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The Gayle Force Does It Again

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On yet another overcast day in South Africa, two teams who were being written off after their first matches, squared off against each other with each hoping desperately to avoid defeat. Both teams would have been aware that this was a match they had to win to regain credibility with their supporters.

Brendom McCullum won the toss, and opted to field. For Kolkata, there was still no Mendis in the playing eleven, although they made one change - dropping Agarkar for rookie Yashpal Singh. Punjab retained the same eleven that played against Delhi.

Kolkatta started off well, with Ishant Sharma finding his rhythm and getting Karan Goel caught in the slips by Chris Gayle in his first over. That brought Irfan Pathan to the crease, who was promoted to No.3. Irfan swung his bat lustily and was looking ominous, when Sourav Ganguly turned things around for his team with a superb first over that saw him pick up two wickets and beat Yuvraj's bat a couple of times.

Punjab had their best batsmen - Yuvraj and Sangakkara - at the crease, and they then set about rebuilding the innings. Their partnership of 56, scored in fairly quick time, was brought to an end by a needless run-out when Yuvraj correctly did not respond to Sangakkara's call for a rash single. The wicket was lost at the most inopportune moment, because Ishant and Ganguly, the two best bowlers of the day, had just been bowled out. Yuvraj fell trying to hit one six too many, and a cameo by Mahela Jayawardene took Punjab to a respectable 158 for 6.

To successfully chase that, Kolkata needed one batsman to get stuck in and play a long innings, and it had to be one of the top four - or as cricket fans like to call them - one of the multiple captaincy candidates. The innings got off to a sedate start, but then the King's Eleven were hit by a Gayle force.

Chris Gayle exploded in the fourth over the way only he can - swatting sixes and fours nonchalantly. It didn't help Punjab that he was dropped twice - by Karan Goel at mid-wicket and by Sangakkara behind the stumps. McCullum's wicket pulled things back for the King's XI a touch, but Gayle still found the timing to smash yet another six, before the by-now-familiar rain came down, and the players trooped off the field, for what turned out to be the end of the match. Kolkata were sitting pretty at 79 for 1 after 9.2 overs, and Messrs Duckworth-Lewis confirmed that they were ahead of the required score by 11 runs.

Punjab lost their second successive match after a rain interruption, and although they were clearly not in the driving seat when the rains came down, they will feel hard done by.

Man of the Match:

Chris Gayle for his hurricane innings that made the difference between victory and defeat.

Turning Point of the Match:

Karan Goel dropping Gayle, when the latter was on 2 off 4 balls. Sangakkara dropped Gayle too but that was when he had already powered to 32 off 17 balls. Goel's drop was by far the costlier of the two - he scored 42 off 22 balls after that drop, which was a match-winning effort.

Soundbytes:

"McCullum eased the pressure off me. I tried to get my eye in." - this from Chris Gayle who scored 44 not out off 26 balls. McCullum was out for 21 off 16 balls.
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Ground Reality and Pitch: 
The home ground of the KwaZulu-Natal Dolphins, Kingsmead Durban is the ground which is mythically known for the tidal influence because of its close proximity to the sea. Indian fans will have mixed memories of the ground - it was here that India were skittled out for 100 and 66 in two innings against an Allan Donald led South African attack. But it was also here that Yuvraj Singh hit 6 sixes against Stuart Broad. 
It has a seating capacity of 25,000. 
The pitch has traditionally favoured the seamers, but has mellowed down in the last few years, and though not a batting paradise, it shouldn't be a batting graveyard either. 
Team News: 
Kolkata Knight Riders: The Knight Riders are still in the process of looking for their Knight in shining pads and gloves. A SWOT analysis of their chances before the IPL would have revealed explosive openers, and a decent attack as strenghts, lack of Indian batting strenght and lop-sided team balance (the team depends almost exclusively on the imports to win) as weaknesses, unearthing new talent as an opportunity, and team disunity as a threat. After one match the analysis would stay the same, except that the openers have exploded with all the verve of a damp firecracker, and the attack has only made the opposition batsmen look decent. With the strenghts drying up, and the weaknesses more glaring, the master of all he surveys in the Knight Riders camp - Buchanan - decided on the master-stroke of leaving Ajantha Mendis out of the playing eleven. This, after Kumble, Warne, Harbhajan, Jayasuriya and Vettori had shown the value of quality spin in these conditions. To be fair to him, he might have been deciding who would captain the side during the strategy breaks, so was understandbly too busy to pay close attention to team selection. 
King's Eleven Punjab: They are pretty much in the same boat as the Knight Riders, with two important differences: 1.) their boat hasn't yet sunk as low as KKR's and 2.) they have the incentive of a Preity Zinta hug if they win the match. After a dismal start, this is their best chance to put some early points on the board against a team in disarray. If Karan Goel can carry forward his form, and Sangakkara can add the runs that are expected of him, they will have a chance to put up a fighting total. The bowling remains a major worry though. 
Players to Watch: 
Ajantha Mendis: Was inexplicably left out of Kolkata's first match, but it would be unthinkable to leave him out this time. Can control the middle overs the way the other spinners have done for their sides, making scoring difficult for the Kolkata batsmen.  
Karan Goel: Showed undoubted promise during his brief, explosive innings in Punjab's opening match. For his own sake, and for the team, he needs to carry on, and get a 50+ score, which, if scored at the pace he did last time, would give the King's Eleven a very good platform. 
Numbers Game: 
55.88 - Brad Hodge's average in test match cricket. He has played only 6 test matches for Australia. 
5.65 - Ishant Sharma's economy rate in ODIs, which is higher than Ajit Agarkar's (5.07) 
Trivia: 
Brad Hodge is amongst the unluckiest players of his generation. Not only has he played at time when it was impossible to break into the Australian middle order, but in the few chances he did get, fate seemed to be against him. In his first 12 matches, his highest score was 99 Not Out, with a second highest of 97 Not Out. He also scored 49 (out) during that period. He has played just 25 ODIs for Australia, with one century and 3 fifties, scored at a strike rate of 87.51. 
Soundbytes: 
"It was a cricketing decision. People who have cricketing head and mind -- Dada (Ganguly), (John) Buchanan and team management -- had taken the decision. I hope it is for the betterment of the team." - Shah Rukh Khan. 
Chennai Super Kings MAUL Banglore Royal Challengers





There was a slight drizzle at Port Elizabeth but it cleared on time for the play to commence. Before the toss took place, the entire Bangalore team, along with MS Dhoni was present to witness Lalit Modi present the 'Orange Cap' to Rahul Dravid and the 'Purple Cap' to Anil Kumble. The Chennai captain MS Dhoni won the toss and he decided to bat first on a pitch, which was reported to be a reasonable batting surface. The Chennai team chose to play Balaji, Muralitharan and Albie Morkel while the Bangalore team included Kallis in their playing eleven in place of Jesse Ryder.

The Chennai innings started off with a mixture of boundaries and mistimed shots by Hayden and Patel. Hayden got the first six of the match putting away a full toss off Praveen Kumar. It was the fifth over of the match when Kallis was introduced to the attack. Hayden ambushed the bowler, hitting three boundaries and a six of his over.

While Patel kept rotating the strike, Matthew Hayden was firing away in his vintage style reaching his fifty in just 22 balls. Hayden got lucky when he survived a close LBW shout off Anil Kumble but the 'Bulky Australian' assisted by Parthiv Patel, carried on and took Chennai to a score of 106 at the end of the 10th over.

The 'Strategy Break' came to the aid of the Bangalore team when the time-out resulted in two consecutive wickets. Patel was first to go when he missed an attempted slog sweep off Pietersen and the ball clipped the stumps. The very next ball resulted in the run-out of Matthew Hayden after an incorrect piece of calling by Suresh Raina. It seemed like Raina's lucky day, when a skier was put down Steyn much to the displeasure of Anil Kumble.

The Chennai captain MS Dhoni did not stay long and was dismissed by Praveen Kumar on 16. Raina held out to Virat Kohli giving Praveen his second wicket.

While Flintoff managed a couple of lusty blows in the final over, Steyn managed to dismiss Morkel off his last ball. At the end of 20 overs, Chennai managed to score 179 for the loss of five wickets after being 106/0 in the first 10 overs.

During the interval, Hayden was presented the 'Orange cap' for being the highest scorer in the tournament.

Without Jesse Ryder to open, Bangalore sent in the pinch hitter Praveen Kumar to open the innings with Uthappa. However, Praveen did not stay long and was bowled by MS Gony. Kallis came in at number 3 and was looking in great touch, dealing in boundaries. Uthappa game him good company, as the duo piled on runs at a steady rate. Just when things were shaping up well for Bangalore, Kallis departed after being LBW to Morkel.

Disaster struck for the Bangalore team when the lost three quick wickets. Taylor was the first to go, caught and bowled to Flintoff. Then came the Sri Lankan maestro Muttiah Muralitharan, who picked up the Bangalore captain and Uthappa in his first over. At the end of ten overs, Bangalore could manage only 56 runs and had lost half their side. 

Post break, Kohli and Bishnoi were out in quick succession. While Kohli got out to Joginder Sharma, Bishnoi advanced to the dugout after giving Muralitharan his third wicket. Bangalore slipped further down when Vinay Kumar was run-out.

A helpless Dravid was the last man to go as he hit a Balaji delivery straight to the safe hands of Flintoff at square-leg. The Royal Challengers were all-out for a dismal 87, losing the match to their South Indian rivals.

Post Match Quotes: 

Pietersen: We didn't turn up today did we? We might as well have stayed in Capetown and given them 2 points. We didn't execute our plans as well as we could have. When a genius like Hayden comes out and plays like that we just have to say well played and take it. 179 was too much for us. 

Dhoni: Hayden and Parthiv played really well. Overall quite happy with the batting performance, need to improve in the bowling. There is scope for improvement in the fielding department. Hayden was brilliant at the top of the order. When the wicket is helping him, Murali is the bowler who will take the team through.

(MoM) Murali: It was going to spin a little bit, as the wicket was quite dry. Haydos deserves the Man of the Match award as his 65 setup the game. 180 is very difficult to chase in this wicket. If it is going to turn like this then I will enjoy the tournament. 

Interesting Facts:

Hayden's fifty was also the fastest fifty of IPL 2009.

Matthew Hayden scored 65 runs and took his tally to 109 runs to secure the orange cap.

Chennai posted 179/5, the highest total in IPL 2009 so far.



Persistent rain forced the match between Punjab and Delhi to be shortened to a 12 over affair.

Delhi left out the exciting Warner, and opted to include left-arm quick Dirk Nannes. They also opted to rest Glenn McGrath, preferring to preserve him for the business end of the tournament.

Virender Sehwag won the toss and inserted Punjab in as expected with the overcast conditions and the shortened match.

The decision was made to look extremely silly in the first half of the Punjab innings, with Karan Goel and Ravi Bopara going beserk. Goel got out off the last ball of the 6th over, with the score a formidable 67 for 1.

From there things started to go downhill for Punjab as they managed only 37 more runs for the loss of 6 more wickets in the next six overs.

Spin was king again with Daniel Vettori turning in a spell of 3-0-15-3. His spell also saw two of Punjab's batsmen run themselves out needlessly - with Yuvraj Singh being the culprit on one occasion and Piyush Chawla suffering on account of Irfan Pathan's reckless call.

Punjab eventually ended up on a fairly decent 104 for 7, but it was at least 20 runs short of where they should have ended after the start they got.

If the first half of the Punjab innings saw one way traffic with the ball being fetched regularly from the stands, the second half saw one way traffic in the other direction, with batsmen trooping back to the pavilion.

When Delhi came out to bat, what Punjab needed was quick wickets. What they got was 11 balls of a Gauti-Viru special, before the skies opened up with heavier rain than there had been all day. The hottest opening pair in the business blasted four 4s and a six in those eleven balls to take Delhi to 24 without loss.

When play started again, the target had been revised to 54 from 6 overs - which meant Delhi had just 30 more to get from 25 balls, with a rampaging Sehwag and an equally belligerent Gambhir at the crease.

The break did nothing to stem the flow of runs, and Delhi needed only 18 more balls (3 overs) to knock off the runs. At the end Sehwag was unbeaten on a furious 38 off 16 balls, while Gambhir looked positively snail-like on 16 off 13 balls, while Delhi had won at a canter by 10 wickets. It says much for the might of the Delhi team that they won comfortably even though they rested McGrath and didn't pick Twenty20 specialist Warner.

Man of the Match:

Daniel Vettori, whose crucial spell put the brakes on Punjab's free scoring and made the job much easier for his formidable batting lineup.

Turning Point of the Match:

11th over of the match, bowled by Vettori. Before the over Punjab were at 91 for 3. At the end of the over, they had slid to 98 for 6. Vettori's tight bowling contributed to two suicidal runs resulting in two run-outs and he picked up the wicket of Jayawardene too.

Soundbytes:

"It's nice to have Sehwag and Gambhir on the same side for a change!" - Daniel Vettori gets candid, with memories of India's tour to New Zealand still fresh.

"Sachin and Rahul are legends of the game, they have 10000+ runs in both ODIs and Tests, so they can adapt to any format. I'm proud to play in the same team as them" - Virender Sehwag makes a heartwarming comment about two people he's grown up watching and played alongside.


Rainy conditions prevailed through out the day at Newlands. After a rain curtailed first match which saw an emphatic victory for Delhi against Punjab, the Hyderabad vs. Kolkata match had a delayed start after the floodlights at the stadium went faulty.

The Buchanan appointed Kolkata captain Brendon McCullum won the toss and on a pitch, which assisted the bowlers, he surprisingly opted to bat first.

The first ball of RP Singh's over resulted in the dismissal of the Kolkata captain. McCullum tried a glance down to fine leg only to glove the ball to Adam Gilchrist. Chris Gayle, after scoring a four and six consecutively off RP Singh, went for one shot too many, holding out to Harmeet Singh at long off.

A struggling Ganguly was soon to follow. He was out in his archetypal fashion, attempting a flashing drive and edging a Harmeet Singh delivery to Laxman in the slips. Kolkata were limping at 16/3.

A mini partnership was taking place between Chopra and Hodge before Chopra was out, stumped to a well-crafted ball by Ojha. The wily left arm spinner struck again by luring Shukla out of the crease only to find the bails removed by Gilchrist.

Running out of partners, Hodge carried on with his innings scoring 31 runs until he became the next man to go. After scoring two boundaries off Scott Styris, he was out to a sharp reflex catch by Gibbs. In the same over, Scott Styris sent Henriques back to the pavilion thanks to an impressive catch by Rohit Sharma at short-covers.

The dismissal brought Agarkar to the crease. However, he did not stay long. After hitting a massive six, Agarkar was run-out to a brilliant fielding effort by Rohit Sharma again. RP Singh finished off the Kolkata tail by picking up Ishant Sharma and Ashok Dinda. Kolkata could only manage 101 runs.

The Hyderabad openers went about the chase in the manner as expected from them. Boundaries flowed freely from both the openers' bats. However, the commentator's curse struck Gilchrist when he skied a mistimed pull and was brilliantly held by Henriques.

Laxman started off well scoring at a quick rate. However, confusion with Gibbs resulted in his run-out.

Rohit Sharma joined Gibbs and together the put on a prosperous partnership. Agarkar was introduced prior to the strategy break and was taken for 17 runs in his over.

The pair of Gibbs and Sharma carried on after the break scoring at a quick run rate. Together they took the Deccans to victory after scoring the required runs in just 13.1 overs. Gibbs remained unbeaten on 43 while Rohit Sharma was not out on 36.

Post Match Quotes:

McCullum: The runs were just not enough. We just weren't up to the standards. The top order struggled and Deccan handled the conditions very well. We never really gave the pitch any opportunity to play to our strengths.

Glichrist: It was an ideal start, something we've been working towards. We've had the intensity that you saw today in our training camp, and we've tried to learn from the experience last year. It was fantastic to see the guys unveil their fielding skills today, and we need to replicate this in the future matches.

RP Singh (MoM): It's an amazing feeling. It's a much better wicket than the ones in India with some bounce and swing. Edwards set the tone, he bowled superbly from the other end.

Interesting Facts:

RP Singh's bowling figures of 4/22 happens to be his best bowling figures in IPL.

RP Singh's four-wicket haul happens to be the first ever in the Deccans' team.
Sachin's Team wins over Chennai Super Kings of M Singh Dhoni


The opening match of the IPL got underway after some anxious moments of gray clouds and rain - but nothing, not even the weather gods it seems - could thwart Lalit Modi's pet project, and the sun came out in the nick of the time to allow the match to proceed as scheduled.

It couldn't have been a better match up on paper. Two well-balanced teams, both fancied for the title, with two iconic leaders.

MS Dhoni won the toss and had no hesitation in putting Mumbai in, on a pitch that was expected to have something for the bowlers, especially early on.

Mumbai started off well enough, although a bit cautiously, with the experienced duo of Jayasuriya and Tendulkar having to negotiate movement and variable bounce off the pitch.

Tendulkar benefitted when Hayden dropped a sitter with the little master on 10, and Jayasuriya found the boundary with his trademark cuts and pulls.

It was Jayasuriya's Sri Lankan team-mate, Thilan Thushara, who provided the breakthrough for Chennai when he got Jayasuriya to chip one tamely to Hayden at midwicket, who didn't grass it this time.

Shikhar Dhawan and Tendulkar then built a steady partnership, with Mumbai's intent obviously being to conserve wickets for a final onslaught.

Manpreet Gony however, had other ideas. He first got Dhawan with a top edged pull to give Dhoni at midwicket an easy catch and also the first c Dhoni b Gony moment of the IPL.

Then he got JP Duminy with a brilliant reflex catch, when Duminy was too early into a full-blooded pull and only succeeded in hitting it of the toe end of the bat straight back to the bowler.

The next over had Joginder Sharma getting into the act, deceiving Dwayne Bravo with a slower one.

Mumbai were in a hole, but Abhishek Nayar dug them out of it with a spectacular cameo, during the course of which he slammed the first six - or rather the first DLF Maximum - off Andrew Flintoff, and promptly celebrated by taking two more sixes off that Flintoff over. His 35 off just 14 balls, ensured that Mumbai would cross the 150 mark.

They eventually ended up at a very decent 165 for 7, thanks in no small measure to Sachin Tendulkar anchoring the innings with a well made 59 not out - although it seems odd to talk about an innings that was scored at a strike rate of over 120 as an 'anchoring' innings. But then, such is the nature of the T20 game.

Chennai began in disastrous fashion, with Lasith Malinga getting Parthiv Patel off the second ball of the match, poking at a delivery outside the off-stump for Tendulkar to take a fine tumbling catch to a ball that was dipping on him.

Raina followed soon after, falling to Bravo - which was some consolation for the bowler, who had seen Hayden dropped by wicketkeeper Pinal Shah off a swirling top edge the previous ball.

Chennai had their most productive phase when Flintoff joined Hayden to forge a 52 run partnership off 7 overs. With either player capable of exploding and changing the game in a couple of overs, Mumbai needed a wicket and Harbhajan obliged. After a teasing first over, he got Flintoff - deceived by the doosra to offer a tame return catch off the leading edge.

Harbhajan and Jayasuriya bowled well in tandem to choke the runs, and the pressure of the big hits got to Hayden who fell to Jayasuriya when Zaheer Khan took a fine catch, diving to his right.

Chennai were facing an uphill task after that, but in Oram, Dhoni and Badrinath they had the batsmen who could be up to the challenge. That was not to be, as Mumbai's bowlers turned in a bravura performance to not let the batsmen get on top at any stage of the innings. Dhoni played a lone hand, but ultimately against Malinga's reverse swing and Zaheer Khan's yorkers, the asking rate was too steep.

The Super Kings also erred when they sent in Joginder Sharma ahead of Thushara. Thushara would have probably dealt with the bowling better than Sharma, who often looked all at sea.

Man of the Match:

Sachin Tendulkar, who scored an unbeaten half-century under testing batting conditions, and also took a fine catch.

Turning Point of the match:

The 18th over of Mumbai's innings when Nayar smashed Flintoff for 3 sixes. The over cost Chennai 22 runs. They lost the match by 19.

Soundbytes:

"I think Bhajji bowled very well. The pitch was a bit damp early on but later on it was pretty good for batting. A score of may be 180 is a

par score on such a wicket. Even the last time, we didn't start off very well but got into the rhythm after a few games." - Dhoni

"When I lost the toss, I felt that there was a bit of dampness in the wicket. Early on it was tough to bat but the wicket eased a bit.

Nayar did a great job towards the end and my job was to stay there till the end. It is always good to start with a performance like this." - Tendulkar


Full Name: Adam Craig Gilchrist
Nick Name: Adam Gilchrist
Born: Sunday, November 14, 1971
City : Bellingen,
State : New South Wales
Country : Australia
Age : 37 years 23 weeks
Major Teams : Australia, ICC World XI, New South Wales, Western Australia,Deccan Chargers
Batting Style : Left-hand bat
Bowling style : Right-arm off break






The former Australia stumper is the first superstar wicketkeeper. He has been ruthless with the bat and unrelenting with the keeping gloves. Murdering the opposition bowlers is his only agenda, be it Tests, ODI or Twenty20 matches. Will be a treat to watch.





Full Name: Andrew Symonds
Nick Name: Andrew Symonds
Born: Monday, June 09, 1975
City : Birmingham,Warwickshire
State : England
Country : Australia
Age : 33 years 45 weeks
Major Teams : Australia, Deccan Chargers, Gloucestershire, Kent, Lancashire, Queensland
Batting Style : Right-hand bat
Bowling style : Right-arm medium/offbreak






Andrew Symonds brings gusto to whatever he does, whether firing down offbreaks or mediums, hurling his ungainly bulk round the field or vigorously ruffling the bowler's hair at the celebration of a wicket. He saves his loudest grunt for his batting, where he is that rarest of modern-day creatures - an unabashed six-hitter in the mould of a George Bonnor or a Colin Milburn or a David Hookes. Batting for Gloucestershire at 20, he scythed 16 sixes in the first dig [a world record] against Glamorgan at Abergavenny, 20 for the match [another first], and then announced he couldn't care less about the milestone; he wanted only to help his team. He has been matter-of-factly demolishing attacks ever since. His flaw has been to attempt one six too many - invariably off the wrong ball.