Saturday, May 3, 2008

Delhi go Top, Chennai not so Super Anymore

The Chennai Super Kings don't look all that Super anymore without Hayden and Hussey.

They posted their lowest score last night and their batting, which had been their strength so far, doesn't look strong anymore.

Fleming, the man who replaced Hayden, got bowled twice in the space of 4 deliveries. Albie Morkel looked good for the little time he was there but he's no replacement for Hussey senior. And why did Suresh Raina come so low down the order? He's looked brilliant in his last few innings and to hold him back for the last 3-4 overs is gross injustice.

Dhoni has to do some thinking now. And the champion that he is, he probably will.

Delhi are looking stronger by the day. They have won 2 matches by 9 wickets and last night they did by 8 wickets. Their batting has looked really strong thus far with the top 3 scoring heavily. Plus it just got stronger with the arrival of AB De Villiers. And Shoaib Malik is yet to fire. It looks ominous for them.

Whats more, their bowling is led by McGrath and Asif!

Dhoni saw his own 20-20 openers in Sehwag and Gambhir take the game away from him. Mixed feelings?

Shikhar Dhawan knew better than to leave the winning runs for the last over, which would have been bowled by Joginder Sharma, the man with the golden arm. Dhawan has looked very impressive in all his innings. His straight drive for 4 of Murali was a top shot and he looked every inch the international batsman.

Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Shikhar Dhawan - India's future? Add in Mohammad Kaif and Yusuf Pathan and the future looks very bright.

For the first time in the Indian Premier League the Super Kings are not at the top of the table. The Daredevils are, only on the basis of run rate though as they have the same 8 points as the Super Kings and the Rajhastan Royals. Kings XI Punjab are 4th but could by displaced if the Knight Riders manage an upset today.

Food for thought - the bottom 4 teams in the points table are captained by India's big 4 - Sachin, Dravud, Saurav, and Laxman.

Make your pitch on this post...



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2 Pitched:

  1. Anonymous said...
     

    Dhoni has already announced that Raina would bat up the order for the rest of the matches..

    T20 has clearly shown the importance of a captain in the game. Delhi, Chennai & Jaipur surely benefits from their man in charge.. Even Mohali started winning only after Sangakkara and Jayawardene started taking active interst in the field...

    But for India's Big Three (Dravid,
    Ganguly & Laxman) inexperience in playing a T20 game is coming back to haunt them.. [Sachin not included because hs has not yet played a game.. ]

  2. Q said...
     

    I dont think Delhi is benefitting from man in charge. Thye are a very strong team. Plus their batting line up is actually Delhis batting line up so they benefit from that. The batsmen have played together a lot.

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