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Ishant thrashed kochi with five
Posted by: | CommentsHis hair bobbed up and down in characteristic fashion as Ishant ran in, fingers behind the seam and wrists snapping at the release, and the length was nearly always full. The first has been an ever-present theme with him in good and bad times, the second image hasn’t always been consistently repeated, and the third was a pleasant surprise.
If you needed a punctuation mark to describe this game, you’d choose a big, bold exclamation mark and colour it a deep crimson red. Kochi Tuskers Kerala’s scorecard was stunningly woeful at the end of four sensational overs: 0, 4, 0, 0, 0, 0 were the scores of the batsmen sucker-punched by Ishant Sharma, who harassed them with seam and bounce. And Kochi never recovered from that soul-crushing spell.
Kochi were 2 for 4 then and all their hopes rested on their opener and captain Mahela Jayawardene, who was a forlorn figure in the middle, watching the destruction unfold in front of him. Ishant wasn’t done yet; he reserved his best for Jayawardene. After trapping Kedar Jadhav in front with a sharp incutter in the fourth over, he produced a brute of a delivery to knock out Jayawardene, and Kochi, in the same over. It screamed up from back of a good length, held its line and kissed the edge of the defensive prod en route to the delighted Kumar Sangakkara. Jayawardene gave an inquisitive, and accusing, look at the pitch before he turned and departed the crime scene. Ishant’s figures read an incredible 5 for 6 and Kochi were 11 for 6 from four overs, and though there were a couple of face-saving contributions from Ravindra Jadeja and Thisara Perera, they were rapidly heading along a cul-de-sac.
Ishant entered the scene after Dale Steyn took out Brendon McCullum in the first over with a delivery that jagged away to take the outside edge. It was the beginning of Kochi’s nightmare as Ishant stunned them with a triple strike. Parthiv Patel stabbed at a delivery that bounced and seamed away from him to the keeper, Raiphi Gomez (what was he doing at No. 4?) was taken out for a first-ball duck by a sharp incutter, and Brad Hodge combusted off the fifth delivery. He played a loose and ambitious off drive, wafting outside the line of the full delivery that cut in to rearrange the furniture.
It was the 11th over, bowled by Perera, that changed the landscape. Both Sangakkara and Cameron White, who was on 6 from 17 balls, pulled two short deliveries to the boundary to take 11 runs in that over. It wasn’t your massive “big over” that the IPL throws up on a daily basis but it was the spark that ignited Deccan, and Sangakkara in particular. In the 12th over, he dragged Vinay Kumar for two leg-side boundaries and threw in the conventional and the upper cut to collect two more fours in the 14th over, off Perera. He continued to slash and heave and even unfurled a paddle-swept boundary off Sreesanth but the next over over from Vinay brought Kochi back.
Vinay had White holing out to deep midwicket off the fifth delivery and induced Sangakkara to edge a slower one off the next. The lower order couldn’t produce anything substantial and the question lingered at the end of their innings: Was 129 going to be enough? Ishant answered it in some style.
Duncan Fletcher is new India coach
Posted by: | CommentsFletcher, though, is unlikely to join India for the tour of the West Indies in June. “The contract with Fletcher is for two years,” N Srinivasan, the BCCI secretary, said. “He may not join the team in West Indies as he has some prior commitments.
Duncan Fletcher, the former England coach and Zimbabwe captain, has been appointed India’s coach, ending weeks of speculation over who will succeed Gary Kirsten. The BCCI announced the decision to give Fletcher a two-year contract after a Working Committee meeting in Mumbai on Wednesday. Eric Simons’ tenure as the team’s bowling coach was also extended.
It has been reliably learnt that Kirsten played an important hand in recommending Fletcher for the job. Also the board consulted some of the senior India players, including captain MS Dhoni, before finalising Fletcher’s appointment.
Fletcher, 62, was in charge of England when they beat Australia in 2005 to regain the Ashes for the first time since 1986-87, and was credited with turning around England’s fortunes in Tests during his eight-year stint, first with Nasser Hussain and then with Michael Vaughan.
In 1994, Fletcher applied for his first high-profile job – the head coach of South Africa. He was one of the three candidates interviewed. His competitors were Eddie Barlow and Bob Woolmer. Eventually the three-man panel comprising Peter Pollock, Raymond White and Ali Bacher agreed on Woolmer, who stayed in the job till 1999. Fletcher, meanwhile, operated as South Africa A coach for a while before taking up the England assignment.
According to Bacher, Fletcher’s style of coaching draws a lot from his playing days.”Hardworking, disciplined, very professionally driven and played to his utmost potential even if he was not blessed with extraordinary talent,” Bacher said. “He brings the same characteristics to his coaching.”
Dilshan leave IPL early
Posted by: | CommentsDilshan told “I am not aware (of the exact date). Both boards are still talking.” He was speaking hours before his team, the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s clash against Delhi Daredevils. Sri Lanka Cricket secretary Nishanta Ranatunga also confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that Dilshan’s departure was still uncertain. “We are not yet clear and are in talks with the BCCI and should expect a date in a day possibly,” he said. Confusion reigns over Tillakaratne Dilshan’s return from the IPL to join the Sri Lanka squad for the tour of England with the first warm-up match starting on May 14, a three-day fixture against Middlesex. Dilshan, who was appointed Sri Lanka captain in all three formats once Kumar Sangakkara stepped down after the World Cup, wanted to join the rest of the squad in advance, even as early as “May 10″, but it is understood that the decision is not solely his own. Incidentally, the BCCI and Sri Lanka Cricket board are in talks about Dilshan’s release date and a decision is expected in the next few days.
Dilshan is keen to depart for England at the earliest because this will be his first big assignment as Test captain and he wanted to get a chance to mix with the rest of his players, a majority of whom are inexperienced. Also with Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene only joining the squad in time for Sri Lanka’s second practice match against the England Lions on May 19, Dilshan felt his early presence was necessary.
Even Dilshan’s franchise is unaware about the Lankan’s exit from the IPL. “You will have to contact the Sri Lankan Cricket board,” Siddhartha Mallya, Bangalore’s owner said. Dilshan, who was bought at the auction for $650,000, has been a subdued presence with just one half-century in five matches.
Meanwhile it is understood that both Sangakkara and Jayawardene have found support from their respective franchises on their decision to leave for the England tour mid-May. Jayawardene, captain at Kochi Tuskers, would fly immediately after the match against Rajasthan Royals on May 15. Sangakkara, who is in charge of Deccan Chargers, would leave a day later, after the game against Pune Warriors.
Bangalore hard time to win
Posted by: | CommentsIt had looked like a cakewalk when Kohli was finding the boundaries at will in a breezy half-century that stunned Delhi. But David Warner provided the inspiration Delhi needed with a direct hit from the deep that ran out AB de Villiers. After Morne Morkel bowled Kohli two deliveries later, 65 needed from 66 deliveries quickly became 44 required from 30, and the Feroz Shah Kotla crowd started buzzing with the hope of a home victory. But Syed flicked and steered Umesh Yadav for successive boundaries to bring the equation down to 12 required off two overs, and Bangalore didn’t allow Delhi back again.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore lower order scraped 22 runs from 15 deliveries to steer their side past Delhi Daredevils’ 160 – a target that had looked small when Virat Kohli was at the crease, and stiff after his dismissal. But Daniel Vettori and J Syed Mohammad found the boundaries when they were needed, and got Bangalore home with three deliveries to spare.
The way Kohli had begun in a blaze of boundaries, Delhi hadn’t looked like getting a look-in. Coming in after Tillakaratne Dilshan had been dismissed off the second ball of the chase, Kohli launched six fours off his first ten deliveries. He started with successive boundaries on either side of point off Ashok Dinda, and then laid in to Irfan Pathan, dismissing him for four fours in an over.
Irfan is trying to make a comeback to the Indian team, but looked helpless against Kohli, becoming too predictable with his attempt to bend the ball back in at gentle pace. Kohli took full toll, flicking, driving and glancing him for 16 runs as Delhi surrendered the advantage of the early breakthrough.
To add to Delhi’s troubles, they had to contend with Chris Gayle at the other end. The Jamaican carved Morne Morkel over cover and then hammered him over long-on. Kohli and Gayle took another 17 runs off Dinda as Bangalore raced to 62 for 1 in five overs. Though James Hopes got Gayle with a surprise bouncer to end an 82-run stand off 43 deliveries, Kohli casually flicked the next delivery for four to bring up his fifty in 31 balls.
Then came the moment that got Delhi back in the game. AB de Villiers took on Warner’s throw from deep midwicket for a second run, and found himself nowhere close when the ball shattered the stumps. Two balls later, Morne Morkel got Kohli to play on, and suddenly Bangalore were 96 for 4.
Warner had found the initial movement too hot to handle, and was cleaned up by a perfectly pitched delivery from Zaheer that came back into him. Sehwag got off to his usual carefree start, slamming his first delivery for four and twice edging Aravind just short of the men behind the wicket. His luck eventually ran out when he was caught inches short of his crease by a Mithun throw.
At 115 for 3 with five overs to go, however, Delhi had managed to set the base for the final onslaught, but Rao’s blind charge to Vettori made him lose his stumps. Some late sixes from Irfan Pathan and Naman Ojha lifted Delhi to 160, a score that proved inadequate ultimately.
Warne leads Rajasthan from the front
Posted by: | CommentsRajasthan were right at home in conditions that their two spinners and predominantly slower-ball bowlers enjoy. They also had the injured Johan Botha back, who removed Mahela Jayawardene with the first ball he bowled. It all started inauspiciously for Kochi, with Brendon McCullum missing out because of a bad shoulder. His replacement, VVS Laxman, ran himself out. Botha came on and turned one across Jayawardene, and with some help from the protruding thigh pad, the ball found a way into the stumps. Warne did Brad Hodge in with one that kept low. As a consequence of those big wickets, once Kochi’s run-rate fell below six in the fifth over, it never crossed that mark.
Cosmetic surgery? Moisturiser? Who cares? Shane Warne is still ripping them legbreaks. He is still getting vicious dip and drift. He is still producing key wickets – tonight those of Brad Hodge and the top-scorers Parthiv Patel and Ravindra Jadeja – to keep Rajasthan Royals alive in the tournament. On a pitch where the bounce varied from shoulder to shin-high off similar lengths, Kochi Tuskers Kerala threatened to convert their ordinary start into a decent total, but Warne came back to remove both Parthiv and Jadeja off successive deliveries to end the 48-run fourth-wicket partnership. The resultant target was sub-par even on the slightly two-paced pitch, and Rahul Dravid and Shane Watson ensured there were no hiccups in the chase, with a 71-run opening stand.
At 88 for 3 after 15 overs, though, they decided they needed to push for more runs, especially considering it was the expected dew that had made Rajasthan field first on this pitch. Jadeja came down to Warne, who bowled the straighter one and got a thick edge along the ground. Two balls later Jadeja tried the slog sweep, but this one bounced at him, taking the top edge. Back-pedalling, Warne completed the catch around mid-on. Parthiv lost his head next ball, trying the reverse-sweep, and was stumped off a slider.
Rajasthan’s international bowlers – Warne, Botha and Watson – went for 58 in 12 overs between them. Warne even found time to settle a personal score. He welcomed Ravindra Jadeja, who had tried to move away from his franchise last year and was banned in the process, with a bouncer at 110kph. Jadeja and Parthiv, though, kept their heads and put Kochi on their way to what could have been a defendable target. They picked their battles wisely, taking risks against the domestic bowlers, running hard, not looking for ambitious shots.
After that Kochi lost their way with new batsman struggling to time the ball on the slow track. In all, seven wickets fell for 21 runs. The momentum continued into the second innings as Watson smashed the first ball to the cover boundary. Dravid took over from there, playing proper cricketing shots to counter the tricky pitch. He also hit the first six of the match shortly before running himself out, going for an ambitious second run. At 71 for 1, only formalities remained, but Watson pushed the rate up, ensuring the target was achieved with 5.5 overs to spare, giving Rajasthan’s net run-rate a boost.
Rohit, Malinga star for Mumbai win
Posted by: | CommentsHaving galloped to a strong score, Mumbai seized control with three pieces of brilliance, all of which involved Lasith Malinga slinging the stumps down. The first was a stunning yorker that the aggressive Shikhar Dhawan did well to save his toes from, though his leg stump was not so fortunate. Cameron White came in at Dhawan’s fall and sucked the momentum out of the chase after struggling to get bat on ball in his short stay. It ended when he pushed his seventh ball to mid-off and set off on an ambitious single. Malinga swooped on the ball and fired in a throw that clattered into the stumps at the non-striker’s end to catch White short. Kumar Sangakkara fought hard against the tide, before Malinga returned to blow his middle and off pegs out with a superfast, low full toss. The chase was as good as over when Davy Jacobs stumped Daniel Christian while standing up to Munaf Patel.
Deccan Chargers had the chance to retain Rohit Sharma and Andrew Symonds, but let both of them go, and paid the price on Sunday. The pair came together with Mumbai wobbling at 70 for 4 in the 10th over, having lost three wickets for the addition of no run in six balls, and proceeded to pulverise their former side in a 102-run stand that came off just 65 balls. Mumbai followed up the pyrotechnics of their Deccan imports with a typically clinical show in the field, to surge to a four-point lead at the top of the IPL table.
Mumbai’s innings followed three distinct phases. The first was guided by Jacobs’ enterprise against the new ball, while Sachin Tendulkar played the support role. It’s not easy to take the spotlight off Tendulkar, especially so on his birthday, but Jacobs managed it for the first five overs. He began with a reverse slap off Amit Mishra in the opening over, before thumping Pragyan Ojha for a straight six. He proceeded to shred Ishant Sharma’s shoddy lines for fours on either side of the wicket, and scrambled Christian’s lengths with quick feet to loot two more boundaries.
In reality, Deccan never recovered from the Rohit-Symonds show, especially the last two overs that bled 40 runs. Symonds began the closing brutality by smashing Dale Steyn’s length bowling for two fours and a six in the penultimate over. Rohit then took over, flaying Christian for three sixes and a four in the 20th. Christian invited trouble by serving up two full tosses and two length balls at a hittable pace. Rohit, who finds a new plane when he is batting in the IPL, tucked in with emphatic blows down the ground, the last of which left Christian floored in his follow through.
Tendulkar survived a close shout for lbw in the first over before trotting inside the line to Steyn’s first ball to whip him through midwicket. Thereafter, Tendulkar seemed too eager to impose himself by charging out to Ishant and Steyn, who both hit speeds around 145 kph and gave him nothing to drive. Still, Mumbai managed to reach 47 in the first five overs, before Deccan hit back.
Jacobs fell attempting an ambitious heave off Ishant, but Tendulkar counter-punched with two boundaries in the same over. However, the advent of spin with spread-out fields stalled Mumbai’s progress. Mishra struck twice in three balls, beating Tendulkar in the flight and enticing Ambati Rayudu to hole out. Soon after, Kieron Pollard miscued an against-the-turn paddle off his first ball, to leave Mumbai reeling. It was time for their middle-order muscle to rescue them.
Symonds and Rohit checked in cautiously as Mumbai went boundary-less for 40 balls, but switched gears rapidly thereafter. Rohit began the assault by sweeping Ojha for four before Symonds forehanded a short ball from Christian through long-off. With Rohit timing his drives particularly well, Ishant kept trying to tuck him up, but Rohit responded with a couple of strong pulls. Around that time, the owners of the Deccan Chargers franchise must have begun wondering if they had got it horribly wrong at the auction. By the end of the game, they must have been kicking themselves.
Gayle first century
Posted by: | CommentsThe pitch was proving to be tricky for the quicks and Kolkata opted to start with a spinner after having posted 171. Yusuf Pathan, who was battling a knee niggle, opened the bowling. After three good deliveries, Yusuf strayed on the leg stump and Dilshan cashed in with four through square leg. With that, the flood gates were opened.
Chris Gayle has arrived. He smashed his way to his first IPL century, the second-fastest in this edition of the competition, and was the architect of Bangalore’s victory over his former team, Kolkata. Gayle formed powerful partnerships with Tillakaratne Dilshan and Virat Kohli as Bangalore were untroubled in their chase of 172, winning by nine wickets.
In the fourth over, Gayle had scored just three singles – while Dilshan had notched up 19 – when he was offered a full toss. He drove it down past the non-striker for the first of his 17 boundaries. It didn’t matter what Bangalore tried after that. Jaidev Unadkat was dispatched with disdain as Gayle went down on one knee, smacking him for six over long-on. Shakib Al Hasan was tossed around like a limp ragdoll, slogged over midwicket and mowed over deep square. Yusuf was smoked through the covers. Gayle even showed a touch of deftness, playing one fine to the third man boundary.
The Gayle force blew on though. Together with Kohli, he brought the required run rate down to less than a run a ball. Kohli was given some room to express himself too, taking advantage of full balls offered by Balaji and showing off his wrist work against Bhatia. Kohli almost had too much fun and denied Gayle a century with a boundary off the first ball of the 18th over, that left Bangalore with just two to win. He blocked out the rest of the over to make amends.
It didn’t matter who was given the ball, even though spin proved difficult to get away during the Kolkata innings. Manoj Tiwary was slapped over long-on and even mishit for six. Medium pacer Rajat Bhatia was hit for 17 runs in his second over, 16 off Gayle’s bat. At the end of 12 overs, Bangalore were cruising on 123 for 1 when Dilshan was bowled by L Balaji, who controlled the swing admirably.
Yusuf, batting at four, allowed himself five balls to settle before depositing a Mohammed delivery over long-on. After Gambhir was caught by Dilshan at extra cover, Yusuf unleashed. He destroyed Aravind, pulling the short one for four, smashing the full one for six and dispatching the low full toss to the boundary.
The quicks redeemed themselves a bit with Khan bowling a decent last over, mixing up slower balls and yorkers, and Aravind claiming the wicket of Yusuf, who was trying to force the ball over long off but only got it as far as Kohli.
Harbhajan five crash Chennai
Posted by: | CommentsBadrinath tried his best, though. His first scoring shot – a gorgeous off-driven boundary against Munaf Patel of the third ball he faced, set the tone for the night but it was the late cuts that really caught the eye. In the seventh over, he caressed Harbhajan Singh to third man and in the ninth over, he glided Rohit Sharma to backward point boundary. He even lofted Rohit for a pretty six – with the high front elbow and a graceful swing of the bat – over long-off in the same over. He pulled down the shutter briefly to consolidate after the fall of Michael Hussey and MS Dhoni before he opened up again in the end overs. Though Badrinath batted with so much serenity under pressure that he eclipsed Rohit’s knock on the elegance scale, he was left with too much to do on his own. And in the end overs, he looked a forlorn figure in the middle, hardly getting the strike as his team-mates succumbed meekly.
Rohit Sharma dazzled the senses, Harbhajan Singh sucker-punched with three wickets in an over, and Mumbai Indians hustled on the field to go around a sublime S Badrinath and clinch a well-fought win at the Wankhede Stadium.
With 59 runs required from 37 balls, Badrinath sashayed to the leg side and laced an excellent square drive off Lasith Malinga to close the gap. The situation turned grim again as S Anirudha, who had pulled Kieron Pollard for a six, swung a full toss from Harbhajan Singh to deep midwicket to leave Chennai needing 42 from 24 deliveries.
It was an over later that Harbhajan, who had earlier lured Suresh Raina into hitting a return catch, killed the contest with a triple strike. He slipped one past the attempted slog-sweep to bowl Albie Morkel, lured R Ashwin to hole out to long-on, and induced Joginder Sharma to top-edge a slog. Badrinath kept up with the fight, even getting a six in the final over, but Chennai’s fight had evaporated into the Mumbai night during that Harbhajan over.
He paddle-scooped a low full toss from Bollinger for a six over fine-leg before he turned brutal against Suresh Raina in the 19th over. He smote the second delivery, a gentle length ball, over wide long-on, top-edged a slog sweep for couple, and torpedoed the next delivery over cowcorner as Raina leaked 17 runs. Rohit fell in the final over, holing out to long-on, but by then he had entertained the Mumbai crowd in some style.
Rohit had one more crowd-pleasing, and game-turning, moment left in the night. When Chennai needed 64 runs from 47 balls, Dhoni top-edged a swat-flick and Rohit charged in from third man and flung himself forward to pouch a stunner. It was the beginning of the end for Chennai.
Dilshan made Srilanka captain for England tour
Posted by: | CommentsDilshan’s appointment ends the speculation over whether he, or 23-year-old allrounder Angelo Mathews, would be named as Sangakkara’s immediate successor. Mathews is presently fighting to recover from a leg injury which he said could keep him out for eight weeks.
Tillakaratne Dilshan has been appointed Sri Lanka’s captain for all three formats during the upcoming tour of England in May following Kumar Sangakkara’s resignation from the post after the World Cup. Sri Lanka Cricket have not yet named a vice-captain to fill the role vacated by Mahela Jayawardene because “the prospective candidates are nursing injuries, and their availability for the forthcoming tour is still in question.”
Dilshan, 34, previously led Sri Lanka to a win in a triangular ODI series in Zimbabwe – the third team being India – in May-June 2010, apart from captaining the side in two Twenty20 internationals in 2008 and 2009. Presently with the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, Dilshan is coming off a rich vein of form in the World Cup, in which he topped the batting table with 500 runs from nine matches at 62.50.
In a recent interview with ESPNcricinfo, Sangakkara, who resigned with a view of giving the next captain enough time to build a team before the 2015 World Cup, had backed either player to take over the captaincy. “If they think Angie [Angelo] is too young then Dilshan will do a good job because he has these little touches for success. Anything he does on the field, he has this little knack,” he said. “I don’t know whether he will be the long-term candidate with his age, but if he keeps himself fit he can easily play the next World Cup.”
Spirited Kochi win again
Posted by: | CommentsIt was in compete contrast to how almost every Chennai batsman, bar M Vijay, struggled to find timing on a pitch that seemed to have retained some moisture. The Kochi bowlers used the track well, getting the ball to grip, but it was the ground fielding that stifled Chennai despite the fact the inside edges regularly found the boundary and mis-hits hardly ever reached the deep fielders.
Brendon McCullum made a severe dent into the below-par D/L-adjusted target set by Chennai Super Kings, and handy contributions from Parthiv Patel and Brad Hodge then gave Kochi Tuskers their second win in a row. It was the impact of the clean hitting from McCullum that shook Chennai up, and Parthiv and Hodge took Kochi home with some smart cricket.
McCullum then made batting looked ridiculously easy. Statements aren’t made more emphatically than the way he treated Albie Morkel like a spinner at the start of the chase. He charged straight at Morkel in the first over and deposited him into the sightscreen. In Morkel’s second, he went over cow corner. Disdain was getting defined. Doug Bollinger got a sample too when he did as much as pitch short of a length.
Mahela Jayawardene departed after hitting R Ashwin for a four and a six, but nothing was keeping McCullum from hitting balls towards the sightscreen, as Shadab Jakati realised. In the ninth over, Tim Southee also made the mistake of straying into McCullum’s pads, and was hit for two boundaries as Kochi attained a rate of nine an over.
Hodge and Ravindra Jadeja made sure there no jitters in the home stretch. Chennai’s innings, though, never escaped regular and mild jitters. It rained almost throughout the first nine overs, play was interrupted for more than an hour after that due to a heavy shower, and Chennai remained sluggish throughout. Except for a flowing 28 off 18 from Vijay, none of the Chennai batsmen adjusted well to the pace of the pitch. Even Suresh Raina’s half-century, and credit must go to him for getting that many on such a day, featured as many edges and mis-hits as clean shots.
In between, Parthiv played a lovely cover-drive for four, but also got one inside-edge to run down for four to give Chennai a taste of their own medicine. McCullum wanted to finish things off fast, but miscued one off R Ashwin to leave the others 46 to get off 39. Parthiv was to make the equation simpler with a slog-swept six off Jakati, but he too mis-hit a pull to leave 26 to get off the last four overs.
Others had nothing to show for their efforts. Early movement consumed Michael Hussey, Vijay’s first loose shot accounted for his wicket, and desperation at not being able to hit freely took care of S Badrinath. The decisive moment came when MS Dhoni and Raina came together. RP Singh, Hussey’s wicket to his name already, welcomed the India captain with an over full of yorkers and a bouncer, conceding just two; that left Chennai on 109 for 3 after 15. In that spell of play, heave after heave followed, pad after pad was hit, and not even a 14-run final over threatened Kochi.
