What’s at stake: A spot in the final and a chance to be crowned the DLF Indian Premier League on Sunday.
Top guns: Chennai Super Kings have been blessed by amazing consistency from men like Orange Cap holder Matthew Hayden (546 runs), Suresh Raina (414) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (304). Among the bowlers, Muttiah Muralitharan and L Balaji are top of the charts with 13 wickets each while Albie Morkel and Shadab Jakati have 12 each, not to forget the roles played by Sudeep Tyagi and Raina. For Royal Challengers Bangalore, the biggest batting contribution has come from Jacques Kallis (337) while Ross Taylor (236), Rahul Dravid (218) and Virat Kohli (215) have been consistent too. Anil Kumble’s 17 wicket make him the key man while Praveen Kumar (12) and Roelef van der Merwe (8) have chipped in with good efforts.
Captain vs captain: You may be tempted to put the calm and creative Mahendra Singh Dhoni ahead of the seasoned Anil Kumble but do not forget that the Royal Challengers Bangalore have shown a remarkable resurgence under the man they call Jumbo. Neither man has made mistakes that have cost his team. To their credit, they have been ready to think out of the box to find answers to problems that posed to them by the opposition.
What happened in the league games: The teams have traded a victory and defeat each.On April 20, at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth, Chennai Super Kings thrashed Royal Challengers Bangalore by a whopping 92 runs, thanks to a brilliant spell of off-spin bowling by Muttiah Muralitharan. He prised out Kevin Pietersen first ball and finished with three for 11 in three overs. Chennai Super Kings had made 179 for five in 20 overs and Royal Challengers Bangalore were never in the race. via
It was unbelievable, how the Kolkatta Knight Riders came back from the ashes. It all looked like a typical story for match fixing, but they deserved the win. A spectacular innings from Albie Morkel, Dhoni and Raina couldn’t save the CSK from winning the game.
There were lot of problems with us. The fielding as usual wasn’t too good, the bowling but this time around went really down below par. Especially Balaji who bowled like he didn’t want to. His body language was clumsy and so was others. Murali did a good job and Dhoni a nice job behind the wickets, but somehow things didn’t work out. At many of the places during the play it felt like CSK was giving it away.
And special mention to Dada and his “tries”. He was looking like he’s playing with a children’s bat. No matter where and how he hit, the ball wouldn’t go anywhere outside the circle.
Our piece of advice to Dada - Make things simple for the good please, You are complicating things too much to backfire to you.
Apparently, Mathey Hayden will not play today’s match with the Kokotta Knight Riders as he’s suffering from a thigh injury. We will defenitely miss Hayden but hopefully, he’ll get back soon as his absense will make a big void in the play.
Today, its going to be a fiery match. Both Chennai and Kolkatta are two teams that won only one match out of three played. Both are strong teams and today’s victory will be a decisive one for the teams status. Will it be the Super Kings or the Knights who will win. Wait until 8:00 PM IST, today and we wil know.
One thing is for sure - its going to be a war today !
We might have lost the match in the records, but the the fans of chennai super kings will consider our team winners in all respects. Great performace by Rajasthan Royals, a few basic mistakes from our side but overall spectacular match that wrote history!
Dhoni - great captaincy! You let the world know that you are the best captain India have seen so far !
Tata Preity..Tata Yuvi…See you next time….This is chennai kings mind it !
Boy what a game it was !
Punjabs were wapped up for 113 and literally crushed to nothing ! While the TV commentators proclaimed before the match that the “Yuvi” protection is going to guide them through the match, it seems like there was a split in the ozone layer and UV protection didn’t work at all.
Bowlers Ntini and Morkel did a fantastic job and Parthiv Patel with Suresh Raina were excellent with the bat.
Another interesting thing was Yuvraj’s Singhs emotional outbursts…before the match, Yuvraj was seen composed and over confident that they will win the game. But soon after his team was crushed to 113, he was seen frustrated and rude! While the Chennai Super Kings captain M S Dhoni was seen composed and cool throughout the tournament. It was a pity to see Yuvraj frustrated and flat on face at the end of match, while MSD was all smiles. It’s a great example where emotional stability overruled instability and insecurity.
So here we are, the ye for you…winning the semi finals and crushing the Punjabs, once again proving that there is only one king - The Chennai Super Kings!
Did you see that? Man, this is what we call “cricket”, and these are the gentlemen. We’ve seen people cry, slap, fight, swear, and these guys should learn from what Kumara Sangakkara did here today at the Wankhade stadium in the semifinals between Punjab Kings X1 and The Chennai Super Kings.
Here’s what happened (For those who missed). On Goni’s ball, Sangakkara had a little edge on the bat and keeper Parthiv Patel caught it. There was a shout by Goni but the umpire not sure, did not make a move. And to everyone’s surprise, Sangakkara just walked off, as he was sure about the knick. A replay on the TV confirmed that Sangakkara was right in his decision.
To this gesture, Sangakkara has been appreciated by all cricketers. This is something to learn for the “boys”.
Chennaisuperkings have made it to the semi finals of the IPL - and in style !
A great match display with the deccan chargers ensured our entry to the semi finals and this was no ordinary game. The chennai super kings had all the basics right, from the very first over of their bowling spell. Then went on to prove they are not bad with the bat either. Deccan chargers on the other hand failed miserably in playing as a team and there were errors here and there, very evident.
Chennai super kings had ot of errors as well, and more surprisingly they were the ones they’ve been carrying from day one. Poor show by fleming, not a great batting by parthiv patel and just okay performance with the ball. Just like what Dhoni said earlier, there’s quite a lot they have to improve in the balling side. Dhoni too is playing the same shots now and then proving that if any bowler study him, they can easily beat him down.
Anyway, now we are in to the semi finals, we have a higher chance to win the cup. Wait and watch what happens.
We lost the match to Royal challengers, and what a shame it is ! Royal challengers did an excellent job fighting until the last breath. But the way chennai super kings lost it was dramatic!
In fact right from the start of the game, the chennai super kings had no luck. If I recall right, there were lot of appeals in todays match and there was a nice edge not given out by the umpire. In fact a few close attempts not recognized. And who can forget fleming fumbling with an easy catch? Today was not clearly our day. I think the team is losing momentum again.
Dhoni, and his team has to gear up and take things seriously or else, it is going to be a tough ride ahead.
