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.

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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)

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Match 37: Delhi Daredevils Win! Mishra takes Hat-Trick!

The second hat-trick of the IPL was taken by Mishra off Delhi Daredevils. The last over needed 15 for Hyderabad Deccan Chargers with 4 wickets in hand. Virendra Sehwag once again showed his belief in the spinners and this time he gave it to Amit Mishra.

Ravi Teja was caught at the long off boundary by Shoaib Malik of the first ball;
Ohja was caught at covers by Sehwas when he tried to slog;

RP Singh was stumped by Karthik, trying to come down the track and the ball was pitched short and kept low, where Dinesh Karthik did the rest;

Fourth ball was again a stumpin gchance to remove Sarvesh Kumar, but Karthik missed it to give four in a row to Mishra;

The remaining two balls went for a single and Mishra gave 12 run victory to Delhi Daredevils, keeping them in the tournament.

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Earlier, put into bat, Delhi lost the captain and dangerous batsman Virendra Sehwag in the first over last ball, caught at third man for a second duck.

But, Gambhir and Dhawan did not stop scoring the runs at 8 runs per over in the power play. At the end of 6 overs, Delhi were 48 for 1. Gambhir struck two continuous sixes and a four four of RP Singh. This really showed that despite losing the wicket of Sehwag, the team was going against the bowlers.

They both played sensibly and were picking ones and twos and fours in the bad balls. At the end of 10 overs, Delhi were 76 for 1 with Gambhir batting on 44 and Dhawan on 28.

Gambhir reached his 50 in 34 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes.

Gambhir hit 2 fours in the 13th over bowled by Sarvesh Kumar and in the 14th over bowled by Afridi costed 18 runs to the Deccan Chargers. Gambhir hit a 2 and a six and then Dhawan hit 2 fours and reached his 50 in 37 balls with 7 fours.

End of 15 overs, Delhi were 138 for 1. With 9 more wickets in hand, there was a high chance that they can go beyond 200.

Gambhir got out in the 2nd ball of the 16th over. He came down the track off Ojha, and left the ball pitched on the leg stump. Though it was called a wide, Gilchrist stumped him out for 79 off 48 balls with 7 fours and 3 sixes.

Maharoof hit two sixes--one in RP Singh's over and then in Ojha's over. He was caught by Sharma off Ojha for 19 in 11 balls with 2 sixes.

Dilshan hit a four of the last ball of the 18th over to take the score to 171 for 3. Vijaykumar bowled a very good 19th over and he gave just 9 runs including a six over square leg.

The last over bowled by RP Singh helped Delhi to add 14 runs including two fours. Dilshan was out in the fifth ball, run out by Gilchrist for 16 off 6 balls with 2 fours and a six.

Delhi ended with 194 for 4 in 20 overs. Vijaykumar was the pick of the bowlers with 1 for 24 of 4 overs.

Afridi opened the innings for the first time in this IPL. At least he has been given a chance to play the full quota. He proved that he is worth opening the innings.

Gilchrist and Afridi hit a four each in the first over bowled by McGrath. Prbably, the only match were he gave 10 runs in the first over. The 2nd over bowled by Mohammad Asif added 2 more fours to Gilly and Deccan had a good start with 21 on the board in 2 overs.

Gilly was caught by Dilshan off McGrath. He smashed it through mid-off where Dilshan dived and took a brilliant catch.

Asif again proved costly by giving 17 runs in the 4th over. Afridi hit a four and later in the over, Gibbs hit a four and a six.

McGrath was hit for two sixes by Gibbs and then a four by Afridi to end that over with 17 runs--most costly by McGrath. End of 5 overs, Deccan were 61 for 1, going comfortably at 12 runs per over. Afridi was hitting the ball hard and clearing boundaries. He hit another six in the 6th over bowled by Maharoof.

The break through came in the 7th over, first ball, bowled by Mishra. The ball was pitched on the off and spun, Afridi trying to hit it over long off, didn't time it well and the ball raised a little higher than expected. The ball went in the air towards cover where de Villiers, the substitute in this match caught it easily. Afridi scored 33 off 14 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes.

Gibbs got out in the 9th over, bowled by Mishra for 22. At the end of 10 overs, Deccan Chargers were 84 for 3, requiring 111 from 60 balls.

Styris couldn't find his touch in this match. But, Rohit Sharma proved his class one more time. He hit two sixes off Bhatia in the 12th over.

Trying to scoop the ball over fine leg, Rohit missed the ball and lost his stump. Crucial break through was provided by Maharoof.

Venugopal, the newly turned dangerous batsman joined Styris. End of 15 overs, Deccan were 128 for 4 requiring 67 for 30 balls.

The 16th over added 9 runs including a four by Styris. The 17th over added two more fours to Styris and the last ball went for a four between third man and point.

43 runs from 18 balls. Maharoof got Styris, caught at long-on by de Villiers for 29 off 28 balls with 2 fours. But, Venugopal continued his fight with a six, four and a six to finish the over with 18 runs.

25 from 12 balls, the match is still open. McGrath took the wicket of Venugopal, caught at long on. I think with this wicket, the hopes of Deccan Chargers would have gone. The most dangerous batsman is gone and McGrath has used his experience through an inswing delivery.

Ravi Teja hit a six over point in the 5th ball to keep the match alive. Last over, 15 to win, 4 wickets in hand.

Amit Mishra took 3 wickets in the first three balls and restricted Deccan Chargers with 2 runs in that over. He was chosen as the man of the match.

Match 37
Venue: Delhi
Date: May 15, 2008
Teams: Delhi Daredevils and Hyderabad Deccan Chargers
Captains: Virendra Sehwag and Adam Gilchrist
Toss: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers and decided to field
Result: Delhi Daredevils won by 12 runs
Man of the Match: Amit Mishra off Delhi Daredevils (India)
Points: Delhi Daredevils-2; Hyderabad Deccan Chargers-0
Score:

Delhi Daredevils 194 for 4 in 20 overs (G Gambhir 79, V Sehwag 0, S Dhawan 68 not out, MF Maharoof 19, TM Dilshan 16, MK Tiwary 4 not out, Extras-8 (lb 3, wide 5), DP Vijaykumar 4-0-24-1, RP Singh 4-0-50-0, PM Sarvesh Kumar 3-0-24-0, SB Styris 4-0-33-0, Y Venugopal Rao 2-0-23-0, Shaid Afridi 1-0-18-0, PP Ojha 2-0-19-2) beat Hyderabad Deccan Chargers 182 for 9 in 20 overs (AC Gilchrist 14, Shahid Afridi 33, HH Gibbs 22, RG Sharma 35, SB Styris 29, Y Venugopal Rao 34, DB Ravi Teja 9, RP Singh 1, PP Ojha 0, DP Vijaykumar 1 not out, PM Sarvesh Kumar 1 not out, Extras-3 (lb 1, wide 2), GD McGrath 4-0-42-2, Mohammad Asif 4-0-51-0, MF Maharoof 4-0-39-2, A Mishra 4-0-17-5, R Bhatia 4-0-32-0)

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Match 32: Captain Ganguly stars in Kolkata's Win

In a crucial match for Kolkata, where a win would still keep them in the race for a birth in semi-final, captain Sourav Ganguly lead from the front and retained their hope for semi finals.

Winning the toss and deciding to bat first, Salman Butt couldn't find his form and got out in the first over after striking a boundary. He was caught by Gilchrist off Vaas. Breakthrough in the first over itself.

Ganguly joined Akash Chopra and built a 68-run partnership for the 2nd wicket in 57 balls. Thought it was slow, the partnership laid the foundation for big overs in the remaining overs.

At the end of 10 overs, Kolkata were 73 for 1 with Ganguly on 43 with 8 fours and Chopra on 24 off 22 balls with 3 fours.

The poor calling between Ganguly and Chopra sent the later to the pavilion. Good direct hit by Gibbs in mid-wicket.

The 102-run partnership in 48 balls between Ganguly and David Hussey boosted the Kolkata's run rate and also gave them a good chance to go beyound 200 run mark.

Ganguly reached his 50 in the 40 balls with 9 fours. He did not take risk as much as Hussey did, but that made more sense.

As soon as he reached his 50, he hit two sixes off Ojha. The 14th over added 19 runs to the total and the momentum picked up.

The next over of Venugopal added 10 to the total and at the end of 15, Kolkata were 118 for 2.

Styris was brought into the attack expecting break-through, but Hussey hit hi for a four in the 2nd ball and then Ganguly hit him for two continuous sixes to take his tally to 84 and the score to 136 for 2 in 16 overs.

The sixes and fours started coming easily. Vaas was hit for a six by Ganguly of a full toss. Another full toss was sent to four by Hussy and followed by a six of one more full. 19 runs to the total and it crossed 150.

RP Sing conceeded 20 runs to Hussey in the 18th over including 2 sixes, 1 four and two 2s. Score was 175 for 2 in 18 overs. Hussey crosed his 50 with the six in 25 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes.

With 9 more to reach his hundred and just 12 balls remaining, he was caught at fine leg off Vijayakumar. The ball pitched outside the leg stump and he hooked it straight to fielder. His 91 came off 57 balls with 11 fours and 5 sixes.

Tabiu hit a four and got out in the 20th over. Shukla hit two fours and the last ball of the innings added 6 runs to the total. Shukla hit the ball to long off and retuned for the 2nd run. The fiedler at long off threw the ball to RP Singh, who in turned threw it to the wicket keeper end for a run out without realizing that no one was backing up. The ball touched the ropes and added 6 to the total. The poor throw helped Kolkata to go past 200, a psychological figure.

Chasing 205 in 20 overs, is always difficult. One or two quick wickets or good overs would put pressure to the players.

The start did not go as expected. Gibbs was caught by Salman Butt at third man for 5.

Gilchrist couldn't time the ball well as he most of the times does. He hit 3 fours in the 5th over bowled by Dinda but got out in the same over last ball, caught by Ganguly. He was out for 24 off 17 balls with 5 fours.

Ravi Teja was out in the first ball of the next over caught behind off Umar Gul.

Rohit Sharma and Styris carrying more and more pressure had to save their side from another loss. Styris was soon out for 5 caught by Shukla off Ganguly.

Venugopal joined Rohit in the 9th over. Rohit hit Ganguly for a huge six over mid wicket. At the end of 10 overs, Deccan Chargers were 74 for 4. Rohit hit another six of Ganguly, but that was not enough.

He got out in the 13th over after hitting a four in the first ball. He played across the line to hit it over mid wicket, but it went straight to Ganguly at the edge of the circle. He contributed 33 off 24 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes.

Murali Karthik's over game some how for Decccan Charger when Venugopal tried his chances. He hit him for 3 sixes and a four. All of there were good shots which took the score to 121 for 5 in 14 overs.

Bangar was out in the 15th over, caught by Chopra off Ganguly for 2. Ganguly is becoming a good T20 bowler.

Venugopal hit a six of Ishanth Sharma, the one handed shot off a wide short ball. It cleared the third man boundary. The over pitched next ball was driven through extra cover for a boundary. 12 runs from this over changed the equation to 68 off 24 balls.

Venugopal hit a four and a six of the next over by Umar Gul and reached his 50. He was dealing in boudaries and sixes in every over. He is becoming more and more dangerous for Kolkata. He reached his 50 in 28 balls with 3 fours and 5 sixes. The 17th over added 17 runs to the total. 51 from 18 balls.

Shukla gave just 7 runsin the 18th over and picked the wicket of Vaas.

44 from 12 balls with 3 wickets in hand. Including a six by Venugopal, the 19th over added just 11 to the total.

Last over, 33 runs required. Deccan managed to get only 9 runs and lost the match by 23 runs, almost ending their dream of making it to the top 4.

Venugopal was not on 71 off 42 balls with 4 fours and 6 sixes. That was a superb fighting knock, which shocked Kolkata.

Ganguly once again is the man of the match for his 91 and 2 wickets of 4 overs giving 25 runs.

Match 32
Venue: Hyderabad
Date: May 11, 2008
Teams: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers and Kolkata Knight Riders
Captains: Adam Gilchrist and Sourav Ganguly
Toss: Kolkata Knight Riders and decided to bat
Result: Kolkata Knight Riders won by 23 runs
Man of the Match: Sourav Ganguly off Kolkata Knight Riders (India)
Points: Kolkata Knight Riders-2; Hyderabad Deccan Chargers-0
Score:

Kolkata Knight Riders 204 for 4 in 20 overs (Salman Butt 4, A Chopra 24, SC Ganguly 91, DJ Hussey 57 not out, T Taibu 9, LR Shukla 14 not out, Extras-5 (lb 1, wide 3, nb 1), WPUJC Vaas 3-0-36-1, DP Vijaykumar 3-0-21-1, SB Styris 3-0-28-0, RP Singh 4-0-59-1, Y Venugopal Rao 4-0-24-0, SB Bangar 1-0-10-0, PP Ojha 2-0-25-0) beat Hyderabad Deccan Chargers 181 for 7 in 20 overs (AC Gilchrist 24, HH Gibbs 5, DB Ravi Teja 10, RG Sharma 33, SB Styris 5, Y Venugopal Rao 71 not out, SB Bangar 2, WPUJC Vaas 9, RP Singh 6 not out, Extras-16 (lb 8, wide 4, nb 4), AB Dinda 4-0-33-3, I Sharma 3-0-27-0, Umar Gul 4-0-43-1, SC Ganguly 4-0-25-2, M Kartik 3-0-29-0, LR Shukla 2-0-16-1)