IPL 2010 Final Preview: Mumbai Indians Vs Chennai Super Kings

The final of IPL will be held on 25th April at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai amidst the raging controversies surrounding the Indian Premier League.

Mumbai Indians, so far, have a wonderful tournament. Mumbai made it to the finals for the first time in IPL. Sachin would love to finish the tournament on a winning note.

On the other hand, Chennai Super Kings struggled to make it to the finals. Chennai were finalists of IPL 2008 and they lost it to Rajasthan Royals. So, Dhoni would be determined to set the things right this time.


Tendulkar has led the team well and has given so much confidence to the players like Rayudu, Tiwary. Mumbai Indians have a good depth in batting and bowling department. Sachin is suffering from a finger injury and hopefully he will be available for the final. It would be a big loss for Mumbai Indians if Sachin won't be available as he carried Mumbai on his shoulders with his wonderful batting and captaincy. Tiwary and Rayudu proved their talent under pressure when Mumbai lost a few early wickets. And then there is Pollard who can hit the ball out of ground easily. His medium pace has also proved worthy. Their bowling attack has been reliable. And they have no worries on this matter.

On the other hand, Chennai mostly had to rely on good individual performances to make it so far. If Hayden delivers a good knock at the top and their bowlers can take 2-3 early wickets, Chennai would fancy their chances. Suresh Raina is the key batsman for Chennai. It will be interesting to see if Dhoni opens their bowling with Ashwin with Sachin at the crease. Ashwin and Bollinger have been exceptional for Chennai. Spinners have been Chennai's strength.

Winning the toss and batting first looks a better choice at this ground as teams chasing a total have stumbled on this pitch.

All in all, We are up for one exciting final. My money would be on Mumbai Indians.

Happy Birthday Master

"If Cricket is a religion, Sachin is God."

"Commit all your sins while Sachin is batting. They will go unnoticed becasue God is busy watching Sachin's batting."

"I have seen god, he bats at no. 4 for India"- Mathew Hayden

“On a train from Shimla to Delhi , there was a halt in one of the stations. The train stopped by for few minutes as usual. Sachin was nearing century, batting on 98. The passengers, railway officials, everyone on the train waited for Sachin to complete the century. This Genius can stop time in India!”- Peter Roebuck -An Aussie journalist

"There are 2 kind of batsmen in the world. One Sachin Tendulkar. Two all the others." - Andy Flower

"Beneath the helmet, under that unruly curly hair, inside the cranium, there is something we don't know, something beyond scientific measure. Something that allows him to soar, to roam a territory of sport that, forget us, even those who are gifted enough to play alongside him cannot even fathom. When he goes out to bat, people switch on their television sets and switch off their lives." - BBC Sports on Sachin Tendulkar

These are just a few to describe the greatness of Sachin.

Sachin turns 38 today. Cricket Crazy wishes him a wonderful birthday and all the best.

I loved this Petition to the President of India from one of the Sachin fans.

Gilchrist Vs Dhoni

The second semi-final of IPL-3 between defending champions Deccan Chargers and Chennai Super Kings will take place at DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai on 22nd April. Both teams had to win their last league match to qualify for the semis. Chennai made it to the semis thanks to Dhoni's superb knock against Kings XI Punjab. Deccan made it to the semis by a collective performance against Delhi Daredevils.

Adam Gilchrist is due a big knock for Chargers. T Suman, Rohit Sharma, Symonds have been consistent with the bat while P Ojha has been performing well with the bowl. Harmeet Singh has been superb with the slow leg cutter. The only concern for DC would be to play at DY Patil stadium where they lost both the games they played before.

Chennai on the other hand too need a big konck from Hayden. Vijay, Raina has been in good form.

Both the teams have been set back a bit by their bowling attack. Deccan have worst record of conceding most runs in the last five overs.

My playing XIs:
Deccan Chargers:
Adam Gilchrist, Monish Mishra, T Suman, Rohit Sharma, Andrew Symonds, Mitchell Marsh, Sumanth, Harmeet Singh, Vaas, Ojha, RP Singh

Chennai:
Mathew Hayden, Murai Vijay, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Badrinath, A Morkel, Justin Kemp, Ashwin, Jakati, Bollinger, S Tyagi

Deccan beat Chennai twice this season and they have the advantage. But it can be anyone's game.

I'll be supporting Deccan and I want the final to be between Mumbai and Deccan.

A Clash of Indian Legends

Well, the third season if Indian Premier League is into it's last week.

The first semi final of IPL-3, between Mumbai Indians and last year's finalists Royal Challengers Banglore is going to take place at DY Patil stadium in Mumbai.

Mumbai Indians is in tremendous form winning 10 out of their 14 league matches. Sachin mesmerized everyone with his lovely batting and he has been in a great form. Mumbai Indians need Sachin to fire once again to put a great start. Then they have in Rayudu, Tiwary two good players who can play some big shots. If Pollard delivers with the bat, then it will be an easy match for Mumbai. Mumbai's bowling department is also strong with the likes of Malinga, harbhajan and Zaheer.

Coming to Banglore team, Kallis has been a consistent performer. But he needs to improve his strike rate if they have to put up/chase a big score. They have explosive batsmen like Uthappa and Taylor who can turn the match away from the opponent very easily.

On a whole, both teams are very strong. Both the teams have good batting line up and good bowling attacks. But, mumbai has been consistent and playing in front of the home crowd is an advantage.

My playing XIs:
Mumbai:
Sachin Tendulkar, Shikar Dhawan, S Tiwary, A Rayudu, JP Duminy, K Pollard, Satish, R McLaren, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, S Malinga

Banglore:
J Kallis, M Pandey, K Pietersen, R Uthappa, R Taylor, V Kohli, R Dravid, D Steyn, R Vinay Kumar, Anil Kumble, Praveen Kumar

I'll go with Mumbai Indians.

IPL is back

IPL has influenced the world cricket so much. True cricket lovers say it is not real cricket. But, it's a complete entertainment package. Well, IPL3 is back to India and it's just 3 days away.

IPL3 starts off with a match between the defending champions Deccan Chargers and Kolkatta Knight Riders on March 12th, 2010.

45 days of entertainment  with exciting matches, bollywood beauties, cheerleaders, strategy breaks etc... We are all getting ready to experience this high voltage cricket extravaganga.

Rajastan Royals and Deccan Chargers clinched IPL season 1 and season 2 respectively. Anything can happen in the game of cricket. The favorites this time may reach the bottom of the table and the bottom teams may top the table(as DC and RCB did it last time).

Who, do you think, will be the winners of IPL 3?

No more Midas touch ?

He was once regarded as a man with midas touch. He is yet to yet to lose a test match as a captain. India won 6 ODI series in a row under his captaincy. Every one praised him when India was playing well. But he is feeling the heat for the first time as the captain.

Critics are pointing at Dhoni for India's Champions Trophy exit. They say that he lost his confidence and his approach to game has not been good. India lost only two major tournaments after Dhoni has become the captain. India failed to reach semis in T20 World cup 2009 and Champions Trophy 2009. But the way India lost in Champions Trophy is a concern than the loss itself. Critics say thatDhoni's body language in these tournaments was not good. Even when the bowlers were struggling, Dhoni forgot to go and talk to them.

"I want players who, if I ask them to, will stand in front of a truck", Dhoni's words in his first series as a captain. Everyone started to think that this formula worked really well after India won T20 World Cup in South Africa. Everyone started to believe that India has a great future with the young cricketers who are ready to face any situation. But if we observe the recent games, most of the matches were not high-scoring. There was no aggressiveness in the players. Critics say that Dhoni's formulae don't work in the long run.

Dhoni is the number one ODI batsman. He is the ODI Player of the year. But his approach to batting does not prove that. There is a lot of difference between his approach 3 years back and his approach now. Instead of his aggressive and attacking presence, he builds his innings in singles. He can be a No.1 if he stays in the crease for 25 overs and scores 50 runs. But he has to loose a place in the hearts of the indian cricket fans. One can see Dhoni in almost every advertisement on TV. He needs to concentrate more on the game instead of other forms of revenue. There is this comment, on Cricinfo I think, that 'Dhoni and his team has been playing restless cricket. So, their first round exit in major tournaments gives them the much needed 'rest' and they can spend this time for advertisements'. I think there should be some restrictions on the advertisement policy of cricketers.

One has to blame the media and the fans for taking Dhoni's praise to high levels much beyond than he deserves. And the same fans now hate Dhoni. This is not the case with Dhoni. When one player is playing well, they consider him as god. When the same player fails, they start saying that he did not play well, so we lost the match, he needs to be sacked etc.. Its the fans and the media who need to change first.

Has dhoni lost his midas touch? If you consider the performance, is there no wicket-keeper in India who is better than Dhoni? Is it time for Dhoni to be sacked?

Wall is back

I never expected that Dravid would again be considered for selection for ODIs.
But it came true....
He was named in the squad for Champions trophy probables..
Hope he will be there in the final squad...even if he won't be there, it doesn't matter much...
His experience comes in handy against the short pitched deliveries which most of the current youngsters unable to play...

Anyway it was a great idea to bring back this great player....