INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE

In 2nd semi-final of IPL at Wankhade Stadium Mumbai, Chennai Superkings totally outclassed Kings XI Punjab to enter finals. As first semi-final this match too turned out to be totally one sided.

After winning the toss and electing themselves to bat Kings XI Punjab were completely taken by surprise cunning game plan of Chennai. Muralitharan bowled the first over, followed by hit-the-deck short balls from Chennai pacers and never really allowed Punjab batsmen to score freely. It seems the SuperKings had taken a leaf out Rajasthan’s strategy on previous day. And it paid off really well, as they got the ‘orange-cap’ bearer Shaun Marsh early in the innings. Other key batsmen also followed the suit either by playing poor shots or by suicidal run-outs making it as an absolute harakiri. Then, with the help of some late shots by Romesh Powar Kings XI managed to get past 100 run mark and set the target of 113 for Chennai.

Chasing a modest total, Chennai started the run chase in a circumspect manner and lost only 1-wicket in power-play phase. After sustaining the initial attack, Parthiv Patel(51 n.o.) holding the one end and Suresh Raina(55 n.o.) playing some flamboyant strokes the other end completed the formalities.

For Chennai Superkings it’s going to be grand finale with the table leaders Rajasthan. And from counter perspective this results marks the end of IPL campaign for King-XI-Punjab, for a perfect franchise team; owned by a celebrity and with good mix of international, experienced, talented and young players. It really was not their day.

Well, it would be frank to say that first semi final was a no contest. Rajasthan clearly showed their class against hapless Delhi, much like the Australians show up in international arena in crucial matches, making the opponent irrelevant. The biggest mistake Delhi did was, even after winning the toss, it chose to field and paid the price. Rajasthan’s shaky middle order could have created opportunities if Delhi had them chasing a total. But Sehwag thought otherwise.

Rajasthan put into bat by Delhi scored an impression 192/9 in 20 overs. Shane Watson’s 52(29) and Yusuf Pathan’s 45(21) helped Rajasthan’s cause and not to forget contributions from Smith 25(21) and Asnodkar 39(21), the openers. Yusuf justified his selection into national team by this knock. How easily hit could hit those 3 6’s? I always felt Delhi was always 2-men show involving Sehwag and Gambhir. If you get them out your job is half done. That is exactly what happened here. With Sehwag 3(4), Gambir 15(11) back in the pavillion with 23 on board, Delhi could hardly fight the mighty Rajasthanis. Hero here also was Shane Watson, who took top order 3 wickets(V Sehwag, G Gambhir and S Dhawan) for 10 runs bowling 3 overs, which damaged the chances of Delhi winning. His well directed short deliveries in the match ensured Delhi does not score at a brisk rate and loose wickets too. Munaf Patel also came up with 3 wickets. Warne took 2 wickets while Trivedi took 1 wicket of Dinesh Karthik.

Rajasthan deserve to be in the IPL finals with 11 wins under their belt in the league stage. It has been a long way for this team to reach this stage. Odds were against them when they started their compaign with no star cricketer except Shane Warne. And now they are one win away from glory of lifting inaugural IPL trophy. I feel looking at today’s performance, they are going to be the winners in the finals on June 1.

In a must win game Chennai Superkings defeated Deccan Chargers to become fourth and the last team to qualify for semi-finals with 16 points. The league has not been a smooth ride for the Superkings, the initial four consecutive wins was followed by a roller coaster patch. Things became so bad that they were even stunned by one of the worst performing teams - Bangalore Royal Challengers in a low scoring contest.

This is win for Chennai means end of IPL dream for Mumbai Indians, who currently at 12 points and one to play, have no chance of qualifying. Last week, it was looking like the team Mumbai were on the course of scripting one of unbelievable fairytale in cricket after six consecutive victories. Then all of a sudden they lost three very close games on the trot. Yesterday’s game against Rajasthan was a real blunder. They gave away 32 runs in last two overs by playing schoolboy-cricket in spite of having so many experienced player in the side.