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

The IPL final earlier scheduled to be held at the Wankhade Stadium on the 1st of June, 2008 will now be held at the D Y Patil Stadium at Navi Mumbai. Not only the Stadium has better capacity than Wankhade but also provides better amneties for the Video Crew who needs much space for their entire range of equipments to be laid out.

The Mumbai Cricket Association managing committee met today under the chairmanship of Sharad Pawar and it was decided to hold the final at the Nerul stadium.

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Tags: BCCI, Crowd, D Y Patil Stadium, IPL final, Pawar, Pune, Sharad, shift, Video, Wankhade

Organisers of the Indian Premier League have shifted the June 1 DLF IPL final from the originally scheduled Wankhede Stadium in South Mumbai to the D Y Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai for a variety of reasons, BCCI sources said today.

The final has been shifted and will now be held at D Y Patil Stadium. One of the main reasons might be the TV production crew which is not happy with the makeshift arrangements at the Wankhede Stadium which has already been taken up for renovation and there is space constraint for keeping their equipment.

The arrangements for the TV production crew includes temporary location of their vast range of equipments adjacent to the makeshift restaurant located just behind the Garware Stadium stands, the sources added. Basically its an array of editing tables with 30-40 monitors and equal no of computers to track and telecast data plus recording equipment also. This plus the control of all live cameras around the fields and a special center for uplink of the feed to the satellite and a sound proof room for the commentators with an active link to the base station.

Another reason is that the D Y Patil Stadium can hold 55,000 spectators as compared to 40,000 by Wankhede, which increases the revenue of the home team owners - Reliance Industries.

The decision however has not yet been communicated to the franchise owners of Mumbai Indians, the home team, by the IPL authorities who make the final call though the team owners have a say on the matter, said a representative of the franchisee.

Tags: capacity, D Y patil, IPL final, Mumbai Indians, reliance industries, shifted, Stadium, tv coverage, Wankhade