Rajasthan Royals Wins DLF IPL T20 Tournament … Deserving Winners

The DLF IPL final match had everything it supposed to have. Entertainment, sixes, wickets, catch drops made sure that match was a triller till the last ball. Today at DY Patil Stadium, Mumbai in an electrifying environment, Rajasthan Royals won the match by 3 wickets against Chennai Super Kings to win DLF IPL tournament.

Batting first, Chennai super kings made 163 runs in 20 overs. Suresh Raina ( 43 of 28 balls) and MS Dhoni ( 28 of 19 balls) contributed in Chennai Innings. The chennai super kings start was good, however somewhere between 15th to 17th over they lost the rhythm and only few runs were scored in these overs. Still they managed to get 163 runs in 20 overs.

The Rajasthan royals had a shaky start after loosing Neeraj Patel and Kamran Akmal, but reliable Swapnil Asnodkar ( 28 of 20 balls) provided good support at the other end. But true credit goes to Yusuf Pathan who again scored 56 runs and unfortunate to get run out of a brilliant direct hit from Suresh Raina. Shane Watson supported him very well with his 28 runs of 19 balls. Finally it was up to Shane Warne and Sohail Tanwir to finish off the match. They needed 8 runs of the last over and finally one run of one ball, Thanks to a wide by Balaji and misfielding by Partiv Patel. Sohail Tanwir scored the winning run.

The Rajasthan Royals are the deserving winners of this tournament. They struggled in first match but then came up like Pheonix to win 11 of 14 games in league and end up as topper. They continued their winning streak to semi final and final. The major credit goes to Shane Warne for building this team, strategising, motivating and encouraging. This team was considered to be the weakest team at the start of the tournament, but they proved their critics wrong to win the tournament.

Chennai Super Kings played well to take the match up to final ball. Their fielding was ordinary and probably that’s what cost them the match. The captaincy of Dhoni was commendable and after the match Dhoni was seen talking to his team and probably telling them not to feel very sad about hit. I liked the Dhoni’s comment after the match. He said ” There is nothing to feel unhappy about it. The entire team takes the responsibility for the defeat and I will not blame any individual or error for the failure”.This what makes him one of the very successful captain of Indian Cricket.

Prior to the match, Salman Khan & Shamita Shetty entertained Public. To watch Photos click here . Also many bigwigs like Maharastra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh, Sharad Pawar, Manohar Joshi, Mukesh Ambani alongwith Nita Ambani, Amir Khan, Sania Mirza,Vinod Khanna, Sachin Tendulkar and Anjali Tendulkar, Salman Khan were present in the DY Patil Stadium to watch the match.

The DLF IPL tournament has come to an end. It provided entertainment to the core and probably a new chapter in cricket has begun. The league also helped to find many new talents and given opportunity many others. It is also a unique where players from different countries play together and still gel with each other very well. Probably like me, all of you will miss this electrifying tournament from tomorrow.

Critically yours

Kiran

Who will win the IPL T20 Final … Warne’s Worriers or Dhoni’s devils

Today IPL T20 final match will be played between Rajasthan Royals and Chennai super kings. With this IPL Saga which entertained us for almost 2 months will come to an end.

In 20-20 it is very difficult to predict who will be the winner as even if one person fires, then the team can win. In one side we have confident team completely built by Shane Warne and other side we have MS Dhoni who has knack of winning finals. It is very interesting to see how the match will progress. Also since Gream Smith won’t be playing in today’s match due to injury, match is equally poised between two. Rajasthan royals has a slight edge due to their past record, but MS Dhoni is riding on his luck after winning several matches as captain for India even in unusual situations.

I tried to figure out few batsmen and bowlers who can make difference between winning and loosing.

Rajasthan Royals Vs. Chennai Super Kings

Reliable Batsman Swap nil Asnodker (RR) Vs Suresh Raina ( CSK)

Dangerous Bowler : Shane Warne (RR) VsNtini ( CSK)

Relaible : Bowler Shane Watson (RR) VsM. Goni ( CSK)

Finisher : Neeraj Patel (RR) VsMS Dhoni ( CSK)

Surprise Package : Asnodker (RR) VsL. Balaji ( CSK)

Fielder :  M. Kaif (RR) Vs  Suresh Raina (csk)

Lets hope the match goes for a triller and entertain all of us

Critically yours

Kiran

Rajasthan Royals enters IPL finals with a bang …

The semi finals are supposed to be very thrilling. But today’s IPL semi final was not. It was completely a one sided match. In 1st semi final today, league topper Rajasthan Royals comfortably defeated  Delhi Daredevils by huge 105 runs and cruised to finals of IPL T20 tournament.

Delhi dare devils won the toss and elected to field. The Fantastic four  of Rajasthan Royals, Shane Watson ( 52 of 29), Yusuf Patan ( 45 of 21 Balls), Asnodker ( 39 of 21 balls)  and Gream Smith ( 25 of 21 balls), again proved that they are better than any other side and helped Royals to reach 192 runs in 20 overs.

In response to this, Delhi dare devils started very badly loosing  4 important wickets ( Sehwag,Gambhir, Dhawan & Tiwary) for just 28 runs in first 6.2 overs. The star of IPL, Shane Watson again did the trick by picking 3 of these wickets. The Delhi dare devils were not able to recover from these early blows and finally bundled out for 87 runs and thus loosing by 105 runs. For match details click here

It was very fascinating to see Shane warne cheering up his team mates at every stage of the game and especially when they were fielding. He was constantly motivating, energising and encouraging his team mates in general and bowlers in particular. His leadership effect was clearly visible in Rajasthan team members as they did every thing to restrict Delhi Dare devils to 87 runs

One more interesting aspect of the game is superb play by fantastic four of Rajasthan Royals. While Gream smith and Asnodker provided solid foundation, shane watson and yusuf pathan fired and build the innings. We have seen this many times in Rajasthan Royals. Even if one fails, other will normally make it up and I am sure we expect this to continue in finals.

One thing is almost certain. Whoever meets Rajasthan Royals in finals has to do their home work correctly to counter Shane Warne’s captaincy and batting of fantastic four. It is not a a easy job, but you never know what will happen in 20-20

Critically yours

Kiran

Rajasthan Royals defeats Chennai Super Kings … Continue their run

In a trilling math today, Rajasthan Royals defeated Chennai Super Kings by 10 Runs. Match Went up to the last over, but final over by Sohail Tanvir clinched the victory for Rajasthan with Sahail Tanvir taking two wickets and conceding just 4 runs, when 15 runs were required of last over. Cilick Here for details

Earlier Rajasthan Royals played aggressively and scored 211/4 in 20 overs. Gream Smith scored 91 of 51 balls and ever reliable Asnodker scored 41 runs of 27 balls. Kamran Akmal scored quickfire 50 of just 28 balls to finish the Innings. Shane Watson was rested for today’s match.

In response, Chennai Super Kings started very well with some superb Batting by A . Morkel ( 71 of 40 balls), Suresh Raina ( 45 of 24 Balls) & Partiv Patel ( 54 of 40 Balls) and took the match up to last over. But brilliant last over by Sohail Tanvir tilted the match in Rajasthan Royal’s Side.

Chennai Super Kings lost one good opportunity to go to Semi Final and need to win the next match to qualify for semi final. Rajasthan Royals are now all set to win the IPL tournament and are unstoppable. All credit goes to this young team and its able captain Shane Warne. This team is a classic example of  how a team with average players and great captain can do if team is jelled properly. My only hope is that they continue their thirst for victories and do not blunder in Semi final or Final.

Critically yours

Kiran

Shane Warne Vs. Ganguly …. One more controversy in IPL

After Hardhajan -Sreesanth episode, one more controversy is marring IPL This time it is Shane Warne, Rajasthan Royals captian Vs. Sourav Ganguly, Kolkata Knightriders Captain. Warne accused Ganguly for resorting to time wasting tactics in yesterdays match between Two.

Warne said that Ganguly made them to wait in the field for more then 5 mins by coming late to bat . He lambasted saying “We just waited for Sourav to come out. When we were out on the field, we all stood there waiting. I don’t know what he was doing. He wanted extra time. He was going on his own time. Twenty20 is meant to be one hour 20 minutes for each side but we were waiting for him”. Ganguly’s refusal to accept the Greame Smith’s word on his catch and asking the third umpire for referral has further angered Warne. He said that “When in Bangalore we signed the Spirit of Cricket it meant play in the right spirit. International captains like Greame Smith says he caught him and it was a clean catch,”

Ganguly responded by saying ” Look who is talking. If you look at his career and the incidents he got in. It will give you the answer”

This is a fresh start of verbal accuses between IPL team captains. We are unsure who is right or wrong. It is very difficult to say whether Ganguly intentionally came late to bat or Warne is blowing things out of proportion. Since both players are very aggressive, It is interesting to see how far this verbal fight goes between these two.

Critically yours

Kiran

Who can stop Rajasthan Royals ……? ?

One more match … One more victory. Today again Rajasthan Royals proved they are not darkhorses for IPL cup but are favourites. They played splendidly and defeated Kolkata knightriders by 45 runs. Rajasthan Royals seem to be unstoppable. Sitting pretty in second position in score table, they are ought to show more.

The teams young breed never disappoints their captain. Today young lads Swapnil Asnodkar and Ravindra Jadeja played brilliant knocks along with Yousuf pathan to build a very good total of 196 runs in 20 overs. Then they struck back to restrict Kolkata Knightriders and limit them at 151 runs. For match report click here.

How they are able to to do it ? Answer is probably this . They are a young side lead by experienced thinking captain Shane Warne, ready to do go all out to achieve their goal without any hype or fanfare. They just concentrate only on cricket,cricket and cricket. It is very easy for Shane Warne to handle a team with many young players and very few experienced players as he can mould the team in his way to a success.

I have become a fan of this team now and could not resist admiring this Team and its Captain.

Critically Yours

Kiran

IPL Award goes to ……………..

As IPL is gaining lot of popularity, I decided to give some awards… Please comment if you have anything to say.

• Best performance awards :

Best Team – Chennai Super Kings for being undefeated so far …

Best comeback Team – Rajasthan Royals for coming back from their worst first match defeat to win 3 consecutive matches.

Best Captain – Shane Warne of Rajasthan Royals for leading his moderate team to achieve more than expectation

Best Batsman – Mathew Hyden of Chennai Super Kings for consistency

Best Bowler – No worthy Winner

Discovery of IPL ( Batsman) – Abhijit Nayar of Mumbai Indians for superb knocks in difficult situations.

Discovery of IPL ( Bowler ) – Goni of Chennai Super Kings for always taking crucial Wickets

And

• Worst performance Award goes to

Worst Performing Team – Mumbai Indians for not living upto expectations

Worst Captain – Who else ???? Harbhajan Singh, followed closely by Rahul Dravid and VVS Lakshman.

Worst Batsman – Saurav Ganguly & Rahu Dravid … Have they scored any runs ???

Worst Bowler – All Indian national team bowlers

Most disappointing Team – Deccan Chargers , team full of stars but no result

Highly paid but least contributing player – Andrew Symonds of Deccan Chargers.

• Other special Awards ………

Kolkata Knightriders ... for all the things other than cricket i.e slogan,anthem,dress,launching etc.

BCCI ….. for roping in so many Bollywood stars

Royal Challengers and Deccan Chargers …. Some pretty cheerleaders.

and Finally

SPECIAL AWARD FOR HARBHAJAN SINGH AND SREESANTH FOR THEIR SPECIAL CONTRIBUTION ( no need to mention why ? )

Your comments please

Critically yours

Kiran

Rajasthan Royals …Did it again

Rajasthan Royals going great guns. Today in thier 4th match they defeated Bangalore Royal Challengers by 7 wickets to register their 3rd consecutive victory. They are now second in the score table after Chennai Super Kings and seems to be favourite to win the Cup.

Rajasthan Royals now fully composed team and got their rhythm of winning. Under  Shane warne’s Captaincy and Gream Smith leading the Batting they are now unstoppable.

Bangalore royal challengers,mostly consisting of test team players are very inconsistant. They have to put their act toghether to survive in the tournament.

Critically yours

Kiran

Shane Warne leads Rajsthan Royals from underdogs to Favourites..

In one of the most trilling matches, where fortunes swinged between the two teams till the last over, Shane Warne proved his worth. He snatched the victory in last over by hitting 4,6,6 in 3 bals to register 3 wickets win for his team Rajasthan Royals against fancied Deccan Chargers.

The way in which Shane Warne has lead his team is incredible. He came to bat at difficult time, didn’t loose his patience and turned the match towards Rajasthan Royals. His captaincy is well appreciable and with back to back victory, Rajasthan royals,who were once termed as underdogs due to lack of star power, are now serious contender for the DLF cup. They have now Aouth African Gream Smith who proved his presence today by scoring 71 runs. Also Yousuf Pathan & Kaif regaining their forms, Shane Warne will have a very capable team.

I am very sad for Deccan charger. Today they played well but could not win. Andrew Symonds showed his worth by scoring 116 runs off 53 balls. It is very disappointing to see Deccan chargers loosing three consecutive matches in spite of having so many talented players. They need some dashing captain now in place of VVS Lakshman, who seems to be withdrawn. Let’s hope they will break this loosing habit and win their next match

Critically yours

Kiran