Match3 CSKvsKXIP

Match Details- 

•  Venue- Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi

•  Toss- CSK won the toss and choose to Bat first!

•   Result- KXIP won the match by 6 wickets and 1.1 overs to spare!

•   Man Of The Match- Glenn Maxwell (KXIP)

  
  
  
  

    MATCH  RECAP

               
  

    It was first "Day Match" of this season. CSK won the toss and choose to score runs on the board, in heat. Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith making their debuts for CSK started off very well, looking to be positive all the way. Giving the charge to fast bowlers and hitting plenty of boundaries. They shared 123 runs partnership in just 12.4 overs before McCullum departed on 67(45). Raina and Smith continued the good work. Former CSK player Balaji removed Smith {67(43)} in 17th over. Scoring 44 runs in last 3.4 overs, CSK were looking relaxed on 205/4!!

                         

      Pujara and Sehwag started with floury of boundaries, but Ashish Nehra sent Viru's leg stump flying to get his wicket. Pujara and Akshar Patel didn't last long as Ashwin trapped both of them LBW. Miller joined Maxwell with still 150 odd runs required to win from 15 overs and only 7 wickets in hand. Maxwell attacked almost every bowler and went on to score 95 runs in just 43 balls. That was one heck of a inning, hitting 15 fours and 2 sixes, he was destructive and unorthodox, and his hitting was colossal! Miller took the charge of game after Maxwell was bowled by Dwayne Smith. Along with Captain George Bailey, he finished off the game with 7 balls to spare. He remained not out on 54(37), sealing the victory over CSK!!

  
  

  
  

  
  

  My Views:-
  
  
  
  
  
   CSK were too mild when they came out to field. THere didn't seem to be much of energy on the field. After scoring 205 they were relaxed and they must have thought that they will defend the target easily, suchwas their attitude on field. They dropped catches of Maxwell. And let go plenty of boundaries as they were bowling to the both sides of the wicket. Scoring 205 was a job well done by CSK, but in field they were too modest. There didn't seem any fire in CSK's bowling! I still think that, CSK needs an overseas bowler who can be a wicket-taker. Hilfy can be a good option, he swings the ball with pace and that can be threatening to batsmen! For that, CSK will have to remove one of Faf, McCullum and Smith. Bravo needs to be fully fit so that he can bowl his 4 overs as well! CSK will lift themselves in the fielding undoubtedly. KXIP batting line up is much stronger than some of the teams, this year. But they need to strengthen their bowling as well. Every time it will be hard for batsmen to chase 200+ on each occasion.  
  
  
  
  According to me, Maxwell's dropped catch by Ashish Nehra was the turning point of the match.And lack of wicket taking medium or fast bowler took the game away from CSK!
  
  

Match2 DDvsRCB

Match Details- 

•  Venue- Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah

•  Toss- RCB won the toss and choose to Bowl first!

•   Result- RCB won the match by 8 wickets and 3.2 overs to spare!

•   Man Of The Match- Yuzvendra Chahal (RCB)

  
  
  
  

    MATCH RECAP

              
  

    Sharjah Cricket Stadium, one of the historic cricket grounds, was the 30th venue of Indian Premier League. The pitch was absolute belter. With no grass covering at all, it was a good pitch to bat on! Winning the toss, the "Casing Master" and Captain of RCB, Virat Kohli choose to field first. Murli Vijay and Mayank Agarwal were watchful first up against the pace & bounce of Starc and little bit swing of Albie Morkel. Agarwal lookin to hit Starc out of the park perished after giving a simple catch to Kohli. Vijay was looking in great nick after hitting Starc for a six over mid-wicket. On the other end, stand in Captain of DD got out on a 'first ball duck', whereas Manoj Tiwary also didn't last longer. Quick wickets on the other end affected Vijay's concentration, who was undone by beautiful leg-spinner bowled by young Yuzvendra Chahal! DD were in spot of bother at 36/4 after 8 overs. Then Duminy and Ross Taylor started the rebuilding process. Young Chahal and Varun Aaron were bowling brilliantly, hardly giving anything away. The so called 'death bowling specialist' bowler Ashoke Dinda of RCB had a completely off day today, he went for 51 runs in his 4 overs. In last 5 overs of the Inning, DD managed to score 63 runs. Duminy and Taylor remained not out on 67 and 43 respectively, giving some sort of respectability to the score 145/4!

                         

      RCB were playing without Gaylestorm today, so Parthiv Patel and Nic Maddinson opened the inning for RCB. Both came in, in the attacking mood. Maddinson failed early, with Kartik taking a fine catch off Shami. Patel was then accompanied by Virat. He was looking solid as usual, but Patel was one who really took the attack to the opposition. In scored quick fire 37 in 28 balls before he got out in the 9th over. With 80 odd runs needed in 11 overs, 'struggling for form' Yuvi came out to join Kohli. He struggled first uo against one pacy over by Shami, but once the spinners came in he started to time the ball sweetly and hit some massive sixes. With 86/2 in 12 overs and requiring another 60 runs, Neesham and Agarwal dropped 2 simple catches in the 13th over bowled by Parnell. After that Kohli never looked back. He and Yuvraj then finished the game off in style, with 3.2 overs to spare. Yuvi was not out on 52(29) and Kohli on 49(38)!

  
  

  
  

  
  

  My Views:-
  
  
  
  
  
   DD's top order never looked to settle down on the new conditions of Sharjah. Agarwal and Tiwary failed for couple of "nothing balls", Whereas Vijay and Kartik were undone by beauty of deliveries. Ross Taylor and Duminy had to block 2-3 overs to make sure that more wickets don't fail. But in successfully doing that, they had to play far too many dot balls, courtesy of some disciplined bowling by Aaron and Chahal. Duminy changed his gears beautifully but Taylor struggled till the end. 145 odd runs was a below par score on that pitch.
            To win the match from thereon, DD needed Kohli's wicket early in the inning. Kohli did create couple of chances by playing couple of risky shots, but he survived. The little man Parthiv Patel built the base of RCB's inning quite perfectly. Taking his chances at right times, respecting the good balls, he played gem of the inning. After his dismissal, it was time for Yuvi, as expected Shami did test him with short-balls and the plan seemed to be working, but again he survived. He took on leggie Rahul Sharma hitting him for huge sixes. Kohli was calm at the crease and scoring runs in singles and doubles, till he was dropped twice. After that, he also cut lose and scored runs quickly. Yuvi and Virat took them par the finishing line to grab 2 points.           
  
  
  
  According to me, Parthiv Patel's quick-fire inning was the one which turned the match. He attacked perfectly. And that put the DD under pressure straight-away. After that it was just a cake-walk for RCB with Yuvi, AB de Villiers yet to come and Kohli still in middle!
  
  
   
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

     

Match1 MIvsKKR

Match Details- 

•  Venue- Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

•  Toss- KKR won the toss and choose to Bat first!

•   Result- KKR won the match by 41 Runs!

•   Man Of The Match- Jacques Kallis (KKR)

  
  
  
  

    MATCH RECAP

              
  

    The IPL-7 got underway with the match between two former champions of IPL Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders. Gautam Gambhir won the toss and choose to bat first on the grass covered pitch. Zaheer Khan started well with the new ball, bowling in the right areas. Gambhir who was clearly struggling against Zak, was done by full length delivery of Malinga! Manish Pandey started his innings positively. He always tried to hit boundaries every now and then. But that wasn't happening, courtesy of some tight bowling by Bhajji and Ojha the spin-duo of Mumbai. After 13 overs, KKR were 86/1 with Kallis and Manish both playing a steady run-a-ball inning, with strike-rates around 100-105. Kallis was dropped by Malinga in 14th over (Pollard's first)! Which turned the game on its head. Kallis then attacked Ojha in 15th over of the inning, which accounted for 20 runs. Both completed their half-centuries. But were dismissed within the course of 2 overs. Malinga removed both of then, in between Zak deceived Uthappa. Suryakumar Yadav the former MI player, played some innovative shots in the last over bowled by Corey Anderson. KKR managed to score 53 runs in last 5 overs. Final score 163/5 was a decent total considering the slow nature of the pitch.

                         

      KKR  bowlers started well with the ball. Vinay Kumar went for 15 in his 2 overs but from other end, tall Morne Morkel gave only 2 runs in his 2 overs. That was enough to put pressure on MI openers, and Narine did the rest by bowling his magic delivery to get the big wicket of Michael Hussey! Aditya Tare was looking set but he also departed trying to hit Shakib out of the ground, gave away simple skier catch back to the bowler. Rayudu on the other hand, was looking in great nick from outset. He was trying to hit boundaries. But when Morkel came in again,  "Back of the Length" bowling created problems for Rayudu. With required rate creeping up till 15, Rohit cut loose in 16th over (last over of Morkel)! Just after hitting a colossal six, he got out the next ball trying to get a boundary once again. Next over Narine got rid of set Rayudu. Pollard had very little time to get in with his partner Corey Anderson not reading Piyush Chawla and Narine at all. They lost the match there. Narine finished with 4 wickets to his name. And KKR won the match comprehensively by 41 runs!

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  My Views:-
  
  
  
  
  
   After Gambhir failed early, on the little bit tricky wicket, Kallis, the senior-most player did the smart thing by consolidating and blocking one end! Still he didn’t play much dot balls, he kept the strike rotating. He let Manish Pandey to play his natural game. Kallis’ strike rate wasn’t impressive by the T20 standards at the end of  14^th over when he was dropped. But he knew that it wasn’t going to be easy for the new batsmen to come in and start hitting from the first ball. And hence he took the responsibility on himself to score the runs quickly and when he got out his strike rate was 150+. That’s what experience can do for you. One mustn’t forget Manish’s inning as well, his approach was brilliant.
          For Mumbai 160 odd runs was a chase-able target. They wanted Michael Hussey to play the same way how Kallis played. But the difference was Morkel’s pace and bounce. Hussey was stuck at one end, unable to rotate the strike. Narine did the rest of the job, I still think it was Morkel’s wicket, his brilliant spell put pressure on Hussey, making him play a wrong stroke against Narine’s “wrong one.” Rayudu and Rohit batted well together, trying to form a partnership, but the scoreboard i.e the required run-rate pressure did them both, inducing false strokes. Narine was good as usual with his magic deliveries. And he was well supported by all the other bowlers.
             
  
  
  
  I believe the turning point of this match was Morne Morkel’s 2 overs upfront! He hit the perfect area and exploited the bounce perfectly. MI played lots of dot balls in the first 4 overs and that cost the match!
  
  
  
   
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

     

  
  

Chennai Super Kings

Chennai Super Kings

• Captain-MS Dhoni (@msdhoni)

• Head Coach- S. Fleming (@SPFleming7)

• Bowling Coach- A. Bichel (@BichelAndy)

• Fielding Coach- S. Rixon 

• Official Team Twitter Handle-  @chennaiipl
• Official Website- http://www.chennaisuperkings.com/

SQUAD-

 MS Dhoni, Dwayne Smith, Brendon McCullum, Suresh Raina, Faf du Plessis, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Baba Aparajith, Ben Hilfenhaus, Samuel Badri, Ashish Nehra, Mohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Matt Henry, Mithun Manhas, Ishwar Pandey, Pawan Negi, Vijay Shankar, John Hastings, Ronit More

               

My Views-

             A lot of things have gone wrong for CSK, off the field in last 10 months. The team will want to rub off all the stains of their names. MS Dhoni and co. will be eyeing third IPL trophy in this 7th edition of IPL. In this auction CSK have baught Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum, two of the most destructive batsmen in history of T20 Internationals. Along with these two, they have Faf, Mr. Consistent Raina, MSD himself and then the all-rounder Bravo and Jaddu. In my opinion, either Mithun Manhas or Baba Aparajith will be part of this star-studded batting line-up!
                      To strengthen their bowling line-up they may have to play only one from McCullum and Faf, so that they can bring in Ben Hilfenhaus premium new ball swing bowler. Ravi Ashwin is in tremendous form and hence how he bowls his 4 overs will mostly decide course of the match. Ishwar Pandey's pace vs Ashish Nehra's experience vs Mohit Sharma's accuracy will be the case for Dhoni to fill up the two spots in the bowling department. 

According to me, CSK's playing XI will mostly be as follows:-

1. Dwayne Smith
2. Brendon McCullum/Faf du Plessis
3. Suresh Raina
4. MS Dhoni
5. Dwayne Bravo
6. Ravindra Jadeja
7. Mithun Manhas/Baba Aparajit
8. Mohit Sharma
9. Ravi Ashwin
10. Ishwar Pandey/Ashish Nehra
11. Ben Hilfenhaus

Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians

• Captain-Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45)

• Head Coach- J. Wright 

• Mentor- Anil Kumble

• Fielding Coach- J. Rhodes (@JontyRhodes8)

• Assistant Coach- Robin Singh

• Official Team Twitter Handle-  @mipaltan
• Official Website- http://www.mumbaiindians.com/

SQUAD-

 Rohit Sharma, Aditya Tare, Ambati Rayudu, Apoorv Wankhede, CM Gautam, Harbhajan Singh, Jalaj Saxena, Jasprit Bumrah, Pawan Suyal, Pragyan Ojha, Shreyas Gopal, Sushant Marathe, Zaheer Khan, Ben Dunk, Corey Anderson, Josh Hazzlewood, Kieron Pollard, Krishmar Santokie, Lasith Malinga, Marchant de Lange, Michael Hussey 

               

My Views-

             The defending champions Mumbai Indians will be raring to win it for 2nd time in row. With keeping their core as it is by retaining Rohit, Rayudu, Malinga, Pollard and Bhajji they look a solid team to beat. As a replacement of Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar, they have baught Mr. Cricket Michael Hussey to bring solidity at the top of the order. Aditya Tare will keep the wickets, whereas Rayudu and Captain Rohit will play in the middle order. Corey Anderson and Pollard will try to maximize the score in the death overs and will be handy with the ball. 
            The spin duo of Bhajji and Ojha will be looking to show the selectors that, they are still hungry for wickets. Lasith Malinga will look to continue his form from the World Cup T20. Zaheer Khan's fitness will surely be tested in this year's IPL. Back up bowler for Zak will be Jasprit Bumrah.

According to me, MI's playing XI will mostly be as follows:-

1. Michael Hussey
2. Aditya Tare
3. Ambati Rayudu
4. Rohit Sharma
5. Corey Anderson
6. Kieron Pollard
7. CM Gautam/Jalaj Saxena
8. Harbhajan Singh
9. Pragyan Ojha
10. Lasith Malinga
11. Zaheer Khan/Jasprit Bumrah

Kolkata Knight Riders

Kolkata Knight Riders

• Captain-Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir)

• Head Coach- T. Bayliss

• Mentor- Wasim Akram (@wasimakramlive)

• Assistant Coach- Vijay Dahiya (@vijdahiya)

• Batting Coach- W. Raman
• Official Team Twitter Handle-  @KKRiders

• Official Website- http://www.kkr.in/

SQUAD-

 Gautam Gambhir, Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa, Debabrata Das, Manish Pandey, Manvinder Bisla, Suryakumar Yadav, Sayan Mondal, Kuldeep Yadav, Morne Morkel, Pat Cummins, Piyush Chawala, Sunil Narine, Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Veer Pratap Singh, Jacques Kallis, Andre Russel, Ryan Ten Doeschate, Shakib al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan 

               

My Views-

             Once again, KKR have a strong unit on papers. Top order of KKR contains Kallis and Gambhir, along with young talent of Bisla and power of Uthappa. Slight worry for KKR will be consistency of Yusuf Pathan. Debabrata Das and Manish Pandey will fight against each other for one spot in the playing XI, while all-rounders either Shakib or Tendo will be chosen after looking at the conditions.  
            With Umesh Yadav, Morne Morkel and Pat Cummins, fast bowling won't be a problem for Gauti. Veteran spinner Narine is always a magician and he will be accompanied by leggie Piyush Chawla! All in all, KKR will be favorites for the title this year, with strong bowling line-up and quality batsmen in the squad!  

According to me, SRH's playing XI will mostly be as follows:-

1. Manvinder Bisla
2. Jacques Kallis
3. Gautam Gambhir
4. Robin Uthappa
5. Yusuf Pathan
6. Debabrata Das/ Manish Pandey
7. Shakib al Hasan/Ryan Ten Doeschate
8. Piyush Chawala
9. Umesh Yadav/Vinay Kumar
10. Morne Morkel/Pat Cummins
11. Sunil Narine

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Sunrisers Hyderabad

• Captain-Shikhar Dhawan (@imshikharD)

• Head Coach- T. Moody (@TomMoodyCricket)

• Mentor- Krish Srikkanth, VVS Laxman

• Bowling Coach- Waqar Younis

• Official Team Twitter Handle-  @SunRisers
• Official Website- http://www.sunrisershyderabad.in/

SQUAD-

 Shikhar Dhawan, Aaron Finch, Amit Mishra, Amit Paunikar, Ashish Reddy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Brendan Taylor, Chama Milind, Dale Steyn, Darren Sammy, David Warner, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Jason Holder, Karn Sharma, Lokesh Rahul, Manpreet Juneja, Moises Henriques, Naman Ojha, Parvez Rasool, P. Parmeshwaran, Shrikant Aniruddha, Venugopal Rao 

               

My Views-

             Shikhar Dhawan will lead the strong Sunrisers Hyderabad unit this season. With the captain himself, they have Finch and Warner, two of the most explosive T20 players. To accompany them in middle overs SRH have young players like Naman Ojha Manpreet Juneja, Ashish Reddy! 
            Dale Steyn, will be the spearhead of Sunrisers' bowling unit. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma will fight for one spot whereas Karn Sharma will be first choice ahead of Jammu-Kashmir's off-spinner Rasool to partner Amit Mishra.  
            Irfan Pathan and Darren Sammy will balance the playing XI with their all-rounder skills. But if the opposition is able to take three wickets of Dhawan, Warner and Finch, then it will be a test of character of these 2 all-rounders. They will have to play like a proper batsman rather than only trying for big shots.

According to me, SRH's playing XI will mostly be as follows:-

1. Shikhar Dhawan
2. Aaron Finch
3. David Warner
4. Naman Ojha
5. Manpreet Juneja
6. Irfan Pathan
7. Darren Sammy
8. Karn Sharma/Parvez Rasool
9. Bhuvneshwar Kumar/Ishant Sharma
10. Amit Mishra
11. Dale Steyn