Hopes of getting into semis becomes slim for CSK and KRR

KKR continued their inconsistency and lost the match to RCB as mentioned by me in my last post yesterday. RCB won the toss and put KKR in for batting. Again Ganguly and Gayle gave dream start to KKR as they put on 61 runs in first 6 overs but very soon Gayle got out to Kallis trying to hit him over extra cover. McCullum came in but he took a while to settle down but he and Ganguly took the score past 100 in 11 overs and it looked like KKR will score more than 190 runs but soon Ganguly got out as Kumble took brilliant catch at square leg. Here on RCB made a comeback into the match and never allowed KKR innings to gainmomentum as they kept picking up wickets and made scoring difficult. McCullum somehow managed to reach 45 but he got out wrong time for KKR and KKR was bundled out for 160 runs. 2 lusty blows for six in the end from Cheteshwar Pujara were responsible for this score. RCB started with little luck as Kallis got reprieve when he was dropped by Ganguly on 0 but he couldn’t capitalise on  that and very soon got out. In came Rahul Dravid. Finally WALL got the chance to prove himself in T20 format and he showed his class by batting aggressively and achieved brilliant fifty of just 34 balls. He did fantastic partnership with Sriram to put RCB in commanding position. Dravid played some brilliant strokes which were very eye  pleasing. Both Sriram and Dravid got out in quick succession but Robin Utthappa and Ross Taylor capitalised on the start and finished the match in 18^th over itself. Utthappa once again raised question to selectors why he has been left out of WCT20 squad with his superb 22 ball 50 which included 5 maximum hits. Anyone deserves to be in Indian squad for WCT20 then it is Robin Utthappa based on his current form and his strength of clean htting. Great victory for RCB and they moved to No.2 spot on points table. KKR now have to win all their matches in order to qualify for semis and they have tough oppositions to face which will not make their life easy, so I feel KKR now don’t have any chance to make it to semis. If they reach semis then that will be a miracle. Vinay Kumar was Man of the Match for picking 3 wickets.

At Nagpur DC beat CSK and kept their hopes alive for semis and good thing is that they are peaking at the right time and hats off to Gilchrist the way he captained his side. CSK won the toss and elected to bat first but this decision proved dangerous for them as they bowled out for just 138 runs in their 20 overs. None of their batsman clicked in this innings and their batting collapsed like pack of cards. Suresh Raina was the only batsman who gave them some hopes as he hit one more half century. Ryan Harris bowled beautifully and he was well supported by all the bowlers It was kind of day when everything went right for DC. DC came into bat but Gilchrist got out cheaply to Ashwin who bowled fantastic spell at the top and picked up two wickets but CSK couldn’t  capitalise on this start and T.Suman who was star of the last match again played brilliant half-century innings and put DC to the doorstep of victory before getting out. Symonds gave the finishing touch to the work done by Suman and sealed the victory for DC. Ryan Harris declared Man of the Match for his superb bowling. Here on things get tough for every team to reach semis as points table is quite open and any single loss to any team will put brakes on their hopes of getting into semis.

Today two important encounter coming up as RR take on MI and DD take on depleted KXIP. All three teams except KXIP, these matches are of utmost important. If MI win they will go straight to semis but not to forget they lost their last 2 matches and looking bit  out of sorts. It is also a contest between two legends. It is Sachin v/s Warne and that increase the value of this match. If RR win they will go inch closer to semis, so everything to play for in this match for both teams and this will make this contest thrilling.

DD will take on depleted KXIP which is already out of semis. But for DD it is important match and victory in this match will seal their semi-final spot. DD lost its last match against KKR but that will not affect their morale too much because they have kind of players who can turn the game at any point. Gambhir will go all out to make sure that DD win this match and for KXIP it  is matter of pride now to win all the remaining matches and instill some confidence among their fans who are supporting them.