Match-36 RR vs SRH, Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur

MATCH-36

RR vs SRH

Venue-  SAWAI MANSINGH STADIUM, JAIPUR
Match Officials- V. Kulkarni, K.Srinath , M.Erasmus(Umpires),                             R.Madugalle(Referee)    

Toss-  SRH won the toss and chose to bat first

Result- RR won by 8 wickets with 13 balls to spare!

Man Of The Match- JAMES FAULKNER

Match Report-

                  Kumar Sangakkara and Perera were back in side for SRH! That made their side stronger for the game against RR! Sanga won the toss and chose to bat first. But they had the most DREADFUL start ever! Chandila got rid of Akshath Reddy in first over, while Faulkner dismissed Sangakkara and Shikhar Dhawan in 2nd. In 4th and 5th overs, Karan Sharma and Thissara Perera got out. In 7th over Vihari also got out, to leave SRH in all sorts of trouble. 6.1 overs 29/6 read the score card! Darren Sammy and Amit Mishra shared a good partnership! They added 55 runs, before Faulkner striked again getting the wicket of Amit Mishra -21(28) in the 15th over. Sammy, Aashish Reddy, Dale Steyn together added 53 runs in last 5 overs. Sammy- 60(41), Aa Reddy- 14(11) and Steyn 18(10)! Faulkner bowled a brilliant spell 4-0-20-5. SRH put up a good total especially after that dreadful start. 144/9 in 20 overs.

                        Instead of Watson, Dravid came in to open with Rahane. Steyn got the early wicket that SRH wanted, getting rid of Rahane in 3rd over. In form Shane Watson walked in, and he was looking in good touch from ball 1. He and Dravid shared partnership of 71 runs for the 2nd wicket. Dravid was dismissed in 13th over. Perera got the wicket of Dravid [36(35)]. With 63 required off last 7 overs the match was evenly poised. Sammy gave only 7 runs in the 14th. But Watson proved to be the key. He hit Ishant Sharma for 20 runs in the 15th over of the inning. Watson continued the big shots in next over as well, when they hit Perera for 15. After playing out Steyn's last over (17th of the innings) for just 6 runs, Watto, finished the match with 13 balls to spare, last 3 balls of the chase were, six,four and four by Watson. He needed 6 on the last ball for his century, tried hard but was 2 runs short! Watson 98(53) remained not out to seal the match for RR, by 8 wickets.

My Views-  

                         With the ball, RR destroyed the top order of SRH! Faulkner and Chandila kept it simple, SRH batsmen made mistakes to get out!! But Sammy and Mishra batted sensibly. Sammy being aggressive, Mishra rotated the strike nicely! In the end, final flourish by Aa Reddy and Steyn gave their bowlers something to bowl at!
                          Dravid knew that, first few overs will be crucial. So to protect Watson, he himself came up the order, and played cautiously. After seeing through the first 2-3 overs it was a batting fest for Watson! He played a one handed winning inning to gave RR their 5th win!

Highlights Of Match in Photos---

Jame Faulkner-Man Of The Match- took 5 wickets

Chandila celebrates wicket of Perera

Sammy played beautiful inning of 60

Steyn took the early wicket of Rahane

Watson- 98 not out!

Watto celebrates after hitting the winning four!

Match-35, KKR vs KXIP, Eden Gardens, Kolkata

MATCH-35

KKR vs KXIP

Venue- Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Match Officials- S.Ravi,C.Nandan,K.Dharamsena(Umpires)
 R.Mahanama (Refree)

Toss-  KXIP won the toss and chose to bat first

Result- KKR won the match by 6 wickets and 10 balls to spare!

Man Of The Match- JAQUES KALLIS

Match Report-

                    On the slowish pitch of Eden Gardens, KXIP won the toss and decided to bat and make 1st use of the pitch. Mandeep Singh and Gilchrist started of slowly. 23 runs in first 4 overs was the situation of KXIP but in the last 2 overs of powerplay they scored 22 runs. 45/0 after 6 overs was a good start, but they lost Mandeep Singh on the 1st ball of the 7th (Kallis's) over. Gilchrist was looking very solid at the other end. Vohra and Gilchrist added 23 runs for the 2nd wicket, before Gilly [27(27)] was caught on the boundary line in 10th over. Manan Vohra opened up in 13th over, hitting Balaji for six and four but got out on the very next ball. He was caught at deep cover, 31(21) was good inning by Vohra!  After that KXIP kept loosing wickets at regular intervals. After 19 overs they were struggling at 131/6. Balaji who bowled last over conceded 18 runs, Gurkeerat Singh -28(15) hitting 2 sixes and a four to ensure that KXIP reach 149/6 after 20 overs.                          
                              Gambhir started off the chase well for KKR, hitting 2 fours in the first over and making the intentions clear. 2nd over was the most dramatic over. Azhar Mahmood's first ball to Bisla was a dropped catch by Mandeep Singh. Second ball, Mahmood bowled Gambhir and third ball took the edge of Yusuf Pathan and thudded in Gilchrist's gloves! Suddenly KKR were 10/2! Kallis and Bisla played accordingly and made sure that they don't loose wickets in heap. After 10 overs they were 75/2 , same amount of runs required in 10 overs. KKR had a set back as Kallis got out in the 11th over. After that Morgan and Bisla played brilliant cricket, hitting shots and getting runs quickly! With 2 runs required in 2 overs, Morgan [42(26)] got out. Manvinder Bisla remained not out till the end making 51(44)! And KKR won by 6 wickets and 10 balls to spare!

My Views-  
                            For KKR Jacques Kallis' fitness was a worry before this match as he was injured! But he came back well and was eventually declared man of the match for his all-round performance. Bisla who got his chance today, also proved himself scoring a half century!
                    KXIP would have been right on top of this game had Mandeep taken the catch of Bisla. Mahmood bowled well up front picking up 2 early wickets. Morgan and Bisla had a match winning partnership between them which sealed the match!

Highlights Of Match in Photos---

both captains showing support to MARD(Men Against Rape and Discrimination)
[social initiative designed by Farhan Akhtar]

Vohra was top scorer for KXIP

Mahmood took 2 wickets in 2 balls

Kallis played well

Morgan- in attacking mood as usual

Bisla scored unbeaten half century!

Match-34, CSK vs SRH, M.A.Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai

MATCH-34

CSK VS SRH

Venue- M.A.Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Match Officials- A.Dar, S. Das, C.Shamsuddin(Umpires),                             A. Pycroft(Refree)    

Toss-  SRH won the toss and chose to bat first!

Result- CSK won by 5 wickets and 2 balls to spare!

Man Of The Match- M.S. DHONI

Match Report-

                  Cameron White(SRH) won the toss and chose to bat first in Chennai! Quinton de Kock, after hitting a boundary on previous ball, got out on the bowling of Mohit Sharma on the 3rd ball of the inning. Uncapped player Hanuma Vihari was run out on the last ball of the 2nd ball, courtesy, direct hit from covers by Raina. With White and Dhawan trying to get themselves in, SRH were 13/2 after 3 overs. Dhawan opened up a little after that hitting 4 fours in space of just 8 balls. But Mohit Sharma striked again as he got rid of Cameron White, caught behind in 5th over. Amit Mishra was promoted up the order. Shikhar Dhawan was ticking away with singles. But Mishra's stay of 5 overs on the pitch was ended by Ashwin. Mishra got out on 15(22) to leave his side in trouble 62/4 in 10 overs. Debutant Sargunam joined Dhawan. But the debutant strggled to score the runs. 82/4 after 13 overs, Dhawan was the key man for SRH. In next over, on bowling of Bravo, Dhawan was injured and he had to walk off the field, retired hurt. Darren Sammy came in and hit couple of boundaries. Bravo took the wicket of Sargunam in 16. But in the 17th over, SRH scored 15 runs. But in very next over Bravo got rid of Sammy 19(12)! Dhawan came back in again, and straight away hit Bravo for couple of boundaries to complete his 50! With 2 overs left, SRH were 126/6 ! They scored 33 runs off the last 2 overs, bowled by Mohit Sharma and Bravo. Aashish Reddy- 36(16) and Dhawan- 63(45) were not out, to post a total of 159/6 in 20 overs.

                        With 160 to chase, M.Hussey and Vijay started off well. Being cautious for couple of overs they took the attack to the opposition. Scoring 58/0 in first 6 was a good start! Karan Sharma bowled a good 7th over, giving away just 2 runs. And that pressure got to Vijay, who was half way down to Mishra, missing the ball completely, stumped by Kock! Hussey was gone in 10th over, again the bowler was Mishra. M.Hussey 45(26)  was caught by the keeper Kock. Steyn was given his 2nd over, as soon as Dhoni walked in at no.4. On the 5th ball of that over, with Dhoni batting on zero, Steyn bowled a fast bouncer, which went straight up in the air, taking Dhoni's bat's edge, but on the fine leg boundary, Amit Mishra misjudged and dropped! In 13th over, bowled by Sammy Dhoni got going by hitting 2 fours. With 62 needed in last 7 overs, Raina[16(13)] went for a hike and held on at long on. Bravo walked in to join Dhoni. With 46 needed of last 5 overs, Karan Sharma bowled a maiden over to Bravo who ended his spell with 4-1-8-0! Dale Steyn was brought back into the attack, Dhoni hit him for 2 sixes on first 2 balls to ease of the pressure. Bravo who was struggling got out in 18th over. At that time CSK required 30 off 16 balls. In last 2 overs, requiring 28, Dhoni again hit Steyn for 13 runs, but Steyn bowled last 2 balls dot, one of which was wicket of Jadeja. White threw the ball to Aashish Reddy to bowl the final over and defend 15 runs. He was clearly under pressure, as he bowled couple of balls down the leg side. Dhoni [67(37)] scored those runs in 4 balls, as CSK  won by 5 wickets and 2 balls to spare.
                                   

My Views-  

                          First of all, Mohit Sharma started brilliantly by ball. Then Shikhar Dhawan batted well with little cameos from Sammy and Aashish Reddy to get to a respectable total. 
CSK struggled in death overs, as they gave away too many runs. 
                      CSK started their batting innings nicely. Vijay and especially Hussey made full use of the powerplay overs. After they lost wickets at regular intervals. Bravo played a crucial maiden over, which put extra pressure on MSD. But he hit the world's best fast bowler "Steyn" for plenty and made sure they win the match. He made full use of a dropped catch by Mishra. 

Highlights Of Match in Photos---

Toss Time

Mohit Sharma picked 2 early wickets

Dhawan batted well for his 50

Reddy played a little cameo to help their side to reach 159

Vijay and Hussey gave CSK solid start

Mishra took 3 wickets

Dhoni finished off in style

Match-33, KKR vs MI, Eden Gardens, Kolkata

MATCH-33

KKR vs MI

Venue- Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Match Officials- K.Dharamsena,S.Ravi,C.Nandan(Umpires)
 R.Mukherjee (Refree)

Toss-  KKR Won the toss and chose to bat first

Result- MI won the match by 5 wickets and 1 ball to spare!

Man Of The Match- DWAYNE SMITH

Match Report-

                    It was Master Blaster's birthday! Packed Eden Gardens was unable to decide who to support! On one hand there was their home team and on the other side there was Sachin Tendulkar on his 40th birthday! Match started 1/2 late because of the rain before the match! Gambhir won the toss and chose to bat first. Ponting being out of form rested himself or rather dropped himself for the balance of the team, and young Rohit Sharma was named as the captain!  He gave 1st over to Harbhajan Singh. This move proved very dangerous for the visiting side, as Yusuf Pathan hit him for 3 fours and a six on first 4 balls, Gambhir made it even a bigger over hitting a six off the second last ball. Gayle fever was running in everyone's body!! 1 over gone 26/0 was a dream start for the home team. Johnson on his second ball took the wicket of Pathan. Kallis and Gambhir were looking solid on the wicket. They scored 61/1 in 6 overs of powerplay. In 8th over, Ojha's second, Gambhir[26(20)] was held at deep cover. Ojha in his final over of spell got the prime wicket of Kallis! In 12th over when he was dismissed for 37(38) KKR were 92/3! Eoin Morgan couldn't get going straight away, but managed to catch up in the 18th over, hitting Johnson for four and six and getting out in the same over. Morgan was gone for 31(25)! In between Manoj Tiwary batted brilliantly. He was attacking all the way.He scored 33(24) before Malinga uprooted his stumps, in last over of the inning. Malinga gave away just 3 runs picking up 2 wickets in the last over which restricted KKR to 159/6!                          
                              MI openers Smith and Sachin started cautiously, after 3 overs they were 13/0! In the 4th over Dwayne Smith hit Abdulla for 2 sixes. But in very next over the birthday boy was bowled by the mystery spinner Narine. Smith wasn't disturbed by that dismissal as he kept looking for runs and played some powerful shots! In 8th over Smith brought up his 50 off just 34 balls. But in the same over Karthik was judged leg before! Smith slowed down a touch. Narine picked up another important wicket of Smith[62(45)] in 11th over. At that stage MI required 78 runs in from last 9 overs. Pollard joined captain Rohit Sharma. In 13th over bowled by Senanayake, Rohit Sharma hit 2 sixes which eased the pressure. Pollard had a lucky break on the first ball of 14th over. The ball went in air and straight to the long on fielder who misjudged the ball in lights and dropped which went for 4! KKR delievered couple of overs. Gambhir gave 17th over to Narine which was his last, required run rate was 9 per over. And Rohit Sharma was caught and bowled by Narine of the last ball of his spell. Narine finished his spell with 3/17! With 28 required in last 3 overs, Senanayake gave 10 in the 18th over. Balaji without conceding a boundary in 19th over went for just 8 runs. Which meant, MI required 10 runs off the last over, with Pollard on strike! Bhatia bowled beautiful slower ball first up to get the wicket of Pollard. There was twist in tale. Rayudu managed only single on next ball. With 9 required from 4 balls, Harbhajan Singh who was facing his 1st ball, swung his bat hard and connected the ball which went for a big six. With 3 required off 3 balls, MI won the match with 1 ball to spare and 5 wickets in hand! 

My Views-  
                            KKR started both with bat and ball pretty well. Yusuf Pathan, Kallis and Gambhir were brilliant in first 6 overs, while Balaji and Abdulla kept things tight in first 3 overs. But after that batsmen slowed down a bit and bowlers started to concede runs! Kallis was unable to come on ground when KKR were fielding due to some injury which was a big blow for KKR! They missed his experience as well as his couple of overs with ball. Their fielding also was below average!
                       On other hand, MI got exactly what they were looking for. They needed one of the top 2 to score 50+ himself! Dwayne Smith did that! But the captain Rohit was little restless in the end. Everyone knew that it was Narine's last ball, still he got out softly! Pollard also played unnecessary shot. He could have easily got 10 runs, but he went for the glory first up and paid the price. Harbhajan who went for runs while bowling was the hero as he hit a six at important time! It was a nice gift for Sachin on his birthday by MI! 

Highlights Of Match in Photos---

Yusuf Pathan got KKR off to a great start

Tiwari and Morgan helped KKR to reach 150+

Malinga destroyed the stumps

Birthday boy, bowled by Narine

Dwayne Smith- Man Of The Match

Narine celebrates wicket of Rohit Sharma

MI had the last laugh! Man of moment BHAJJI!

Match-32, DD vs KXIP, Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, Delhi!

MATCH-32

DD vs KXIP

Venue-           Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, Delhi
Match Officials- V. Kulkarni, K. Srinath, M. Erasmus(Umpires),                             R.Madugalle(Refree)    

Toss-  KXIP won the toss and chose to Field first!

Result-  KXIP won by 5 wickets with 3 overs to spare!

Man Of The Match- HARMEET SINGH

Match Report-

                  DD and KXIP were both high on confidence as they had won their previous matches against MI and PWI respectively! KXIP won the toss and chose to field first! And they got a early break-through in Jayawardene as he was caught by David Hussey in the first over bowled by Praveen Kumar! DD sent in the South African van der Merve. But this ploy by them didn't work as he walked back in 4th over, so the experiment didn't work! On no. 4 came the regular opening batsman Warner to join Sehwag! Sehwag hit Harmeet Singh for four and six on 2 consecutive balls in the 5th over! But the bowler came back well in next over and took the wicket of in-form Sehwag, who scored 23(21)! Spinners were introduced by Gilchrist in 8th over! Hussey bowled a great spell in between. Warner and Juneja couldn't free their arms against Hussey! After bowling a good 9th over, Piyush Chawla went for 16 in his second and inning's 11th over. DD were 70/3 in 11 overs. Harmeet was brought back in to the attack after a couple of quiet overs by the spinners. And he removed Juneja on a short ball, to take his 2nd wicket! In the same over Kedar Jadhav played a rash shot to give his wicket away! Warner fought alone and scored 40(36) before he got out in 18th over. DD were restricted at 120/7 in their 20 overs. 

                         It was a job half done by KXIP bowlers for the team. Now it was turn for their batsmen to seal this game. Gilchrist lasted for just 3 balls as Pathan got his wicket in first over! In next 2 overs Mandeep Singh hit 4 boundaries while Luke Pomersbach hit 2 boundaries. 40/1, KXIP were up and flying after 3 overs! 5th over of the innings brought DD back into the contest. Van der Merve first dismissed Pomersbach[18(10)] while after 2 balls in the same over Mandeep Singh [24(15)] was run out. 51/3 after 5 overs, Vohra and Miller tried to compensate a bit, but Vohra was done in flight by Botha in 10th over. Overseas duo of Miller and experienced Hussey applied themselves on the wicket, and made sure that they don't loose another wicket. They shared partnership of 40 in 6 and half overs. With another 10 runs needed in 27 balls, Hussey was out. But that was too late for DD! Piyush Chawla and Miller [34(39)] then finished off the match with 3 overs to spare!

My Views-  

                          DD were back in their original form in this match! They lost their way against Mumbai, where they won, but they recovered quickly and came back to loosing ways!! Trying to repeat what they did against MI they failed today. They tried to attack from the word go, even when the wickets were falling, they were playing some needless shots. Their bowlers and fielders tried to pull the things back for them after a KXIP attacked in power play but it wasn't enough!
                     KXIP were outstanding today! They were brilliant with bowl and also in the field. Form of their captain with bat remains a worry for them! Gilly is not firing at all nor he is playing through the innings to guide the youngsters. But he is doing well behind the wickets. We might see change of captain for KXIP in next match! They also lost their way at the end powerplay where they lost 3 quick wickets. But Miller and Hussey played good knocks. 
                Harmeet Singh who took early wickets of Sehwag and Juneja along with Kedar Jadhav's wicket in the end was named Man Of The Match for his outstanding bowling figures 4-0-29-3!

Highlights Of Match in Photos---

P.Kumar celebrate early exit of Jayawardene

Harmeet Singh and KXIP celebrate wicket of Sehwag

Warner made 40(36)

Van der Merve bowled Pomersbach

Hussey and Miller played sensibly in the end