The English Cricket Board has announced that England’s tour to West Indies next spring will have an early finish, leaving sufficient space for centrally contracted players to compete in the second Indian Premier League - reported the Guardian UK.
The tour finishes on April 4, just six days before the 2008 IPL is due to start. It makes for a stark contrast with England’s last tour to the region in 2004, which ran on through to May 5.
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)
Shaun Marsh continued his batting blitzkrieg with his forth Man of the Match - award in the Indian Premier League, hitting 60 in the Kings XI Punjab’s win over Deccan Chargers.
Marsh scored his fifth half-century in a totoal of eight games with three fours and three sixes before getting caught with a half-hearted hit off Herschelle Gibbs at long-on.
Kings XI Punjab made 4-178 with three balls to spare chasing Deccan’s impressive total of 4-175 at the Punjab’s Mohali ground.
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?
Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals at Chennai
Chennai lost to Bangalore and made things difficult for themselves. But rain gods came to their rescue by washing out Delhi’s last match. Now they need to win atleast one of their two tough matches against Rajasthan Royals and Deccan Chargers or hope that Mumbai beat Delhi. Rajasthan on the other hand are looking to give few of their stars some rest because if they reach the final to be played on 1st of June, they will be playing five matches within nine days.
Men at the Helm
Tired of listening and saying again and again but both of these, Warny and MSD have been the best captains in this league. Warne didn’t have the star power in the team and Dhoni’s team started as a weak bowling side and after the departure of Hayden and Hussey, batting has become very lean and still both these leaders have blossomed.
We have the bat
Rajasthan have looked a very strong batting side but they will miss Smith and Watson who are likely to be rested. Still, Pathan, Younis Khan, Kaif and Asnoskar will be holding fort. Chennai dearly need their batsmen to fire. They depend heavily on Dhoni and Morkel to score fast. If both of them fail, it would be pretty difficult to score big for Chennai.
We have the ball
Rajasthan have been the best team bowling wise in the league. The bowlers have followed Warne’s instructions and bowled some immaculate line and length. For Chennai Gony has been very good, Murali has been consistently econo0mical but needs to get amongst wickets and Ntini seems to be coming into rhythm but there is always soem chance that he will go for big runs.
Patrolling Party
Both the teams have been fielding pretty well throughout the league. They haven’t been out of the world but have shown consistency and commitment levels have been pretty high.
High on betting meter
Rajasthan are slightly higher on the betting meter with gains around 90 percent while Chennai give around 110 percent.
Who gets the tick?
Rajasthan start as strong favorites and a win for them would keep the league round alive and interesting till the last day.
