Delhi DareDevils Sweeps Chennai Super Kings

Gautam Gambhir cracked an unbeaten 57 as Delhi Daredevils spanked Chennai Super Kings by six wickets in a low-scoring IPL match to virtually seal a semifinal berth on Thursday.

Captain Gambhir led a remarkable recovery with a resolute batting display with Mithun Manhas (25 not out) after his side made a messy start in the run chase of 113 by losing their top three batsmen for just six runs in the second over.

The duo shared 75 runs from 70 balls for the unfinished fifth wicket as Delhi romped home with eight balls to spare and snap their three-match losing streak at M A Chidambaram Stadium.

Gambhir, who fought dehydration by applying water on his head and body on few occasions, struck five fours in his 56-ball innings, his second IPL 3 half century, and hit the winning runs, a two, as Delhi reached 113 for four in 18.4 overs on a pitch which offered turn to slow bowlers .

Earlier, Chennai Super Kings could make just 112 for nine after electing to bat with left-arm pacer Ashish Nehra taking three wickets for 26 to lead a superb bowling display by Delhi Daredevils.

With the win today, their seventh in 13 matches, Delhi are virtually in the semifinals with 14 points. They play Deccan Chargers at home in their last league match on April 18

Despite the loss, Chennai are still not out of semifinal race with 12 points from 13 matches though the paltry total after batting first took down their net run rate to plus 0.270.

Pacer Dough Bollinger was the most successful bowler with two wickets for 24 runs in his four overs while Ravichandran Ashwin and Shadab Jakati got a wicket apiece.

Delhi made a disastrous start in their run chase, losing their top three wickets for just six in the second over and looked like throwing away the match before Gambhir and Manhas rescued them.

On a track which offered turn to slow bowlers, Chennai opened bowling with a spinner and Ravichandran Ashwin did not disappoint his captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni by removing dangerous David Warner in his third ball for a duck.

Warner tried to play a cut shot but failed to negotiate the turn Ashwin extracted and the ball spooned to cover for Murali Vijay to take a diving catch.

Virender Sehwag (4) played his characteristic style and fell the same way as he has been doing for a while in IPL III, out cheaply for four after playing a big shot early on as the thick edge off Doug Bollinger's first ball was easy picking for Matthew Hayden at slip.

Three balls later, Tillakaratne Dilshan (1), who returned to playing eleven after being dropped due to poor form, did not last long as he tried an expansive shot off Bollinger only to see inside-edging the delivery and his furniture being disturbed.

Gambhir and wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik started the repair work by sharing 32 runs from as many balls for the fourth wicket before the latter was out for a 16-ball 13 in the seventh over.

Karthik top-edged a pull shot off Jakati for S Badrinath to take a well-judged catch at midwicket to reduce Delhi to 38 for four.

The early wickets saw run rate plummeting and Delhi were 56 for four at the halfway mark. After Karthik's dismissal Gambhir and Manhas did not have a four for five overs as they ran mostly for singles.

The duo opened up from the 16th over onwards and struck some lusty blows off Ashwin, Suresh Raina and Bollinger to ease past the target of 113 with eight balls to spare.

Manhas gave able support to Gambhir and his 32-ball 25 contained two fours.

Earlier, left-arm pacer Ashish Nehra took three wickets for 26 to lead a superb bowling display by Delhi Daredevils as they restrict Chennai Super Kings to a paltry 112 for nine.

Needing to win the match for a semifinal berth, Chennai failed to apply themselves against a disciplined Delhi bowlers as their top six batsmen were back at the hut by the halfway mark for just 55 runs after electing to bat.

S Badrinath top-scored with a 29-ball 30 while Murali Vijay (17), Suresh Raina (15) and Michael Hussey (15) got the starts but failed to convert them to big scores as Chennai slumped to their lowest IPL III total.

For Delhi, Nehra took important wickets of openers Vijay and Matthew Hayden and that of Badrinath in his four overs. Sehwag chipped in with a superb two for 18 from his four overs while Dilshan, Amit Mishra and Dirk Nannes got one each.

Chennai Super kings Brings mumbai to victory haul

Chennai ended Mumbai's winning run with a 24-run victory in the IPL at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Chennai decided to bat first, but a meandering effort only produced a total of 165 for four, thanks to contributions from Matthew Hayden (35), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (31) and Subramaniam Badrinath (30).
It's all about numbers
Mumbai were off to a bright start and had cantered along nicely until a fatigued Sachin Tendulkar retired at the end of the ninth over.

The match then turned on its head as Mumbai collapsed in a heap and although Tendulkar returned to bat again, his dismissal for 45 ensured victory for Chennai.

Murali Vijay (14) recorded his first failure since being promoted to opener but Chennai's innings got going briefly before tapering to a poor finish.

Suresh Raina fell for 23 but Hayden, who had looked scratchy through much of his innings, continued on gamely and together with Dhoni injected some pace into the home side's effort.

But, just when the duo looked set to take the attack to Mumbai's bowlers, both batsmen fell off successive deliveries in a Kieron Pollard over and the home side struggled from that point on.

Badrinath and Michael Hussey, playing his first match this season, failed to kick on, resulting in a meagre 45 runs in the seven-over period stretching from the12th to 18th overs, although Badrinath added some respectability to the score by hitting four boundaries over the last two overs.

Despite the fall of opener Shikhar Dhawan for 16, Mumbai's pursuit of that total had progressed smoothly until the heat and humidity took its toll on Tendulkar and he retired at the end of the ninth over on 38.

Mumbai were nicely perched at 62 for one at that stage, but they imploded once the captain left the field.
Ambati Rayudu was stumped by Dhoni, Thilan Thushara took a neat catch in the deep to get rid of Dwayne Bravo, Saurabh Tiwary pulled one straight to Hayden at midwicket and Vijay took a stunning catch at long-off to send off Pollard to leave them in trouble.

McLaren's dismissal in the 15th over brought Tendulkar back to the crease, with Mumbai requiring 77 from 34 deliveries.

Tendulkar added seven more to his tally before lofting straight to Vijay at long-on and, although Harbhajan made a fighting 33, Chennai were firmly in control.

Teams:
Chennai: ML Hayden, M Vijay, SK Raina, MS Dhoni, MEK Hussey, S Badrinath, R Ashwin, SB Jakati, DE Bollinger, S Tyagi, T Thushara

Mumbai: SR Tendulkar, S Dhawan, SS Tiwary, R Sathish, AT Rayudu, DJ Bravo, KA Pollard, R McLaren, Harbhajan Singh, SL Malinga, AN Ahmed

Shane Warne About the loss against Chennai Super Kings

Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Warne considers Indian Premier League as the toughest Twenty20 event in the world and said his side paid the price for lack of intensity in fielding and bowling against Channai Super Kings here on Saturday.

"We are playing in IPL where the intensity is high more than the other games in any part of the world. And, if your fielding is not good and catching poor then you have to be blamed," he said after his side's 23-run defeat.

"It is a flat wicket and a tiny ground. I knew the total would be little over 200 and 210 was par. Our fielding was quite bad. We dropped a lot of catches especially of Albie Morkel. Bowling at the death was also a concern for us. I think the difference probably was up in fielding and catching. We missed catches at crucial times," he said.

"I could have had Morkel on couple of times and things would have been different then. It is of course credit to him to have hit the balls too. It is just the nature of the game and we are going to get smashed. On a wicket like this everyone is getting smashed," he added.

He, however, praised his batsmen for a spirited run chase, especially Naman Ojha who made an unbeaten 55-ball 94.

"It was hell of a chase but our batsmen responded well enough. To chase 246 for a win and losing the match by 20 odd runs is hell of a chase. Ojha did exceptionally well and more so as he has to keep the wicket. He showed tremendous stamina," said the Australian.

Warne said his side will have to address fielding and bowling woes if they want to qualify for the semifinals.

"Something we need to address our fielding and bowling. We have three more matches coming at home. We showed a lot of character and spirit but the whole thing was not enough as we lost two games in a row. Winning the next match is crucial against Deccan Charges. We do not want to get in to a scenario in which you lose one and then pushed to win all other for a semifinal berth," he said. 

Warne praised Chennai opener Murali Vijay and pacer Doug Bollinger for their performances on Saturday.

"Vijay looks to be a talented and level headed cricketer. Good luck to him. His was a special innings and played good cricketing shots and He played good cricketing shots too. Probably credit should also go to Stephen Fleming for having coached a player like Vijay. He has obviously done his hard work.

"Doug is as much as Vijay played. His spell of four overs probably was the best. Wile others went for 10s or plus in a over, Doug was rather economical giving only two or so. Soon after arriving here and bowling at this kind of heat, I think it is credit to him. He executed his plans well," he said.

Bolinger, on his part, expressed happiness over the great start that he has made in the IPL.

"Good fun. Good start for my debut IPL season. It wasn't tough adjusting to the conditions because I've played for Australia on this ground, so it wasn't tough adjusting to the conditions. Every country is different and that is what makes cricket interesting. I like to do this in every match," he said.

"T20 is a funny game. They (Rajasthan) were going at a good rate when Shane Watson was batting. I felt 220 was a par score. We defended well. We kept the basics correct. I just went out there and did what I wanted to do," the Australian said.

Praising his team-mate Vijay, Bollinger said, "He backed his talent and that was a great innings, building the platform needed for the win. Vijay changed the match and rightfully he adjudged the man of the match."