Super Kings dethroned by Daredevils

In what has been a clinical and professional performance, Daredevils dethrone Super Kings at their home. Helped by some good bowling and explosive batting, Daredevils reached to the top of the heap, leaving Super Kings at the second spot and maybe to the start of an end. Super Kings missing the australian superstars Hayden and Hussey never looked in control of the game. Their batsmen fell short of their usual magic and they really never gained the momentum and managed to score 169.

That total can only be defended, if they get Sehwag out early, very early. He is the only devastating batsmen in the world cricket who can take the game away from you in minutes and probably the only one left in IPL. He is a match winner. The sixers and fours he hit are just great to watch. It really doesn’t matter how they come when Sehwag is batting. All you purists can watch the re-runs of your favorite test match saying that 20-20 is bad for cricket. But, only 20-20 has the reach to make cricket a truly global sport. Only, batsmen like Sehwag can take it to the masses. He is assisted (for the lack of a better word) by his deputy Gautam Gambhir. Gambhir is one batsman who continues to impress me with his consistency. He knows how to time his innings and how to play with Sehwag. With his innings of 50 he became the highest run scorer of the tournament with 224 runs followed by Sehwag with 207 runs.

I cannot really blame Dhoni or the Super Kings team as they were found wanting. When Hayden, Hussey and Oram leave they leave a gaping hole, which is very hard to fill. Dhoni found that out in this match. It is a tough road ahead for the Super Kings and this is where the tournament is wide open. There is no clear favorite right now, although Daredevils look like they can go all the way. Only problem with Daredevils is their batting is too brittle. If you can get Sehwag and Gambhir out there is no one to win the game for you. Shikar Dhawan might fancy his chance but it is really hard.

Daredevils won by 8 wickets.

People of Chennai and people in MA Chidambaram stadium has witnessed a chanceless innings which can only be played by Sehwag. Gosh, are they lucky. I wish this match was in Bangalore. I wish Rohit Sharma plays an innings like this tomorrow at Bangalore. I wish Rohit Sharma gets the orange cap tomorrow.

Related Posts:

Clash of the titans : Kings vs Devils

Top 10 run scorers of IPL

IPL Points table

 

Clash of the titans : Kings vs Devils

I have to use that for the lack of a better cliche. Today’s match between Daredevils and Super Kings should be an exciting encounter. We fall into this trap of thinking the top teams clash and will provide an exciting encounter. But, that did not happen so far in the tournament. We have seen 19 matches of which only 4 matches went to the final over. Dew and toss played a major role in deciding the winner. It is like win the toss and win the match. Only Super Kings broke this jinx and won while defending a modest target fighting the dew.

After today’s match, every team have played 5 matches each and the trend should be clear for the rest of the tournament and maybe the semi-finalists will emerge.

Super Kings team selection is very easy. They had seven international players at the start of the tournament. The lost Mathew Hayden, Jacob Oram, Mikey Hussey to their national tours. They are left with Albie Morkel, Muttaih Muralitharan, Stephen Fleming, Makhaya Ntini. It would be interesting to see if Dhoni makes an international spot available to the local players.

A lot depends on Suresh Raina for Super Kings prospects.

Daredevils’s Sehwag might have a tougher decision for team selection. While, he cannot leave Glenn McGrath and Mohammad Asif which strengthens their bowling, their batting looks brittle. If both Sehwag and Gambhir fail they do not have enough fire-power to keep the run rate going. Sehwag might be inclined to take both Shoaib Malik and AB Devillers to strengthen the batting. They might leave the bowling to Sehwag, Yo Mahesh and Shoaib Malik.

Shikhar Dhawan will be player to watch out for Daredevils.

Whoever wins this match might just find themselves in the semi-final.

Tamil movie industry adds itself to the growing list of IPL haters

Not exactly haters but people who either don’t like it or dont want to like it. Looks like the movie industry has no audience for the late evening shows, courtesy IPL. Well, can you blame the audience. You have a team that plays good cricket, you have roped your favorite star (Vijay), you have the most wanted player in the international arena (Dhoni), above all you are playing good cricket and winning the matches. Why would anybody watch a movie when you can stay back and watch live cricket on TV.Both movie and an IPL match take the same time. I would prefer the match for the sheer entertainement value it is providing. Few matches were close so far but I think we are yet to see the best.

This is not a reason to really worry. You just have to time your release around IPL.

It is just not ICC who needs to provide a window for IPL. Movie industry too has to provide a window for IPL.

Superstar’s daughter as ambassador for Super Kings?

It is reported that Tamil Superstar’s daughter Saundarya might be roped in as the new ambassador along with Vijay for the Super Kings team. Rising star Arya is in the discussion too.

Graphic Designer by profession Saundarya runs a company called Ocher Studios. Her animation works include tamil films like Chandramukhi, Padaiyappa, Ah Aah : Anbe Aaruyire. She is directing her first full-length animated film, Sultan : The Warrior. Rajni Kanth, her father renders voice to the main character in this movie. She has also entered into multi-film deal with Warner Brothers.

Earlier they dropped Nayanathara as their brand ambassador for not attending the home matches in chennai and also a not attending the shooting of a promotional video.

 

They have already roped in :

1. Siva Mani (drummer)
2. Hari Haran(singer)
3. Naresh Iyer
4. Suchi (RJ)

 

Related Posts :

Nayanatara is not Super Kings ambassador

Chennai Super Kings brand ambassadors

Super Kings are the unstoppables

Defending 178 was never easy. Super Kings did not have the kind of fire power to defend a modest total. Wasim Jaffer was dropped twice, on 7 and 18. Super Kings might have thought that Jaffer would not make any difference and it might be to their advantage if he stays on as few runs will be scored. Jaffer proved them wrong. He pulled off a decent innings and the first half-century of the IPL for him and also for Royal Challengers.

Ross Taylor followed Jaffer for second fifty of the innings to keep Royal Challengers in the hunt. It was not a fluent innings from Ross Taylor as there were few hits and misses, but hits were counted big. At this moment it looked like Challengers has to do not one thing but many stupid things. They did just that.  Taylor was out and then started the drama. They lost 5 wickets in 22 balls.  All they needed was run a ball and an odd boundary. Is that so hard to do in a 20-20 format? Royal Challengers thought so. They lacked the fire to win, the skill to chase and above all the common sense to prevail. They have only themselves to blame and no one else. They were all out with 2 balls to spare and 13 runs to score.

Super Kings win by 13 runs.

This is really disappointing stuff from the Challengers.

Dhoni’s captaincy and Joginder Sharma’s last over miracle are working well for Super Kings.

Dhoni is back

Just when the tournament is losing its shine and the australians ready to leave the tournament for their carribean tour Dhoni decided he had enough. He batted with his trademark not scoring in the first 15 balls and then boom. Dhoni has arrived. It has been a while since Dhoni played an innings like this. I am not sure what exactly is the reason. Is it the captaincy or the hair cut. I am not too sure but Dhoni did not do justice to his talent in the past year or so. That is going to change in this tournament. With Hayden and Hussey leaving and there is no one to fall back on for the big innings he decided it is time he took out his armour.

All the sixers and fours he hit have two common qualities, sheer power and exquisite timing.  This performance has taken Super Kings to a total of 178. That does not look like much but they were looking at a total of  150 runs at one stage.

Royal Challengers might fancy their chances against Super Kings attack and a modest target. Super Kings need early wickets to stand any chance

Nayanatara is not Super Kings ambassador

As per the contract she should be present in all home matches cheering the team. She was missing from action in their last match in Chennai against Knight Riders. This irked the authorities and dropped her from being a brand ambassador. Vijay is the only ambassador for Super Kings.

Nayanathara is resting in Hyderabad after her film shooting.

Would Deccan Chargers pick her as their ambassador?

Video : Chennai Super Kings Ad

Dhoni in a lungi. Enjoy.

Video : Knight Riders vs Super Kings TV ad

Interesting IPl ad of Knight Riders vs Super Kings

Super Kings clinch a thriller

Sachin Tendulkar misses this match leaving captiancy to Harbhajan Singh. Mumbai Indians did well to restrict Super Kings to 208 on a flat pitch and formidable batting line-up. Its no surprise that the total posted was largely helped by an Aussie. No its not Mike Hussey this time its Mathew Hayden. He scored at  81. Dhoni continues to disappoint.

Mumbai Indians chased well with pure hitting from Robin Uthappa and some late blow from Harbhajan Singh. The real star of the show for me is Abhishek Nayar. Boy, he can bat. He almost won the match except for  a bluder. On a No-ball he took a run to give Ashish Nehra the strike. They needed 9 runs from 4 balls. That was the turning point of the match.

Other Highlights :

1. Kris Srikanth brings drinks to the players. I am not sure that’s what brand ambassador means. Can someone tell Kris Srikanth about this.
2. Badrinath’s brilliant fielding to get rid of Luke Ronchi
3. Uthappa hits 100th six of the tournament
4. Muralidharan starts with 3 wides.
5. Excellent catch by Oram pulled out of thin air.

Man of the Match  : Mathew Hayden
DLF Sixers : Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh

Bloopers : Ravi Shastri calls Chennai Super Kings as Chennai Super Skins

Mathew Hayden post match comments: He is enjoying the cross-referencing of cultures. Also he like India better because everyone speak  english here.  That comment really got me thinking. I will blog about obnoxious Hayden’s arrogance some other time.