Dare to chase 198!

Well needless to be said, whenever a team scores 198 on the board, it is well understood that majority of the bets would fall in favor of that particular team. Any something more is that majority of the times that particular team wins the contest and yesterday was no different when the Deccan Chargers simply crushed the Kings XI Punjab by 82 runs at Dharamsala. Something more special would be that someone like Shikar Dhawan made his presence count in the playing XI. Until then, Shikar Dhawan was there in the team just because the rules of the tournament had forced his inclusion.

As all of us know, there is a restriction on the number of foreign players that a team can have in the playing eleven and Shikar Dhawan being an Indian makes his move faster into the playing in the XI member squad. Now, anybody who would have thought of dropping Shikar Dhawan upon the slightest of all opportunities will have to think many times I suppose. However, in addition to Dhawan, there was Ravi Teja who became another master piece in the IPL scoring 60 when until then all he was expected to was to strike the ball blindly to gain some extra runs.

The tough job of laying a foundation to their team is held by experienced people like Adam Gilchrist, Paul Valthaty, Chris Gayle etc and someone like Ravi Teja is expected to just continue the good work initiated by them. In case the top order fails, the middle order is bound to fail majority of the time. Coming to the match, two batsmen were more than enough to belt the bowling of the Kings XI Punjab. In the Kings XI side, if not for Adam Gilchrist, no other batsmen stood up to the occasion. The pitch was a batsman's paradise which is evident from the scorecard.

However, in addition to Shikar Dhawan and Ravi Teja, there was Amit Mishra who once again had a magical spell scalping 4 wickets giving away just 9 runs from his quota of 4 overs at 2.25 runs an over that included one over maiden as well. In my opinion, it should have been Amit Mishra who should have been awarded the man of the match and not Shikar Dhawan. But, it looks like the organisers of the tournament hardly cast their eyes on bowling department and are focused on the batting department alone. Restricting someone like Gilchrist, Shaun Marsh etc is tougher than belting some Bhargav Bhatt and Piyush Chawla.

Blame it all on Chris Gayle

There was a time in Indian cricket when the absence of star batsman Sachin Tendulkar would mean a massive loss for the team. That was in the 90s where Sachin Tendulkar used to be the key man for his team's success in at least 75% of the games India played. Now, the same problem is found to haunt the Royal Challengers Bangalore who can hardly come close to winning in case Chris Gayle fails with the bat. Yesterday's game was the best example in the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab. Bangalore lost to Punjab by 111 runs.

Chris Gayle's score in that game was nothing but zero. This was the match that all RCB fans would have been looking forward to having very high expectations from Chris Gayle. And, one cannot just blame Gayle for disappointing his fans. Chris Gayle has been entertaining his fans ever since he entered the contest after his national duty involving the series against Pakistan. However, what if Chris Gayle didn't score a ton; There was Adam Gilchrist who did everything that was expected from Chris Gayle. Adam Gilchrist scored a hundred when he ended his innings at 106 from 55 balls.

This was more than enough to ascertain that the viewers were not deceived from any sort of cricketing action on the field no matter from which team it comes. Any Indian fan would have loved to see the entertainment on the field irrespective of which city or state is playing. One can take a look at the scorecard to see 9 sixes hit from the blades of Gilchrist which I'm afraid whether any batsmen has been able to overtake. I might just have to take time to see whether the total of 232 is the highest by any team in the IPL.

Of course, 232 is the highest team total in this year's IPL. Chasing this big total would have been possible only had Chris Gayle continued from where he had left it in his previous game. But, that very busy man had no time to help his team mates in this game. And, what better treatment can one get when he hands over the ball to Virat Kohli? Making it his day, it was Gilchrist who took the catch of Chris Gayle behind the stumps. Likewise, another major contribution that needs to be applauded is that of Piyush Chawla who ended his spell with 4 wickets.

Sweet revenge for Kings XI Punjab

Well the last the Kings XI Punjab team faced the Delhi Daredevils at Delhi, the home team made it count for them by registering a 29 run win over their neighbors. And, much to everyone's surprise this time, the Kings XI Punjab did exactly what the Delhi Daredevils did to them a month ago this time at Dharamsala by the same margin of 29 runs. Thanks to some power hitting by Paul Valthaty and Shaun Marsh at the top, whose contribution with the bat laid the foundation after their team put up a mammoth total of 170 on the board.

In addition, there was Dinesh Karthik who aided the duo with his handy 27. Like it has always been the case with most of the teams, their captain never seems to experiment with their bowling no matter what. This time as well, James Hopes never got into experiment by opting for just 6 bowlers, four of whom bowled their entire quota of 4 overs. One over that made the difference between a victory and a loss for the Delhi Daredevils was that of Sridharan Sriram whose lone over cost him and his team 25 runs. May be this is the reason why captains don't experiment with their bowling.

Looking at the debacle of the Delhi Daredevils, the reason for the same can be thought of due to the lack of any quality players for them. There was Gautam Gambhir, A B de Villiars and Dilshan who have been picked up by different franchisees this time. Added to that is the absence of Virender Sehwag which creates a deeper hole in the Delhi Daredevils' worries. This time, some big names that can be read in the Delhi Daredevils side would be David Warner and James Hopes. Or else, why would Hopes be captaining his side. Gambhir would have been an asset had it been last time.

There was no batsmen in the Delhi side who scored even a 30. The best score was 29 from the blades of David Warner. Likewise, five bowlers were enough for the Kings XI Punjab to restrict the Delhi batsmen to a score 29 runs less than what the Kings XI Punjab managed. Perhaps! There was no Sriram in the Punjab team to give away 25 runs. Piyush Chawla made his presence felt not only by claiming the man of the match award but also by grabbing 3 wickets at 4.00 runs an over which makes him deserve the honor more than even Valthaty.

Back to the pavilion

Well after the game between Pakistan and New Zealand got over a couple of days back, things have returned back to what they were with India beating Netherlands yesterday by 5 wickets. Though India have had to face the music in matches against England and with matches against South Africa and West Indies yet to happen, all that is left for we viewers is to wait and watch for these encounters. On the other hand, the match between Sri Lanka and Australia was washed off and South Africa spoiled all viewers' hopes against England when they failed to chase 172.

In that match against Holland, India lost 5 wickets which was not at all necessary keeping in mind the opposition they were facing. Holland are yet to win a game in this world cup and their dream can only be hoped to relish against Ireland at the fag end of the pool matches. On the other side of the tournament, even Kenya are yet to win a game with Canada already having opening their account and their hopes lie in that game against Zimbabwe. Anyways, those games are just for the sake of time pass with big games lined up in succession.

Something that the Holland team can realize is that five of their batsmen came up with decent scores with them crossing the 20 run mark. That can be the only achievement for a team like Holland who have not won a single match in the 1996 world cup-the time when they started playing cricket at the international level. Coincidentally, even Kenya started their world cup campaign in the same year 1996 and have been featuring themselves since then in all world cups. However, Holland missed out in the 1999 edition. But, that can hardly draw anybody's attention no matter what.

India could make this match theirs by having in Piyush Chawla who could not have entered the world cup at any other time. He was not a part of the game against Bangladesh and got belted against Ireland for 7 runs an over compared to the overall run-rate of 4 an over. A part time bowler in Yuvraj Singh happened to be the most successful bowler with a half century and 5 wickets to his credit. But keeping in mind Yuvraj's experience and Piyush's area of expertise, both stand at the same level. At the end, the match was just a walk over for Indians who registered another win.