The clash of two titans looms ahead, in the final of the IPL, on Sunday.
Sachin Tendulkar is the best cricketer the world has seen, while Indian cricket has scaled to new height under Mahendra Singh Dhoni's astute leadership.
It is hard to differentiate between the two teams as both registered similar victories in their semi-finals.
Tendulkar's Mumbai Indians outplayed Royal Challengers Bangalore by 35 runs in the first semi-final on Wednesday, while Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings registered a comprehensive 38-run victory over Deccan Chargers in the second semis, on Thursday.
But Tendulkar's availability is a big question after he injured his right hand, while attempting to take a catch against Bangalore. He split his webbing and had to get five stitches and his availability is a big question mark as of now.
He has scored over 500 runs in the tournament and his absence would reduce Mumbai's chances by half. But then it would not be fair to expect him to play with such an injury, which would not even allow him to hold the bat with his right hand, let alone play shots.
Big-hitter Kieron Pollard also seemed to be struggling with hamstring during that semis and it remains to be seen whether he make it to the playing eleven for the title clash.
With the pitches getting slower with every game, Chennai must be happy that their spinners are peaking at the right moment. R Ashwin has proved to be deadly, bowling with the new ball, while Muttiah Muralitharan showed glimpses of his magical form in the semi-final match.
Overall, it may turn out to be a battle between Mumbai's aggressive batting line-up and Chennai's gritty bowling attack.
But Mumbai have come up trumps against every challenge thrown at them in this tournament and there is no reason why they cannot get over this one final obstacle.
Let's us all pray that Mumbai's biggest Khiladi Tendulkar can recover in time and take the field on Sunday for cricket has never seen a bigger match winner than him.
Go Sachin Go!!
Posts Tagged ‘chennai’
Its Sachin v/s Dhoni in IPL 3 final!
April 23rd, 2010Dhoni Dhamaal takes Chennai to semis
April 19th, 2010
What a Super Sunday it turned out to be!
Who would have guessed the two teams who were written off around a week or so could bounce back in style and say “Picture abhi baki hai Mere Doston” to the other teams.
And that is exactly what happened as Chennai Super Kings and Deccan Chargers outclassed their opponents to make it to the semi-finals of the Indian Premier League.
And well there is some good news for the Mumbai fans, with the two semi-finals being shifted to the DY Patil stadium and I am quite sure they will both be HOUSEFUL, sounds similar to a movie releasing in two weeks 
First, it was Mahendra Singh Dhoni at his belligerent best as he single-handedly took Chennai Super Kings into the semi-finals with a cracking knock of 54 from 29 balls.
With 44 needed from the last three overs, many tipped Kings XI Punjab as the winner, but then Dhoni showed his class and his batting prowess.
He ended it in some style by smashing Irfan Pathan for two sixes in a row to take his team home with just two deliveries to spare as the visitors chased down a mammoth 194 for victory.
In the second match of the day, Deccan Chargers got the better of Delhi Daredevils by 11 runs to progress to the last four.
Andrew Symonds turned out to be the saviour with a blazing 54 from 30 balls in an otherwise disappointing batting performance by the defending champions.
But the Deccan bowlers once again turned up the heat, helped by a brilliant display of catching from Rohit Sharma, who took three brilliant catches to account for the three of the first four wickets to fall.
Pragyan Ojha may have been ignored by the Indian selectors for the World Twenty20 tournament but he continues to make them rue their decision. He took two for 16 in his four overs to take his tournament tally to 20 wickets and set up Deccan’s 11-run victory after they were defending a modest 145.
Amazingly, Deccan won five matches in a row to progress to the semis, but Delhi slipped in the latter part of the tournament, winning just one of their last five games.
Mumbai Indians play Kolkata Knight Riders in their last match and unless the Sourav Ganguly can spring a miracle and beat Mumbai by a record margin they can’t stop Royal Challengers Bangalore from making it to the last four.
Gambhir gets down to serious business
April 16th, 2010
Well, the Indian Premier League has been in the news lately for the wrong reasons, but the excitement on the field transcends everything else.
It was another thrilling encounter in Chennai on Thursday when Delhi Daredevils held their nerves to register an important six-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings.
It was Gautam Gambhir who returned back to much needed form to guide his team home with an unbeaten century in a low-scoring match.
Captain Gambhir showed great composure on a pitch offering a great deal of help to the spinners to score 57 not out. Mithun Manhas showed his knowledge of Indian conditions as he gave his skipper good support for 25 from 32 balls.
The desperation in Gambhir’s eyes was clear as he toiled hard in the middle overs by running a lot of singles. The weather was quite cruel on the players as the weather exceeded 40 degrees celcius coupled with a high percentage of humidity, but Gambhir never flustered.
Electing to bat first, Chennai’s top batsmen failed as the hosts finished on a paltry 112 for nine in their 20 overs.
Ashish Nehra did the most of the damage as he took three for 26, while part-time off-spinner Virender Sehwag claimed two for 18.
But Delhi’s top order once again let their down.
David Warner and Virender Sehwag fell to reckless shots, while Tillakaratne Dilshan was beaten by Doug Bollinger and was bowled.
And if not for Gambhir’s half-century, Chennai could have well romped home to a win after that fantastic start with the ball.
Delhi have now taken a step closer to the semi-finals, while Chennai’s hopes received a blow.
Mumbai have already made it to the last four, but the hunt for the other three semi-finals still goes on. With just six league matches left, it is still not clear who would make it to the last four, but every team is in with a chance.
Old is Gold in IPL 3!
March 26th, 2010
SACH A FANTASTIC FORM-
Well now it can be safely said or rather has been proved that Twenty20 cricket is no longer solely a youngster’s game.
Sachin Tendulkar, Muttiah Muralitharan and Jacques Kallis are the prime examples that a special player, irrespective of his age, can work his magic in any format of the game.
In the first two seasons of the IPL the youngsters did have a major bearing but slowly and steadily the great players are coming in to their own having understood the nuances of the new format.
I, for one, am quite sure that in IPL 3 any of the three players may walk away with the player of the tournament award, barring an injury.
On Thursday, though, it was Tendulkar’s day once again as his fluent innings of 72 guided Mumbai to a crushing five-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings.
Suresh Raina smashed 83 from 52 balls to fire Chennai to 180 for two but Mumbai chased down the target without any real problems. Once Shikhar Dhawan had given them a flying start, hitting 56 from 34 balls, there was no looking back for Mumbai.
Mumbai surely must now be one of the favourites for the title, having won four of their five matches.
Royal Challengers are equal with Mumbai on eight points, but have played a game more. Their last loss to Delhi must hurt a great deal as they suffered their first defeat at home.
What is more striking is that Mumbai cruised to 184 for five with an over to spare, while Bangalore didn’t even come to close chasing Delhi’s 183 for four.
For once, Kallis failed with the bat, scoring 27, and the rest of the batsmen also failed to deliver.
Meanwhile, Chennai have now lost three matches in a row and if things don’t turn around, they could soon be out of the reckoning for a place in the last four.
Robin Hood steals it for Bangalore!
March 24th, 2010
It was like reliving Robin Hood from the fairytales we used to hear as small kids.The MONGOOSE unleashed!
March 20th, 2010
It was a day that belonged to the Australians with Matthew Hayden, Andrew Symonds and Adam Gilchrist all playing like men possessed.
But the man who stood tallest amongst them was Matthew Hayden and his long-handle Mongoose bat, which looked more like the wooden club [Dhoka in Marathi] the washermen popularly known as dhobis in Mumbai use to cleanse their clothes.
Everybody was left mumbling ‘Dho Dhala Saala’ as Hayden destroyed the Delhi Daredevils bowlers with an astonishing innings of 93 from 43 balls. It rained sixes at the Ferozshah Kotla ground in Delhi with Hayden hitting as many as seven big sixes to go with his nine boundaries before he fell seven short of a deserved century.
Usually Mongoose is considered a small friendly creature but today Hayden had turned it into a giant beast that was gobbling everything that came its way.
Such was the effect of Hayden’s devastation that the Delhi fans forgot that sometime back their own Virender Sehwag had hammered a breathtaking 74 from 38 balls, having hit 10 boundaries and three sixes.
And the Chennai fans were so immersed in Hayden’s domination that they conveniently forgot they were missing their own master blaster Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Captain Suresh Raina finished off things as he finished unbeaten on 49 from 34 deliveries to give Chennai a handsome five-wicket victory.
And in the second match of the night, it was Symonds, whose superb all-round performance saw Deccan Chargers winning their first home game, in the IPL.
First, Adam Gilchrist sparkled with 33 from 12 deliveries and Symonds hit 53 from 38 balls to ensure his team finished on 170 for seven in their 20 overs.
There was no way back for Punjab when captain Kumar Sangakkara (0) and Yuvraj Singh (4) failed yet again.
Irfan Pathan gave Preity Zinta a few moments to cheer as he nearly threatened to take the game away with a blazing knock of 60 from 29 balls. But Deccan kept their composure and romped home to a six-run victory, their first win over Kings XI Punjab in five games.
It is turning out to be a nightmarish IPL 3 for - Kings XI Punjab & Rajasthan Royals as they have lost their first three matches.
Chargers and Daredevils were the real kings n royals on the field today.
