The Chennai Super Kings are the IPL 2010 champions. Defeating the title favorites Mumbai Indians by 22 runs in an exciting encounter, amidst the phenomenal atmosphere of the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, the Super Kings finally captured the trophy after having missed it out on the last two occasions. Chennai Super Kings is the only side to have entered the semi final stage in all the three seasons of the tournament. They were the finalists in the inaugural IPL series where they lost the title to the Rajasthan Royals and ended their IPL-2 campaign with a loss at the hands of the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the semi-finals. For Mumbai Indians, which emerged as the strongest team this year, this was their first taste into the finals of the tournament after their lowly performances in the past two editions. The evening for the grand finale was all set on fire by the scintillating performances by the magical AR Rehman, bollywood diva Bipasha Basu and heartthrob Shahid Kapoor during the closing ceremony preceding the final match. What more was required to set the pulses thumping ahead of an interesting encounter between the teams of the two India’s most favorite cricketers! As the electrifying crowd in the stadium roared for the one and only Sachin, the toss flipped in favour of the Chennai skipper MS Dhoni who elected to bat first with the expectation of setting up a 160-plus total to put pressure on the Mumbai Indians which was already feeling the heat with the injury of their in-form captain Sachin Tendulkar. Though Mumbai put a great bowling attack in the first half of the innings by restricting Chennai to just 58 runs in the first 10 overs, it came out as a smashing performance by the southpaw, Suresh Raina, who smashed … [Read more...]
IPL 2010 Final: Mumbai Vs Chennai
After 58 matches and almost seven weeks, the IPL Final takes place on Sunday and Mumbai Indians have home advantage when they take on the Chennai Super Kings. Mumbai are slight favourites in what has the making of a thriller. Venue and conditions: The DY Patil stadium has a toss bias, in total five matches played there so far four have been won by the side batting first. It is clear the surface wears as a match progresses, making it difficult for batsmen to hit through the line of the ball with confidence. In the first innings, the average run rate is 8.23. In the second it is just 6.9. Trivia: The BCCI's top brass will refuse to attend the final to distance themselves from Lalit Modi, IPL's under-investigation commissioner. Suresh Raina, with 1318 runs to his name, has overtaken Adam Gilchrist as the leading scorer in all IPL matches. Tendulkar is fifth with 1122 runs. He also holds record for most catches, 26, for a non-wicketkeeper. Team news: Mumbai Indians: Mumbai must decide whether they want to gamble for a second time. The decision to pair Lasith Malinga and Dilhara Fernando, instead of one from Dwayne Bravo or Ryan McLaren against Bangalore in the semi-final, was a strange one. Of course, it paid off but in terms of balance it makes little sense. Bravo or McLaren bowl more than useful overs and offer vital runs. Five stitches in Sachin Tendulkars right hand make the Mumbai Indians captain and star performer a doubt for the final. It would be a real blow were Sachin to miss out after his performances with the bat and as skipper guided Mumbai to the final via a largely trouble free passage. They won 10 of 14 games to make the semi finals where they disposed of the Royal Challengers in a … [Read more...]
IPL Pune team named as Sahara Pune Warriors
The name and the logo of the new IPL Pune team owned by the corporate house Sahara India Parivar was unveiled in a grand ceremony held at the S.P.College ground in Pune on Saturday. The team has been christened to be known as the 'Sahara Pune Warriors'. The logo of the team, which is believed to have been taken after the great Maratha warrior Shivaji, is a warrior mounted on a horse along side the shades of the Indian flag. The official website of the Sahara Pune Warriors is declared to be www.saharapunewarriors.com which is expected to in full swing within a couple of month’s time. The team shall make debut at the fourth edition of the IPL tournament in 2011 along with the other new and already controversial franchise team, the Kochi IPL team. The Chairman of the Sahara Group, Mr. Subroto Roy, expressing his fondness for the city of Pune at the event said, “It is a moment of great happiness for us to announce the name of the Pune IPL team for the people of the city and cricket enthusiasts across the world.” He further added, "We have just started journey and in the short span the support and affection received from the people here is very heartening and makes me feel that Pune is my second home". Bollywood actress Urmila Matondkar and director Mahesh Manjerakar were the co-host for the event which was marked by the stunning performance by the Shaimak Davar dance group. As a part of its promotional activities in the field of sports, Mr. Roy announced financial assistance of Rs. 5,000 for State level players, Rs.10,000 for National level players and Rs. 20,000 for International level players from the city. He further made declarations regarding the various medical and financial support schemes to be extended by … [Read more...]
Sahara Indian Premier League Awards 2010
With the third edition of the Indian Premier League(IPL) entering the stage of grand finale amidst all the high-voltage controversies and allegations, the evening of April 23 witnessed the presentation of the first ever IPL Awards. The glittering ceremony which took place at the Grand Hyatt, Mumbai was embarked by the presence of the best from the world of entertainment and sports. However, strengthening the reports of the BCCI-Modi spat, the bigwigs of the BCCI gave a skip to the event. The BCCI top brass including the BCCI President Shashank Manohar and the Secretary N Srinivasan along with the IPL Vice-chairman Niranjan Shah remained absent from the Sahara Indian Premier League Awards function. Those who marked their attendance at the event were the IPL Governing Council member Sunil Gavaskar and former BCCI President Inderjit Singh Bindra who is the Principal Advisor to the International Cricket Council (ICC). Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, who turns 37 this Saturday, grabbed the viewers’ choice award for the Best Captain for turning out to be a superb captain leading from the front and taking his team, the Mumbai Indians, through to the finals of the IPL tournament for the first time in the last three years. He also won the award for the Best Batsman, being the highest run scorer in this season of the League, though he gave a miss to the event along with the Chennai Super Kings skipper M.S.Dhoni. Pragyan Ojha received the award for the Best Bowler while Suresh Raina took away the award for the Best Fielder in the viewers’ choice category. Keiron Pollard of Mumbai Indians, who happens to be the costliest player of his team in this year's auction, was adjudged the Best Debutant performer for the season by the jury. … [Read more...]
IPL 2010: Player’s Performance
IPL-3 is in final stage with Mumbai, Bangalore, Deccan and Chennai qualified for the semi finals. Mumbai will take on Chennai in the final and rest two will fight for the 3rd spot. Teams like Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders have only themselves to blame, they had plenty of riches within their ranks for their vapid show, others like Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab neither had the firepower nor the form to help their cause. These four teams, which failed to make to semi final, paid the price for the lack of form of their key players, names which promised a lot, but delivered a little. Let’s have a look at performance of top players from these four teams. Yuvraj Singh (Kings XI Punjab)Matches: 14 Runs: 255 Highest: 43 Average: 21.25 S/R: 128.14He was in news for all other reasons except his batting!!Stripped from captaincy, Yuvraj didn't do his reputation any good by being one of the biggest flop stories of this campaign. Even Yuvraj did come out with his own statement saying there is no problem within the side. Kumar Sangakkara (Kings XI Punjab) Matches: 13 Runs: 357 Highest: 56 Average: 29.75 S/R: 138.91 If the outgoing captain of Kings XI Punjab was struggling to find form, the incumbent fared only marginally better. Kumar Sangakkara's 42-ball 56 against Mumbai Indians was a match-winning effort, but most of his other contributions were forgettable may be because of captaincy pressure on him. S Sreesanth (Kings XI Punjab)Matches: 6 Wickets: 3 Best Bowling: 2-24 Average: 63.66 E/R: 10.05 The Kerala speedster is never in the news for his performances. In the inaugural edition, we remember him for crying in public after the 'Slapgate' incident. But … [Read more...]
IPL T20: third place play off
Play offs for 3rd place for this year’s IPL offers the incentive of a place in the next T20 Champions League. The Royal Challengers take on the Deccan Chargers in Mumbai on Saturday and RCB are the favourites. Team News: Bangalore Royal Challengers: Who can pick themselves after semi final disappointment? The Royal Challengers were comfortably beaten (35 runs) by the Mumbai Indians in Wednesday’s semi final whilst The Chargers fell 38 runs short when chasing a modest Super Kings total on Thursday. Both the semi finals were played in Mumbai and both were won by the side batting first. Despite the comfortable winning / losing margins in the semi finals both RCB and Deccan had their chances. RCB got the prize wicket of Tendulkar early doors and looked to be on their way to restricting Mumbai to a manageable total until a combination of slack bowling and awesome hitting saw Mumbai cut loose and eventually post 184/5. RCB were never really in the chase. Meanwhile the Chargers restricted the Super Kings to 142 and were trading deep in the red at the interval before failing miserably in the chase. Royal Challengers would look forward to Jacques Kallis rediscovering his magic touch that gave them a superb run in the earlier part of the tournament. The Bangalore team has tried out Manish Pandey and Rahul Dravid in the opening slot to accompany Kallis with mixed results. In the lower order, Robin Uthappa has given them a flourishing finish on a few occasions with his clean hitting. The team would look forward to the youngster with powerful shoulders to do the bidding against the Chargers along with Kevin Pietersen at the top. RCB skipper Anil Kumble said his team had two days at its disposal after losing by … [Read more...]
Kumble’s Swan Song ?
Will today's match be Anil Kumble's swan song ? The statements he keeps making indicate that it may well be. He will turn 40 this October. He retired from one-dayers in 2007 and tests and all forms of first class cricket in 2008. He has been playing only in the IPL in the last 2 years and he has oft repeated in jest that he is an old man and the T20 format is tough on his body. The onlooker may feel that it is just a 3 hour match and the bowler has to bowl only 4 hours but it is a lot tougher than the lengthier formats of the game. As a bowler, you cannot afford to commit a mistake, every ball has to be bowled right. And captaincy will just add to the pressure. Jumbo as he is called debuted in 1990 and with age his technique and finesse just improved. He bagged all 10 wickets in an innings in a test match against Pakistan at Delhi's Feroze Shah Kotla stadium in 1999. His dedication to the game cannot be doubted. It was the year 2002; a test match against the West Indies. Who can forget a heavily bandaged Kumble who came to bowl inspite of a fractured jaw? He is captain material but got to lead a Test team at the fag end of his career. The way he steered the test team and his stint as captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore team speak volumes of his leadership. His first IPL performance wasn't impressive. But after he assumed captaincy in the 2nd IPL, his as well as the team's performance improved. Sadly, last IPL they lost in the finals to Deccan Chargers and this season, they were defeated in the semi-finals by a very strong team, Mumbai Indians. They now have to fight Deccan Chargers for the 3rd place to qualify for the Champions League. For his age, he has maintained tremendous levels of fitness and injuries have been few. Though … [Read more...]
IPL : Cricket or Carnival ?
When the IPL started in 2008, its huge popularity made one feel that it would serve the cause of cricket. Now, one is doubtful. IPL venues look more like carnivals instead of grounds where cricket is played. Cricket shares the limelight with team owners who grace the VIP stands and dugouts with their family and friends. The owners are usually bigwigs in the movie and corporate world. Cheerleaders prancing and ear-blasting music are the hallmarks of an IPL match. Pictures of post-match parties which players are compulsorily supposed to attend are splashed on Page 3 of tabloids and newspapers every day. These activities have hardly anything to do with cricket. They are more like marketing gimmicks to attract people who have no actual interest in the game. A true blue cricketer will surely be interested only in cricket and would indulge in activities like parties only in his leisure time. The staunch cricket fan also comes to the stadium to just enjoy the game of cricket. He is not interested in watching Shahrukh Khan, Shilpa Shetty or even Vijay Mallya. Even a fan watching the game on TV would prefer to watch it on silent mode minus all the noise and would barely tolerate the innumerable advertisements which keep popping up. The recent scams reported in the media have not helped matters any. A cricket lover watching the match would keep wondering if the game being played is clean and if any murky deals are going on behind the scenes? The off-field googlies of IPL-3 are reminiscent of the time when the betting scam involving Hansie Cronje, Herschelle Gibbs and others, had surfaced. Names of some of our own cricketers had also cropped up. That was a very difficult time for cricket and the sport lost many of its fans. One hopes that IPL does not … [Read more...]
Sehwag’s injury: A clarion call
Starting March 12, 2010, the IPL became the focus of the cricket-loving public. On March 26th, the BCCI declared the list of players for the T20 World Cup due to start in the Caribbean on April 30th. As usual, there was furore over some omissions and inclusions. It died down and the spotlight shifted back to the IPL. Then, rumours of scandals hit the IPL. In the midst of this hullabaloo, cricket lovers were all set to enjoy the semi-finals, when the bombshell dropped. The BCCI declared that Virender Sehwag was ruled out of the T20 World Cup as he was suffering from a shoulder injury which would take 3 to 4 weeks to heal. Every avid Indian cricket fan would surely have been stunned. It was almost déjà vu. Remember, the Sultan of Multan didn't play in the last World Cup either, but the script then was slightly different. He had gone to England and come back without playing a single match thanks to a shoulder injury which was declared late. He subsequently underwent surgery. Captain Dhoni made a statement on how players should not hide injuries, obviously hinting at Sehwag. There was also a rift between the team management and the media on the issue of Sehwag's injury. India lost all the Super 8 matches in the tournament. Coming back to this year's injury, nobody has any details as to how and when he sustained the injury and what is its nature? He had been declared fit when the squad had been announced. So it must have been caused in the course of the IPL matches. Sehwag played a total of 14 matches for the Delhi Daredevils and scored a total of 356 runs with an average of 25.42 and a strike rate of 163.3. But he has not looked comfortable in his game. He either sustained this injury in the last game where Delhi Daredevils played against the … [Read more...]
IPL Semi-final: Hyderabad Vs Chennai
The second of the IPL semi finals sees Deccan Chargers take on Chennai Super Kings in Mumbai on Thursday. Both of these teams endured a nightmare run of form during IPL 2010 but now they stand on the brink of reaching the final. "This game is all about the clash between Chennai’s batting and Deccan’s bowling." Venue and Conditions: It is a pity for the people of Bangalore that the semi-finals were moved from that city, but as alternative venues go, there could be few better than the Dr DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. It is the most modern cricket arena in India and the crowds there make one hell of a din. There have been six IPL games at the ground and the stats are quite revealing. An average first innings score of 153 does not suggest a typical Indian pitch, nor does the fact that quicker bowlers have fared better than spinners, both in terms of averages and economy rates. The relatively new playing surface was laid using 200 tonnes of South African soil and was intended to offer pace and bounce for the quick bowlers. Trivia: It was on this ground in 2008 that Adam Gilchrist smashed 109 off 47 balls, the fastest century of the IPL, a record that stood until Yusuf Pathan surpassed it this year. Road to semi- Final: Deccan Chargers: When the Deccan Chargers threw away a match winning position against the Rajasthan Royals in match #36, they had just three wins from nine games and looked to be heading out of the tournament. Gilchrist’s team subsequently reeled off five consecutive wins including a 6 wicket victory over semi final opponents the Super Kings in match 42 when they restricted the big hitting Chennai to a total of just 138. They also came out on top in their earlier meeting … [Read more...]
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