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%

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)

Match 19: Marsh denied Victory to Deccan Chargers! Help Kings XI to Win!

Marsh denied Deccan Chargers another victory and stopped their dream of continuous winning.

Gilchrist failed this time when he was bowled by Pathan for 6. Everyone expected another firing innings from him, but the fans were disappointed.

The new comer Gibbs also did not taste success. He was caught by Goel of Piyush Chawla, who was brought into bowling after the power play. The team was going at 7.71 runs per over at the end of 7 overs.

Rohit Sharma, another successful and young batsman, joined his skipper. In two overs gap, Laxman was caught by Laxman at extra covers off Chawla. He played stylishly, picked from off stump to mid wicket for four, his usual shot. He was out for 48 off 34 balls with 8 fours.

Rohit Sharma's innings was amazing! The youngster provided an opportunit for other players to see his beautiful strokes and timing the ball for hitting huge sixes and picking gaps for fours. If he is guided and coached perfectly, he will be one of the key players for Indian team. His temparement and playing huge knocks is going are perfect examples that he has every opportunity and talent to replace one of the three to the retire--Ganguly, Dravid and Sachin.

He crossed his 50 in 35 ball in 34 balls with 7 fours and a six.

Though Afridi looked like dominating the bowling, he fell soon and was not a big success in IPL. He scored 13 before scooped one in the air and was caught by Yuvaraj for 13 with a six an four in 7 balls. The score was 90 for 4 in 11.5 overs.

No one crossed double digit after that. Venugopal Rao, Bangar, Zoysa, Kalyankrishna, and RP Sing scored 1, 3, 1, 3, and 2 respectively. But, Rohit Sharma, was scoring on the other hand and no one was able to stop him. None of the bowlers went for 10 runs per over and that was a good sign for Kings XI Punjan. Gagandeep Singh was the costly bowler giving away 37 runs in his 4 overs and taking a wicket at 9.25 runs per over. Piyus Chawla was the pick of the bowlers taking 3 wickets and economical also giving away 28 runs in 4 overs.

Rohit was not out on 76 off 42 balls with 10 fours and 2 sixes.

Deccan chargers put a decent score of 164 on the board, but that was not enough the control Kings XI Punjab.

Marsh scored a wonderful 84 which helped his team to add another victory. Though he hit only one six, his drives and hitting over infield were amazing. He reached his 50 in 35 balls with 8 fours and remained not out on 84 off 62 balls with 11 fours and a six.

Sarwan provided him good company, but was run out himself for 15, when found short of his crease when the ball touched Bowler Bangar's finger.

Sangakkara did not last long. He was caught by Sharma for 3; Yuvaraj Singh scored 14 off 9 balls and gave a return catch to Zoysa. When he was out, the score was 86 for 3 in 10.5 overs. In 55 balls, 79 needed.

Jayawardane and Marsh added the remaining score in 18.5 overs. They scored 81 in 48 balls. Kalyankrishna was costly with 34 runs in 3 overs.

Jayawardane was 45 not out in 23 balls with 6 fours and a six. Marsh was not out on 84 off 62 balls with 11 fours and a six and rightly chosen for the man of the match award.

Match 19
Venue: Hyderabad
Date: May 1, 2008
Teams: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers and Kings XI Punjab
Captains: Yuvaraj Singh and VVS Laxman
Toss: Kings XI Punjab and decided to field
Result: Kings XI Punjab won by 7 wickets with 7 balls to spare
Man of the Match: SE Marsh off Kings XI Punjab (Australia)
Points: Kings XI Punjab-2; Hyderabad Deccan Chargers-0
Score:
Hyderabad Deccan Chargers 164 for 8 in 20 overs (AC Gilchrist 6, VVS Laxman 48, HH Gibbs 7, RG Sharma 76 not out, Shahid Afridi 13, Y Venugopal Rao 1, SB Bangar 3, DNT Zoysa 1, D Kalyankrishna 3, RP Singh 2 not out, Extras—4 (b 1,lb 1, wide 2), S Sreesanth 4-0-33-1, IK Pathan 4-0-30-2, VRV Singh 4-0-34-0, PP Chawla 4-0-28-3, Gagandeep Singh 4-0-37-1) lost to Kings XI Punjab 167 for 3 in 18.5 overs (SE Marsh 84 not out, RR Sarwan 15, KC Sangakkara 3, Yuvraj Singh 14, DPMD Jayawardene 45 not out, Extras—6 (lb 2, wide 4), RP Singh 3.5-0-36-0, DNT Zoysa 4-0-32-1, Shahid Afridi 3-0-28-0, SB Bangar 4-0-26-0, D Kalyankrishna 3-0-34-1, Y Venugopal Rao 1-0-9-0)

Match 18: Rajasthan Royals win 4 in a row!

This is the 4th continuous win for Rajasthan Royals, who thought to be one of the poor teams in the IPL after their defeat in their first match. But, they have come back well and beaten good sides includig Kolkata Knight Riders.

Winning the toss and deciding to bat first, Shane Warne's brave decision paid off in the end. Though Smith out for 2 in the 2nd over, Asnodkar and Kaif played well and also maintaining the run rate. They added 95 runs for the 2nd wicket in 9.3 overs.

Rajasthan was going slow till 6 overs when they scored 45 for 1. Kaif was out in the 7th over last ball after hitting for a six in the preivous ball. He read the changein pace early and gave a return catch to Agarkar.

The 9th over gave the momentum to Rajasthan as Asnodkar hit 3 continous fours of Agarkar. He hit the first ball of the 10th over to a four and then a single brought his 50 in 29 balls with 8 fours and a six. Yousuf Pathan scored 2 more fours in teh same over.

11th over bowled by Ganguly added 14 to the score with Pathan hitting a four and Asnodkar hitting 2 fours. At the end of 11 overs, Rajasthan Royals were 103 for 2.

Umar Gul provided break through in the 12th over when he dismissed both the dangerous batsman, Asnodkar caught by Hussey ad mid-off and Shane Watson for a duck, leg before though the reply showed it hit the bat first.

Jadeja hit the first six of this tournament in the free hit. He was out in the 18th over for 33 in 19 balls. The 18th over added 16 runs to the total with a six and a four. The 20th over costs 2 wickets--Yousuf Pathan bowled for 55 off 33 balls with 6 fours and 2 sixes and Warne run out for 7.

Rajasthan Royals ended their innings 196 for 7. Umar Gul picked 3 wickets in his four overs giving away 31 runs.

Chasing almost at the rate of 10 per over, Salman Butt was dropped in the 2nd ball by Niraj Patel. That was a simple catch and he mistimed his jump at mid wicket.

But, he didn't last lond as he was out in the next over. Sohail Tanvir took the wicket of Salman Butt, thick inside edge ended up in stumps.

Agarkar who came as a third batsman, hit a six in the last ball. He hit another 6 in Watson. He scored quick fire 20 of 13 balls with 1 four and 2 sixes. He was out off Watson.

Hodge was run out unlucky. The straight drive by Ganguly touched the bowler Trivedi's hand and hit the stump. Hodge was way short of his crease. He was out for 1. With not much runs scored, the required run rate going up, Ganguly and David Hussey has to fire. Both of them scored a six each in the 8th over bowled by Trivedi.

At the end of 10 overs, Kolkata were 78 for 3, requiring 119 in the next 10.

Ganguly scored a six and four of the 11th over bowled by Patel. In the 12th over last ball, Ganguly pulled Pathan over mid wicket where Smith took a good diving catch. Though he was out, the third empire found it otherwise. Ganguly forced the umpire to go for 3rd umpire, which actually is against the rules.

End of 13 overs, 107 for 3, and needed 90 for 42 balls.

Warne bowled 14th over, where Hussey scored a six and a four. After a single, Ganguly came two steps forward and hit it towards long on where Kaif took a good catch just before the rope. He stood there for few seconds to balance the catch and ensure that he doesn't cross the boundary line. Ganguly's 51 run innings came to an end with 4 fours and 2 sixes off 39 balls.

Shukla, the person who scored firing 40 not out in the preivous match was out for 2. While coming back for the 2nd run, he was short by an inch. The third umpire gave the right decision.

With 69 off the last 5 overs and only 5 wickets in hand, Patel gave away 8 runs in the 16th over. Whereas Sohail Tanvir conceeded 7 in the 17th over. The target was 54from 18 balls, which was almost impossible unless two big overs come in favor of Kolkata.

Trivedi took 2 wicketsin the 18th over, dismissing David Hussey for 42 through a yorker. Then Saha was bowled him through another yorker.

The last two overs required 50 runs. Kolkata lost two more wickets again in the 19th over--DB Das was caught by Watson of Sohail Tanvir and in the next ball, Umar Gul was run out taking a chance for the 2nd run.

Last over required 46 runs with one wicket in hand. Dinda trying to clear the in field the off side and hit it in the air. Two fielders, Kohli and Warne went for the catch and almost collided. But, Kholi stretched his left hand in the air and pulled out a blinder of the catch. This will be the catch of the tournment so far.

Kolkata lost by 45 runs, their 3rd continous loss. Shar Rukh Khan will be worried along with Ganguly. They have to do something quickly to ensure that they come to winning habit again.

Score:

Match 18
Venue: Jaipur
Date: May 1, 2008
Teams: Rajasthan Royals v. Kolkata Knight Riders
Captains: Shane Warne and Sourav Ganguly
Toss: Rajathan Royals and decided to bat
Result: Rajasthan Royals won by 45 runs
Man of the Match: SA Asnodkar of Rajasthan Royals (India)
Points: Rajasthan Royals-2; Kolkata Knight Riders-0
Score:
Rajasthan Royals 196 for 7 in 20 overs (GC Smith 2, SA Asnodkar 60, M Kaif 21, YK Pathan 55, SR Watson 0, RA Jadeja 33, SK Warne 7, Sohail Tanvir 3 not out, M Rawat 1 not out, Extras 14--b 1, lb 6, wide 3, nb 4, AB Dinda 4-0-30-0, I Sharma 4-0-26-1, AB Agarkar 4-0-46-1, Umar Gul 4-0-31-3, DJ Hussey 2-0-26-0, SC Ganguly 1-0-14-0, LR Shukla 1-0-16-1) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 151 all out in 19.1 overs (Salman Butt 7, SC Ganguly 51, AB Agarkr 20, BJ Hodge 1, DJ Hussey 42, LR Shukla 2, DB Das 11, WP Saha 1, Umar Gul 2, I Sharma 1 not out, B Dinda 1, Extras 12--b 3, lb 2, wide 7, SR Watson 3.1-0-22-2, Sohail Tanvir 4-0-30-2, SK Trivedi 4-0-31-2, MM Patel 4-0-29-0, SK Warne 2-0-20-1, YK Pathan 2-0-14-0)

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)

Dhoni Proves His Worth!

Dhoni, the highest paid cricketer in the IPL with 6 crorers, proved in the Chennai Super King's victory why he is costly. He did not say this openly in an interview or press conference, but through his batting and leadership skills.

In the recent match against Bangalore Royal Challengers played in Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore, he saved Super Kings the victory through his quick fire 50 and wonderful captaincy.

When Chennai was struggling with estimated score of 150 to 160 at 10 runs per over in the last 5 overs. In fact, at the end of 10 overs, Chennai were 65 for 2. They scored 37 runs in the next 5 overs to take the score 102 for 3 in 15 overs.

Dhoni entered the pitch in the 13th over and did not score any runs in the first four balls he faced. Dhoni launched his first attack in the 15th over, where he hit Steyn 2 continuous fours. His first six was of the bowling of Kallis. He hit it over long off and went to the second tier.

The fire work started in the 19th over bowled by Steyn. End of 18 overs, Chennai were 140 for 3 with Dhoni ready to face Steyn. His normal luck of bowling a wide and then taking a wicket did not work against Dhoni. He hit the first ball to a four over Steyn's head; the second ball was a full toss, which took the outside edge and flew to third-man boundary--very lucky; third ball was a six over mid wicket; fourth ball was a four beating fielder in deep mid wicket; fifth ball was another four at long off, the misfield helps Dhoni to get another four and last ball was a single;

The 19th over added 24 runs to the score board and took Chennai to 164 for 3. The 20th over was bowled by Zaheer Khan.

First ball was a slower ball and no run was scored;
Second ball was a four hit like a bullet through square leg;
Third ball was a six over mid wicket; slower ball was picked well by Dhoni;
Fourth ball was a four through longon;
He was out in the next ball trying to slog, but it went high in the air and was caught at extra cover. Last ball was another wicket, when Hussey tried to slog, he was caught at mid wicket.

Chennai ended up with 178 for 5 in 20 overs. Scoring 76 runs in the last 5 overs, especially 38 runs in the last 2 overs. What an innings by Dhoni? Didn't he prove that he is worth for that money?

Match 16: Mumbai enters Points Table! Wins at last!

At last, Mumbai Wins!

Mumbai tasted its first victor in the inagural T20 tournament of IPL. They beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 7 wickets.

For Mumbai Indians, Pollock lead it from the front. Once again Sachin did not play the game. With Harbhajan banned from the IPL, it was Pollock who lead the team once again. But, this team, he gave a victory to Mumbai.

Except for the toss, nothing went right for Ganguly. He thought the wicket was good for batting and wanted to put a high score in the board. But that needed a good start and improving the momentum in the middle overs and good sloggin in the final overs.

Pollock bowled the first over and provided two crucial break throughs. He dismissed Ganguly after being hit for a four, caught brilliantly at 2nd slip, the only fielder in the slip region. Then, he dismissed Brendon McCullum, leg before, for 1. It was a dream start, the one Mumbai wanted.

Ponting, playing his last match and is returning to Australia for West Indies tour, was expected to play a big innings. So far, he did not play a big innings and contribute in a big way.

It was Das who played fe good shots and maintained a good run rate. He hit two consecutive fours of Nehra and then huge six of Pollock.

Ricky Ponting was struggling at one end. He was not able to time the ball or go for big shots.

Das was caught at point when he tried to drive the raising delivery of Bravo. When he was out, the score was 40 for 3. Both Ponting and David Hussey found it difficult to move forward. At the end of 10 overs, they were 60 for 3. Mumbai needed some depsarate firing and increase the run rate.

Hussey opened up by hitting a four in cover off Pollock. That over added 11 runs. But, in the 11th over bowled by Jayasuriya, he got David Hussey caught at deep by Nehra.

Two overs later, Jayasuria in addition to striking twice had bowled a maiden over. He got Hussey caught by Nehra. A poor calling by Hafeez, made Ponting run out. He called "yes" initiated the running and suddenly said "no", but ponting couldn't go back on time. He was out on a time when he was just getting momentum. In the same over, Hafeez was caught by Shah. Shukla was the lone fighter, scoring 40 not out off 22 deliveries with 4 fours and 2 sixes. Knight Riders ended their innings at 137.

Chasing an easy target, Mumbai Indians though looked like started well, actually were struggling at 25 for 3. Jayasuriya blasted few fours, but Ishanth Sharma sent his off stump flying through a beautiful inswinger.

Rahane was the first to go caught at deep fine leg by David Hussey for 4 and Pandey was bowled through an inner edge didn't score at all.

But, Bravo and Robin Uthappa played a very sensible innings. They did not take any risk, but ensure that they were scoring runs

Bravo reached his 50 off 42 balls with 7 fours and a six. On the other hand, Uthappa played some good shots.

Both of them ensured that Mumbai Indians to open their account in the points table.

Score:

Match 16
Venue: Kolkata
Date: April 29, 2008
Teams: Kolkata Knight Riders v. Mumbai Indians
Captains: Sourav Ganguly and Shaun Pollock
Toss: Kolkata Knight Riders and decided to bat
Result: Mumbai Indians won by 7 wickets with 8 balls remaining
Man of the Match: Sanath Jayasuria of Mumbai Indians (Sri Lanka)
Points: Mumbai Indians-2; Kolkata Knight Riders-0
Score:
Kolkata Knight Riders 137 for 8 in 20 overs (BB McCullum 1, SC Ganguly 4, RT Ponting 19, DB Das 29, DJ Hussey 17, Mohammad Hafeez 2, LR Shukla 40 not out, AB Agarkar 2, M Kartik 10, I Sharma 0 not out, Extras 13--b 1, lb 5, wide 7, SM Pollock 4-0-27-2, A Nehra 1-0-9-0, CRD Fernando 4-0-41-1, DS Kulkarni 3-0-15-0, DJ Bravo 4-0-25-1, ST Jayasuriya 4-1-14-3) lost to Mumbai Indians 138 fo 3 in 18.4 overs (AM Rahane 4, ST Jayasuriya 18, M Pandey 0, RV Uthappa 37 not out, DJ Bravo 64 not out, Extras 15--lb 5, wide 9, nb 1, AB Agarkar 4-0-23-1, I Sharma 3.4-0-33-1, AB Dinda 4-0-12-1, M Kartik 3-0-24-0, Mohammad Hafeez 1-0-16-0, SC Ganguly 2-0-14-0, LR Shukla 1-0-11-0)