RCB are back again.... now into IPL finals

It was an joyful day for me as RCB took their revenge on MI by winning the match. In the first playoff match, CSK and RCB faced each other. CSK won the match and marked their place in the IPL4 finals.

I was not disappointed at all, because i had confidence that RCB will definitely outplay MI and so i was cool. I considered it as an opportunity for the RCB to take their revenge on MI as they had been defeated by them in the league match. Things went well today for RCB as the big man Chris Gayle alone belted all the bowlers of MI. He just played magnificently and took the pressure off for the rest of the batsmen. He scored 89 runs in just 47 deliveries that included 9 fours and 5 sixes. RCB in their first innings scored a total of 185 and lost 4 wickets. I was not sure at that time the RCB will reach finals that easily.

But things went on Royal Challengers Bangalore way, All most all the bowlers bowled well. RCB skipper Daniel Vettori was very economical and took 3 major wickets. Mumbai Indians were struggling to score runs till the end of the innings. They could only manage to score a total of 142 runs with the loss of 8 wickets. Thereby Royal Challengers Bangalore won the match by 43 runs. Mumbai Indians dream of lifting up the IPL trophy again comes to an end.

Now RCB has better chance to lift the cup as they have one more revenge pending in their account. In this IPL, CSK won against RCB in the playoff. Thank god for the playoff system, due to this my team RCB is back on track again. The best part is that it is the time for RCB to have their revenge and lift the IPL trophy for the first time.

It's Dhoni's day again

Today, First IPL finals qualifier match was played between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings at Wankhade stadium, Mumbai. The toss was won by MS Dhoni and he chose to field first.

Royal Challengers Bangalore was looking more destructive when Chris Gayle was on the crease, but today was not the day for the big man. He departed after hitting a six leaving RCB in jeopardy. Later on Virat Kohli added some magnificent runs and made RCB to put up a total of 175 runs on board.


This total was not a great one as the pitch was well known for hitting biggies. CSK in 19.4 overs, chased their target successfully. The man behind the win was Suresh Raina and Albie Morkel. In the 19th over, 3 sixes was the sole reason for RCB's loss. CSK won the match by 6 wickets and 2 balls to spare.

Now CSK are into the IPL 2011 finals. This is their 3rd entry to the IPL finals. RCB have lost the qualifier match, so now they have to face the winners of MI vs KKR match. If RCB wins, then RCB will face CSK in finals else, the winners from MI vs. KKR match will be facing CSK in finals.

RCB are on top...... :-)

Yesterday's IPL match was very crucial for the top 4 four teams. The top four teams before the match were,
1. Chennai Super Kings
2. Royal Challengers Bangalore
3. Mumbai Indians
4. Kolkata Knight Riders

Before their 14th IPL match, it was already known that these 4 teams are into playoffs. Now the fight was to get into first 2 positions to gain advantage. If they could not, atleast they should get into first 3 positions to get an entry to Champions League. It was already known that RCB and CSK are into Champions League even if they loose the match. There were so many combinations possible like, if CSK wins, RCB will end up 3rd. if CSK looses, RCB comes first and CSK ends up 2nd only if their net run rate is better than MI. On the other hand, If KKR wins against MI, they have chances to get into 2nd or 3rd position depending upon how CSK looses against RCB. If MI wins, KKR ends up 4th position there by missing Champions League this time.

Yesterday first match was played between RCB and CSK. CSK put up a total of 128 runs only as they could not face RCB's bowling attack. It was skipper MS Dhoni who helped to put up this total. He quick fired to score 70 runs in just 40 deliveries that included 3 fours and 6 sixes. For RCB this total was not that challenging. Chris Gayle who is at top form scored a magnificent 75 runs in just 50 deliveries that included 4 fours and 6 sixes. He was unbeaten till the end of the innings. RCB scored 129 runs in 18 overs and won the match by 8 wickets. After this win there was a swap in the ranking RCB were back on top and CSK on 2nd.

In the second match, KKR played well a put up a total of 175 runs on board. All the batsmen contributed runs which helped in building in this total. In reply to this, MI also played equally good and chased the target successfully in the last delivery of the innings. There was one over from Lakshmipathy Balaji where he conceded 21 runs in just 6 deliveries which turned the match in favor of MI. MI won the match by 5 wickets. After the second match, the rankings table remained same with RCB topping the table.

IPL 2011: CSK vs KTK

Yesterday, a match was played between Chennai Super Kings and Kochi Tuskers Kerala at Nehru Stadium, Kochi. The match was delayed due to rain and later it was restricted to 17 overs. KTK won the toss and they chose to field first.

Michael Hussey and Murali Vijay opened the batting innings for CSK. Hussey did not play for long time as he departed after scoring only 8 runs. Suresh Raina came in and batted well to score a half-century. There were some good contribution from the middle order batsmen as well. In 17 overs, CSK put up a total score of 131 runs and lost 4 wickets (CSK - 131/4, 17 over). Vinay Kumar was economical bowler but did not pick up a any wickets.

KTK needed 134 runs to win by D/L method. Brendon McCullum and Mahela Jayawardena started the batting for KTK. The run rate at the start was pretty good. After the departure of the openers, Parthiv Patel, Brad Hodge, Ravindra Jadeja played magnificently and the eased the pressure off. In just 15 overs, they managed to score a total of 135 runs with the loss of 3 wickets (KTK - 135/3, 15 over). Ravichandran Ashwin picked up 2 wickets.

Kochi Tuskers Kerala won the match by 7 wickets. Man of the match was Brendon McCullum for giving a magnificent start which eased off the pressure to other batsmen.

This is KTK's second vistory in the IPL. Earlier they stunned Mumbai Indians by winning against them and now CSK. Chennai Super Kings got their second blow and in the earlier one, Paul Valthaty destroyed CSK's bowling attack by chasing one of the biggest total of the tournament.

IPL 2011: KXIP vs CSK

Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab played their second IPL match of the season at Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, India. Adam Gilchrist won the toss and he chose to field first.

Aniruda Srikkanth and Murali Vijay opened the batting innings for CSK. In the very first delivery from Praveen Kumar, Aniruda Srikkanth got lbw out and returned to pavilion. Suresh Raina came in, but even this went into vain. In the very second ball of the innings even Raina got out giving a catch to Paul Valthaty. At this point of time, CSK were 0/2 in 0.2 over. This was the worst opening given by CSK team in any IPL. Soon Murali Vijay and Subramaniam Badrinath joined together and started to attack the bowlers in every angle. Murali Vijay scored 74 runs from 43 deliveries and Subramaniam Badrinath scored 66 runs from 56 deliveries. After the departure of Murali Vijay, skipper MS Dhoni came in and just quick fired to score a magnificent 43 runs in just 20 balls. CSK put up a total score of 188 runs with the loss of 4 wickets in 20 overs (CSK - 188/4, 20 over).

Paul Valthaty and Adam Gilchrist opened the batting innings for KXIP. I was eagerly waiting for Gilly to play some magnificent shots but his partner Valthaty did not let him as he himself was firing each and every delivery. Gilly did not play big even today and he departed scoring only 19 runs and i was in full disappointed. It was Paul Valthaty's day as he kept on his momentum going, his partners gave him enough support but the partnerships were not building that much though. At one point of time, it look almost impossible for the KXIP to win the match, but Valthaty made the difference. He just played awesome right from the beginning of the innings till the end. He scored his IPL maiden century and remained unbeaten scoring 120 runs in just 63 deliveries that included 19 fours and 2 sixes. In 19.1 over KXIP successfully chased the target scoring 193 runs with the loss of 4 wickets (KXIP - 193/4, 19.1 over).

Kings XI Punjab won the match by 6 wickets. Man of the match was Paul Valthaty who was solely responsible for winning the match.

This was highest total score scored by any team in this IPL season and the highest chase as well.

Ahhhh!!!!!! now Gambhir will face MS Dhoni.....

In the finals of the ICC World Cup 2011, India became the new champions by defeating their sub-continent team Srilanka on Saturday, thereby breaking the winning jinx of the Aussies. Australia won 3 titles continuously 1999, 2003 and 2007. In the quarter finals Aussies played against India and finally got defeated by the Indians. The defending champions had to quit the tournament and return to home empty.

In the finals, Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni played magnificently and  helped the team to chase the total successfully. Gautam Gambhir could not get his century as he got out after scoring 97 runs. Similarly, Indian skipper MS Dhoni scored a unbeaten 91 runs but could not get a century. Both Gauti and Dhoni were awesome with bat in finals which helped team India to lift the trophy after 28 years. Finally Sachin Tendulkar's 20 year dream came true.

Now the IPL season has began, The matches will be starting from Tomorrow i.e, 8th April. The match will be played between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkota Knight Riders. The best part in this is, Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni will be competing against each other. The team mates who put up a great partnership will be now pulling each others leg in this IPL 2011. 

What ever it is, the IPL fever is started now. My support will always be to Royal Challengers Bangalore.

CSK became the winners of Airtel Champions League 2010

Chennai Super Kings became first IPL team to enter the finals and win the Champions League 2010.
MS Dhoni and his team outplayed the Warriors in the finals of Airtel Champions League 2010. Yesterday, Chennai Super Kings faced the Warriors in the finals at New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg. Toss went in to the favor of the Warriors and they chose to bat first.

Davy Jacobs and Ashwell Prince opened the batting innings for the Warriors. They gave an very aggressive start with an run rate of 10 runs per over. In the first 4 overs, Warriors scored a total of 39 runs. Ashwell Prince got out in the very first delivery of the 5th over by getting bowled. In the next over, Davy Jacobs was called for an Leg Before and returned to the pavillion. Once the first 2 wickets fell, Warriors started to score at slower pace. Wickets started to fall in regular intervals. Finally by 20 overs, WAR scored a total of 128 runs. Muttiah Muralidaran took 3 important wickets. This score total is supposed to be an cake-walk for any team.

CSK opened its batting innings with the openers Michael Hussey and Murali Vijay. They both started off well and put up a very good partnership of 103 runs before the loss of Murali Vijay's wicket. Murali Vijay departed by giving a catch to Justin Kreusch. He scored 58 runs in 53 deliveries which included 6 fours and 2 sixes. Suresh Raina could not make it big today and he departed scoring 2 runs. MS Dhoni partnered with Michael Hussey and stated till the end of the innings. He ended the match in a grand style by hitting a classic four and became the first IPL team to win the Champions League. By 19 overs, CSK scored a total of 132 runs with the loss of 2 wickets only. CSK won the match by 8 wickets. 


Man of the match award went to Michael Hussey and the Man of the series award went to Ravichandran Ashwin.

Airtel Champions League

On Wednesday, IPL champions of the year 2010 Chennai Super Kings won the match against the warriors by 10 runs and entered the semi-finals. It was an very close match where the target given for the Warriors was just 136 runs. Chennai Super Kings failed to put up a very good total in that particular match as the batsmen fail to play well. But the bowlers especially the spinners bowled well in this particular match which helped them to restrict the Warriors to score only 126 runs in total. Due to this victory, Victorian Bushrangers lost their chance of getting into the semi-finals. Both Warriors and Chennai Super Kings have entered into the semi-finals from Group A.

In Group B, Southern Redbacks top the table by winning all the 4 matches and Royal Challengers Banglaore somehow made into the semi-finals after their second victory in this Champions League. Mumbai Indians, Highveld Lions and Royal Challengers all share same 4 points on the table. Due to the net run rate, Royal Challengers Bangalore found their place in the semi-finals. Now Chennai Super Kings from Group A will be facing the Royal Challengers Bangalore from Group B in the semis and Southern Redbacks will be fighting against the Warriors. This is the first time that an IPL team has entered the Champions League semi-finals and more over 2 teams has been entered in one shot. RCB facing CSK will be a very big match as they both are IPL teams. The first semis match between CSK and RCB will be played today at Kingsmead, Durban. The second semis between SRB and WAR will be played tomorrow at Centurion, Tshwane.

Being the die hard fan of the Royal Challengers Bangalore, i want my team RCB to win the match played against the CSK and make it to the finals.

Chennai Super Kings won the match by 5 wickets

Royal Challengers Bangalore played their match as visitors against Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk Stadium, Chennai.Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss & elected to bat first. Royal Challengers started their innings moderately, in the 3rd over they lost Manish Pandey. But, this did not effect the teams runs rate. But in 12th & 13th over there were some struggling for RCB to score runs, this led the RCB's runrate to drop down a lot. By 20 overs, Royal Challengers Bangalore could score only 161 runs loosing 4 wickets with 8.05 run rate.

Chennai Super Kings started their chase of 162 runs, they batted very aggressively right from the beginning. By the end of 7th over they scored 61 runs just loosing one wicket. It was Mathew Hayden who was out in the last 5th ball of 7th over. It was going well for Chennai Super Kings till they lost their 4th wicket, Albie Morkel. But Royal Challengers Bangalore could not use the chance they had got. Things changed when Vinay Kumar bowled a no-ball which was hit for a 6 by Suresh Raina in the 19th over. By the end of 19th over, Chennai Super Kings scored 165 runs loosing 5 wickets & hence reaching their target successfully.

Chennai Super Kings won the match by 5 wickets & an over to spare. This was the first win in the last 5 matches they played in this IPL edition 3.

Rajasthan Royals continue their winning spree.....

Rajasthan Royals played another home match at Ahmedabad today against the visitors Chennai Super Kings. Rajasthan Royals won the toss & elected to bat first. Rajasthan Royals started their innings aggressively as they cruised to 100 in 11 overs just loosing 2 wickets. It was Naman Ojha who hit the ball very hard & scored 80 runs from just 49 deliveries which included 6 fours & 5 sixes. Rajasthan Royals completed their 20 overs by scoring 177 runs loosing 8 wickets.

Chennai Super Kings started to chase their target of 188, when chennai reached 24 runs, CSK's biggie Mathew Hayden got out by giving a catch to Yusuf Pathan which was caught & bowled. Opener Murali Vijay 42 from 28 balls & got out in 9th over. Thereon pressure started to bulid for CSK as the asking rate kept on increasing. At the end of 20 overs Chennai Super Kings scored 160 runs loosing 6 wickets thereby Rajasthan Royals won by 17 runs. This was the 4th successive win for Rajasthan Royals in this IPL edition 3.

CSK gains some boost as Michael Hussey will join the team

Australian players Michael Hussey and Doug Bollinger will be joining Chennai Super Kings on 1st April. As soon as the second test match gets over which is being played against New Zealand, these two will be joining CSK.

Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni will definitely be happy as these duo will be joining the team. so far, Chennai Super Kings have lost four matches out of 5 matches played in this IPL season 3. Even some biggies like Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor etc., will also be playing in this IPL as soon as the second test match which is being played between New Zealand & Australia is complete. Definitely expectations will more on these players arrival to their respective IPL teams.

Mumbai Indians won by 5 wickets against CSK

Mumbai Indians played their home match against the Chennai Super Kings at Brabourne stadium. Skipper Sachin Tendulkar won the toss & elected to field first.

Chennai Super Kings lost two early wickets loosing Parthiv Patel & Mathew Hayden. But, Suresh Raina & Badrinath both played very well giving a partnership of 142 runs which gave a huge total for the CSK. Suresh Raina was unbeaten for 83 & Bardinath was also unbeaten for 55, thereby making a total of 180 in 20 overs loosing only 2 wickets.

Mumbai Indians started their innings very aggressively where Dhawan cruised to his 50 in 32 deliveries. Later on Mumbai Indians started to loose wickets but the run rate was very good. Sachin Tendulkar scored his 2nd half century in this IPL season 3, with his guidance finally Mumbai Indians reached their target by the end of 19 overs. Mumbai Indians won the match by 5 wickets.

Royal Challengers Bangalore Won against Chennai Super Kings

Royal Challengers Bangalore played a their home match against Chennai Super Kings of the IPL season 3 in Chinnaswamy Stadium . Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni did not play due to injury, the new captain Suresh Raina won the toss & elected to field first.

Royal Challengers Bangalore started their innings with Jaques Kallis & Manish Pandey as openers, but RCB did not do well till the 18th over until Robin Uthappa started to hit. When RCB were At 17.4 overs RCB were 123 loosing 5 wikets, in remaining 16 balls they hit 48 runs, which give a boost to their total & finally landed up with a total of 171 for 5 wickets.

Top scorer was Robin Uthappa unbeaten scoring 68 runs from 38 balls.

Chennai Super Kings started their innings with Mathew Hayden & Parthiv Patel, they lost Parthiv Patel in the first over itself. They started to loosed wickets regularly, finally they finished their innings scoring runs.

Royal Challengers Bangalore won the match by 36 runs. Now, RCB are back to top the ranking table leaving behind Mumbai Indians..

Kings XI Punjab mark their first win in IPL-3

Finally Mohali team register their first win in IPL edition 3. Kings XI Punjab played their 4th IPL-3 match against Chennai Super Kings today at Chidambaram Stadium, chennai. Kings XI Punjab started to bat first, where they had put up a total score of 136 runs loosing 8 wickets. Only Yuvaraj Singh & Irfan Pathan played nicely scoring 43 & 39 respectively.

Chennai Super Kings started their chase of 137, gave a magnificient start to open the innings. Opening wicket partnership was 65 runs where almost half of the runs had been scored. Everything seems to be working well on CSK side, but it all went when Hayden (33) & Parthiv patel (57). Finally there was a situation for CSK needed just 1 run to win from 2 balls, but Pathan bowled brilliantly & took ashwin's wicket therefore levelling the score.

Finally there was a super over in this IPL, where i was so happy to watch it. I guess almost all would have were eager to watch the super over. CSK played their super over & scored 9 runs in 5 deliveries, the stat was 1 W 2 6 W. They din't play last ball as they had lost their 2 wickets. So Kings XI Punjab needed 10 off 6 deliveries, KXIP started their super over by a 6 hit hit by Jayawardhane, then loosing Jayawardhane's wicket in next delivery. Finally Yuvaraj Singh finished the match with a 4, stat was 6 W 0 4.Hence Kings XI Punjab marked their first victory in IPL-3.

Hayden strikes brilliantly to win the match for CSK

Chennai Super Kings played their second match against Delhi Daredevils today. Delhi Daredevils won the toss & elected to bat first. They made a total of 185 for 6, where Virender Sehwag made a brilliant score of 74 from 38 balls.

CSK gave magnificent start where Mathew Hayden scored 93 from 43 balls. He got out in 14th over in Amit Mishra's ball. Later CSK skipper Suresh Raina played brilliantly to lead his team to victory by hitting a six in the first ball of 20th over.

Today, Suresh Raina had taken 3 brilliant catches & also scored 49 runs from 34 balls marking his debut as a Captain which will be a memorable win for his team.

Gambhir not playing against CSK which will be played on this friday

Delhi Daredevils skipper Gautam Gambhir will not be playing Friday's IPL match against Chennai Super Kings due to hamstring injury. He will be having couple of scans to see how bad his injury is, then only it will come to know for how long he will be out of IPL. Due to his absence Dinesh Karthik will be leading the team on Friday which will be played against CSK.

Jacob Oram may not play in IPL Season 3

Due to knee injury New Zealand's all-rounder Jacob Oram’s participation in IPL Season 3 seems doubtful. He has earned a lucrative contract of $675,000 from CSK (Chennai Super Kings) for IPL Season 3. On Wednesday Napier series first ODI was played between New Zealand & Australia where he suffered a partial tear of the patella tendon. So this damage makes his appearance to be doubtful in IPL Season 3 as only 8 days left for the IPL to commence.

“Jacob Oram suffered a partial patella tendon tear. It is expected that Jacob will recover in three or four weeks.” said the New Zealand's team manager Dave Currie.