Chennai Super kings clinched a last ball thriller against Delhi Daredevils at Feroz Shah Kotla cricket ground in Delhi. Badrinath scored vital single in the last ball to stun home fans. Manpreet Gony is the unlikely hero with the bat by hitting six and four in the last over for Chennai IPL who registered their first win in the last 4 matches. This is the second successive loss for Delhi IPL. Chennai top order which failed in the recent matches played exceptionally well against top quality bowlers like McGrath and Asif.
Indian selectors must pick Shikhar Dhawan when they select ODI squad. He is an exceptional talent. The way he builds up innings is a lesson even for experienced cricketers. If nurtured carefully, he will become “Michael Hussey of India”. I can’t find the logic behind Manoj Tiwary selection over Rajat Bhatia. Most of the teams are losing the matches due to selection mistakes and bad captaincy. Chennai won this match just due to good selection policies. They left out ineffective Joginder Sharma and Makhaya Ntini. But Delhi picked ineffective Shoaib Malik.
Albie Morkel scored 3 consecutive sixers in the bowling of Virender Sehwag to change match course. Yo Mahesh took two crucial wickets in the penultimate over to turn the match in Delhi’s way but Shoaib Malik bowled carelessly in the last over to gift Chennai crucial win.
Toss: Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bowl first.
IPL T20 Scores:
Delhi Daredevils: 187/5 in 20 overs.
Chennai Super Kings: 188/6 in 20 overs.
Result: Chennai won by 4 wickets.
Man of the match: Mahendra Singh Dhoni??? This is the second Man of the Match award for Dhoni. Gautam Gambhir scored 80 runs in 49 balls.
Highlight of the match:
1. 131 runs fourth wicket partnership of Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan.
2. Vidyut Shivaramakrhnan's explosive knock against Mcgrath and Asif.
IPL Statistics:
1. Gautam Gambhir won the orange cap by becoming top scorer in IPL 2008.2. Virender Sehwag is the second highest run scorer in Indian Premier League. There are 3 Delhi batsmen among top 8 batsmen list.
3. This is the first IPL match whose result was decided in the last ball.
4. I felt happy after seeing Balaji in action after a long time. He took 2 wickets for 35 runs.
5. Mathew Hayden is still in top 10 batsmen list despite playing in 4 matches only. His average is 63 in IPL T20 Matches. Unbelievable.
6. Shane Watson is the best all-rounder in IPL. He finds place in top batsmen and bowlers list.
Verdict: Both teams played well but best team won the match. IPL is continuously producing unpredictable results. IPL needs matches like these to get more audience. Chennai at last found an ideal batting lineup at crucial stage of tournament. Chennai won this match as they exploited Delhi part time bowlers (Sehwag and Malik) by milking 30% of runs in their 4 overs.
No place for part timers in T20 cricket:
There is no place for part time bowlers like Andrew Symonds, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Joginder Sharma and Shoaib Malik etc. in T20 matches especially in end overs. Batsmen cruelly expose these part time bowlers as it was done by Shahid Afridi (Joginder Sharma), Shane Warne (Symonds) and Manpreet Gony (Shoaib Malik). You need either genuine bowlers like McGrath or real all-rounders like Irfan Pathan and Shane Watson. There is no place for bits and piece cricketers.
Learn from Glenn McGrath:
Have you seen the body language of Glenn McGrath and Shoiab Malik in the last overs of the match? McGrath is all over the park by giving suggestions to young bowlers and saving runs while Malik is casual and looks uninterested in the proceedings of the match. That’s why McGrath expressed his unhappiness publicly over Shoaib Malik attitude after the match. Delhi should not take him into the team for the next match.
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