Shane Watson’s brilliant knock of 74 runs led Rajasthan Royals to defeat the Delhi Daredevils and maintain their team’s position at No.1 in the IPL points table. Rajasthan Royals have now won in 7 matches out of the 9 matches played so far. Delhi Daredevils have won 4 matches out of the 8 matches played by them.

Rajasthan Royals won the toss and elected to field first. Delhi Daredevils started their Innings thru their openers – Gautham Gambhir and Virendra Sehwag who scored 31 and 17 runs respectively. Ab de Villiers scored 20 runs and Maharoof played a quick knock of 39 runs off just 16 balls (2 boundaries and 4 sixers). At the end of 20 overs, the Delhi Daredevils made a modest total of 156 runs for the fall of 7 wickets.

Chasing the modest target of 157 runs, the Rajasthan Royals started their Innings. The openers Yusuf Pathan and Graeme Smith scored 8 and 24 runs respectively. Shane Watson’s excellent innings of 74 runs off 40 balls (5 boundaries and 5 sixers) helped their team to reach the target score. At the crucial point of the game, there was a controversy when Shane Watson’s run-out appeal was rejected by the Umpire. Sehwag, the Delhi Dardevils’s skipper wanted the decision to be given by Third Umpire. The third umpire’s decision of run-out was favorable for the Delhi daredevils. However, the Rajasthan Royals won the match by 3 wickets and Shane Watson was declared the Man of the Match.

Posted on May 12th, 2008 by Cricket
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Saurav Ganguly, the prince of Kolkatta led his team to an all round performance victory by defeating Deccan Chargers, by 23 runs. Dada hasn’t proved his metal in the IPL series and has been getting out for cheap and moderate figures with average strike rate. But in the Match against Deccan Chargers one saw the vintage aggressive Saurav Ganguly who ripped apart the bowling attack of the Deccan Chargers.

The Knight Riders who batted first played upto their caliber with their captain Saurav Ganguly scoring a brilliant knock of 91 runs off 57 balls (11 boundaries and 5 sixers). He was supported well by David Hussey who scored his half-century (57 runs) in a classy way. At the end of 20 overs, Saurav’s boys scored a huge target of 204 runs.

In reply to such a huge target, IPL’s very powerful team – the Deccan Chargers backed by powerful hitters failed to a larger extent. Adam Gilchrist the stand-in skipper had brisk knock of 24 runs of 17 balls (5 boundaries) but failed to capitalize on the brisk knock. The local lad Venugopal Rao played a supportive knock (unbeaten 71 runs) and ensured his team reaches somewhere near the target score. On the other hand, Kolkatta Knight Riders’ bowled economically and restrained the run flow. At the end of 20 overs, the Deccan Chargers were restrained for 181 runs for the loss of 7 wickets. Kolkatta Knight Riders won by 23 runs and Saurav Ganguly was declared the Man of the Match for his all-round performance.

Posted on May 12th, 2008 by Cricket
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IPL is said to be a boon and an opportunity for budding and former players who are waiting to be reselected in the International squad. The match between Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab was a perfect stage for Lakshmipathi Balaji to prove his talent. Once admired by Pakistan’s president Pervez Musharraf for his tremendous performance in Pakistan tour was overlooked by the selectors because of Balaji’s injury worries. Balaji declared himself match fit and bagged the IPL’s first hat-trick wicket and sent strong signals to the Indian Cricket Selectors.

Chennai Super Kings headed by M.S. Dhoni started their Innings and piled up 181 runs for the loss of 4 wickets. The opening batsmen failed to give a big boom to the team but the middle order stood tall and resisted the bowling attack of Kings XI Punjab and enriched the runs. Suresh Raina mostly compared with Sachin made a quick 26 runs off 17 balls (4 boundaries). Badrinath, the local lad and the team’s skipper Dhoni had a solid partnership and built a firm foundation for the team. Badrinath blasted 64 runs from 47 balls (6 boundaries and 3 sixers). The World Twenty-20 Champion M.S. Dhoni scored 60 runs outta 43 balls (2 boundaries and whopping 4 sixes). Kings XI Punjab’s bowling was fairly decent. Sreesanth bowled 4 overs, gave away 29 runs and took 2 major wickets.

In reply to this good total, Yuvi’s boys had a fairly good opening. Marsh and Hopes brought a meager hope for the team’s victory which was cut shot by the local lad and the comeback hero – Lakshmipathi Balaji. Balaji varied his pace and bowled lot of slower balls and managed to pick 5 wickets in 4 overs by giving away 24 runs. Pathan’s cameo Innings of 40 runs off 18 balls (3 boundaries and equal sixers) ended up in vain. The Punjab team ended their quota of 20 overs by scoring 163 runs for the fall of 9 wickets. Chennai Super Kings won the match by 18 runs and Lakshmipathi Balaji was declared the Man of the Match.

Posted on May 11th, 2008 by Cricket
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The leading Indian off-spinner - Harbhajan Singh’s fate hangs in balance as the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) is going to decide on the judgment for slapping his fellow national team-mate Sreesanth.

The terminator (Harbhajan Singh) reportedly slapped Sreesanth in an IPL Match held between Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians. Analyzing the scenario in which Bhaji slapped Sreesanth is an interesting one. Sreesanth was provoking and sledging his opponent team – the Mumbai Indians from time to time. Harbhajan Singh at that point of time was a stand-in skipper for the Mumbai Indians team. Captaincy was a new task assigned to him. 3 back to back losses was a major setback to their Team. At this juncture, the witty Sreesanth passed some provoking remarks to Harbhajan Singh which triggered anguish and anger, and resulted in slap. Certain set of sources say that Sreesanth wanted to give it back to Bhaji but was restrained by security guards and fellow team-mates. Both the players should have reacted in a mature way which would have shown the game in the right spirits.

After the trial, Farooq Engineer (Match Referee) banned Harbhajan Singh from playing 11 IPL matches and warned Sreesanth to behave in a professional way in the matches to come. The issue did not stop from here but has also been escalated to BCCI which has expressed anguish over Harbhajan’s unruly behavior. Bhaji is awaiting a decision from BCCI which might impose heavy penalty on his career in International Cricket.

Posted on May 11th, 2008 by Cricket
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Rajasthan Royals marked their sixth IPL victory after defeating Deccan Chargers and also moved to the No.1 position in the IPL tournament with 12 points. Deccan Chargers have faced their sixth loss in the 8 IPL matches played so far. This match was held at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on May 9th, 2008.

The Rajasthan Royals headed by Shane Warne won the toss and elected to field first. Deccan Chargers’ stand-in skipper Adam Gilchrist played an excellent knock of 61 runs off 49 balls (9 boundaries and 1 sixer). Gibbs and Styris scored 19 and 13 runs respectively. Venugopal Rao made 23 runs off 11 balls (3 boundaries and 1 sixer). At the end of 20 overs, the Deccan Chargers scored 140 runs for the fall of 8 wickets.

Chasing the target score of 141 runs, the Rajasthan Royals started their Innings with a strong foundation. The openers Graeme Smith and Yusuf Pathan thrashed the bowling attack of Deccan Chargers. Graeme Smith scored 40 runs off 43 balls. Yusuf Pathan made an excellent 68 runs off 37 balls (9 boundaries and 2 sixers). Batsmen following them – Kaif and Watson stood unbeaten till their team met the target in 16 overs. Rajasthan Royals won the match by 8 wickets and Yusuf Pathan was declared the Man of the Match.

Posted on May 10th, 2008 by Cricket
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Kolkatta Knight Riders headed by Saurav Ganguly defeated Bangalore Royal Challengers headed by Rahul Dravid in the IPL match held at Eden Gardens, Kolkatta. It was the third victory for Kolkatta Knight Riders and the sixth defeat for Bangalore Royal Challengers in the IPL tournament.

The match was delayed due to rain and finally 20 overs game was reduced to 16 overs for each team due to time factor. Kolkatta Knight Riders won the toss and elected to bat first. The team’s opener Chopra and Hodge scored 2 and 10 runs respectively. The team’s skipper Saurav Ganguly scored 20 runs off 22 balls. Hussey marked the highest score of 26 runs in their team’s scoreboard. At the end of 16 overs, the Kolkatta Knight Riders posted a total score of 129 runs. Steyn was successful in claiming 3 wickets for his team Bangalore.

Chasing the target of 130 runs, the Bangalore Royal Challengers started their Innings. Arunkumar scored 22 runs. Boucher scored 50 runs off 40 balls (5 boundaries and 1 sixer). White scored a fast 30 runs off 16 balls (3 boundaries and 1 sixer). At the end of 16 overs, the Bangalore Royal Challengers scored 124 runs for the fall of 4 wickets. Kolkatta Knight Riders won the match by 5 runs and Ganguly was awarded the Man of the Match.

Posted on May 9th, 2008 by Cricket
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Yesterday’s match played at Feroz Shah Kotla (Delhi) between Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Daredevils was really exciting and thrilling until the last ball of the match was bowled. The Chennai Super Kings defeated the Delhi Daredevils by 4 wickets.

Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to field first. Delhi Daredevils started their Innings with a strong foundation. The opener Gautham Gambhir scored a brilliant 80 runs off 49 balls (11 boundaries and 1 sixer). The team’s skipper Sehwag scored 23 runs off 18 balls. Ab de Villiers was dismissed for a duck. Dhawan played a knock of 59 runs off 46 balls (6 boundaries and 2 sixers). At the end of 20 overs, Delhi Daredevils scored a challenging 187 runs.

Chasing the huge target of 188 runs, the Chennai Super Kings started their Innings thru their openers Vidyut and Fleming. Both the batsmen ensured to pile up quick runs for their team’s victory. Vidyut scored 40 runs off 23 balls (6 boundaries and 1 sixer) and Fleming scored 44 runs off 28 balls (7 boundaries). Dhoni scored a decent 33 runs. At one point of time Dhoni’s bat was broken in McGrath’s delivery. Morkel’s fast 30 runs off 15 balls (2 boundaries and 3 sixers) was a breakthrough for Chennai Super Kings in the last few overs of the match which helped them to reach the target. The Chennai Super Kings met their target in the last ball of the innings and won the match by 4 wickets. Dhoni was surprisingly declared the Man of the Match even though there were 2 other batsmen who surpassed his score.

Posted on May 9th, 2008 by Cricket
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The Mumbai Indians put a hold on the winning streak of the Rajasthan Royals by defeating them by 7 wickets in the IPL match held at Dr. D.Y. Patil Sports Academy (Mumbai). The Mumbai Indians bowler’s took wickets in tandem and restricted the Royals to a low total.

Mumbai Indians headed by Shaun Pollock (stand-in captain) won the toss and elected to field first. Rajasthan Royals started their Innings thru their openers Graeme Smith and Swapnil Asnodkar. Asnodkar scored 39 runs off 36 balls (3 boundaries and 1 sixer). Shane Watson scored 32 runs off 20 balls (4 boundaries and 1 sixer). All other batsmen of Rajasthan Royals failed to cross the single digit figures. In 16.2 overs, the Rajasthan Royals scored 103 runs for all out. Ashish Nehra was successful in grabbing 3 wickets for his team.

Chasing an easy target of 104 runs, the Mumbai Indians started their Innings thru their openers Takawale and Jayasuriya who scored 27 and 18 runs respectively. Robin Uthappa stood unbeaten for 34 runs off 21 balls (4 boundaries and 1 sixer). In 15.1 overs the Mumbai Indians met their target for the loss of 3 wickets and won the match by 7 wickets. Ashish Nehra was declared the Player of the Match.

Posted on May 8th, 2008 by Cricket
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The Chennai Super Kings had been the powerful team in the IPL Cricket until Mathew Hayden and Michael Hussey departed from the game due to Australia’s tour in West Indies. Since then, the team has faced three consecutive defeats against Delhi Daredevils, Rajasthan Royals and Deccan Chargers. In yesterday’s match, the Deccan Chargers defeated the Chennai Super Kings by 7 wickets.

Deccan Chargers won the toss and elected to field first. The Chennai Super Kings started their Innings with a poor start. Suresh Raina scored a decent 32 runs off 21 balls. The team’s skipper M.S. Dhoni scored 23 runs. Morkel made an unbeaten 29 runs off 19 balls with 2 sixers and a boundary. At the end of 20 overs, the Chennai Super Kings scored 144 runs for the fall of 7 wickets.

The Deccan Chargers headed by the stand-in captain Adam Gilchrist (due to Laxman’s hand injury) started their innings chasing the modest target of 145 runs. Adam Gilchrist thrashed the bowling attack of the Chennai Super Kings and scored 54 runs off 36 balls (7 boundaries and 2 sixers). Scott Styris remained unbeaten at 36 runs. Rohit Sharma scored 23 runs and Shahid Afridi made 20 runs off just 6 balls (2 boundaries and 2 sixers). The Deccan Chargers met their target in 18 overs and won the match by 7 wickets. Adam Gilchrist was announced the Man of the Match.

Posted on May 7th, 2008 by Cricket
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Kings XI Punjab marked their fifth successive victory in the IPL match after defeating the Bangalore Royal Challengers by 6 wickets at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore. Kings XI Punjab joined Rajasthan Royals in the IPL Points table with 10 points and is currently positioned in place 2 due to net run rate.

Kings XI Punjab won the toss and elected to field first. The Bangalore Royal challengers had a poor opening. Jaffer, White and Kallis were dismissed for zero run. Kohli scored a decent 34 runs. The team’s skipper Rahul Dravid took the responsibility and scored 66 runs off 51 balls. All other batsmen except to these 2 batsmen scored single digit figures. At the end of 20 overs, the Bangalore Royal Challengers scored 126 runs for all out.

Chasing the target of 127 runs, the Kings XI Punjab started their Innings thru their openers Shaun Marsh and James Hopes. Shaun Marsh scored 39 runs off 34 balls and James Hopes was dismissed for a meager 5 runs. Sarwan scored 31 runs and the team’s skipper Yuvraj Singh failed to play to his caliber by scoring just a run. However the Kings XI Punjab met their target in 18.2 overs and won the match by 6 wickets. Sreesanth was declared the Man of the Match.

Posted on May 6th, 2008 by Cricket
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