Delhi Daredevils v Rajasthan Royals, IPL 2012, Kotla

Morkel inspires incredible Delhi win

Posted By Anoop Dubey

April 30,2012

Delhi Daredevils 152 for 6 (Sehwag 63, Pankaj 2-25) beat Rajasthan Royals 151 for 3 (Rahane 84*, Morkel 1-26) by one run 

Morne Morkel bowled a sensational penultimate over to turn a straightforward chase from Rajasthan Royals on its head and snatch victory for Delhi Daredevils. The victory creates daylight between Daredevils and the rest of the chasing pack, as they remain at the top of the points table.

Royals required 15 runs off the last two overs, with nine wickets in hand and victory seemed a foregone conclusion. But, Morkel gave away only three runs in an over filled with yorkers and claimed the wicket of Brad Hodge to set up a tense final over. The fourth ball was fired down the leg side but the umpire, to Hodge's surprise, didn't call a wide. It was a crucial decision as only one run separated the teams in the end.

Umesh Yadav was tasked with defending 12 runs for Daredevils against the in-form Ajinkya Rahane. Yadav started off with a fast full toss that Rahane missed. Desperation took over as Rahane looked to smash the next delivery, no matter what its length, and ended up mistiming his slices and breaking his bat. Owais Shah stole a single off the inside edge before Rahane hit the first six of the Royals innings, off a full toss to take back the advantage.

Two more runs came off the penultimate ball, which left two to get off the final one. Yadav kept it full, Rahane missed but ran anyway and Shah was not quick enough. Naman Ojha hit the stumps to run Shah out and deny Rahane victory, leaving him unbeaten on 84.

Rahane and Rahul Dravid are the most successful opening pair in this edition of the IPL and they showed why with a stand of 99 to set up the chase. Rahane started their reply in quietly confident fashion when Rahane flicked the first ball he faced - a poor one on legstump line from Irfan Pathan - for four.

Dravid rolled out his vintage drives and showed off powerful pulls as the Daredevils bowlers' lines and lengths presented no challenge. The two combined in a partnership that looked too easy, Dravid played with Sehwag-esque styled aggression while Rahane, once again, impressed with his timing and poise.

By the end of the eighth over, Royals needed less than 100 runs to win and Rahane and Dravid had racked up the same number of runs, 27 each. Rahane eclipsed his captain, reclaimed the orange cap and brought up his 50 with a finesse-filled flick to on the leg-side.

Daredevils thought they had some success when Dravid began walking after a cut that was thought to be caught behind but umpire Rod Tucker called him back. Tucker said he gave Dravid out when he saw him walking as it was the end of the over, but the misunderstanding gave Dravid a lifeline. He added only three more runs after that incident and was caught at long-on by a leaping Ajit Agarkar. 

Mumbai Indians v Deccan Chargers, IPL 2012, Mumbai

Deccan lose close game, again

Posted By Anoop Dubey

April 30,2012

Mumbai Indians 101 for 5 (Rohit 42, Steyn 2-10) beat Deccan Chargers 100 (Dhawan 29, Duminy 25*, Malinga 4-16, Harbhajan 2-13) by five wickets

After their first win on Thursday following five consecutive losses, Deccan Chargers were back to being what they have been this IPL season - dismal and disappointing. Once again, a decent start proved to be a false dawn. Once again, they had only themselves to blame. On a greenish Wankhede pitch aiding fast bowlers, Chargers allowed Harbhajan Singh figures of 4-0-13-2. They contrived to lose regular wickets, hitting wide balls straight to fielders. And they did not have another bowler remotely in the class of Dale Steyn, who tormented the home batsmen nearly every delivery he bowled.

Not that Chargers did not try, initially at least. Their captain Kumar Sangakkara, with 83 runs in five games at a strike-rate of 95.40, sat out the game. Chargers made three more changes. Shikhar Dhawan and Parthiv Patel even managed to add 37 by the sixth over, which was not a bad start given the appreciable swing and bounce RP Singh was getting.

And then they fell apart. Six wickets went down in the space of 7.3 overs for 29 runs. Parthiv checked his drive to an RP slower delivery but ended up chipping it to mid-on. With Cameron White, JP Duminy and Daniel Christian available, Chargers sent Ishank Jaggi at No. 3. After looking clueless against pace for six deliveries, Jaggi tried to attack Harbhajan and found mid-off. White slashed his first delivery to third man; Christian was to cut his fifth straight to point.

In between, Dhawan, having watched his side implode, charged out to Harbhajan, only to be stumped for 29. It was to be the highest score by a Chargers batsman tonight. Harbhajan kept the pressure up, firing some in, tossing many up, and varying his pace.

Though Duminy tried to ensure Chargers at least played out their 20 overs, their lower order crumbled against Lasith Malinga by the 19th. It wasn't an easy pitch to bat on by any means but Chargers needed something truly special from Steyn to even challenge Mumbai Indians.

Steyn tried as hard as he could. He knocked back Richard Levi's stumps first ball of the chase with a pacy outswinger. He could have had Rohit Sharma four times in four deliveries, but the ball beat the outside edge each time. Steyn came back in the ninth over, with a forward short leg to Dinesh Karthik, who immediately nibbled one through to the wicketkeeper. 

Delhi v Mumbai, IPL 2012, Delhi

Delhi open gap at top with big win

Posted By Anoop Dubey

April 28,2012

Delhi Daredevils 207 for 5 (Sehwag 73, Jayawardene 55, Pietersen 50*) beat Mumbai Indians 170 for 9 (Rayudu 62, Karthik 40) by 37 runs

Just in case there had been any doubts about it, Delhi Daredevils showed they are the team to beat this season by thumping pre-tournament favourites Mumbai Indians. Two of their high-profile new recruits, Mahela Jayawardene and Kevin Pietersen, contributed half-centuries while Virender Sehwag made his third successive fifty to power Daredevils past 200. Even the return of the world's best Twenty20 bowler, Lasith Malinga, couldn't prevent Daredevils from reaching the second highest total of the season.

Mumbai's batting has been their biggest frailty this season, and their top order failed again. The game seemed virtually over in the fourth over of the chase with Mumbai at 19 for 3 before Ambati Rayudu and Dinesh Karthik resurrected Mumbai hopes with a fast-paced 96-run stand. Their chances were finally finished off by unheralded left-arm spinner, Shahbaz Nadeem, who continued his golden run this season by removing Rayudu and the dangerous Kieron Pollard off successive deliveries in the 16th over.

Daredevils dominated right from the beginning with Jayawardene and Sehwag putting on a 135-run opening stand. Jayawardene ripped into his Sri Lanka colleague, Malinga, in the third over, taking 15 off it with three boundaries. The Daredevils openers feasted on some wayward Mumbai bowling, flicking full tosses off the pads and slashing the wide ones. Jayawardene was the early aggressor, outscoring Sehwag before the captain opened up against RP Singh, slashing over point and flat-batting a six over long-off.

Mumbai should have had Sehwag on 40, when he skipped down the track to Robin Peterson, only for Karthik to fluff the stumping. Sehwag made Mumbai pay by ransacking Pollard for two fours and two sixes in an over which cost 23. There were more worries for Mumbai as Pollard later walked off with an injured shoulder after attempting an almost impossible catch at point, though he returned later to bat.

There was no let-up even after the openers departed as Pietersen and Ross Taylor added 41 in just 2.4 overs. Pietersen brought out his signature switch hit, off his namesake who pulled off the same shot in Mumbai's last game. A boundary to extra cover in the final over brought up the 200 and dented Mumbai's hopes of revenge for the humiliating defeat at home last week.

West Indies v Australia, 3rd Test, Roseau, 5th day

Clarke takes five in 75-run victory

Posted By Anoop Dubey

April 28,2012

Australia 328 and 259 beat West Indies 218 and 294 (Chanderpaul 69, Sammy 61, Clarke 5-86, Lyon 3-87) by 75 runs

In the end, the final day of the tour followed the same script as the rest of the series: West Indies fought hard and provided Australia with a few headaches, but their efforts came to nought. Instead, Michael Clarke's second five-wicket haul in Tests helped the Australians wrap up a 75-run victory and they took the series 2-0, despite some powerful striking from the West Indies captain Darren Sammy.

It took Australia two hours on the fifth morning to take the five wickets that remained after the critical breakthrough in the last over of the fourth day, when Shivnarine Chanderpaul was lbw. With each four and six that Sammy produced the West Indian fans dreamed of a famous win, but too much had been left to the lower order and a steady stream of wickets meant Sammy and the No.11 Shane Shillingford came together with 125 runs still needed.

Their 50-run partnership was promising but ended when Sammy, on 61 from 51 balls, top-edged a sweep off the bowling of Nathan Lyon (3 for 87) and was caught at short fine leg, leaving the local hero Shillingford unbeaten on 31. The result might have been a little closer than the Australians wanted, but Clarke was thrilled to emerge from the series with a 2-0 victory, the rain-affected Trinidad Test having not allowed either team enough time to push for a win.

Deccan Chargers v Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL 2012, Cuttack

Kolkata earn hard-fought points

Posted By Anoop Dubey

April 23,2012

Kolkata Knight Riders 127 for 5 (Tiwary 30*, Steyn 2-24) beat Deccan Chargers 126 for 7 (Dhawan 50, Balaji 2-22) by five wickets

The Deccan Chargers bowlers strived to earn their side a maiden victory in this season of the IPL but, even on a slow pitch that turned, they did not have enough runs to defend. The upshot was a fifth consecutive defeat for the home side while Kolkata Knight Riders drew level with the other top teams in the tournament with their fourth win. The finish, however, was far more tense and hard fought than was expected after Chargers had been limited to only 126.

For the briefest of periods, Chargers looked like posting a stronger total. And then, though wickets did not fall in a heap, the scoring-rate began to splutter and the innings stuttered. The odd boundary would be followed by periods of low productivity, depriving Chargers of all momentum. The Knight Riders' chase followed a similar pattern - at no stage did the batsmen consistently dominate the bowling. However, they kept the situation under control by staying abreast with the asking-rate, ensuring the pressure did not get too intense to handle.

While Gautam Gambhir and Jacques Kallis were steering the chase, Knight Riders were in control. Then Gambhir mis-hit Anand Rajan to mid-off, leaving his team on 64 for 3 in 9.5 overs. Yusuf Pathan clouted one six off the spinner Ankit Sharma before trying to slog the next ball and getting bowled. Kallis, however, stayed calm and in the company of Manoj Tiwary took Knight Riders slowly but steadily towards their target.

Dhawan had anchored the innings but he too was going nowhere, and his struggle ended when he mis-hit a full toss from Rajat Bhatia to deep midwicket. He was gone for a run-a-ball 50. He would say later that the pitch was hard to bat on. Knight Riders also found batting tough, but they were tough enough to get over the line.

Mumbai Indians v Kings XI Punjab, IPL 2012, Mumbai

Marsh half-century wins it for Kings XI Punjab

Preview By Anoop Dubey

April 23,2012

Kings XI Punjab 164 for 4 (Marsh 68*, Pollard 2-14) beat Mumbai Indians 163 for 6 (Franklin 79, Awana 2-23) by six wickets 

Shaun Marsh's fighting half-century defied a Mumbai Indians that had Sachin Tendulkar back from injury, a different mix of internationals - James Franklin and Thisara Perera instead of Richard Levi and Davy Jacobs - and a strangling spell from Kieron Pollard to give Kings XI Punjab a hard-fought win. Kings XI have extended their dominance over Mumbai to six wins from nine matches in IPL history and have got their 2012 campaign back on track, after they lost four of their opening six fixtures.

A spirited and committed performance in the field allowed Kings XI to keep Mumbai to a manageable total. But, not for the first time in this IPL, they fell behind with the bat after a solid start. Marsh had to contend with Pollard's near heroics, as he nipped out Mandeep Singh and David Hussey, who were both well settled. The required run-rate soared to over 11 runs to the over but Marsh whittled the total down, before striking two decisive blows, off Munaf Patel and Perera in the last two overs. Both shots went for six, giving Kings XI room to breathe and David Miller five deliveries to get the winning runs.

  Kings XI's reply began methodically, right down to the scoring pattern. The openers scored 10 runs off the first over and six off the second, in that pattern, for six overs. As the start grew from solid to threatening, an increasingly frustrated Munaf, who was being targeted by the opening pair, was guilty of misfields and a mini-tantrum. If Mandeep and Saini were shaken by the sparks that were flying around them, they hid it well, and accumulated their runs through a series of proper cricket shots, elegant pulls and well-timed drives.

West Indies v Australia, 2nd Test, Port-of-Spain, 5th day

Rain ends prospect of intriguing finish

Report By Anoop Dubey

April 20,2012

Australia 311 (Hussey 73, Watson 56, Roach 5-105) and 160 for 8 dec (Ponting 41, Roach 5-41) drew with West Indies 257 (Chanderpaul 94, Lyon 5-68) and 53 for 2

As it had threatened to do the weather had the final say in Port-of-Spain and end the prospect of a fascinating finish after both captains took up each other's challenge to force a positive result. Michael Clarke declared to leave West Indies a target of 215 in 61 overs then Darren Sammy promoted himself to No. 3 as the hosts reached 53 for 2 when they were forced off which meant Australia retained the Frank Worrell Trophy.

  The visitors had found progress hard going during the morning session and after losing Clarke and Ricky Ponting in quick succession had to guard against a more damaging collapse. Australia's first boundary did not come until the 10th over of the day when Ponting flicked Fidel Edwards to fine leg and two balls later Ponting hooked a well-directed bouncer straight to deep square-leg.

It was due reward for Edwards, who had toiled without luck during this match while Roach picked up the wickets, and meant Ponting did not covert his hard work. His 41 was more than he had made in his previous eight international innings combined but the mode of dismissal was likely to start more debate.