Indian Premier League – 2009

We have decided to go slightly off-topic and put up everything you need to know about the Indian Premier League Season 2.

So why cricket on a Bollywood website, you may ask. There are several reasons for it, most Bollywood fans love cricket. Also there will be absolutely no good release until the producers strike is called off, which is not going to happen till May, so why not discuss cricket for a change. Finally, we were quite suprised when one franchise approached us with an offer to promote the tournament on our site. They requested us to put up some sort of a contest, with the winners receiving official team Merchandise (T-shirts etc). Without letting go of an opportunity to give something back to our dear readers, we have our first topic that has nothing to do with movies. For more on the contest details, scroll to the bottom of this article.

Match 1 – Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings at Cape Town

First match of the IPL and what a way to start. Chennai won the toss and asked Mumbai to bat. It was once again a privilege to watch Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya open the innings. Sachin played a brilliant knock and batted right through. Mumbai scored a more than decent 165 in their 20 overs. But would it be enough against the powerful batting line up of Chennai Super Kings?

Chennai began poorly loosing Parthiv Patel and Suresh Raina early, but stayed in the match thanks to a good partnership between Flintoff and Hayden. But after they departed, the Super Kings just couldn’t keep the required run rate under control and finally succumbed to the pressure of chasing. Not even Dhoni who stayed right till the 19th over, could save them. Mumbai Indians won by 19 runs and Sachin Tendulkar was declared the Man of the Match.

Match 2 – Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Rajasthan Royals at Cape Town

One of the weakest teams of IPL 1 vs the winners of IPL 1. No match, one would have thought, but it turned out to be the opposite. Bangalore trashed Rajasthan and how! The credit should go to a certain test batsman who doesnt score quickly. Rahul Dravid had a point to prove and when he walked out to bat the team was in trouble. The Wall not just scored quickly but played text book cricketing strokes and proved that 20-20 cricket is not all about slogging. Just two batsman had scores in double figures, Rahul and Kevin Pietersen their new captain.

Rajasthan Royals chasing a modest total of 134 lost a heap of wickets early and were reduced to 28 for 5 in 9 overs. They never really recovered, with Kumble sealing the match with figures of 3.1 overs, 1 maiden, 5 runs and 5 wickets – the most economical in IPL ever! The legend who retired after the Australian series proved once again why he is regarded as one of the best bowlers of his era. Man of the Match award went to Rahul Dravid.

Match 3 – Delhi Daredevils vs Kings XI Punjab at Cape Town

Delhi won the toss and elected to field first in a match reduced to 12 overs due to rain. Karan Goel was on fire and turned out to be a surprise package. One of the cleanest strikers of the ball I have seen. At 67 for none in 5.4 overs, Punjab looked certain to reach an imposing total. But a ball before the tactical-timeout (break of 7 and half minutes mid way through the innings) Mahesh got the wicket of Goel. Back on the field after the break, Sehwag introduced Vettori into the attack and he struck first ball. Punjab lost their way and settled for 104 for 7 in 12 overs.

Delhi opening with Sehwag and Gambhir were off to a flyer, when rain interrupted proceedings once again. The match was further reduced to 6 overs and the target was just 54, which proved to be way too easy for the Indian openers. Comprehensive victory for Delhi Daredevils. Vettori was adjudged the Man of the Match.

Match 4 – Deccan Chargers vs Kolkata Knight Riders at Cape Town

Both teams performed poorly in Season 1 and both looked forward to a good start. Shahrukh Khan’s team Kolkata Knight Riders have been much in news recently for the multiple captaincy controversy. But a day before the IPL began SRK announced Brendon McCullum as the captain for the entire series. Was it a well planned dump for Saurav Ganguly, we dont know. Either way people of Kolkata weren’t happy and burnt effigies of both SRK and coach John Buchanun. All the drama sure must have had quite an impact on the players of the team, which was quite clear from their body language.

On the other hand Deccan Charges looked like a different unit from last year. The team spirit was great, the bowlers were in form and managed to bowl out the Riders for just 101. The top 3 – McCullum, Gayle and Ganguly failed.

Deccan opening with the crowd favorite Gibbs and Gilchrist, took the attack to the opposition. Kolkata were never really in the match at any stage, after fall of a couple of wickets Rohit Sharma came in and the recharged Chargers raced to victory with 41 balls to spare. Why wasn’t Ajanta Mendis picked? Why was the very inconsistent Agarkar picked? We dont really know! RP Singh was declared the Man of the Match and the Riders were routed in their first match of the competition.

Match 5 – Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Chennai Super Kings at Port Elizabeth

Royal Challengers on a high after winning their first match and the powerful Chennai hoping to open their account, clashed. Chennai were off to the best start of the tournament so far with Hayden literally unstoppable. 106 for no loss at the dreaded tactical-timeout, Chennai looked as if they would easily cross 200 for the first time in IPL 2. But Challengers had a surprise in store, Kevin Petierson opened the bowling and got a wicket off the very first ball which was followed with the runout of the mighty Matthew Hayden. Bangalore bowled well and restricted Chennai to 179 in 20 overs, which was the highest total at Port Elizabeth ever.

Bangalore opened with Praveen Kumar and the move back-fired. He was bowled out in the very first over. Then on, the Challengers kept loosing wickets, never gained momentum and were bowled out for 87 in 15.2 overs. A huge fall from their first match, which they won very convincingly. Man of the match was Muralitharan for his fabulous spell of 4 overs, 1 maiden, 11 runs and 3 wickets.

Match 6 – Kings XI Punjab vs Kolkata Knight Riders at Durban

Important match for both sides, who are yet to win a match in the IPL. Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and chose to field first. The start was good for SRK’s team, Karan Goel was out for a duck but once Irfan Pathan, promoted up the order came into bat, the run rate picked up. Sangakkara, Yuvraj Singh, Mahela Jayawardane played decent knocks to take Punjab’s score to a decent 158 in 20 overs.

KKR’s dashing openers were slow to start off but once Gayle starting dealing with 4s and 6s there was no stopping them. 50 was up in just 5.1 overs. McCullum fell in the 6th over and Hodge came into bat. When the scoreboard read 79 for 1 in 9.2 overs, rain started pouring down and the match was called off. By Duckworth Lewis method, KKR won by 11 runs. Chris Gayle was declared the Man of the Match.

Match 7 – Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals at Durban

As everyone geared up to witness the legendary battle between Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne, rain played spoilt sport. The match was adandoned, disappointing cricket fans around the world.

Matches tomorrow:-

Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Deccan Chargers

More updates after every match.

1. What is your take on the Multiple Captaincy issue?
2. What’s with Shahrukh Khan without much knowledge of cricket taking some of the “important” team decisions.
3. Which is the most balanced team?
4. Weakest team of the IPL?
5. What kind of impact could spinners have?
6. What score is a good score for teams batting first?
7. Will South African conditions prove to be too difficult for Indian state level players?

All you have to do is post your comments below in the comments section. Top 3 readers with the maximum comments at the end of the Season 2 of the IPL will receive official Indian Premier League Merchandise. You could be a proud winner of the official team T-shirt, Sports Shoes etc.

Only comments with minimum of 25 words will be counted. Comments one below the other by the same user would be merged. Short, irrelavent, off-topic comments will be either deleted or not counted. The best way to increase your post count would be to return after every match and post your very own reviews or reply to other member comments.

All yours, let the discussion begin!!!