Indian Premiere League - Twenty20 Cricket

McCullum fireworks with his bat is the attraction for the inaugural IPL event - A perfect start for the much awaited twenty20 tournament.

19th April 2008

Chennai Super Kings Vs Kings XI Punjab - 5 P.M.

For latest on Chennai Super Kings games and comments visit CSK'S Hub at http://hubpages.com/_cricket/hub/chennaisuperking

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is leading Chennai team and Yuvaraj Singh Kings Xi Punjab. Both are good players but are not consistent players. Their ability comes out only once in a way. Luck has always been favouring Dhoni as a Captain.

The Yuvraj-led team has a formidable batting line-up with Mahela Jayawardene, Simon Katich, Kumar Sangakkara, and youngsters like Karan Goel and Uday Kaul in the side.

Australian pacer Brett Lee is spearheading the bowling attack along with S Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan.

Could Yuvraj, who hit six sixes in one over in the ICC T20 World Cup last year repeat the feat in the upcoming competition is a big question mark considering his failures recently.

20:00 Hrs - 19-04-08

• Michael Hussey shows the door to Kings XI Punjab.
• Marks given at end on each player.

Chennai Super Kings Team

• Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain)

• Muttiah Muralitharan

• Stephen Fleming

• Matthew Hayden

• Michael Hussey

• Makhaya Ntini

• Jacob Oram

• Parthiv Patel (w/k)

• Suresh Raina

• Albie Morkel

• Viraj Vilas Kadbe

• Palani Amarnath

• Manpreet Gony

• Srikkanth Anirudha

• R Ashwin

• Napoleon Einstein

• Subramaniam Badrinath

• Lakshmipathy Balaji

• Shadab Jakati

• Joginder Sharma

• Arun Karthik

• Suresh Kumar

• Abhinav Mukund

• Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan

• Coach: Kepler Wessels

Vijay and Nayanthara will add glamour to IPL's Twenty: 20 matches. Both of them will endorse Chennai Super Kings The team has the logo of a roaring lion and and their tagline goes: Fearless entertainers who will play to win.

Player to watch Hayden, Jacob Oram and S Badrinath. Second rung players Dhoni, Murali, Fleming and Hussey. It is interesting to see if the local boys could show their talents, the likes of Srikanth Anirudh and Vidyut Shivaramakrishnan. What could Balaji and Parthiv Patel could contribute should be seen.

20:00 hrs 19-04-08 - updated

As expected Dhoni fails on all counts whether it is his batting or Wicket Keeping. Still luck is following him. It was the Superb Knock of M Hussey which did the trick able supported by other players especially S Raina and S Badrinath.

My ratings and marks are as below:-

M Hussey - 100 marks

S Badrinath - 100 marks

S Raina - 99 marks

Muralidharan - 80 marks - Fielding + Bowling (one catch dropped)

Palani Amarnath - 75 marks - Good bowling at important Junctures.

Hayden -50 marks - Batting (Some missed fielding)

P Patel -45 marks - Batting (Opening faced good)

Oram -45 marks Bowling and batting

Joginder -45 marks Bowling

Gony -45 marks Bowling

Dhoni -20 marks Poor Wicket-keeping and batting. - He is unable to read the bowling of Murali and lost one stumping chance. One ball from Murali deceived not only the batsman but the wicket keeper and the slip fielder too. The master bowler is need of some support to get wickets in his future matches.

Overall performance - Needs improvement.

Chennai Super Kings Vs Mumbai Indians

Chennai, April 23: It was the opener Matthew Hayden (81, 46b, 12 x 4, 2 x 6), who was later declared Man of the Match, and Suresh Raina (56, 3 x 4, 3 x 6) whose century partnership for the third wicket and later Dhoni which helped Team Chennai to post a good total.

When Dhoni entered for batting heart started thumping for the fans of Team Chennai, why on earth the out of form Dhoni should enter now? was the question in everybody's mind. S.Badrinath should have entered even Jacob Oram would have been a good choice. It is a known fact that Dhoni nowadays is not a hardhitter of the ball, his game always reflects some selfish tendencies. But toady somehow he was able to hit some sixers. Hayden and Dhoni added 51 runs off 24 deliveries before the former was run out in the penultimate over.

Chennai Super Kings, won by six runs in a thrilling Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament match here on the night of 23rd April 2008.

Chasing a victory target of 209, Mumbai Indians, who had lost their previous game to Bangalore Royal Challengers, were in a hopeless position at one stage after losing wickets at regular intervals. It was Abhishek Nayar who came up with a fighting innings of 45 not out raised hopes of a victory for the visitors.

Joginder Sharma looked tense in bowling the final over during which he went for two boundaries besides sending down a no-ball. The run taken on that no ball proved blessing since the batsman Nayar went to the non-strikers end and Nehra could not handle the bowling and thus Chennai Super Kings recorded their second consecutive victory in the tournament.

Mumbai Indians were always behind the asking rate and although Robin Uthappa (43, 36b, 1 x 6, 6 x 4) and Dwayne Bravo (24, 16b), raised their hopes, the task eventually was just out of their reach.

However, Mumbai had their chances when off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan could not bowl well with the ball not coming to his grip due the wet conditions on that late night. The Sri Lankan ace began with three wide balls in the first over and did not settle into any sort of rhythm since the ball always was threatening to slip from his hand. But he had his last laugh when he enticed Musavir Kote and Harbhajan into playing the big shots only to hole out. This showed his greatness and the command that he had in his bowling under difficult wet conditions.

SCORE-BOARD

Chennai Super Kings innings:

Parthiv Patel c Ronchi b Nehra 14 (11b, 3 x 4)

Matthew Hayden (run out - Harbhajan) 81 (46b, 2 x 6, 12 x 4)

Mike Hussey b Kulkarni 5 (9b, 1 x 4)

Suresh Raina c Bravo b Kote 53 (37b, 3 x 6, 3 x 4)

M S Dhoni c Bravo b Kote 30 (16b, 4 x 4, 1 x 6)

Jacob Oram (not out) 5 (2b 1 x 4)

S Badrinath (not out) 2 (1b)

Extras (b4, lb3, w9, 2nb) :18

Total (for 5 wkts, 20 overs): 208.

Fall of wickets: 1-34 (Patel, 3.1), 2-39 (Hussey, 4.4), 3-143 (Raina, 14.6), 4-194 (Hayden, 19.6), 5-206 (Dhoni, 19.5)

Bowling: Shaun Pollock 3-0-32-0 (1w); Ashish Nehra 4-0-35-1 (2w, 1nb); Dhawal Kulkarni 3-0-25-1 (1nb); Harbhajan Singh 2-0-14-0; Dwayne Bravo 3-0-36-0 (1w); Vikrant Yelligetti 1-0-16-0 (5w); Abhishek Nayar 1-0-14-0; Musavir Kote 3-0-29-2.

Mumbai Indians innings:

Luke Ronchi (run out - Badrinath) 2 (3b)

Sanath Jayasuriya c Joginder b Gony 20 (11b, 4 x 4)

Robin Uthappa b Joginder 43 (36b, 1 x 6, 6 x 4)

Shaun Pollock b Amarnath 17 (15b, 1 x 6)

Dwayne Bravo c Oram b Joginder 24 (16b, 1 x 6, 2 x 4)

Abhishek Nayar (not out) 45 (20b, 1 x 6, 1 x 5, 6 x 4)

Musavir Kote c Raina b Muralitharan 9 (5b, 1 x 6)

Harbhajan Singh c Badrinath b Muralitharan 28 (14b, 3 x 6, 1 x 4)

Ashish Nehra (not out) 1 (2b)

Extras (lb5, w6, nb2): 13.

Total (for 7 wkts, 20 overs): 202

Fall of wickets: 1-9 (Ronchi, 1.6), 2-30 (Jayasuriya, 3.4), 3-81 (Uthappa, 9.4), 4-97 (Pollock, 11.4), 5-130 (Bravo, 14.2), 6-141 (Kote, 15.3), 7-189 (Harbhajan, 18.5).

Bowling: Jacob Oram 4-0-53-0 (2w); Manpreet Gony 4-1-18-1 (1nb); Joginder Sharma 4-0-29-2 (1nb); Palani Amarnath 4-0-57-1; Muttiah Muralitharan 4-0-40-2 (4w).