Indian Premier League (IPL)

Match 46: Chennai Super Kings vs. Bangalore Royal Challengers

Bangalore who are supposed to under dogs due to successive defeats over almost every team now confident to display some show in remaining matches. Rahul Dravid who had performed much well in IPL tournament won the toss and choosen to bat first. Batting line-up as always faulted again in this match. Early wickets and low average caused  problems for Bangalore Royal Challengers. Only Rahul Dravid stayed at wicket who ensured Royal Challengers to have a compitable total of 126. Great bowling effort by Chennai Super Kings who restricted Bangalore to modest total. Albie Morkel strike 4 wickets and Dravid remained top score by scoring 47 runs.

Chasing a low score opening batsmen Parthiv Patel and Stephen Fleming as always given a revolution start to Chennai Super Kings. At the end of 9th over they were well placed towards win scoring 60-0 but suddenly game changed when early wickets of Patel and then Dhoni fallen. It created gateway for Kumble to attack and grab more. Leg spinner also removed Fleming and given yet another major wicket. Dale Steyn seen in full-swing he also grabbed two victims in which his national mate Morkel and Vidyut included. Suresh Raina stayed till the last ball of match but he was unable to retreive his team towards victory however Parveen Kumar bowled awesomely under immense pressure. Dravid XI Bangalore Royal Challengers won by 14 runs and ensure that they came late but effective now they uplifted Deccan Chargers from 8th to 7th place. Although it wont matter Challengers arrival in Semis but it can boost moral and confidence for upcoming matches and next season. MS Dhoni termed defeat as poor selection by batting line up bowling done their work it was useless shots which created loose. Anil Kumble named man of the match for his magnificient bowling figures 3-14 which turned out victory for Challengers

Match 43: Delhi DareDevils vs. Royal Challengers Bangalore

Delhi DareDevils Captaing Virendar Sehwag won the toss and choosen to field first. Royal Challengers who are out of IPL for sure tried something special in batting strategy. Jacques Kallis promoted upto batting order with Chipli. Chipli felt early but newly debutant Goswami shown fantastic batting display with impressive shots selection. Meanwhile wickets of Kallis and Dravid fallen down but Goswami continued to show his batting magic. Even Misbah-ul-Haq joined him came @ 5th place. Misbah who is not picked much runs in IPL content looking to steer his team towards decisive and compatible total. After reaching half-century Goswami dismissed by Maharoof. After his departure two instant run outs in quick time created more problems for Challengers infact Misbah-ul-Haq stood and realised his importance to reach anything defendable for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Glenn McGrath also bang on target grabbed twice also Maharoof too. Misbah in search for boundaries found himself lucky to get it on crucial period of time. Last over proved to costly for Delhi DareDevils, Rajat Bhatia given 24 runs including 3 massive sixes and 1 boundaries by Misbah-ul-Haq. Royal Challengers setup competetive total of 154-7

Most destructive batting combination Gautam Gambhir and Virendar Sehwag came out to bat again in fabolous fashion. Opening partnership stand given 90 runs in which flory of boundaries and beautiful shots included. Suddenly Parveen Kumar striked Sehwag in 7 over of innings which created something for other bowlers to attack on. Gautam Gambhir unfortunately ran out due to confusion after scoring splendid 39 runs. After fall of few wickets things become unfamiliar for Royal Challengers. as Shikhar Dhawan came out late in order to finish off target superbly. Delhi DareDevils won by 5 wickets and with 15 balls to spare. It was must win match for Delhi DareDevils. Surprisely Goswami awarded as Man of the Match for his fine knock of 52 runs.

Match 39 - Rajasthan Royals vs. Royal Challengers

Royal Challengers Bangalore who are looking to win over against any team of IPL and up against Rajasthan Royals most destructive team throughout tournament. Rahul Dravid won the toss elected to field first. Zaheer Khan and Praveen Kumar opened bowling attack for Bangalore Royal Challengers. The batting pair for Rajasthan Royals were Graeme Smith and Asnodkar. Smith and Asodhkar formed great batting partnership of over 100 runs. In which plenty of boundaries and massive sixes involved. All bowlers including Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Jacques Kallis with Abdur Razzak went expensive without any victim. Infact veteran Anil Kumble dismissed Asnodhkar after scoring half-century then Shane Watson came in to join party of Smith and steered batting total towards 197 runs. Smith looked impressive with his unbeaten 75 runs including 8 boundaries and 2 maximum sixes. Shane Watson also stayed unbeaten on 46 runs.

Rajasthan Royals prime bowler Sohail Tanvir started off preceeding in grand fashion. Tanvir on target from his very over. Wickets started to tumble over by over for Royal Challengers Bangalore as always looked to find anyone to settle @ wicket. Misbah-ul-Haq again felt earlier alongside Kallis, Cameron White and Patil without any impressive scores. Rahul Dravid the only runs machine for Bangalore leading from front and begun to do counter attack against Rajasthan Royals. Dravid who always looked to get any partner to consilidate with him. He looked in total aggressive mode scoring 50 runs off 25  balls. However he unable to reach his side towards win but Dravid stayed unbeaten on 75 runs including 6 boundaries and 6 massive sixes. Sohail Tanvir and Shane Warne grabbed 3 wickets each. Rajasthan Royals won by 65 runs. Graeme Smith awarded as man of the match for his brilliant 75 runs.

Match 34 - Royal Challengers vs. Kings XI Punjab

Kings XI Punjab who are up against underdogs of IPL tournament in their home ground PCA Mohali. Kings XI Punjab considered to be strongest contender of IPL with solid combination of players. Royal Challengers won the toss and Rahul Dravid elected to bat first. Misbah-ul-Haq included in squad yet again with ArunKumar. Royal Challengers slightly alter their tactics as Arunkumar and Kohli opened up innings Arunkumar felt early with fantastic bowling from Sreesanth. After 1st dismissal Misbah came in at number 3. From beginning he looks in fine touch and started to consolidate. Incidently he get out hit wicket in bowling of Sreesanth he scored quick 21 runs off 8 balls including 3 4’s and 1 6’s. Cameron White arrived who is still looking to impress in IPL. V Kohli also went out scoring same 21 runs. Then Rahul Dravid skipper joined Cameron White. After scoring 25 runs partnership White simply get out. RCB struggling and searching for parnterships then Mark Boucher arrived to develop any how platform to raise the runs momentum for RCB. Meanwhile Irfan Pathan, Piyush Chawla and Sreesaanth applied pressure constantly and took wickets in regular intervals. Rahul Dravid also removed by brilliant yorker from Pathan he scored 29 runs. Parveen Kumar came in to join Mark Boucher but no one seemed to settle for long as flory of wickets again started to tumble for RCB. They scored 144 for the loss of 8 wickets with a run rate of 7.15 per over.

Kings XI Punjab who are relatively good chaser batting second except last match against Chennai they batted much well. Shaun Marsh and James Hopes opened up for Kings XI Punjab. Marsh who is in premium form pulled off things for Kings XI Punjab quite brilliant. After dismissal of Hopes another young Aussie came to join fellow mate Pomersbach and continue to provide momentum in run chase for 144. However Marsh reached his second half-century of the tournament. Pace Attack of RCB unable to provide any major breakthroughs. Infact Anil Kumble also remained wicketless along with Zaheer Khan. Shaun Marsh and Pomerbach sealed off target within 15.4 overs with handy run rate of 9.19 runs per over. Another loss for Royal Challengers Bangalore which suffers team for more problems any how there is no more chance to reach any respective position in standings. Kings XI Punjab won comprehensively by 9 wickets Shaun Marsh again rewarded as Man of the Match second time for his brilliant knock of 71 runs.

If we recall the last meeting it was a one sided affair ,yes the very first match but this time it was a different story Kokata were seeking a win after loosing four games in succession.

The game was reduced to 16 overs a side but Kolkata managed a fine 129/7 thanks to last 3 good productive overs

The second Innings was all action wickets , runout brilliance in field from hodge and taibu.and excelence in batting.

Ganguly had limped to a run-a-ball 20 with the bat, but his miserly spell - 3 for 7 from three overs - choked a stumbling chase of 130 in 16 overs that, despite a flurry towards the end from Mark Boucher, was always behind the eight ball. It was Ganguly’s canny bowling, after Brad Hodge produced a superb direct hit from backward point to get rid of J Arunkumar, that perhaps decided the outcome. Bangalore’s top order failed to keep pace and Ganguly, clearly charged up by the occasion, struck a huge blow by bowling his opposite number Rahul Dravid. By the time Ganguly was done Bangalore needed 78 off 36 balls, a near-impossible task. Cameron White and Boucher played good hands, the latter almost pulling off a win, but Bangalore’s top order had left them with a bit too much to do. White cut loose to take 15 runs off the 11th over from Laxmi Ratan Shukla, eight came off the next from the next from Ashok Dinda, and another 15 off Umar Gul kept them in line with the asking-rate. Ishant Sharma just gave five off the 14th, and when White was run out backing up too far at the non-striker’s end by Murali Kartik, it seemed a done case. Boucher, whose 26 had needed 30 deliveries, then scored 24 off just 10, but Bangalore still fell five runs short.

This win gives KKR a much needed boost along with the arrival of Shoaib AKhtar and Kolkata wil hope to continue their winning run to keep them self alive with the chance to be in the top 4 team which can qualify for semi-finals.

On the other hand banglore are looking dry and there is little hope for them to get back to  their groove .

Match 25 - Royal Challengers Bangalore vs. Kings XI Punjab

Kings XI Punjab which is proving to be strongest contender with great combination of overseas and local players up against Royal Challengers Bangalore who is striving for grab some wins to reach any respected place in standings. Yuvraj Singh won the toss and elected to field first. Wasim Jaffar and V Kohli opened up innings. Wasim Jaffer who is most consitent for RCB fall early and Sreesanth sent him back with his brillant bowling. Cameron White added in squad and promoted @ number 3 and he unable to rescue against Sreesanth he bowled out for duck. Very first over of the match creating many problems for RCB. Then Jacques Kallis arrived he also perished for duck in case of slow running and ran out. Rahul Dravid the skipper came in and joined young V Kohli for fabolous and crucial partnership provided resistance to RCB innings. Kohli looked to hit and increase the tempo of the innings he also got dropped by James Hopes. But Pathan dismissed hitting a loose shot caught by Sreesanth. Rahul Dravid continued to shown his batting class well Misbah-ul-Haq joined him but again he failed to score much runs went out for 8 runs. After Misbah wicket, wickets started to tumble @ regular intervals hard hitter Parveen Kumar also get out cheaply. Rahul Dravid after reaching his fabolous fifty got out in process of increasing run-rate. After him no one appeared to stay at crease. Royal Challenger Bangalore disappeared yet again batting first this time cheapest total on board 126 all out. RCB innings included 6 ducks which costed much higher to them.

In Reply of modest total Shaun Marsh and James opened up innings for Kings XI Punjab. James Hopes dismissed early stage of innings by Zaheer Khan. Ramnaresh Sarwan and Marsh played delicate innings & developed short partnership. Parveen Kumar able to took some wickets for RCB and enlighten some kind of hope to return his team into match yet again. He took Ramnaresh Sarwan and captain Yuvraj Singh but it was not yet over. Mahela Jayawardena and Irfan Pathan wrapped off run chase within 19th over and won by 6 wickets with 10 balls to spare. Sreesanth was awarded as Man of the Match

Match 21: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs. Deccan Chargers

Deccan and Bangalore are not well placed in IPL Standings. Deccan Chargers who is real packed with variety of International Players unable to do special magic in tournament. Well Bangalore is highly spirited with variety of players in line-up. VVS Laxman, luckiest captain of Deccan Chargers who won the toss and decided to field first and prefered to chase. Royal Challengers who are also not well in batting second started their innings significantly. Wasim Jaffar, who is in supreme form of touch steered his team as professional T20 player from started of their innings. Chipli get out early but another young gun of U-19 V Kohli came and gelled with Wasim Jaffar for crucial and match winning parntership. Jaffar scored and played all over the park however Kohli also played his active part in Royal Challengers innings. After eventual dismissals of Jaffar and then Kallis things become uneasy and unpredictable for Challengers. More Wickets fallen in which debutant Misbah-ul-Haq also included. Deccan Chargers time by time appleid constant pressure towards Challengers which give them wickets at regular intervals. Rahul Dravid suppose to be wall again for RCB and scored handy knock with bat. RCB able to score only 156 runs which Deccan seems to comfortable with bowling performance.

But batting second and chasing anything over 150 seems to be unpredictable and when Deccan Chargers chasing it. Gilchrist and VVS Laxman started the run chase smoothly and easily. Gilchrist and Gibbs thrown their wicktes cheaply. But captain VVS Laxman and most consistent Rohit Sharma stood together for magnificient partnership. They played and continued running momentum at good pace. After a fine partnership of over 100 runs things are looking easy and comfortable for Deccan Chargers as 8 wickets remaining and just 7 or hald runs required. Both of them reached and compiled well deserved half-centuries but game is not still over, Eventually Rohit Sharma dissmised tried to up the tempo of runs. After him flory of wickets started to tumble as Shahid Afridi, Scott Styris and well set VVS Laxman dismissed in short span of 1 over. Loss of wickets made more problems Deccan Chargers. Praveen Kumar was pick of the bowling attack he stood and bowled at right line and length also grabbed 3 major wickets. No one after them seems capitalize in batting, Sanjay Bangar came he given some hope for Deccan after hitting consecutive sixes over Anil Kumble but his heroics not worked Deccan to win. Atlast Deccan lost and Royal Challengers won by 3 runs. A narrow victory with strong fight back by Rahul Dravid and his camp. Praveen Kumar rewared as Man of the Match for his thunderous bowling efforts

Match 17: Bangalore Royal Challengers vs. Delhi DareDevils

Bangalore Royal Challengers who are second most expensive team in IPL thesedays really missing anyone in batting line-up to get resistant but Delhi DareDevils after a recent loss against Kings XI Punjab. Bangalore Royal Challengers captain Rahul Dravid won the toss and elected to field first. Delhi DareDevils captain Virendar Sehwag as always given flourishing start for hist team but he soon got out due to hesistance along Gambhir. 1st Parntership scored above 50 runs which given some kind of boost to batting team. Shikar Dhawan who has great tournament played and formed superb parntership with Gautam Gambhir. It was totally action pack innings from Delhi DareDevils batsmen. Shikar Dhawan after fine knock of 50 runs of 33 balls cleared up by Jacques Kallis. Wickets started to fall-off as Shoaib Malik and Dinesh Karthik felt early. Gautam Gambhir single handedly continued his fantastic and flory of runs. He scored brilliant 86 runs off 54 balls including 11 boundaries and 1 six. Delhi DareDevils clinched their innings scoring 191 runs. Dale Steyn and Zaheer Khan picked up wicket each Jacques Kallis took 2 crucial wickets.

Bangalore Royal Challengers, apparently not well chasers started things not well in terms of wickets. Wasim Jaffar and newly promoted Praveen Kumar appeared to open Challengers innings. Excellency of McGrath continued with ball and he grabbed up 3 early and much needed wickets for Delhi DareDevils. Jacques Kallis and Rahul Dravid gathered and put off relatively better and required parntership. Both of them displayed great performance with the bat. Inconsistency also continues after the wicket of Dravid. Jacques Kallis reached his second fifty in 20-20 career. Kallis also departed but Mark Boucher and his fellow Kholi unable to match-up the required rate in the end after playing alloted 20 overs. Delhi DareDevils win by 10 runs with superb bowling from Glenn McGrath picked 4 wickets and Daniel Vettori as always chipped once but remained much economical.

Glenn McGrath awarded as Man of the Match for his match winning bowling figures 4-29 best ever in IPL Contest.

Match 15 - Chennai Super Kings vs. Bangalore Royal Challengers

Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni who won the toss and elected to bat first. MS Dhoni who is most successive captain till now his team is unbeaten. Parthiv Patel and Hayden started off things very quickly for Chennai Super Kings. Matthew Haydan in-form batsmen for Chennai fall earlier with great bowling of Zaheer Khan. Micheal Hussey joined Parthiv Patel and setup a short partnership. After departure of Patel, Suresh Raina came in and gel up with Hussey again after scoring and maintaining Runs momentum. Raina dismissed in form of Run out due to confusion with Hussey. That part of time Chennai Super Kings despretly looking for a partnership to develop and score runs at good pace. So the captain himself MS Dhoni involved in superb partnership with Hussey which gathered so much runs @ decent rate. The Dhonis batting package filled with 9 boundaries and 3 sixes. Michael Hussey also contributed as he made 47 runs including 3 boundaries and 2 sixes. Dhoni able to score much valuable 65 runs. Chennai Super Kings finished their innings with effective total of 178 runs. Zaheer Khan bowled really well grabed up 3 most important wickets.

Bangalore Royal Challengers who are not good at chasing runs innings cheaply lost 1st wicket of debutant Chipli. Ross Taylor who is supreme touch gathered with Wasim Jaffar very well. Jaffar who really looking for IPL Stampage with his performances. Both of them tried and produced great batting momentum. 2nd wicket Parntership scored about 90 runs highly critical that stage. Soon Jaffar completed his well deserved half-century and it was P Amarnath who picked him with brilliant piece of bowling. Bangalore Royal Challengers never seem to chase score and keep wickets in hand soon after departure of Wasim Jaffar. Wickets continue to tumble highly expected Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher and Rahul Dravid got out without any impression. Ross Taylor shown great commitment with the bat again. Scored his second IPL half century and he was also cleared by P Amarnath. Most of them ran out cheaply and didn’t score that much. Royal Challengers lost by 13 runs and get all out before the end of 20th over. Contribution of Jaffar and Ross Taylor made team members something to cheer about but the spectuclar captaincy of MS Dhoni made his team able win another encounter. MS Dhoni was awarded as Man of the Match for his magnificient 65 off 30 balls which proved to be match winning innings by him.

Match 12: Rajasthan Royals vs. Royal Challengers

Both Royals teams get together to play an interesting day night encounter. Bangalore team which is relatively confident with their past performances but highly boosted Rajasthan Royals who clinched up last nail bitter match against Deccan Chargers.
Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Warne won the toss and choose to field first. Bangalore Royal Challengers opened by Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Rahul Dravid. Both of them unable to do anything on wicket but entry of Ross Taylor exciting Newzealanders created early problems for Rajasthan his short cameo scored at great level. Jacques Kallis also disappeared by fine bowling of Munaf Patel. Shane Watson was again seem to be full swing by grabbing out two very important early wickets. Unlucky Mark Boucher also dismissed by skipper Shane Warne. After departure of Ross Taylor who made 44 off 20 balls only Praveen Kumar shown any kind of resistance in batting and scored much valuable 34. Royal Challengers finished their innings scoring 135 runs for the loss of 8 wickets.

Rajasthan Royals after chasing up big total against Deccan Chargers seemed to quite confident chasing anything around 7 in an over. Graeme Smith opened up innings with newly replaced keeper Rawat who was unlucky get out early. Yosuf Pathan again looked in fine tough as hitting 5 boundaries seem to well in touch. He was removed by Zaheer Khan early stage of the game. Then Shane Watson and Greame Smith come up together and established magnificient partnership of 104 runs. Smith was totally unlucky got out scoring 49 runs. Shane Watson continued his powerful batting form and chased the target along with Mohammad Kaif in just 17.1 overs.

Its perfect example show by Rajasthan Royals to chasing up good and competetive totals. Now they are supposed to be favorite teams of IPL. However they started like underdogs after two successive victories over good teams will increase moral and team confidence. Shane Watson rewarded man of the match due to all-round performance with ball and bat he scored unbeaten 61 runs and lead his team to win the encounter from 7 wickets.