The IPL 2008 - Second Semifinal - Chennai Super Kings vs Kings XI Punjab
June 1st 2008 06:21
This matchup was eagerly expected for more reasons than one. The earlier semifinal turned out to be a damp squib when Warne's team summarily squished the Delhi Daredevils while barely breaking out a sweat. And this was also the matchup where the present Indian national team's ODI captain clashed with the vice captain of the same team. Two big hitters. Two hugely influential batsman in the shorter format of the game.
And the verdict is out. We know who is the captain and why he is the captain. Mahendra Snigh Dhoni - ladies and gentlemen, in no small measure proved that he was by far the better man for the mantle of leadership of a cricket team. Where Yuvraj looked lost and hapless and completely out of ideas, Dhoni never made a wrong move. Every move that he made was well thought out and what is more - the Yellows seemed to be jumping effervescently to grab the opportunities on offer. No pressure. No panic. Simple, no nonsense cricket.
I have been pointing out for quite some time now the fact that Dhoni has not quite been handling properly bowlers of Ntini's and Murali's class. Ntini had been made to sit out for a couple of games and Murali continued to be used at the wrong times. So much so that Murali almost always was thrust into a situation where the opposition batsmen were set and had no hesitation in getting after him. He almost lost his utility as a shock weapon - as his wickets tally shows.
But Dhoni corrected those mistakes. In fact he did more than that. He threw up the first challenge of the match when he gave the new ball to Murali. How well thought out that move was - I cannot describe enough. Shaun Marsh has been Mr. Batsman throughout the stretch of this tournament. While he has looked extremely fluent and free striking against the faster bowlers, he had not been tested as yet with quailty spin. So, Murali was unleashed upon the Punjab openers. Murali started off with a reasonable over and conceded 7 runs including one sweetly timed cover drive for a boundary. But Dhoni had gotten the first word in. The batsmen were not in their comfort zone. They were waiting for the other side to blink. And well, the Yellows never did blink!
To start with, Punjab won the toss and chose to bat. Considering that factor, it must again be highlighted as to how good a job was done by the Chennai bowlers. Ntini, bowling with verve, pace and unstinting tenacity, cajoled, bullied and finally convinced Shaun Marsh to unwisely play the pull to a delivery which neither had shortness of length and nor had the room to allow for the shot. The ball struck the inside half of the bat and struck gold - timber gold. And this was after he had induced a loose drive from James Hopes.
Two decisive strokes by the same decisive bowler - no wonder he got the man of the match award that he deserved. Meanwhile, Dhoni, again being fluid and mobile in his thinking, quickly sized up the wicket and replaced Murali with Goni. The results again were there for people to see. The tall hit-the-pitch seamer troubled everybody - including Sangakkara and finally got him to again indulge in indiscretion outside the offstump. To his credit, Sangakkara only required the slightest of nods from the umpire to begin his long trek to the dressing room.
From then on, the Kings XI Punjab commenced to dethrone and behead themselves without any mercy. There were poor strokes, poorer examples of temperament and displays of absolutely rock bottom running between the wickets on offer. Mahela Jayawardene cut a sorry figure with his inability to hold the innings together and to prevent the panic attack. I have always held that he had poor temperament as a batsman for all the obvious talent that he has with the willow. And Mahela seemed hell bent on proving this to the world. His pathetic involvement in the runout of Irfan Pathan was sad to see. Not befitting an international team's captain. Earlier Yuvraj could blame his poor luck when he saw a swashbuckling pull shot stick to Murali's magic fingers. But then, the shot was not required when Punjab were in a lot of strife at that stage. A just short of length ball from Goni was swatted from outside off stump towards midon where Murali did the needful - in style. Poor temperament again from the Punjab captain.
If it were not for young Wilkin Mota and the resurgent Powar's intelligent and on occasion audacious batting, Punjab would have succumbed to peanuts. As it is, those biffs and french cuts and prods got them to 112 runs. One felt that the match as a contest was effectively over at that stage. But then one can never say....
And when the Punjab team took the field, Yuvraj again demonstrated his inexperience and inability to lead a team in pressure situations when he took Sreesanth off after a single 7 run over. He did turn - in a moment of inspiration - to the spin of Powar in the 4th over. But that did not stay for too long and he then went through his swathe of bowling options in a hurry - VRV, Piyush, Hopes. All to no avail. For, after Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan made an early exit - all at sea against a short ball from Pathan - Parthiv Patel and Suresh Raina were not to be denied. They weathered the early battle and then opened out in the true sense of the phrase. Parthiv's quick batswing and easy technique is indeed easy on the eye and Raina's power packed shots and effortless elan was the icing on the cake. The monstrous hit for six by Raina on a hook shot almost went out of the ground. This, on a pitch, where no batsman looked secure against the shorter ball. Powar and Chawla tried their best as did Pathan.
But again, Yuvraj Singh seemed to have given up the fight pretty soon. The singles were not stopped. There was no attacking field on offer for the spinners or the pacers. In the end, Chennai were allowed to get the runs anyway they liked it.
But let none of this take any sheen or credit away from the Yellows' performance. They might have come into this game as relative underdogs but they will go to the D.Y.Patil Stadium tomorrow believing in themselves and in a resurgent mood. In fact both teams would be in an ebullient and confident mindset after their respective thrashing of their opponents.
One only hopes that the finals of the IPL gets a game deserving of the setting and does not get reduced to a damp squib like both the semifinals.
Once more though it was sad to see the Mumbai crowd booing the losing captain in Yuvraj. That really was not required or called for. The Mumbai crowd have not exactly been earning a good name for themselves throughout this tournament and today was no exception.
As resurgent as the Yellows are, if I were to hazard a guess on who would stand on the podium holding that oversize map of India passing off as the trophy on offer, I can only say that I see blue....peacock blue...
And the verdict is out. We know who is the captain and why he is the captain. Mahendra Snigh Dhoni - ladies and gentlemen, in no small measure proved that he was by far the better man for the mantle of leadership of a cricket team. Where Yuvraj looked lost and hapless and completely out of ideas, Dhoni never made a wrong move. Every move that he made was well thought out and what is more - the Yellows seemed to be jumping effervescently to grab the opportunities on offer. No pressure. No panic. Simple, no nonsense cricket.
I have been pointing out for quite some time now the fact that Dhoni has not quite been handling properly bowlers of Ntini's and Murali's class. Ntini had been made to sit out for a couple of games and Murali continued to be used at the wrong times. So much so that Murali almost always was thrust into a situation where the opposition batsmen were set and had no hesitation in getting after him. He almost lost his utility as a shock weapon - as his wickets tally shows.
But Dhoni corrected those mistakes. In fact he did more than that. He threw up the first challenge of the match when he gave the new ball to Murali. How well thought out that move was - I cannot describe enough. Shaun Marsh has been Mr. Batsman throughout the stretch of this tournament. While he has looked extremely fluent and free striking against the faster bowlers, he had not been tested as yet with quailty spin. So, Murali was unleashed upon the Punjab openers. Murali started off with a reasonable over and conceded 7 runs including one sweetly timed cover drive for a boundary. But Dhoni had gotten the first word in. The batsmen were not in their comfort zone. They were waiting for the other side to blink. And well, the Yellows never did blink!
To start with, Punjab won the toss and chose to bat. Considering that factor, it must again be highlighted as to how good a job was done by the Chennai bowlers. Ntini, bowling with verve, pace and unstinting tenacity, cajoled, bullied and finally convinced Shaun Marsh to unwisely play the pull to a delivery which neither had shortness of length and nor had the room to allow for the shot. The ball struck the inside half of the bat and struck gold - timber gold. And this was after he had induced a loose drive from James Hopes.
Two decisive strokes by the same decisive bowler - no wonder he got the man of the match award that he deserved. Meanwhile, Dhoni, again being fluid and mobile in his thinking, quickly sized up the wicket and replaced Murali with Goni. The results again were there for people to see. The tall hit-the-pitch seamer troubled everybody - including Sangakkara and finally got him to again indulge in indiscretion outside the offstump. To his credit, Sangakkara only required the slightest of nods from the umpire to begin his long trek to the dressing room.
From then on, the Kings XI Punjab commenced to dethrone and behead themselves without any mercy. There were poor strokes, poorer examples of temperament and displays of absolutely rock bottom running between the wickets on offer. Mahela Jayawardene cut a sorry figure with his inability to hold the innings together and to prevent the panic attack. I have always held that he had poor temperament as a batsman for all the obvious talent that he has with the willow. And Mahela seemed hell bent on proving this to the world. His pathetic involvement in the runout of Irfan Pathan was sad to see. Not befitting an international team's captain. Earlier Yuvraj could blame his poor luck when he saw a swashbuckling pull shot stick to Murali's magic fingers. But then, the shot was not required when Punjab were in a lot of strife at that stage. A just short of length ball from Goni was swatted from outside off stump towards midon where Murali did the needful - in style. Poor temperament again from the Punjab captain.
If it were not for young Wilkin Mota and the resurgent Powar's intelligent and on occasion audacious batting, Punjab would have succumbed to peanuts. As it is, those biffs and french cuts and prods got them to 112 runs. One felt that the match as a contest was effectively over at that stage. But then one can never say....
And when the Punjab team took the field, Yuvraj again demonstrated his inexperience and inability to lead a team in pressure situations when he took Sreesanth off after a single 7 run over. He did turn - in a moment of inspiration - to the spin of Powar in the 4th over. But that did not stay for too long and he then went through his swathe of bowling options in a hurry - VRV, Piyush, Hopes. All to no avail. For, after Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan made an early exit - all at sea against a short ball from Pathan - Parthiv Patel and Suresh Raina were not to be denied. They weathered the early battle and then opened out in the true sense of the phrase. Parthiv's quick batswing and easy technique is indeed easy on the eye and Raina's power packed shots and effortless elan was the icing on the cake. The monstrous hit for six by Raina on a hook shot almost went out of the ground. This, on a pitch, where no batsman looked secure against the shorter ball. Powar and Chawla tried their best as did Pathan.
But again, Yuvraj Singh seemed to have given up the fight pretty soon. The singles were not stopped. There was no attacking field on offer for the spinners or the pacers. In the end, Chennai were allowed to get the runs anyway they liked it.
But let none of this take any sheen or credit away from the Yellows' performance. They might have come into this game as relative underdogs but they will go to the D.Y.Patil Stadium tomorrow believing in themselves and in a resurgent mood. In fact both teams would be in an ebullient and confident mindset after their respective thrashing of their opponents.
One only hopes that the finals of the IPL gets a game deserving of the setting and does not get reduced to a damp squib like both the semifinals.
Once more though it was sad to see the Mumbai crowd booing the losing captain in Yuvraj. That really was not required or called for. The Mumbai crowd have not exactly been earning a good name for themselves throughout this tournament and today was no exception.
As resurgent as the Yellows are, if I were to hazard a guess on who would stand on the podium holding that oversize map of India passing off as the trophy on offer, I can only say that I see blue....peacock blue...
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