Gilchrist's wicket is the key: Lehman

Deccan Chargers' coach Darren Lehmann is hoping that his former Australian teammate Adam Gilchrist doesn't fire on all cylinders when they face Kings XI Punjab in their Indian Premier League match on Saturday.

Gilchrist had captained the Chargers in the first three editions of the league, before being bought by the Punjab franchise early this year.

The former Australia wicketkeeper was also instrumental in guiding his team to the title in the second edition, held in South Africa.

"Obviously, he is a good player. One of the greats of the game. Hopefully he doesn't go off like he did for Deccan. We have to get him early because he can score at a good rate," coach Darren Lehmann said at a pre-match press conference.

Lehmann said that Gilchrist's previous stint as captain of the Chargers would not have any bearing on Saturday's game.

He, however, felt that his own skipper Kumar Sangakkara would know a lot about their opponent's strengths and weaknesses. The Sri Lankan had led Punjab in the last two editions.

Lehmann said that his team would not just focus on Gilchrist and that it has a plan for every player.

"We have a plan for the batsmen and the bowlers. But it all boils down to who executes the plans better on the day," he added.

He indicated that the team would go in with three seamers for the second consecutive game considering the conditions and the balance of the playing XI.

"It depends on the wicket and whom we are playing. We just felt that there was a better balance last night to go in with three quicks. Manpreet did a good job and Ishant Sharma bowled beautifully again. That was last night. I am not sure how I will go on Saturday. But, more or less, we will play three quicks again," he said.

Meanwhile, light showers in the afternoon forced the teams to cancel their scheduled practice.

© PTI

We were playing catch-up all the time: Gilchrist

Kings XI skipper Adam Gilchrist conceded that his side was playing catch-up cricket right through the match after his team's resounding seven-wicket loss in their Indian Premier League lung-opener against Pune Warriors at the D Y Patil Stadium.

"It was difficult to make a comeback from nine for four. We were playing catch-up right from the beginning. All credit to Ryan McLaren for giving us some chance to come back. Had we taken our chances they could have been five for 70 and we could have tried for a win from there," said the former Aussie keeper after the match.

Gilchrist was referring to the dropped catches by his team that reprieved both Robin Uthappa (22 not out in 14 balls) and Yuvraj (21 not out in 15 balls) early in their unbeaten knocks.

Handed lives early on, the duo stitch together unbeaten 45 runs for the fourth wicket to see Pune home.

Gilchrist praised the wicket prepared for the tie and said it was a good track which had something in it for the bowlers.

"The wicket was good, the ball came on to the bat and there was something for the new ball bowlers. Yuvi told me during the presentation ceremony it was a good toss to lose as he did not know what to do (whether to bat first or not)," Gilchrist said.

Gilchrist won the toss and his team plunged headlong into trouble with their top four batsmen, including he himself, dismissed within the first four overs.

The wicket-keeper batsman, who said his team is yet to settle down, felt a total of 140 would have been a challenging target for Pune to chase down.

The Punjab outfit was restricted to 112 for eight, McLaren's unbeaten 51 being the only saving grace. Gilchrist praised the allrounder for pacing his innings well and also mentioned that McLaren did what the top six could not do.

"McLaren batted very well and paced his innings beautifully. He did what the guys in the top six could not do. Had we got 140 it would have been a bigger challenge as there was something for the faster bowlers. And then Abhishek Nayar created three chances which were put down," Gilchrist remarked.

"We did not play anywhere near our best. We have a youngish group and need to settle down," he added.

© Cricbuzz (with inputs from agencies)

Chennai Super Kings seal semi-final spot

The Bulletin by Mathew Varghese
May 27, 2008

Mahendra Singh Dhoni lost the toss but everything else went right for his team, beginning with some tight bowling, as the Chennai Super Kings won the match against the Deccan Chargers and a spot in the semi-finals at the expense of the Mumbai Indians. Chennai will face Kings XI Punjab, whom they have defeated twice, in one semi-final, while Rajasthan Royals take on Delhi Daredevils in the other.

Chennai had conceded 211 against Rajasthan in their previous game but the bowlers were up to the task this time as Deccan's final attempt to win at home win went awry. Chennai's opening bowlers were on the mark from the start: Makhaya Ntini bowled with pace and got good bounce and carry, while Manpreet Gony, the team's leading wicket-taker, stuck to an impeccable length on off stump and bowled through his four overs for 21. And they reaped the rewards soon, as both Herschelle Gibbs and Adam Gilchrist found the fielder at third man - Gibbs with a slash, Gilchrist with a thick outside-edge.

Deccan's early runs came mainly in singles and Scott Styris, who's had a terrible tournament, looked to be getting into rhythm with boundaries in the arc between midwicket and mid-on till he was bowled by Muttiah Muralitharan while trying to hit one across. At 57 for 3 after 10.1 overs, Deccan needed a partnership and Venugopal Rao and Ravi Teja came up with a 76-run stand that lent respectability to the eventual total. Muralitharan was hard to get away but the two went after Balaji in the 14th over, which cost 14.

They managed to up the run-rate with a boundary every over, and Rao, often at the centre of Deccan's rearguard actions, hit one to bring up the 100 in the 16th over. There was a flurry of runs, Teja slashing one high into the stands off Ntini in an over where he was taken for 15 runs. That he ended with figures of 1 for 24 off his four told the full story.

That burst was followed by a flurry of wickets, including three - one of them a run-out - in three balls in the 19th over. The crowd had chanted Shahid Afridi's name but he lasted two balls as Deccan limped to 147.

Deccan, and Mumbai, needed a wicket early and RP Singh nearly got the breakthrough as Stephen Fleming fended at one that swung away, but both Gilchrist and Styris were late to react. Fleming and his fellow left-hand opener Parthiv Patel cashed in when the bowlers erred: short and wide deliveries were dispatched for fours. P Vijaykumar then decided to go round the wicket, and it worked, as Fleming got a thick outside-edge while trying to force a drive through the covers.

Deccan Chargers were always playing catch-up after an abysmal start. In their first ten overs, they had managed only 57 .

In came Suresh Raina and he soon found his rhythm, slapping one riskily in the air through the covers, before punching one through the same region. Afridi was brought into the attack as early as the fifth over, and he put a brake on the scoring. At the other end, Raina got consecutive boundaries in Sarvesh Kumar's first over, but the pressure applied from Afridi worked as Parthiv played straight to cover in Sarvesh's next, Afridi taking the catch.

Raina was joined by Dhoni, and the 55-run stand between the two put Chennai on course for victory. Dhoni started with two streaky boundaries - he hit one straight to Sarvesh first-up, who fluffed a chance, and a thick outside-edge flew to the third-man boundary. With left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha and Styris managing to curb the runs, Dhoni decided to take a few risks. He stepped out to deposit Ojha over long-on, and after a miscued pull nearly landed in Gibbs' hands at midwicket, he cut Styris for four. Afridi came back with 52 needed off 42 balls, and Dhoni hit one dead-straight for four, before Raina powered a shorter delivery over midwicket for six.
Chennai were cruising towards the target, but had a brief wobble after Dhoni found Gibbs at long-on. That Ojha over, the 16th, went just for three, and when Styris conceded the same in the next, Chennai were left needing 28 off 18. Another tight over and Deccan could have still been in the hunt, but Raina found the gap at midwicket as Ojha bowled a full toss. He was dropped by RP in the 19th over, and hit the winning six - which brought up his fifty - as Chennai reached their target with four balls to spare.

While Dhoni and Co were relieved and celebrated the win, Gilchrist looked ahead after a disastrous first season, in which last-placed Deccan won just two of their 14 games. "I do not have any excuses. It depends which way you look it.," he said. "It's not end of the world. We should settle down, make a self-assessment and think over where we went wrong and plan for the future."

Mathew Varghese is an editorial assistant at Cricinfo

Source: http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/ipl/content/current/story/352691.html

Mumbai Indians inch closer to semis

S JanakiramMay 19, 2008 00:14 IST

Mumbai Indians notched up their sixth win on the trot to continue to be in hunt for a semi-final place after pipping Deccan Chargers by 25 runs in their Indian Premier League encounter in Hyderabad on Sunday night.The Mumbai team first scored a competitive 178 for seven, thanks to some sensible batting by Abishek Nayar and Dwayne and then restricted hosts to 153 for seven in 20 overs.The win was a sweet revenge for the visitors as they had lost by comprehensive 10-wickets margin against Chargers at the home-tie.Bravo, who was playing his last match in the tournament, ended the tournament on a high note as he first collected 30 crucial runs and then took three wickets, playing a vital role in his team's victory.Y Venugopal Rao top scored for the Hyderabad team with a sparkling 57-run knock before walking back to the hut.It was the third half-century for Rao in the tournament and it came off just 38 balls with the help of four boundaries and three sixes.Rao also shared an 86-run stand with D Ravi Teja (37), castled by Bravo (3/24), for the fifth wicket.Mumbai Indians pacers -- Ashish Nehra and Bravo -- gave their team a good start by bowling a tight spell and also creating opportunities for their fielders.However, Rohan Raje dropped Adam Gilchrist (13) when he failed to hold on to a catch which the rival skipper had chipped high in the air. He was on four at that time.Shahid Afridi (0) tried to extract maximum runs from the very first ball he faced and swung his arms to slice an off-stump ball bowled by Barvo, resulting in going miles in the sky and eventually landing in safe hands of Dominic Thronely.Nehra and Bravo gave away just 20 runs in the first four overs, putting the rival batsmen under pressure.Sri Lankan paceman Dilhara Fernando then dealt a severe double blow to the hosts by dismissing Gilchrist and Rohit Sharma (6) on consecutive deliveries in his very first over, and fifth of the innings.This left the hosts stuttering 20 for three and leaving a big task for Y Venugopal Rao and Chamara Silva.The duo put on 36 runs, doing the repair work, but could not stretch their effort as Silva (17) was undone by a misjudgment by umpire Billy Doctrove when he raised his finger on a Nayar caught behind appeal.Earlier, Nayar-Bravo combination put up an important 53-run partnership for the fifth wicket when their team was struggling at 97 for 4 at one stage, after being sent in to bat.RP Singh (3/35), who was the most successful bowler for the hosts, dismissed both of them in the 18th over, dashing the visitors hope of setting a big target.However, the duo ensured the Mumbai team gets enough runs on the board to make a fight out of it.Nayar, the top-scorer for the Mumbai team, hit three fours and two sixes in his knock while Bravo hit two boundaries and as many sixes in his innings.Jayasuriya (36) looked unstoppable from the word go as he began the proceedings with a fine-leg boundary off P Vijaykumar and then hit him for a six on the fifth ball.The Sri Lankan then hit compatriot Nuwan Zoysa for three boundaries and one six in his first over to give a rollicking start to the visitors.This forced Adam Gilchrist to introduce Rao, who did not disappoint his skipper and sent Jayasuriya packing, bringing relief for the hosts.After hitting Rao (2/25) for a couple of boundaries, the Sri Lankan swept the spinner for a big shot but could only manage to find RP Singh in the deep.The left-handed opener took just 15 balls to score 39 and hit six fours and two sixes in his cameo.Dominic Thronely then joined his captain Sachin Tendulkar and the duo put together 33 runs for the second wicket. However the run-rate suffered as the hosts bowlers bowled well.Then Afridi (2/23) dealt a double blow to the Mumbai team dismissing Tendulkar and Thornely in his second over to put his team in the driver's seat.Tendulkar lofted an Afridi delivery, trying to accelerate the run-rate but could not execute the shot to perfection and gave away a simple catch to Chamara Silva, who ran from covers to mid-off.This brought huge relief for Gilchrist as he had missed a stumping chance off Pragyan Ojha when Tendulkar came out of the crease attempting an inside out shot by making room for him.Afridi then trapped Thornely two balls later sending shock waves in the opponent's dressing room.The Mumbai team never recovered from these shocks and struggled to maintain a high run-rate after that.

Gilchrist scripts convincing win for Hyderabad

Gilchrist scripts convincing win for Hyderabad

With a batting order to die for, Hydebarad were in a quandary as to what would take them to get a win under their belt. Neither star power, nor the rub of the green was on their side with one win out of six games.

But after losing out in many a close contest, Hyderabad posted a convincing seven-wicket win over tournament favourites Chennai at the Chidambaram stadium here on Tuesday.

In the absence of regular skipper VVS Laxman, Adam Gilchrist led his side to victory with a bludgeoning 36-ball 54, before RP Singh led a disciplined bowling effort as Chennai were restricted to 144-7.

Stuck with a nagging problem of the top order falling apart before they knew what hit them, Hyderabad finally displayed true potential of their batting. While Gilchrist flayed the Chennai bowlers, Scott Styris (36 not out), Rohit Sharma (23) and Shahid Afridi (20 not out) all made it count with the bat. Though they need much more than this, the win was a welcome start to what looked like a withering campaign.

Desperately seeking a win to keep alive their chances in the IPL, RP and Paidikalva Vijaykumar gave Hyderabad the perfect start as both struck from either end early to remove Parthiv Patel and Srikkanth Anirudh, son of former India captain Kris Srikkanth. That the departure of Australian and Kiwi players has affected teams was vindicated for Chennai. Matthew Hayden, Mike Hussey and Jacob Oram's loss has severely dampened Chennai's batting line-up, as it happened for the second time here after their dismal showing in Jaipur on Sunday.

Two dropped chances seemed the script began to go against Hyderabad, but Rohit Sharma and Herschelle Gibbs made up for them with two outstanding catches as Stephen Fleming (14) and S Badrinath's (0) dismissals further dented Chennai's progress.

Source: http://www.cricketnext.com/news/laxman-sits-out-as-hyderabad-put-chennai-in-to-bat/31373-13.html