A Second nightmare For the Mumbai Indians?

Well everyone knows the spat that happened in the clash between the Mumbai indians and Kings XI Punjab.That was the spat between Harbhajan Singh and Sreesanth (where Sreesanth was slapped by Harbhajan Singh which in turn led to Harbhajan Singh being suspended for the rest of the IPL matches).And this time also the result was the same as long as the clashing teams in Mumbai Indians and kings XI Punjab were considered.

Well the only thing that was different when compared to the earlier clash was that, this time the Mumbai Indians were seen putting up some sort of effort as against last time where,Mumbai Indians could manage to score only 116 for the loss of 9 wickets in response to Kings XI Punjab's 182.However this time,the match came close until the last ball was bowled.Unfortunately,the first bowl out of the tournament never happened till date.

But,as far as the Kings XI Punjab team were considered,it was only two men who took charge of their batting.Shaun Marsh and Pomersbach who when their scores were totaled in addition to the extras (12) summed to 172 out of the team total of 189. Meaning only 17 runs being scored by the remaining batsmen.But,what more could have been done with the Mumbai Indians reluctantly not being able to let-alone chasing down,but also failing to break the long standing partnership between the two.

Some patience in the last over by the Mumbai Indians would have helped solve matters to a greater extent I believe.As many as 4 run-outs,out of which two happened in the last over.One of Ashish Nehra (who risked by converting an impossible two into a three) and that of Chitnis (who hurried in taking a double when only one was on the cards).All these happening when a waist high full toss was bowled in the first ball of the last over.Still,the opportunity could not been utilized by the Mumbai Indians despite a handy half century from Sachin Tendulkar and the blistering works of Sanath Jayasuriya.

The only positives being that the audience who had gathered out there were able to watch some thrilling encounter.Still,we miss you "HARBHAJAN SINGH".

A Prefect Team Effort

Some occasions occur rarely.And in cricket one of the rare occasions is the one match in which there is a team effort as against a cricket game in which even in the winning team there is only a one man show.And this is most of the case in a losing team.But,in the game involving Mumbai Indians and the Deccan Chargers,one could see a team effort on the part of the Mumbai Indians,as all of the known batsmen were found to make a mark in the match.Starting from Sanath Jayasuriya,until Shah,almost everyone did what best they could have done with the bat.

Sanath Jayasuriya became the highest six hitter in the tournament with 20 big hits so far.The top scorer in the Mumbai Indians side was Abhisheik Nayar who scored only a handy 38 runs off 24 balls.But,the overall scorecard of the Mumbai Indians read 178/7 at the end of their alloted 20 overs.The run rate being almost 9.0 runs an over.Which is decent a decent one in the T20 format and that too in a team where none of them could manage a 50+ score.And when it came to the batting of Deccan Chargers,it was as usual.Lose couple of quick wickets and then towards the fag end of the innings,the prevailing batsmen can be seen only as though trying to draw a test match.

Shahid Afridi couldn't continue the good work he was found doing in the first three overs in the fourth over.It would raise eye-brows if one hears that Afridi's first three overs cost just 9 runs until he was blasted by Bravo for 14 runs in his fourth and the 16th over of the match.And when it came to his batting,the scoring was only in the minds of the fans of Shahid Afridi who are so far almost dejected.

An all round performance from Dwayne Bravo who scored a handy 30 off 17 balls with a couple of boundaries and an equal number of sixes.And in the second innings when it was his turn to take the ball into his hands,he never did a Virender Sehwag (who cost 22 runs in his only over against Kings XI Punjab).But,took 3 wickets giving away
24 runs from 4 overs.

The last time when the same two teams faced each other,the ball was on the Deccan Chargers' court owing to which Adam Gilchrist blasted a 42 ball hundred which was the then fastest hundred of the tournament.There it was a one man show unlike in the second round.But,Mumbai should have found it relaxing after it gave back Deccan Chargers what they (Deccan Chargers) had given them in the first meeting.

Captain Sets Up A Debacle for His Team

Well it would have been better had Virender Sehwag not got into such an act.This I mean is the decision of the Delhi Daredevils captain-Virender Sehwag who took the initiative by taking the ball in his hands,after some good work with the bat.As a result,this suicidal decision proved to be very costly for the Delhi Daredevils team as the over bowled by Virender Sehwag was belted for a costly 22 runs in the match which fate awarded it to the Kings XI Punjab after rain interrupted and the match had to be stopped after the Kings XI Punjab had batted for just 8 overs.Bad funda indeed!!
And a last ball six from the blades of Mahela Jayawardane locked the doors for the Delhi Daredevils.Oh!What a bad luck!Here comes the role of the unseen player in the form of fate which happened in this case to be the drizzles.Added to this,Virender Sehwag's score card read 47 runs from 19 balls and in the end 51 runs from 26 balls.Meaning just four runs from 7 balls towards the end of the innings.God knows as to why Sehwag decided to take the ball in his hands?

All batsmen belonging to the Delhi Daredevils team failed but for Sehwag and Gambhir.What better result can one expect with such a horrible thinking?With bowlers like Glenn McGrath and Maharoof,and with the showers pouring in,the unexpected could have been predicted.Don't know as to why Sehwag did this!It was something like the Proteas in the crucial league tie against Sri Lanka in the 2003 world cup which ended South Africa's world cup dreams for one more time.And one more such instance that I can give is the super eight match between Sri Lankaand Pakistan in which Mahela Jayawardane handed over the ball to Jayasuriya who got belted for 64 runs off his four overs,following which the same Jayasuriya scored a duck.

Same Faces Again And Again

Well the match between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals as usual,not to mention..well I guess the result has already been guessed.Thats true..Well lets forget that.There's lots and lots that we can talk about the match.So lets not get our moods rotten by talking about Royal Challengers and their plight in the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League.

It is once again Shaun Marsh who was the match winner in the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore too as he was in the match against Kolkata Knight Riders. Some things-some good and the rest of them bad can and will never change. With the same people emerging as the match winners in each and every game they face.Some examples being Yousuf Pathan,Shane Watson,Brendon McCullum,Goutam Gambhir ...While there are some like Virender Sehwag,Sanath Jayasuriya,Adam Gilchrist etc who are good only on their particular days...while the third category which includes the likes of Rahul Dravid,Shahid Afridi,V V S Laxman..who are never found to fire what so ever.

Singh vs Singh and Kings vs Kings

It was a battle between two Kings in Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab and also between two Singhs in Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni who captained their respective sides.One team that had come off from bottom to top and the other maintaining their streak with some ups and downs in the tournament.

But some difference with so many similarities between the two teams that clashed out there was that the match witnessed what no other team in the tournament so far has been able to achieve so far.A hattrick by a man who was seen in action after almost two and a half years-Laxmipathi Balaji.Also not to mention the clash between two players who have played for the same team for years altogether.But this time one had to face the other's bowling.Muttiah Muralitharan and Mahela Jayawardane two M's.And finally similar to his team's result,Murali's result was also no different. Murali did the same to his counterpart what Dhoni did to his.

All could be forgotten but for the wicket of Irfan Pathan who was threatening to walk away with the match had he not been taken by Raina off the bowling of the local hero-Laxmipathi Balaji.Irfan scored an 18-ball 40 before the ball found the hands of Suresh Raina.The Kings XI Punjab gave away 15 runs in extras with some clever bowling off Chennai Super Kings gave away just 3.If this was not to be,the Chennai Super kings had nothing when it came to their batting for the strike rates of even the settled batsmen was not above 150.

The match result may say whatever but both the kings team put up a decent performance what-so-ever.Both threatening to take away the game from each other time and now.

Kings XI Punjab Have An Easy Prey

A fourth victory on the trot for the kings XI Punjab meant winning five games in a row for them as they were supposed to take on the non countable team in Royal Challengers Bangalore who are not at all counted to be an opposition by anyone.Even the Deccan Chargers-who are next to them when it comes to losing I guess.And this is what exactly happened on May 5th when Kings XI Punjab trounced Royal Challengers Royally at the Chinnaswamy Stadium by 6 wickets.

The Royal Challengers needless to say,have already registered the lowest total of the IPL when they were all out for a score of 82 in the very first encounter against another minnow team in Kolkata Knight Riders.And after this humiliating defeat,the Royal Challengers never lost their way.They kept on following the steps paved in the first match.And the match against Kings XI Punjab.

Well it would be a foolish advice to expect the Royal Challengers Team stand up and show some teeth because they have already given it up.Not a guess!The only chance for the Royal Challengers would be the team who challenges them when it comes to losing badly.One hope would be off course Deccan Chargers.But still,it is hard to believe that the highest wicket taker in the tournament being Zaheer Khan who belongs to Royal Challengers.Isn't it?

Bottom To Top & From Top To Bottom

Well when the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League started,the Kolkata Knight Riders started it all with a bang by beating the Royal Challengers Bangalore by a whooping 140 runs-which is till the highest margin of victory for any team against any opposition.But,the victory streak was limited it looks.Because,after winning the forst two matches,the Kolkata Knight Riders had nothing at their end but defeat.Likewise on the other hand,the Kings XI Punjab has had a steady progress as they were found to win the rest of the games with much ease compared to the way they lost their opening encounter against Rajasthan Royals-which is famous for the Sreesanth-Harbhajan incident.

And if there was Yousuf Pathan for the Royal Challengers making news for all the good reasons,his younger brother Irfan is not too far behind as even this man was found to put up an all round performance by capturing two crucial wickets and scoring 24 runs (lets not take into account the strike rate).And much to my surprise,it was unimaginable to see Piyush Chawla belt the ball like an Indian Shahid Afridi.The tail end batsman scored a 7 ball 21 at a strike rate of 300 which included 3 hits to the fence and one huge six.

And the match was such a close encounter that it kept the audience always guessing out there for every ball that was bowled.The Kolkata Kinght Riders captain was once again a great flop as he could only manage to come out of a duck and get struck at 5.Atleast some blistering knock of 71 saw some face saving work for the Kolkata Knight Riders.And after a series of losses,it looks like the Kolkata knight riders are going the Royal Challengers and the Deccan Chargers way.

Replace a Match Winner By Another Match Winner

Set a thief to catch a thief.And this is what the Kings XI Punjab were found doing in the encounter against Deccan Chargers who on the last night gave the kings a tough fight.People like Shahid Afridi,Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs-who are known for their hard hitting abilities were found to do the scoring part only in the imaginary world.While lesser known names (when it come to big hitting) like V V S Laxman and Rohith Sharma were found to dominate with the bat.And the coincidence being that the match winner in the last game-Simon Katich was replaced by another match winner-Shepherd Marsh(son of Geoff Marsh).

And one of the rare feats that is witnessed in the Indian Premier League,both the teams put up a tough fight.But,as the rules of the game goes,there could be only one winner and that turned out to be the Kings XI Punjab.Someone like Yuvraj Singh and Shahid Afridi were once again found to disappoint.But,the man who made the day out there was Rohith Sharma who scored an unbeaten 76 off just 42 balls-just like he did in the inaugural T20 world cup against South Africa in South Africa.This happened when all the batsmen from the other end collapsed but for VVS Laxman.

And it was also a delight to watch Mahela Jayawardane who scored 45 runs off 23 balls which involved most of them scoops.After all,it was a rare fight that was witnessed in the IPL after the second game.And also more smiles for Priety Zinta who saw her team climb up the stairs after three initial losses.

Which Format of Cricket Were the Mumbai Indians Playing?

More Money,more disappointment?

Hmm..with Mumbai being one of the four metropolitan cities in India,one difference if someone asks me is this..With the rest of the metropolitan cities namely Delhi Daredevils,Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Superkings being in a dominant position from the beginning of this tournament,the Mumbai Indians (sad to say) have so far just made a mess of their game.

Boasting of having an icon player in Sachin Tendulkar-who is still yet to turn up for his team and even if he does,god knows what would he be upto..And then the great Sanath Jayasuriya who has a record in ducks when it comes to the ODIs,also a responsible batsman for Sri Lanka.Some hopes of the Mumbai Indians that one can see is that of Harbhajan Singh and Shaun Pollock.It would be nice if these two are made to handle the entire 20 overs slot.

At the end of the Mumbai Indians' innings,the run rate read 5.8.Something rare in the present one day internationals also.And a common gesture in tests involving Australia against Bangladesh & West Indies.And Sanath Jayasuriya's score reading "1 run from 7 balls at a strike rate of 14.28".Then we have Robin Uttappa who has so far recorded two scores above 40.But,at a strike rate of just above hundred,when the series has witnessed strike average rates of 150+,and some of them crossing even the 200 mark.

A less experienced like Piyush Chawla picking up 2/16 from 4 overs.Khote's hit wicket-which is a rare manner of getting out.With teams like Mumbai Indians getting filtered so easily,it looks the multi million dollar Indian Premier League is becoming more and more predictable.

A Better Match to Follow

After the first match debacle in the opening encounter involving Bangalore Royal Challengers,there was some relief in the second encounter involving Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings.For both the teams out there were found to show their powers,if not for the fact that there can be only one winner for a match.Both teams crossing the 200+ mark showed some maturity in the game that was totally dominated by batsmen,which witnessed the fastest hundred in the history of the game by Mike Hussey.

If not for the likes of Indian skipper M.S.Dhoni,rest of them could boast of having a strike rate of excess of 150,with two out of six having their strike rates of 200+.Well like I always do,this time i have got nothing to complain about.Because,the T20 competition is most (if not all) about belting the ball.And if this is not to be,does someone expect the audience just to come out there and watch the batsmen ducking each and every ball they face?Had it been so,the T20 would rather been called as a reduced version of 50 over ODI.

Even in the second innings,5 out of six (if Irfan Pathan is taken to be a bowler), batsmen could post strike rates of excess of 150.Well,at the end of the day,it was atreat for all the fans,in addition to the delight of watching the dancing girls out there.So,thanks people for giving us a beautiful match.