CRICSTARS THE STARS OF CRICKET

Lakshmipathy Balaji took a stunning 5 for 24 including the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) first hat-trick in Chennai against Kings XI Punjab. Balaji, who has missed a good part of the last three seasons, due to injuries made a great come back in IPL. Honestly I fell Balaji is lucky enough to get this hatrick with 27 needed in last overs and Punjab batsmen throwing bat at anything, Balaji is lucky enough to get IPL’s first hatrick. But anyways Kudos to Balaji who fought back from a career-threatening injury that had put him completely out of action.

VIDEO Of LAXMIPATHY BALAJI HATRICK IN IPL

Lakshmipathy Balaji took a stunning 5 for 24 including the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) first hat-trick as Chennai downed the Kings XI Punjab by 18 runs. Honestly Balaji is lucky enough to get that hattrick. Balaji’s hatrick came in the last over of the match, off which the Mohali team needed an unlikely 27 runs.

Batting first chennai set a target of 182. despite lossing both openers early, chennai middle order batsmen played very sensible cricket. S. Badrinath and M.S. Dhoni put on 91 runs in 64 balls for the fourth wicket,badrinath hit sixes with remarkable ease  and made 64 in 47 balls

On IPL Points table chennai Super Kings level with the Rajasthan Royals at the top of the points table, while Punjab remain well placed in third despite the loss.

Chennai super kings vs Punjab Kings

Chennai Innings

Kings Punjab innings

Deccan Chargers poor performance continued in IPL, the latest defeat against. Rajasthan Royals registered a convincing eight-wicket victory over the uninspiring Deccan Chargers in their IPL league tie. Deccan chargers middle order fumbled against a disciplined Royals bowling and good fielding

Gilly’s  61 off 49 balls was in vain for Deccan because the rest of the line-up failed and ended up with only 140. Afridi yet again given his wicket with a irresponsible shot . Rohit  was unlucky to get runout.  Hyd chances of entering semis now looks unlikely

Rajasthan chased the score with 4 more overs to spare. Yusuf Pathan and Graeme Smith 109 run opening stand ensured royals to reach top of points table

Deccan Chargers Innings

Rajasthan Royals innings( post 20 sec’s)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=et1nP2sDsnI

Adam Gilchrist led his side to a much needed victory with a bludgeoning 36-ball 54 Scott Styris (36 not out), Rohit Sharma (23) and Shahid Afridi (20 not out) contributed to a convincing victory against super kings

Deccan Chargers’ stand- in captain Adam Gilchrist won the toss and elected to bowl against Chennai Super Kings. RP and new boy Viajy Kumar gave a perfect start to Hyderabad. Vijay is impresive in his first IPL match and removed Parthiv Patel and Srikkanth Anirudh, son of former India captain Kris Srikkanth. He would have got one more if Sanjay Bangar hanged to tough catch in first slip

Rohit Sharma and Herschelle Gibbs made up for them with two outstanding catches as Stephen Fleming (14) and S Badrinath’s (0). Raina again failed to convert his good start into big innnings, while MS Dhoni was removed by Pragyan Oja. Albie Morkel and Manpreet Gony fired in last overs and set a modest target. Chennai’s top order again failed. Hayden and Hussey’s departure seriously damaged there prospects

Deccn chasing a modest total, GIlchrist led the charge by scoring 54 from 36 balls. Gibbs smashed a six and four before being coaught and bowled by Gony. gilli got perfect support from Styris and was especially on ntini. Rohit sharma slammed a 17 ball 23 and become top scorrer in DLF IPL. Afridi ended the game with his 6 ball cameo of 20 ( 2 4’s and 2 6’s)

IPL T20 Video highlights of Chennai Super Kings

IPL T20 Video Highlights of Deccan Chargers

One more catching controversy, this time between shane warne and Gangully.

Sourav Ganguly and Shane Warne have been fined 10% of their match fees, while Pratap Kumar, the on-field umpire, has been suspended for a game following the catch controversy during Thursday’s IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals.

Ganguly was punished for forcing the umpire to refer a contentious catch to the third umpire while Warne was penalised for savaging Ganguly’s conduct during a post-match media conference.

Shane warne was angry as Ganguly refused to walk for a catch claimed at deep midwicket by South African captain Graeme Smith.Despite Smith’s confidence he had caught the ball before it hit the ground, Ganguly stood his ground and asked for a replay.He was given not out after TV footage proved inconclusive.Warne later accused Ganguly of not playing in the spirit of the game.

Umpire G.A. Pratap Kumar has also been banned for one IPL match after he acquiesced to Ganguly’s request to refer the catch claimed by Graeme Smith to the third umpire. I guess its the umpire to be blamed for the whole controversy, he would have refereed it to third umpire straight away before Dada appealed.

Video of Sourav Ganguly and  Shane Warne Controversy during IPL

Rajasthan Royals with their all-round show outperformed Kolkata Knight Riders and beat them by 45 runs in their IPL tie in Jaipur.Rajstha Royals fourth successive win helped them past Delhi to second place in the points table

Yusuf Pathan and Swapnil Asnodkar struck rapid half-centuries to set a target of 196. Rajasthan score 53 between overs 10 and 15 and  Ravindra Jadeja’s cameo – 33 off 19 balls in last overs helped them set a very good target.Knight Riders were bowled out for 151, their last five wickets falling for just eight runs.Ganguly(51) and Hussey (42) fought for a while and put on a partnership but that was not enough

Video Highlights of Kolkata Knight Riders Batting;

Video Highlights of Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6NeiFUWeqQ

Delhi Daredevils, powered by Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan fifties, set a target of 191 against Bangalore Royal Challengers. What a wonderfull display of batting by gambhir on a track which is not so batting friendly

watch out the fall of wickets

After four straight loses the Mumbai Indians got a much needed victory. Sanath Jayasuriya’s 3 for 14 in 4 overs and Dwayne Bravo and Robin Uthappa century stand helped Mumbai Indians beat Kolkata Knight Raiders

isciplined bowling performance from Mumbai Indians saw Kolkata Knight Riders restricted to a score of 137 runs for the loss of eight wickets. Laxmi Ratan Shukla’s unbeaten 40 off 22 balls and debutant Debabrata Das’ 29 off 20 balls helped KKR to pose a respectable score after loosing Sourav Ganguly and the dangerous Brendon McCullum in the first over

Mumbai had a nervy start and were 25 for 3, bur Bravo and Robin Uthappa did not lose nerves and guided Mumbai to there first victory

Video Highlights of Kolkata Knight Riders

Video Highlights of Mumbai Indians Innings

Scorecard

Adam Gilchrist smashed the fastest century in a Twenty20 game in just 42 balls as Deccan Chargers routed the Mumbai Indians by 10 wickets.

Bravo and Abhishek Nair’s blitz lifted Mumbai Indians to 154 runs, but it was not enough to Gilly who was aggressive right from the word go, his sixes are huge. Gilly swatted an incredible 10 sixes and nine boundaries in his  Deccan reached their target with 44 balls to spare, and registered a empathic victory over a demotivated Mumbai Indians side. VVS Laxman contributed an unbeaten 36 and watched a special innings from 22 yards

Video Highlights of Mumbai Indians vs Deccan Chargers

Simon Katich steered Punjab Kings X1 against a formidable Delhi bowling line-up in Mohali. A brilliant effort by their paceman lead by VRV singh helped Kings XI Punjab restrict Delhi Daredevils to a modest 158 for eight.

Daredevils struggled at the start of their innings, losing captain Virender Sehwag and Shikhar Dhawan with only 12 runs on the board. Dare Devils lost wickets at regular interval and were at 88-5 the Daredevils looked to be in dire straits, but Manoj Tiwary rescued the situation with 39 from 34 balls.

Kings Punjab also started there innings nervously loosing  two wickets in first two overs. But they recovered from the early hiccups with the help of Simon Katich’s knock of 75 runs and Yuvraj Singh’s unbeaten 40.