India vs Srilanka

Today India played their 2nd ODI of the tri-series against Srilanka at Queen's Sports Club, Bulawayo. Indians after their unbelievable defeat against the Zimbabwe in their 1st ODI, they are playing against Srilanka who are their past rival. At the super eight match in World Twenty20, Srilankan's stunned India by winning the match & putting India out of the series. Now its time for India to pay them.

India won the toss & let the Srilankan's to bat first. Upul Tharanga & Tillakaratne Dilshan opened the batting innings for Srilanka. Upul Tharanga did not survive for longer period. Dilshan played beautifully & scored 61 runs before his run out which was hit by Rohit Sharma. Later, Angelo Mathews took the responsibility & contributed 75 runs to the team which helped Srilanka to put up a decent total of 242 runs. Srilanka lost all 10 wickets in 49.5 overs scoring 242 runs at a run rate of 4.86 runs per over.
This total is not a huge one for India, but looks pretty decent until they loose some quick wickets. Indians need 243 runs in 50 overs to win the match against Srilanka.

Dinesh Karthik & Murali Vijay started the chase for India, but they both were unsuccessful as they got out & walked back to pavillion. This seems to be a bad sign for India as it has lost its openers. Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli played a decent innings & contributed a good partnership. Both played well & scored half centuries individually. This helped India a lot to go into positive track.

Royal Challengers Bangalore enter Champions League

Today Royal Challengers Bangalore & Deccan Chargers played against each other in the IPL  season 3 third-fourth play off at DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai. Both the teams had lost semi-finals which had shattered their IPL winning dreams. This is a very crucial match & a must win match for both the teams. The team which wins this match will be playing the Twenty20 Champions League that will taking place this year.
Deccan Chargers won the toss & elected to bat first. Skipper Adam Gilchrist & Monish Mishra opened the innings for Deccan Chargers. Adam Gilchrist hit a four in the very first ball of the DC innings, but this did not work for Deccan Chargers as both were dismissed. Even Rohit Sharma did not stay long as he gave a clean catch to Kevin Pietersen. Deccan Chargers were under real trouble as they lost 3 wickets in 3.2 overs scoring only 15 runs. Further the wicket falls kept on continuing regularly but with very bad run rate. By, 10 overs, DC scored only 43 runs & had lost 5 wickets. All important wickets were gone & this particular point of time, Royal Challengers Bangalore looked very outrageous & very dominant. Deccan Chargers scored only 82 runs in 16.2 overs & had lost 6 wickets. This was an halted scored for them, because they lost remaining 4 wickets at this run itself. This was the lowest total ever made by a team in IPL history.
 Royal Challengers Bangalore wanted just 83 runs to grab the 3rd position & also qualify to play in Twenty20 Champions League.

Jacques Kallis & Rahul Dravid opened the innings for RCB. Jacques Kallis again became the highest run getter in IPL 2010 crossing Sachin Tendulkar. He did not stay for long time as he was tricked by Rohit Sharma & gave a simple catch to the bowler. Kevin Pietersen walks to the crease & played well till the end. Rahul Dravid & Pietersen were unbeaten scoring 35 & 29 runs respectively, thereby winning the match by 9 wickets. Royal Challengers Bangalore completed their chase in 13.5 overs & got qualified for the Champions League.

Next match will be the IPL finals where Chennai Super Kings will be playing against the dominant Mumbai Indians. Definitely this will be an very interesting match to be watched as the Indian captain MS Dhoni's team will be playing against the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar 's team.

Rajasthan Royals won against Deccan Chargers by 2 runs

Rajasthan Royals played their home match against the Deccan Chargers today at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur. Rajasthan Royals won the toss & elected to bat first.
Rajasthan Royals started their innings with the openers Michael Lumb & Naman Ojha. They lost 2 quick wickets in first 15 balls. After this, Faiz Fazal & Shane Watson put up a partnership of 67 runs, which helped the Rajasthan Royals to put up a good total. After the fall of Faiz Fazal, Rajasthan Royals started to loose wickets regularly. By 19.5 overs, Rajasthan Royals put up a total of 159 runs loosing all 10 wickets. Rajasthan Royals top scorer was Shane Watson who scored 58 runs from 36 balls which included 3 fours & 3 sixes. Deccan Chargers successful bowler was RP Singh whose economy rate was just 4.25 runs per over & took 3 important wickets.
Gilchrist & VVS Laxman opened the innings for Deccan Chargers. Deccan Chargers needed 160 runs in 20 overs which was set by the Rajasthan Royals. VVS Laxman was out in 3rd ball of 3rd over, Deccan Chargers started to loose wickets in regular intervals. Only one man who played for Deccan Chargers was Rohit Sharma, he was playing nicely right from the start of his batting. But, his partners failed to build the partnership with him. Rohit Sharma, meanwhile started to ease the pressure which was on the Deccan Chargers. At one stage, Deccan Chargers needed just 6 runs from 6 deliveries & had 3 wickets left. But this did not go well for the defending champions, as they lost all 3 wickets in 5 deliveries. Deccan Chargers scored 157 runs in 19.5 overs & lost all 10 wickets. Thereby Rajasthan Royals won the match by 2 runs. Deccan Chargers top scorer was Rohit Sharma who scored 73 runs in 44 deliveries which included 8 fours & 2 sixes.
Shane Warne's team will be really proud after winning this crucial match as they not even lost a single match defending 150+ total in the Indian Premiere League.