Clash of last season's finalists, as KXIP take on KKR - A preview

The second match of Saturdays's double header at the MCA stadium in Pune, sees a repeat of last years final with Kings XI Punjab, the home team, taking on defending champions the Kolkata Knight Riders. With both teams coming off a loss in their previous matches, they will not like to lose ground early on with CSK and RR having perfect records so far.

                       Punjab are not finding comfort at their makeshift home ground of Pune, having lost two in two there.Their biggest worry is the form of the big hitters, Glenn Maxwell and David Miller. While the Aussie seems hell bent on playing big shots every ball and perishing sooner rather than later, the SA left hander has got his eye in before throwing his wicket away.The fifth bowler has also proved costly with no wickets for Rishi Dhawan in two matches.The rest of the team looks fine and its just a question of things clicking together at the same time.

                      KKR had their 10 match winning streak at the IPL ended finally at the hands of RCB. They have had quite a few days rest after that to regroup and plan for the future games, especially with key allrounder Shakib Al Hasan leaving for national duty. In all likelihood, he will be replaced by another all rounder, either of Ryan Ten Deschate or Azhar Mahmood. The KKR bowlers suffered at the hands of Gayle the other night, and their opponents tonight have many big hitters of their own. However its good to remember how Piyush Chawla had accounted for Glenn Maxwell on both their meetings last season. Chawla has to play for this one reason, no matter what. Gautam Gambhir is in terrific form with two fifties and has the backing of a solid batting lineup.An interesting clash on the cards for sure

Match 13 preview - SRH vs DD

Things are finally looking up for Delhi Daredevils. Having narrowly lost the opening two matches, the Daredevils finally ended their 11 match losing streak against Kings XI Punjab, which also saw star batsman Yuvraj Singh at his best. In the first match of the day,they come up against a Sunrisers Hyderabad side who have blown hot and cold in their opening three matches winning one and losing two.

                       DD's trump card is no doubt Imran Thahir  who has the purple cap in his hands with 8 wickets so far. Though he went for quite a few runs, his wicket taking abilities are second to none. Bowling well in tandem with Amit Mishra, they hold the key to DD bowling, with a weak pace attack. The batting has been pretty good with almost all of them getting a few, most notably Mayank Agarwal who has given them good starts. But its Yuvraj's return to form that will please the Daredevils more than anything. As his skipper Duminy said, when Yuvi is in form there is not much that can be done about it.

                          Despite having an enviable pace attack, SRH have failed to take wickets early on, and instead been reliant on Ravi Bopara and Karn Sharma to peg back the scoring.Warner might be tempted to give Dale Steyn an outing, as they need to capitalise on their strength. Similarly there is a huge burden on the opening partnership of Warner and Dhawan to do the bulk of the scoring. Warer has looked in fantastic touch so far, but the others need to chip in too.

Murderous CSK annihilate MI

Chennai Super Kings played true to their name with total destruction of the Mumbai Indians bowling attack to chase a target of 185 with 20 balls to spare. Dwayne Smith and McCullum showed the doubters,if any, why they are the most destructive opening partnership in the IPL. Rohit Sharma wore a dejected look in his post match reactions with spirits at their lowest in the MI camp, having failed to defend such a huge total.

                                       MI started their innings akin to the previous games, with a batting collapse. Parthiv Patel, Corey Anderson and Lendl Simmons all departed in the opening four overs to leave their side reeling at 12/3.Nehra and Pandey were bowling well in tandem, complimeted by an electric fielding dispaly by the likes of McCullum and Du Plessis. To everyone's surprise, in came Harbhajan Singh at number 5. It seemed to shook Dhoni too as Harbhajan and Rohit Sharma, who was batting beautifully at the other end, took the attack to the opposition, instead of looking to play it safe. Bhajji's 24 somewhat resurrected the innings and by the time he was dismissed by Mohit Sharma, MI had reached 57/4 in the 10th over. Kieron Pollard continued from where he left off, hitting a six off Jadeja of the very first ball he faced. Their partnership accounted for 75 of just 33 balls, which included a 26 run over by Jadeja. Ambati Rayudu too made a quick fire 29, but Dwayne Bravo's miserly last three overs where he gave away only 15 runs picking up 2 wickets helped CSK to keep the target below 200.Nehra was the pick of the bowlers with 3/23.

                                       A batting pitch it was, but chasing a huge total like this needed some special hitting and CSK delivered it magnificiently.The Wankhede crowd was left shell-shocked by the treatment handled to their home bowlers. None were spared including Malinga who got hammered for 33 in his opening two overs.McCullum and Smith amassed 90 runs in the powerplay overs, the second highest in IPL history, the first also belonging to the Chennai outfit. Though both of the openers were dismissed in the same over by Harbhajan Singh, the damage had already been done with 109 run opening stand of 44 balls. Raina played elegantly and finished off the job for CSK with Dwayne Bravo.

Match 12 preview - MI vs CSK

Mumbai Indians have lost their opening three matches in the IPL and they will have their work cut out if they are to snap the losing run as they face the mighty CSK at Wankhede stadium on Friday night. With the two sides sharing the spoils in the 18 matches prior to this one, MI have been one of the bogey teams for CSK, including the 2013 IPL final which gave Mumbai their maiden IPL title. But CSK have shown their might in the two matches so far and will look to show who's boss.

MI have started this season much like the last one where they lost their first five matches, before making a remarkable recovery to qualify for the playoff where they were eliminated by today's opponents. The three matches so far have seen isolated efforts being in vain with Rohit Sahrma's 98, Harbhajjan Singh's all round performance against Punjab and Kieron Pollard's quickfire 70 not contributing to victory.Aaron Finch has been ruled out for the season and this should finally give Lendl Simmons a crack at this season's IPL.MI have to arrest the batting collapses if they are to mount a serious challenge against a strong batting side like CSK.

CSK are the most cohesive team in the IPL with a well settled starting line up. With Ravichandran Ashwin seemingly back to his best, the supposed weak bowling line up won't be easy to put away. McCullum and Dhoni were outstanding against SRH, but they might feel a little off action having not played a game since Sunday evening. That absence has seen RR race to the top with four wins in a row. Raina, who missed out in the opeing two matches will be tested on the lively Wankhede track no doubt. But with the likes of Du Plessis and the West Indian pair of Dwayne Smith and Bravo, they have enough batting depth to test the best of attacks. 

No stopping Rajasthan, as the Royals makes it four out of four

Rajasthan Royals have cemented their position at the top of the IPL table with a last ball victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad. their fourth on the trot. Chasing a modest target of 128, the Royals were however made to work hard by a disciplined bowling performance from SRH. Ajinkya Rahane's solid knock of 62 off 56 saw him take the Orange cap from his skipper Steve Smith, helping RR to the target, but the credit goes to the bowlers for restricting SRH to a sub par score.

                                 Put in to bat by his Aussie teammate, David Warner made his intentions clear early on with three boundaries off the second over of the match bowled by Chris Morris'. Smith's ploy of changing bowlers every over paid dividends when Shikar Dhawan was caught behind of the bowling of Dhawal Kulkarni. Warner's cameo was brought to an end as he was brilliantly run out by Ajinkya Rahane who hit the stumps direct from backward point.Lokesh Rahul was wrongly adjudged LBW to give Kulkarni his second wicket and at 35/3, SRH were looking in big trouble. However, Naman Ojha and Eoin Morgan, who replaced Kane Williamson in the side, were able to stage a recovery of sorts with a 52 run partnership. But just when they were looking to accelerate the innings, Pravin Tambe struck dismissing the duo in quick succession. Both the batsmen had their chances, with Ojha getting caught off a no ball and the England ODI skipper surviving a stumping, but neither were able to capitalise on their chances. In the end the Sunrisers managed to scrap through till 127.

                                 The score was never going to be enough or so it seemed, especially with Rahane and Samson playing sensibly to put together a 64 run opening partnership. Samson wasnt playing all that well though and he was dismissed by Bopara, but the credit goes to Ojha who pulled off a brilliant one hander diving to the right. Steve Smith came in and looked to finish off the game in a hurry but was dismissed by a well flighted delivery by Karn Sharma. Rahane has been a figure of consistency for the Royals upfront and after missing out in the 40's twice, notched up his first fifty of the season.Just when it seemed he would lead Royals to victory, he played on to Boult to set up a nervous finish. In the end, it took a last ball boundary by Faulkner to see the Royals through. Bopara, once again the pick of the SRH bowlers, with figures of 2/19, but they never had enough score to defend in the  first place.

                          

IPL 8 Match 11 preview - SRH vs RR

Rajasthan Royals have made a rocking start yet again to an IPL season with three wins out of three. But they will face a tough test as they meet a Sunrisers Hyderabad side which overcame their opening match nightmare with a comfortable victory against RCB. Though SRH are the home team, its bit of a unknown territory for both teams with the match being palyed at Vishakappatanam, only two matches being held here before.

                                                 Steve Smith has continued his outstanding form of last year to the IPL leading the run scoring chart after three matches.His 79 against MI was one of pure class and looks set to skipper in spite of Shane Watson recovering form injury. Faulkner has been hammered in the last two matches but should continue considering his usefulness with the bat as well . Rahane has given them good starts, but the other Indian batsmen in their ranks are yet to click. The bowling needed to tighten the flow of runs as well.

                                                 SRH have one of the best opening partnerships in the IPL and Warner and Dhawan showed it to full effect as they beat RCB with ease in their last match. They can be destructive as well bat through the innings and with Williamson and Lokesh Rahul to follow compliment their bowling strength well .Surprisingly Ravi Bopara has been the pick of the bowlers so far, ahead of the fast bowlers. SRH would likely go in with the same side that got their season off the mark.

                                            

Team effort helps DD end their 11 match losing streak

DD notched up their first win of the IPL season, thus avoiding the IPL record for most consecutive losses, with a well fought against Kings XI Punjab. The spinners and superb knocks by rookie Mayank Agarwal and a resurgent Yuvraj Singh helped Delhi chase down the 165 target set up by Punjab. For Kings XI, Pune is turning out to be a not so lucky home ground as they lose their second game out of two there.

                                     George Bailey elected to bat first after winning the toss and it was Murali Vijay who looked to set the pace early on ahead of the much fancied Virender Sehwag. In fact it was a non-typical innings from the former Indian opener and was eventual top scorer with 47 runs, after surviving two run out chances. Vijay tried one shot too many and perished for 19.Saha came in and propelled the run rate with a 28 ball 39. Just when it seemed Kings XI would fly away, Amit Mishra made the decisive breakthrough dismissing Saha. JP Duminy inflicted double blows with the wicket of Sehwag and Miller. Imran Thahir who was taken to the cleaners by first Sehwag and then Maxwell, had the final laugh though dismissing the Aussie and picking up 2 wickets later on to curtail the Punjab innings. 20 runs short no doubt, thanks to the spin trio.

                                     DD chase was quite reminiscent of the RR chase the previous night against MI. After losing two wickets early on, they showed sense in not trying to hit too many as Mayank Agarwal and Yuvraj Singh consolidated and upped the ante with ease. Agarwal who played well in the previous game as well, was impressive, with a six of Mitchell Johnson standing out. But the beauty of Yuvi's innings overshadowed the rookie's innings as he caressed his way with trademark elegance. The 106 run partnership all but sealed the match for DD and although they made things difficult for themselves losing three wickets in a hurry, Angelo Mathews kept his cool to hit the winning runs with a ball to spare.