Sunrisers Hyderabad open account against lackadaisical DD in IPL 7

Pepsi IPL match 12 played in Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai between SRH and DD on Friday 25th April 2014 was full of fabulous moments. Finally SRH cam out with flying colors to claim their maiden victory against opponents DD in a buzzing match. SRH won over DD by a slim margin of four runs after setting them 184 for one to chase that went down to the last over. Having won the toss SRH and electing to bat both their openers Shikhar Dhawan and Aaron Finch made merry to launch the team with a flourishing start. Both of them batted very sensibly that had been awaited yet in the tournament to make it 50 in the 6th over. SRH were now looking to get a big score made but unfortunately Dhawan, 33 who was in good nick returned to the dugout in the seventh over. Finch with David Warner not only established a stand that scored at a rate of seven runs an over but stopped the further falling of wickets too. SHR got to its 100 in the 15th over setting the foundation for slogging in the death overs. Finch began the onslaught while Warner played a handful of big shots. Finch’s sterling innings dismayed the DD bowlers while the fielders were sent scurrying for the ball from every corner of the park. Warner and Finch had a 128 run unbroken second wicket partnership coming from 88 balls. These two ensured that SRH posted a huge 184 for one from their quota 20 overs. 85 runs cam for SRH from the concluding six overs. Both Finch, 88 and Warner 58 remained unbeaten. The DD openers Quinton de Kock and Murali Vijay started a calculated chase that was going well according to the plan. Their 50 came in the seventh over of their innings. Both the batsmen extracted nine runs per over from the DD bowlers to keep their team in hunt for an eventual win. de Kock got out on 48 while Vijay, 52 followed shortly. Dinesh Karthik was joined by skipper Kevin Pietersen who came out to bat for the first time in IPL 7 with 82 required off 46 balls. The SRH bowlers however put the brakes on the DD batsmen whose scoring fell to a trickle. Ultimately 61 runs were needed in the last four overs to secure a win for DD. The pressure of a scorching required rate got the better of the DD batsmen after Pietersen, 16 and Karthik, 15 got...

Proven favorites CSK wipe off DD

The Pepsi IPL 7 encounter between CSK and DD had been played out at the swank Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, UAE on April 21 commencing at 20:00 hrs IST as previously scheduled. The all time favorites CSK had taken the wind out of DD as was expected by all, especially the CSK supporters in match 8. CSK had come back with a bang as was expected after having faced a stunning defeat in their opening game against dark horse KXIP. CSK had claimed victory by a massive 93 runs as DD could do little but collapse in a heap against their very competitive total of 178. It was a match that had seen the CSK team rise to the occasion as each and every player had contributed to the win. Upon having won the toss CSK Captain MS Dhoni had not hesitated to take up batting while they had posted a high score of 178 for the loss of 7 wickets in their quota of 20 overs. Brendon McCullum got out in the third over off Jaydev Unadkat scoring 9. Dwayne Smith scoring 29 along with Suresh Raina stitched together 44 valuable runs until Dwayne had left in the 11th over. Raina, 56 had stayed put at one end continuing to bat along with the other CSK batsmen as the team had piled on 178 while wickets fell at intervals. Faf du Plessis, 24 and Dhoni, 32 were short stints that kept the CSK scorecard ticking. However, du Plessis, Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja were all back in the dugout before they could go on the rampage. CSK had accumulated 162 for six till the penultimate 19th over. Mithun Manhas smashed 13 in 5 balls containing two boundaries in the last over of the CSK innings. DD bowler Unadkat had returned with figures of 4-0-32-3. DD’s chase had begun with a quiver as Mayank Agarwal, 2 lost his wicket in the second over of the innings. Murali Vijay, 11 and Manoj Tiwary, 0, shook up the confidence of their fans who had believed in a DD victory making it a pathetic 17 for 3. With the arrival of JP Duminy DD fans had taken heart of a revival in their fortunes but the South African failed perishing in the ninth over having made only 15. DD’s batsmen forgot to do the job as stalwart Ross Taylor on 6 added to the rot while DD Captain Dinesh Karthik had only managed to get only 21. DD’s score had stood...

KKR win opener but tumble in match against DD

It was due to the smashing performance of Kallis and wicket taking ability of Narine that KKR confidently won over the defending champions MI in IPL 7 opener at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on April 16. After KKR Captain Gambhir departed without scoring while batting first against MI, Kallis had taken up to produce another gem of an innings for Kolkata Knight Riders to make MI look like an ordinary side. KKR’s trump card Sunil Narine delivered well by claiming four MI wickets while giving away just 20 runs to ruffle the Mumbai Indians chase that never quite settled down comfortably. It paid dividends for KKR when they chose to bat after winning the toss as the onslaught by both Kallis, 72 and Manish Pandey, 64 posted a good total of 163 for 5. Mumbai Indians could only scamper to a mere 122 for 7 at the end of their 20 overs. Though Lasith Malinga who has been in tremendous form lately finished with 4 for 23, his efforts went in vain as the MI batsmen let their team down. Ultimately KKR registered an amazing 41 run victory over Mumbai Indians in Abu Dhabi. Mumbai were off to a sluggish start with Morkel bounding them in fetters. Hussey, Tare, Rayudu, Rohit, Pollard were all under pressure and could not break out from the jinx layed out by KKR. The tournament’s first six went straight over the bowler’s head from Pandey. Kallis was awarded the man of the match award. Kolkata Knight Rider Yusuf Pathan received the good news of his wife having delivered their first baby boy as a bonus to the win. The news also made Yusuf’s brother Irfan Pathan a proud uncle who plays for SRH. A competitive total of 166 set up by KKR in match 6 was overcome in style by DD with special accomplishments from daredevil Duminy who sealed a victory for his team with a maximum. It was JP Duminy who snatched a win from under the noses of KKR with four wickets in hand and three balls to spare. It had seemed that the Knight Riders were cruising to victory when Duminy decided to alter the fate of the match by unleashing a flurry of boundaries, including a match winning six, to craft a famous win for his IPL team DD in the seventh edition of IPL. Earlier Gautam Gambhir had won the toss for KKR and opted to bat. KKR had once again a disastrous start as Kallis and...

Yuvraj on redemption path for RCB at Sharjah

Yuvraj Singh put paid to all criticism due to his poor show leading to loss of India in the World Twenty20 final against Sri Lanka at Dhaka. The Vijay Mallya owned RCB’s payment of an enormous Rs.14 crores to buy the services of the Indian left-handed star batsman at the IPL Players’ Auction had also come under a cloud. However the man Yuvi who beat cancer plunged right into RCB’s opening IPL match against Delhi Daredevils in Sharjah on April 17 to notch up an unbeaten 29 ball 52 to claim victory for Royal Challengers, Bangalore by eight wickets. Well it has begun well for Yuvraj and we hope it ends well for RCB as Captain Virat has claimed before the tournament. The nearly full stadium at Sharjah was witness to the onslaught by Kohli and Yuvi to chase down the target of 146 set by Opponents DD. RCB cruised past the Daredevils set target with 20 balls to spare as 84 runs came from the third wicket stand with Kohli who scored another 49 not out. Earlier the Delhi Daredevils had started off their journey in IPL 7 against Royal Challengers Bangalore at Sharjah Cricket Stadium by posting a competitive 145 for 4 from their stipulated 20 overs. Delhi Daredevils had already received a big blow when their in form Captain Kevin Pietersen was ruled out of play due to his injured finger that reoccurred about a month ago. Though Dinesh Karthik replaced Pietersen as the skipper it definitely left the DD side apprehensive and taut. Yuzvendra Chahal of RCB became the Man-of-the-Match for his figures of 4-0-18-1. Nothing went right for the Daredevils who began by losing the toss and were asked to bat. Dinesh Karthik added to DD’s woes by failing to perform as well. DD had lost early wickets but recovered well to post 145/4 off their 20 overs due to the tireless striving of JP Duminy with an unbeaten 67 and Ross Taylor at an unbeaten 43. The pair put on a 110 for the fifth wicket. However the target was too good for the RCB star batting line-up who even without Chris Gayle chased...