Mumbai on the other hand have had contributions from Sachin, Sanath, Uthappa, Nayar and Pollock. They will definitely miss Dwayne Bravo as they did in the last match against Punjab.

We have the ball

Again Dwayne Bravo will be sorely missed by this department as well. Daredevils Mc Grath and Maharoof and Pollock and Nehra for Indians have been bowling well. Both the teams are likely to have problems with overs of the fourth and fifth bowlers and batsmen must wait to pounce on these.

Patrolling Party

Delhi are an excellent fielding unit and Mumbai’s fielding although good but will have to go few notches still higher to compete with Delhi.

High on betting meter

Mumbai are slightly higher on most betting meters while both are on level on others.

Who gets the tick?

Mumbai will look to win this one but will a blazing inning fron Sehwag or Gambhir pull this Delhi’s way?

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Tags: Bravo, Delhi, Delhi Daredevils, dhawan, Earning, gambhir, indian premier league, Maharoof, match preview, Mohali, Mumbai Indians, Pollock, Sachin, sehwag, tendulkar

Editorial: Mohit Goyal

Indian Premier League Match Preview

Delhi Daredevils v Kolkata Knight Riders at Delhi

Delhi need to win this match to keep their semifinal chances alive. Kolkata would like to knock Delhi out of contention as Rajasthan did to them.

Men at the Helm

Ganguly has been a good leader but doesn’t seem to have come to terms with the nuances of this short format. Sehwag on the other has been instinctive, innovative and fairly impressive.

We have the bat

Delhi look a better batting side than Kolkata but a few quick wickets could expose the out of form middle order. Kolkata need one of Ganguly and Hussey to fire if they are to get to a respectable score. They need to make Hafeez sit out and play both Pakistani bowlers if fitness allows. Then they can open with Salman Butt and Debabrata Das or Saurav Ganguly.

We have the ball

Both are extremely efficient bowling units. McGrath has been impeccable through out. Maharoof and Yo Mahesh have been amongst wickets. Delhi need to play atleast one front line spinner in Amit Mishra whatever the conditions are and drop Rajat Bhatia who doesn’t seem to be coming any good with the bat. Kolkata must look at playing both Shoaib and Gul in the team.

Patrolling Party

Delhi are the best fielding unit in the competition. Everybody’s is almost tired now, saying that again again. They seem to stop everything, hold all catches and take all half chances. Kolkata are not that great a fielding site but they will look to give an inspired effort like they did in a couple of matches. Just watch Taibu field, admire his dedication and adore his commitment. Cricketers from smaller countries don’t hog the limelight, as was the case with Andy Flower. Watch closely, Taibu seems to be the best fielder in the world at the moment.

High on betting meter

Delhi are high on betting meter with returns of around 50 percent while a bet on Kolkata gives 125 percent additional to the bet.

Who gets the tick?

Rain Gods have been having a say at Delhi so this match could well be decided by the toss of the coin. Team winning the toss will like to bowl first. Should it be a full match, Delhi must cruise through.

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Tags: AMit mishra, Delhi Daredevils, Ganguly, Gautam Gambhir, gul, indian premier league, Kolkata Knight Riders, match preview, Mcgrath, Virender Sehwag

Editorial : Mohit Goyal

It’s just an interesting observation. There is fair chance that four teams behind Rajasthan Royals might all be stuck on 16 points after the end of the league round of the Indian premier league.

There is a pretty decent possibility of this happening. Just have a look at how the things could roll and lead to such a situation.

• Delhi Daredevils have 12 points with 2 matches remaining. One is against Mumbai and the other against Kolkata. They have a pretty good chance of winning against Kolkata and if one of Sehwag and Gambhir plays a big innings and the bowlers bowl according to reputation they can beat Mumbai too. This will get them on 16 points at the end of the league.
• Chennai have 14 points with 3 of their matches remaining against Bangalore, Rajasthan and Deccan. Rajasthan are a strong side and Deccan beat Chennai pretty convincingly in the last match between these two. If Chennai wins 1 of their remaining matches they would be on 16 points as well.
• Mumbai are on 12 points with 4 matches remaining against Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan and Bangalore. As we said earlier, Delhi must defeat Mumbai and Rajasthan are well capable of doing that as well. Mumbai are too good a team to loose too many matches and thus they could win against Punjab and Bangalore, giving them 16 points too.
• Now this is the toughest part. Punjab have 14 points with 4 games to play. They will play against Mumbai, Deccan, Kolkata and Rajasthan. As we said, Mumbai have to defeat them and Rajasthan can beat them too. Deccan is a very good team. Although too late, but they seem to be coming into rhythm and would definitely like to prove a point. So if Punjab manage to beat only one of the four teams they are to play they are to going to finish on 16 points.

Now it is very difficult to predict which teams will get through on the basis of net run rate. But taking into account the results of the matches that these teams played with those who they are to play, a prediction can be made.

Unless there is a huge victory for any of the teams Chennai are the most likely to go out because they have very poor net run rate and loosing 2 of their remaining 3 matches wouldn’t help either.

Still, the margins of victories will have a huge bearing on the outcome and Bangalore and Deccan could turn out King makers and dream breakers in the scenario.

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Tags: ban, bowler, cricket, Delhi Daredevils, gambhir, india, indian premier league, INS, IPL, Mohit, Punjab, Rajasthan Royals, Royal, sehwag