Transcendence

Rajastan Royals were bowled out by Kolkotta for 81. It was the ex Indian pacer Balaji's day, as he grabbed 3/15 ! Dravid did not play and Shane Watson opened the innings. He was bowled by Balaji and the first wicket fell at 24. Paunikar was stumped by Bisla off Iqbal Abdulla for 15. Two run outs saw RR plunge to 43/4 ! Ross Taylor fell to Pathan, stumped again by Bisla and RR were in dire straits at 67/5. Balaji shattered the stumps of Rahane. While Shane Warne remained unconquered, Shakil Al Hasan shattered the stumps of Amit Singh and Shaun Tait. And Lee uprooted the stumps of Siddharth Trivedi and RR were all out for 81 ! Kolkotta crowd back to their feet and cheering ! Kolkotta won comfortably with Gambhir on 35 not out and M Tiwari on 30 not out. Balaji took 3/15 and became Man of the Match. He produced a super delivery to clean bowl Shane Watson, the formidable all rounder in his first over and then he cleaned up the lower order later. It was great bowling on the part of the

Gilchrist won the toss and took fielding and restricted DC to 165. We have seen chase of 183 yesterday, a successful chase, by Kochi. So 166 is not a great score by any means. Now Punjab are 96/0, with Valthaty going strong and Gilchrist giving him admirable support. Vlathaty is 45 not out and Gilchrist is 44 not out. Earlier Paul Valthaty took 4/29, bowling military medium stuff. So he may get Man of the Match Award. Gilchrist smashes a six to bring up his fifty and Punjab's score crosses 100. They are now 103/0. The Punjab coach,Michael Bevan said that there is tremendous talent in India. He was commenting on Paul Valthaty's performance. This is the second time he had done it ! Paul Valthaty, powered Punjab to yet another win with a superb all round performance. He took 4/29 and then scored 75 blistering runs and powered Punjab to victory. The Deccans, with the best bowling combination in the tournament - Steyn, Sharma, Gony & Mishra, if not Ojha - could do nothing agains

Hussey began his 1PL 2011 career with a superb, scintilling knock, like the blistering innings he played against Pak in the T20 2010. Hussey was responsible for powering Chennai to 183, setting a target of 184 to Bangalore. Bangalore cracked under pressure ! Bangalore's fielding was below par and Hussey was let off when he was on 8. He went to score 83 not out. The support bowlers of Bangalore gave 101 runs off nine overs ! When Chennai started, except for Kohli and Bram Villiers, no batsmen impressed. Their muddled thinking and bungling cost them the match ! When Bangalore batted, Morkel removed the dangerous Dilshan. AUK Pathan was bowled by Southee for 14 and M Agarwal was removed by Ashwin when the score was 31. Bangalore was faced with 13/14 runs per over as the required rate and lost the match by 21 runs ! The Australian Effect is here in IPL. The Kangaroos are back from the BD tour and are active in the fourth edition of the IPL. It is a paradox the Dilshan, the highest scor

Vishu is a glorious Agri Festival for Keralites, as the Sun enters the Vernal or Spring Equinox, the First Second of Aries. So also it proved on the cricket field, as minnows Kochi beat Sachin's impregnable Mumbai side ! The Tuskers are 116/0, a great response to the 183 target set by formidable Mumbai. Sachin was 100 not out in a score of 182/2. McCullum is on 57 and Mahela is 52 not out. Even Slinga Malinga faltered before his ex skipper and the grand hitter, McCullum. Keralites are celebrating the Sun's entry into the Vernal Equinox, known as Vishu. Will this be a Vishu gift for the Keralites? McCullum smashes the Slinga for a four and KTK are 123/0! Today seems the day of the batsmen, Gambhir scoring 75 no, Kallis 80 no, Sachin 100 no and now the Kerala Tuskers 127/0! Malinga shatters the stumps of Mahela and KTK are 128/1 ! McCullum lofts Pollard for four and KTK move on to 155/1! KTK need 28 off 19 balls ! Jadeja is giving him excellent support and McCullum is on 81 ! MI

Mumbai are 14/0 in the first two overs at Mumbai. The odds favour Mumbai, undoubtedly. Sidhu said on the satellite channel that Mumbai are favourites. ! Sachin was out twice lbw, but the umpire did not give him lbw ! Now MI are 46/0 Rayudu hits 4 sixes in a blistering innings of 53. Tendulkar remained not out on 100 ! All Mumbai went bersek as Sachin completed a briliiant hundred. Many believe in a jinx that if Sachin scores a hundred, his team will lose. Against SA, he scored a hundred and India lost. Against Eng in the WC, Sachin smashed a hundred and one billion Indians were disgruntled that India could not win ! Now the same jinx has been proved true. Sachin was 100 not out and Mumbai lost !

Kallis score third consecutive fifty and KKR are 122/1 and they are on their way to victory. Gambhir is on a superb 71 not out. KKR lost Bisla for 1 and that was the only success which RR got. The Indian No 3 and the South African No 3 are taking them to victory. Kallis lofts one for six and now they want only 20 runs off 24 balls ! The first wicket fell at 8 ( Bisla ) and then this unconquered partnership is now 142, as the score is 150/1. Just 10 runs needed for victory and Kallis lofts Waren for four. Gambhir proved why he is India's No 3 and Kallis why he is SA's No 3. KKR win by 9 wickets. Kallis 80 not out and Gambhir 75 not out ! Their unbroken partnership 152 off 102 balls !

Shakib proved why he is ranked best all rounder in the world by picking up a wicket in the second ball of the IPL match against RR. Now RR are 36/1, with Dravid on 14. Ashok Menaria, who was in such ominous form last match, has just hit Shakib past point for four. RR 45/1. Menaria lofts Abudlla into the stands and RR are 69/1. Dravid tries to swing Pathan and is clean bowled and then Menaria, after a good innings of 27, lobbs one back to Pathan and suddenly Pathan has picked two wickets with his off breaks and RR are 79/3. Shane Watson and Ross Taylor are batting now. Watson starts his six hitting and lofts Shakib for six and now RR are 101/3. ( Shakib must be having the scene of Watson hitting 15 sixes in his mind, but he did not flinch ! ). Ross Taylor swings Balaji for two sixes and RR are 116/3. He started magnanimously ( first ball hit for six ) and ended the over magnanimously ( the last ball hit for six ). Watson swings Shakib again for six and RR are 124/3. Then he swings aga