After the match between the Mumbai Indians (MI) and the Rajasthan Royals (RR), everyone seemed to be gushing the same words over and over again!
The toss for match number 45 was won by the RR, and they elected to bat first. Graeme Smith and Rob Quiney were the openers for the RR, while Dhawal Kulkari bowled the first over. Seven runs were made off the first over, with one boundary (four).
The batsmen of the RR played at a steady run rate till the seventh over, when the first wicket, that of Smith, fell. The bowler responsible was Harbhajan Singh (Bhajji), and the fielder, J. P. Duminy. Smith had made 19 runs off 19 balls before his dismissal. Yusuf Pathan came in after him.
The Strategic Time Out, which is given to the teams to strategise, and which batsmen hope to see through, was a distant dream for the Pathan sibling as he got out just before it on a ball by Chetanya Nanda and was caught by Lasith Malinga after he had made 17 runs off 14 balls. Ravindra Jadeja came in next.
Quiney, who was playing a very good game of cricket, finally succumbed under the expert bowling of ‘slinger’ Malinga, who bowled him out after he made 51 runs, just after his half century. Siddharth Chitnis came in after Quiney, but was sent back to the bench by Dwayne Bravo (catch Abhishek Nayar) after making only six runs off eight balls. Naman Ojha came in after Chitnis. It was then time for Jadeja to depart on a ball by Jayasuriya (catch Bravo) after he made a valuable 42 runs for his team off just 32 balls. Johan Botha came in after him.
Ojha, who had just come to the field, quickly left after making only one run (ball Jayasuriya, catch Ajinkya Rahane). The RR skipper Shane Warne was the next man in. By this time, the innings was already in the last over, and on the last ball, Warne lost his wicket, and thus, the RR ended at 145-7.
The batting order of the MI had undergone a change, and Yogesh Takawale, along with Bravo, opened the batting, while Yusuf Pathan opened bowling. Eight runs were made in the first over, and in the second over, the first wicket of the MI fell. The man to be dismissed was Bravo, and he had made merely one run (ball and catch Munaf Patel).
In Bravo’s place came Rahane. But with two newcomers on the field, the pressure became too much, and Rahane got out on a ball by Warne (catch Abhishek Raut) after making only three runs. Jayasuriya came in next. After Rahane, it was the other newcomer, Takawale, who lose his wicket, and he departed after having made 18 runs off 22 balls. Tendulkar came in next. With two stalwarts on the field, it was expected that this time round, there would be some good display of batting, and to a certain extent, that did happen, as Sachin hit a few fours and even got a Free Hit, but no runs came off it. At the end of 10 overs the MI were at 54-3.
After the Strategic break, Jayasuriya’s wicket fell on a ball by Warne (catch Pathan) after he had made 16 runs. Duminy came in next, and the MI fans expected him to play well, as he has been in excellent form this season. However, that was not to be, and Duminy was bowled out by youngster Siddharth Trivedi after he had made only four runs. Nayar came in next.
Tendulkar, who had been going great guns so far, looked capable of leading the MI to victory, but these hopes, too, were dashed after the Little Master got out on a LBW by Warne. Thus, captain dismissed captain! However, Tendulkar had, by then, put up a decent total of 40 runs off 30 balls for himself. Bhajji came in after Tendulkar, and suddenly, it started raining fours and sixes! Nayar and Bhajji were doing a good job of salvaging the game by hitting a few fours and sixes between them, but then Nayar’s wicket fell, after he had made a fantastic 35 off just 18 (run out Naman Ojha, wicketkeeper).
After Nayar came Kulkarni, and by this time, the match was in the 19th over. It was a very crucial point, but Kulkarni couldn’t stay at the crease for too long. He just made one run, and got out. He was followed by Nanda, who was also dismissed, and Malinga was the last man in.
All the tail-enders were trying to give Bhajji the strike, because all that the MI needed to win was four runs! However, as the players at the striker’s end kept getting out one by one, Bhajji didn’t get a chance to bat, and with three balls remaining, Malinga tried to take one run, just as had Nanda before him, and, just like Nanda, Malinga, too, was run out! The MI lost the match by a hair’s breadth, and got all out at 143, just three runs short of victory (two short of a tie, which would have led to a Super Over). In the dug out, Tendulkar couldn’t believe himself, while an ecstatic Shilpa Shetty, and an even more ecstatic Warne, couldn’t contain their excitement.
The DLF Maximum award was given to Quiney, and the Man of the Match award was given to Shane Warne for his unbelievable three wickets. At the end of the day, spectators must have just managed to survive severe cardiac arrest, such was the match! This match catapulted the RR to number three position on the rank table, while bringing down the MI to number six.
In order to reach the semi finals, the MI will now not only have to win both their remaining matches, but also hope that the other teams (between positions five and seven) don’t play too well!
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!
Indian Premier League (IPL) have decided to maintain the Cap of USD 5 Million for Player acquisition as it feels that removing the cap could take the blood out of the competition.
Very recently Ricky Ponting who played in IPL before going back to Australia insisted that the scrapping of the salary cap could ruin the tournament by allowing the mega-rich franchises to grab all the big boys.
However IPL have decided to open a Transfer Window for players as early as Februray but this will not be applicable for the Icons like - Sachin Tendulkar, Shewag, Rahul Dravid, Ganguly, Yuvraj and Dhoni. Otherwise if any player and franchisee comes at an understanding there can be a transfer of Players between Franchisees.
“Once upon a time a war was called between eight kingdoms. All the kingdoms had to build their armies with very less time in their hands, an army that could stand the test of put up by others with their strength and the test of time with their endurance.
One of the kingdoms which lie in a desert had all odds in front of it and was counted out by all means and by all people. They were searching for a General when a senior man with golden hair volunteered. Everybody doubted him, not his abilities but because he had not entered the battle field for a long time now.
The people of the kingdom silently prayed for the success of this brave man. He went about preparing his army for the battles ahead and tried to find out the special abilities of his men.
