IPL 20-20 Challenge: Read the latest here

Rajasthan Royals V/s Chennai Super Kings was played at Swami Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur played on 4^th May 2008.

Morkel scored 42 off 33 balls with four 4’s and one 6 the only six of the CSK innings. Skipper Dhoni struggled with one run off 7 balls. Patel, Fleming, Sharma and Muralidharan walked with ducks. Raina scored 27 off 27 balls with two fours. The batting line up of CSK was pathetic. There was no rain of strokes and it seemed they too have lost their confidence like KKR. Dhoni is missing his star performers Oram, McCullum. Sohail Tanvir was the successful bowler for CSK with 6 wickets in 4 overs and giving away only 16 runs. S.Watson pulled two wickets in 4 overs giving away 19 runs. The home crowd was jubilant and CSK was shocked with their own performance. They left a meager total of 109 losing all their wickets in 19 overs. Matthew Hayden, Mike Hussey and Jacob Oram were the key players of Chennai Super Kings. Their replacement has cost CSK a tremendous blow. It seems these three master players were the winning batsmen and bowler of the team. Without them the team is not able to live up to the standards set by them and Dhoni is struggling.

Smith and Asnodkar the boy of D.Y. Patil Sports Academy with 35 and 32 runs off 44 and 30 balls with four 4’s and five 4’s respectively. The home crowd was dancing to glory and Asnodkar was happy to leave a mark of achievement. Yusuf Pathan blasted the air with a six and Watson raced to 14 off 8 balls with one 4 and a six. Jaipur is proving to be the most dangerous team. Jaipur pounded CSK by 110 for 2 merrily taking 21 extras to their total. Watson and Smith remained Not Out. The bowlers could not do much as the blades of the Jaipur batsmen were on fire. The home crowd burst crackers admist roaring of joy and merriment.

Sohail Tanvir was declared the Man of the Match

Royal Challengers Bangalore v/s Kings XI Punjab was played at on 5^th May 2008 at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore

Royal Challengers once again crawled to put up a score of 126/10 for the mighty Kigns XI to chase. The team crumbled with batsmen going on duck. Kohli scored 34 runs off 36 balls hitting five 4’s. Skipper Dravid has learnt a lesson, instead of throwing away his wicket as he did in the initial matches and walked with ducks, he stays long time on the crease knocking a patient 66 off 51 balls firing nine 4’s and one 6. He was the only batsman who hit a six in the team. Misbah scored 8 runs off 7 balls with a four to his credit. Patil scores a four by hitting a four off one ball.

It was very shameful to see the score-card and statistics of highest runs takers of this team for this match. The list was:
Kohli 34
Dravid 66
Misbah 8
Patil 4

Yes, even Misbah and Patil had turned out to be the highest run takers as most of the other team-mates walked with a duck…

P.Chawla pulled 3 wickets in 4 overs giving 25 runs and Sreesanth pulled 2 wickets in 4 overs giving only 16 runs.

Mohali chased the total with Marsh scoring 39 runs with 34 balls striking four 4’s and a 6. R.Sarwan was the second highest run taker with 31 runs off 29 balls with four 4’s and one 6. P.Kumar bowled 4 overs giving 22 runs and taking 2 wickets.

Zaheer Khan was once again successful with 2 wickets off 4 overs giving 29 runs.

Mohali rolled out Royal Challengers by closing the match with 127 for 4 having 17 extras to their credit.

Kings XI Punjab is emerging as a very strong team and showing good team work.

Rahul Dravid of RC has to seriously revise the strategy of the performance of himself and his team. It does not seem to work.

Sreesanth was declared the Man of the Match

Chennai Super Kings v/s Deccan Chargers played at M A Chidambaram Stadium Chennai on 6^th May 2008

Chennai fumbled again with their batting and bolwing. Not it is quiet clear that Dhoni is missing Oram, M.Hussey and Hayden. The three performers who helped the score-card tick for their team with quick batting and a perfect bowling. Raina has been able to hold the pressure and add a valuable 32 off 21 balls with five 4’s. Skipper Dhoni tried to move the score card with 23 runs off 31 balls hitting 2 fours. Morkel hit a six and a four to contribute 29 runs off 19 balls. The surprise batsman was K.Srikkanth’s son S.Annuirudha. I think he was all weak and nervous and scored only 1 run off 7 balls. CSK put up 144 for 7 for the Deccan Chargers to chase.

Skipper VVS Laxman who played an innings for himself in the previous match was out of the team this time. Adam Gilchrist was the skipper for this match and proved his abilities by playing a good knock of 54 off 36 balls with a magnificient 7 fours and 2 sixes. Gibbs hit 10 balls for 10 runs with 1 four and 1 six. Styris contributed 36 runs off 41 balls remained not out. R.Sharma added 23 off 17 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes. S. Afridi hit 20 runs off 6 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes and took the match to a great finish. Deccan Chargers were 148 for 3 beating CSK by 7 wickets. There is no harm in trying Adam Gilchrist as Captain for a couple of more matches at least he will play for the team and not for himself…

Gilchrist was declared the Man of the Match

• Royal Challengers bowler Zaheer Khan has taken his wickets at an average of 17.66 at an Economy Rate of 7.57and Irfan Pathan of Mohali Team stands at an average of 14.50 with ER 6.36.
• Team Mohali – Kings XI Punjab and Team Jaipur – Rajasthan Royals have scored five successive wins.
• Bangalore has set a record for maximum ducks in an innings breaking previous record of Team Hyderabad and Team Chennai of four ducks.

• Beware, Rawalpindi Express will be playing for KKR.. I would love to watch him play. My favourite Shoaib Akhtar.

Mumbai Indians v/s Rajasthan Royals at D.Y.Patil Sports Academy, Navi Mumbai on 7^th May 2008

Mumbai Indians beat Rajasthan Royals today much to the cheering applauds of the home crowd. RR was hulled back to their den on 103 for 10. S.Asnodkar the home crowd batsman and the product of D.P. Patil Sports Academy hit 39 off 36 balls with three 4’s and one 6.tson added 32 off 20 balls with four 4’s and a six. Mumbai Indians bowled an excellent innings with successful bowling of Nehra with 3 wickets and Bravo 2. The target set was a safe reach for the Mumbai Indians. Takawale hit 27 off 32 balls with four 4’s and one 6. Jayasuriya hit 18 off 20 balls with one 4’s and one 6. Uthappa struck 34 off 21 balls with four 4’s and a six and remained not out along with Nayar who contributed a valuable 12 off 13 balls with a single four to the boundary. S.Warne was a disappointed man today. Even his bowling could not knock wickets except for one. Watson managed two wickets. Mumbai Indians put up 104 for 3 and won the match.

Ashish Nehra was declared the Man of the Match

Delhi Dare Devils V/s Chennai Super Kings played at Feroz Shah Kotla Ground on 8^th May 2008

Gautam Gambhir has been the best selection for Dare Devils Team. His knock of 80 runs off 49 balls well supported by Sehwag with 23 runs off 18 balls with three 4’s and Dhawan with 59 runs off 46 balls with six 4’s and two 6’s. Dare Devil ended the innings with 186 for 5 with 12 extras. Balaji and Morkel had 2 wickets each and Gony had one wicket to their credit.

CSK’s Vidyut cheered the crowd with his blade which contributed 40 runs off 23 balls with six 4’s and 1 six. Fleming played a massive knock of 44 off 28 balls with seven 4’s. Dhoni played a very slow innings to everyone’s surprise and contributed 33 runs off 33 balls with three 4’s. CSK won the match by putting up a score of 188 for 6 wickets and beating Dare Devils by 4 runs. Sangawan and Mahesh had 2 wickets each to their credit.

Dhoni was awarded the Man of the Match.

Kolkata Knight Riders v/s Bangalore Royal Challengers played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on 8^th May 2008

The lovely shower of rains delayed the match adding more anxiety in the wait amongst the spectators.

KKR seemed to be struggling with their batting as they lost two early wickets. It was time for the Skipper Ganguly to bring back the magical fire his team showed in the very first match. His unfortunatee run out by White proved the brilliant fielding and presence of Mind of Royal Challengers. Batsmen of KKR were being towed back to their by the superb bowling of Royal Challeners. The highest score was of D.Hussey who was shining well with 26 off 1222 balls with a four and three 6’s. The second highest was of the skipper himself who put up 20 off 22 balls with 2 fours and was run out. The bolwers took the guard and pulled the team from putting up a much more disastrous total for the opponents to change. They skittled out at 129 for 7. Steyn once again proved dangerous for the Kolkata Knight Riders with three wickets. Zaheer pulled one wicket.

Arunkumar was really proving to be dangerous on the crease. He had made 22 off 17 balls with five 4’s. His run out was a blessing in disguise for KKR. Boucher once again stood for his team and made 50 off 40 balls with five 4’s and a 6. White too added 30 off 16 balls with 3 fours and a six. Skipper Ganguly muted skipper Dravid who scored 5 off 11 balls. Ishant Sharma did bowl a valuable last over which had made the spectators sit at the edge of their seat. Remember, it was KKR’s home ground and they would like to see KKR win. Sourav has a huge fan following and the stadium with a capacity of 80,000 plus was fully packed. KKR won the game and Sourav Ganguly was a happy man. He was declared the Man of the Match.

Rajasthan Royals v/s Deccan Chargers played at Sawai Mansigh Stadium, Jaipur on 9^th May 2008

This match was worth the moolah as both skippers played a remarkable innings. Gilly struck his willow in company of Gibbs with strength to 61 off 49 balls with 9 fours and a six. He came harsh on the medium pacers. After Gilly wickets blew like dust except for Venu who managed to add 22 off 11 balls with three 4’s and a 6 and remain not out too. They scored 140 off 8 wickets in 20 overs. S.Warne bolwed 4 overs and took 2 wickets for 20 runs.

It was Smith and Y.Pathan all the way with 40-43 with four 4’s and 58-37 with 9 fours. They finished the match with 141 for 2 .

Yusuf Pathan was declared the Man of the Match.

Chennai Super Kings v/s Kings XI Punjab played at M A Chidambaram Stadium at Chennai on 10^th May 2008

Sangakkara has pulled a muscle in his rib and is sitting out, will this affect the giants of IPL – Kings XI of Punjab is yet to be seen.

Badrinath and Dhoni’s willow bloomed and flourished with runs. Badrinath put up 64 runs off 47 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes while Dhoni put up 60 off 43 balls with 2 fours and 4 sixes. Sreesanth was the successful bowler with 4 overs – 29 balls –2 wickets. CSK’s rain with the bat did put up an impression that they would score more than 200 plus runs. But the last six overs were well controlled by Kings Punjab’s bowling and they were huddled to 181 / 4.

Marsh’s willow galloped to a score of 58 off 38 balls with two 4’s and four 6’s. Hopes added a quick 14 off 7 balls with 1 four and 1 six. The wickets started falling like bricks for them and I.Pathan added a good 40 off 18 balls with three 4’s and three 6’s. They creeped to a total of 163 and lost the match. L.Balaji’s hattrick did all the wonders for CSK with Pathan, Chawla and Singh walking in tow back to the pavilion.

Man of the Match was L.Balaji.

Deccan Chargers v/s Kolkata Knight Riders played at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on 11^th May 2008

KKR had to pull up their socks to add some points to their title. They seem to be crawling all the way. The opening spark has gone off them and the struggle has been on for sometime now. The star performers for this play were the skipper himself who at last proved to have learned the nuances of playing 20-20. His willow roared to a total of 91 off 57 balls with 11 fours and 5 sixes. D.Hussey remained not out for 57 off 29 balls with four 4’s and three 6’s. KKR put up 204 /4. DC’s batsmen quickly fell prey to the bowling of KKR. Rao was the only one who struck 71 off 42 balls with 4 fours and 6 sixes. Sourav bolwed 4 overs gave away 25 runs and took 2 wickets. DC lost the match by putting up 181/7.

Man of the Match was Sourav Ganguly.