Do or Die for Kolkata and Delhi!

In the crucial encounter today, to stay in the competition, Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders take on each other. Delhi has the advantage of playing at home ground. In the preivous encounter played, Kolkata playing in their home ground, won by 23 runs. Shoaib Akhtar took 4 wickets in his IPL debut match.

Kolkata made 133 and Delhi were bundled out for 110 in 17.5 overs.

If Kolkaka wins against Delhi and also against Kings XI on May 25, they will end with 7 wins and 14 ponits.

Kolkata winning against Delhi means, they lose one game and Delhi win their last match against Mumbai, they will also end with 7 wins and 14 ponits.

With Mumbai losing to Delhi and winning one of their match against Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur on 26th or Bangalore Royal Challengers on 28th in Bangalore would take them to 7 wins with 14 points. It is very unlikely that Mumbai win only one of their 3 and assuming that they win 2, they go to Semi Finals along with Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab.

The only team to be fighting for this fourth spot will be Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Daredevils, and Kolkata Knight Riders.

In case if Kolkata loses to Delhi, they will be out of IPL, even if they win against Kings XI. In this scenario, they will end with 6 wins and 12 points, but other teams already have more than 6 wins.

In that case, the final spot wold be fought between Delhi and Chennai.

Will have more information after the match between Delhi and Kolkata!

As of now, Rajasthan Royals lead and coached by Shane Warne has qualified for semi finals. The remaining teams are still to be identified. It is a sport, cricket, anything can happen!

It is also confirmed that both Bangalore Royal Challengers and Deccan Chargers are out of competition for semi-final birth!

Read: Man of the Match List

Read: Points Table

Read: IPL Scores Table!

Bangalore Royal Challengers in Trouble!

Bangalore is in deep trouble. Having only won 2 matches out of the 7 played, they are last in the table. Though they gave their best peformance, it was not enough as their opponents did more than them.

Charu Sharma, the current CEO has been asked to resign! The new CEO is Brijesh Patel.

It is expected that the coach Venkatesh Prasad will also be asked to quit.

Adding to the problem is the injury of Wasim Jaffer. He is out for the next 3 weeks as he has a fracture in the hand. He couldn't even hold his bat because of the injury he had in the match against Chennai Super Kings.

Jaffer Injured!

Charu is out, Patel is in!

Bangalore Royal Challenger's Win!

Bangalore Royal Challengers v. Mumbai Indians

Bangalore Royal Challengers v. Hyderabad Deccan Chargers

Bangalore Royal Challenger's Losses!

Bangalore Royal Challengers v. Kolkata Knight Riders

Bangalore Royal Challengers v. Rajasthan Royals

Bangalore Royal Challengers v. Chennai Super Kings

Bangalore Royal Challengers v. Delhi Daredevils

Bangalore Royal Challengers v. Kings XI Punjab

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 17: Delhi Daredevils beat Bangalore Royal Challengers!

In a close finish, Delhi beat Bangalore by 10 runs. This is the 3rd consecutive loss to Bangalore. They are now in badly need of a vicotry after their loss to Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings. They have only one win in the table against Mumbai Indians.

Put into bat, Delhi started the innings well. They are one of the sides with a very good opening pair. Both the players are regular openers and they have opened for India.

Gambhir and Shewag added 53 for the first wicket before Shewag was out for 24. He normally starts well but is not capitalizing on it and converting it to a big score.

Gambhir hit 3 continuous fours of Zaheer Khan in the 2nd over and that provided lot of confidence to Delhi. He hit two more fours of Steyn in the next over. Shewag blasted Zaheer Khan a six and two fours in the firt three deliveries of the 4th over. Last ball of the fifth over was the break through over for Bangalore in the form of run out. Playing to point and started well, Shewag also responded, but direct hit by Ross found him well short of his crease, not even referred to TV umpire.

Gambhir was playing his usual T20 innings with more than run-a-ball-innings. Dhawan who joined Gambhir scored a useful 50. When your top order scores, you need not worry. He hit 3 huge sixes--2 off Kallis and one of Sunil Joshi. The 13th over bowled by Joshi costed 19 runs with Dhawan scoring a six and Gambhir contributing with a six and a four.

End of 14 overs, Delhi was almost scoring 10 runs per over. They were 138 for 1. Kallis provided the break through, though he went for a six and four. Dravid took a stunning catch at mid wicket, but the usual celebrations were not there

At the end of 15 overs, Delhi were 151 for 2, going strong with just above 10 runs per over. Shoaib didn't stay long, as well as Dinesh Karthik. Kallis uprooted and in fact broke the stumps of Karthik. That is when it dipped a little bit at 178 for 4 in 18 overs.

Gambhir was out in the 19th over for 84. He crossed his 50 of 36 balls with 7 fours. He was caught by Praveen Kumar off Zaheer Khan. His 84 came off 54 balls with 11 fours and a six. At the end of 20th over, Delhi reached 191 for 5, giving a touch chance to Bangalore.

Bangalore never looked like winning this game from the start. McGrath dismissed Praveen Kumar caught at mid wicket in the first over the innings.

Taylor and Jaffer batted well and their job is to make the scoreboard moving without losing the wicket. Taylor hit two hours in the 2nd over and a six of McGrath in the 3rd over and then anotehr 6 in the fourth over bowled by Mohammad Asif. Jaffer hit another six in the same over. That gave confidence to Bangalore, but didn's last long.

McGrath gave two break throughs in his 3rd over which was the 5th of the innings. He went for a 4 in the first ball, but he dismissed Taylor in the 2nd. He was caught by Dhawan while trying to swing over mid wicket. In the last ball, Jaffer mistimed the pull shot of a short ball deliery and was caught by Mahesh at mid-on. Two wickets in one over put Bangalore in the back seat.

Kallis and Dravid have to stay in the crease till the next 10 overs. They did not score even one bounday in two overs. At the end of the 10th over, Bangalore were 83 for 3, requiring 109 in the next 10.

The next four overs Bangalore scored more than 10 runs an over--14, 10, 11, 12, adding 47 reducing the target to 62 off 36 balls.

Good bowling change by Shewag when he brought in Vettori, who conceeded 4 runs in the 15th over. That put pressure on the batsman and McGrath did the rest. He picked Kallis in his last over by giving 6 runs. The next over by Mahesh was a good one for Delhi as he gave away only 4 runs.

With 48 off 18 balls, the task was becoming tougher and tougher. Though two international stars are in the middle, they were not able to have one or two good overs. 18th over added 13 to the board with 2 fours by Kallis.

With 35 requiring in 12 balls, Kallis got out in the last ball bowled by Vettori for 54 off 44 balls with 6 fours and a six. He gave away just 5 runs to make the target 30 in 6 balls.

Captain Shewag picked the ball for Delhi and he went for a six of the first ball. It was an easy catch, but it went through the hands of Bhatia at long on. It toched the fingers but it fell on the boundary rope for a six. 24 off 5, but only singles were scored in the next two balls to make the target 22 off 3.

Boucher scored a six and a four in the next two deliveries, but it was a too late. Last ball required 12 and Boucher scored a single giving victory to Delhi Daredevils.

McGrath was declared man of the match for his wonderful spell of 4-0-29-4, especially picking 2 wickets in the first over.

Match 17
Venue: Delhi
Date: April 30, 2008
Teams: Delhi Daredevils v. Bangalore Royal Challengers
Captains: Virendra Shewag and Rahul Dravid
Toss: Bangalore Royal Challengers and decided to field
Result: Delhi Daredevils won by 10 runs
Man of the Match: Glenn McGrath of Delhi Daredevils (Australia)
Points: Delhi Daredevils-2; Bangalore Royal Challengers-0
Score:
Delhi Daredevils 191 for 5 in 20 overs (G Gambhir 86, V Sehwag 24, S Dhawan 50, Shoaib Malik 6, KD Karthik 2, MK Tiwary 11 not out, R Bhatia 8, Extras 4--lb 2, wide 1, nb 1, DW Steyn 4-0-29-1, Z Khan 4-0-42-1, P Kumar 4-0-24-0, R Vinay Kumar 2-0-25-0, JH Kallis 4-0-39-2, V Kohli 1-0-11-0, SB Joshi 1-0-19-0) beat Bangalore Royal Challengers 181 for 5 in 20 overs (P Kumar 6, W Jaffer 10, LRPL Taylor 29, JH Kallis 54, R Dravid 38, MV Boucher 31 not out, V Kohli 1 not out, Extras 12--b 1, lb 10, nb 1, GD McGrath 4-0-29-4, Mohammad Asif 4-0-42-0, VY Mahesh 4-0-28-0, DL Vettori 4-0-19-1, R Bhatia 1-0-14-0, Shoaib Malik 1-0-8-0, V Sehwag 2-0-30-0)

Match 14: Gilchrist's fastest Hundred gives Deccan Chargers First Win!

What an innings by Gilchrist? He played pull over mid wicket many a times in previous occassions, but today, it was almost like he was playing in the nets.

Even if the ball is slightly short of length, he bangged it over fence for a six. He didn't spare anyone including the Mumbai Indians captain Shaun Pollock. He hit him for 3 sixes in an over. No one was able to stop him! He reached his 100 in a record number of balls in IPL. This is the fastest hundred of the IPL tournament. The previous best was from another Australian, Symonds who scored it in 48 balls.

Gilchrist did it in 42 balls with 9 fours and 9 sixes. His 50 came in 28 balls with 7 fours and 3 sixes. When the partnership reached 100, Gilchrist scored 77 out of the 100 runs.

The match had fwe major records:

1. First 100 run partnership for the first wicket;
2. Gilchrist scored his century in 42 balls--the fastest in the IPL
3. First team to win with a 10 wicket victory;
4. First 150 run partnership for the first wicket or for any wicket
5. Most number of sixes in an innings--10

This is the first win for Hyderabad Deccan Chargers.

Earlier, Deccan Chargers restricted Mumbai Indians to a mere 154 in a good batting track. This score was not at all enough in this kind of wicket. Pollock, Nayar and Bravo gave Mumbai Indians the respectable total of 154. Pollock scored 31 off 31 balls, Nayar 34 off 19 balls with 1 four and 3 sixes and Bravo scored 34 off 18 balls with 3 fours and a six. RP Singh was the pick of the bowler with 2 for 15 of his 4 overs.

Finally Deccan Chargers have seen a victory and started their account in the points table.

Score:

Match 14
Venue: Mumbai
Date: April 27, 2008
Teams: Mumbai Indians v. Hyderabad Deccan Chargers
Captains: Shaun Pollock and VVS Laxman
Toss: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers and decided to field
Result: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers won by 10 wickets with 48 balls remaining
Man of the Match: Adam Gilchrist of Hyderabad Deccan Chargers (Australia)
Points: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers-2; Mumbai Indians-0
Score:
Mumbai Indians 154 for 7 in 20 overs (L Ronchi 13, ST Jayasuriya 18, AM Rahane 0, RV Uthappa 6, SM Pollock 31, AM Nayar 34, DJ Bravo 34, MA Khote 7 not out, Extras 11--b 2, lb 4, wide 3, nb 2, RP Singh 4-1-15-2, DNT Zoysa 4-0-30-1, SB Bangar 4-0-34-2, Shahid Afridi 4-0-32-2, PP Ojha 2-0-14-0, D Kalyankrishna 2-0-23-0) lost to Hyderabad Deccan Chargers 155 for no loss in 12 overs (AC Gilchrist 109 not out, VVS Laxman 37 not out, Extras 9--b 4, lb 1, wide 4, SM Pollock 2-0-33-0, DS Kulkarni 1-0-8-0, ST Jayasuriya 2-0-17-0, SD Chitnis 2-0-20-0, DJ Bravo 2-0-31-0, AM Nayar 1-0-22-0)