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Shane Warne’s Last Professional Match

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It is nice to see Shane Warne ending his last professional cricket match by leading his team Rajasthan Royals to a big win over fancied Mumbai Indians. Also taking a wicket in last over. It would have been nicer if the Royals had qualified for the play-offs and he could have lead them to another IPL trophy. But you cannot have everything.

Shane Warne is among the few Australian cricketers I have come to liking. Generally, I start out disliking most Australian cricketers (except for some notables like Allan Border, Bruce Reid) and stay that way. The few that have changed my mind are Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Adam Gilchrist. No, I don’t like Ricky Ponting and I don’t think I will ever like Michael Clarke either, though he has time to try.

This almost ends the era of the master spinners, of whom Warne, Muralitharan and Kumble were primary. I am not sure where Murali stands on the whole retirement thing, but he will probably be wrapping up things soon enough. We don’t seem to have any bowlers approaching their caliber and probably won’t have for sometime.

Meanwhile, are Mumbai going to have the most gigantic hiccup to crash out the tournament after consistently topping the group for most of the time.

IPL 2011 Points Progression

After each round of matches, Mumbai was at the top in terms of points and was outright leader after the early matches. Now, after a few losses, they are one loss away from missing the playoffs, assuming Punjab keep up their surprising comeback.

Rajasthan Finally Win a Chase

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Before the match started, I was very curious to know what each team would do if they won the boss. Delhi has a great batting lineup and they have been very comfortable in chasing down scores. They were also able to put the screws on teams batting first, especially with Vettori coming on after the “tactical” timeout. Rajasthan, on the contrary, failed miserably twice when batting second. Their bowling has been good enough to restrict opposing teams, but their batting let them down.

It would have been an interesting match if Delhi had decided to chase. But Delhi Daredevils seemed to look at Rajasthan’s weakness and decided, “Let’s play against their Achilles’ Heel instead of playing to our strength.” Unfortunately, even though the Rajasthan Royals had a typical batting wobble, this time, they were able to overcome it and reverse a troubling trend. Like their previous victory against Kolkata Knight Riders, they cannot avoid bringing some drama to their matches.

Earlier in the day, Delhi had lost too many wickets at the beginning of the innings, but once again Rajasthan didn’t keep the pressure on the 5th wicket pair who added 56 runs off 8 overs. de Villiers continued his good form in the tournament with a fifty and Delhi, aided by contributions from Vettori and Manhas, reached 143, which is not a huge total, but a plausible winning total against the fickle Rajasthan Royals batting order.

143 definitely seemed an extravagant target after Rajasthan stumbled to 64/5 after the 11th over. However, a struggling Graeme Smith was determined to see the match through and a spectacular 30-ball 62 by Yusuf Pathan blew away the Delhi Daredevils. Daniel Vettori was totally ineffective this time around and Rajasthan won with 9 balls to spare, such was the ferocity of the assault.

The result of this match has been against the flow of events in the tournament. Delhi had momentum with 3 consecutive victories. And Rajasthan’s sole victory was courtesy the Super Over. Now, this throws open new possibilities for every team to reach the semi-finals. Let us have a look at the Points table again.

Team                          Matches Points   Points/Match   Net Run Rate

Deccan Chargers               4       8        2.00           +1.33
Delhi Daredevils              4       6        1.50           +0.21
Mumbai Indians                4       5        1.25           +1.65
Kings XI Punjab               4       4        1.00           +0.27
Rajasthan Royals              5       5        1.00           -1.11
Chennai Super Kings           5       3        0.60           +0.70
Kolkata Knight Riders         5       3        0.60           -2.01
Bangalore Royal Challengers   5       2        0.40           -0.60

The 1.00 score for the Points/Match is the safety line. The lower you go below it, the greater effort you have to put to keep yourself in the running for the semi-finals. A washed-out match could be disastrous for you because it prevents you from closing the gap with the others. Right now, Chennai, Kolkata and Bangalore are seriously in trouble. And conversely, Deccan is in a very comfortable position.

Rajasthan is not quite out of the woods yet because another defeat could pull them back. They still do not have their batting problems sorted out and they have a huge deficit in the NRR (the second worst in the league). They have played one more match than the Top Four, though that problem will be solved when Mumbai and Punjab meet tomorrow. Rajasthan would probably want Punjab to beat Mumbai because Mumbai has an easy match against Bangalore in its first round of matches, while Punjab has to face Chennai and Deccan next.

What that means in simple terms is that the bottom-placed teams need the top teams to lose a few among themselves, because if any team starts winning against everyone else, there is one fewer semi-final spot. At this moment, Deccan has almost eliminated one spot and Delhi seemed to be on the same path, but for their setback today. Rajasthan wouldn’t mind Deccan defeating everyone else if they could somehow snap Deccan’s streak thus gaining two points that no one gets.

[Photo licensed from Koshyk]

Rajasthan Join Bangalore in the Depths

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Another double header today. As expected, Delhi Daredevils beat Bangalore Royal Challengers, but not quite the way they would have liked. The Bangalore bowlers put up a stiff resistance before giving it away in the final overs. With enough wickets in hand, Delhi were able to raise their game and win with a few balls to spare. Bangalore’s batting continues to disappoint and with a single win from five matches and with little improvement in form, their tournament seems about to end.

The bowling of Rajasthan Royals continues to impress as they restricted Kings XI Punjab to a gettable 139, but another batting slump put them in the same zip code as Bangalore. With 3 points from 4 games, they are now second last. They have serious batting problems especially with the opening pair. Instead of a calm chase, too many batsmen threw away their wickets and at one point, Rajasthan threatened to beat their previous low against Bangalore. Whatever momentum they had gained against Kolkata has been lost. They are not yet as much in the doldrums as Bangalore, but they have to start turning things very quickly.

The only thing saving Rajasthan has been the erratic form of all the other teams and the rain factor which killed two matches and was partly responsible for Punjab losing their initial matches. With five teams at 3 and 4 points, teams that can turn around their form still have a chance. Tomorrow’s match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians assumes greater significance. If Mumbai lose, that continues to keep everyone on the same level. Now, if they can just stop the runaway trains of Deccan and Delhi.

[Photo licensed from badjonni]

Live-Blogging Kings XI Punjab versus Rajasthan Royals – Part Two

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My pick for the Man of the Match: Sangakkara. The Punjab bowlers deserve a collective kudos. That’s it for today!

Over 20: Kings XI are back in the running after their two rain-affected defeats. Their batting needs some more work, but they have the momentum and their bowling has been immaculate today. For Rajasthan, they are back to Square One.

Over 19: Jadeja gone. The partnership with Warne served to get Rajasthan to a respectable total. They will have to seriously tackle their batting failures in this match. Punjab’s bowlers were excellent and helped with some atrocious shots by the Royals.

Over 18: Punjab almost there. Keeping Rajasthan down to singles. Their game to lose now.

Over 17: Better over. 10 off it. But not enough. 44 off the last three overs. Wickets are no longer part of the equation, though each wicket means a wasted ball. Rajasthan needs some sixes if they want to survive this one.

Over 16: Definitely the wrong match to live-blog about. 4 runs off the over. Rajasthan’s challenge almost certainly dead.

Over 15: This chase is going nowhere. 7 runs off it. RRR almost upto 12. 58 runs off 30 balls. Punjab bowlers giving nothing away.

Over 14: Yuvraj gives just 5 away. Rajasthan are fast running out of balls.

Over 13: Good over by Chawla tightens the screws on Rajasthan. RRR now 10 per over. Rajasthan need a very big over to turn things around. And they need to do it without losing any more wickets. 71/6 – halfway there.

Over 12: Rajasthan silently pass their lowest score. A boundary in the over, but miles to go. Punjab still hold all the cards. 66/6.

Over 11: Whatever the Rajasthan players drank during the break did some good as they hit two boundaries without any loss. 58/6.

Over 10: No damage this time. But Rajasthan are well behind the RRR and with only four wickets in hand, staring down the barrel. It remains to be seen if they can even overhaul their Bangalore total first. Timeout time.

Over 9: Another Rajasthan Royal throws his bat around and plunges the team further into the dumps. Warne comes in. Let’s see if he can bring some captaincy heroics this time.

Over 8: Required Run Rate starts coming into play. It is now up to 8.25. With the demons in the pitch, that may be too insurmountable. Kudos to the Punjab duo of Sangakkara and Pathan to get them to where they are. Rajasthan need a similar partnership.

Over 7: This should be done soon. It is painful watching the reigning champs play like chumps. And seeing Deccan reverse their form from last year, it seems that all prior predictions can be thrown out the window.

Over 6: A boundary every over for Rajasthan – the wickets are what is killing them. They could have easily won this one by singles and the odd boundary. But without wickets in hand, the required run rate keeps mounting.

Over 5: Will Rajasthan repeat their performance against Bangalore? Another two wickets go down for Rajasthan. Chasing does not seem to be their game.

Over 4: Yusuf Pathan strikes two terrific blows to the boundary on each side of the wicket off his brother. He has to stay there for Rajasthan to close this one out. Irfan Pathan still swinging.

Over 3: Better over for Rajasthan. Warne should spend some more thinking time on the batting side of the equation from the next match onward.

Over 2: Powar the fielder gets a wicket off Pathan as Swapnil Asnodkar throws away his wicket. Pathan snags Smith off the final ball to put Rajasthan in deep trouble. Rajasthan should get a new opening pair after this match.

Over 1: Punjab surprisingly open with Powar. The result does not point to any captaincy brilliance as Rajasthan milk him for singles and he gives away a wide.

Rajasthan need 140 to win.

Live-Blogging Kings XI Punjab versus Rajasthan Royals

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Over 20: Good final over keeps Punjab down to 139/6. Rajasthan need to score an easy 7 runs an over to win. If there is no repeat of their fiasco against Bangalore, they should win it. Much depends on the pitch.

Over 19: Two wickets fall just when Punjab had to accelerate. Sangakkara makes a good fifty. Kamran keeps impressing.

Over 18: Shane Warne concedes 12, but Punjab still behind where they need to be. Check out our user community at http://www.kridaya.com to chat with other cricket lovers.

Over 17: Kamran Khan comes back and reduces Punjab’s momentum a bit by conceding only 3 runs.

Over 16: A well-struck boundary brings up the 100 of Punjab’s innings.

Over 15: Irfan thrashes another one out off his brother’s bowling. Punjab puts its foot to the pedal. 12 more runs. 98/4.

Over 14: Cheeky shot by Sangakkara brings runs. A better over for Punjab. 10 runs off it brings them to 86/4. 10 each off the next 6 would help them reach a competitive 146.

Over 13: And now 5 singles. An ugly slog by Sangakkara fails to connect. Punjab 76/4 at a RR of 5.84.

Over 12: One four per over is not going to be good enough. Punjab needs to get going faster. Rajasthan rushing through their overs.

Over 11: Rajasthan keeps Punjab tied down. Just three singles from the over.

Over 10: Irfan Pathan was dying to hit Warne out of the ground. Warne thwarted him twice, but he was not to be denied. The first six of the match. But Punjab still struggling at 60/4 mid-way through their innings.

Over 9: Jayawardene goes to a bad stroke. It is obvious that one side of the pitch is offering much more than the other.

Over 8: A quiet over. This is not looking good for Punjab. So far, only a few boundary hits and no sixes.

Over 7: Yuvraj departs. Rajasthan keeping Punjab in check. The Sri Lankan power duo at the crease.

Over 6: Last ball four and 3 wides spoil an otherwise good over. Rajasthan should watch the extras.

Over 5: Bopara goes as Kamran comes back. Not sure why Shane Warne made this decision, but it worked. An almost run-out, 2 wides and a boundary. Keeps Punjab in the hunt, but 2 wickets down is not a place to be.

Over 4: A pre-meditated stroke from Bopara flies to the boundary. Sangakkara goes the aerial route and succeeds.

Over 3: Aah, Beautiful stroke from Ravi Bopara. But another good over from Rajasthan. Kamran held back after the first over. What plans does Warne have up his sleeve?

Over 2: The edged boundary gets Punjab some runs.

Over 1: First-ball wicket for Rajasthan. You never want to lose a wicket through a silly run-out and definitely not off your first ball. Almost maiden-wicket if it weren’t for the wide.

Punjab wins the toss and elect to bat. This is a battle of two giants who surprisingly are down in the Points Table after three matches each.

IPL Second Round of Matches

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After the hectic first two days with all the eight teams playing each other over four matches, we had three days with a single match each. That is not what the organizers intended because Tuesday was supposed to be a 2-match day, but the rain merchants had other plans. So much for choosing South Africa over England based on the weather patterns. Hasn’t the IPL folks heard about global climate change yet? Anyway, let’s go to the matches.

The most important result of these would be the washout between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals. Each could have gained an additional point, but the bigger issue is that this reduces the possibility of run rate coming into account for these teams when the semifinalists are being decided. We will know only at the later part of the group matches how important this additional point is.

Bangalore Royal Challengers upset Rajasthan in their first match by a spectacular bowling performance, but the bowlers apologized for that by giving away the highest IPL 2009 scores to date against Chennai Super Kings and Deccan Chargers. Their batting continues to be brittle and weak, except for (surprise!) Rahul Dravid. Bangalore, their first win notwithstanding, seem primed to repeat their last year performance unless they have a major improvement in batting and bowling.

Deccan Chargers, with two wins out of two matches, stands at the top of the Points Table. This is unlikely to continue since their wins have been against Bangalore and another of last year’s losers Kolkata Knight Riders. However, the Deccan batting has been impressive. Gilchrist will be playing more matches this year. So who knows?

Kings XI Punjab is the surprise at the bottom of the table primarily due to bad luck. Both their matches were rain affected. The first rain-interrupted match set a laughable target of 54 runs from 6 overs for the destructive Delhi duo of Sehwag and Gambhir. And in the second match, Kolkata won the match without even finishing half their overs. Of course, Punjab’s batting and bowling were not flawless, but they never got the chance to overcome initial setbacks.

At this juncture, most teams are evenly placed. The biggest setbacks have been for Punjab and Bangalore with 2 losses each. As we mentioned, Deccan’s success should not be overrated since it has come at the expense that they had good chances against. Defending champions Rajasthan is behind, but if they are not in full force yet, they probably saved a point because of the washed out match. Chennai and Kolkata remain in the running.

Tomorrow is a big day. Delhi face off against Chennai. Since this is Delhi’s second match, it is not critical for them. But if Chennai loses, that is their second loss against the stronger teams. For the record, we are counting Bangalore, Deccan and Kolkata as easy pickings unless proved otherwise by their form against the other teams. This means that matches among Rajasthan, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Punjab assume greater significance.

[Photo licensed from Bala]

IPL First Day Roundup

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The first day of the 2009 edition of the Indian Premier League was a damp squib compared to last year’s inaugural day when Brendon McCullum went berserk with a monumental 158 not out from only 73 balls. This year, the biggest highlight, in my opinion, was the dog Bruno which ran into the field and held up play for about 10 minutes while the organizers looked on aghast counting the advertising dollars that could be affected.

It was good to see the senior Indian cricket heroes (Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble) topping the batting and bowling on the first day. Unlike a typical Twenty20 match that is terribly unfair to bowlers, the two matches on display was an even match between the batsmen and the bowlers, the latter growing stronger as the night progressed. Each total of the day was successively smaller until we finally got the lowest IPL score made by the favored reigning champions Rajasthan Royals.

The two finalists of last year, the Royals and Chennai Super Kings, had a forgettable day, but part of the blame has to reside with the unfamiliar match conditions and for the anchor roles played by Tendulkar and Dravid that helped their teams post fighting scores. Teams will need to change their tactics to adjust to the different playing conditions. At this point, the Points table is pretty much irrelevant, so we will skip it until the second round of matches start.

So what is the buzz in the blogosphere?

[Photo licensed from warrenski]

Ravindra A Jadeja deserves the call for Indian Team

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Saurashtra all-rounder Ravindra A Jadeja, who was in excellent form in the 2008-09 Ranji Trophy Series has caught the attention of the national selectors. Jadeja has been selected for the Indian Team for the short tour of Srilanka. His all-round performance in the current Ranji Trophy (scoring 739 runs and taking 42 wickets) has been rightly recognized by the national selectors.

Jadeja who bats left-hand and bowls left-hand orthodox spin, can play the role of an allrounder in the Indian team. He has the ability to score a quick 40 runs in the middle order and take a few quick wickets in the middle overs.

Jadeja was also part of India’s World Cup-winning Under-19 squad and the IPL champions Rajasthan Royals last year. I saw Jadeja’s performance under pressure in the Rajasthan Royals’ game against Kings XI Punjab in the IPL. Jadeja walked in when his team was down 4 wickets for just 99 runs on the board. His unbeaten 36 and valuable 69-run partnership with Watson helped in Rajasthan’s first victory. Jadeja appeared to be a very patient & cool-headed player when he took an important catch at long on in the IPL championship final against the Chennai Super Kings team.

I am sure that Jadeja will start with a bang and play with positive attitude and enthusiasm.