Saturday, May 2, 2009

JAKATI'S SPIN MAGIC TAKES CHENNAI TO VICTORY


Delhi and Chennai were ready for another face-off. This time it was Johannesburg, hosting its first IPL match. Gautham Gambhir came out for the toss replacing Sehwag as the captain. Sehwag was ruled out of the game due to a finger injury. Gambhir won the toss and he elected to bowl first. There were two changes in the Delhi team - Rajat Bhatia came in for the injured Sehwag and David Warner replaced Daniel Vettori. The out-of-form Parthiv Patel made way for Murali Vijay in the Chennai team.
Chennai started off with Hayden and Murali Vijay as the openers. Hayden got off the mark with a boundary in the first over. The pair got going with some good strokes off the bat. Murali Karthik could not make use of the start as he was dismissed by Nehra. Attempting a pull, he top edged the ball and was caught by Bhatia. The dangerous Hayden was the next man to go, holing out to de Villiers at long-on. Sangwan picked up his first wicket with Hayden's dismissal.
Chennai's hero Suresh Raina, walked in to the crease and started off in a quick fashion. Being in good touch, Raina was dealing in boundaries and sixers. Badrinath on the other hand was slow to start off with. The Chennai team went into the break at 77/2.
Post break, Badrinath started to break loose. He took the attack to Dilshan and Sangwan scoring three fours and two sixers. Delhi got a big break-through when Raina got out trying to go for a big one. Coming down the wicket, Raina tried to hit a Bhatia delivery over mid wicket but could only find Dilshan latch on to the catch. Raina got out after scoring 32 runs. Bhatia got his second wicket when he dismissed Badrinath. Walking across the stumps, Badrinath tried to play the ball to fine leg but missed it completely and was bowled. Badrinath scored 45 runs off 34 balls. At this stage Chennai were 103/4 after 15 overs.
More success was in store for Delhi when the South African all-rounder Albie Morkel was dismissed by Nehra. Trying to go for quick runs towards the end Jacob Oram and MS Dhoni got out in quick succession to Nannes. Balaji was the next man to go giving Nehra his third wicket. Jakati, after hitting Nannes for two consecutive fours, got out to Nannes. Delhi got their 10th wicket after Muralitharan was run-out. Chennai ended their innings at 163. Nehra and Nannes finished with identical bowling figures - 3/27.
Delhi started the chase steadily with the aggressive Warner and the dependable Gambhir at the crease. Sudeep Tyagi's inclusion proved to be the right move when he dismissed Gambhir and de Villiers off back-to-back deliveries. While Gambhir got out to a brilliant catch by Raina, de Villiers was out bowled to a good delivery. After the early jolt, the Australian dasher Warner broke loose. Morkel was at the receiving end, being smashed for three consecutive boundaries. Delhi had another setback when the in-form Tillakaratne Dilshan was bowled by Jakati. An outstanding delivery beat the defences of the batsmen and went on to hit the stumps. Delhi went into the strategy break at 72/3 requiring 92 more runs to win off 60 balls.
Karthik and Warner continued the chase after the break. Karthik came out in an aggressive frame of mind, taking the attack to the bowlers. Warner gave him good support as the pair dealt in fours and sixers. Together they piled on runs at a quick rate. Warner reached his fifty during the process. However, the partnership of 74 runs came to an end when Warner was out stumped off Jakati's bowling. Warner left for the dugout after scoring 51 runs off 40 balls with 5 fours and a six.
Mithun Manhas was the next man in. However he did not stay long as he was bowled to a tossed up delivery by Muralitharan. At this stage, Delhi required 36 runs off 3 overs. Karthik was going strong at the other end and he reached his fifty with a boundary off Jakati. However, the bowler had the last laugh when he dismissed Karthik, thanks to a good catch by Muralitharan. Jakati's good run continued as he got the wicket of Sangwan. Jakati finished off his quota of overs with figures of 4/24. Morkel bowled the 19th over and he picked by his first wicket by dismissing Bhatia. Despite a six and a four in the final over by Mishra, Delhi fell 18 runs short of their target.
The efforts of Badrinath with the bat and Jakati with the ball helped Chennai to settle scores with Delhi.


Interesting facts:
Dirk Nannes picked up 3/27 - his best figures of the tournament. He now has a total of six wickets.
AB de Villiers was bowled first ball, becoming the 20th batsman to be dismissed for a golden duck.
Shadab Jakati picked up 4/24 - his best figures and only the sixth 4-wicket haul of IPL 2009.
David warner registered his maiden fifty on his IPL debut.
Dinesh Karthik scored his first fity of IPL 2009.

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