Match 51: Bangalore Win One More!

Akhil's quick fire 27 off 7 balls with 2 fours and 3 sixes helped Bangalore Royal Challengers had the last laugh. The last 5 overs required 60 runs, with 2 runs per ball.

Dravid hit 3 continuous fours of Bangar and got out in the next ball. He scored 31 off 21 balls with 3 fours and a six. Kohli hit a four off the last ball to reduce the targt to 43 from 4 overs.

White hit a boundary off the first ball of Vijaykumar's over and the next ball was a six over long on. Singles were take rest of the overs and target reduced to 29 from 18 balls.

Kohli hit a four of the first ball of Vaas and got out immediately. Akhil hit 2 fours in the same over and reduced the target to 16 off 12 balls.

Akhil hit 3 sixes in the 19th over of Silva to give victory to Bangalore Royal Challenger with 6 balls to spare.

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Earlier, Jaffer coming after injury, couldn't find his form as he lost his wicket for 5 runs. Kallis and Misbah-ul-Haq scored 31 and 34 respectively.

Deccan Chargers had a good start with a 101-run first wicket partnership off 68 balls. Gilchrist scored 46 off 37 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes and Gibbs scored 47 off 34 balls with 6 fours and 2 sixes.

Surprisingly, Dravid had Kumble open the bowling with the new ball for Bangalore. You should say that it worked for him.

Venugopal Rao fired a 26 off 12 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes.

Match 51
Venue: Hyderabad
Date: May 25, 2008
Teams: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers and Bangalore Royal Challengers
Captains: Adam Gilchrist and Rahul Dravid
Toss: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers and decided to bat
Result: Bangalore Royal Challengers won by 5 wickets with 6 balls remaining
Man of the Match: R Vinaykumar off Bangalore Royal Challengers (India)
Points: Bangalore Royal Challengers-2; Hyderabad Deccan Chargers-0
Score:

Hyderabad Deccan Chargers 165 all out in 20 overs (AC Gilchrist 46, HH Gibbs 47, RG Sharma 17, LPC Silva 0, Y Venugopal Rao 26, DB Ravi Teja 7, AS Yadav 8, SB Bangar 0, WPUJC Vaas 0, RP Singh 1, DP Vijaykumar 0 not out, Extras-13 (lb 3, wide 8, nb 2), A Kumble 4-0-33-1, DW Steyn 4-0-19-2, JH Kallis 1.2-0-19-0, V Kohli 3.4-0-25-2, R Vinay Kumar 4-0-27-3, B Akhil 3-0-39-0) lost to Bangalore Royal Challengers 171 for 5 in 19 overs (JH Kallis 31, W Jaffer 5, Misbah-ul-Haq 34, R Dravid 31, CL White 31 not out, V Kohli 9, B Akhil 27 not out, Extras-3 (lb 3), WPUJC Vaas 4-0-36-1, RP Singh 3-0-15-0, SB Bangar 4-0-30-1, DP Vijaykumar 4-0-29-0, Y Venugopal Rao 1-0-18-0, DB Ravi Teja 2-0-19-1, LPC Silva 1-0-21-0)

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Match 45: Kings XI Wins the Last Ball Thriller by 1 Run!

In another crucial match, Mumbai Indians lost the chance of registering their 7th consecutive win! They have opened up the chance for Kolkata and Delhi for the semi-final spot.

Requiring 19 of the last over with 3 wickets in hand. VRV Singh had the ball; Chitnis hit a six over third man of the waist high no ball. 12 off 6 balls;

The next ball was scooped over extra cover of a full toss where Srivatsava did not judge it right and it went for a four. 8 off 5 balls;

Chitnis is gone in the next ball; trying for the 2nd run after hitting the ball to cover, Srivatsava did the right job throwing hit to the keeper's end; 7 off 4 balls

A bye of the 2nd ball to reduce the target to 6 off 3 balls; still 2 wickets in hand;

Fernando plays the ball to deep cover and tried for the 3rd run, but found short of his crease. 4 runs of 2 balls; 1 wicket in hand

VRV Singh's unnecessary throw gives one extra run; last ball 2 runs; last wicket

Good fielding at mid-off by Yuvaraj Singh and coming to the stumps and knocking down all the three stumps to run out Yeligati. The drive was mistimed and went straight to mid-off and he was not running as fast as he wished. Kings XI win by 1 run.

The 19th over added just 4 runs to the total, which created lot of pressure in the last over.



Earlier in the innings, Tendulkar found his form with his wonderful 65 off 46 balls with 12 fours. He reached his 50 in 38 balls with 10 fours. When Uthappa called for a single and later sent Tendulkar, it was too late and Pathan sent a direct hit to send the master batsman. That was the turning point of the match!

Jayasuria got out early on 20, with a four and 2 sixes. He is leading the number of sixes by any batsman in IPL.

Smith and Nayar scored 20 and 27 respectivly. Mumbai team saw 5 run outs in their innings. The running between the wickets and judgment should definitely improve.

Sreesanth, though picked Jayasuriya intelligently through a slower leg spin, he was hammered for a four and 2 sixes in the 5th over, which created the momentum for Mumbai. In the last over of the power play bowled by VRV Singh, Tendulkar took his turn and smashed 3 fours. VRV Singh was not bowling well, though he was picked to bowl the last over and he gave victory to Kings XI. He went for 12 in his first over and then 9 runs in his second, 19 in the third. He was hit for 2 consecutive sixes by Nayar and then four of the last ball by Tendulkar.

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Earlier, put into bat, Kings XI Punjab posted 189 in the board. Marsh scored a brilling 81. His excellenr form continues. Though Hopes was out in the first over itself, Marsh and Pomersbach steadied the innings with a 133-run partnership in 86 balls for the 2nd wicket. Marsh crossed his 50 in 35 balls with 6 fours and a six and Pomersbach did his 50 in 48 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes.

The 100 run partnership came in 70 balls between the two. The last four overs added 50 runs to the total of Kings XI. Though Yuvaraj and Jayawardane got out during these overs, Irfan Pathan and Pomersbach hammered the bowlers for fours and sixes.

The last over bowled by Nehra turned the game and boosted the confidence of Kings XI. He started with a wide costing 2 runs and then 2 singles followed by a four, six and four in the last ball.

One mistake that could have been prevented by Tendulkar was the bowling option of the last over. He chose Nehra instead of Pollock. Pollock is more experienced than Nehra and he bowled well in the last match and also in the current match in his first 3 overs giving away just 14 and taking a wicket.

Sreesanth was given the purple cap for leading the wickets tally. Marsh was awarded man of the match for his wonderful batting skills and giving a fighting total on the board.

During the presentation party, Yuvaraj hit at the Mumbai crowd. His words showed that he was not a happy man inspite of the victory. Of course, victory along cannot give happiness, it is about how you celebrate it! He said, "I want to tell the crowd that the crowd support was too one sided towards Mumbai. Let me remind them that some of the Punjab players also play for India."

Match 45
Venue: Mumbai
Date: May 21, 2008
Teams: Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab
Captains: Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvaraj Singh
Toss: Mumbai Indians and decided to field
Result: Kings XI Punjab won by 1 run
Man of the Match: SE Marsh off Kings XI Punjab (Australia)
Points: Kings XI Punjab-2; Mumbai Indians-0
Score:

Kings XI Punjab 189 for 4 in 20 overs (SE Marsh 81, JR Hopes 0, LA Pomersbach 79 not out, Yuvraj Singh 7, DPMD Jayawardene 1, IK Pathan 9 not out, Extras-12 (lb 3, wide 9), SM Pollock 3-0-14-1, A Nehra 3-0-34-0, VS Yeligati 4-0-43-0, SD Chitnis 4-0-40-2, CRD Fernando 4-0-36-1, DR Smith 2-0-19-0) beat Mumbai Indians 189 all out in 20 overs (ST Jayasuriya 20, SR Tendulkar 65, DR Smith 20, AM Nayar 27, RV Uthappa 9, SM Pollock 0, P Shah 5, SD Chitnis 15, CRD Fernando 2 not out, A Nehra 0, VS Yeligati 2, Extras-23 (b 1, lb 12, wide 9, nb 1), S Sreesanth 4-0-35-2, IK Pathan 4-0-37-0, VRV Singh 4-0-56-0, PP Chawla 4-0-22-1, JR Hopes 2-0-13-0, Yuvaraj Singh 2-0-12-2)

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Controversies in IPL - Harbhajan Slapping Sreesanth

So far, IPL is going smooth and the success it has achieved is enormous. The popularity is so huge that almost for all the matches, you could see good crowd. There were couple of controversies as in any other game and event that happens.

First Issue: Harbhajan v. Sreesnanth

Harbhajan slapped Sreesanth after Mumbai Indians lost four in a row. It was said that "Sreesanth called Harbhajan a Jinx--an unlucky person" It was also rumoured that Harbhajan had warned Sreesanth the previous day. If something wrong is done by Sreesanth, he will be beaten.

After calling him Jinx, Harbhajan had slapped Sreesanth. The TV cameras captured live pictures of Sreesanth crying uncontrollably. No one new until the news flashed that he was slapped by Harbhajan.

Both of them down played the event.

They called each other as brother and denied any slapping. The Kings XI Punjab complained officially about this incident. The IPL, which follows BCCI rules asked match referee to look into the issue.

Harbhajan slapping Sreesanth was caught in one of the cameras controlled by the official broadcaster of the game. The match referee had the evidence to punish Harbhajan.

Harbhajan plead guilty during the hearing!

After the hearing and pleading guilty, Match Referee Farooq Engineer slapped a 11-match ban to Harbhajan. Sreesanth was let off with a warning.

Harbjan Banned and Fined

Match Referee said he was banned for the remaining matches and also levied a penalty of all the match fees, which meant he will be losing 3 crores.

Warne and Ganguly takes on each other, fined 10%