Delhi Daredevils Vs Kings XI Punjab - Match 3 - Newlands, Cape Town

It was Match 3 of IPL 2 played between teams led by two explosive batsman. It was a challenge between Delhi Daredevils led by the Nawab of Najafgarh, Virender Shewag and Kings XI Punjab led by Sher - E - Punjab, Yuvaraj Singh. Shewag won the toss and sent in Kings Punjab in a match reduced to 12 overs, in a rain-curtailed match. Kings Punjab started explosively with the openers K Goel and Ravi Bopara finding the fence at regular intervals, The openers powered Punjab to 56 runs by the 6th over before Goel mistimed a shot and was caught by Vettori at mid-off. Bopara was out leg before wicket the next ball falling victim to straighter one of Vettori. With the run rate at around 10 per over, Kings Punjab needed to just build on the platform set by openers without loosing wickets, but Vettori applied breaks by getting the wickets of lankans Sangakara and Jayawardane. Yuvaraj responded slow to a single and was run out, just when it seemed like he was getting into his groove. Chawla and Pathan were out without scoring much and Kings Punjab ended with a 104 at the end of 12 overs.

Shewag and Gambhir opened the Delhi Innings with a fire adding 24 runs of 1.5 overs before rain interrupted the play again. The target was revised to 54 off 6 overs and Delhi finished the game off in style with Shewag getting the winning runs off a six with 1.1 overs to spare. Vettori was adjudged the Man of the Match for his spell of 3/15.

Toss:
Delhi Daredevils won the toss and elected to field

Teams:
Kings XI Punjab
R Bopara, K Goel, Yuvaraj Singh, K Sangakara, M Jayawardane, P Chawla, I Pathan, T Kohli, VS Malik, VRV Singh, YA Abdullah
Delhi Daredevils
G Gambhir, V Shewag, T Dilshan, AB de Villiers, M Tiwary, D Karthik, D Nannes, D Vettori, Y Mahesh, A Salvi, P Sangwan

Brief Scores:
Kings XI Punjab - 104/7 in 12 overs(K Goel - 38, R Bopara - 22, D Vettori - 3/15, A Salvi - 1/17)
Delhi Daredevils - 58/0 in 4.5 overs(V Shewag - 38*, G Gambhir - 15*)

Result:
Delhi Daredevils won by 10 wickets with 7 balls to spare(D/L method)

Every Dog has its day:

During the Mumbai Indians Innings, the play was stopped for around 12 minutes when a dog found its way into the playing area. Several attempts were made to shoo of the canine intruder but all the efforts failed. Finally the dog got bored and left the field, much to the relief of the authorities.

A yorker finds its destination - Batsman's foot:

Lasith Malinga is well known for his yorkers. One of these yorkers found Flintoff's foot which made him sit with a pack of ice on his feet after loosing his wicket. It must be seen how fit Flintoff will be for the next match.

A nervous slip:

Kamran Khan was touted as the next big find by the Rajasthan Royals skipper Shane Warne. Khan was handed the ball to bowl the second over and he slipped during his delivery strides evoking laughs from his teammates and batsman. Pieterson gave him a pat and Khan was ready to bowl his first ball to Uthappa.

Flight em Baby:

Akhil survived a close shout from Warne. The next ball Warne gave a generous flight which foxed Akhil and rattled the wood. Clearly the tricks of Warne, the Magician was on Display.

Related Posts:
Mumbai Indians Vs Chennai Super Kings - Match 1 - Bulletin
Royal Banglore Challengers Vs Rajasthan Royals - Match 2 - Bulletin

Rajasthan Royals Vs Royal Banglore Challengers - Match 2 - Newlands, Cape Town

This was a match between the defending champions Rajasthan Royals and the underdogs Royal Banglore Challengers. Royal Challengers decision to bat first terribly backfired when Mascarenhas got the wickets of Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor off successive balls in the first over. In came the Royal Challengers captain Kevin Pieterson, who incidentally is one of the highest paid IPL star, with a huge responsibility on his shoulder. Uthappa's disappointing run continued as he got out scoring just 3 off 10 balls, the wicket taker again was Mascarenhas. The fall of Uthappas wicket bought in Rahul Dravid to the crease. Dravid was blamed for the dismal performance of Royal Challengers last year and he came in with a purpose and a point to prove his critics. A decent partnership between Dravid and Pieterson was forged, and when things looked going Royal Challengers way Henderson striked with Pieterson's wicket. Virat Kohli and B Akhil fell to the magic of Shane Warne's spin. Rahul Dravid stood like a rock at the other end in spite of wickets falling frequently. he crafted a perfect innings of 66 from 48 balls studded with eight fours and a huge six over deep mid-wicket boundary off Munaf Patel. Dravid fell to Munaf, thanks to a brilliant catch from skipper Shane Warne. Vinay Kumar's innovate play fetched him two boundaries of the last two balls and Royal Challengers finished with a moderate total of 133.

Needing 134 to win Rajasthan Royals looked favorites to win the match quite easily. Cricket it is said is a game of glorious uncertainties and the defending champions were humbled by the underdogs.

The fall started in the first over with Asnodkar skying one of Praveen kumar to be held safely by Kohli. Smith was dismissed in Kumar's second over and Rajasthan Royals were left struggling at 7 for 2. The procession of batsmen continued as Ryder removed NK Patel and Henderson. Mascarenhas was run out, thanks to his stupidity. Kumble was introduced to the attack and he proved as to why he was rated as one of the best. Kumble did what he was best at.... "Running right through the batting line up". Who said T 20 is a batsman's game? Kumble's figures of 5 for 5 with an economy rate of miserly 1.57 shows that the bowlers in this format have learnt not only to stem the flow of runs but also take wickets in the process. There is nothing much to talk about Rajasthan Royal's performance as they were bundled out for 58, the lowest ever score in the history of IPL. It must have been a tough choice for the man of the match award. But Dravid won the award, thanks to some excellent batting display. At the end of the day the Champions were made the lick the ground by the Underdogs.

Toss:
Royal Banglore Challengers won the toss and chose to bat

Teams:
Rajasthan Royals
G Smith, S Asnodkar, N Patel, T Henderson, Y Pathan, D Mascarenhas, R Jadeja, S Warne, M Rawat, M Patel, Kamran Khan
Banglore Royal Challengers
J Ryder, R Uthappa, K Pieterson, R Taylor, R Dravid, V Kohli, B Akhil, P Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Dale Steyn, A Kumble

Brief Scores:
Banglore Royal Challengers - 133/8 in 20 overs (R Dravid - 66, K Pieterson - 32, D Mascarenhas - 3/20, S Warne - 2/18)
Rajasthan Royals - 58 all out in 15.1 overs (T Henderson - 11, Y Pathan - 11, R Jadeja - 11, A Kumble - 5/5, P Kumar - 2/7)

Result:
Royal Challengers won by 75 runs.

Chennai Super Kings Vs Mumbai Indians - Match 1 - Newlands, Cape Town

It was the first match of IPL 2 and was played between the last year runner up, Chennai Super Kings and one of the semi-finalists, Mumbai Indians. Dhoni won the toss and elected to field on a moving wicket. Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya gave a steady start to the Mumbai Indians Innings, before Jayasuriya was caught at midwicket by Hayden off Thushara. Wicket fell at regular intervals with Dhawan, Duminy and Bravo getting out without adding much to the total. Then came A Nayar who played a brilliant cameo, scoring 35 off 14 balls which included three sixers of a Flintoff over. But the star of the innings was none other than master blaster Sachin Tendulkar who scored an unbeaten 59 of 49 balls and stabilized the Mumbai Indians. Hayden must be left cursing himself for letting down a sitter from Sachin at first slip early in his innings. Having to chase a score of 166, the Chennai Super Kings Innings started off disastrously with Parthiv patel getting out without troubling the scorers. Raina was caught brilliantly by Raje off Barvo at 8. Flintoff and Hayden built a mini partnership before Flintoff was caught and bowled by Harbhajan after scoring 24. Hayden fell two over later to the bowling of Jayasuriya and in came Dhoni with the asking run-rate climbing over 11 runs per over. Dhoni's lusty blows were not enough and wickets kept falling at regular intervals. In the end Mumbai Indians won easily by 19 runs and the star bowler being Lasith Malinga who bowled destructively and economically taking three wickets with the economy rate of 3.75 runs per over. Sachin Tendulkar was rightly adjudicated the Man of the Match.

Teams:
Mumbai Indians
S Jayasuriya, S Tendulkar, S Dhawan, JP Duminy, D Bravo, A Nayar, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, P Shah, L Malinga, R Raje
Chennai Super Kings
P Patel, M Hayden, S Raina, A Flintoff, MS Dhoni, J Oram, S Badrinath, Joginder Sharma, T Thushara, M Gony, R Ashwin

Toss
Chennai Super Kings won the toss and chose to field.

Brief Scores
Mumbai Indians - 165/7 in 20 overs (Sachin - 59* , A Nayar - 35, M Gony- 2/32, J Sharma - 1/25)
Chennai Super Kings - 146/7 in 20 overs (M Hayden - 44, Dhoni - 36, Malings - 3/15, Jayasuriya - 2/34)

Match Result
Mumbai Indians Won by 19 runs

After tremendous success of IPL 1, its time for IPL 2. IPL 2 is a month long T 20 Extravaganza featuring the best cricket players around the globe. After much of drama surrounding the venue of the tournament, IPL 2 is set to kick start in the picturesque country of South Africa. The seamer friendly pitches of South Africa will make it an interesting contest between the bat and the ball. This will come as a big change, compared to the previous version of IPL held in batsman friendly flat tracks of India. The Indian crowds have always been crazy about cricket and cricket is considered as a religion in India. The huge crowds of India will be missed, and along with it the huge money generated via ticket sales. This time the entire nation will be glued to their TV screens to catch up their favourite players and support their respective teams. IPL 2 is set to break the records in term of money making, via advertising and other sponsorship rights. Will Rajasthan Royals led by Shane Warne retain their title or will there be a new champion is the question which will be answered on 24th may 2009 at the Wanderers. Till then its going to be breathtaking and exhilarating cricket. Hope you have a good time enjoying your cricket.

For more information about the tournament CLICK HERE
For match schedules CLICK HERE
IPL 2 T 20 is telecasted live on Sony Set Max in India. Check your local listing for timings.