Indian Premier League (IPL)

Match 44: Kolkata Knight Riders vs. Rajasthan Royals

Shane Warne won the toss and put home team Kolkata Knight Riders to bat first. Kolkata missing regular batting pair after McCullum remained two Pakistanis for opening slot Mohammad Hafeez and Salman Butt. Hafeez felt early in second over then skipper joined in-form Salman Butt to pull off things for Knight Riders. Salman Butt found in great touch after hitting few boundaries he looked to be confident batting with captain. Eventually he misjudged the ball by Munaf Patel which he dimissed Leg Before. Since then nothing went in favour of Kolkata Knight Riders. Wickets at regular periods broken runs momentum but Saurav Ganguly stood and scored few handy runs. After loss of Hussey, Shukla and Ganguly, Das took the charge in the end he was removed by spanking bowling of Sohail Tanvir. Sohail Tanvir took 3-26 another match winning performance even Munaf Patel also well supported by grabbing 2 early wickets. Knight Riders finished their total 147-8 playing all alloted overs.

Knight Riders missing real match winner Shoaib Akthar started off things shakily. Ashoke Dinda and Ishant Sharma given proper start to bowling attack of Knight Riders. Early wicket of Asnodkar invited Sohail Tanvir to join Graeme Smith. It was surpise package made by Shane Warne. Tanvir sent to do perfect use of Powerplays. Umar Gul, returning back for Knight Riders grabbed his national mate Sohail Tanvir and in same over he also strike Graeme Smith which given double bonus for Knight Riders in one over. After loss of 2 more wickets Kaif and Watson tried to form a solid platform for run chase but Saurav Ganguly slow bowling done the damage for Shane Watson he bowled him comprehensively. Yosuf Pathan joined Mohammad Kaif to consilidate a partnership and finish off things in grand fashion howeer Yosuf Pathan used full of his power and batting skills to compete target for Rajasthan Royals. He smased and remained unbeaten on 48 off 18 balls and reached Royals towards another fabolous win over Kolkata Knight Riders which had open gate for semis. Rajasthan Royals won by 6 wickets with 21 balls to spare. Yosuf Pathan awarded man of the match

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.

Rajasthan Royals who are unbeaten from last 4 matches ready to upleash against another strong contender Chennai Super Kings. Super Kings flory of victories came to end due to disasterous performance against Delhi DareDevils other night. MS Dhoni won the toss and choose the bat first as he always prefers to do in case of winning the toss. The decision seemed to be difficult from first bowl of the match. Sohail Tanvir perishes top order in his very first over. He able to sent both openers Parthiv Patel and Stephen Fleming back to pavillion. From other Shane Watson again tried to contine same amount of pressure. Rajasthan Royals find luckiest to grab early wickets as Tanvir again removed Vidyut in his second over which created more and much problems for Rajasthan Royals. Badrinath and Raina shown some kind of resistance in batting while after dismissal of Badrinath, MS Dhoni came in - for first time he was unable to do nothing just scored 1 run and Shane Warne sent him back to hunt. Things become more suspicious for Chennai Super Kings for first we witnessed problems faced by CSK. Albie Morkel and Suresh Raina worked hard for establishing parntership. Munaf Patel broken 44 runs parntership and removed dangerous Raina in same over again another wicket fallen as Joginder Sharma gone for duck facing first bowl from Patel. Sohail Tanvir again brought back to attack in his 3 over, from very first bowl of his threatning spell Albie Morkel bowled out comprehensively and following 3 more balls Muralitharan also been bowled out that makes Sohail Tanvir to take 5 wickets in a match. CSK unable to score much runs in last phase of innings. Sohail Tanvir atlast bowled Makhaya Ntini that made best ever bowling analysis in T20 history 6-14. Chennai Super Kings were bowled out making only 109 runs lowest in current IPL Competetions.
Chasing around 5.5 runs in an over not considered to be tough task. Graeme Smith and Asnodkar started innings brilliantly for Rajasthan Royals they put off great parntership of 78 runs in which flory of boundaries included. After the dismissal of Asnodkar more dangerous Yosuf Pathan came in after hitting a six magical spinner Muralitharan dismissed him. Shane Watson joined Graeme Smith and played easy target chasing innings. They compiled the target easily in just 15th over. Smith made 35 unbeaten runs along with Shane Watson not out on 14 runs. Rajasthan Royals won by 8 wickets its their 5th consecutive win in IPL which made on top @ IPL Standings and Sohail Tanvir awarded as Man of the Match for his match winning performance at Jaipur against Chennai Super Kings

Warne upset at Ganguly’s refusal to walk

The Indian Premier League feels increasingly like the Shane Warne Show. Tonight, after his Rajasthan Royals side made it four wins in a row in front of a partisan crowd at the Sawai Mansingh stadium in Jaipur, Warne launched into a stinging attack on Sourav Ganguly, the captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders, for what he perceived to be a blatant disregard for the spirit of the game. He seemed to have a point, but right now Warne could probably tell you the earth was flat and you’d believe him.

Warne was already irritated by the time Ganguly refused to walk for a catch claimed at deep midwicket by Graeme Smith. Ganguly famously made Steve Waugh wait at the toss, and now Warne believed the former India captain was running on Sourav-time yet again. “Our batters were waiting five minutes for the home side to go out,” said Warne. “And when we came out in the field, we were waiting for Sourav. He was just going on his own time.”

Then came the catch, or non-catch, depending on your interpretation of the TV pictures. Smith was convinced he had taken Ganguly’s swing cleanly, and so, plainly, was Warne. But Ganguly asked for a replay - which he is not supposed to do - and Asad Rauf up in the TV box could not be 100% certain the ball had not bounced. Ganguly fell in the next over anyway, but Warne was furious.

“I was disappointed because in Bangalore we signed that wall about the spirit of cricket,” he said. “If an international captain like Graeme Smith caught it and said it was a clean catch and Rudi Koertzen said he caught it, easy… And anyway, the players aren’t allowed to ask for the umpire. But Sourav asked the Indian umpire to go to the TV replay. That’s not in the spirit of the game so I was very, very disappointed with Sourav.”

Warne’s young charges are learning more than they can have dreamed from him as this tournament progresses, so it will be interesting to see if they adopt his aversion to Ganguly by the time these sides next meet, on May 20 at Eden Gardens.

As Warne pointed out, to score 196 for 7 when the in-form overseas pair of Graeme Smith and Shane Watson have contributed two runs between them suggests an unusually close-knit side. Rajasthan sprang a surprise - at least that’s how Warne presented it - by picking the unknown 24-year-old opener Swapnil Asnodkar, who promptly added to the Midas Touch theory by whacking a 34-ball 60 which belied his tiny frame.

There were runs too for Yusuf Pathan, whose stature grows by the game, and two wickets in an over for Siddharth Trivedi, who was singled out for special praise by Warne. Actually, he singled out pretty well everyone for special praise, including Ravindra Jadeja (33 off 19 balls and a “future superstar”) but then that’s what he does so well.

“We try to get the best out of every individual in our squad,” he explained. “I’m trying to teach 20 years of knowledge, about summing up the situation, finding a way to score, how to construct an over, be positive, stand up tall, and back yourself. And so far it’s working. It’s the benefit of my experience and to their credit they’re learning very, very fast. We show spirit every game. Everyone’s in it together. Never underestimate the spirit of a team.”

There was a symbolic moment right at the end of the game. Kolkata’s No.11 Ashok Dinda lifted Watson in the gap between mid-off and extra cover, and both Warne and the substitute fielder Taruwar Kohli, converged on the ball as it hung temptingly in the air. In the event, Kohli hung on, but Warne fell to the ground with him, as if helping him complete the catch right down to the last detail.

“Sometimes international players think they know it all,” said Warne, implicitly advocating the exuberance of youth. You sense his players will do anything for him. And if they win against Chennai Super Kings on Sunday, they will present him with a league table which, against all the odds, will show Rajasthan Royals on top of the IPL.

Match 18: Kolkata Knight Riders vs. Rajasthan Royals

Rajasthan Royals who started the tournament with a defeat now proving to be favorite contender to win IPL tournament. Kolkata Knight Riders after two succesive in opening encounters looking to re-gain same sort of winning combination and form. Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Warne won the toss and decided to bat first on warm day @ Jaipur. It was about 44C with hot waves but the stadium well set to support host team Rajasthan Royals. Kolkata Knight with few changes in team because Ricky Ponting and Brendon McCullum left team due to national team tours to West Indies and England respectively. Three debutants introduced in which Salman Butt, Brad Hodge and Umar Gul. Inclusion of Gul makes pace attack of KKR more even strongest. No Spinners are included both Murali Karthik and Mohammad Hafeez not played. Ishant Sharma started things in grand fashion for Kolkata Knight Riders when he grabbed Graeme Smith earlier in the match. Debutant Asnodhkar, short slim and sleek came opener refined things much well for Rajasthan. Mohammad Kaif played fine cameo for 21 runs but Agarkar removed him cheaply. Soon Yousuf Pathan came together with Asnodkar both of them look supreme in touch runs started to flow for Rajasthan @ quick rate. Asnodkar on debut reached his fifty he perished by fine piece of Umar Gul and Shane Watson came in for his first delivery again Pakistani Great pacer Umar Gul also removed him as Leg Before which make doube breakthroughs for Kolkata Knight Riders. Young and far talented Jadeja joined Yousuf Pathan, Yousuf continued to score delibrately as well Jadeja also put handy contribution with bat even he made real use of few free hits given by KKR Bowlers. Rajasthan Royals finished their innings on 196 for the loss of 7 wickets. Umar Gul was quick in bowlers grabbed 3 crucials wickets.

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Chasing anything beyond 10 runs per seems to be much difficult when you dont have your regular batsmen in line-up. Sourav Ganguly with new opening parnter Salman Butt started things not brightly as Sohail Tanveer cleaned Butt off-stumps in his first over and brough Ajit Agarkar to replace. Its totally changed strategy to bring Agarkar as one down. He poured great cricketing strokes also smahes few big hits. Quick wickets of Ajit Agarkar and highly hoped Brad Hodge created further problems for KKR. But Captain himself alongside David Hussey together formed short parntership soon Ganguly perished after well deserved 50 runs. David Hussey also shown better resistance with bat and scored handy 42 runs. Wickets started to tumble at regular intervals. No one seemed to stay at the crease. Kolkata Knight Riders bowled out for 151 in first bowl of 20th over. Rajasthan Royals won comprehensively by 45 runs. Asnodhkar rewarded as Man of the Match for his brilliant 60 runs.

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.

Match 9 – Rajasthan Royals vs. Deccan Chargers @ Hyderabad

Rajasthan Royals won the toss and captain Shane Warne choose field first. Deccan Chargers as appeared intended to do some changes in game plan and strategies. Adam Gilchrist opened up VVS Laxman for first time in the tournament. Gilchrist as always showed majestic show with the bat but he soon removed by Yosuf Pathan an active change made by Warne. Gilly able to make only 13 runs with 3 boundaries. Shahid Afridi promoted upto the order to number 3 and asked to play explosive shots first 3 balls costed 10 runs including 4 and a 6 to third man. Pathan also enables to outclass Afridi and sent him to dig out with the final delivery of the over. After the fall of second wicket highly expected and 2nd most expensive player Andrew Symonds arrived and continued to maintain momentum for Deccan Chargers. VVS Laxman also tried to give initial support to Symonds soon he get out cheaply by Shane Warne a legend leg-spinner after scoring only 16 runs. Symonds, gradually initialized powerful strokes through the park and started Warne to think about thing happening out. He scored quickly 50 runs off 29 balls and never looked back. In the same process Rohit Sharma who also becoming active part in batting side for Deccan played awesomely. In partnership of Andrew Symonds and Rohit Sharma scored 100 runs in just 54 for 4th wicket. It proved to be valuable and essential part of Deccan innings. Rohit Sharma soon removed by Warne trying to clear the boundary. Andrew Symonds played wisely and continued till the end of innings. He completed his century in 54 balls fastest century in IPL Competetion and stayed not-out. Deccan Chargers finished off with handy total of 214 for the loss 5 wickets.

Batting 2nd and chasing a total of 200+ with maintenance of 10 runs over isn’t found to be easy job. Kamran Akmal and Graeme Smith opened up and played great cricketing shots. Kamran Akmal looked to be in fine touch but he felt out early only scoring 12 runs on the bowling of Chaminda Vaas. Yosuf Pathan joins the party for run chase. Yosuf, is the brother of Irfan Pathan known as clean striker in this format of T20. He smashed up and charged the pace attack of Deccan Chargers. Graeme Smith also supported actively in runs per over. Royals completed their 100 in 8.3 overs which is fastest made by IPL Team. Yousuf Pathan continued to show smartness and powerful strikes. He dealt only in sixes and reached his fifty in just 21 balls also fastest made by any player in IPL. 2nd Parntership between Smith and Pathan gathered 98 runs and secured Rajasthan in relatively driving seat. Yousuf Pathan, in the process of hitting explosive shots get out scoring 61 off 27 which includes 6 monster sixes and 4 boundaries. Meanwhile Graeme Smith with along Shane Watson tried to up the tempo of innings. Shahid Afridi cleaned up Shane Watson, he only scored 4 runs. Mohammad Kaif, joined Graeme Smith and again tried to match up the level of scoring rate. Graeme Smith reached his well-deserved 34 balls. The job was not still done scoring rate climbing up and up as Mohammad Kaif decided to take charge and smashed 18 runs from Andrew Symonds over which includes 3 sixes by Kaif. Shahid Afridi, the street-fighter decided to go with ball and do something in his last over he removed Mohammad Kaif and Graeme Smith in same over. It changed the complete scenario of the game. After the loss of 3 more wickets in 2 overs a ready made match seems to be loose by Rajasthan. Shane Warne, Captain of Rajasthan Royals promoted himself and shown great batting display. Andrew Symonds bowled the last over of the match with 17 runs required. Shane Warne hit 2 sixes and 1 boundary which cost much higher to VVS Laxman. The match comprehensively won by Rajasthan Royals with great overall sporting spirit and gains 2 valuable points. It’s a 3rd consecutive loss for Deccan Chargers.

Match 9: Deccan Chargers after early loss of 2 matches again stead up against Rajasthan Royals. Chargers Team which was supposed to be strongest opponent amongs the IPL contest looking for a winning point. Now they are fully ready to alter match tactics and get in with some new match plan. Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds two Aussies failed to acclaim any sort of form in past two with recently joined Shahid Afridi too.
Rajastan Royals win over Mumbai Indians Shane Warne captain of team is eager to perform more better with support of Young team mates. For this time Yosuf Pathan considered to be as powerful striker will be promoted top of the order for opening with wicket keeper Kamran Akmal. Some overseas players who joined in which Graeme Smith, Sohail Tanvir and Younus Khan also can be useful for the team. But Warne assures for winning side combination.

If Deccan Chargers have to win this encounter then some how any overseas player has to stuck in however young Indian Rohit Sharma produced good and impressive average with the bat and better strike rate also.

Deccan Chargers (probable) Adam Gilchrist (wk), Ravi Teja, Shahid Afridi, VVS Laxman (capt), Andrew Symonds, Rohit Sharma, Sanjay Bangar, Arjun Yadav, Chaminda Vaas, RP Singh, Pragyan Ojha.

Rajasthan Royals (probable) Yusuf Pathan, Kamran Akmal (wk), Mohammad Kaif, Shane Watson, Graeme Smith, Ravindra Jadeja, Pankaj Singh, Dinesh Salunkhe, Shane Warne (capt), Siddharth Trivedi, Munaf Patel.