Today, CSK play MI ~ both are at different ends of Points
of table ...but MI have tasted success recently, while CSK got mauled by
KXIP. Ravichandran Ashwin unusually had
figures of 2-0-38 after the mauling by Glenn Maxwell which for sure would have dented his ego and confidence.
Ashwin hower would appear self-confident all the time and has been bowing with great
conviction especially in the powerplay. Now can Kieron
Pollard, the big hitter clobber Ashwin could be the Q for the day. Supporters of CSK would love to believe that
meltdown was a mere aberration for the bowler who has been most economical in
the powerplay better than both Lasith
Malinga and Dale Steyn
At this stage the orange cap is
with Glenn Maxwell who has scored 460 runs in 8 innings with a strike rate of
204; followed by Dwayne Smith 339; Brendon McCullum 314; David Miller 284 and
Duminy 280 ~ no Indian in top 5 and the first Indian at no. 6 is Robin Uthappa
with 256. For the purple cap – things are
however different ... Bhuvaneshwar Kumar leads with 14 wickets in 7 innings;
Mohit Sharma 14 (in 8); Pravin Tambe 13 (8); Sandeep Sharma 13 (6); Suni Narine
13 (8) and Varun Aaron 12 (7)
Not many would have heard of Sandeep
Sharma who last night had Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli in consecutive balls and
added Parthiv Patel to end up 4-0-25-3 becoming the player of the match. This right-arm medium pacer from Punjab rose to
prominence during the 2012 Under-19 World Cup. His four wickets in the final
propelled India to the title and made him India’s joint highest wicket-taker in
the tournament with 12 scalps.
IPL has thrown up opportunities to many
youngsters ... there are some oldies like Pravin Tambe too... yesterday there
was another – Shivam Sharma who made his debut...... who reportedly was advised
‘Bas enjoy kar. Zyada pressure mat le’ (Just enjoy. Don’t take too much
pressure) by Virender Sehwag. Off his
ninth delivery, he got the ball to turn away from Yuvraj Singh and got an
outside edge off his bat that was sharply and aptly caught by Sehwag at first
slip. That wicket was special for the
20-year-old off-spinner from Delhi being his maiden IPL scalp having earned it.
Eventually, he finished with 4-0-26-2 (also dismissing Albie Morkel) as Kings
XI Punjab continued on their merry way to victory, beating RCB by 32 runs.
Something not so good for Cricket fans of
Chennai. With the Chennai
Corporation and the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association failing to arrive at a
consensus in the Supreme Court over the use of the I, J and K stands in the
M.A. Chidambaram stadium on Friday, the stalemate continues. It is clear that the matter would now go to
July beyond summer vacation.
On May 7 a joint memo was filed by the TNCA and the Chennai
Corporation incorporating certain conditions to be met by the TNCA to enable
the lock and seal to be removed and to allow the three stands to be put to use
for IPL matches. However, even as the order was being dictated, certain
differences could not be settled and the Bench without passing the order
adjourned the matter. Reports state that
Justice Ranjana Desai told the TNCA counsel “there are serious
violations. They say if the stand collapses then there are safety
considerations. This court should not be seen as endorsing the violations. When TNCA counsel said the first IPL match of
this season was to be held on May 18, Justice Desai is quoted as saying “we are also sport lovers, but we can’t be
seen as approving violations as it will be seen as a precedent.”
A
top source in the TNCA is quoted as saying “there will be no IPL matches in Chennai this
time.” ~ not the 2 group matches but also the other two games Qualifier-1 and the Eliminator, on May 27 and
28. So Chennai will not host any of the
matches in IPL 7 .. it is a gain for the Jharkhand State Cricket Asociation –
but the matches scheduled for Chennai would perhaps move to Bangalore or
Mumbai.
~ so not only those 3 .... but entire Chepauk would remain empty !!!
With
regards – S. Sampathkumar.
10th May 2o14.
