IPL Season 5 - Eliminator : CSK Vs Mumbai

DLF IPL Season 5

Eliminator

Mumbai Indians Vs Chennai Super Kings

at Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

Winning the toss in a pressure game is a boon.   But the Mumbai Indians messed it up by opting to field first.  They might have gone by the past results and decided that chasing would be better.  But in a pressure game, posting a good score and keeping the opponents under pressure would be the right tactic, irrespective of the nature of the track.

Dhawal Kulkarni bowled brilliantly once again for the Mumbai Indians dismissing the CSK opener Vijay for 1 run and Suresh Raina for a duck.  However the other opener Mike Hussey batted very well along with Badrinath to take the score to 95.  Badrinath got out scoring 47 off 39 balls.  Hussey was the next one to go for 49 off 39 balls.  Ravindra Jadeja scored a solitary run and got out.  Being in a comfortable position at 114/5 in the 16th over and having got the right platform to launch an attack,  Dhoni and Bravo played some breathtaking strokes and hammered the Mumbai bowlers all around the park.  They might have aimed at a score of 155 to 160 initially.  But as both of them started firing, runs started pouring in and CSK ended up posting a mammoth total of 187/5.  Dhoni remained unbeaten on 51 off just 20 balls.  Bravo was equally good remaining not out on 33 off 14 balls.  CSK achieved this good score without using their main weapon Albie Morkel who didn't have to bat this time.

The successful pair of Sachin and Dwayne Smith gave a blistering start.  Smith was very aggressive.  But a misunderstanding resulted in an unfortunate run out.  Sachin played the ball towards the off side, Smith ran and reached the batting end, but Sachin didn't move.  It was a nice gesture from Sachin to come out of the crease before the throw reached the non-striker's end and sacrifice his wicket.  Not only that, he consoled Smith and asked him to carry on.  Unfortunately Smith could not add much to his score and got out for 38 off 22 balls.  Poor batting from the remaining batsmen saw Mumbai Indians crumbling to defeat and justified their chokers' tag once again.  Mumbai Indians managed to score 149/9.  All the bowlers from CSK were among wickets.  Bravo was very impressive capturing 2/10 off 3 overs. 

CSK won the match by a huge margin of 38 runs.  They will play Delhi Daredevils on Friday, the 26th May at M.A.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Chennai in front of their home crowd.  Winner of that match would play KKR in the Finals at the same venue on 27th May.

FRI	25-May	2000	Qual.2	CHENNAI	Vs	DELHI	Chennai
SUN	27-May	2000	FINAL	KOLKATA	Vs	Winner of Q2	Chennai

IPL Season 5 - 1st Qualifier : DELHI Vs KKR

DLF IPL Season 5

Qualifier-1

Delhi Daredevils Vs Kolkata Knight Riders

at Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium, Pune

Pitch was suited for KKR's style of bowling, which is dominated by quality spinners.  Winnings the toss and electing to bat helped KKR take the initiative.  Gambhir and McCullum provided yet another good start for KKR.  Gambhir was run out after making 32 off 16 balls.  McCullum got out scoring 31 off 36 balls.  Kallis made 30 off 33.  KKR benefitted from the good scores from top 3 batsmen.  Shakib Al Hasan got out making just 1 run.  But Yousuf Pathan, who was very ordinary throughout the season, played probably the best innings of this season remaining unbeaten on 40 off 21 balls.  Laxmi Ratan Shukla gave him nice company remaining unbeaten on 24 off 11 balls. This pair helped KKR post a challenging score of 162/4 that too on this bowler friendly Pune wicket.  Irfan Pathan and Pawan Negi bowled economically claiming one wicket apiece.

Delhi lost Warner and Sehwag at the same score of 24.  Ojha and Jayawardene steadied the innings.  Venugopal Rao and Pawan Negi scored some runs.  But Delhi's failure to keep the required run rate under control and the late arrival of match winner Ross Taylor cost Delhi the match.  Delhi ended at 144/8.  KKR won the match by 18 runs and booked their berth in the Final, to be played on 27th May.  All the KKR bowlers were among wickets, which is a clear indication of their team effort.

Mumbai Indians take on Chennai Super Kings in the Eliminator on 23rd May.  The loser will be out of the tournament and the winner will have to play the 2nd Qualifier with Delhi Daredevils on 25th May.  Winner of 2nd Qualifier will play KKR in the Final on 27th May.

IPL Season 5 - Status after Day 47

DLF IPL Season 5

Match 71 

Deccan Chargers Vs Royal Challengers Bangalore

at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad

RCB won the toss and elected to field.  A surprising decision as the teams would normally like to bat first in a pressure game.  RCB should have batted first especially bowling being their weaker part. 

Deccan Chargers started badly losing their openers Shikhar Dhawan and Akshath Reddy very cheaply.  Cameron White got a deadly bouncer and was out for 1.  Sangakkara and Duminy tried to steady the innings.  But Sangakkara was out after scoring 15 runs.  At 51/4 in the 12th over, the Chargers looked to end up around 100.  But Duminy's knock of 74 off 53 balls helped them to post 132/7.

Chasing a target of 133, Gayle started in his usual style  blasting Manpreet Gony in the second over.  But Dale Steyn was as accurate as ever and he dismissed Gayle in the 3rd over.  Dilshan was out soon after.  Saurabh Tiwary got hurt and went out.  AB De Villers who replaced him got out after making 4 runs.  Mayank Agarwal was bowled by a beauty from Amit Mishra.  Tiwary came back and built a partnership with Kohli.  Kohli got out after making 42 runs off 40 balls.  Tiwary tried to battle out but got out making 30 runs off 27 balls.  Irresponsible batting from other batsmen cost RCB the match.  RCB should have batted sensibly after the blazing start given by Gayle, though only 30 runs were added for the 1st wicket.  Steyn was brilliant to capture 3/8 from 4 overs.

RCB lost the match by 9 runs and Chennai Super Kings qualified for the playoff having a better NRR than RCB, though they are tied on points.

Match 72 

Rajasthan Royals Vs Mumbai Indians

at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur

Rajasthan Royals won the toss and elected to bat.  The successful opening pair of Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane failed this time.  Dravid was out for 5 and Rahane made 13.  Shane Watson, Stuart Binny, Owais Shah and Menaria contributed some valuable runs which enabled the Royals post a decent score of 162/6.  Dhawal Kulkarni who played in place of Munaf Patel bowled beautifully capturing 3/18 from 4 overs.

Having no pressure of winning the match, Mumbai tried a new opening partner Dwayne Smith for Sachin Tendulkar.  The idea worked as Sachin played fluently and Smith attacked at will.  Mumbai Indians knocked off the required runs without losing a wicket.  Tendulkar remained unbeaten on 58 off 51 balls and Dwayne Smith remained unbeaten on 87 off 58 balls.  This magnificent performance will provide the Mumbai Indians lot of confidence as they lock horns with the "Destiny's Child" CSK in the eliminator on 23rd May.

There is no match tomorrow....

Table topper Delhi Daredevils clash with KKR, the team placed 2nd in the First Qualifier on 22nd May.

TUE	22-May	2000	Qual.1	DELHI	Vs	KOLKATA	Pune
WED	23-May	2000	Elim.1	MUMBAI	Vs	CHENNAI	Bengaluru
FRI	25-May	2000	Qual.2	Winnner E1	Vs	Loser of Q1	Chennai
SUN	27-May	2000	FINAL	Winner of Q1	Vs	Winner of Q2	Chennai

IPL Season 5 - Status after Day 46

DLF IPL Season 5

Match 69 

Kings XI Punjab Vs Delhi Daredevils

at HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala

Fresh from their victory over CSK, KXIP needed to win this match against Delhi Daredevils to stay in contention.  Delhi Daredevils won the toss and elected to field having watched how the pitch behaved in the previous match.  The start for KXIP for disastrous losing Mandeep Singh, Gilchrist, Valthaty and David Hussey in quick succession.  KXIP were 20/4 in the 6th over.  But a nice partnership between Siddharth Chitnis and Azhar Mahmood helped them recover.  Chitnis scored 38 runs and Azhar Mahmood scored 36 runs.  Gurkeerat Singh's little cameo of 26 from 11 balls helped KXIP to post a score of 141/8 which looked good on this track.  Morne Morkel captured 4/20 and Umesh Yadav captured 3/19.

It was expected that the Daredevils would also struggle on this pitch in their chase.  But Unmukt Chand and David Warner had different ideas.  They batted as if they were batting on some other pitch.  The pair accumulated 82 runs for the 1st wicket before Chand got out for 18 in the 9th over.  Chand's contribution of 18 runs off the total runs 82 is a clear proof of Warner's domination.  Warner got out after blasting 79 runs off 44 balls.  Daredevils lost Pathan and Jayawardene cheaply.  But the match was almost over by that time.  Venugopal remained unbeaten on 21.  Delhi won the match comfortably by 6 wickets.

This result is another sigh of relief for the CSK, as KXIP were knocked out of the tournament.

Match 70 

Pune Warriors Vs Kolkata Knight Riders

at Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium, Pune

KKR won the toss and elected to bat.  They lost their captain Gambhir early.  Kallis also departed soon.  Scoring was difficult on this track.  But opener McCullum took some risk and managed to maintain a strike rate of around 100.   He got out making 41 off 43 balls.  Shakib Al Hasan played a nice innings of 42 off 30 which was instrumental in increasing the scoring rate.  KKR managed to post a score of 136/4 which looked competitive considering the amount of turn Michael Clarke got on this pitch.  With Sunil Narine, Iqbal Abdulla and Yusuf Pathan in their team, KKR looked well set to defend this total.  It is surprising to see Pune Warriors not including Murali Kartik for today's match.

Robin Uthappa disappointed once again getting out for 8 runs.  His batting and keeping throughout this season didn't help Pune Warriors as well as spoilt his chances of coming back to the Indian team.  Ryder and Clarke looked to consolidate the innings.  But Clarke got out trying to step down to a Yusuf Pathan delivery.  The ball drifted away from the leg stump and Clarke was stumped.  Ryder departed soon bowled by Yusuf Pathan.  Ganguly got out for 5 runs.  Thereafter it was a struggle for runs.  Pune missed a trick by losing wickets early.  Had they kept their wickets intact, they could have achieved this target by utilising the later overs.  Pune managed to score just 102/8 enabling KKR win the match by 34 runs.  This win ensured 2nd spot for KKR and saved them from the agony of playing the eliminator.

The effect of today's result on the teams struggling to reach the playoffs is:

• RCB need to win against Deccan to reach 19 points and qualify.
  
  
• Mumbai have no thread in making the playoffs.  They need to win against Rajasthan to reach 20 points and secure the 3rd position.
  
  
• CSK would expect RCB to lose against Deccan Chargers and qualify for the playoffs. 

Last 2 matches remaining before the Play-Offs and this is the current status:

TEAM	Points	Mathes Left	Opponents	Possibilities
DELHI	22	9		Table Toppers and look formidable.
KOLKATA	21	9		Did extremely well to occupy 2nd Spot.  But their performance against CSK and Pune is not convincing and the Qualifier against Delhi would be interesting.
MUMBAI	18	1	20/05 Rajasthan	Must win the match against Rajasthan to stay in the 3rd spot,
CHENNAI	17	0		Need RCB to lose to Deccan which would help CSK qualify for the playoffs.
BANGLAORE	17	1	20/05 Deccan	Must win against Deccan to qualify.

Match No.71

SUN

20-May

1600

DECCAN

Vs

BANGALORE

Hyderabad

Must win game for RCB.  CSK lost their pressure game against Punjab and stay in suspense.   Rajasthan failed to win their crucial match against Deccan and lost their chances of qualifying.  Punjab lost their crucial match against Delhi Daredevils and were knocked off.   RCB did well against Delhi to keep their chances alive.  It will be a test of character for RCB in this final match as they have to keep their cool in this pressure game and win it comfortably.

Match No.72

SUN

20-May

2000

RAJASTHAN

Vs

MUMBAI

Jaipur

Not of any importance, as Mumbai Indians have already qualified.  But a win for them would confirm their 3rd Position in the Points Table.  It will just be a psychological advantage, as teams in the 3rd and 4th Positions have to play the eliminator later on.

IPL Season 5 - Status after Day 44

DLF IPL Season 5

It might be Day 44 of this season.   But I am tempted to call it as Day 66 after seeing the flurry of sixes from the blade of Chris Gayle.

Today we witnessed two crucial matches and saw unexpected results, though any team can win T20 on a particular day.

Match 66 

Kings XI Punjab Vs Chennai Super Kings

at HPCA Stadium, Dharmsala

KXIP won the toss and elected to field.   Adam Gilchrist made a comeback in place of Shaun Marsh.  Justifying Gilchrist's decision the ball was doing much and CSK made things worse by playing some reckless shorts and losing patience.  Vijay got out for 10, Mike Hussey for 7, Raina for 17 and Dhoni for 6.  Ravindra Jadeja and Albie Morkel could not contribute much.  Dwayne Bravo was the only batsman looking to stay at the wicket and scored 48 for 43 balls.  Chennai managed to post just 120/7 that too because of Bravo's heroics.  Parvinder Awana was very economical capturing 2/12 from 4 overs. 

KXIP had a reasonably good start of 51 runs before Mandeep Singh fell for 21 runs.  Nitin Saini departed immediately after that scoring a solitary run.  David Hussey disappointed the spectators getting out for 9 runs.  Siddharth Chitnis got out after making 11 runs.  Gilchrist was playing beautifully at the other end.  Azhar Mahmood joined him and stood till the end.  Thanks to a brilliant innings of 64 off 46 balls from Adam Gilchrist KXIP finished the match in 16.3 overs, winning the match by 6 wickets.   CSK's NRR took a beating because of the early finish. 

Match 67 

Delhi Daredevils Vs Royal Challengers Bangalore

at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

Delhi Daredevils played without their skipper Virender Sehwag and Mornie Morkel.  Mahela Jayawardene led the side and Andre Russell got a chance to play.  Delhi Daredevils won the toss and elected to field.  In a must win situation, that too against the might Daredevils, RCB needed to post a mammoth total.  RCB did exactly that.  Though RCB lost Tilekeratne Dilshan cheaply, Chris Gayle played in his own style smashing the bowlers all over the park.  Gayle's innings resembled a cricket video game consisting of an array of 4s and 6s.  Virat Kohli played an excellent innings giving him the right company to achieve a unbeaten record partnership of 204 runs.  RCB posted a mammoth 215/1 in 20 overs.  Chris Gayle remained unbeaten on 128 off 62 balls (7 fours and 13 sixes).  Kohli remained unbeaten on 73 off 53 balls (9 fours and 1 six).  There was nothing to cheer for the bowlers as they were dealt with similar respect by Gayle.

Facing a Herculean task of scoring 216 runs, Daredevils lost their openers Warner (15 runs) and Unmukt Chand (18 runs).  Though they lost 2 wickets cheaply, the run rate was healthy.  Venugopal Rao played well scoring 36 off 24 balls.  But Jayawardene was a real disappointment scoring 9 off 14 balls.  Then came the real surprise.  Ross Taylor who was sedate throughout this season chose this match to come back to his style.  He played a brisk innings of 55 off 26 balls (7 fours and 2 sixes).  Ojha was struggling for runs at the other end.  After Taylor's fall things looked beyond Delhi's reach.  Even Russell's cameo of 31 off 15 balls could not help Delhi reach the target.  Delhi could make 194/9 and RCB won the match by 21 runs.  RCB's NRR came out to positive figures.

The effect of today's results on the teams struggling to reach the playoffs is:

• RCB need to win against Deccan to reach 19 points and qualify.
  
  
• KXIP need to win against Delhi to reach 18 points.  For them to qualify, RCB must lose to Deccan.
  
  
• Rajasthan Royals need to win both the matches (one against Deccan and the other match against Mumbai) and reach 18 points to qualify.  They would expect RCB to lose against Deccan and KXIP to lose against Delhi.
  
  
• Mumbai need to win against Rajasthan to reach 20 points and qualify.  While doing so, they will also stop Rajasthan from getting 18 points.
  
  
• CSK have played 16 matches and there is nothing they can do at this stage.  They will be silent spectators expecting RCB to lose against Deccan, KXIP to lose against Delhi and Rajasthan Royals to lose at least one match.

5 matches remaining before the Play-Offs and this is the current status:

TEAM	Points	Mathes Left	Opponents	Possibilities
DELHI	20	1	19/05 Punjab	Have qualified for the play-offs irrespective of the result of the last match. Would do a great favour to CSK by knocking off KXIP. It would stop KXIP from crossing CSK's 17 pts. Delhi would also top the table if they win against KXIP.
KOLKATA	19	1	19/05 Pune	With no threat for them in the Top 4 positions, they have to win against Pune to move to the top spot in the Points Table.
MUMBAI	18	1	20/05 Rajasthan	Must win the match against Rajasthan to confirm their position in Top 4 and pack off Rajasthan as well.
CHENNAI	17	0		They have nothing to do in the field of play. Need some results to go in their favour to qualify. RCB must lose to Deccan, KXIP must lose to Delhi and Rajasthan Royals should lose at least one match.
BANGLAORE	17	1	20/05 Deccan	Must win against Deccan to qualify. Other results won't bother them if they complete that task.
PUNJAB	16	1	19/05 Delhi	Must win against Delhi.  Then RCB should lose against Deccan and Rajasthan should win just one match to stay below KXIP.
RAJASTHAN	14	2	18/05 Deccan 20/05 Mumbai	Must win both the games and expect Bangalore to lose against Deccan and Punjab to lose against Delhi.

Match No.68

FRI

18-May

2000

DECCAN

Vs

RAJASTHAN

Hyderabad

Must win game for Rajasthan Royals.  If they lose this match, they are out of contention, as simple as that.