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Morkel and Irfan sizzles as Delhi beats Kolkata by 8 wickets in a rain affected 12 over per side match with 5 balls remaining. Chasing a par total of 97 runs in 12 overs, Finch and Sehwag began steadily. Finch made life difficult for Kolkata bowlers as he find couple of boundaries in each over. Surprisingly, in the first 15 deliveries, Finch faced 12 while Sehwag faced only 3. A period of 6 balls where Finch fetched 4 boundaries almost took Delhi to a safer side. However, Delhi lost Finch for 30 and skipper Sehwag for 20 once they reach 50. Pathan, coming up the order ,ensured that there is no more hicccups in the chase. His innings of 20 ball 42 had 3 sixes. Pathan's hits were clean and were right from the middle of the bat. Pathan finished the chase with a boundary towards the square leg with 5 balls remaining. For Kolkata, Kallis and Batia took a wicket each.   Earlier, Light showers in the later evening delayed the start of matchat Eden Gardens and Delhi Daredevils skipper Virender Sehwag won the toss and asked Kolkata to bat first.   Kolkata opened their innings with McCullum and Kallis. Neither of them contributed much and so did rest of the players. At the end of 4 overs, Kolkata were struggling at31/4. Morkel made full use of his height and swung the ball well. Two yorkers in two balls meant Kallis and Tiwary were sent back hut to early. Gambhir was looking good as he middled the bat well. Sooner he was played on by a ball from Morkel. He was dismissed for 16  (15). A cameo from Debabrata Das [18(9)] and LR Shukala [26(17)] helded Kolkata pile up 97 runs in deduced 12 over innings. For Delhi, Morkel's 3/18 and Yadav's 2/9 helped in restricting the target to below 100. A last ball run out by Yadav by hitting the middle stump from deep extra cover to remove Lee sums up Delhi's good fielding performance.

Levi powers Mumbai home in season 5 opener

A powerpacked performance from Levi and some poor batting by Chennai saw Mumbai winning the season 5 opener held between the two teams at Chennai by 3 wickets with 19 balls remaining.



Chasing a modest target of 113, Mumbai Indians began their chase well. Coming with a tag as latest T20 sensation, Richard Levi showcased his power hitting and talent in front of Chennai crowd in his IPL debut match. He being the dominant player in the 69 run opening partnership with Sachin, overshadowed Sachin's 6 over long on, with his 3 flambouyant maximums. Sooner he reached his fifty in 34 balls. However Bravo deceived Levi in the very next ball and sent him back. On his departure, Rohit came in and unfortunately went back without disturbing the scorers. Sachin too was retired hurt for 16 at the end of 9th over as he injured his finger while trying to defend a bouncer bowled by Bollinger. At the half way stage, Mumbai were strongly placed at 76/2. Rayidu and Franklin steadied the ship by chipping in singles and doubles which was more than sufficient when bundaries looked dry to come. Mumbai reached 100 in 15 overs and eventually reached the target by 17th over with a 6. For Chennaoi Super Kings, Albie Morkel frequently passed the batsmen edges and was unfortunate not to pick a wicket and R.Ashwin as usual was economical bowler.

Earlier in the night, Mumbai Indians Skipper Harbhajan Singh won the toss and elected to bowl in a pitch that had a few grass over it which was unlike usual Chennai pitch.

Chennai Super Kings started their innings in a poor manner as debutant Faf du Plessis was run out in the 4th ball of the innings. M.Vijay who looked off-colour right from the word PLAY, consumed more deliveries without scoring and added pressure to Raina who was looking good for a big innings in the other end. He went back to hut for 10 (17) at the end of powerplay overs. In came Dwayne Bravo who took some initiative to built a partnership with Raina to put forth a target that is descent enough to defend. A period of 10 balls where Raina and Bravo hit 4 boundaries gave a sight of good score untill Raina departed for 36 (26). Ojha scalped Raina and Bravo [19 (19)]. Apart from their 22 run partnership, no real partnership was there. Wickets trumbled like a pack of cards as 3 run-outs in the Chennai Super Kings innings added salt to the injuries. The 2 million USD  man Ravinder Jadeja couldn't add much to scorecards either and was out for 3 and eventually bundled out for 112 within 20 overs with no real contributions from any players. Ojha, Malinga and Pollard took 2 wickets each.

From Cricket to Cokkery Role Model.

India is having a tuff time downunder. They have experienced a lot of chin music from Aussie bowlers and were belittled by Aussie batsmen. Suffering two continuous loss in the tournament, India's chance of entering the final is looking bleak as days pass by. If a team is emerging victorious, the success in posted upon all team members unlike a lose where skipper has to take up all the blame and has to remain under the hammer. Looking back, from the first match of CB series, we can analyse a player's contribution in the ODI series.

Virender Sehwag:
Thanks for yor presence. We were happy to see you playing. Virender Sehwag was seriously considered upon as an role model for cookery class. Instructions given to their students in the cookery class for making noodles.

1. If Sehwag enters in the ground to open the innings, open your Maggi noodles pack and put it in the fry pan.
2. Add Masala, water and essential vegetables and stir it.
3. Turn off the stove and remove the pan, when Sehwag loses his wicket. Your Maggi noodles is ready

Sachin Tendulkar:
 We don't need a century from him. We need a good start. A 40s and 50s could do wonders. But Sachin has been a shadow of himself in this one day series.

Gautham Gambhir:  Unlike R.Ashwin, ever since Gambhir was married, his form dripped. However, consecutive ninetees in tournament have made him a leading run scorer for India. Oldsaying goes that those who have strong reflexes should field at short legs in Tests. I knew a few cases in world cricket, where a batsman can dominate one form a cricket but will be adolescent in the other form. Despite being critizied for being a poor fielder in One day cricket, Gambhir fields at shortlegs. Is fielding too have multiple dimensions?

Virat Kohli:
 Finally in this tour, Kohli has learnt to use the middle of the bat rather than using the middle finger. This Consistent and aggresive batsman holds the record of speaking the F**K word more number of times than used in the De Caprio's DEPARTED movie. Ofcourse, he has talent enough to bowl a last over of the one day innings.

 Rohit Sharma: He showed his good form in last CB series. He is showing his poor form in this CB series. His is second to Sehwag in consideration for cookery class role models.

Suresh Raina:
 @bcciindia tweets to @ImRealBrahma, " Sir my needs are -Some cameos; Some good fielding; Some ridiculous fielding; Talent, enough to clear the boundary; Should be the first person to congratulate the bowler, if takes a wicket. "

 @ImRealBrahma to @bcciindia "Huh, You are so lucky. I have a package that fulfills your needs. Here it is, take @ImRaina "

 @ImRaina retweets @ImRealBrahma's tweet.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni:  Taking the pressure to the opponents is Richards' way of winning a match. Taking the pressure to himself and the nail biting audience is Dhoni's way of winning a match.

Manoj Tiwary: What Ganguly, Sachin and Dravid did for Badrinath is done Kohli, Raina and Rohit to Tiwary. - Block a place.

 Parthiv Patel:
 All he needs is a paid trip by BCCI to have a dinner at Hayden's and injury/ban to Dhoni for a place in playing XI. If he gets, he has fullfilled his lifequench.

Ravindra Jadeja: Played an innings of his life time in the t20s and second ODI, to get a $2 million contract for Chennai Super Kings, which means the next time he tours to Australia, he can have dinner at Hussey's.

Ravichandran Ashwin: It was roller coaster ride for him in this tour. He didn't bowl to his calibre but brilliantly gave warnings to Lahiru Thirimanne and ran him out to give Sehwag a chance to show his "Dhoni-Bell" spirit of cricket attitude.

Praveen Kumar:  He is in search of an Aussie girl friend. Please help him. He is missing a chance in playing XI because of that.

 Zaheer Khan: Completely, he is in the shadow-of-himself phase. May be its time to marry his girl friend and have a honey moon to regain his lost form.

Vinay Kumar:
Afridi bowls faster than Vinay kumar and Mike Hussey swings the ball to better extent the Vinay does. Needless to say anything else about him.

 Umesh Yadav:
 India also has pace factory. India is also capable of producing world class pace bowlers who can consistenly bowling in the later 140 kmph. Former players see Yadav as a bowler who despite leaking runs take important wickets. Sorry, we already have one S.Sreesanth, we don't need another one.

Rahul Sharma:
 A kumble in the making. The difference is this guy is disguising a straighter delivery amidst turning ones while Kumble does the vice versa.

Irfan Pathan: 4 five-wicket haul in 5 matches of recently concluded Ranji season bought him national contract which he is effectively using, be it batting or bowling. One thing he has to remember he is the team primarily for his bowling skills not for his batting skills. History repeats itself. If Irfan gets a contract, Yusuf loses his contract and if Yusuf gets a contract, Irfan loses his. BCCI is keen enough, not to give twice the amount of money to the pathan family

 P.S : This post has no intentions to harm any Indian Cricket fans. Written just for fun.