Chennai Super Kings

Elaiya Thalapadi Vijay's presence at the MA Chidambaram Stadium is not shown by the media to the full

Chennai, April 24:

The Chennai Super Kings have decided to use their Star Ambassador Ilaya Thalapathy Vijay for all ground promotions and match appearances.

During the inaugural match at Chepauk Ilayadalapathy Vijay got a huge welcome so the Management decided to make him ambassador of Chennai Super Kings for all future matches.

But the media has completely blacked out him. Just for one shot of the camera towards him, he was never shown either during the match, before the match and after the match.

The cameramen are not fully educated or they do not have that professionalism in them to show what is most necessary for the people. Even during the matches they are unable to follow the ball.

Actress Nayanthara is unable to meet the commitments of regular match appearances, so the team has now decided to go with a single star ambassador.

.Chennai, April 26:

Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni played initially a litte slow innings rather he struggled to get the ball right but later made good of his loss with some big hittings. He could have done better to finish the game well under 15 overs. It would been better if he had sent S Badrinath so that the spectators could have been rewarded with some big hittings from him and it would also help the other players to expose themselves and have some match practice

Batting first on winning the toss (which was shocking since late night due to dews, gripping ball could be difficult when they take to fielding) Knight Riders made 147 for nine in their 20 overs and then Super Kings made the required runs in the 17th over as Matthew Hayden (70 not out, 49b, 3 x 6, 6 x 4) and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (43 not out, 27b, 2 x 6, 3 x 4) added 86 runs for the second wicket to complete a commanding win for the hosts with three overs to spare in making 152 for one.

This is their third win which took Chennai Super Kings to the top of the IPL leaderboard with six points while Knight Riders suffered their first loss in three outings.

Man of the Match Jacob Oram, who was expensive in the previous two games that the Super Kings had won, did bowl well here and did the trick by introducing variation in his bowling and took two wickets in two deliveries to set up the victory. The Kiwi all-rounder went on to take another wicket to finish with three for 32 off his 4 overs.

It is orionical since Jacob Oram was about to be replaced by Fleming considering his poor form in the earlier two matches. It was just blessing in disguise that he came out success.

As always Off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and seamer Palani Amarnath bowled very well and kept the Knight Riders in check in the mid-innings. Muralitharan conceded a mere 12 runs in 4 overs while Amarnath bowled well to take 2 for 29.

Parthiv Patel and Hayden posted the tournament's best opening partnership of 66 runs before Parthiv departed attempting a big hit.

Thus, the match which once thought to be a thrilling one, turned out to be one-sided with Chennai Super Kings outplaying the Knight Riders in virtually every department of the game. It was just the opposite of the match the Knight riders played with the Team Bangalore.

SCORE-BOARD

Kolkata Knight Riders:

Sourav Ganguly c Badrinath b Joginder 12 (19b, 1 x 4)

Brendon McCullum c Raina b Oram 24 (12b, 2 x 6, 2 x 4)

Ricky Ponting c Raina b Oram 0 (1b)

Wriddhiman Saha b Gony 27 (16b, 1 x 6, 1 x 4)

David Hussey c Badrinath b Amarnath 0 (2b)

Md Hafeez c Joginder b Amarnath 16 (24b, 1 x 4)

Lakshmi Ratan Shukla (runout - Dhoni-Joginder) 42 (33b, 1 x 6, 2 x 4)

Ajit Agarkar c Muralitharan b Gony 11 (9b, 1 x 4)

Murali Karthik c and b Oram 3 (3b)

Ishant Sharma (not out) 4 (3b)

Ashoke Dinda (not out) 0 (0b)

Extras (lb-2, nb-2, w-4): 8

Total (for 9 wkts, 20 overs): 147.

Fall of wickets: 1-32 (McCullum, 2.3), 2-32 (Ponting, 2.4), 3-61 (Saha, 5.5), 4-64 (Hussey, 7.2), 5-70 (Ganguly, 9.3), 6-98 (Hafeez, 14.4), 7-121 (Agarkar, 17.2), 8-127 (Karthik, 18.2), 9-145 (Shukla, 19.5).

Bowling: Jacob Oram 4-0-32-3; Manpreet Gony 4-0-40-2 (1nb); Palani Amarnath 4-0-29-2; Muttaiah Muralitharan 4-0-12-0 (3w); Joginder Sharma 4-0-32-1 (nb1, w1).

Chennai Suepr Kings:

Parthiv Patel c Ishant b Agarkar 21 (27b, 3 x 4)

Matthew Hayden (not out) 70 (49b, 3 x 6, 6 x 4)

MS Dhoni (not out) 43 (27b, 2 x 6, 3 x 4)

Extras (b-4, lb-1, w-12, nb-1): 18

Total (for 1 wkt, 17 overs) 152

Fall of wicket: 1-66 (Patel, 8.2).

Match between Chennai Super KIngs and Bangalore Royal Challengers

Bangalore, April 28:

The Pitch never looked a batting pitch. But for some batsman it could be their favourite pitch or ground.

Chennai Super Kings started the match very cautiously, Hayden wasted many balls initally. Having such a good batting line-up it was foolishness on the part of Hayden to go slow. On the other side Parthiv Patel hit some good shots.

After Hayden's and Patel's departure Raina played some explosive shots and played a good game of cricket. Hussey struggled.

After Raina's departure it was out of form Dhoni who entered the field. Seeing his playing in the last encounter and today's brilliant batting exhibition I am thinking that the old Dhoni is back with his business. Has he got the old batting form back?

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni led the Super Kings from the front with a magnificent 30-ball 65 (3 x 6, 9 x 4) to help his team add 76 runs in the last five overs to post a challenging total of 178 for five in 20 overs. Hussey had to struggle a bit on this ptich but complied a 37-ball 47 and added 96 runs for the fifth wicket with Dhoni.

Seeing the batting struggles one thought that 178 runs was too big a total to get on this wicket.

Thus in the 2nd innings Bangalore team had Jaffer and Taylor in them to take on the weak bowling attack of Chennai Team.

It was foolishness of Dhoni not to have Muralidharan in his team. His absence was fully felt when runs were flowing freely.

Poor fielding by Goni almost resulted in the loss of the match to Bangalore. Both Dhoni and Goni dropped Jaffer when he was 7 and 18. It was a simple catch for Goni the bowler to suffer was Palani Amarnath. Palani Amarnath's bowling brilliance can come to the fore only if all the catching chances that comes by is taken.

It was the breakthrough that Palani Amarnath gave by sending Jaffer and Taylor back to the pavilion that the door's opened up. Later Goni took important 2 wickets in an over as the Super Kings grabbed eight wickets in less than six overs to dismiss Royal Challengers for 165 despite half-centuries by Waseem Jaffer (50, 33b, 2 x 6, 5 x 4) and Ross Taylor (53, 34b, 3 x 6, 3 x 4).

Thus, Super Kings head the league table with a clean slate of four wins, while Bangalore Royal Challengers languish at the bottom having lost three of their four outings.

The lower order Challengers batsmen collapsed in a heap with panic setting in after the quick dismissals of Jacques Kallis and Taylor. Praveen kumar ran himself out in a silly manner.

The Challengers, sitting pretty at one stage with a score of 127 for two after 14 overs, and Taylor going great guns, virtually committed a cricketing suicide with ambitious shots. Once Taylor was dismissed in the 16th over to reduce Challengers to 133 for four, the rest of the batsmen went down like nine pins to virtually gift the game to the Super Kings.

It was Dravid's homeground and hence I thought that he could win the match for his team. Dravid does have the ability in him to sneek the ball to the boundary. But as always the umpires are harsh on him. He was sent back plumbed LBW after he faced only one ball. When the replay showed that the ball was moving above the stumps and was getting height on its course.

Chennai Super Kings:

Parthiv Patel c Kallis b Praveen 21 (17b, 1 x 6, 2 x 4)

Matthew Hayden b Zaheer 13 (19b, 2 x 4)

Mike Hussey c Dravid b Zaheer 47 (37b, 2 x 6, 3 x 4)

Suresh Raina (run out - Jaffer) 28 (17b, 2 x 6, 1 x 4)

MS Dhoni c Chipli b Zaheer 65 (30b, 3 x 6, 9 x 4)

Jacob Oram (not out) 0 (0b)

Extras (lb-1, w-3): 4

Total (for 5 wkts, 20 overs): 178

Fall of wickets: 1-22 (Hayden, 3.6), 2-42, Patel, 6.3), 3-82 (Raina, 11.6), 4-178 (Dhoni, 19.5) 5-178 (Hussey, 19.6).

Bowling: Dale Steyn 4-0-40-0 (3w); Zaheer Khan 4-0-38-3; Praveen Kumar 4-0-29-1; Jacques Kallis 4-0-36-0; Balachandra Akhil 4-0-34-0.

Bangalore Royal Challengers:

Bharat Chipli b Gony 8 (11b, 1 x 4)

Waseem Jaffer c Oram b Amarnath 50 (33b, 2 x 6, 5 x 4)

Ross Taylor c Raina b Amarnath 53 (34b, 3 x 6, 3 x 4)

Jacques Kallis c Dhoni b Joginder 14 (10b, 2 x 4)

Mark Boucher c Hussey b Gony 4 (6b)

Virat Kohli b Morkel 12 (7b, 2 x 4)

Rahul Dravid lbw Gony 0 (1b)

Praveen Kumar (run out, Joginder-Oram-Dhoni) 6 (5b)

Zaheer Khan (run out, Raina-Dhoni) 8 (6b, 1 x 4)

Balachandra Akhil (not out) 2 (3b)

Dale Steyn c Hussey b Joginder 1 (2b)

Extras (lb-1, w-6): 7

Total (all out, 19.4 overs): 165

Fall of wickets: 1-13 (Chipli, 3.1), 2-102 (Jaffer, 10.6), 3-127 (Kallis, 14.1), 4-133 (Taylor, 15.1), 5-142 (Boucher, 16.2), 6-143 (Dravid, 16.4), 7-149 (Kohli, 17.2), 8-161 (Zaheer, 18.5), 9-162 (Praveen, 18.6), 10-165 (Steyn, 19.4).

Bowling: Jacob Oram 4-0-27-0 (2w), Manpreet Gony 4-0-34-3; Albie Morkel 4-0-38-1; Palani Amarnath 4-0-38-2; Joginder Sharma 3.4-0-27-2.

Bowling: Ashoke Dinda 3-0-25-0 (6w); Ishant Sharma 3-0-26-0 (1nb, 5w); Ajit Agarkar 3-0-19-1; David Hussey 1-0-10-0; Md Hafeez 2-0-16-0 (1w); Murali Karthik 3-0-33-0; L R Shukla 2-0-18-0.

Chennai, May 2:

Finally Dhoni shows his true self. Again after last two games of agressive good batting he once again took to his defensive batting style. If you can give Man of the match award to Sehwag, you can equally lamblast Dhoni as the true culprit for the defeat.

If Dhoni feels that he is out of form then he could have come lower down the batting order (learn from Dravid) but why on earth should he promote himself and not be aggressive. There was still Raina, S Badrinath and Morkel waiting. And then the others too. This form of cricket is not there for you show your face their in field and not entertain the crowd.

All the Chennai local players are known for their aggressiveness right from Srikkant days. Now that Fleming has failed miserably being out and out for a no ball and a clean ball he should be dropped henceforth and the local boys should be given a chance. Fleming is weak in fielding too. Not at all alert.

Thus the openning by Fleming was worst. Parthiv Patel as usual showed his aggressiveness and was giving lot of half-chances, later Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan had a fine stunt with his batting, he showed the aggressiveness true to this form of cricket. After Patel's departure in the company of Dhoni Vidyut failed a little bit in his batting. Suddenly his aggressiveness vanished. Vidyut went on to complete his maiden T20 half-century, but was soon dismissed by Glenn McGrath, bowling his second spell when the southpaw in order to accelerate the scoring attempted a heave over the straight field to be caught by Yo Mahesh.

His departure triggerred a mini collapse as Dhoni and Suresh Raina left in quick succession before Albie Morkel used the long handle to pick up some useful runs.

But Albie Morkel too wasted one full over of scoring opportunities, later he recovered well to score 28 runs in his 16 ball stint.

Morkel, holed out off the penultimate ball of the innings and Badrinath swung Rajat Bhatia for a six over square-leg as the Super Kings put up a total which were not at all sufficient in this form of the game and the batting line-up the Chennai Super Kings have.

Thus Raina and Badrinath could not show their true talent having come at the very fag end of the overs. This proved very costly. In future Dhoni should come down the order after Raina, Badrinath and Morkel to have big score on the board.

The main reason for this battlng failure of Chennai Super Kings is DHONI DHONI AND DHONI and no other are responsible. The defeat is because of Dhoni himself.

Just opposite was talent exhibited by Skipper Virender Sehwag (71, 41b, 4 x 6, 7 x 4). He treated the Chennai crowd with his explosive batting talent. The way he goes about his batting is the most needed to this form of cricket. The true cricket player. Gautam Gambhir (50, 37b 5 x 4, 1 x 6) and Sehwag put on 115 runs for the first wicket as Daredevils overhauled Super Kings' total of 169 for six with one over to spare.

The result meant a three-way tie at the top as the Super Kings, Daredevils and Rajasthan Royals are on eight points after five matches with four wins and one loss.

There was no stopping Sehwag and Gambhir as they blasted the Super Kings bowling with deceptive ease with shots all around the park.

In fact, Manpreet Gony, bowling the second over of the innings, went for 17 runs and later, Joginder Sharma was smashed for 19 as Daredevils galloped their way to victory.

Muttiah Muralidharan was able to contain both the opening batsmen of their scoring stunts but was unable to get their wickets. Murali's contribution was satisfactory. If luck favoured him he could have got Gambhir.

The only reprieve the Super Kings enjoyed were the dismissals of Sehwag in the 12th over and then the wicket of Gambhir in the 15th, but by then, the Daredevils were within sight of their fourth victory.

The Super Kings bowlers were at their wit's end trying to contain Sehwag and Gambhir, but on the day, the two openers were in sublime form.

After their departure, AB de Villiers and Shikar Dhawan batted sensibly to bring Daredevils home at the end of the 19th over.

SCORE-BOARD

Chennai Super Kings innings:

Parthiv Patel c Yo Mahesh b Sehwag 21 (20b, 3 x 4)

Stephen Fleming b Yo Mahesh 13 (13b, 2 x 4)

Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan c Yo Mahesh b McGrath 54 (37b, 7 x 4, 1 x 6)

M S Dhoni c Malik b Asif 32 (27b, 2 x 4, 1 x 6)

Albie Morkel c Sehwag b Bhatia 28 (16b, 3 x 4, 2 x 6)

Suresh Raina (runout - Sangwan) 3 (4b)

S Badrinath (not out) 11 (5b, 1 x 6)

Joginder Sharma (not out) 0 (0b)

Extras (nb-2, w-5): 7

Total (for 6 wkts, 20 overs): 169

Fall of wickets: 1-23 (Fleming, 3.2), 2-65 (8.1, Patel), 3-122 (Vidyut, 14.5), 4- (Dhoni, 18.

Bowling: Glenn McGrath 4-0-21-1; Mohammad Asif 4-0-34-1 (1w); Yo Mahesh 4-0-31-1 (2nb); Pradeep Sangwan 4-0-40-0 (2w); Shoaib Malik 1-0-11-0 (2w); Virender Sehwag 2-0-21-1; Rajat Bhatia 1-0-11-1.

Delhi Daredevils innings:

Gautam Gambhir b Gony 50 (37b, 1 x 6, 5 x 4)

Virender Sehwag c Muralitharan b Sharma 71 (41b, 4 x 6, 7 x 4)

AB de Villiers (not out) 26 (21b, 2 x 4)

Shikar Dhawan (not out) 19 (17b, 2 x 4)

Extras (b-1, lb-1, nb-2, w-2): 6

Total (for 2 wkts, 19 overs): 172

Fall of wickets: 1-115 (Sehwag 11.2), 2-139 (Gambhir, 14.3).

Bowling: Makhaya Ntini 4-0-29-0; Manpreet Gony 4-0-39-1 (1w); Albie Morkel 4-0-40-0 (1w); Joginder Sharma 3-0-35-1 (1w); Muttiah Muralitharan 4-0-27-0 (1nb).

4th May 2008

Review of today's match between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals of IPL twenty 20

Everything comes down to Captains here. Whereas the captain of Rajasthan Royals Shane Warne is super charged and electrifies his teammates with shower encouragements, love and patting of his youngsters the opposite is with Dhoni the captain of Chennai Super Stars. Luck is going with Dhoni and he is least concerned with his team mates. His team selection is not good, when there are local lads of Chennai ready to take on any team of the world and blast them he is not giving opportunities for them. The Chennai players are born to this type of format of game of cricket. Every player form chennai are hitters of ball. Recent Proof Vidyut. Drop Fleming take young lads of Chennai into the side. Never make the mistake of dropping Muttaih Muralidharan. He is No.1 bowler of the world give respect to him and his bowling. Being a wicket keeper you have to be alert when he is bowling. Murali puts his thoughts in his bowling, so not every delivery is the same, hence alerness behind the wicket is neccessary either to stump out or save runs behind the wickets.

Shane warne always is alert on field and his presence is electrifying to other players of team. When the team struggles he takes the full responsibility either it is bowling or batting. Remember the crucial times when he took wickets and had batted the last over with a scurry of sixes to win one of the match.

He has plans to get Chennai team's batsmen out. He has a super head. In this age he is terrific, fantastic and admirers of many. By playing in iplt20 he has got more admirers.

So the odds favour Shane Warne unless Dhoni avoids going early to bat in the innings and plays selfish defensive game thus wasting balls and overs.

If Chennai looses it is because of Dhoni alone and if Rajasthan wins it is because of Shane Warne.

Jaipur, May 4:

Two dubious decisions by umpire Asad Rauf in the very first over of the Chennai Super Kings first innings took the interest out of the match completely. All the fans of Chennai Super Kings glued to T.V. had either switched off the T.V. or have switched the channel. The fans of Chennai Super Kings at the stadium were furious at the umpire but could do nothing. Does the bowler's name and the umpire's name gives you some clue. The fans of Chennai Super Kings and even Jaipur teams at the stadium had nothing to cheer about sitting there. The game turned out to be a formal one. No thrills nothing. The culprit is umpire Asad Rauf. Ban him for future matches. People like to watch only fair contests and a umpire cannot decide matches. But the two wrong decision given by the umpires took the fighting spirit out of the Chennai Super Kings players and they played the match for formality sake. The bowler who was lucky to get the decisions in his favour was left-arm seamer Sohail Tanvir who went on to take further 4 wickets and thus he created a World record taking six wickets for 14 runs. .

Tanvir, is 23-year old from Rawalpindi, Pakistan who made his international debut only last year. His unique bowling action gave trouble to the batsmen. He was gifted two wickets in his very first over, trapping openers Parthiv Patel and Stephen Fleming leg before, though the replay on both occasions clearly showed that the ball was flying over the wicket and sideways and not hitting the wicket.

In his next over he had Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan caught in the slips by skipper Shane Warne and the Chennai Super Kings were at 11 for three.

Thereafter, the Super Kings lost wickets at regular intervals, the much dependable Subramaniam Badrinath offered a simple catch to his bowler watson and then Dhoni could not read Warne's bowling who snicked the ball to Smith in the slips.

It was 45 for five in the eighth over a miserable score and Albie Morkel who was at the crease smashed a few boundaries. Suresh Raina (27) on the other end departed and later so did Joginder Sharma (0).

Morkel, was bowled by Tanvir in his second spell. Tanvir took two more wickets to finish with figures of 4-0-14-6, a record for T20 cricket.

The Super Kings, who had initially won their four matches and later losing to Delhi Daredevils at home last week, had to settle for a meager total of 109 runs all-out in 19 overs.

The target being easy enough the Rajasthan royals got it by the 15^th over.

Chennai Super Kings in their second innings bowled wides and no-balls adding their extras to 21. With a small total to defend, and wickets not falling Dhoni introduced Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan who in his very first over was successful to take a wicket. If Ntini had taken a catch which was not that difficult then he would have had two in his kitty. Muthiah Muralidharan who was bought lately curtailed the runs and was able to take one wicket. He troubled the batsmen as he always does.

The Royals began the chase with openers Swapnil Asnodkar and Smith. They were at ease and were looking for singles. Asnodkar lived dangerously and Smith was dropped in Makhaya Ntini's second over. Considering the small total it could not have been a big loss to Chennai Super Kings. But as always in cricket a wicket's here and there turns around the result of matches.

The pair thus were able to put on 78 runs in 10 overs before Asnodkar was out for 32 to left-arm spinner Vidyut. Yusuf Pathan the dare devil he is as usual went for shots, he smashed a six, and then he tried to gain applause in Muttiah Muralitharan bowling went for a big hit and gave a simple catch to Raina who was nearby to the wicket.

Thereafter the Royals needed only 18 more runs. Watson the next batsman smashed a couple of sixes and the match ended in the 15th over. Smith remained unbeaten on 35 having been troubled by Murali most of the times.

SCORE-BOARD

Chennai Super Kings innings:

Parthiv Patel lbw Tanvir 0 (1b)

Stephen Fleming lbw Tanvir 0 (2b)

Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan c Warne b Tanvir 5 (10b, 1 x 4)

Suresh Raina c Tanvir b Munaf 27 (27b, 2 x 4)

S Badrinath c and b Watson 15 (14b, 3 x 4)

MS Dhoni c Smith b Warne 1 (7b)

Albie Morkel b Tanvir 42 (33b, 1 x 4, 4 x 4)

Joginger Sharma c Tanvir b Munaf 0 (1b)

MS Gony (not out) 1 (4b)

Muttaiah Muralitharan b Tanvir 0 (3b)

Makhaya Ntini b Tanvir 11 (12b, 2 x 4)

Extras (b-4, lb-1, w-2) 7

Total (all out, 19 overs) 109

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Patel, 0.1); 2-1 (Fleming, 0.5); 3-11 (Vidyut, 2.5); 4-38 (Badrinath, 5.5); 5-45 (Dhoni, 7.5); 6-88 (Raina, 14.2); 7-91 (Joginder, 14.5); 8-96 (Morkel, ); 9-96 (Muralitharan, 16.4); 10-109 (Ntini, 18.6).

Bowling: Sohail Tanvir 4-0-14-6; Shane Watson 4-0-19-1 (2w); Munaf Patel 4-0-16-2; Siddharth Trivedi 2-0-17-0; Shane Warne 3-0-29-1; Yusuf Pathan 2-0-9-0.

Rajasthan Royals innings:

Graeme Smith (not out) 35 (44b, 4 x 4)

Swapnil Asnodkar c Ntini b Vidyut 32 (30b, 5 x 4)

Yusuf Pthan c Raina b Muralitharan 8 (5b, 1 x 6)

Shane Watson (not out) 14 (8b, 1 x 6, 1 x 4)

Extras (lb-6, w-14, nb-1): 21

Total (for 8 wkts, 14.2 overs): 110.

Fall of wickets: 1-78 (Asnodkar, 10.1), 2-92 (Pathan, 11.6).

Bowling: Makhaya Ntini 3-1-17-0; MS Gony 3-0-25-0; Albie Morkel 1-0-10-0 (1nb, 3w); Muttaiah Muralitharan 4-0-20-1 (2w); Suresh Raina 1.2-0-11-0; Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan 2-0-22-0 (1w).

More on umpires dubious decisions in the link under IPL-comments

Chennai, May 6:

So what is in store for Chennai Super Kings in their future matches. Probably more loss. Why on earth should the in-form batsman vidyut Sivaramakrishnan be dropped. Why not have Palani Amarnathan instead of Joginder Sharma or may be it could be better that Fleming is dropped. Thus in future matches Fleming should be dropped and Plani should be in. With this one change the team will be able to recoup their strength. .

The Chennai Super Kings innings started disastrously with Parthiv Patel, who survived a caught-and-bowled chance off the fifth delivery of the first over, top-edged the next ball attempting a hook and R P Singh, running from fine-leg took a brilliant catch to present Vijay Kumar his wicket. He could make only 04 runs(6b, 1 x 4).

The out of form Stephen Fleming making only 14 (16b, 2 x 4), new player Anirudha Srikkanth making just 01 (7b) and Badrinath facing 4 balls and returning back with zero.

In fact the Super Kings lost four wickets by the seventh over due to a combination of indiscreet shot selection and some brilliant catching.

Anirudha, after playing and missing, top-edged RP Singh to Afridi in the covers and then Rohit Sharma held a brilliant catch to get rid of Fleming who uppishly drove Scott Styris to covers.

Gibbs, fielding at short third man, went one better as he took off like a rocket to catch a tentative glide by S Badrinath off Shahid Afridi as the Super Kings slid to 43 for four after 6.5 overs.

In walked Dhoni with a huge weight of expectations on his shoulders. Along with Suresh Raina, who was batting quite competently at the other end, Dhoni sought to repair the damage. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, for the reason best known to him was playing defensively, having a batsman like Gilchrist in the opposite camp if you make runs in trot then have it written on your head that you are certainly going to lose, and that's what happened. You can't expect to win when you score only 86 runs by the end of 15th over. In this form of cricket every team which could make 100 runs in the first 10 over only has bright chance to win. Thus Super Kings headed towards another low score.

See how Dhoni plays the overs

Dhoni is the new batsman.

6.6 Shahid Afridi to Dhoni, no run, bowled flat and fast on off stump, Dhoni defends back to the bowler

End of over 7 (9 runs) - Chennai Super Kings 43/4 (RR: 6.14) MS Dhoni 0* (1b) Shahid Afridi 1-0-9-1, SK Raina 16* (8b 3x4) SB Styris 1-0-3-1

7.1 Styris to Raina, 1 run, a bit too short outside off stump, Rania waits on the back foot and cuts to the man on the point boundary

7.2 Styris to Dhoni, no run, good length from Styris on off stump, Dhoni gets behind the line on the back foot and defends towards the off side

7.3 Styris to Dhoni, no run, Styris bowls the short ball over middle and leg stump, Dhoni thinks about pulling but moves inside the line of the ball and lets it go in the end

7.4 Styris to Dhoni, FOUR, Dhoni moves forward and opens the face of the bat at the last moment to steer a short of a length ball past first slip for four

7.5 Styris to Dhoni, 1 run, good length from Styris outside off stump, Dhoni moves back and across and punches the ball in front of point for one

7.6 Styris to Raina, 1 run, tight line and length from Styris outside off stump, Raina punches off the front foot towards mid-off and sprints the single, the overthrow goes towards fine leg but Raina had run a long way past his stumps and couldn't take advantage of it

End of over 8 (7 runs) - Chennai Super Kings 50/4 (RR: 6.25) SK Raina 18* (10b 3x4) SB Styris 2-0-10-1 MS Dhoni 5* (5b 1x4) Shahid Afridi 1-0-9-1

8.1 Shahid Afridi to Raina, 1 run, bowled full on middle stump, Raina moves forward and drives towards mid-on

8.2 Shahid Afridi to Dhoni, no run, Dhoni runs down the track at Afridi who sees him coming and fires the ball towards the leg side, Dhoni gets hit on the pad

8.3 Shahid Afridi to Dhoni, FOUR, short and wide outside off, Dhoni moves back and cuts hard into the gap at backward point, he played that late and powerfully

8.4 Shahid Afridi to Dhoni, no run, fuller length, defended towards point off the front foot

8.5 Shahid Afridi to Dhoni, 1 run, Dhoni leans forward and pushes a flat delivery towards cover

8.6 Shahid Afridi to Raina, FOUR, a bit too short outside off stump, Raina moves back and hits the ball with a flat bat straight past the bowler for four, excellent placement

End of over 9 (10 runs) - Chennai Super Kings 60/4 (RR: 6.66) SK Raina 23* (12b 4x4) Shahid Afridi 2-0-19-1 MS Dhoni 10* (9b 2x4) SB Styris 2-0-10-1

Sanjay Bangar comes into the attack, from over the wicket.

9.1 Bangar to Dhoni, no run, good length delivery on off stump, Dhoni steps out of his crease and defends

9.2 Bangar to Dhoni, no run, a short ball on middle and leg stump, Dhoni tries to pull along the ground but gets a bit of glove on it, the ball goes towards the keeper on the bounce

9.3 Bangar to Dhoni, 2 runs, Bangar strays down leg side, Dhoni leans forward and across his stumps and glances the ball towards fine leg

9.4 Bangar to Dhoni, 2 runs, short of a length and wide outside off stump, Dhoni moves back and cuts the ball through cover, Venugopal runs to his right from sweeper and fields

9.5 Bangar to Dhoni, no run, good length delivery angling into off stump, Dhoni plays from his crease and defends towards cover

9.6 Bangar to Dhoni, 2 runs, short of a length outside off stump, Dhoni moves back and pulls the ball straight down the ground, he's hit it very straight and will come back for a quick second

End of over 10 (6 runs) - Chennai Super Kings 66/4 (RR: 6.60) MS Dhoni 16* (15b 2x4) SB Bangar 1-0-6-0 SK Raina 23* (12b 4x4) Shahid Afridi 2-0-19-1

Ojha comes into the attack, from round the wicket.

10.1 Ojha to Raina, 1 run, played off the pads through midwicket for a single

10.2 Ojha to Dhoni, 2 runs, bowled flat outside the off stump, Dhoni moves on to the back foot and cuts to the fielder on the point boundary, both Dhoni and Raina are very quick and they come back for two

10.3 Ojha to Dhoni, no run, bowled flatter fuller and straighter, Dhoni leans forward and blocks

10.4 Ojha to Dhoni, no run, tight length on middle stump, Dhoni waits in hi crease and defends towards midwicket

10.5 Ojha to Dhoni, 1 wide, loud appeal for a caught behind but the ball had slipped down leg side and Benson calls it wide, Gilchrist was quite confident after Dhoni missed the paddle sweep Ojha goes over the wicket. 10.5 Ojha to Dhoni, no run, he fires the ball into Dhoni's pads after pitching outside leg, Dhoni once again misses the paddle sweep

10.6 Ojha to Dhoni, no run, bowled flat through the air on leg stump, Dhoni tries to work the ball on the leg side and gets hit on the pad

End of over 11 (4 runs) - Chennai Super Kings 70/4 (RR: 6.36) MS Dhoni 18* (20b 2x4) PP Ojha 1-0-4-0 SK Raina 24* (13b 4x4) SB Bangar 1-0-6-0

11.1 Bangar to Raina, FOUR, that's a high skier but it falls safe and goes for four! Raina got under a full ball and smashed it high in the air towards long-on, Styris ran back from mid-on an the ball just fell out of his reach and went over the boundary on the one-bounce

11.2 Bangar to Raina, no run, defended on the leg side Bangar goes round the wicket.

11.3 Bangar to Raina, no run, the slower ball angled into the left-hander from round the wicket, Raina backs away to make room and tries to smash it over the off side, he gets beaten and the ball misses leg stump

11.4 Bangar to Raina, 1 run, good length delivery on off stump, punched off the front foot through cover for a single

11.5 Bangar to Dhoni, 1 run, short ball on off and middle stump, Dhoni pulls the ball along the ground to deep backward square leg for a single

11.6 Bangar to Raina, 1 run, tight line and length on middle stump from over the wicket, Raina drives straight down the ground to retain strike

End of over 12 (7 runs) - Chennai Super Kings 77/4 (RR: 6.41) SK Raina 30* (18b 5x4) SB Bangar 2-0-13-0 MS Dhoni 19* (21b 2x4) PP Ojha 1-0-4-0

12.1 Ojha to Raina, 1 run, Raina moves back and across and nudges the ball off his pads towards midwicket for a single

12.2 Ojha to Dhoni, no run, Dhoni moves back to a flat and straight delivery and pushes it towards cover

12.3 Ojha to Dhoni, no run, Dhoni moves back once again to cut but there isn't enough room, he plays it towards cover once again

12.4 Ojha to Dhoni, 1 run, driven to long off for a single

12.5 Ojha to Raina, 1 run, bowled full outside the off stump, Raina moves forward and drives through cover for one

12.6 Ojha to Dhoni, 1 run, tight wicket-to-wicket line from Ojha, Dhoni moves back and pushes the ball towards long on for a single to retain strike

End of over 13 (4 runs) - Chennai Super Kings 81/4 (RR: 6.23) MS Dhoni 21* (25b 2x4) PP Ojha 2-0-8-0 SK Raina 32* (20b 5x4) SB Bangar 2-0-13-0

13.1 Bangar to Dhoni, no run, excellent length on off and middle stump, Dhoni can't do much but play the ball back firmly towards the bowler off the front foot

13.2 Bangar to Dhoni, 1 run, that's a low full toss, Bangar was perhaps attempting the yorker, Dhoni drives towards long-on for one

13.3 Bangar to Raina, OUT, what a soft dismissal! Bangar goes round the wicket and delivers a low full toss outside off stump, Raina drives at it and chips the ball in the air and straight to Sharma at cover, Raina's gone after getting well set SK Raina c Sharma b Bangar 32 (21b 5x4 0x6) SR: 152.38 Albie Morkel strides to the crease, he can smack it hard and far. He's a left-hander too, Chennai is full of them.

13.4 Bangar to Morkel, no run, Bangar greets him with a bouncer from over the wicket, Morkel ducks under it

13.5 Bangar to Morkel, no run, the slower ball bowled at 100 kmh on middle and off, Morkel comes forward and pushes it back to Bangar

13.6 Bangar to Morkel, 2 runs, full and wide outside off stump, Morkel reaches out for it and drives the ball powerfully over cover, RP dives on the boundary and stops it, he then goes over the rope but manages to come back in and save the four, good effort on the boundary, the third umpire is called but RP has done a clean job

End of over 14 (3 runs) - Chennai Super Kings 84/5 (RR: 6.00) JA Morkel 2* (3b) SB Bangar 3-0-16-1 MS Dhoni 22* (27b 2x4) PP Ojha 2-0-8-0

14.1 Ojha to Dhoni, no run, Dhoni comes forward and tries to hit the ball on the leg side but gets struck on the pad

14.2 Ojha to Dhoni, no run, Dhoni once again gets hit on the pad as he tried to flick on the on side

14.3 Ojha to Dhoni, 1 run, Dhoni moves forward and gets squared up and collects a single via an outside edge on the off side

14.4 Ojha to Morkel, 1 run, Morkel works the ball off his pads through midwicket for a single Ojha's managed to keep Dhoni very quiet.

14.5 Ojha to Dhoni, OUT, and he has got him! Dhoni's struggle ends, he got squared up and tried to pull a flat delivery through square leg, he got a bottom edge on to his pad and the ball lobbed up all the way towards Afridi at point, another simple catch and Chennai are sinking, actually Dhoni hit the ball on to his pad and hit it once again during the follow through of his shot as the ball bounced off his thigh MS Dhoni c Shahid Afridi b Ojha 23 (31b 2x4 0x6) SR: 74.19.

Starting from 6.6 overs to 14.5 overs having wasted so many balls he departs when he is needed in the slog overs. Who is there to tutor Dhoni, in this form of cricket you cannot play cricket like a test match boy. Dhoni himself gobbled up all the overs.

Thus far Dhoni had such a long and long insipid boring stay and stint in the middle of the field. By reading the commentary you can find how boring it is.

Suddenly Morkel had some fire in his innings, Joginder too hit a six and Gony for his part hit sixes the trio slamming a total of five sixes and two boundaries to provide some cheer to the crowd as also their team-mates.

Morkel and Joginder then added 38 runs in 23 balls for the seventh wicket to take Super Kings total past the 100-mark.

Joginder was dismissed in the 19th over as he heaved across the line to be bowled by RP Singh. The final over, bowled by Sanjay Bangar, yielded 20 runs as Super Kings heaved a sigh of relief as it gave them a fighting chance.

The last three overs were the most productive for Super Kings as they produced 37 runs.

The Chargers, led by Adam Gilchrist for an injured VVS Laxman, restricted the Super Kings to 144 for seven in 20 overs and then knocked off the required runs in 18 overs to post only their second win in seven matches. As Dhoni has full of luck so does VVS Laxman has bad-luck in all matches which he captains. Now the reversal is taking into Dhoni's luck.

Gilchrist, as usual played scurry of shots with seven 4's and two 6's. He was well applauded and greeted by the knowledgeble crowd of Chennai. He was declared Man of the Match, for he did the bulk of damage as he slammed 54 (38b, 2 x 6, 7 x 4) to lay the foundation for a successful chase after the early loss of his opening partner Herschelle Gibbs.

Rohit Sharma (23), Scott Styris (36 not out) and Shahid Afridi (20 not out) contributed well for the triumph. For the first time Shahid Afridi too came good he hit 20 runs in only 6 balls. He was the cause for finishing of the innings in 18th over itself. Afridi scored all his runs off Joginder Sharma.

The Chargers onslaught took a heavy toll of the Super Kings bowlers among whom Joginder went for 45 runs in three overs while Makhaya Ntini, after a promising start, conceded 37. Albie Morkel bowled reasonably well to claim 1 for 26. Muttaiah Muralitharan is still running with bad luck not getting enough wicket's though every ball he bowls is getting great respect from the batsman. Very prudently enough every batsman never were taking risk and going after Mural's bowling.

SCORE-BOARD

Chennai Super Kings innings:

Parthiv Patel c R P Singh b Vijay Kumar 04 (6b, 1 x 4)

Stephen Fleming c Rohit Sharma b Styris 14 (16b, 2 x 4)

Anirudha Srikkanth c Afridi b R P Singh 01 (7b)

Suresh Raina c Rohit Sharma b Bangar 32 (21b, 5 x 4)

S Badrinath c Gibbs b Afridi 0 (4b)

MS Dhoni c Afridi b Ohja 23 (31b, 2 x 4)

Albie Morkel (not out) 29 (19b, 2 x 6, 1 x 4)

Joginder Sharma b RP Singh 16 (10b, 1 x 6, 1 x 4)

MS Gony (not out) 15 (6b, 2 x 6)

Extras (b-6, w-4): 10

Total (for 7 wkts, 20 overs): 144

Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Patel, 1.6); 2-15 (Anirudha, 3.3); 3-33 (Fleming, 5.4); 4-43 (Badrinath, 6.5); 5-82 (Raina, 13.3); 6-86 (Dhoni, 14.5); 7-124 (Joginder, 18.4).

Bowling: P Vijay Kumar 3-0-17-1; R P Singh 3-0-12-1 (2w); Scott Styris 3-0-24-1 (1w); Shahid Afridi 3-0-27-1; Sanjay Bangar 4-0-36-1; Pragyan Ohja 4-0-22-1 (1w).

Deccan Chargers innings:

Adam Gilchrist c Badrinath b Morkel 54 (36b, 2 x 6, 7 x 4)

Herschelle Gibbs c and b Gony 10 (10b, 1 x 6, 1 x 4)

Scott Styris (not out) 36 (41b, 1 x 6, 3 x 4)

Rohit Sharma c Badrinath b Muralitharan 23 (17b, 1 x 6, 1 x 4)

Shahid Afridi (not out) 20 (6b, 2 x 6, 2 x 4)

Extras (lb-1, nob-2, w-2): 5

Total (for 3 wkts, 18 overs): 148.

Fall of wickets: 1-24 (Gibbs, 4.1); 2-78 (Gilchrist, 9.5); 3-125 (Rohit, 16.1);

Bowling: Makhaya Ntini 4-0-37-0; Manpreet Gony 3-0-15-1; Albie Morkel 4-0-26-1 (1w); Joginder Sharma 3-0-45-0 (2nb); Muttaiah Muralitharan 4-0-24-1 (1w).

New Delhi, May 8:

Chennai Super Kings Vs Delhi Daredevils

It is time that some action is taken, Dhoni seems to be the weak link in the team and is not doing right thing in the middle of the field. His wicket keeping is not to the mark and his batting is worst because of which they had already lost one match with Deccan chargers and almost lost it with Delhi Daredevils today. It may be good thing to drop him from the side and give the work to Parthiv Patel to do the keeping. Though Parthiv Patel is not batting that well but he has a will to hit the ball to boundary and score of every ball. In this form of cricket it this form of mentality that is very much needed to win any match. Lastly which foolish fellow there who had not been watching and following up the match ball by ball had selected Dhoni as `man of the match' is not known.

Having lost the toss Sehwag was sent to bat. Sehwag and Gambhir made some quick runs and it seemed that they were gunning up for a total which was something around 200. But then Chennai Super Kings bowlers came with some superb bowling especially Balaji. All the bowlers contributed very well to contain the Delhi Daredevils innings.

Sehwag was bowled by Gony and AB de Villiers was also bowled by the first ball he faced from Morkel. Daredevils were reduced to 46 for two.

Then Gambhir and Dhawan added 131 runs for the fourth wicket with Gambhir being lucky to escape being run out on a few occasions with the direct throws missing the stumps.

Gambhir was out for a lofty shot holeding out to Chamara on the bowling of Balaji, the fast bowler removed Malik in his next over. Balaji bowled some good friendly bowling which was difficult to play.

Dhawan was out lofting Morkel straight into the hands of Chamara.

The Super Kings began their chase well with Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan (40) hitting the first ball of the match to four. He went on firing which prompted Stephen Fleming (44) to go after bowling. When Vidyut left in the end of 6th over he had built up a solid platform where 200+ could be easily scored in a good batting wicket. But then came out-of-form Dhoni who nearly took Chennai outfit to 4th straight loss. Thanks to him he was out sparing some 10 balls for Badrinath and Gony to finish the match.

Back to the game. Fleming and Suresh Raina were out in quick succession and once again it was left to Albie Morkel to hit sixers he steadied the run-rate with a 15-ball 30, but for which Chennai would have lost the match.

With the score on 138 and six overs left, Morkel was run out and the Super Kings struggled having Dhoni the out-of-form Dhoni at the middle. It seemed Dhoni wanted Delhi to win the match. As long as Dhoni was there in the middle Delhi got good support from him since he was just playing dot balls after dots.

Yo Mahesh dismissed Man of the Match Dhoni 33 (33) and Chamara Kapudegera 8 (9), leaving Super Kings staring with another loss. But Dhon's wish did not come true, there was this Badrinath and Gony who won the match for Chennai.

22 runs were to be scored in 10 balls and Badrinath and Gony were left to do it. 7 runs were scored in the 4 balls of that penultimate over they faced. 15 off the final over was to be hit. Spinner Shoaib Malik for the Daredevils was the bowler.

Gony lofted Malik's first delivery for a six, it was followed by a wide, and the second ball was edged for four to third man. A single was taken leaving Chennai needing three runs off three deliveries.

All the players fielding came closer to avoid the singles.

Badrinath just put his bat and slowly skied the ball over cover for two to level the scores, he defended the next ball and then slowly lofted the ball over midwicket for a single, the ball fell in a no man's land but running a long distance a fielder was able to touch the ball before it fell to the ground.

Chennai made four changes dropping Makhaya Ntini, Joginder Sharma, Parthiv Patel and Anirudha Srikkanth while including Lakshmipathi Balaji, Chamara, Vidyut and Palani Amarnath.

SCORE-BOARD

Delhi Daredevils innings:

Gautam Gambhir c Chamara b Balaji 80 (49b, 1 x 6, 11 x 4) Virender Sehwag b Gony 23 (18b, 3 x 4) AB de Villiers b Morkel 0 (1b) Shikhar Dhawan c Chamara b Morkel 59 (46b, 2 x 6, 6 x 4) Shoaib Malik c Raina b Balaji 2 (3b) Dinesh Karthik (not out) 6 (3b, 1 x 4) Manoj Tiwari (not out) 5 (2b, 1 x 4) Extras (lb-6, w-4, nb-2): 12 Total (for 5 wkts, 20 overs): 187

Fall of wickets: 1-45 (Sehwag, 4.6); 2-46 (de Villiers, 5.2); 3-167 (Gambhir, 17.6); 4-175 (Dhawan, 18.5); 5-176 (Malik, 19.1).

Bowling: Manpreet Gony 4-0-36-1 (1w); Albie Morkel 4-0-35-2 (2nb); Muttiah Muralitharan 4-0-25-0 (3w); Palani Amarnath 3-0-35-0; L Balaji 4-0-35-2; Chamara Kapugedera 1-0-15-0.

Chennai Super Kings innings:

Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan c Dhawan b Sangwan 40 (23b, 1 x 6, 6 x 4) Stephen Fleming c AB de Villiers b Asif 44 (28b, 7 x 4) MS Dhoni c de Villiers b Yo Mahesh 33 (33b, 2 x 4) Suresh Raina c Tiwari b Sangwan 1 (2b) Albie Morkel (run out - Sehwag) 30 (15b, 3 x 5, 2 x 4) Chamara Kapugedera c Dhawan b Yo Mahesh 8 (9b) S Badrinath (not out) 8 (5b, 1 x 4) Manpreet Gony (not out) 13 (5b, 1 x 6, 1 x 4) Extras (b-1, lb-4, w-6): 11 Total (for 6 wkts, 20 overs): 188

Fall of wickets: 1-62 (Vidyut, 6.1); 2-97 (Fleming, 9.3); 3-98 (Raina, 10.1); 4-138 (Morkel, 14.1); 5-166 (Dhoni, 18.1), 6-166 (Chamara, 18.2).

Joke of the day : Man of the match - Dhoni - His contribution - Helping Delhi Daredevils to snatch the match from Chennai Super Kings.

How foiled - Dhoni was out on the first ball of the 19th over giving huge sigh of relief to lot of Chennai supporters and fans. Thanks to the next coming batsmen Badrinath who hit a four in his 8 runs 5 ball stint and especially Gony who taught him how to hit sixer and fours and finish of the match.

If Dhoni says that Mcgrath and Asif balls were difficult to hit then learn from the other batsman Vidyut who forced Sehwag to remove Mcgrath from attack after the first over, when Vidyut smashed him for 2 fours and later when he smashed Asif. He was also the cause for boosting the confidence of Fleming.

And the black sheep in the team gets Man of the Match Award.

10th May 2008

CHENNAI Vs Kings XI Punjab:

If Punjab wants to avenge its last encounter defeat Chennai is looking up for a comeback game with the new formation of team. Punjab presently with five consecutive victories is second on the leader board.

Last time it was Hussey who tormented the bowling of Punjab to total the tournaments best score of 240 runs in the first innings.

Dhoni is the weakest player in the team till now. He has come up the batting order and has been consuming lot of overs in the name of steadying the innings. Since Chennai Team has a long batting line-up this is not necessary at all. You have to expose all the players in batting line-up, but mostly the top batsmen have been consuming all the 20 overs.

Dhoni's slot is that he should come 6th down in the batting order considering his present form.

11th May 2008

Yesterday's match will be remembered for a long time to come. It is because of this Balaji.

Kings XI Punjab- were 155 / 6 at the end of Over # 19 Target to achieve - 182

Dhoni gave the ball to Balaji who thus far bowled excellent and was the killer of dangerous Marsh and then the out-of-form Yuvaraj.

Pathan was going great guns for Punjab team, he looked dangerous. He already had scored 32 runs of only 15 balls. He hit the first ball to six that he received from Balaji

Over #19.1 Lakshmipathy Balaji to Irfan Pathan --- 6 Runs Scored.

Total Score now stood: 161 / 6

Thoughts started flying high on everybody's mind maybe even in Dhoni's mind. Whether a right thing has been done by giving the last over to Balaji?!!!

Next ball........

Over #19.2 Lakshmipathy Balaji to Irfan Pathan --- 2 Runs Scored.

Total Score now stood: 163 / 6

Only 19 runs were needed in 4 balls. 3 sixes and one 4 was needed. It looked Pathan could do it. The way he had been after bowling!

But Balaji was far more dangerous than him. He just bowled the ball in its right place but the speed of it was reduced a bit. Pathan lofted it, it went flying through the sky and landed safely in Suresh Raina's hand, an easy catch, there was no any great effort needed for Raina to take the catch.

Over #19.3 Lakshmipathy Balaji to Irfan Pathan -- Caught.

Total Score stood at : 163 / 7 - 3 balls remaining. to get 182.

THE MATCH WAS WON!!!

But the drama continued, there were no wides or no balls to extend the over.

Over #19.4 Lakshmipathy Balaji to Piyush Chawla ......... Caught.

Total Score stood ata: 163 / 8 - 2 balls remaining.

The only thing that was of any interest in the match was whether Balaji would get hat-trick for the first time ever in ipltwenty20.

Over#19.5 Lakshmipathy Balaji to VRV Singh -- VRV Singh hits the ball hard the ball flies high, Dhoni goes back and takes the catch, an easy one. His face brigtens-up, he looks towards Balaji with a gleeful smile which conveyed a message to Balaji. The smile probed Balaji - you have it. I have taken the catch The crowd swarmed into the field, it included their teammates. There were applause and patting by all the team mates.

Lakshmipathy Balaji takes the first hat-trick of IPL.

The crowd was sent back there was one more ball.

Over #19.6 Lakshmipathy Balaji to Uday Kaul No Run Scored on this ball. Chennai Super Kings win by 18 runs

Total Score: 163 / 9

Earlier all the fine batting display of Badrinath and Dhoni was overshadowed by this Balaji's performance. The Chennai crowd had a great treat. There was much to cheer. Preity was awestuck.

The organisers this time could not give the man-of-the-match award to Dhoni as they did wrongly in the last match. They have to give it to Balaji.

SCORE-BOARD

Chennai Super Kings innings:

Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan c Jayawardene b Sreesanth 8 (4b, 2 x 4) Stephen Fleming c Goel b Sreesanth 1 (4b) Suresh Raina c Marsh b Chawla 26 (17b, 4 x 4) S Badrinath c Yuvraj b VRV Singh 64 (47b, 3 x 6, 6 x 4) MS Dhoni (not out) 60 (43b, 4 x 6, 2 x 4) Albie Morkel (not out) 7 (6b) Extras (lb-4, nb-1, w-10): 15. Total (for 4 wkts, 20 overs): 181.

Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Vidyut, 0.4); 2-20 (Fleming, 2.2); 3-64 (Raina, 6.5); 4-155 (Badrinath, 17.3);

Bowling: S Sreesanth 4-0-29-2 (3w); Irfan Pathan 4-0-33-0 (3w); VRV Singh 4-0-35-0 (1nb, 1w); Piyush Chawla 3-0-36-1 (1w); James Hopes 4-0-36-0 (2w); Yuvraj Singh 1-0-8-0.

Kings XI Punjab innings:

Shaun Marsh c Amarnath b Balaji 58 (38b, 4 x 6, 3 x 4) James Hopes c Dhoni b Morkel 14 (7b, 1 x 6, 1 x 4) Karan Goel c Morkel b Gony 1 (7b) Ramnaresh Sarwan b Balaji 20 (22b) Yuvraj Singh c Fleming b Amarnath 2 (5b) Mahela Jayawardene c Vidyut b Muralitharan 8 (6b, 1 x 6) Irfan Pathan c Raina b Balaji 40 (18b, 3 x 6, 3 x 4) Piyush Chawla c Chamara b Balaji 17 (15b, 1 x 6, 1 x 4) VRV Singh c Dhoni b Balaji 0 (1b) Uday Kaul (not out ) 0 (1b) S Sreesanth (nout out) 0 (0b) Extras (lb-1, w-2): 3 Total (for 9 wkts, 20 overs): 163

Fall of wickets: 1-16 (Hopes, 1.6); 2-29 (Goel, 4.3); 3-95 (Sarwan, 12.1); 4-96 (Marsh, 12.5); 5-97 (Yuvraj, 13.1); 6-116 (Jayawardene, 14.6); 7-163 (Pathan, 19.3); 8-163 (Chawla, 19.4); 9-163 (VRV Singh, 19.5).

Bowling: Manpreet Gony 4-0-38-1; Albie Morkel 4-0-25-1; Palani Amarnath 3-0-35-1; Chamara Kapudegera 1-0-8-0; Muttaiah Muralitharan 4-0-32-1 (1w); Lakshmipathy Balaji 4-0-25-5 (1w).

13th May 2008

Chennai Super Kings Vs Mumbai Indians

Chennai Super Kings have 12 points and they need two more games to win and get that 16 points to move to the semi-final.

They have 7 games to play with and they started the second phase by winning against Delhi Daredevils.

Until another 2 matches are won there can be no relaxing.

Tendulkar's announcement of his return to Mumbai team makes it strong. It will provide a nice competition and treat for cricket fans. But Mumbai team has a long way to go.

2 teams are out of contention for semi-final, unless miracle happens. Those are Hyderabad team and Bangalore team. Then with a thin of success are Mumbai Indians and Kokatta Knight riders. Even if one goes to semis the team that is going to be out is either Mohali team or Delhi team.

The team with certainty that could make to semi-finals are Rajasthan royals and to a certain extent Chennai Super Kings.

Hence tommorrow's match is crucial for Mumbai Indians, but Chennai Super Kings can test their team by making changes. They can now try to bring in more of Chennai local lads and put them to test. At least one or two like Napoleon Einstein, Abhinav Mukund, Anirudh and Ashwin could be given a chance in place of Fleming and Kapudegera.

Fleming is a thorn for the teams success. Early he be dropped is good for Chennai team. Ntini could come in place of Palani Amarnathan to open the bowling with Gony.

Dhoni should bat only after Badrinath and Morkel and not before. He should enter as the last recognised batsman. Dhoni techniques in batting is doubtful. He is not comfort in either converting a difficult ball to single or going after loose balls. Luckily he had scored runs against Punjab in his last outing. One over when he was after Piyush Chawala fetched him runs. Thereafter he was subdued. The knock that he has played against Bangalore is yet to be seen. Already nine matches are over and he has not shined It cannot be said he played a great part in the winning of those other 4 matches. Rather he was cause for defeat against Deccan Chargers when he played a slow innings. He almost was cause for defeat against Delhi Daredevils but Gony fortunately won the game for Chennai.

14th May 2008

Sachin Tendulkar the master blaster has decided to make his debut in ipltwenty20 cricket tournament.

Sachin Tendulkar on Monday declared himself fully fit to play his first Indian Premier League match against Chennai Super Kings at Wankhede stadium on May 14.

"Yes I will be playing the match on May 14. I feel very comfortable. It has been tough and disappointing to have missed the two Tests against South Africa and the first seven IPL ties," Tendulkar, who has not played a competitive match since March-end due to a groin injury, said.

The winning team now would get disturbed in Sachin's entry, what if Sachin does not come good and gets out early. He may then try his stint in bowling. As all other captains his failure will lead to a win for Chennai Super Kings. On the other hand the master blaster he is if he could give a flying start to the innings by opening the innings then someone from CSK has to compensate it by battting in the same degree.

The Match

Jayasurya dropped the catch of Fleming and his face went more black. Jayasurya started thinking this could be the end of his road. Since failures after failures is what has been seen in his batting.

But sun shined on Sanath Jayasuriya and he came up with a batting display which left the bowlers bewidered.

Sanath Jayasurya made other players on the ground as school boys playing some practise match such was his power and one man show.

Gony became Pony and Morkel porkel. Both lacked the swing in the ball and the technique to trouble the batsmen which somewhat was found in Balaji's, Murali and Joginder Sharma.

Sanath demolition act came with a 48-ball stint scoring 114 not out as he reamained not out taking Mumbai Indians to a convincing nine-wicket win against Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament, at the Wankhede stadium.

If it had been first innings he would have taken the score to 250 plus such was his strokes on that day.

He unleashed an array of breathtaking strokes as he struck 11 sixes and nine boundaries.

Jayasuriya was declared Man of the Match.

Mumbai from here on seemingly look to take the IPL inaugural Cup itself, there may be no turnaround now for Mumbai and they are on the road to win all the matches and make it to semi-final.

Mumbai Indians, thus, recorded their fourth win in eight matches while the Chennai Super Kings slid to their fourth defeat in 10 outings.

The Super Kings bowlers were at the mercy of Jayasurya and only Lakshmipathy Balaji was able to contain the batsman to a certain extent with his swing bowling and light cuts. He had a spell of only two overs where he gave only 9 runs..

Earlier Mumbai Indians, who won the toss restricted Super Kings to 156 for six.

Super Kings as usual had a flying start with Vidyut scoring 16 runs of his 11 balls, but once again Fleming failed miserably, he gave a catch to Sanath which was dropped but he could not utilise his luck. Raina too failed and it was left for skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (43 not out) and Subramaniam Badrinath (53) to lift the batting. The pitch seemed to help the bowlers but it suited to the only one player and that was Jayasurya.

Super Kings for once were reeling at 46 for four in the ninth over after Dhawal Kulkarni removed Stephen Fleming (26) and Chamara Kapugedera (0) in his second over.

Shaun Pollock conceded just nine runs in his quota of four overs.

The last five overs produced 67 runs as the Super Kings were able to put up a fighting total of 156 off their 20 overs.

Badrinath lost his wicket in the penultimate over attempting to step up the scoring. Morkel could not do much since he faced only one over.

SCORE-BOARD

Chennai Super Kings innings:

Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan c Raje b Pollock 16 (11b, 3 x 4)

Stephen Fleming b Kulkarni 26 (29b, 4 x 4)

S Badrinath c and b Bravo 53 (33b, 2 x 6, 7 x 4)

Chamara Kapugedera c Takawale b Kulkarni 0 (2b)

MS Dhoni (not out) 43 (35b, 1 x 6, 6 x 4)

Albie Morkel c Uthappa b Kulkarni 5 (4b, 1 x 4)

Extras (lb-3, w-9): 12

Total (for 6 wkts, 20 overs): 156

Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Vidyut, 2.5); 2-28 (Raina, 5.5); 3-46 (Fleming, 8.3); 4-46 (Chamara, 8.5).

Bowling: Shaun Pollock 4-0-9-1; Ashish Nehra 4-0-31-0 (1w); Dwayne Bravo 4-0-37-2; Dhawal Kulkarni 4-0-33-3 (4w); Rohan Raje DJ Thornely 1-0-10-0 (1w).

Mumbai Indians innings:

Sanath Jayasuriya (not out) 114 (48b, 11 x 6, 9 x 4)

Sachin Tendulkar b Joginder 12 (16b, 1 x 6, 1 x 4)

Robin Uthappa (not out) 16 (19b, 2 x 4)

Extras (lb-4, w-12): 16

Total (for 1 wkt, 13.5 overs): 158

Fall of wickets: 1-82 (Tendulkar, 7.2).

Bowling: Manpreet Gony 3-0-31-0 (3w); Albie Morkel 3-0-44-0 (2w); Lakshmipathy Balaji 2-0-9-0 (3w); Joginder Sharma 3-0-24-1 (2w); Muttiah Muralitharan 2-0-20-0 (1w); Chamara Kapugedera 0.5-0-26-0.