Match 26: CSK v. DD: CSK take revenge on DD with Jakati's help!

What a match! The match almost in the hands of DD, chasing 164. Dinesh Karthik played the innings of his life for Delhi. He scored a brilliant 52 of 31 balls with 7 fours and a six. Till the moment he stayed in the crease, the match was in the hands of DD.

With Sehwag rested due to injury, Warner took over his place. Gambhir took over his captaincy position.

Warner also scored 50 for Delhi in 40 balls with 5 fours and a six. They both added 74 for the 4th wicket in 54 balls. This partnership changed the innings in favor of DD.

Earlier, Tyagi gave double break for CSK removing Gambhir caught beautiflly at short covers. It was a short ball and Gambhir smashed it towards covers, but the ball went in the air and Raina took a one handed blinder.

The only century maker of DD, AB de Villiers did not score in this match as he was beaten and bowled with a superb delivery pitched on the middle and leg stump. The ball beat the bat and pad and knocked the balls.

The hat-trick was prevented by Dilshan. Warner, on the other end, smashed 3 continuous fours of Morkel and kept the scoreboard moving. Dilshan pulled Tyagi for a good six over mid wicket and Warner hit a superb four to take DD to 49 for 2 in 6 overs.

Dilshan was bowled by the debutant Jakati. It was a superb delivery pitched on the middle and turned. Dilshan was beaten by the flight and turn as the ball knocked the stumps.

DD v. CSK - Previous Match played on April 23, 2009 - DD Won by 10 runs

Warner and Karthik took the score to 72 for 3 during the strategic break. The match turned towards Delhi from the 13th over bowled by Oram in which Warner and Karthik hit a six each. In Muralitharan's over, Karthik hit two superb fours and brought the equation to 53 from 6 overs.

Jakati provided the break through by beating Warner of a flight and Dhoni reacted quickly to remove the bails. The re-play showed that he was short of his crease and red light was on. Good work by Dhoni.

37 from 24 balls, still reachable. Muralitharan contained the 17th over of the innings by keeping Manhas on crease for 2 balls with no runs scored. He went for slog and bowled by Murali's doosra. Bhatia was kept in the crease without scoring.

Murali's over turned the match in favor of CSK as he gave just 1 run and modified the equation to 36 from 18 balls.

Dinesh Karthick hit a four of the first ball of Jakati. Badrinath did not judge the ball and missed the catch. It also went for a four. The luck did not continue for Dinesh as the sweep of the next delivery went in the air and Muralitharan took a good catch at mid wicket.

Jakati also had Sangwan bowled in the last ball. He ended with 4 for 24 in his 4 overs.

Two overs, 31 runs required. Morkel bowled a tight over which included 2 singles, 3 maiden balls and a wicket. Last over required 29 runs, Balaji had the ball in hand.

No runs were scored of the first thee balls. The fourth ball went for a six, but that was late. Next ball was a maiden ball and last ball went for a four.

Earlier, CSK, put into bat, brought in Murali Vijay in place of Parthiv Patel. He scored 14 from 13 balls. Badrinath, once played a slow innings, settle well and smashed beautiful fours and six. He contributed 45 off 34 balls which included 4 fours and 2 sixes. He changed his innings after the strategic break. Before the break, he scored 7 from 13 balls.

Sangwan over opened up the innings as Badrinath hit two fours and a six. Raina, the man who was close to his maiden hundred in the previous match, scored 32 in 21 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes. He was caught close to the boundary line where Dilshan took a cool catch, not panicking.

Nannes picked Oram and Dhoni in the same over, in two deliveries. CSK were 148 for 7 in 18 overs. Jakati scored two continuous fours in the last over to help CSK to reach 163 losing all 10 wickets.

The match was in DD's hand at the start, then went towards DD, then swung in favor of DD but finally ended in favor of CSK.

DD v. CSK - Previous Match played on April 23, 2009 - DD Won by 10 runs

Scoreboard:

Match # 26
Date: Saturday May 2, 2009
Teams: Chennai Super Kings v. Delhi Daredevils
Captains: Dhoni and Gambhir
Toss: DD, decided to field
Venue: New Wanderers Stadium, Johannersburg
Result: CSK won by 18 runs
Points: CSK 2; DD 0
Man of the Match: SB Jakati off CSK

Chennai Super Kings Innings:

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Balls	4s	6s
M Vijay	c Bhatia b Nehra	14	13	2	0
Hayden	c De Villiers b Sangwan	30	19	4	1
Raina	c Dilshan b Bhatia	32	21	2	2
Badrinath	b Bhatia	45	34	4	2
A Morkel	c & b Nehra	6	4	1	0
Dhoni	c Gambhir b Nannes	6	7	0	0
Oram	c De Villiers b Nannes	3	7	0	0
Jakati	c Gambhir b Nannes	13	8	2	0
Balaji	c De Villiers b Nehra	2	3	0	0
Muralitharan	Run Out (De Villiers/Karthik)	3	4	0	0
Tyagi	Not Out	0	0	0	0
Extras	(b 4, w 5)	9	-	-	-
Total	all out in 20 overs	163	-	-	-

Fall of Wickets: 1-36 (Vijay, 4.4 ov), 2-46 (Hayden, 5.4 ov), 3-112 (Raina, 12.3 ov), 4-130 (Badrinath, 14.5 ov), 5-134 (Morkel, 15.2 ov), 6-144 (Oram, 17.2 ov), 7-144 (Dhoni, 17.3 ov), 8-151 (Balaji, 18.4 ov), 9-162 (Jakati, 19.4 ov), 10-163 (Muralitharan, 19.6 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W
Nannes	4	0	27	3
A Nehra	4	0	27	3
Sangwan	3	0	41	1
Dilshan	3	0	23	0
Mishra	3	0	24	0
Bhatia	3	0	17	2

Delhi Daredevils Innings:

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Balls	4s	6s
Gambhir	c Raina b Tyagi	13	14	2	0
Warner	st Dhoni b Jakati	51	40	5	1
de Villiers	b Tyagi	0	1	0	0
Dilshan	b Jakati	13	13	0	1
D Karthik	c Muralitharan b Jakati	52	31	7	1
Manhas	b Muralitharan	0	4	0	0
Bhatia	c Balaji b A Morkel	2	7	0	0
Sangwan	b Jakati	0	3	0	0
Mishra	Not Out	11	8	1	1
Nehra	Not Out	0	0	0	0
Extras	(lb 2, nb 1)	3	-	-	-
Total	for 8 wkts in 20 overs	145	-	-	-

Fall of Wickets: 1-20 (Gambhir, 3.1 ov), 2-20 (de Villiers, 3.2 ov), 3-53 (Dilshan, 6.5 ov), 4-127 (Warner, 15.5 ov), 5-128 (Manhas, 16.4 ov), 6-132 (Karthik, 17.2 ov), 7-133 (Sangwan, 17.6 ov), 8-135 (Bhatia, 18.6 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W
A Morkel	4	0	32	1
Tyagi	3	0	18	2
Jakati	4	0	24	4
Muralitharan	4	0	22	1
Raina	1	0	7	0
Balaji	3	0	26	0
Oram	1	0	14	0

Match 16: DC v. CSK: Poor Captaincy by Dhoni Gives DC Four In A Row!

Having known that the pitch is becoming slow and it will help slower bowlers, I am not sure why Dhoni didn't start with Muralitharan. With left handed Gilly opening and Murali bowling off spinners, it might have created a difference in the game. I am not saying this after seeing Murali bowling well, but was saying well before the start of the DC innings.

Though it was a good move to bring in Raina, who picked two wickets to give a come back for CSK. But, the field placing and the adjustments were not good. He should have had Raina closer at gully when Balaji opened the bowling. The first ball was almost a catch if he was little closer. Balaji does not bowl at super fast, so he could have standing little front. After that, it was fully Gilly's game as he smashed sixes and fours to take DC to 31 for no loss in the first two overs--a record.

Chasing 166, the start was apt as Balaji gave away 11 runs in his first over and Gony was demolished with 3 fours and a six by Gibbs.

Even after this massive attack by Gibbs and Gilly, Dhoni continued to use Balaji who again gave away couple of sixes and a four. The first change Morkel conceeded 12 runs giving 60 in the first 4 overs.

Muralitharan and Raina stopped the flood of runs while Raina picked Gilly caught at short third man. He scored 44 of 19 balls including 5 fours and 3 sixes.

Laxman did not last long as he also got out in the 2nd over of Raina playing the same shot as Gilly and got out in the same fashion.

At the strategy break, DC were 85 for 2. Runs were coming in as Gibbs was staying in the crease. Rohit got out in the 14th over caught behind of Balaji.

Smith hit a six and a four of Oram's over which changed the equation to 37 of of last 5 overs. Murali trapped Smith lbw for 12 in just 5 balls. He restricted Bilakhia for the remaining four balls and gave away just 2 runs and made Dhoni's man come back to the game.

Morkel once again did not perform both with the bat. His hip height no ball pitched on Dhoni's leg and went between his leg for a four. Morkel gave away 10 runs in that over and revised the target to 25 of 18 balls.

Oram gave away just 9 runs in the 18th over including a four by Gibbs. Last 2 overs required 16 and 8 runs were scored in the over by Morkel.

Dhoni gave the pads to Parthiv Patel and everyone expected that he is going to have go at the batsen, but gave the ball to Balaji. First ball was a six by Gibbs, single of the second ball and the third ball went for a winning boundary.

Gibbs carried the bat through the innings and remaining not out on 69 off 56 balls with 6 fours and 2 sixes. He was rightly chosen for the MoM award.

Earlier, put in to bat, CSK made 165 where they expected to score more than 180. Parthiv was caught behind on the leg side of the first over for a duck. Hayden and Raina played sensibly, adding 64 for the 2nd wicket.

Gilly rightly brought slow bowlers--Venugopal Rao and Rohit Sharma. Though they went for few runs, Rohit picked Raina, caught in his own bowling.

Dhoni once again did not succeed with the bat as he got out for a mere 22 of 22 balls. Oram and Hayden were the man for CSK as Hayden missed another 50 by one run.

Ohja once again picked two important wickets--Hayden and Dhoni, in the same over to put CSK in the back foot. CSK were 102 for 2 in 12 overs crumbled to 103 for 4 in 13 overs. Morkel scored 13 off 7 balls with a six. He is expected to contribute more as he did for South Africa against Australia, but he couldn't do it.

Badrinath was not able to give strike to Oram in the last few deliveries. Oram scored an unbeaten 41 to give a fighting total of 165.

Scoreboard:

Match # 16
Date: Monday April 27, 2009
Teams: Deccan Chargers v. Chennai Super Kings
Captains: Gilchrist and Dhoni
Toss: DC, decided to field
Venue: St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth
Result: DC won by 6 wickets with 3 balls remaining
Points: DC 2; CSK 0
Man of the Match: Gibbs off DC

Chennai Super Kings Innings:

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Balls	4s	6s
Parthiv Patel	c Gilchrist b Edwards	0	2	0	0
Hayden	c R Sharma b Ojha	49	35	8	0
Raina	c & b R Sharma	25	19	1	2
Dhoni	c Shoaib b Ojha	22	22	1	1
A Morkel	Not Out	41	29	4	2
Oram	c RP Singh b Venugopal	13	7	1	1
Badrinath	c & b RP Singh	8	9	1	0
Gony	Not Out	0	0	0	0
Extras	(w 4, nb 3)	7	-	-	-
Total	for 6 wkts in 20 overs	165	-	-	-

Fall of Wickets: 1-0 (Patel, 0.2 ov), 2-64 (Raina, 6.5 ov), 3-102 (Dhoni, 12.3 ov), 4-103 (Hayden, 12.6 ov), 5-129 (Morkel, 16.5 ov), 6-165 (Badrinath, 19.5 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W
Edwards	4	0	21	1
RP Singh	3	0	32	1
D Smith	1	0	17	0
Venugopal	4	0	35	1
R Sharma	3	0	18	1
PP Ojha	2	0	11	2
S Shoaib	3	0	31	0

Deccan Chargers Innings:

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Balls	4s	6s
Gilchrist	c Gilchrist b RP Singh	44	19	5	3
Gibbs	c Gibbs b Ojha	69	56	6	2
Laxman	c D Smith b Ojha	4	5	0	0
R Sharma	b Ojha	18	19	0	1
D Smith	lbw b Edwards	12	5	1	1
Bilakhia	c Gilchrist b Harbhajan	12	14	1	0
Extras	(lb 2, w 3, nb 5)	10	-	-	-
Total	for 4 wkts in 19.3 overs	169	-	-	-

Fall of Wickets: 1-67 (Gilchrist, 5.4 ov), 2-75 (Laxman, 7.3 ov), 3-114 (Sharma, 13.4 ov), 4-130 (Smith, 15.2 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W
Balaji	3.3	0	41	1
Gony	1	0	20	0
A Morkel	3	0	29	0
Muralitharan	4	0	17	1
Raina	4	0	18	2
J Sharma	1	0	14	0
Oram	3	0	28	0

Match 54: Chennai Enter Semi finals! Mumbai Out!

In the crucial do or die situation, Chennai Super Kings today beat Deccan Chargers and stormed into the semi finals. With this victory, Chennai has went to third place behind Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI. The last position is occupied by Delhi Daredevils.

Mumbai has one more match to be played against Bangalore Royal Challengers, which is insignificant to both the teams in terms of qualifying for the semi-finals.

Deciding to bat first, Deccan Chargers started their innings slowly. They lost Gibbs in the 3rd over, trying to cut it over point, he was caught at third man for the second time.

Gilchrist trying to slog was also caught at third man in the next over. End of 10 overs, Deccan were 57 for 2.

Styris was bowled by Muralitharan for 20 in the 11th over. Venugopal Rao played his usual agressive innings. He started little slow because of the fall of 3 wickets in 11 overs for 57 with just 57 on board.

The 14th over bowled by Balaji gave momentum to Deccan Chargers. Venugopal hit him for a six over extra cover. Teja hit a four of the last ball to score 14 runs in that over and take the score to 85 for 3 at the end of 14 overs.

The 15th and 16th over added 8 and 11 runs respectively. End of 16 overs, Deccan Chargers were 104 for 3.

The 18th over by Balaji added 15 to Deccan's total including a six and four by Teja.

Chennai is known for hat-trick now. It recorded a team hat-trick with Teja getting out in the 3rd ball off Morkel caught by Mukund. The next ball was a run out of Venugopal Rao. Going for the second run, he was short by a milli-metre. Yadav was bowled in the next ball, losing his leg stump. Three balls, three wickets.

But, RP Singh hit a six of the last ball in the 19th over which took the score to 140 for 6. The last over by Balaji added 7 to the total with 2 wickets to his credit. Deccan Charges finished their 20 overs with 147 for 8.

Read: Man of the Match List

Read: Points Table

Read: IPL Scores Table!

Chennai started well with a 26-run first wicket partnership. Fleming trying to square cut the ball, was caught behind of a thick outside edge of Vijaykumar.

At the end of power play, Chennai were cruising well with 44 for 1. Patel and Raina added 34 for the 2nd wicket in 31 balls.

Patel was caught at extra covers off Sarvesh Kumar by Shahid Afridi for 20. Dhoni promoted himself up the order one more time and he played sensibly. Dhoni was dropped the first ball he faced by Sarvesh Kumar on his own bowling and it went for a four. The next ball took outside edge and went for another four, Dhoni 8 off 2 balls.

When the score was on 115 in 15.1 overs, Dhoni tried to attack Ojha and went over long on, but was caught by Gibbs. He scored 37 off 25 balls with 4 fours and a six. Though the intention was right, but it put pressure on Morkel and Raina in the next few overs.

Last 4 overs required 31 runs. Styris bowled a very good over and Chennai scored just 3 runs.

28 required of 18 balls. Ohja's over added 11 to the total including a boundary over mid wicket. Equation reduced to 17 of 12 balls.

The caught and bowled chance was missed by RP Singh of the first ball. It bounced from his hand and went to mid on and the fielder had enough time to hit the stumps and he missed it. Two chances in one ball to send Raina to pavilion missed.

Three runs were scored in the next ball. The boundary was saved in the point. The fourth ball took the inside edge of Morkel and went to fine leg boundary.

Last over required 7 runs and Vijaykumar had the ball. The first ball was a single by Morkel and the next ball was a huge six over long on by Raina to give victory and semi-final birth to Chennai. It means, Mumbai has no more chance of entering semi-finals. With that winning six, Raina reached his 50 in 43 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes. He was rightly declared man of the match.

Match 54
Venue: Hyderabad
Date: May 27, 2008
Teams: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers and Chennai Super Kings
Captains: Adam Gilchrist and Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Toss: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers and decided to bat
Result: Chennai Super Kings won by 7 wickets with 4 balls remaining
Man of the Match: Suresh Raina off Chennai Super Kings (India)
Points: Chennai Super Kings-2; Hyderabad Deccan Chargers-0
Score:

Hyderabad Deccan Chargers 147 for 8 in 20 overs (AC Gilchrist 5, HH Gibbs 8, SB Styris 20, Y Venugopal Rao 46, DB Ravi Teja 40, Shahid Afridi 1, AS Yadav 0, RP Singh 10, PP Ojha 1 not out, Extras-16 (b 1, lb 8, wide 7), M Ntini 4-0-24-1, M Gony 4-0-21-1, JA Morkel 4-0-37-2, M Muralitharan 4-0-22-1, L Balaji 4-0-34-2) lost to Chennai Super Kings 148 for 3 in 19.2 overs (PA Patel 20, SP Fleming 14, SK Raina 54 not out, MS Dhoni 37, JA Morkel 12 not out, NK Patel 40 not out, Extras-11 (lb 3, wide 8), RP Singh 4-0-32-0, DP Vijaykumar 3.2-0-32-1, Shahid Afridi 3-0-19-0, PM Sarvesh Kumar 2-0-18-1, PP Ojha 4-0-28-1, SB Styris 3-0-16-0)

Read: Man of the Match List

Read: Points Table

Read: IPL Scores Table!

Match 49: Rajasthan Royals Continue Winning! Chennai miss the thriller!

In the crucial match, Chennai Super Kings has lost an opportunity one more time to confirm their birth to the semi-finals. They lost the easy target of 128 against Bangalore Royal Challengers and they lost this match by 10 runs against Rajasthan Royals.

Read: Man of the Match List

Read: Points Table

Read: IPL Scores Table!

One more match for Chennai with last over requiring 15 runs. They won one of the three such matches. They won against Delhi when M Gony hit Shoaib Malik for 15 runs. They scored only 4 runs including one waist height no ball and lost two wickets.

JA Morkel top scored for Chennai with 71 off 40 balls with 6 fours and 4 sixes. Parthiv Patel scored 54 off 40 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes. SK Raina added 45 off 24 balls with 6 fours and 2 sixes. Sohail Tanvir picked 3 wickets for 33 runs.

For Rajasthan, after deciding to bat, Smith scored a brilliant 91 off 51 balls with 9 fours and 4 sixes. The first wicket added 127 in 11.1 overs and Asnodkar scored 41 of those in 27 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes. Kamran Akmal fired a quick fire 53 off 28 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes.

JA Morkel picked 2 for 35 in 4 overs and has been declared man of the match.

Now, Chennai has only two options to enter semi-finals:

Delhi Daredevils has to lose their match against Mumbai Indians or Chennai has to win their last match against Deccan Chargers!

Match 48
Venue: Chennai
Date: May 24, 2008
Teams: Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals
Captains: Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Shane Warne
Toss: Rajasthan Royals and decided to bat
Result: Rajasthan Royals won by 10 runs
Man of the Match: JA Morkel off Chennai Super Kings (South Africa)
Points: Rajasthan Royals-2; Chennai Super Kings-0
Score:

Hyderabad Deccan Chargers 175 for 4 in 20 overs (GC Smith 91, SA Asnodkar 41, Kamran Akmal 53 not out, YK Pathan 6, M Kaif 10, T Kohli 3, Extras-7 (lb 5, wide 1, nb 1), M Ntini 4-0-43-0, M Gony 3-0-32-0, JA Morkel 4-0-35-2, M Muralitharan 4-0-31-0, L Balaji 3-0-45-0, SK Raina 2-0-20-1) beat Chennai Super Kings 201 for 7 in 20 overs (PA Patel 54, SP Fleming 7, SK Raina 45, JA Morkel 71, MS Dhoni 12, S Badrinath 1, M Gony 2 not out, A Mukund 0, Extras-9 (b 1, lb 2, wide 3, nb 3), Sohail Tanvir 4-0-33-3, YK Pathan 3-0-31-0, MM Patel 4-0-55-1, Pankan Singh 4-0-30-0, SK Warne 4-0-35-2, D Salunkhe 1-0-14-0)

Read: Man of the Match List

Read: Points Table

Read: IPL Scores Table!

Match 46: Chennai's Complecent! Loses to Bangalore! Dravid Happy!

Has complacency set-in in the minds of Dhoni and Chennai Super Kings team? An easy target to chase, pitch is good, though not great, confirmed birth for semi-finals. Every Chennai Supporter had a great shock on the attitude of the Chennai players.

Chasing 127 in 20 overs in a T20 game is easy including regular 50 overs match. The start was good, both Fleming and Parthiv Patel played very well to bring the score to 44 at the end of power play. With 14 overs, 83 to win, with all the 10 wickets in hand, no team would miss it. Today was an exception for Chennai and the day belong to Bangalore! Sure they were expecting another defeat until they got the wicket of Morkel.

The break through came in the form of luck for Kumble and Bangalore. It is like self-goal in football or hockey. The drive by Patel went straight to Kumble for an easy caught and bowled chance, but be missed it and ball popped out of his hands and hit Fleming, the non-striker and rebound in the air again. This time Kumble held it easily. At the end of 10 overs, Chennai were 61 for 1, requiring 66 in 60 balls.

Dhoni got out to a rash shot. He did not time the lofted shot well and gave a simple catch to Kumble at long on.

Fleming hit a six and a four of Vinaykumar in the 13th over. When he gave room for himself to take a full toss and hit it on the leg side. He misses the shot and last his leg stump, which hit keeper Boucher knees, who suffers in real pain. Fleming lost the grip of the bat and it was flying in the air. Umpires found that there were only 3 players in the 30 yard circle and call a no ball. Lucky Fleming. Bats again.

With all this luck where Patel was dropped and Fleming out on a no ball, Chennai should have won this game!

The luck did not continue for Fleming as he was out sweeping Kumble and caught at deep square leg. He scored 45 off 40 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes. He won the award for DLF most sixes!

In the same over last ball, the final over for Kumble, Badrinath tried to play the sweep, but got trapped plumb in front of the wicket. Two wickets in an over! Bangalore is getting back in the game! Their confidence level goes up!

Steyn was brought in to bowl the 16th over. The good bouncer was well handled by Morkel but it went straight to Vinaykumar in deep square leg. Unnecessary short at this stage as Chennai needed only 34 from 28 balls--not difficult in T20.

Steyn's bowled another short ball to Vidyut and he tried to pull. The ball hit the top of the bat and went straight to short midwicket where Kallis took a good one handed diving catch. One more 2-wicket over for Bangalore.

End of over 16, Chennai were 93 for 6, requiring 34 from 24 balls. Raina hit a boundary of Kallis in the 2nd ball, but did not utilize the rest of the overs. Just with another single, that over added 5 to the total. 29 off 3 overs.

Praven Kumar bowled the 18th over and was smashed for two boundaries by Raina and Gony. With a wide and single, alredy 10 runs of that over in 3 balls, Gony should have played sensible to retain his wicket for other overs. He tried to hit another four of a shot ball and mistimed it and Steyn took the catch near the circle at mid off.

Two overs, 18 runs, 3 wickets in hand. Steyn bowled the penultimate over and gave just 2 runs and Balaji was run out. Last over, 16 runs with 2 wickets.

Raina trying for scoring all the runs of Praveen Kumar, could not do much on the yorker length deliveries. Though singles could have been taken in the first two balls, he did not go for it as he was not confident of Nitni.

Third ball was a single and no run on the fourth ball, victory to Bangalore!

No run was scored in the last two balls and Bangalore takes two points and moves one place above in the points table. Dravid is a happy man and was seen pumping in the air just before the last ball.

Earlier, deciding to bat, Bangalore started slow. They never looked dangerous. Kallis was caught at slip by Fleming of Gony. In the next over, Fleming dropped a sitter in slips for Goswami. In the 6th over, Goswami walked himself though umpire ruled him not out for a caught behind appeal. He showed the spirit!

Dravid alone looked dangerous. He found his form and was playing like a real T20 player! He played great innings in the last few matches, though it did not help his team to win.

Misbha, who scored 47 in the previous match, could not continue his form. The outswinger pitched on the off, took the edge of Misbha and went to the right of Patel, who took a brilliant one handed diving catch.

Read: Man of the Match List

Read: Points Table

Read: IPL Scores Table!

Dravid hit at least one boundary in regular intervals, almost in every over. He hit two continuous fours of Balaji to take Bangalore to 87 at the end of 16 overs. He was caught at short extra cover by Dhoni of Morkel for 47 off 39 balls with 5 fours.

Praveen Kumar hit two fours of Nitni and then a four and a six of Balaji. Those two overs added 24 to the total.

Last over was bowled by Morkel. Praveen Kumar and Vinay Kumar got out in consecutive deliveries, giving hat-trick chance to Morkel. Praveen was bowled of a yorker and Vinay, trying to slog, saw his off stump flying.

Kumble scored two runs in the next ball and prevented hat-trick. It was almost half-a-chance but missed by Muralitharan.

Kumble was declared man of the match for his 3 wickets.

Match 46
Venue: Chennai
Date: May 21, 2008
Teams: Chenani Super Kings and Bangalore Royal Challengers
Captains: Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Rahul Dravid
Toss: Bangalore Royal Challengers and decided to bat
Result: Bangalore Royal Challengers won by 14 run
Man of the Match: Anil Kumble off Bangalore Royal Challengers (India)
Points: Bangalore Royal Challengers-2; Chenani Super Kings-0
Score:

Bangalore Royal Challengers 126 for 8 in 20 overs (JH Kallis 5, SP Goswami 10, V Kohli 10, R Dravid 47, Misbah-ul-Haq 4, MV Boucher 17, B Akhil 6 not out, P Kumar 21, R Vinay Kumar 0, A Kumble 2 not out, Extras-4 (lb 3, wide 1), M Ntini 4-0-27-0, M Gony 4-1-11-2, M Muralitharan 4-0-19-1, L Balaji 4-0-34-1, JA Morkel 4-0-32-4) beat Chenani Super Kings 112 for 8 in 20 overs (PA Patel 24, SP Fleming 45, MS Dhoni 4, SK Raina 21 not out, S Badrinath 1, JA Morkel 1, S Vidyut 0, M Gony 4, L Balaji 0, M Ntini 0 not out, Extras-12 (lb 2, wide 8, nb 2), DW Steyn 4-0-28-2, P Kumar 4-0-26-1, A Kumble 4-0-14-3, JH Kallis 4-0-15-0, R Vinay Kumar 3-0-23-1, B Akhil 1-0-4-0)

Read: Man of the Match List

Read: Points Table

Read: IPL Scores Table!

Match 36: Jayasuria's sixes Rain demolish Chennai!

What an innings by Jayasuriya? The Mumbai crowd expected all of this from Sachin, but the day belonged to Jayasuriya.

It was raining sixes and boundaries in the ground! No one was able to stop Jayasuria today. He hit 11 sixes and 9 fours. Can you believe he scored 96 runs off his 114 standing in his crease. His 114 came off 48 balls of which the fours and sixes took just 20 balls. In the remaining 28 balls, he scored 18 runs. That was okay!

Chasing a target of 157, his first four came off Morkel over cover. In the same over, he started his sixes campaign.

Gony bowled the third over by just giving four runs but he was not spared later.

Morkel's 2nd over and 4th of the innings had two sixes--one by Tendulkar at short third man and the other by Jayasuriya over long.

Jayasuriya hit 3 sixes of Gony in the next over to take his tally to 6 sixes. End of 5 overs, Mumbai were 57 for no loss. It should have given some lessons to Gony, who has gone for 20 runs in this over.

Morkel bowled the 6th over and he was also not spared by Jayasuriya. He hit 6, 4, 4, wide, 0, 6, 0 to take his sixes tally to 8. End of power play, the match was almost gone out of Chennai's hand--78 for no loss, record score in IPL in the power play.

Balaji started with a good outswinger to Tendulkar, couldn't control his line as he bowled two wides. But, he restricted Tendulkar in that over and gave just 3 runs.

Joginder Sharma struck for Chennai and took the first wicket. The stright delivery was missed by Tendulkar and was bowled. He scored 12 off 16 balls with a four and a six.

Uthappa joined Suriya, to watch him dealing in fours and sixes with Chennai attack. The 10th over added two fours and a six to Jayasuriya's tally and took the score to 107 for 1. Jayasuriya batting on 74 off 34 balls with 5 fours and 8 sixes. He needs to score 26 of the remaining 50 runs to reach his century. Did he do it?

Yes, he started with a boundary of his country mate Muralitharan. At the end of 13 overs, Mumbai were 132 for 1, with Jayasuriya on 88. To win 25 and 12 to century.

Jayasuriya decided finish the scoring himself. He hit 3 sixes and 2 fours to finish the match in the 5th ball of the 14th over. Very crucial for the net run rate, if required at the later stage of the tournament. The second six took him to his first hundred in the 20-20 and in IPL. What a hundred? No better way to bring a hundred than this!! He reached the three digits in 45 balls with 7 fours and 10 sixes.

Sachin, though didn't score was a morale booster to the team. Jayasuriya played so freely that he had no pressure at all. He had the pressure of scoring runs when Sachin was not there, but today was a different day!

Earlier, put into bat, Chennai Super Kings started with a plan in mind--a slow foundation building innings. Though they created the record of scoring least runs in the power play, Dhoni and Badrinath played sensibly to take the score beyond 150 runs.

Fleming, once again, not able to find his rhythm. He was dropped off two continuous balls--one falling short of Tendulkar, and the next ball he tried to slog, went in the air, but dropped by Jayasuriya.

Yidyut was the first to go, caught at mid-off. The ball took the edge and went high in the air. He was out for 16 off 11 balls with 3 fours.

Raina was the next to go, caught behind off Bravo for 1 off 6 balls. Fleming was bowled by Kulkarni for 26. The thick outside egdge dragged the ball to the stumps. He took 29 balls with 4 fours.

In the same over, Kapugedera was caught behind for 0. End of 10 overs, Chennai were 57 for 4. They needed 10 runs per over to go beyond 150.

Pollock bowled a maiden over and completed his spell with the figures of 4-1-9-1.

Dhoni was scoring four in the 12th and 13th overs. He scored two fours in the 14th over to take the score to 83 for 4.

Badrinath started his hitting spree with a four of Kulkarni's last ball in the 15th over. He hit two fours of Bravo in the next over. Chennai crossed 100 at the end of 16 overs.

The 17th over added 11 to the total with a four to Dhoni and Badrinath. The 18th over added 14 to the total with Badrinath scoring a six and a four of Raje. Momentum started building up in Chennai innings.

The 19th over by Bravo saw two huge sixes--one by Dhoni and the other one by Badrinath, which took him beyond 50. He scored 52 off 32 balls with 7 fours and 2 sixes. But, he got out in the next ball, the pull took the top edge and was easily caught by Bravo on his own bowling.

Man of the Match List

Points Table

Dhoni and Badrinath added 95 runs for the fifth wicket in 61 balls, the record for the 5th wicket partnership in IPL.

The last over bowled by Kulkarni added 15 to the total. Kulkarni started with a wide on the off stump and then a wide on the leg, but the batsman ran two. So, 4 runs already scored with all 6 balls remaining.

Dhoni and Morkel hit a four each and in the last ball, Morkel got out caught by Uthappa at long off.

Dhoni was not out on 43 off 35 balls with 6 fours and 1 six. The score board crossed 150 and Chennai set a target of 157 in 20 overs.

Jayasuriya was declared man of the match without much doubt for his wonderful, firing, quick century.

Match 36
Venue: Mumbai
Date: May 14, 2008
Teams: Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings
Captains: Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Toss: Mumbai Indians and decided to field
Result: Mumbai Indians won by 9 wickets with 37 balls remaining
Man of the Match: Sanath Jayasuriya off Mumbai Indians (Sri Lanka)
Points: Mumbai Indians-2; Delhi Daredevils-0
Score:

Chennai Super Kings 156 for 6 in 20 overs (S Vidyut 16, SP Fleming 26, SK Raina 1, S Badrinath 53, CK Kapugedera 0, MS Dhoni 43 not out, JA Morkel 5, Extras-12 (lb 3, wide 9), SM Pollock 4-1-9-1, A Nehra 4-0-31-0, DJ Bravo 4-0-37-2, DS Kulkarni 4-0-33-3, RR Raje 3-0-33-0, DJ Thornely 1-0-10-0) lost to Mumbai Indians 158 for 1 in 13.5 overs (ST Jayasuriya 114 not out, SR Tendulkar 12, RV Uthappa 16 not out, Extras-16 (lb 4, wide 12), M Gony 3-0-31-0, JA Morkel 3-0-44-0, L Balaji 2-0-9-0, Joginder Sharma 3-0-24-1, M Muralitharan 2-0-20-0, CK Kapugedera 0.5-0-26-0)


Man of the Match List

Points Table

Match 31: Chennai beat Kings XI again! Balaji Takes Hat-trick!

Chennai Super Kings beat Kings XI again, but in Chennai this time, the home ground.

Put into bat, Chennai didn't start their innings well. They lost Vidyut in the first over, caught at slip off Sreesanth.

Fleming got out in the 3rd over, a straight forward catch to covers off Sreesanth again. That was a good powerful shot, but it went straight to Goel. He was out for 1 and Chennai struggling at 20 for 2 in the 3rd over.

Badrinath was promoted in the batting order to play at number 4. He hit two fours off Sreesanth's 3rd over that gave the momentum to Chennai.

The next over by VRV Singh costed 15 runs for Kings XI. Badrinath hit a four and a six off free hit.


Chawla was brought to give a break through and he did it. But, before that, Raina hit him for tw continous fours and got the required runs. He was caught by Marsh when he tried a huge slog over mid wicket, but it took the edge and went high in the air towards point. End of 7 overs, Chennai were 64 for 3. The run rate was over 9 and it was good for Chennai.

Despite losing wickets, Chennai played positively going against the bowlers and maintained the run rate.

The 9th over bowled by Chawla opened up Dhoni's shoulders. He hit for a huge six over wide long-on.

End of 10 overs, Chennai were 85 for 3 with Badrinath on 28 and Dhoni on 12.

Dhoni hit two huge continous sixes of Chawla and the 11th over added 15 to the total. On the other hand, Badrinath hit two sixes of Pathan in the 13th over and he added 15 to the total in that over.

Badrinath reached his 50 off 37 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes. Should be a huge morale booster for the local boy.

He started hammering the ball. He hit two fours in the 15th over last two balls of VRV Sing. The last 5 overs added 59 to the total.

Sreesanth and Hopes bowled the 16th and 17th over respectively with a good line and gave away just 5 runs each.

That added pressure to the Chennai team and they lost Badrinath in the 3rd ball of the 18th over. He was caught at covers by Yuvaraj off VRV Singh. He scored 64 off 47 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes. The 18th over also added 5 runs to the total. The last 3 overs added 15 runs over all.

What once thought to be a score of more than 190, turned differently. But, Dhoni played the skipper's innings by sending a six and a four and couple of twos to add 17 to the total. With last 6 balls in hand, Chennai were 176 for 4.

Dhoni crossed his 50 with a huge six in the 19th over and he did that in 37 balls with 3 sixes.

Last over was bowled very well by Pathan and he gave away just 5 runs to finish the Chennai innings at 181.

Sreesanth picked 2 wickets in his 4 overs giving away 29 runs.

Chasing 182, the danger batsman Marsh was hammering as usual at one end, but Kings XI started losing wickets regularly.

Hopes and Marsh opened the innings. Hopes hit a six and a four in the first over by Gony. But he got out in the last ball of the 2nd over, caught by Dhoni. The ball pitched outside the leg and he played the glance towards fine leg. But Dhoni moved quickly towards his left and held it easily.

End of over 4, Kings XI were 29 for 1. Gny struck again in the 5th over by sending Goel caught by Morkel at third man for 1.

Marsh and Sarwan played taking 1s and 2s but the 8th over turned huge for Kings XI. Marsh hit two sixes off Amarnath and that over added 15 to the total.

Muralitharan was brought into the attack. Though he started with a wide down the leg side, he just gave 8 runs in that over to have Kings XI struggle at 76 for 2 in 10 overs.

Balaji bowled the 11th over and conceeded 11 runs including a six by Marsh. Muralitharan's next over also had a six by Marsh.

The equation now is 87 runs required off 48 balls with 8 wickets in hand.

Balaji's over had two wickets for Chennai. He bowled Sarwan when he tried to come down the track and pull him. He scored 20 off 22 balls. In the 5th ball, the dangerous batsman Marsh was caught by Amarnath at deep square leg. He scored 58 off 38 balls with 3 fours and 4 sixes.

Yuvaraj Singh did not stay long in the crease. He got out in the first ball of the 14th over caught by Fleming at point off Amarnath for 2.

Pathan, thought hit 2 fours in the last two balls, that was not enough as the equation changed to 75 from 36 balls.

Jayawardane hit a six off Muralitharan, but got out in the same over caught at short third man.

Balaji bowled a good 16th over in which he gave just 4 runs.

Gony was brought back and that over had two sixes--one by Pathan and the other one by Chawla. The last ball was a four by Chawla. 36 from 12 balls.

Morkel bowled the 19th over and he was hit for a six off the first ball by Pathan. He never gives up. But only 3 runs were scored in the remaining 5 balls as Morkel bowled them very well.

Last over, 27 required. Balaji to Pathan, Six off a full toss. 21 from 5 balls. Two runs were scored and in the next ball, Pathan was caught by Raina at deep square leg. Pathan did not time it well during his pull and it landed in Raina's hand.

The batsman crossed and Chawla hit the ful toss to long off and Kapugedera takes an easy catch. Two wickets in two balls.

He was on-a-hat-trick. VRV Singh was facing. The ball was pitched short out side the off stump, and he tried to slog it, but it took the outside egde and went just few steps back of Dhoni, who took an easy catch. THAT WAS A HAT-TRICK!! FIRST IN IPL! The last ball was missed by the batsman and it went to keeper.

Chennai Super Kings beat Kings XI Punjab one more time!

For taking 5 wickets including a hat-trick in his 4 overs giving just 24 runs, L Balaji was rightly chosen for the man of the match award.

Match 31
Venue: Chennai
Date: May 10, 2008
Teams: Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab
Captains: Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvaraj Singh
Toss: Kings XI Punjab and decided to field
Result: Chennai Super Kings won by 18 runs
Man of the Match: L Balaji off Chennai Super Kings (India)
Points: Chennai Super Kings-2; Kings XI Punjab-0
Score:
Chennai Super Kings 181 for 4 in 20 overs (S Vidyut 8, SP Fleming 1, SK Raina 26, S Badrinath 64, MS Dhoni 60 not out, J A Mokel 7 not out, Extras-15 (lb 4, wide 10, nb 1), S Sreesanth 4-0-29-2, IK Pathan 3-0-33-0, VRV Singh 4-0-35-1, PP Chawla 3-0-36-1, JR Hopes 4-0-36-0, Yuvaraj Singh 1-0-8-0) beat Kings XI Punjab 163 for 9 in 20 overs (SE Marsh 58, JR Hopes 14, K Goel 1, RR Sarwan 20, Yuvraj Singh 2, DPMD Jayawardene 8, IK Pathan 40, PP Chawla 17, S Sreesanth 0 not out, VRV Singh 0, U Kaul 0 not out, Extras-3 (lb 1, wide 2), M Gony 4-0-38-1, JA Morkel 4-0-25-1, P Amarnath 3-0-35-1, CK Kapugedera 1-0-8-0, M Muralitharan 4-0-32-1, L Balaji 4-0-24-5 including a hat-trick)

Match 28: Chennai Wins Last Ball Thriller! Takes Revenge!

What a win for Chennai Super Kings? They have taken revenge and can be happy that they have gained two more points to move up one place in the points table.

Last over required 15 runs to win. Shewag already conceeded 22 runs in one of his overs, choose Shoaib Malik to bowl the last over. The new batsman Gony was facing and he hit a six off the first ball over mid wicket to bring down the target to 9 off 5 balls.

Shoaib thoght Gony would come down the track and hence bowled a faster one way outside the off just to be called wide. Target now is 8 off 5 balls.

The next ball took the outside edge when Gony tried to hit it over long on. The ball beat the third man and went for a four. Target new is 4 off 4 balls.

Gony scored a sing of the next ball to bring it down to 3 off 3 balls. Badrniath got the strike. He chipped the ball over extra covers for two runs. Easy for Chennai now, everyone thought--1 off 2 balls.

Badrinath played the yorker length delivery straight to bowler. Tension everywhere. If it is a tie, the teams would have to bowl at the wicket.

Fielders were brought inside the circle and one fielder was placed in mid wicket. Badri stepped down and hit it in air wide off midwicket just to escape from the fielder. The diving fielder could not catch it and they run and win! The closest match of the tournament so far.

Chennai made few changes in the team--Nitni, Patel, Anirudh Srikanth were out. Amarnath, Balaji, Kapugedera were brought in. Delhi made one change--Manoj Tiwari in for Rajat Bhatia.

Earlier, winning the toss and asking Delhi to bat, Dhoni should feel happy for restricting them to less than 200. Both the in-form batsmen opened the innings for Delhi--Shewag and Gambhir. Though Shewag was not timing the ball well as his shots did not go well as he did it in the previous match against Chennai, Delhi still managed to maintain a good run rate.

Shewag hitting just 3 fours got out in the last ball of the 5th over bowled by Gony of a beautiful Yorker on the off stump.

In the next over, de Villers was out on his first ball, bowled by Morkel. It was a good inswinger pitched on the yorker length and de Villiers missed the line and the ball uprooted the stump. At the end of 6 overs, Delhi were 50 for 2.

Gambhir initiated the momentum hitting at least one four in each over. At the end of 10 overs, Delhi were 83 for 2. The advantage Delhi had was the wickets in hand. They did not lose wickets often and were scoring steadily.

Laxmipathi Balaji, back after 2 years did not bowl to his full capacity, but he bowled well. He took two wickets in his four overs giving away 35 runs.

Gambhir reached his 50 with a six of Gony. He took 35 bals to achieve this milestone. Gambhir hit 3 continous fours of Amarnath in the 15th over. This over added 14 to the score and took it to 133 for 2 in 15 overs.

The 3rd wicket partnership was a record 121 runs in 76 balls. Kapuedera conceeded 15 runs in the 17th over. Dhawan hit two fors and Gambhir hit a four.

Balaji finally provided the break through in the 18th over last ball. He had Gambhir caught at point by Badrinath. He scored 80 in 49 balls with 11 fours and a six.

After that wickets started falling regularly. Dhwawan was out in 19th over for a wonderful 59. It came off 46 balls with 6 fours and 2 sixes. Shoaib Malik was out in the first ball of the 20th over. With two fours and 3 singles, Delhi ended their innings.

The chase started very well. Vidyut started with a four of the first ball from McGrath and hit pull over mid wicket for another four. He hit another 2 fours in the next over bowled by Mohammad Asif and Fleming scored a four.

Good thing they did was not losing the wicket. At the end of 5 overs, Chennai were 42 for no loss.

Mahesh bowled the 6th over. Vidyut hit a six and a four and then Fleming hit him for 2 more overs. This over added 20 runs to the score and at the end of power play, Chennai were 62 for no loss.

Sangwan broke partnership immediately after the power play. The pull went straight to the fielder. He scored 40 off 23 balls with 6 fours and a six.

Dhoni promoted himself rightly for the 3rd position. He doesn't want to lose wickets and keep the scoreboard moving.

Fleming was going well at one end and Dhoni, to start with was struggling to hit boundaries. Fleming got out in the 10th over for a well made 44 off 28 balls with 7 fours.

Raina did not last long. He gave an easy catch to point. He scored 1. Morkel joined Dhoni and they both played well, but the fall of the two wickets made them cautious.

At the end of 13 overs, Chennai were 115 for 3, needing 73 from 7 overs.

Shewag's over was the turning point and gave all the confidence to Chennai. Morkel hit him for 3 continous sixes and a four. The first six over mid wicket was a big six and then over bowler's head and the third six was over midwicket again. The four was over long off. The target was revised to 50 from 6 overs.

The momentum was not continued. In the next over, poor run selection had Morkel run out. Morkel played left to McGrath who was trying to stop the ball follow up, but he missed it. Shewag covered him, picked the ball and hit direct at the stump to send Morkel, the danger man who hit 22 runs in the preivous over.

Morkel scored 30 off 15 balls with 2 fours and 3 sixes. End of 15 overs, Chennai were 142 for 4, requiring 46 from 30 balls.

Asif bowled the 16th over well by giving just 6 runs. Followed by McGrath, who gave just 7 runs. With 3 more overs, 33 runs needed.

Dhonit hit a four of the last ball of the 18th over bowled by Asif. That over had 11 runs for Chennai. 22 of 12 balls.

Dhoni was out the first ball, caught brilliantly in the long on. DeVilliers came running and did a forward dive to send back Dhoni for 33 off 33 balls with 3 fours.

Next ball, another wicket for Mahesh. Kapugedera was out in the same fashion, but in long off, caught by Dhawan. Two wickets in two balls. Chennai needed 22 in 10 balls.

Badrinath hit a four of the fourth ball and the last two balls were singles. Last over required 15.

Shoaib's over had 6 by Gony, wide, four, single, two, no run and a single to give victory to Chennai in the last ball of the 20th over.

Dhoni, who played sensibly in the middle overs was declared man of the match.

With this win, Chennai moved to third place and Delhi into 4th place.

Match 28
Venue: Delhi
Date: May 8, 2008
Teams: Delhi Daredevils and Chennai Super Kings
Captains: Virendra Shewag and Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Toss: Chennai Super Kings and decided to field
Result: Chennai Super Kings won by 4 wickets with 0 balls remaining
Man of the Match: MS Dhoni off Chennai Super Kings (India)
Points: Chennai Super Kings-2; Delhi Daredevils-0
Score:
Delhi Daredevils 187 for 5 in 20 overs (G Gambhir 80, V Shewag 23, AB de Villiers 0, S Dhawan 59, Shoaib Malik 2, KD Karthik 6 not out, MK Tiwari 5 not out, Extras—12 (lb 6, wide 4, nb 2), M Gony 4-0-36-1, JA Morkel 4-0-35-2, M Muralitharan 4-0-25-0, P Amarnath 3-0-35-0, L Balaji 4-0-35-2, CK Kapugedera 1-0-15-0) lost to Chennai Super Kings 188 for 6 in 20 overs (S Vidyut 40, SP Fleming 44, MS Dhoni 33, SK Raina 1, JA Morkel 30, CK Kapugedera 8, S Badrinath 8 not out, M Gony 13 not out, Extras-11 (b 1, lb 4, wide 6), GD McGrath 4-0-23-0, Mohammad Asif 4-0-33-1, VY Mahesh 4-0-40-2, P Sangwan 4-0-29-2, Shoaib Malik 2-0-28-0, V Sehwag 2-0-30-0)

Match 26: Deccan's 2nd Win beating Chennai!

What happened to Dhoni? Why is he not learning the positives and negatives from the previous losses? The Chennai super Kings have given a hopes to Deccan Chargers and now more pressure on Dhoni to win the remaining matches.

Put into bat, once gain the top order failed. Patel wanted to hit from the first over itself--may be using the tactics of attacking the bowler before he does it. He failed once more time, caught by RP Singh, a well run catch off Vijaykumar.

Anirudha Srikanth, appearing for the first time, couldn't handle the pressure. He faced 7 balls for his 1 run and fell for the pressure. He stepped out and tried to pull the short ball. But, he hit from the top of the batch, which went in air like a lolly pop.

Fleming looked like he was coming to form, but fell to a good jumping catch by Rohit Sharm at covers of Styris.

Badrinath came in and was briliantly caught by Gibbs at point. It was a wide and short deliery by Afridi. He chased it and tried to steer it between point and third man, but it went in the air towards left of Gibbs. He dived and grabbed the ball, though looked easy, it was a good catch. At this stage, Chennai were 43 for 4 in 6.5 overs.

Raina and Dhoni added 39 for the 5th wicket off 40 balls. Raina was out off a low full toss, which he hit straight to Rohit Sharma at extra cover, an easy catch to end his innings at 32 off 21 balls with 5 fours.

Dhoni fell in the next over, trying to sweep Ojha. He was struggling against Ojha already and he tried sweep the ball pitched outside leg stump. The ball hit gloves, and the back of the bat and flew to short third man where Afridi took one of the simplest catches. He scored 23 off 31 balls with just 2 fours. Chennai was struggling at 86 for 6 in 15 overs.

It was Morkel who lighted the Chennai innings. He hit a four and 2 sixes in his 29 not out off 19 balls. Joginder Singh contributed 16 off 10 balls with a six and a four. He was bowled in the 19th over in which only 3 runs were scored.

The last over cold have been a turning point, if Chennai had bowled well. Gony hit two sixes and a four to finish the last over with 17 runs and Chennai ended their innings with 144 on the board.

RP Singh took 2 wickets in his 3 overs giving away just 12 runs.

Chasing a moderate score is alwyas kind of 50-50. You lose two quick wickets or score low runs in couple of hours, it turns the match. Though the first two overs did not go well for Deccan Chargers--4 for no loss, Gibbs opened it up and Gilchrist took it from there! Gibbs stepped out and hit Ntini for a six over covers.

Morkel's over had two boundaries from Gilchrist. The change of end for Gony worked when he dismissed Gibbs caught and bowled for 10.

In the next over, Gilly hit Ntini for 2 sixes and a four in the 6th over. Both Gilly and Styris played sensibly with Gilly scoring at high speed in one end.

Gilly reached his 50 off 34 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes. In the 10th over, Gilly played his favorite shot, a slashing cut towards point, flying like a bullet, where Badrinath took a good catch. He was out for 54 off 36 balls with 7 fours and 2 sixes.

Rohit Sharma, took his orange cap again for going beyond Shewag. He added 47 along with Styris, in which he scored 23 off 17 balls with 2 fours and a six. He was trying to finish the game faster, but did not read the doosra from Muralitharan. The ball went up in the air and Badrinath accepted it easily. That was too late for Chennai to get a wicket. The score was 125 for 2 in 16.1 overs.

Deccan Chargers needed 20 runs from 4 overs with 8 wickets in hand--a sure win. With Muralitharan completing his spell of 4 overs with 1 for 24, there was no specialist bowler to contain the Deccan Chargers. The last three overs needed 18.

Afridi, the usual destructor finished scoring all the 18 runs in one over of Joginder Sharma by hitting two sixes and two fours--six, four, six, four.

Gilly was rightly chosen for the man of the match award.

This is the 2nd win for Deccan Chargers and 3rd continuous loss for Chennai Super Kings.

Match 26
Venue: Chennai
Date: May 6, 2008
Teams: Chennai Super Kings and Hyderabad Deccan Chargers
Captains: Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Adam Gilchrist
Toss: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers and decided to field
Result: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers won by 7 wickets with 12 balls remaining
Man of the Match: AC Gilchrist off Hyderabad Deccan Chargers (Australia)
Points: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers-2; Chennai Super Kings-0
Score:
Chennai Super Kings 144 for 7 in 20 overs (PA Patel 4, SP Fleming 14, S Anirudha 1, SK Raina 32, S Badrinath 0, MS Dhoni 23, JA Morkel 29 not out, Joginder Sharma 16, M Gony 15 not out, Extras—10 (lb 6, wide 4), DP Vijaykumar 3-0-17-1, RP Singh 3-0-12-2, SB Styris 3-0-24-1, Shahid Afridi 3-0-27-1, SB Bangar 4-0-36-1, PP Ojha 4-0-22-1) lost to Hyderabad Deccan Chargers 148 for 3 in 18 overs (AC Gilchrist 54, HH Gibbs 10, SB Styris 36 not out, RG Sharma 23, Shahid Afridi 20 not out, Extras-5 (lb 1, wide 2, nb 2), M Ntini 4-0-37-0, M Gony 3-0-15-0, JA Morkel 4-0-26-1, Joginder Sharma 3-0-45-0, M Muralitharan 4-0-24-1)

Match 24: Rajasthan Royals on Top; Thrashes Chennai Super Kings!

Rajasthan Royals thrashed Chennai Super Kings by 8 wickets to lead the table with 1 points, winning 5 of their 6 matches.

Winning the toss and deciding to bat first, I was surprised by Dhoni's decision. With the good batting line up, they could chase any target. Not sure why he decided to bat first. In the pressure to add runs and set a huge target, if they lose wickets as they did with Delhi and also in this match, they would be out of this tournament very soon.

Chennai lost the first four wickets before the power play. Sohail Tanvir, who bowled the best figures in the T20 today against Chennai, picked 6 wickets. His record figures were 4-0-14-6. In his first three overs, he gave away just 3 runs, but taking 3 wickets.

Patel and Fleming trapped leg before in the first over itself for duck. That really put Chennai on the back foot. Vidyut was caught by Warne for 5. Badrinath trying to improve the score, pulled the ball, but didn't time it well and ended up giving an easy caught and bowl to Watson for 15.

Dhoni was well deceived by Warne. The ball pitched on the middle and made Dhoni play the drive. The ball turning well took the edge and flew to slip where Smith took a good catch to send skipper Dhoni to pavilion for 1.

At the end of 8th over Chennai were 46 for 5. Morkel and Raina stayed in the crease for few more overs. Realizing that runs are important, Morkel took chances against Warne and hit him 17 runs that included 2 fours and a six.

In the 15th over, Raina's sent the ball in the air and Tanvir took a good judging catch of Patel. He scored 27 off 27 balls with 2 fours. In the same over, Joginder played irresponsible shot to get himself out for a duck, caught by Tanvir again.

At the end of 15 overs, Chennai were 91 for 7, not sure whether they would touch the three figure mark.

Morkel was the lone fighter on the field. He scored 42 and got out in the 17th over first ball, bowled by Sohail Tanvir, giving him his 4th wicket. Muralitharan was bowled in the next two deliveries.

End of over 17, Chennai were 97 for 8 with Nitni and Gony at the crease. Two fours by Nitni of Tanvir took the score past 100. In the same over, Nitni was bowled by Tanvir taking his 6th wicket--a record.

Chasing 110 in 20 overs is not a difficult task. Any team would do that 99 times out of 100. It is not different for Rajasthan Royals who reached this score at the last of 2 wickets.

Nitni started off with the maiden. Though Smith was dropped by at mid on by Joginder of Nitni when he was on 6, no one was able to stop them from reaching the target.

At the end of 10 overs, they were 78 for no loss, requiring 32 in 10 overs. Vidyut took the first wicket to send Asnodkar caught by Nitni for 32 off 30 balls with 5 fours. Yousuf Pathan was sent as usual, but this time to finish the game faste. He hit a six of Vidyut over mid wicket.

He was out off Muralitharan caught by Raina at short fine leg. At the end of 12th over, Rajasthan needed 18 in 8 overs.

Watson hit a six and four of Vidyut in the 13th over and six required off 7 overs and those were scored in the next two overs.

Undoubtedly, Sohail Tanvir was declared man of the match for his wonderful bowling performance of 4-0-14-6 and taking two catches.

With this victory, Rajasthan leading the table with 10 points, with most wins--5, than any other team out of the 6 games played.

Match 24
Venue: Jaipur
Date: May 4, 2008
Teams: Rajsthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings
Captains: Shane Warne and Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Toss: Chennai Super Kings and decided to bat
Result: Rajsthan Royals won by 8 wickets with 34 balls remaining
Man of the Match: Sohail Tanvir off Rajsthan Royals (South Africa)
Points: Rajsthan Royals-2; Chennai Super Kings-0
Score:
Chennai Super Kings 162 for 8 in 20 overs (PA Patel 0, SP Fleming 0, S Vidyut 5, SK Raina 27, S Badrinath 15, MS Dhoni 1, JA Morkel 42, Joginder Sharma 0, M Gony 1 not out, M Muralitharan 0, M Ntini 11, Extras—7 (b 4, lb 1, wide 2), Sohail Tanvir 4-0-14-6, SR Watson 4-0-19-1, MM Patel 4-0-16-2, SK Trivedi 2-0-17-0, SK Warne 3-0-29-1, YK Pathan 2-0-9-0) lost to Rajsthan Royals 110 for 2 in 14.2 overs (GC Smith 35 not out, SA Asnodkar 32, YK Pathan 8, SR Watson 14 not out, Extras-21 (lb 6, wide 14, nb 1), M Ntini 3-1-17-0, M Gony 3-0-25-0, JA Morkel 1-0-10-0, M Muralitharan 4-0-20-1, SK Raina 1.2-0-10-0, S Vidyut 2-0-22-1)

Match 20: Chennai Super Kings Loses! Shewag Proves Delhi is the Boss!

The perfect openers for Delhi is a big advantage. They are able to score with proper cricketing shots and also slogging when needed.

Chepauk once again proved lucky for Delhi skipper Shewag. Chasing a moderate target of 170, the Delhi opener hit 3 sixes in the first two overs--first over 4th ball over third man, the remaining two in the bowling of Goni--first ball over long off and third ball over point. End of two overs, they were 25 for no loss. The initial domination by Shewag really put pressure to Chennai and they were looking for break through. Shewag hit two fours of Gony in his 2nd over.

Gambhir, the man in form scored two fours of Nitni. The runs were coming thick and fast for Delhi. At the end of power play, Delhi were 64 for no loss. The entire crowd including my watching it live really enjoyed the game of Shewag and thought that Delhi would win without losing a wicket.

Shewag reach his 50 in 24 balls with 4 fours and 4 sixes. He cracked Joginder Sharma's first over for 19 runs with a six and two fours. Though he was out caught at deep cover, it was a free hit.

At the end of 10 overs, Delhi were 106 for no wicket with Shewag on 64, scoring most the runs.

Though Muraitharan bowled tight at one end, Delhi were scoring in the other end. Finally, Joginder gave the break through when Shewag tried upper cut, was caught at third man by Muralitharan. He was out for 71 off 41 balls with 7 fours and 4 sixes.

deVillers was struggling at one end and Chennai was utilizing it. Gambhir reached his 50 in 35 balls with 5 fours and a six. He was soon out bowled by Gony for 50 in 37 balls. At the end of 15 overs, Delhi were 142 for 2, requiring 28 from 30 balls.

With the last three overs requiring 16, Gony gave just 2 runs in the crucial 18th over. With 12 balls and 14 required, Dhoni went in favor Morkel, who gave all the runs in that over. He started with a wide and then gave a two, one, and four in the first 3 balls. With 9 balls more, 6 runs required, he conceded two continuous twos and the target was 2 runs of 7 balls. The last ball was a full toss hit over mid wicket for 4 by Dhawan to giv Delhi the winning points.

I am disapointed with the result of the match. Though Chennai Super Kings had all the chances of winning, I though poor captaincy by Dhoni lead to this failure. He should have decided to bowl considering the batting strength of Delhi, poor field setting, where the batsman were running twos very easily placing the ball in the gap and also to the fielder, who were running from the boundary.

Earlier, winning the toss and deciding to bat, McGrath was at his best as usual. He dominated the opening attack. Stephen Fleming, playing his first match not able to do much against him. He was bowled by first ball of Mahesh which was a no ball. He hit the next ball, the free hit to a bounday, which again was a no ball. The next free hit was a four again. But he was out in the next proper ball, bowled through inner edge.

Parthiv Patel and Vidyut took the responsbility of building the innings for Chennai. Both of them struggled though they scored few boundaries. At the end of the power play, Chennai were 47 for 1.

Patel fell in the first ball of Shewag, caught at short third man for 21 off 20 balls with 3 fours.

At the end of 10 overs, Chennai Super Kings were 82 for 2 with Dhoni on 7 and Vidyut on 35. The 11th over of the innings was the costly over, bowled by Shewag where he gave two sixes--one by Vidyut and the other by Dhoni. They should have built the momentum from there, but the opporunity was missed.

Vidyut reached 50 in his first match itself off 31 balls. Should really appreciate Shewag for the way he rotated the bowlers. McGrath provided the break through by taking Vidyut's wicket caught by Mahesh at covers. McGrath finished his spell with 1 for 21 in four overs. End of 15 overs, Chennai were 126 for 3.

16th over bowled by Mahesh was the good over for Delhi. He gave just one run, that was very costly for Chennai. The last four overs also did not go well for Chennai as they scored just 42 runs where much more than was expected. Dhoni was out in the 18th over trying to hit a six over long off. He was caught by Shoaib Malik off Mohammad Asif for 32 off 27 balls with 2 fours and a six. Raina was run out in the next over. The ball was near the stumps when he called for a single from non-strikers end, but Sangwan was quick to hit the stumps. In the same over, Morkel hit two sixes to take the score to 158 for 5.

In the last over bowled by Bhatia, Chennai lost Morkel caught by Shewag at short third man. The last ball was a six by Badrinath, the only ball he faced.

Chennai ended their innings with 169 for 6, not a big total for Chepauk wicket. Shewag was rightly chosen for the man of the match--the destructor.

Match 20
Venue: Chennai
Date: May 2, 2008
Teams: Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Daredevils
Captains: Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virendra Shewag
Toss: Kings XI Punjab and decided to field
Result: Delhi Daredevils won by 8 wickets with 6 balls to spare
Man of the Match: Virendra Shewag off Delhi Daredevils (India)
Points: Delhi Daredevils-2; Chennai Super Kings-0
Score:
Chennai Super Kings 169 for 6 in 20 overs (PA Patel 21, SP Fleming 13, S Vidyut 54, MS Dhoni 32, JA Morkel 28, SK Raina 3, S Badrinath 11 not out, Joginder Sharma 0 not out, Extras—7 (wide 5, nb 2), GD McGrath 4-0-21-1, Mohammad Asif 4-0-34-1, VY Mahesh 4-0-31-1, P Sangwan 4-0-40-0, Shoaib Malik 1-0-11-0, V Sehwag 2-0-21-1, R Bhatia 1-0-11-1) lost to Delhi Daredevils 172 for 2 in 19 overs (G Gambhir 50, V Sehwag 71, AB de Villiers 26 not out, S Dhawan 19 not out, Extras—6 (b 1, lb 1, wide 2, nb 2), M Ntini 4-0-29-0, M Gony 4-0-39-1, JA Morkel 4-0-40-0, Joginder Sharma 3-0-35-1, M Muralitharan 4-0-27-0)