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...

Bowlers salvage victory for SRH over RR in match 30

A 32-run win for SRH was claimed by an incredibly inspired bowling performance by Bhuvneshwar Kumar over RR at the Motera. Man of the match Kumar scalped 4 wickets in his 4 overs giving away only 14 runs for SRH to register a 32-run away win against RR in Ahmedabad. RR had been set a very modest total of 134 to achieve but the SRH bowlers turned the match on its head as they bowled out their opponents RR for a paltry 102 to win the match. RR upon winning the toss chose to field first. SRH opened their innings with skipper Shikhar Dhawan and Aaron Finch. Dhawan scoring 33 with seven fours got SRH to a flying start but could not maintain the tempo as he was bowled out by Watson. Lokesh Rahul then joined Finch in the middle to bring up the 50 for SRH. Soon Finch was dismissed on 9 off the bowling of Rajat Bhatia in the seventh over and Rahul on 18 by Bhatia leaving SRH on 67 for three after nine overs. David Warner could not flourish as he was stumped on a Tambe delivery on 6 while Bhatia had Naman Ojha’s stumps uprooted on 17. Moses Henriques and Irfan Pathan then came together to take SRH past the 100-run mark in the 15th over. Watson in the 17th over claimed Henriques on 9 and Karn Sharma without scoring off consecutive deliveries to bag a hat-trick as he had dismissed Dhawan off the last ball of his previous over. This marked the second hat-trick at Ahmedabad in Pepsi IPL 7. Then two consecutive run outs were achieved by Sanju Samson who removed Dale Steyn for 9 and Amit Mishra for a duck. Pathan made an unbeaten 21 to help SRH score 134 for nine by the end of their stipulated 20 overs. RR’s reply began disastrously as they lost Ajinkya Rahane for 0 in the first over itself off the bowling of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Karun Nair and Samson added 27 for the second wicket. Steyn struck in the fourth over to get rid of Nair on 12. Karn Sharma scalped Samson on 16. The RR story turned for the worse when Captain Watson on 11 was caught behind in the seventh over off Henriques leaving SRH shaking and lost at 41 for four. Binny and Steve Smith added 37 runs in an attempt to steady the innings. Binny left for 12 in the 14th over and Steyn removed Smith on 22 as the...

RCB triumphs over SRH with de Villers flourish

A capacity crowd at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru got to watch a victory for home team RCB in match 24 of Pepsi IPL as de Villers produced a gem of a knock that powered RCB’s win over SRH who set a considerably competitive total of 155 to win for them. AB de Villiers scoring a tremendous unbeaten 89 is considered to be one of the best batsmen in T20 cricket due to his power hitting and innovative approach. The stylish South African batsman played out every regulation shot and customized shots out of a lot of other balls he faced to suit himself while helping his team RCB with 6 fours and 8 maximums during 41 ball knock to take away the man of the match award for himself and a magnificently awaited win for his team. RCB upon winnings the toss asked SRH to bat. Openers Aaron Finch and Shikhar Dhawan scored 20 for the first wicket as Mitchell Starc removed Finch batting on 13 in the third over. Lokesh Rahul, 6, David Warner, 61, Dhawan, 37, Darren Sammy, 8, Naman Ojha, 15, Irfan Pathan, 4 not out and Karn Sharma 1 not out were the contributions of the SRH batsmen in setting up a good target for RCB to chase down. SRH score reached 72 after 10 overs were bowled by the RCB bowlers. Dhawan left in the 13th over making it 91 for 3 leaving Warner to fend for the team by accelerating upon the solid base of runs. Though Warner was also scalped by Starc in the final and 20th over of the SRH innings he was around for many overs to ensure a sound total for SRH who finished on 155 for the loss of 6 wickets in their stipulated 20 overs. The RCB reply to SRH began with openers Gayle and Parthiv Patel who was bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s first delivery. As if it was not enough the entire home crowd was stunned into silence as their hero and RCB skipper Virat Kohli fell to Kumar without scoring just five balls later. It looked as if RCB was heading towards a possible loss as Gayle though at the crease was only half his force as he was back from an injury and could not take runs easily as running was causing him much pain. The score board exhibited the helpless situation of the home team who were struggling on 6 after the loss of two vital wickets after two overs. Amidst...

MI outplayed by SRH in last IPL 7 match at UAE

On Wednesday, April 30, 2014 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai MI were defeated for the fifth time in as many matches by SRH who cruised to a 15 run win. This match between MI and SRH being the 20th was the last of the scheduled matches of Pepsi IPL 7 held in UAE. Only Kieron Pollard with a solid knock of 78 kept SRH in doubt about a win against MI. But as Pollard he was removed before he could single handedly take MI to victory the SRH had nothing else to get worried about in match 20 of IPL 7 played at Dubai. Defending champions MI are now languishing at the bottom of the table as they have been win less in their UAE leg of Pepsi IPL 2014 hence unable to score any points. Upon winning the toss MI Captain Rohit Sharma chose to field asking SRH out to bat first. MI brought in Ben Dunk instead of Michael Hussey in their playing XI. The SRH openers Finch and SRH Captain Dhawan got their team to score at a brisk pace with almost all of the runs flowing from the willow of Finch while Dhawan got out on 6. The SRH score stood at 21 for 1 in 2.4 overs. MI pacer Zaheer Khan though a paler shade of his original form was enough to claim Finch batting on 16 before he could stabilize upon his flying start and call the shots. Then Warner along with Rahul took SRH past their 100 in the 14th over laying a base for the death over smashing. Warner reached his 50 from only 41 balls exhibiting his candid brilliance. So much was Warner taken in by the momentum of his ambiance that he thrashed an above the waist no-ball from MI bowler Kieron Pollard straight into umpire Kumar Dharmasena, who was back on his feet despite taking a hit upon his left shoulder. It finally took Corey Anderson of MI to get rid of Warner on 65 in the 19th over with SRH on 149 for three. Darren Sammy made 10 retaning the tempo of the match showing exactly the late and swift power hitting that he is known for before Anderson had him caught in the deep in the last ball of the 19th over. Rahul perished in the 20th over bowled by a brilliant Malinga after having scored 46 valuable runs and duly anchored the innings while Warner made merry at the other end. Naman...

CSK’s clinical win against SRH in match 17

CSK for whom winning is more a habit proved it against SRH winning a last over thriller on Sunday, April 27, 2014 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in Sharjah. CSK it seems are back into the groove with the heat off them about the hounding allegations of the IPL 6 scam that had almost nullified the team from participating in IPL 7. SRH won the toss and chose to bat first. SRH Captain Shikhar Dhawan got out after scoring only 7 in the third over of the innings off the bowling of Ben Hilfenhaus. David Warner failed to get off the mark to become Hilfenhaus’ second victim in the space of three balls. Aaron Finch and Lokesh Rahul joined hands to commence a partnership with the SRH scoreboard displaying a dismal 15 for two. They stitched together a 52 run stand in almost the same number of deliveries before Rahul departed on 25 as Dwayne Smith claimed his wicket in the 11th over. Finch and Venugopal Rao, 13 carried forward the innings. A devastating spell of Mohit Sharma left SRH tottering in the 15th over at 98 for the loss of 4 valuable wickets. Finch scored 44 became Mohit Sharma’s next scalp in the 18th over. Now it was up to Darren Sammy who made an unbeaten 23 and Karn Sharma with an unbeaten 17 to take SRH places. However there was not much Sammy could do as very few balls were left from SRH’s quota of overs. These two together piled on 36 runs in the two remaining overs. The best shot of the innings came from Karn Sharma who smashed Hilfenhaus for a gigantic six over square leg to leave all gaping in surprise in the 19th over. He then repeated the same act on the off side for another maximum hit in the very next ball. Sammy hit a maximum in the final over of the innings but left the ground shaking his head as if wishing he had some more balls to play for his team so that to put forward a better target for the reputable CSK to chase. Due to this onslaught SRH reached a modest 145 for five in their allotted 20 overs. The CSK bowlers Hilfenhaus and Mohit Sharma picked two wickets each with Ashwin allowing only 17 runs of his four overs. CSK who are habitual winners and excel in both chasing and setting targets got off to a fabulous start with Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum in smacking form....