IPL 6 - MATCH # 10 - MUMBAI INDIANS Vs DELHI DAREDEVILS

A thumping win that has tremendously increased the confidence level and the formation of the Mumbai Indians unit! You don't often get such a generous opponent  who will accommodate you with everything you need apart from a huge win and the Daredevils had the heart to offer that! :-) something is seriously wrong with the Delhi side and there is no wonder they are down to the third defeat in a row.....

Right things happening at the right time for Mumbai.....it's their first home match of the season after the two tough clashes outside..... they sweated out the first match to lose with real cricketing spirits to RCB and the second match they did put an all-hands effort to beat Chennai in their unbeatable home ground! and now with all the confidence they have beaten gloriously their innocent guests who playd as if driving a Delhi registration car in the roads of Mumbai without GPS or google maps!

The MI skipper had no hesitation to choose batting first in the track that was inviting with an unlimited offer of  runs! The big-brand opening duo "PONDULKAR" posted an another unsuccessful show from the middle... it was a maiden first over and a wicket to Irfan Pathan and his man was Ponting.... Ricky never had his foot right in the kick-starter and was getting slipped constantly with the new ball for the first five deliveries,  the veteran allegedly losing his patience gave an easy catch to the opposite captain Mahela Jayawardane who celebrated the wicket joyously without knowing that it was his last laugh of the day! Just like the team Delhi something's really going wrong with Sachin as well....as we haven't quite seen Tendulkar making the exit facing only one ball consecutively in two innings!  Again the master lost his wicket to a terrible run-call which he himself made and cancelled eventually giving the wicket away to a superb throw from Warner!

That was all the brief sorrow of the Mumbai Indians yesterday and the glory began when Rohit Sharma joined Dinesh Karthick in the mission of lifting the run rate! It was a pleasure to watch Dinesh yet again glittering with splendid form! The bowling attack during the initial overs by the Delhi seamers was really intact yet Dinesh managed to beat them all by driving his way to the fence at least once in an over!

Rohit from the other end gave a perfect partnership whose shots, yesterday, was in the closest proximity to the ones described in the text books! Right from the variation of the foot work to the rotation of the strike everything was in place for the Dinesh-Rohit pair and Delhi bowlers catalyzed the scoring rate of Mumbai with their own share of lose deliveries.....! Rohit's batting was cleanly crafted with measured lines and calculated executions and his scoring chart was a cricketing art while Dinesh was just scribbling his wagon wheel with his power hits.... All praise to the orange cap holder for his quick execution of the shots to keep  scoring simple!

Though it was sad to see Dinesh missing a well deserved ton to his name, he was done completely with his contribution to victory when he marched back to pavilion with the standing ovation from all the stands with a cruising strike rate of 179+ 

The projected score when Dinesh's departure from the middle was 180+ and the positive outlook of the team of that stature was surely to post a over two hundred score on the board! The attacking mission this time headed by Rohit Sharma who with the big hitters of the side Pollard and Rayudu had all correct to register what they wanted in the score board.... the final overs had lots of fireworks in the sky as the team leaped with ease to a mammoth 209 for 5 in the allotted 20 overs!

Malinga replacing Munaf displayed the Mumbai Indian bowling attack looking too good to the guests!

Ponting was clever to introduce Bhajji in the opening over who gave surprise to himself by taking Unmukt Chand's wicket out first ball! What a catch by Ponting!!! Well..... I remember Ponting said, when he was in India for the worldcup 2011, "Hope I'll be in the wheel chair by then if I make it!" while the reporter asked him about his possibility to make it to the next world cup! O... Ricky nobody would accept what you told having seen the catch you had taken yesterday it was literally the sight of the Ricky Ponting who was dynamic under Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh! Ageless effort by the fitness guru on the field to inspire the young blood of his new side in blue!

I just feel it's honesty not to forget to mention the batting of Warner and the in-form Manpreet Juneja in this almost one-sided article (so as the match was too!) No wonder to see David Warner's "Last Samurai" effort by his own manly daredevil big hits as he's always the man to do that stuff.... but it was the young Juneja who caught the attention of the cricketing crowd yesterday from the eventual minnow side! It was a brave fight back by the youngster , consistency of this kind can even promise him to take home to the national side!

Excellent batting by the young Indian alongside the world class veteran!

Please don't ask me anything more about Delhi's batting as I dont want to add fuel to their fire of despair... 

Mumbai's bowling line has started to threaten as Lasith Malinga has joined Mitchell Johnson to bowl from the other end.... Ojha is looking good to pick his wickets and the team's bowling will surely earn the class if Bhajji could retain his 'not so bad' form sort of which he showed yesterday! Kieron Pollard has to bowl full of his allotment which could be a concern as he's vulnerable to be hit easily to the stands by a Dhoni kind of a batsman!

When Dinesh playing a big innings why not let Rayudu save DK's energy by exchanging the keeper's glove!

Yesterday Dinesh's wicket keeping was hit by the weary of his long stand with the batting pads-on in the first innings..... not everyone could do a Dhoni who's also the captain in addition!

Overall.... I would say Mumbai is the first team of the season to get in shape.... still more matches to come and more and more to see...... we'll just let our mind to ask for more..... yeh dil maange more!

Cheers Mumbai..... 

Luv,

Prabu M

IPL 6 - MATCH # 05 - MUMBAI INDIANS Vs CHENNAI SUPER KINGS

The Jurassic Park is back in the theaters now in a spectacular 3D version for this summer!

I still remember the scene in which Sam Neil with the two kiddos fighting the ruthless dinosaurs where there is clearly noway to beat the might of their enormous enemy! To that particular thriller sequence of the movie I was literally tensed to the core that I had complexly clasped my then little fingers piercing deep into the pop-corn cover!! (remember those days the theater canteens offering hot pop-corn in thin plastic covers?!) while my entire weight was pushed down to my feet as I was struggling at the edge of the seat! :-))

Spielberg's JP is back and this time the dinos are gonna frighten much closer in the 3D format! those who've missed it just like me this weekend due to IPL, it was DHONI who stood tall and strong tremendously just like a dinosaur (LOL!) and gave the Mumbai Indians the Jurassic adventure before they tasted their first victory of the season miraculously thanks to the safest hands of their own 'West Indian Beast' taking that edgy catch in the rightest moment!!!! Mumbai Indians beat The Super Kings in their almost unbeatable home pitch of MA Chidambaram Stadium Chepauk! What a match!!!!!

A more aggressive Chennai this time had the Mumbai Indians under control right from the beginning of the match today...... Tendulkar was out first ball and I cursed the umpire so badly before the replays showed that that ball would have definitely rocked the leg stump! Height of desperation for any Sachin devotee as the little master made a disturbed exit from the middle slightly yelling at the discomfort caused by the delayed decision! soon the debutant of the day Rajpoot had the best moment of his life as the man who had fallen to his slow bouncer, his first ever victim, is just the second man in the history of cricket to have lifted the world cup twice and he's Ricky Ponting! Mumbai was still drowning when the' lazy' Rohit Sharma continued his poor show and lost his wicket too very cheaply..... :-(

Dinesh Karthick extending his excellence with the bat to this match as well, gave Mumbai an interesting opportunity to poke Chennai's eyes with its own finger! The Chennai boy clinically executed five (Four 4s and a Six) glorious boundaries which raised its way to the fence in a flash! its an another well played innings from the wicket keeper batsmen of Mumbai who scored a quick 37 off just 25 balls! When Dinesh Karthick too lost his wicket to Bravo just in the ninth over of the game there was no surprise to see Rayudu and Smith making their way to the pavilion uselessly! The biggest question at that moment that who's going to be there till the end to guide Mumbai if at all the team's set to post a decent score on board! It was the beast who came for the rescue..... Kieron Pollard played a committed innings in which he didn't fail to add his flavor too.... the five sixes which just eased its way to the stand were literally over the head for the CSK....
Not to forget Harbhajan's stubborn partnership from the other end.... he revealed pain when Pollard wanted for a next to impossible second run which Bhajji naturally refused yet Pollard was demanding for it.... but the next ball it was Harbhajan's chance to launch the missile for a sharp sixer! Mumbai posted a definitely acceptable target of 149 runs to Chennai!

Well... as mentioned earlier, CSK was more an aggressive team yesterday.... and they were more than keen to start the tournament with a success... also the team inspite of missing its usual star Albie Morkel was looking tough in the field with some dangerous names aligned to clinch the match from the MI. Thats the reason why I look at this victory very crucial for Mumbai that the team under the new captain has really co-ordinated very well and they showed the character as a unit yesterday...... the bowling attack lead by the pace spearhead Mitchell Johnson with Munaf was just intact while Hussy and Vijay were looking to get instantly back in their tough IPL form! Vijay fell to Munaf this time....and the team Mumbai was acting really fast to keep their chances alive..... Bowling attack was very nicely rotated by Ponting, nice to see the Australian skipper realizing the importance of a balanced spin attack to have chances in Chennai's dusty track.... Praghyan Ojha was extraordinary in exploiting the advantages in favor of his team him being a slow left armer.... Earlier Ashwin for CSK was dictating his home dominance with the number of variations the off spinner could produce with his magical fingers.... Harbhajan, though he's not anymore of the standards of Ashwin, the senior was looking tough..... inspite of being beaten at times, the turbanator managed to finish his quota of overs pretty decently while he had already trapped Hussy to his clever quickie!

When Mumbai Indians managed to take away CSK's middle order match was well in their hands before Dhoni's heroics begun..... The yellow crowd of Chennai wasn't so much worried to see their battalion failing to impress and its just because the strong trust they have on their superman and he too is really capable of lifting his team to success from any kinda disaster...... Dhoni has an Angel & Demon inside him :) I have always cherished him as the Angel who saves the national team in all the crucial moments, yesterday I felt the fright to see him as the mighty demon from the Mumbai Indians' point of view! MSD was amazing as he took all the pressure on his shoulders, slightly was pissed when Ashwin gave away his wicket with no brains at a tension mounted point.... , lead his team to victory losing it by an incredible catch! What a catch that was by the beast! To my naked eyes I couldn't see any possibility for a catch down there... it was Ricky's cleverness to put Pollard there and the beast took him in the air, intercepted the trajectory of the ball to take that unbelievable catch, giving his team the only way of victory at that point of time and that's to take away Dhoni from the middle!

It was Pollard Vs Dhoni all the way and the combat had it all for any cricket fan to cherish the moments!

Good Luck Mumbai Indians!

Luv,
Prabu M 

IPL 6 - MATCH # 02 - MUMBAI INDIANS Vs ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE

It's completely different watching a match live from the stadium compared to watch the same on TV!

When the required runrate is over 10 and a batsman like Dinesh Karthick can turn the course of the match in a single over with 3 sixes and a four.... it's none other than T-20 cricket and when he's doing it to a Daniel Christian its definitely IPL!! yesterday's match brought back the original taste of an IPL game! it was a sumptuous treat to both the sides :-) personally when I, with my bunch, was shouting and jumping from the last row of the C-stand in the Chinnswamy Sadium, Bangalore, the match offered everything a true cricket fan would ask for! Excellent match which gave a bleeding win to the hosts in red in the last ball when Pollard's final hit couldn't quite reach the fence! I wont say that RCB won by 2 runs but I will say they beat the Mumbai Paltans by a millimeter as the previous hit of Kieron Pollard pitched just a millimeter short of the sixer rope and if that ball would have been a six I'm sure the points table would have had Mumbai on top!

Ricky Ponting who won the toss did a Dhoni by opting to field first! I was a bit surprised about the decision.... though it's considered ideal to chase in T20, I felt Ponting would have given a thought about the playing conditions before he chose to field first..... no issues about the pitch, as the batsmen's paradise the will never deceive a batsman no matter what you bat first or second but the mist factor wont really support the team batting second in flood light..... anyways that only had a meager effect so lets round it off!

Mumbai's bowling attack was very controlled in the opening spells and Johnson was very adamant not to give away anything to the batting team while Munaf too (he was bowling close to 140kmph yesterday!) supporting Johnson's effort from the other end! It was Dilshan who lost his cool and came forward to play a wrong shot, completely miss judged Johnson's line and let the stumps break to make a painful exit with a duck off 8 balls! Virat was also struggling to get settled down when he was the new man in the middle! MI pacers successfully mounted a huge pressure on the batsmen in the initial overs as the fielding restrictions were almost done when the RCB had posted a score which was not even close to 6 per over and they were one down too! but the batting side knew Unless they feel the pressure there is no pressure and they were keen not to feel it and just concentrated on getting settled. Kohli started to fire when the young Bumrah came to bowl... and was looking so handsome with that straight six! Teenager paceman Bumrah was well backed by the veterans Sachin and Ponting, both reaching out to him everytime he was smashed by Kohli in that one good over! the corrections gave by the seniors made its magic and he really got his man Virat Kohli and went on to bag an another wicket too!

Right from then it was all GAYLE show!

One end was losing wickets readily but that never could shake the RCB's dark knight Christ Gayle! He is not an eagle as his bowlers usually get frightened at him but he's a hungry crane! Crane never loses its patience when she hunts down fishes in the water currents....she patiently lets her prey to get escaped from her pointed long beak as she always knows that enough fishes are ever there under the water for her to feed on! Gayle who, also has the long legs just like the bird of his quality, too believes strongly that he will get his own deliveries enough for him make his mammoth scoring pattern! From the stadium it was great to see Chris Gayle's batting strategy! Man.... he has his own protocol to scan the fielding set up and he waits for the bowler to miss his line and he knows the art of lifting the ball right in the gaps of the field with his enormous arm power! The moral of the story is that if you ever want to beat RCB take Gayle away from the middle at the earliest you can!

with Gayle's heroic 92 off just 58balls RCB handed a competitive target of 157 to MI!

The whole crowd went mad when the Master Blaster Mumbai Indian was walking along with the legendary Aussie to the middle! and I was in heaven when I felt that my voice was also mixed in the wild roar thundering in the air for the GOD of circket! Sachin and Ponting started it really very well against the not so commanding bowling attack.... but the seniors couldn't maintain the momentum when Sachin's wicket fell cheaply for a terribly misjudged call for a run! Mumbai Indians' ship started to sink right from there while its new captain could only watch it from one end! When Ponting gave his wicket to Murali Karthick the wicket keeper Arun Karthick stumped him out with his quickest reflexes and it was a "Karthik calling Karthick" moment (!) for the skipper's wicket... third umpire would have given out with his naked eyes it was such a clean call yet Ponting was waiting till the screen told "OUT"!

If Chris Gayle is the hungry crane for RCB , Rohit Sharma was the lazy duck for the Mumbai Indians yesterday! Any Mumbai Indian fan would have been irritated to the core when Rohit was fumbling along with Dinesh Karthik while the required runrate was rapidly raising from 8 to 9 and also to 10! Me, inspite of being a Mumbai Indian supporter cheered happily for the exit of Rohit! and was praying for the dismissal of Dinesh as well! But soon I realized it was my mistake being so emotional at that point and I was yet to witness the best of Dinesh Karthik slamming Daniel Christian for three sixers in row and also a four too! He gave a clean "U" turn to the graph of Mumbai Indians to put them back on the winning track! Dinesh Karthick the man who gave India the triumph in the very first T-20 International the country played against the proteas in South Africa with his flamboyant sixer , gave MI too almost such an exciting winning moment  yesterday with his die hard batting! Sorry Dinesh for cursing you impatiently before you started to cruise! :-))

It was 10 needed from 6 balls when Vinay Kumar was handed the ball to bowl the final over! Vinay did the magic to take Dinesh and Rayudu to his consecutive deliveries! Can't still think why the hell Harbhajan Singh was sent to bat while the bench had Jacob Oram an all rounder! Also only Nita Ambani has to figure out why his skippers never provide Pollard enough balls to lift the team to the posted target while she has invested a lot on him just to do the same! Ponting also joined the club of Mumbai Indian's botching captains while sending the wrong men at the right time! (Also there's no answer for why Munaf bowled the last over when Johnson had an over remaining in his quota of allotted overs?!) RCB beat Mumbai Indians in the end in a nail biting climax all praise to Vinay Kumar for his realistic last over and I would say not to forget the previous tight over bowled by Unadkat conceding only 7 runs while the batsmen were one fire!


Kohli has started with a win...... though I wont say he is a deserving captain for this! Dude you are the captain of a big side and you still exhibit an "angry young man" posture from the pavilion not getting rid of the pads hours after losing the wicket, asking for a six from Gayle in a pressurized moment!!!! Didn't really enjoyed Kohli as a captain..... but yes he lead the winning team which has started with a big win!

Best Wishes to RCB and tough luck Mumbai..... it was a superb match to watch.... Thank you GUYS!

Meet you tomorrow with the review of the underdogs set to fight each other at Hyderabad today evening!

Luv,
Prabu M

IPL 6 - MATCH # 01 - KOLKATTA KNIGHT RIDERS Vs DELHI DAREDEVILS

If, in an IPL season, it's the first time that a SIXER came after a FIFTY the full credit (!) goes to the Daredevils who didn't really dare to face Naraine's magical spell in a typical Eden Garden track yesterday in the IPL season 6 opener!

It's sheer dominance what the Knight Riders had shown over the Daredevils and the 'not so balanced' Delhi side couldn't stand the bowling attack right from the ball no. 1 of the season, bowled royally by Brett Lee, which literally made a crack in the stump, sending the victorious Indian Under 19 captain Unmukt Chand to pavilion with a big round zero to his name on the board!

Nothing can demoralize a batting team more that a first ball duck.... and that's what struck the unfortunate Delhi team yesterday.... Yet have to accept that the efforts made for the comeback was awesome! The skipper Mahela Jayawardane flicking Brett's delivery in the same over for a leg-side boundary was a defining moment on how to take on the pressure with your experience! but what I dont understand is, when they had David Warner to open with the young Unmukt Chand, why not the experienced Warner face the first ball?!

But even the experience of Warner didn't work against Sunil Naraine!
O Man...... Naraine has not faded at all and he stands solid to give KKR the winner's boost in this season too! It was none other than Naraine who'd completely taken the match away from the guests.....
He was not at all predictable and the way he had taken his wickets photographed the batsmen with their worst gestures fumbling against the almost unplayable deliveries! Look at the dismissal of Russel, caught and bowled, one of the most simplest ways of trapping a batsman with spin.... and what I liked the most in Naraine, is his manly gesture after taking the wickets.... he doesn't seem to celebrate much his wickets and he gives a polite send off to his victims non-verbally asking "Who's next?" with his solid body language!

The only thing worked for Delhi was their skipper's knock.... Mahela, just returning from an injury to his class of cricket straight away, played the captain's innings which though eventually had gone in vain, has stored the hopes of the team for the rest of the long tournament! Perfect short selections, measured foot works and accurate timings were all in Mahela's well played 66 runs off 52 balls....

Definitely Delhi would have posted a decent score on the board if Gautam would have waited to introduce Narine into the attack.... skipper Gautam Gambhir handed the still shining white ball to Naraine when the score-board read 48/1 in just 5 overs.... the runrate was always under control after that over while the wicket fall was very much adequate and periodic...

Nothing much to discuss about Delhi's batting as they just fell flat to the simplest prototype bowling strategy executed by KKR's medium pacers Balaji,shukla and Bhatia that just TO KEEP IT SLOW AND STRAIGHT!!! Team Delhi just fell as a deck of card against the wind..... failing terribly with the bat...

Also there's not much to exclaim about Delhi's bowling, where Nehra's line was interesting in the opening overs the same was rewarded with the wicket of struggling Bisla at one end. Gautam was spectacular yesterday he was very fluent with the bat, it was so delightful to watch his bat connecting to the ball perfectly when he just freely swings it the air with rhythm! Gautam's foot work was nothing less than perfect when he was timing Delh's pacers to boundary line..... Botha, Pathan, Nehra, Umesh nobody tried to exploit the conditions in favor of the bowling side which I would say they failed to learn from the hosts! Umesh has nothing to offer other than his pace which he only believes he has really! Kallis, Tiwary,Yousuf and Morgan just cake walked to reach the handy target with no pressure mounting on them!

So to wrap it up..... the first match of this IPL was not so hard fought but still had moments for the host crowd to cheer for their champions continuing the winning streak...... First ball of the season breaking the stump and what else would the crowd be asking for from their heroes! Watching SRK delighting for his own team was just equal to see the entire crowd cheering for the local team! I personally would like to see SRK's reaction when Chris Gayle takes on KKR :-)

It's KKR all the way to triumph... a victory to show their might....... lets wait for the next match to be played today Mumbai Indians Vs Royal Challengers Bangalore I'm going to watch live from the Chinnaswamy Stadium today! EXCITED as I'm gonna see Sachin live for the first time in my life :-)

Catch you later......

Luv
Prabu M