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Showing posts with label Indian Premier League. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indian Premier League. Show all posts

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Super-Sunday: Sachin will face Sehwag’s Challenge. Yuvraj’s boys will take on Adam’s boys.

 

IPL Title 6

MIDDTwo more cracker of the contest coming up on Super Sunday. Lets have look first contest of Sunday. Its Sachin’s Mumbai Indians vs Sehwag’s Delhi Daredevils.

Mumbai Indians ended as runners-up in last season after wonderful run through the league phase where they hardly lost the game. Mumbai Indians retaineDHDd their key players Sachin Tendulkar, Lasith Malinga, Kieron Pollard and Harbhajan Singh. Although they failed to retain Zaheer Khan and lost him to Royal Challengers Bangalore. They bought Andrew Symonds this year which will add spice to this IPL edition because both Harbhajan and Symonds are team-mates now and will cheer each other. Monkey Gate saga is still fresh in the memory of cricket lovers when Symonds alleged Harbajan for making racial remarks against him in India – Australia series and matter got worse. Sachin also supported Harbhajan in that event and now Sachin will be captaining the Symonds. So interesting team formation.

The team sailed to the finals with spirited performances from Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo as well. But a mockery of a decision to hold back Pollard and inability to provide support to MISachin's lone fight cost the team badly and the trophy slipped from a sniffing distance in the final against Chennai Super Kings.his edition should be the time to bury the ghosts of past mishaps. But the loss of important players like Jayasuriya, Bravo, Saurabh Tiwary, Jean Paul Duminy and Zaheer Khan might be hard to cope with.The batting will revolve around Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, Pollard, Ambati Rayudu, newly bought Aiden Blizzard, promising domestic players and a bunch of all-rounders.The Mumbai bowling has Lasith Malinga, Munaf Patel, Clint Mckay and Harbhajan Singh. Going through the list, if you thought this barrel was insufficient for mass consumption, think again!Move your eyes over their list of all-rounders. This team revels in its versatility. James Franklin, Moise Henriques, Symonds, Pollard, etc. can bat and bowl with equal ease while the likes of Rayudu and South African recruit David Jacobs are equally efficient both in front of the wicket and behind it.

Team Info:

Mumbai Indians

Mumbai IndiansSachin Tendulkar (c), Harbhajan Singh, Rohit Sharma, Munaf Patel, Abu Nechim Ahmed, Aditya Tare, Ali Murtuza, Ambati Rayudu, Dhawal Kulkarni, Pawan Suyal, Rajagopal Sathish, Surul Kanwar, Surya Kumar Yadav, T Suman, Yazvendra Singh Chahal, (Foreign) Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Andrew Symonds, Davy Jacobs, James Franklin, Moises Henriques, Alden Blizzard, Dilhara Fernando

Talking about Delhi Daredevils, on paper they were best team of the IPL for last 3 seasons. They had players like Dilhshan, Sehwag, Gambhir , Warner, Ab DeVilliers, Glen McGrath and list continues yet they SehwagDDfailed to win the trophy. They didn’t even reached the finals in any of the 3 editions. So owners decided to revamp the team. They retained only Virender Sehwag wen bought new players in auction.The batting looks lackluster without their star players who played for DD in last 3 seasons. Except Virender Sehwag and David Warner, they have no famed face. Players like Unmukt Chand, Colin Ingram and Aaron Finch come with promise and dwell on hype but walking down the ramp will be an altogether different affair.The bowling seems shoddier with only Morne Morkel, Irfan Pathan and Roelof van der Merwe to talk about. The likes of Ashok Dinda and Ajit Agarkar will make things rosier but how wise would it be to rest hopes on them is a question every fan would ask.

The all-round skills of the team, however, is something to cheer for. Robert Frylink, another South African, is a hero back home. Van der Merwe and Irfan Pathan are good enough to be depended DD SEHupon for a few good knocks and wickets here and there.For a pleasant thought, the wicket-keeper batsmen Mathew Wade and Naman Ojha should add smiles to the faces who know how important bits-and-pieces players are in this version of the game. This season of IPL is also important of player like Irfan Pathan who lost somewhere due to injuries and poor performance after wonderful start to his career against Australia in 2003-2004 season.

Team Info:

Delhi Daredevils

DDVirender Sehwag (Captain), Irfan Pathan, Naman Ojha(Wicket-Keeper), Ajit Agarkar, Ashok Dinda, Umesh Yadav, Venugopal Rao, Aavishkar Salvi, Prashant Naik, Rajesh Pawar, Robin Bist, S Sriram, Tejashwi Yadav, Unmukt Chand, Varun Aaron, Vikash Mishra, Vivek Yadav, Yogesh Nagar, Shahbaz Nadeem (Foreign) David Warner, James Hopes, Morne Morkel, Aaron Finch, Mathew Wade, Roloef van der Merwe, Andrew McDonald, Travis Birt, Collin Ingram, Robert Frylinck.. Greg Shipperd(Coach

On paper Mumbai Indians looks much better team and Delhi Daredevils largely banks on heroics of Sehwag and Warner. Feroze Shah Kotla in Delhi will witness this cracker of the contest.


Yuvraj’s boys will take on Adam’s boys.

SPKP

SPYUVSahara Pune Warriors owned by Sahara Group is another new team alongwith Kochi Tuskers Kerala, to play in this year’s IPL. Team will kick start its campaign on Sunday against Kings Xi Punjab at

Under Yuvraj’s captaincy Sahara Pune Warriors could definitely be a force to reckon with if they play up to their potential during the six week event. They have Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, Abhishek YuviJhunjhunwala and Mohnish Mishra in their ranks, Pune Warriors is one of the strongest squad participating in the IPL 4. Their bowling also seems to be well balanced as Ashish Nehra and Jerome Taylor will share the new ball. Injury to Sri Lankan Angelo Mathews could have affected team's strategy, but the availability of young all-rounder Mitchell Marsh will give balance to the side.They have also got specialist spinners in form of experienced Murali Kartik and Kiwi Nathan McCullum.As far as  foreigners in the batting department are concerned, aggressive New Zealander Jesse Ryder can be used up in the batting order, while South African former skipper Graeme Smith is sure to take the opening slot with young Pandey.But the biggest asset that the Pune side carries into the tournament is skipper Yuvraj Singh, who has had a phenomenal World Cup leading up to the IPL.The southpaw was the player of the tournament in the World Cup won by India and playing against his former club could be an experience in itself for the all-rounder.

Team Info:

Sahara Pune Warriors

SPYuvraj Singh(Captain), Robin Uthappa(Wicket-Keeper), Ashish Nehra, Murali Kartik, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Bhuvenshwar Kumar, Dheeraj Jadhav, Ekalavya Dwivedi, Ganesh Gaikwad, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Harshad Khadiwale, Kamran Khan, Manish Pandey, Mithun Manhas, Mohnish MIshra, Rahul Sharma, Sachin Rana, Shrikant Wagh, Shrikant Mundhe, Imtiyaz Ahmed (Foreign) Graeme Smith, Tim Paine, Angelo Mathews, Nathan McCullum, Callum Ferguson, Wayne Parnell, Mitchell Marsh, Jerome Taylor, Alfonso Thomas, Jesse Ryder.Geoff Marsh(Coach)

Punjab, on the other hand, also have revamped their side. With former Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist as their captain, Kings although short of star power which was very much present till last season.They very much KXIP ADAMdepend on heroics of Gilchrist to provide them a quick start that can be carried forward by Shaun Marsh, David Hussey, Dinesh Karthik and Paras Dogra. All-round abilities of Ryan McLaren and Hussey give their side the much-needed stability. Punjab's bowling can be a surprise factor as they have a good combination of swing and pace upfront. Praveen Kumar's ability to swing the ball while Australian quickie Ryan Harris can bowl with incredible pace is known to everybody. Another Australian Nathan Remmington will add variety to the Kings XI Punjab attack with his accurate medium pace.Piyush Chawla and Bipul Sharma could be the spinners team management can opt for, while Abhishek Nayar may also be useful with his gentle medium pacers.

Team Info:

Kings XI Punjab

KXIPDinesh Karthik(Wicket-Keeper), Abhishek Nayar, Praveen Kumar, Piyush Chawla, Bhargav Bhatt, Bipul Sharma, Love Ablish, Mandeep Singh, Nitin Saini, Paras Dogra, Paul Valthaty, Shalabh Srivastava, Siddharth Chitnis, Sunny Singh, Vikramjeet Malik, Amit Yadav, (Foreign) Adam Gilchrist (Captain/Wicket-Keeper), Shaun Marsh, David Hussey, Stuart Broad, Ryan Harris, Dimitri Masceranhas, Nathan Remington.Michael Bevan(Coach)

In all, an exciting contest is on the cards as both teams would like to start their campaigns with wins under their belts.

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Friday, April 8, 2011

Dhoni to face Gambhir in CSK Vs KKR

IPL Title 6

Duo won the World Cup for India last week with a superb partnership. Now team-mates of Gambhir DhoniTeam India, Gautam Gambhir and Mahendra Singh Dhoni will take on each other in IPL 4 opening match at Chennai. Till last year Dhoni was most expensive Indian player but scene has changed dramatically this year, Gambhir emerged as a most expensive player in this year’s auction. KKR bought him for $2.4 million which is more than what  any EPL player is earning. If price is high pressure will also be immense on Gambhir. On the contrary, Dhoni is under no pressure having won World Cup and he is defending champion and he will be leading same CSK team except Muralitharan who will don the Kochi jersey.


KKR CSK


Looking at KKR, it is completely revamped side. It is representing Bengal but there are only two known players from Bengal in this team. Manoj Tiwari(Bengal’s Ranji Captain) and seasoned all-rounder Laxmi Ratan Shukla. Apart from Happy Souravthese two there is no other known face from Bengal featuring in KKR team. It will be challenge for Gambhir to unite this new team and get the performance out of them. KKR failed to won the IPL title in last 3 seasons and to add to their woes they always remain in bottom 3 in last 3 seasons. Former KKR captain Sourav Ganguly already paid the price of KKR’s poor performance and not playing in this year’s IPL as he failed to find any owner. Alongwith Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan is also key addition to this KKR line-up and he also fetched record price in the auction and much of KKR’s success will depend on Gambhir and Yusuf. They will miss the services of Brett Lee and Shakib Al Hasan who will be playing bi-lateral series in Bangladesh and will join this team after that series. So little set-back for KKR initially but now they have the players who can put up good performance and help them to win the tournament this year.

KKR Team Info:

Kolkata Knightriders

KKRGautam Gambhir(Captain), Yusuf Pathan, Manoj Tiwary, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Jaidev Unadkat, Iqbal Abdulla, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Manvinder Singh Bisla(Wicket-Keeper), Pradeep Sangwan, Rajat Bhatia, Sarabjit Ladda, Shami Ahmed, Shreevats Goswami (Foreign) Jacques Kallis, Brad Haddin(Wicket-Keeper), Shakib Al Hassan, Brett Lee, Eoin Morgan, Ryan ten Doeschate, James Pattinson.Dave Whatmore(Coach)


CSK is defending champion. CSK won the title in last season under the captaincy of MS Dhoni. They defeated Sachin Tendulkar led  Mumbai Indians in last year’s IPL final to lift the tCSK Championrophy. CSK is  having almost same team  which played for them in last 3 seasons.The successfully retained all their star players  except Muralitharan. Under Dhoni’s captaincy they look formidable and playing at home in opening match is also an advantage for them. Their batting line-up looks very good with the likes of Vijay, Badrinath, Raina, Dhoni are capable enough to score big and quick runs, Michael Hussey will join this team after Bangladesh series which will give them more solidity. The have good bowling line-up and most importantly they have readymade team which is playing them for last 3 years. Dhoni will go into this game with lot of confidence and that gives CSK big advantage over KKR which is relatively new team.

Man who will be missed most in this match is ‘DADA’ Sourav Ganguly. KKR will certainly miss him. New rivalries going to take place from today as with IPL 4 friends will turn into foes.

Team Info:

Chennai Super Kings

CSKMahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain/Wicket-Keeper), Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay, Wriddhiman Saha(Wicket-Keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Subramanium Badrinath, Joginder Sharma, Sudeep Tyagi, Abhinav Mukund, Aniruddha Shrikant, Ganapathi Vignesh, K Vasudevdas, Shadb Jakati, Vijaykumar Yomahesh, (Foreign) Albie Morkel, Michael Hussey, Dwayne Bravo, Doug Bollinger, Scott Styris, Ben Hilfenhaus, Nuwan Kulasekera, Suraj Randiv, George Bailey, Faf du Plessis. Stephen Fleming(Coach)