Transcendence

Great pace bowling by Chennai reduced Punjab to 35/4, from which they never recovered and Chennai won by 9 wickets. Suresh Raina scored his second consecutive 50 in IPL and was involved in an unfinished 102 partnership with Parthiv Patel, the wicket-keeper, who scored 51 not out. Dhoni's game plan was superb. Murali bowled the first over and this sent a scare into the Punjab batting line, as they have a lot of left handers. They pushed Murali tentatively and then Ntini provided the breakthrough by removing Hopes with a superb outswinger. Gony, from the other end, removed Sangakara and Yuvraj and then Punjab was in dire straits, from which they never truly recovered. Now Chennai meet the formidable Rajastan Royals in Navi Mumbai today !

Mumbai scored 145/7, with Jayasuria 38 and Sachin,30. It was not a perfect batting track. Sohail Tanvir took 4/14 and became the hero of Royals. RR scored the required runs with five wickets to spare. Neeraj Patel ( 40 not out ) and Ravinder Jadeja 23 not out saw RR home.

19 runs were needed off the last over. The first ball was hit for six and the next ball for a four. The last ball came. Only one run was needed. It culminated in a run out and Punjab won by 1 run. The Little Master scored 65 and was run out. Mumbai was on top when Sachin was run out and then the collapse started. Five run outs and Mumbai had lost by one run ! Later, Yuvraj conceded that Sachin's wicket was the turning point !

Despite Misbah scoring 24 off the last over with 3 sixes, RC failed again. RC could only score 154 and DDD won by 5 wickets, with a six by Shikhar Dhawan Gambhir leads with 504 and R P Singh wears the Purple cap with 15 wickets. Gambhir & Sehwag were involved in a 90 run partnership and when the first wicket fell at 90, it was too late for Dravid's men.

Ntini's hatrick won the game for Chennai. He took 4 wickets. Ntini took 4/21 and wrecked the Kolkotta Knight Riders to 149. CSK were 55/0 in 8 overs when rain came. Chennai won by the D/ L method. In the other match, Deccan failed again. Considered the most powerful batting lineup in the world, Deccan crumbled ! RP Singh took 3/35 in restricting the Mumbai Indians to 178. But that was not enough as Bravo took 3/24 to restrict the Deccans to 153 !

Have you heard of a double hundred in T20? S Kulkarni scored a 200 in Singapore. RR triumphed again, despite Dravid's heroics of 75 not out with six sixes. In a powerful batting display, RR scored 194/1, with G Smith 75 n o, Asnodkar 50 and Shane Watson 46 no. RC was a devastated team and were soon 83/8 ! Dravid stood out, a cut above the rest and hammered six sixes and six fours ! Sehwag scored 51 no and Gambhir 40 in DDD's score of 118/4. Kings XI won the match 94/3, with Mahela scoring 36 off 17 balls, in a game limited by rain

Shaun Pollock took 3 early wickets and KKR were 21/3 ! Bravo, Raje & Thorney took 2 wickets each and KKR were all out for 67! Then Jayasuria excelled with 48 not out and Mumbai won with 8 wickets to spare ! Earlier the T20 was thought to be a batsman's game. "It is a batter's game" said Mark Boucher. McGrath contradicted him saying that it is a bowler's game. Who is right, nobody knows. Now the bowlers are coming to know how to bowl in T20s. Also to take early wickets. We find that the team who loses early wickets find it hard to build up a mammoth score. The early wickets lost puts pressure on the incoming batsmen. Two dot balls bring in pressure. So ideally a good start of 50 plus is needed for the opening wicket. 21/3 and the team seems to be finished ! And this is what happened yesterday. Pollock moved the ball in the air and off the wicket. So did Raje, Thornley and Bravo and what a good bowling performance it was. McGrath is proved by hatricks from Balaj

Dhawan scored 68 nout and Gambhir 79 in a glorious century partnership. And Deccans could not score tha 195 needed. Earlier Sehwag was taken; his favourite shot to third man and he was caught ! A trap well arranged by Gilchrist. Mishra took a hatrick and took 5/16. Well, IPL is a great opportunity for youngsters and Dhawan and Mishra are the new heroes. The world knows about the Gambhirs and the Sehwags. About the Mishras, the Dhawans, the Kulkarnis, the Gonys, the world knows not. IPL and ICL are great opportunities for Indians and other upcoming youngsters from other countries -Shaun Marsch, Cameroon White - to showcase their skills. The organisers are also improving their skills and within 3 years, we will have state of the art international stadiums as well. All will upgrade their skills - players, commentators, the bosses of teams, broadcasters - and India will become a world power in the globalising scenario ! Gambhir leads with 427 runs, followed by Dhoni 332 and R Sharma 331. S

If Jaysuria clicks, what can happen to the opposition ? Dhoni's men were vanquished in the Jayasuria whirlwind knock of 114 not out. 156 were needed to win and Mumbai won by 9 wickets. Earlier Shaun Pollock had reduced Chennai to 156. With Hussey and Hayden gone, Chennai's batting looks fragile, their bowling susceptible ! Shaun Pollock's figures were 4-1-9-1

The adage "Bowlers win matches" is right again. The Rawalpindi Express bowled KKR to victory. Sehwag was caught in the slips in his first over ( ball 149 kph). Gambhir hit a powerful shot into the hands of David Hussy. Shoaib took 4/11 and DDD were 28/4. Laxmi R Shukla took 3 wickets in the last over and DDD were shot out for 110. Earlier KKR could only manage 133,due to some accurate bowling by McGrath & Co. McGrath seems to be right in his analysis that it is bowlers who win matches !

The adage "Bowlers win matches" still holds good in T20. It was Sreesanth who removed Arun Kumar with a super swing delivery. Then Misbah threatned to take the game away from Punjab and he was then hit wicket Sreesanth. Misbah scored 21 off 7 balls. He stepped onto his wicket and was declared hit wicket Sreesanth. Then it was the turn of Peeyush Chawla to contain the hapless RCs. Virat Kohli who began well was clean bowled by Chawla. Cameroon White was caught and bowled Chawla for 10. The score then was 74/4 ! Then VRV bowled a superb spell, just giving away 15 runs off 4 overs, with a wicket. The Punjabis had contained Royal Challengers - there is criticism that RC is a good Test team - to 143! Then the Australian trio swung into action. Hopes, Marsh and Pommerbasch took Punjab to victory, with 9 wickets in hands. Shaun Marsh was a revealation and now has scored 295 runs so far ! Sreesanth now leads with 13 wickets, along with Irfan and Zaheer ! Gambhir leads with 336 runs i

Well, Ganguly silenced his critics with a superb 91 off 57 balls, with 11 fours and five sixes. He was involved in a 102 partnership with David Hussy, who scored 57. The Deccan Chargers couldnt score the 205 needed to win, despite some fantastic hitting by Venugopal Rao ( 71 runs with six sixes . Ganguly also shone with the ball, picking up 2 wickets. He was declared the Man of the Match. In the other match, Sehwag fell, along with Gambhir. Shikar Dhawan was unfortunately run out and Delhi were 100/6. !57 to win and Watson rose to the occasion scoring 74 not out and steered his side to victory.

Balaji took a hatrick and bowled Chennai to victory. Earlier Sreesanth had reduced Chennai to 20/2, by taking both openers, Fleming and Vidyut. Vidyut hit 2 fours off Sreesanth, but Sreesanth had his revenge when he induced Vidyut to edge an outswinger into the hands of Mahela. Fleming was deceived by the pace and was caught. Then it was left to Raina and Badrinath to steady the innings, which they did. Raina departed at 64/3 and then Dhoni walked in. In a 91 runs stand, both Dhoni and Badrinath played well and took Chennai to a respectable 181/4. Badrinath scored 64 and Dhoni was 60 not out. Punjab was in dire straits at 29/2. Shaun Marsh played a magnificent innings but was out of 54. Yuvraj was dismissed cheaply and this event started the Punjab collapse. Balaji took a hatrick and finished with the best figures of 5/24. The Juniors are leading in the tournament. As against Dravid's 169 runs, Ganguly's 116, Laxman's 155, the youngters like Gambhir had scored 305,Dhoni 289

An easy victory was achieved by the Rajasthan Royals, with a century partnership from Smith and Yousuf. Even though Gilchrist scored 61, the Deccans finished with 140. An easy target of 141 was easily achieved by the century partnership of G Smith and Pathan. Pathan scored 61 off 37 balls and Smith 40. Afridi and Gibbs failed again. This is a big problem for both Deccans and Royal Challengers . Their players are not firing. They may be out of the competition, if this form continues. Gambhir leads with 305 runs, followed by Gilchrist with 284, Sehwag 270, R Sharma 263. In the bowling dept, Zaheer leads with 13 wickets, Pathan 12, Warne and R P Singh 11

15 runs were needed in the last over for Chennai to win. Gony swung the first ball for six and then slashed the next ball through the slips for four. Gony took a single and gave strike to the talented Badrinath. Two runs were scored off the next ball and the fifth ball was a dot ball. Badrinath lofted the sixth ball and Shikha Dhawan made a valiant attempt to catch it. The ball bounded from his left hand and Chennai had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. One of the greatest thrillers ever ! Gambhir and Dhawan were in tremendous form, with Gambhir scoring 80 and Dhawan 59. Gambhir became the orange cap owner ( orange cap for the highest scorer in the tournament ) with 305, followed by Sehwag with 270. Delhi amassed 188. Chennai started well with Vidyut hitting bowlers to all parts of the field. Fleming came into form with a superb 44. Dhoni scored 33 off 33 ball and was declared Man of the Match. In the other match, Ganguly was adjudged Man of the Match with a superb 1/7 off 3 ov

Superb bowling by Ashish Nehra, 3/13, wrecked the mighty Royals ! McGrath says that the theory that it is a batsman's game is not correct and events in the IPL are only corroborating his statement. The old adage " Bowlers win matches" still holds good in T20 ! Look at the records, Sohail Tanvir's 6/14 spelt doom, Sreesanth removing two in the first over, Pollock removing two in the first over ! Now Ashish Nehra. It the previous match he was on a hatrick. We welcome his return to form. Royals were bowled out for 103. Pollock, Kulkarni, Raje, Bravo and Jayasuria lent solid support to the former Indian swing bowler. Takawale, the Mumbai wicket keeper impressed with 4 good catches. One of the catches he took was stunning. He scored 27, with one six and one four. Uthappa was 34 not out and Mumbai won by seven wickets ! More consideration should be given to IPL, says Paul Marsh, the ceo of the Australian CC. Ganguly says the youngsters who impressed in IPL should prove the

Despite Gilchrist being named Man of the Match for his 54 no, it was the Deccan bowlers who bowled them to victory. Good bowling by R P Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Afridi, Styris and V Kumar, saw that Chennai got only 144. They were at one stage 86/6, when Dhoni got out. Dhoni fell to Ojha, the left arm spinner. Suresh Raina played well for his 32. Abie Morkel and Gony indulged in some lusty hitting and took the score to 144. Deccan in reply lost Gibbs, who was caught and bowled Gony for 10. Gilchrist fell to Morkel, after making a solid 54. We envisage a World Cup with 39 teams, with all teams of the Stanford, ICL and IPL !

Great bowling by Sreeshant and Chawla took Punjab to victory. RC were 1/2 from which they never really recovered. Virat Kohli scored 33 and Dravid 66. Dravid's innings was highly sophisticated. RC were all out for 124. For Punjab, Shaun Marsh scored 39 and Pathan and Jayawardene were not out on 17 each. Punjab scored 127/4. In the future we envisage contests between the 8 teams of the IPL and 11 teams of the ICL. Also the 20 teams in the Stanford 20/20. So we have a corpus of 39 teams and all of them can partake in an international League. So this will be the future !

Mumbai created a big upset, when they defeated Delhi at Mumbai. Mumbai scored a respectable 162, thanks to Shaun Pollock who scored 33,Jayasuria 33 and Thornely 30. But Gambhir was out cheap at 3/1 and then suddenly the Dare Devils were 82/4. Sehwag scored 40, but it was not enough and Delhi were all out for 133 ! What a relief for Mumbai Indians ! Tanvir wrecked Chennai but the best IPL figure of 6/14. Two were dismissed in the fist over and Chennai were 1/2, losing P Patel and S Feming within 1 runs. Then Vidyut was also taken by Sohail. Chennai were all out for 110 and the Rajasthan Royals won by 8 wickets, Graeme Smith

We had 2 magnificent nerve baiting finishes yesterday. Dravid's men trouncing the Deccan Chargers by 3 runs and Punjab winning by 9 runs. The final over was bowled by experienced bowlers and they won the game for their teams. Kumble for Bangalore and Pathan for Punjab. If not for the great bowling of these bowlers, results could have been otherwise. This gives lie to the theory that T20 is a batter's game ! Piyush Chawla hit 21 in the last over to give Punjab a decent score, 178/6. Kolkota, despite David Hussy's 71 off 46 balls and Saha's 59 off 32, could only finish nine runs behind. Praveen Kumar took 3/23 and bowled the Royal Challengers to victory. 20 runs were need in the last over and Sanjay Bangar hit 2 sixes and almost did a Shane Warne. But Kumble's experience proved too much for the Deccan Chargers ! Team P W L T NR PTS NRR Delhi Daredevils 5 4 1 0 0 8 1.263 Chennai Superkings 5 4 1 0 0 8 0.743 Rajasthan Royals 5 4 1 0 0 8 0.525 The leadi

Chennai Super Stars looked depleted by the absence of Hussy, Hayden and Oram. The Delhi bowlers McGrath, Asif and Company bowled beatifully to restrict the Super Kings to 169. A glorious century partnership by Gambhir and Sehwag saw Delhi winning by 8 wickets. Sehwag hit 2 sixes off Goni in the second over and when the century partnership was hoisted, the match was almost over. A great day for Sehwag & Co and Dhoni tasted his first defeat

Shane Warne does it again. He won the toss and batted. Good innings by Asnodkar 60 Yousuf Pathan 55 and R Jadeja saw the Royals reach 196. Kolkotta went down fighting and they lost by 45 runs. Shane Warne is proving to be the best captain in IPL. Many say he is the greatest captain Australia never had. Ganguly hit 2 sixes and 4 fours in a good 39 ball effort. But the Knight Riders were all out for 151 Punjab won in the other match. Deccan could only muster 164/8, with R Sharma scoring 76 and Laxman 48. Gibbs failed and did Gilchrist. Afridi, V Rao and Bangar all failed. Shaun Marsh, the son of Geoff Marsh, went on to score 84 no and Jayawardene gave him solid support with 45 not out.