Valthaty knocked out CSK. Warriors too good for Tuskers.

Valthaty knocked out CSK as KXIP registered their first win.

It was Paul Valthaty show all the way in second innings. Chasing big total of CSK, KXIP got flying start from Paul Valthaty and captain Adam Gilchrist. However, Gilchrist got out cheaply but Paul Valthaty had other ideas and he executed his plans well and scored brilliant 120 from 63 balls and helped KXIP to register their first victory in IPL 4. Valthaty’s blitzkrieg innings stunned CSK. All the CSK bowlers tore apart by this youngster who was unknown quantity before this match. R.Ashwin, Tim Southee, Albie Morkel, Scott Styris went for plenty. It was the day when destiny didn’t supported Mahi and CSK ended on losing note.

Batting first CSK lost its two wicket on first balls when Praveen Kumar cleaned up Aniruddha Srikkanth and Suresh Raina on successive balls. However, CSK crisis man Badrinath and opener Murali Vijay took control of the  situation and started counter-attack on KXIP bowling. Both batted brilliantly and given the platform to MS Dhoni to come and play the blazing innings and Dhoni capitalise on the start and played superb knock which included his famous helicopter shot as well. CSK put of 180+ score for KXIP to chase.

It was Valthaty who stole the show from all the stars and helped KXIP to chase down stiff CSK total. It was indeed Paul Valthaty show.  This IPL 4 has taken new turn and suddenly KXIP looks like force to reckon.

Man of the Match

Paul Valthaty

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Warriors just too good for Tuskers.

Sahara Pune Warriors started as favorites inn this match and lived upto their reputation by winning it. Warriors registered their second consecutive win in the tournament with 4 wickets against Kochi Tuskers.

Chasing 149 to win, the Warriors were 118 for six in the 16th over but Mohnish Mishra, who made an unbeaten 37 in 21 balls with two fours and as many sixes, and Rahul Sharma  build a  useful partnership in to help Pune achieve the target.Jesse Ryder , Graeme Smith  and Robin Uthappa also contributed in Warriors win.Kochi bowlers could not defend the target for the second time in tournament and suffered their second defeat after the loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore, while Pune got their second successive win in the tournament after having seen off the challenge from Kings XI Punjab last Sunday.

Earlier, Ravindra Jadeja counter-attacked his way to 47 in 33 balls as Kochi recovered from a poor start and posted a modest 148 for eight at the D Y Patil Stadium.Tottering at 24 for four in the fifth over, Kochi was bailed out by a fine fifth-wicket stand between Brad Hodge  and Jadeja, who struck three sixes and as many fours in his impressive innings that ended in the 17th over. Their twin dismissals within the space of six balls seemed to have put paid to the hopes of the Tuskers to post a more challenging score but Raiphi Gomez struck a quick-fire 26 not out in 18 balls to help Kochi finish on a brighter note.

Pune started the reply strongly when openers Jesse Ryder and Graeme Smith, batting with a runner following the knee injury he sustained after a collision with Rahul Sharma while fielding, put on 31 in quick time.But a brilliant return catch by Vinay Kumar separated the duo and sent back Ryder who smacked the ball back strongly only for the bowler to stick his hand out and latch on to the ball.Ryder struck R P Singh for a couple of fours in the opening over while Smith dealt severely with S Sreesanth at the other end to force skipper Mahela Jayawardene to remove both the opening bowlers after one over spells. In short Kochi bowlers once again failed to make an impression as legend Muralitharan was also tore apart by Mohnish Mishra and Utthappa.

It was fine team-work from Sahara Pune Warriors which helped them in managing this victory.

Man of the Match

Mohnish Mishra

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Deccan look to win  today as they take on Royal Challengers

Sad story in IPL for Deccan Chargers so far as they lost 2 out of 2. 2009 edition champion team started IPL 4 campaign on losing note. Today they will take on Royal Challengers Bangalore at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad.Deccan’s record at home does not support their cause as well going into this match because they never won game in Hyderabad but they desperately need win under their belt to gain some momentum. They have good captain in Sangakkara at the helm of the affairs and if Deccan play as a unit then they definitely won this game. They have good bowlers in their ranks whether it is fast bowling or spin bowling.  They have likes of Steyn, Ishant, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha. batting is also not that bad as they have Shikhar Dhawan and Sangakkara in their line-up. They also have dynamite batsmen Daniel Christian lower down the order .

Talking about RCB, they are coming into this match with a defeat under their belt against Mumbai Indians. RCB played tow games so far and they achieved victory in 1 and lost the another. But RCB is better balanced team and have the ammunition to take on any team in the tournament. They have batsmen like Kohli, Dilshan and AB DeVIlliers to score runs for them and in bowling they have likes of Zaheer Khan, Daniel Vettori and Dirk Nannes.  RCB was not focused enough in last match and that resulted into their downfall. Although they have best line-up but they will definitely going to get tough fight from Deccan who are desperately looking for a win.

Tough contest ahead but RCB are favorites to win this encounter.

Team Info:

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Daniel Vettori (Captain), Virat Kohli, Tillakaratne Dilshan, AB De Villiers (wicket-keeper), Zaheer Khan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Dirk Nannes, Saurabh Tiwary, Mohammad Kaif, Abhimanyu Mithun, Charl Langeveldt, Luke Pomersbach, Rilee Rossouw, Johan van der Wath, Jonathan Vandiar, CM Gautam (Wicket-Keeper), S Arvind, Mayank Agarwal, Arun Karthick, Asad Khan Pathan, Abrar Kazi, Ryan Ninan, Bhareth Narayanan, Nuwan Pradeep.Ray Jennings(Coach)

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Team Info:

Deccan Chargers

Shikhar Dhawan, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, Manpreet Gony, Akash Bhandari, Anand Rajan, Ankit Nagendra, Arjun Yadav, Ashish Reddy, Bharat Chipli, DB Ravi Teja, Harmeet Singh Bansal, Ishank Jaggi, Ishan Malhotra, Jaydev Shah, Kedar Devdhar, Sunny Sohal (Foreign) Kumar Sangakkara (Captain/Wicket-Keeper), Kevin Pietersen, Cameron White, JP Duminy, Dale Steyn, Daniel Christian, Chris Lynn, Juan Theron, Michael Lumb.Darren Lehmann(Coach)