SRH beat DD in rain-curtailed match 32

SRH beat DD by eight wickets in a rain truncated match at the Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium in Delhi to bag two precious points in match 32 of Pepsi IPL 7. DD had posted a moderate 143 for seven in their quota of 20 overs. Sudden rain had interrupted the SRH run chase a few times until SRH were given a revised target of 43 in five overs which they achieved with four balls to spare. SRH had won the toss and asked DD to bat first. Dale Steyn got rid of Quinton de Kock on 7 in the third over. Kevin Pietersen kept going after the SRH bowlers to strike four fours and two maximums in his 19 ball stay. However DD lost Pietersen on 35 off the bowling of Amit Mishra with DD on 54. Agarwal got out on 25 leaving DD tottering on 73 for three in 13.1 overs. Laxmi Ratan Shukla and Dinesh Karthik took the DD total past the 100 mark. When the DD score was on 103 for three after 13.1 overs, rain stopped play for about an hour. The pair put on 25 runs before Karthik was out on 39 in the 17th over off Moses Henriques and Shukla left on 22 in the same over. JP Duminy and Kedar Jadhav could not do much together as Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed Duminy on 4 in the 19th over and Steyn got rid of Jadhav on 5. DD were restricted to 143 for seven in their 20 overs. Rain delayed the commencement of the SRH innings and a revised target of 117 off 15 overs was set initially for SRH. Merely after 1.1 overs it had started to rain again with SRH on 11 for no loss. Finally the SRH target was revised to 43 off five overs. SRH had lost Dhawan previously and now lost Aaron Finch too. Ojha and Warner were at the crease when SRH needed 18 off 10 balls. A maximum hit by Ojha off the last ball of the fourth over brought down the equation to a run a ball. Another maximum by Ojha took his team over the line with eight wickets in hand and four balls to spare. Dale Steyn became the man of the match for getting 2 wickets for 20 runs from his quota of 4...

Gambhir rescues KKR in time to finish off DD

In match 28 KKR were led from the front by skipper Gautam Gambhir scoring 69 to defeat DD by eight wickets perhaps ending the latter’s chances of climbing up on the ladder in Pepsi IPL 7 at the half way mark of the league games. Gautam was ably supported by opening partner Robin Uthappa who made a brilliant 47 as KKR registered a thumping win over a crumbling DD. KKR successfully chased down the target of 160 set up by DD. Chasing 161 the KKR openers put up yet another century stand that gave KKR a lifeline through gaining 2 points which were very necessary for KKR to survive in this tournament. For KKR this is the third win from the eight matches they have played out so far. However DD seems to have lost its chances of getting to the play offs as they have already lost 6 games out of the eight they have played. DD won the toss and chose to bat first. Their typical story of the top order collapse was again repeated in back to back matches. Quinton de Kock for 10, Murali Vijay for 24, Kevin Pietersen, 6, Shukla for 0 and Dinesh Karthik, 36 were all dismissed cheaply and none could stand their ground for the benefit of the team DD. It was only JP Duminy unbeaten on 40 joined by Kedar Jadhav unbeaten on 26 who led a late charge to take DD to a respectable total. Thanks to the efforts DD notched up 160 for five in their quota of 20 overs. In reply Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir took KKR to 106 in the 12th over before Wayne Parnell trapped Uthappa leg-before wicket. After having survived a lot of close calls Gambhir finally left after being caught behind by Karthik. It was Gambhir’s 22nd fifty in IPL, the most by any batsman and the most runs scored by a captain in IPL 7 as of yet. Pandey and Jacques Kallis took KKR to victory over DD at the Kotla with 10 balls to spare. The man of the match befittingly went to Gautam...

Daredevils are shredded by mighty CSK

Dwayne Smith took charge of his team CSK against a mammoth DD target of 178 to register another commanding win by 8 wickets with two balls to spare in match 26 of Pepsi IPL 7. Smith’s innings of 79 was carved out with the help of four 4s and eight 6s off 51 balls to earn the man of the match award. CSK who have got a winning habit in IPL made this edition no different as their incredible players made short work of a difficult target to totally disintegrate Pietersen’s DD. The men in yellow played as if they were destined to win wearing their confident attitude like badges. Smith during his blinder of an innings was supported by Brendon McCullum and Suresh Raina in phases of the run-chase. The only blemish in Dwayne Smith’s innings was that he could not hit the winning runs as he got out in the 19th over leaving it on the able shoulders of his captain MS Dhoni who almost never fails as a finisher. Brendon McCullum and Smith’s onslaught left the DD bowlers clueless and fielders messy. Their opening stand put together 82 runs in 11.2 overs. McCullum left after scoring 32 being caught by Vijay off Shukla near the long-on boundary. Suresh Raina and Smith continued their flourishing act that not only put CSK on course for a win but took the thrill out of the match that became very predictable. As a result, CSK cruised to 127 for the loss of 1 wicket after 15 overs. A miserly 16th over by Jaydev Unadkat yielding only 5 runs put DD in contention for a win as a downpour stopped play bringing in the possibility of the Duckworth-Lewis Method coming into play. By stroke of luck if the D/L method had come into play at that point DD would have won by one run. However to CSK’s good fortune play resumed and MS Dhoni who came at the fall of Smith struck a six and the winning four in the last over to take his team home with two balls to spare. Raina remained unbeaten on 47 at the other end. MS Dhoni upon winning the toss had invited DD to bat first. DD openers once again failed to capitalize on the initial momentum granted by opener Quinton de Kock, 24 from 16 balls. Murali Vijay and de Kock had an unfortunate mix-up in the fifth over that cost the later his wicket as he could not make his ground while...

DD takes a beating at Kotla from RR

In match 23 of Pepsi IPL 7 it was Karun Nair of RR who though an elevated performance claimed victory for his team RR through his innings of an unbeaten 73 from just 50 balls against DD. Karun Nair who plays for Karnataka aided RR to beat DD by seven wickets at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in Delhi. It was the sterling innings from Nair in which 44 runs came of 4s and 6s, formed the base of the RR chase of the target of 152 set up by DD. Nair the 22 year old batsman of RR not only batted through the innings but even got the winning runs for his team with nine balls to spare earning the man of the match award. RR skipper Shane Watson asked DD to bat after winning the toss. Initially DD openers Quinton de Kock and Murali Vijay played fine shots and were in total command against the RR bowlers. Then Vijay packed up on 13 in the fifth over with the DD score at 33 to bring in the much expected arrival of DD skipper Kevin Pietersen. Though Pietersen on three was granted a life from a messed up run out chance in the seventh over he could not find his form and left after having made only a meager 14 caught by Steve Smith off the bowling of Pravin Tambe. Tambe also went on to remove the fluent hitter de Kock falling 7 short from his half-century in the very same over. Dinesh Karthik and JP Duminy came together when DD were on 71 for three. The partnership was broken by Faulkner who got Karthik on 12 in the 16th over. Duminy went on to make a quick fire 39 till being dismissed by Kane Richardson in the final over. Kedar Jadhav registered a nicely struck unbeaten 28 to his name in only 14 balls to take the DD total to 152 for the loss of five wickets in their allocated 20 overs. Tambe again turned in a consistent performance exhibited through his figures of 4-0-25-2. Faulkner also scalped two in his four overs giving away 26 runs in the process. RR began their chase with Ajinkya Rahane who could manage only 12 and Karun Nair. Sanju Samson made a brisk and effective 34 before Karthik stumped him off the bowling of Shahbaz Nadeem. Nair’s next partner was Rajat Bhatia who made 17 in his short stint before getting out in the 15th over. Skipper Watson made an...

MI sink further in their pit of loses

The most disappointing display in IPL 7 has been from MI the defending champions who are yet to commence their quota of wins. It seems unexplained as to why MI is spiraling to loss after loss in their matches in UAE as they are not such a bad outfit after all. In their last encounter during match 16 of Pepsi IPL 7 MI suffered another humiliating defeat at the hands of DD by six wickets with seven balls to go on Sunday, April 27, 2014 at Sharjah Cricket Stadium in Sharjah. Skipper Rohit Sharma upon winning the toss decided to bat but failed to get a biggie as he was run out on 4 after opening the innings today, in the second over. The other opener Aditya Tare lost his wicket after scoring only 8 off the bowling of Wayne Parnell. With the scorecard reading 17 for two in 3.2 overs, Ambati Rayudu and Corey Anderson came together in the middle. They aided in accumulating 37 runs for MI through power play. Anderson perished on 13 as Jaydev Unadkat scalped him with Shahbaz Nadeem removing Rayudu on 14. After 10 overs MI were at 49 for the loss of 4 wickets which was a pathetic scene. Michael Hussey and Kieron Pollard came together at the crease but the run-rate remained under five. The MI innings took a turn for the worse when mighty Hussey left at 10 from 18 balls to spell doom for the team. Pollard sparkled for some time scoring an unbeaten 33 to help set up a respectable total for MI. It was strange that none of the batsmen showed a clear intent to anchor the innings that desperately needed a revival. Gautam, 22 and good old Harbhajan Singh on an unbeaten 10 before retiring hurt, had a good stint when so many heavy weights failed to perform. MI at the end of their allocated 20 overs managed to set 125 for 6 as the target for DD to chase down. DD bowlers Unadkat got two wickets with Nadeem and Parnell scalping one each. There were two crucial run outs the aided DD to keep the MI from flourishing. DD gave a befitting reply to chase down MI’s achievable target of 125. DD openers Quinton de Kock scoring 16 and Murali Vijay started off their innings adding 34 in just under seven overs. de Kock got out off the bowling of Corey Anderson. Then JP Duminy stitched runs slowly and steadily with Vijay to take DD...