05.31.08
Its Rajasthan Royals Vs Chennai Super Kings
We’ve come down to the last game of the first IPL season. Its the big one – The Finals. Eight teama battled out for the trophy and it has come down to the last two, the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals. Both the teams have played some wonderful cricket over the last 40+ days.
Rajasthan Royals have proved their critics wrong and they’ve turned into the side to be beaten in the tournament. The have a very balanced side that has a mix of good bowling and a power packed batting line up. Chennai Super Kings, on the other hand, have a good batting line-up. But the question remains over their bowling. Can their bowlers stand up tall for one last time to pull of an emphatic win? Only time can say. keep licking your lips for tomorrow’s game. Rajasthan Royals start as clear favourites. But anything can happen in T20 Cricket.
Chennai Super Kings Drub King’s XI
Chennai Super Kings have forced their way into the IPL finals. They played wonderful cricket to wrap up the game quickly. Initially it was their bowlers who stuck to their tasks. After being made to field first, Chennai Super Kings did everything right. They picked up crucial wickets at the top that opened up the gate.
Manpreet Gony was the pick of the bowlers. He bowled a tight line and length and never gave anything to the batsman. All the Chennai bowlers extracted good bounce from the wicket and were right on the money from ball one. The fielding was great and equally supported the bowler’s efforts. Punjab looked in all sorts of trouble from the begining and never recovered back at all. They have to blame their own self for the loss. Dhoni shuffled his bowlers regularly and also started the proceedings by tossing the ball to Muttiah Muralidaran to surprise everyone.
They managed to restrict King’s XI to a paltry 112/8. Later Parthiv Patel and swashbuckling Suresh Raina smashed the King’s bowlers all over the park. Raina was particularly ruthless and smashed some sensational blows. He looked in ominous touch and his devastating knock took the game away from the King’s Xi Punjab. Parthiv Patel, on the other hand, paced his innings beautifully and ensured that ni further damage was done to them after Vidyut’s fall.
What a game we’ve had? This makes a 100% record for Chennai Super Kings against King’s XI Punjab and also they give themselves a chance to take a revenge against the ravaging Rajasthan Royals who have already made it to the Finals of the IPL. Looking forward for tomorrow’s game and my anxiety levels are very high.
Punter Joins 10,000 League
Ricky Ponting became the seventh batsman to score 10,000+ runs in Test Matches. He is the third Australian after Allan Border and Steve Waugh to join this elite league. He is also the second highest centurion in Test Matches. He achieved this feat in front of a small crowd at Sir Vivian Richards Ground and that was a sort of dampener to this wonderful occasion. Just compare this with the way the crowd celebrated when Rahul Dravid achieved the same feat against South Africa in Chennai.
But Ricky Ponting didn’t make it as memorable and fell after adding four more runs to the tally. He has scored most of his runs batting at No.3 and admitted that this move helped him to achieve whatever he has. He is one marvelous batsman to look at when in full bloom.
Rajasthan Royals Get Into The Finals
Delhi Daredevils must have been in a state of shock just by the way they were out played in all the departments today. They had no way out. Eveything Rajasthan Royals did was right. They displayed ruthless Cricket though they had admitted that they didn’t have the home advantage. But they played well in all the deparments.
Guided by the blast earlier on by Greame Smith and Swapnil Asnodkar and later by a couple of whirlwind innings by Yusuf Pathan and Shane Watson who scored a fifty, Rajasthan Royals finished on 192. Shane Watson wasn’t done as yet and came back to hit the Delhi Daredevils top order hard. He picked the top three in his first spell which hit them badly. Then Shane Warne spun the ball square to display his art to the crowd and the batsmen of the Delhi Daredevils team.
After that they were never in the game. The game ended with a tame run-out. Rajasthan Royals are proving that they are the complete side and the side to beat. Clearly Virender Sehwag’s decision to field first has back fired badly.
Watch out for another cracker of a game tomorrow between Chennai Super Kings and King’s XI Punjab. Can Chennai Super Kings maintain their 100% record against the King’s XI? We’ve got to wait and watch.
05.29.08
Groin Injury Puts Tendulkar Out
Sachin Tendulkar has been made to rest again as his groin injury has struck him again. Sources say that he is yet to recover from the injury which forces him out of the upcoming Bangladesh – India – Pakistan Tri-series in Pakistan and also out of Asia Cup coming June.
Tendulkar missed the first half of IPL and also the last two games of the South Africa series at home due to the same reason. He had a decent outing in the IPL ( though more was expected of him ). Along with Tendulkar, even Zaheer Khan will miss the games as he has hurt his ankle. Even he was out of the South Africa series. But he had a decent enough outing picking 13 wickets in 11 games during this edition of IPL.
India will go to Bangladesh for the Tri-Series between June 8 – June 14. The Asia Cup commences on June 24 and goes on till July 6 in Pakistan.
