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Mumbai loses in the last ball !
2008-05-27 15:26:00
Mumbai scored 145/7, with Jayasuria 38 and Sachin,30. It was not a perfect batting track. Sohail Tanvir took 4/14 and became the hero of Royals.RR scored the required runs with five wickets to spare. Neeraj Patel ( 40 not out ) and Ravinder Jadeja 23 not out saw RR home.
More About: Mumbai , Ball

Punjab beat Mumbai by one run
2008-05-23 09:22:00
19 runs were needed off the last over. The first ball was hit for six and the next ball for a four. The last ball came. Only one run was needed. It culminated in a run out and Punjab won by 1 run. The Little Master scored 65 and was run out. Mumbai was on top when Sachin was run out and then the collapse started. Five run outs and Mumbai had lost by one run ! Later, Yuvraj conceded that Sachin's wicket was the turning point !
More About: Beat

Dravid's team fail again !
2008-05-20 19:14:00
Despite Misbah scoring 24 off the last over with 3 sixes, RC failed again. RC could only score 154 and DDD won by 5 wickets, with a six by Shikhar DhawanGambhir leads with 504 and R P Singh wears the Purple cap with 15 wickets.Gambhir & Sehwag were involved in a 90 run partnership and when the first wicket fell at 90, it was too late for Dravid's men.
More About: Team

Ntini's hatrick wins the game for Chennai !
2008-05-19 06:22:00
Ntini's hatrick won the game for Chennai . He took 4 wickets. Ntini took 4/21 and wrecked the Kolkotta Knight Riders to 149. CSK were 55/0 in 8 overs when rain came. Chennai won by the D/ L method. In the other match, Deccan failed again. Considered the most powerful batting lineup in the world, Deccan crumbled !RP Singh took 3/35 in restricting the Mumbai Indians to 178. But that was not enough as Bravo took 3/24 to restrict the Deccans to 153 !
More About: Game , The Game , Wins

Warne does it again ; Sagar Kulkarni scores double century in T20 !
2008-05-18 05:55:00
Have you heard of a double hundred in T20? S Kulkarni scored a 200 in Singapore.RR triumphed again, despite Dravid's heroics of 75 not out with six sixes. In a powerful batting display, RR scored 194/1, with G Smith 75 n o, Asnodkar 50 and Shane Watson 46 no. RC was a devastated team and were soon 83/8 ! Dravid stood out, a cut above the rest and hammered six sixes and six fours ! Sehwag scored 51 no and Gambhir 40 in DDD's score of 118/4. Kings XI won the match 94/3, with Mahela scoring 36 off 17 balls, in a game limited by rain
More About: Double , Scores , Century

Shaun Pollock proves the principle " Bowlers Win Matches"
2008-05-17 11:09:00
Shaun Pollock took 3 early wickets and KKR were 21/3 ! Bravo, Raje & Thorney took 2 wickets each and KKR were all out for 67! Then Jayasuria excelled with 48 not out and Mumbai won with 8 wickets to spare !Earlier the T20 was thought to be a batsman's game. "It is a batter's game" said Mark Boucher. McGrath contradicted him saying that it is a bowler's game. Who is right, nobody knows. Now the bowlers are coming to know how to bowl in T20s. Also to take early wickets. We find that the team who loses early wickets find it hard to build up a mammoth score. The early wickets lost puts pressure on the incoming batsmen. Two dot balls bring in pressure. So ideally a good start of 50 plus is needed for the opening wicket. 21/3 and the team seems to be finished ! And this is what happened yesterday. Pollock moved the ball in the air and off the wicket. So did Raje, Thornley and Bravo and what a good bowling performance it was.McGrath is proved by hatricks from Balaji and Mishra, both spe...
More About: Matches

Gambhir and Dhawan excel
2008-05-16 07:16:00
Dhawan scored 68 nout and Gambhir 79 in a glorious century partnership. And Deccans could not score tha 195 needed.Earlier Sehwag was taken; his favourite shot to third man and he was caught ! A trap well arranged by Gilchrist.Mishra took a hatrick and took 5/16. Well, IPL is a great opportunity for youngsters and Dhawan and Mishra are the new heroes. The world knows about the Gambhirs and the Sehwags. About the Mishras, the Dhawans, the Kulkarnis, the Gonys, the world knows not.IPL and ICL are great opportunities for Indians and other upcoming youngsters from other countries -Shaun Marsch, Cameroon White - to showcase their skills. The organisers are also improving their skills and within 3 years, we will have state of the art international stadiums as well. All will upgrade their skills - players, commentators, the bosses of teams, broadcasters - and India will become a world power in the globalising scenario !Gambhir leads with 427 runs, followed by Dhoni 332 and R Sharma 331. Sr...
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The Jayasuria Whirlwind !
2008-05-15 13:17:00
If Jaysuria clicks, what can happen to the opposition ?Dhoni's men were vanquished in the Jayasuria whirlwind knock of 114 not out. 156 were needed to win and Mumbai won by 9 wickets.Earlier Shaun Pollock had reduced Chennai to 156. With Hussey and Hayden gone, Chennai's batting looks fragile, their bowling susceptible ! Shaun Pollock's figures were 4-1-9-1

Bowlers win matches and Shoib delivers !
2008-05-14 06:17:00
The adage "Bowlers win matches" is right again. The Rawalpindi Express bowled KKR to victory. Sehwag was caught in the slips in his first over ( ball 149 kph). Gambhir hit a powerful shot into the hands of David Hussy. Shoaib took 4/11 and DDD were 28/4. Laxmi R Shukla took 3 wickets in the last over and DDD were shot out for 110.Earlier KKR could only manage 133,due to some accurate bowling by McGrath & Co. McGrath seems to be right in his analysis that it is bowlers who win matches !
More About: Matches

Punjab bowlers contain RC
2008-05-13 07:51:00
The adage "Bowlers win matches" still holds good in T20. It was Sreesanth who removed Arun Kumar with a super swing delivery. Then Misbah threatned to take the game away from Punjab and he was then hit wicket Sreesanth. Misbah scored 21 off 7 balls. He stepped onto his wicket and was declared hit wicket Sreesanth. Then it was the turn of Peeyush Chawla to contain the hapless RCs. Virat Kohli who began well was clean bowled by Chawla. Cameroon White was caught and bowled Chawla for 10. The score then was 74/4 ! Then VRV bowled a superb spell, just giving away 15 runs off 4 overs, with a wicket. The Punjabis had contained Royal Challengers - there is criticism that RC is a good Test team - to 143!Then the Australian trio swung into action. Hopes, Marsh and Pommerbasch took Punjab to victory, with 9 wickets in hands. Shaun Marsh was a revealation and now has scored 295 runs so far !Sreesanth now leads with 13 wickets, along with Irfan and Zaheer ! Gambhir leads with 336 runs in batting !

Ganguly's blitzkreig's destroys Deecans, Watson's finishes DDD!
2008-05-12 12:22:00
Well, Ganguly silenced his critics with a superb 91 off 57 balls, with 11 fours and five sixes. He was involved in a 102 partnership with David Hussy, who scored 57. The Deccan Chargers couldnt score the 205 needed to win, despite some fantastic hitting by Venugopal Rao ( 71 runs with six sixes . Ganguly also shone with the ball, picking up 2 wickets. He was declared the Man of the Match.In the other match, Sehwag fell, along with Gambhir. Shikar Dhawan was unfortunately run out and Delhi were 100/6. !57 to win and Watson rose to the occasion scoring 74 not out and steered his side to victory.

Balaji bowls Chennai to victory !
2008-05-11 10:19:00
Balaji took a hatrick and bowled Chennai to victory. Earlier Sreesanth had reduced Chennai to 20/2, by taking both openers, Fleming and Vidyut. Vidyut hit 2 fours off Sreesanth, but Sreesanth had his revenge when he induced Vidyut to edge an outswinger into the hands of Mahela. Fleming was deceived by the pace and was caught.Then it was left to Raina and Badrinath to steady the innings, which they did. Raina departed at 64/3 and then Dhoni walked in. In a 91 runs stand, both Dhoni and Badrinath played well and took Chennai to a respectable 181/4. Badrinath scored 64 and Dhoni was 60 not out.Punjab was in dire straits at 29/2. Shaun Marsh played a magnificent innings but was out of 54. Yuvraj was dismissed cheaply and this event started the Punjab collapse. Balaji took a hatrick and finished with the best figures of 5/24. The Juniors are leading in the tournament. As against Dravid's 169 runs, Ganguly's 116, Laxman's 155, the youngters like Gambhir had scored 305,Dhoni 289, R Shar...
More About: Victory

Yousuf and Smith pull RR to victory
2008-05-10 06:40:00
An easy victory was achieved by the Rajasthan Royals, with a century partnership from Smith and Yousuf .Even though Gilchrist scored 61, the Deccans finished with 140. An easy target of 141 was easily achieved by the century partnership of G Smith and Pathan. Pathan scored 61 off 37 balls and Smith 40. Afridi and Gibbs failed again. This is a big problem for both Deccans and Royal Challengers . Their players are not firing. They may be out of the competition, if this form continues.Gambhir leads with 305 runs, followed by Gilchrist with 284, Sehwag 270, R Sharma 263. In the bowling dept, Zaheer leads with 13 wickets, Pathan 12, Warne and R P Singh 11
More About: Victory , Pull

Gony swings Chennai to victory; Dravid falters again !
2008-05-09 05:22:00
15 runs were needed in the last over for Chennai to win. Gony swung the first ball for six and then slashed the next ball through the slips for four. Gony took a single and gave strike to the talented Badrinath. Two runs were scored off the next ball and the fifth ball was a dot ball. Badrinath lofted the sixth ball and Shikha Dhawan made a valiant attempt to catch it. The ball bounded from his left hand and Chennai had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. One of the greatest thrillers ever !Gambhir and Dhawan were in tremendous form, with Gambhir scoring 80 and Dhawan 59. Gambhir became the orange cap owner ( orange cap for the highest scorer in the tournament ) with 305, followed by Sehwag with 270. Delhi amassed 188. Chennai started well with Vidyut hitting bowlers to all parts of the field. Fleming came into form with a superb 44. Dhoni scored 33 off 33 ball and was declared Man of the Match. In the other match, Ganguly was adjudged Man of the Match with a superb 1/7 off 3 ...
More About: Victory , Dravid

Ashish Nehra wrecks Royals !
2008-05-08 07:05:00
Superb bowling by Ashish Nehra, 3/13, wrecked the mighty Royals ! McGrath says that the theory that it is a batsman's game is not correct and events in the IPL are only corroborating his statement. The old adage " Bowlers win matches" still holds good in T20 ! Look at the records, Sohail Tanvir's 6/14 spelt doom, Sreesanth removing two in the first over, Pollock removing two in the first over !Now Ashish Nehra. It the previous match he was on a hatrick. We welcome his return to form. Royals were bowled out for 103. Pollock, Kulkarni, Raje, Bravo and Jayasuria lent solid support to the former Indian swing bowler. Takawale, the Mumbai wicket keeper impressed with 4 good catches. One of the catches he took was stunning. He scored 27, with one six and one four. Uthappa was 34 not out and Mumbai won by seven wickets !More consideration should be given to IPL, says Paul Marsh, the ceo of the Australian CC. Ganguly says the youngsters who impressed in IPL should prove their mettle in Te...

Bowlers bowl Deccan to victory !
2008-05-07 06:50:00
Despite Gilchrist being named Man of the Match for his 54 no, it was the Deccan bowlers who bowled them to victory.Good bowling by R P Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Afridi, Styris and V Kumar, saw that Chennai got only 144. They were at one stage 86/6, when Dhoni got out. Dhoni fell to Ojha, the left arm spinner. Suresh Raina played well for his 32. Abie Morkel and Gony indulged in some lusty hitting and took the score to 144. Deccan in reply lost Gibbs, who was caught and bowled Gony for 10. Gilchrist fell to Morkel, after making a solid 54. We envisage a World Cup with 39 teams, with all teams of the Stanford, ICL and IPL !
More About: Victory , Bowl

Sreesanth removes Jaffer and White and bowls Punjab to victory
2008-05-06 05:25:00
Great bowling by Sreeshant and Chawla took Punjab to victory.RC were 1/2 from which they never really recovered. Virat Kohli scored 33 and Dravid 66. Dravid's innings was highly sophisticated. RC were all out for 124.For Punjab, Shaun Marsh scored 39 and Pathan and Jayawardene were not out on 17 each. Punjab scored 127/4. In the future we envisage contests between the 8 teams of the IPL and 11 teams of the ICL. Also the 20 teams in the Stanford 20/20. So we have a corpus of 39 teams and all of them can partake in an international League. So this will be the future !
More About: Victory , White , Sreesanth

Tanvir wrecks Chennai;Mumbai beat Delhi
2008-05-05 15:43:00
Mumbai created a big upset, when they defeated Delhi at Mumbai.Mumbai scored a respectable 162, thanks to Shaun Pollock who scored 33,Jayasuria 33 and Thornely 30. But Gambhir was out cheap at 3/1 and then suddenly the Dare Devils were 82/4. Sehwag scored 40, but it was not enough and Delhi were all out for 133 ! What a relief for Mumbai Indians !Tanvir wrecked Chennai but the best IPL figure of 6/14. Two were dismissed in the fist over and Chennai were 1/2, losing P Patel and S Feming within 1 runs. Then Vidyut was also taken by Sohail. Chennai were all out for 110 and the Rajasthan Royals won by 8 wickets, Graeme Smith
More About: Mumbai , Beat

Punjab and Bangalore prevail
2008-05-04 04:40:00
We had 2 magnificent nerve baiting finishes yesterday. Dravid's men trouncing the Deccan Chargers by 3 runs and Punjab winning by 9 runs. The final over was bowled by experienced bowlers and they won the game for their teams. Kumble for Bangalore and Pathan for Punjab. If not for the great bowling of these bowlers, results could have been otherwise. This gives lie to the theory that T20 is a batter's game !Piyush Chawla hit 21 in the last over to give Punjab a decent score, 178/6. Kolkota, despite David Hussy's 71 off 46 balls and Saha's 59 off 32, could only finish nine runs behind. Praveen Kumar took 3/23 and bowled the Royal Challengers to victory. 20 runs were need in the last over and Sanjay Bangar hit 2 sixes and almost did a Shane Warne. But Kumble's experience proved too much for the Deccan Chargers ! Team P W L T NR PTS NRR Delhi Daredevils 5 4 1 0 0 8 1.263 Chennai Superkings 5 4 1 0 0 8 0.743 Rajasthan Royals 5 4 1 0 0 8 0.525The leading scorer in t...

Delhi win by 8 wickets !
2008-05-03 11:55:00
Chennai Super Stars looked depleted by the absence of Hussy, Hayden and Oram.The Delhi bowlers McGrath, Asif and Company bowled beatifully to restrict the Super Kings to 169.A glorious century partnership by Gambhir and Sehwag saw Delhi winning by 8 wickets. Sehwag hit 2 sixes off Goni in the second over and when the century partnership was hoisted, the match was almost over. A great day for Sehwag & Co and Dhoni tasted his first defeat

Rajastan Royals and Kings XI win !
2008-05-02 08:56:00
Shane Warne does it again. He won the toss and batted. Good innings by Asnodkar 60 Yousuf Pathan 55 and R Jadeja saw the Royals reach 196. Kolkotta went down fighting and they lost by 45 runs.Shane Warne is proving to be the best captain in IPL. Many say he is the greatest captain Australia never had. Ganguly hit 2 sixes and 4 fours in a good 39 ball effort. But the Knight Riders were all out for 151Punjab won in the other match. Deccan could only muster 164/8, with R Sharma scoring 76 and Laxman 48. Gibbs failed and did Gilchrist. Afridi, V Rao and Bangar all failed. Shaun Marsh, the son of Geoff Marsh, went on to score 84 no and Jayawardene gave him solid support with 45 not out.
More About: Kings

Shikhar Dhawan and Gambhir shine in Delhi's win
2008-05-01 08:28:00
Delhi scored 191 runs and set a target of 192 for Dravid's team. Dravid's team failed again.Magnificent batting by Dhawan and Gambhir saw them score 191. Gambhir is the fifth biggest scorer and his 86 was a revealation ! Dravid's men could not get the 192 !Royal Challengers are going down. Chennai is on top at the moment. But with Hussey and Hayden gone, let us see how Chennai fares again.
More About: Shine

Maiden win for Mumbai !
2008-04-30 12:54:00
Shaun Pollock removed Ganguly and McCullum and Kolkotta were 6/2. Early wickets from which they never truly recoverd.Laxmi Shukla scored 40 with 2 sixes and 4 fours. But the revealation was Debabrata Das who hit 5 fours and a six in his blistering 29, when Ganguly, McCullum and Ponting failed. All that the Knight Riders could muster was 131. Mumbai were 25/3 and there were fears of a Mumbai loss, like the last four matches. But then Uthapp (37 n o ) and Bravo ( 64 no ) were involved in a 113 run partnership, which saw the Mumbai Indians home.Here are the points of the 8 teams M V L T P ( M-Match, V-Victory, L- Loss, T = Tie, P=Points) Chennai 4 4 0 0 8Rajasthan 4 3 1 0 6Kolkotta 4 2 2 0 4 Delhi 3 2 1 0 4Punjab 4 2 2 0 4Hyderabad 4 1 3 0 2Bangalore 4 1 3 0 2Mumbai 5 1 4 0 2
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Royal Challengers fail again !
2008-04-29 06:29:00
We do not know what is wrong with the Royal Challengers, they have failed again. Dravid was again out for a blob and Virat Kohli did not shine. The target was gettable, particulary after Waseem Jaffer and Ross Taylor scored half-centuries.Dhoni won the toss and batted on a hostile pitch. Dale Steyn was hostile, bowling at 145 kph. Hayden was out to Zaheer and then Patel got out. Dhoni's blitzkreing was 65 out of 30 balls. Hussey scored 47 and the Chennai Super Kings finished at 178/5.The Royal Challengers were on top at 102/1, when Jaffer, who had hit 2 sixes, got out. Then they lost quick wickets in succession. It looked like a procession of batsmen. RC failed again and were all out for 165 !

Punjab and Hyderabad win comfortably !
2008-04-28 07:39:00
Sehwag out means half the battle lost. He was taken by Pathan and Lee took Dhawan, VRV Singh took 3-29 and the Dare Devils could only muster 158/8. Manoj Tiwari scored 39 . The Kings XI game plan worked well. Simon Katich continued his great form with the bat. He scored 75 and got Man of the Match Award. Yuvraj was at his striking best ( 40 not out ) and he got a hug from Preity Zinta. In the other match Laxman won the toss and fielded. The Mumbai Indians were 27/3. Shaun Pollock scored 31 and Abhishek Nair scored 34, blasting 3 sixes in the process. The Deccan Chargers wanted 155 runs and they got it in style. Gilly blasted 10 sixes and nine fours in his 109 no and Laxman gave solid support in the massive score of 155 for none. This is the greatest partnership ever in the IPL. The massive crowd of 50 K had got their money's worth, as they saw one of the greatest innings in T20 from Gilchrist.
More About: Hyderabad , Punjab

Chennai & Rajasthan prevail !
2008-04-27 05:56:00
That it is a mind game is proved by Shane Warne. He won the toss, put Dravdis' men to bat and bowled them out for 138. Their game plan was class. Dravid, Chanderpaul and Kallis were held in the deep. Except for some lusty hitting by Ross Taylor (44) and Praveen Kumar (34), none of the other batsmen could excel. Munaf got 2 wickets, Trivedi 1, Warne 1 and Watson 2.Shane Watson was as solid as ever, playing the sheet anchor role and scoring 61 not out. Graeme Smith became successful for the second time and scored 49. Yousuf Pathan scored only 21, but the innings was embellished with 5 fours.In the other match, Dhoni's men proved to be formidable. Jacob Oram took both the wickets of McCullum and Ponting to reduce the Knight Riders to 32/2, from which they never recovered. He also took the wicket of Karthik ang got the Man of the Match award. Laxmi Ratan Shukla played well for his 42 and the innings folded up at 147/9.A glorious stand of 66 by Parthiv Patel and Hayden saw the Super Ki...
More About: Chennai , Rajasthan

Indian cricketers felicitated !
2008-03-06 13:13:00
The victorious Indian team was felicitated at Delhi. The U 19 players Virat Kohli and Pradeep Sangwan were also present. Sharad Pawar, Arun Jaitley, Vijay Mallya, Bhindra were also present and the Ferozshah Kotla ground was jampacked. "The Bajji fiasco brought the whole team together" declared Yuvraj. The whole fought like one unit and triumphed over the mighty Aussies !"India's method paid off " said Ricky Ponting. Earlier the Indian selection had come under severe criticism when they dropped Ganguly and Dravid. Dhoni and the selectors took bold decisions, favouring youth for experience. Youth plus the experience of Sachin finally paid off. Can we say this is more or less the T20 team + Sachin's genius ? DCA gave 2.5 lakhs to the Delhi boys, Virat Kohli, Sangwan of U19 and Gautam Gambhir, Ishant Sharma and Sehwag !Each member of the victorious team got 58 lakhs. More money is in the offing as the contracts of the players like Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar by IPL is expected to be ...

India Rising
2008-03-06 08:05:00
A cricket enthusiast, Madhavan Kutty, writes from Bangkok Another master class, perhaps his final one on Australian soil,from the Little Master, inspired leadership from Dhoni and great bowling spells from the India ns, saw Australia humbled in their own backyard.To many Indians this is a great victory. To me, it has been India's greatest cricketting summer. Or greatest six cricketing months in it history ! And perhaps the emergence of the next cricketting superpower and the begginning of a crickting decline of another proud nation! For the 17th time, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar missed an ODI century by less than 10 runs and failed to add to his 42 scores above the hunderd mark. If his 117 not out at Sydney,was perhaps one of the greatest "chasing" centuries and a payment back to the excellent Indian bowlers, his 91 yesterday with a niggling injury to his groin, was a match deciding, rivetting innings,duly paid back by the disciplined Indian Bowlers... Peter Roeubuk writes that his bat...

India moves over to Second Spot in ODIs
2008-03-05 11:07:00
As per ICC ratings, India is second team in ODIS. In Tests, however, she is fourth.Indians have become more professional and their bowlers are concentraing on swing and reverse swing. In Praveen Kumar, they have a bowler who can swing both ways. The other medium fast bowlers, Ishant Sharma, Pathan, Sreesanth, RP Singh, Zaheer Khan etc also have improved considerably. The young batsmen have been coached by none other than (Sir) Sachin Tendulkar. In other words, the Indian team is now more professional.Credit must be given to Greg Chappell, who suggested this system of putting 33 players on BCCI payroll. Now there is healthy competition amongst players and no single player can be sure of any post. There are competing bowlers, batsmen and wicket keepers. The coaches have also performed well. In V Prasad, a master of reverse swing, India has an excellent bowling coach. R Singh and Gary Kirsten are also doing their jobs well. The youngsters have risen to the occasion.Good Luck, India !
More About: Spot , Moves

India creates history !
2008-03-04 16:00:00
Like the Juniors ( Under 19 team ), the Seniors do it again. Winning against Aussies in Australia is like winning the W C !All credit to the star performers, Sachin with the bat ( 91 ) and Praveen Kumar ( 4/46).This is a clear message to the world that India n cricket has come of age. Two World Cups this season ( the T20 and U19 ) plus this CB series win make India a formidable adversary to the Aussies!Let us hope India keeps up the winning streak against SA, in the next series.
More About: History