T20 defeat: Dhoni blames lack of partnerships

   Indian captain MS Dhoni blamed  India's 6 wicket defeat against England  in the T2o match  on  the batsmen's failure to build partnerships.


"Partnership is key, doesn't matter what format it is. Once you lose quick wickets, like we did after 12 overs, it doesn't help. You want to have at least five or six wickets in the slog overs," remarked Dhoni after his side lost nine wickets.


India were 104 for one in the 13th over before being bowled out for 165, with three balls remaining.

How did England tame Sachin?

  Here is an interesting article about how England managed to silense the bat of  the maestro who was in search of his 100th century.

http://www.espnstar.com/cricket/international-cricket/news/detail/item659780/Mathematician-helps-Eng-tame-Sachin/

The Great Wall of Indian Cricket

RAHUL DRAVID stands tall among the ruins of Indian cricket in England.   He is now the second highest century maker in Tests for India after Sachin Tendulkar.  He has pushed legendary Sunil Gavaskar to the third position.  Before going into the England series, he had 32 centuries, out of which only one did not bear fruit. That was against Zimbabwe 13 years ago in Harare, where he made 128. Unfortunately, the three hundreds that came after it were all for a losing cause. It is now four defeats out of 35 hundreds. 


Kudos to his hard work, dedication and commitment to the game.

Sree says , " England have played well"

Interacting with media after the second day’s play here, Sreesanth said: “Honestly, they (England batsmen) played well. You can’t take anything out of them because they played really well. They attacked. They stayed there. They kept leaving the good balls and they didn’t go fetching outside the off-stump. (Except) a couple of good shouts (nothing happened) but honestly it was also a pure batting track as well.”

Gaylestorm hits Kings XI

Chris Gayle scored a blistering 107 off 49 balls which contained 10 fours and 9 sixes in the RCB vs King's XI Punjab match.

Now its time for Raiphy to hog the limelight as KTK beats Kolkatta Knight Riders by 17 runs

 
     Today Raiphy Vincent Gomez produced his best ever bowling performance to  help KTK to restrict Kolkatta  to 139 for 7 in 20 overs while chasing KTK's score of 156.

Gomez: "It's my best spell in this level. I stuck to my basics on a slow wicket. I wanted to keep my role going." He had the figures of 2 for 14 in 4 overs.  


  KTK scored 156 for  5  in 20 overs.  Jayawardhene batted beautifully for  55. Brad Hodge scored a quick fire 35 off 19 balls which contained  3 fours and 2 sixes. 


                               In its reply  Kolkatta Knight Riders were cruising steadily with openers Jacques Kallis and Eoin Morgen took the score to 69 in 10 overs.  Then Raiphy  clean bowled Kallis for 45.  Goutham Gambhir got out in the very next ball.   VinayKumar took 2 wickets and RP Singh took the wicket of Mark Boucher in the last ball of the match. Prasanth Parameswaran bowled a restrictive spell. He gave away only 21 runs in his 4 overs. KKR could score only 139 in 20 overs.  Morgan top scored with 66 from 51 balls.




Brad Hodge was the Man of the match.

Brief scores:

Kochi Tuskers Kerala 156-5 in 20 overs (M. Jayawardene 55, B. Hodge 35 not out, M. Klinger 29; J. Unadkat 2-25) bt Kolkata Knight Riders 139-7 in 20 overs (E. Morgan 66, J. Kallis 45; R. Gomez 2-14, V. Kumar 2-28) by 17 runs 

Ganguly signs for Pune Warriors

"I was approached by them yesterday and I've confirmed about my availability to them. I am leaving for Mumbai today and the details will be announced there," Ganguly told reporters on Tuesday.


Confirming the development, Pune Warriors team director Abhijit Sarkar said that roping in Ganguly was not a gamble and he would prove his worth with the former India captain being the "best cricketing brain" in the country. 

Kochi slashes ticket rates for Thursday's match

Kochi:  KTK  decided to slash ticket prices for the next match against Kolkata Knight Riders to be played here on May 5. The KTK team management also informed that it has taken a conscious decision to reduce the ticket prices that will now start at Rs 250. The sale of tickets for the match will begin on Tuesday. As per the new ticketing slab, the gallery tickets will be priced at Rs 250 (all upper tiers), Rs 400 (all second tiers) from the earlier rates of Rs 400 and Rs 600 respectively. Meanwhile the price of other tickets will remain the same. The 55,000capacity Kaloor Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium witnessed a poor turnout of about 20,000 for KTK's last match at home against Deccan Chargers. This is one of the major reasons that prompted the authorities to reduce the ticket prices.

"We want to give the crowd the maximum opportunity to watch some good exciting cricket," said a KTK representative.

Prasanth Paramasewaran gets the Man of the match award in his debut match

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7ZEVPE9ESQ

Prasanth took the wicket of Sehwag in his very first over.

"I am very happy, and I thank God and my family for supporting me. Even though he hit me for a six, I was confident that I could take his wicket," Parameswaran said. 

Kochi Tuskers thrashes Delhi Daredevils

  Kochi Tuskers beat Delhi Daredevils by 7 wickets with 5 overs to spare.  Kochi's good bowling restricted Delhi  to  140/6.   Young Kerala left-arm  bowler Prasanth Parameswaran took the wicket of Virender Sehwag  very early in the innings.  He also took the wicket of Venugopal Rao in the 18th over.  Sreesanth bowled beautifully.

   Brendon McCullum gave Kochi  a rollicking start.  He scored a blistering 37 off 19 balls (5x4, 2x6).   Delhi's hapless bowler Umesh Yadav went for 23 runs in his only over. Kochi's 50 came in the 4th over.  Thereafter KTK lost 3 quick wickets. But in the end Parthiv Patel (37* off 31 balls) and Brad Hodge (24 ) guided Kochi to  an emphatic victory.  Kochi scored 141/3  in 15 overs.


  Prasanth Parameswaran was the Man of the Match.
Teams: 

Delhi Daredevils: Virender Sehwag (capt), Morne Morkel, Irfan Pathan, Travis Birt, Roelof van der Merwe, Ajit Agarkar, Y Venugopal Rao, Umesh Yadav, Naman Ojha (wk), David Warner, Yogesh Nagar. 

Kochi Tuskers Kerala: Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Brendon McCullum, Parthiv Patel (wk), Brad Hodge, Ravindra Jadeja, Raiphi Gomez, Rudra Pratap Singh, Sreesanth, Michael Klinger, R Vinay Kumar, P Parameswaran. 

Prasanth Parameswaran takes the wicket of Sehwag

Kochi Tuskers today  fielded 3 Kerala bowlers, Sreesanth, Raiphy Vincent Gomes and Prasanth Parameswaran against Delhi Daredevils.  Prasanth Parameswaran took the prized  wicket of Virender Sehwag 

Duncan Fletcher: India's new coach

Duncan Fletcher, a former Zimbabwean all-rounder who rose to prominence during his eight-year stint as England coach, was awarded a two-year contract Wednesday by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Former Indian players like KapilDev and Sunil Gavaskar has expressed their displeasure about this appointment. They preferred Indian coaches like Venkatesh Prasad, Robin Singh and Amarnath.

Don’t judge a team by its Sreesanth

 Here is a funny article about the Sreesanth phenomenon

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/index.aspx?page=article&sectid=59&contentid=20110429201104290312565713246a96b

Girlfriend or no girlfriend Sreesanth is an improved bowler now

  After the horrors of  worldcup final and first IPL match for Kochi Tuskers in which he was thrashed all around the park, he has made a strong comeback.  In today's match against Delhi Daredevils he had the bowling figures of 2 for 10 in 4 overs.  He took the wickets of Delhi openers David Warner and Naman Ojha in his first over.  An economy rate of 2.5 is unbelievable in twenty twenty cricket. Even though  he was wicketless in the match against Deccan Chargers he had bowled brilliantly in the opening spell. He had a maiden over.  Finally he had to settle for an economy rate of 5.5 due to some late hitting by Chargers.

      But his performances were not enough to bring victory to his team.

Kochi Tuskers suffers third defeat in a row

 Virender Sehwag hit a quick fire 80 off 47 balls which included 8 fours and 5 sixes as Delhi Daredevils scored a 38-run win over Kochi Tuskers Kerala   in Kochi on Saturday.   Delhi scored 157 for seven after electing to bat on a  bowler friendly pitch, which had uneven bounce.  Delhi were 35 for 3 in 6.2 overs, but Sehwag played a captain's innings.  
                                       S. Sreesanth was Kochi's most successful bowler with figures of  2 for 10 in 4 overs.   David Warner and Naman Ojha  were his victims. 


                        In its reply Kochi lost quick wickets at the top order to brilliant bowling by Irfan Pathan and Morne Morkel.  Kochi were  3/28  in 4.3 overs.   There after KTK lost wickets at regular intervals.  Hodge and Jadeja were the only batsmen to score more than 25.   Delhi pace trio of Pathan, Morkel and Agarkar took   seven wickets.  Spinner Roelof van der Merwe who took 3 wickets in 5 balls in  the 19th  over  sealed the fate of Kochi.  The hosts were bowled out for 119 in 18.5 overs.

Delhi Daredevils 157/7 (20/20 ov)

Kochi Tuskers Kerala 119 (18.5/20 ov)

Delhi Daredevils won by 38 runs

• Indian Premier League - 36th match
• Twenty20 match | 2011 season
• Played at Nehru Stadium, Kochi
• 30 April 2011 - day/night (20-over match)

	Delhi Daredevils innings (20 overs maximum)		R	B	4s	6s	SR
	DA Warner	b Sreesanth	3	7	0	0	42.85
	V Sehwag*	c Hodge b Vinay Kumar	80	47	8	5	170.21
	NV Ojha†	lbw b Sreesanth	0	3	0	0	0.00
	Y Venugopal Rao	lbw b Jadeja	1	10	0	0	10.00
	Y Nagar	run out (Jadeja/†Patel)	22	30	1	0	73.33
	TR Birt	c Vinay Kumar b Powar	20	13	2	1	153.84
	IK Pathan	run out (Singh)	13	7	1	1	185.71
	RE van der Merwe	not out	2	4	0	0	50.00
	Extras	(lb 8, w 6, nb 2)	16
	Total	(7 wickets; 20 overs)	157	(7.85 runs per over)

Did not bat M Morkel, AB Agarkar, U Yadav

Fall of wickets1-4 (Warner, 1.1 ov), 2-4 (Ojha, 1.4 ov), 3-35 (Venugopal Rao, 6.2 ov),  4-91 (Nagar, 14.4 ov),5-132 (Sehwag, 17.5 ov), 6-145 (Birt, 18.4 ov), 7-157 (Pathan, 19.6 ov)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	RP Singh	4	0	29	0	7.25	(1w)
	S Sreesanth	4	1	10	2	2.50	(2w)
	RA Jadeja	4	0	27	1	6.75	(1w)
	R Vinay Kumar	4	0	41	1	10.25
	B Akhil	2	0	22	0	11.00	(1nb)
	RR Powar	2	0	20	1	10.00

	Kochi Tuskers Kerala innings (target: 158 runs from 20 overs)		R	B	4s	6s	SR
	BB McCullum	b Pathan	7	7	1	0	100.00
	M Klinger	c van der Merwe b Morkel	2	6	0	0	33.33
	PA Patel†	b Pathan	1	3	0	0	33.33
	DPMD Jayawardene*	c Sehwag b Agarkar	18	28	2	0	64.28
	BJ Hodge	c †Ojha b Morkel	27	25	3	0	108.00
	RA Jadeja	c van der Merwe b Agarkar	31	22	3	1	140.90
	B Akhil	c †Ojha b Morkel	13	9	0	1	144.44
	R Vinay Kumar	c Yadav b van der Merwe	11	9	0	1	122.22
	RR Powar	b van der Merwe	0	1	0	0	0.00
	S Sreesanth	b van der Merwe	0	2	0	0	0.00
	RP Singh	not out	1	1	0	0	100.00
	Extras	(b 2, lb 1, w 5)	8
	Total	(all out; 18.5 overs)	119	(6.31 runs per over)

Fall of wickets1-10 (Klinger, 1.6 ov), 2-15 (McCullum, 2.1 ov), 3-28 (Patel, 4.3 ov),  4-50 (Jayawardene, 9.4 ov),5-77 (Hodge, 13.1 ov), 6-93 (Akhil, 15.2 ov), 7-118 (Jadeja, 17.6 ov), 8-118 (Powar, 18.1 ov),  9-118 (Sreesanth, 18.3 ov),10-119 (Vinay Kumar, 18.5 ov)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	IK Pathan	4	0	27	2	6.75	(1w)
	M Morkel	4	0	18	3	4.50
	U Yadav	3	0	28	0	9.33
	AB Agarkar	4	0	23	2	5.75
	RE van der Merwe	3.5	0	20	3	5.21

Match details

Toss Delhi Daredevils, who chose to bat Points Delhi Daredevils 2, Kochi Tuskers Kerala 0

Player of the match V Sehwag (Delhi Daredevils)

Umpires HDPK Dharmasena (Sri Lanka) and AL Hill (New Zealand) TV umpire K Hariharan Match referee Satayabrata Mukherjee Reserve umpire KN Ananthapadmanabhan

                              Former RCB player Balachandra Akhil  and Australian player Michael Klinger played their first match for KTK today.