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Showing posts with label Chinnaswamy Stadium. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chinnaswamy Stadium. Show all posts

Sunday 29 May 2016

IPL2016 Final: And Then There Were Two ... RCB vs SRH

#IPL2016
#IPLFinal
#RCBvsSRH
Bengaluru, M. Chinnaswamy Stadium

After a two months of heavy action and hustle-bustle between 8 teams, the two best performing teams have reached the finals. I wont say they are the best teams of the tournament though.

#RCB had a horrible start and they were precariously placed until the #Virat-AB show saved them the blushes. Their biggest weaklink, their bowling came good at the right moment too and they are now the team to beat on current form.

#SRH on the other hand, started brilliantly. Their bowling, arguably the best bowling side of the tournament, pushed them top of table early in the tourney but reversals down the line meant they had to huff-puff their way to the qualifiers. Its only in the Eliminator and Qualifier2 that they seem to build an intensity to win the title.

So, WHO WILL WIN THE CUP??

Batting
RCB have a clear edge here. Virat, AB, Gayle, Watson, KL Rahul, Baby, Binny are better than their SRH counterparts head to head. Virat beats Dhawan, AB negates Warner, Gayle negates Yuvraj, Watson beats Henriques on experience, Rahul, Baby and Binny seem better off than Dwivedi, Ojha and Hooda. Mind you SRH batting can explode anytime. Yuvi is due and has shown he can take the bowlers to the cleaners. Bipul Sharma's cameos in both previous games tilted victory towards SRH from tricky situations. Look out for him and Dwivedi. Dhawan is over due.

RCB will expect the law of averages has hit Virat just in that Qualifier1 game. If he scores his first 10 runs with confidence today, he will close the game. So will AB or Gayle. Thats why they are a more formidable batting lineup than SRH.

Bowling
The scenario changes by 180 degrees here. SRH has been the bowling side of the tournament and that too without too many spinners! Bhuvaneshwar and Mustafizur have led that attack brilliantly. Henriques, Boult, Sran and Cutting have played their support role very well too.

RCB on the other hand, have some issues with their bowling. Although Watson with all his experience and Jordan with his wily death over bowling skills, can do damage they have shown propensity to go for a lot of runs too. An off day would be mean chasing 20-25 runs extra with added pressure. Chahal has been their trump of the season though.His leggies have baffled teams and in rush of scoring against him, they have perished to his guile. Aaron, Richardson haven't done much to instill confidence of their skipper. Abdulla is a good spinning option alongside Chahal.

Experience of IPL Finals?
#RCB have experienced IPL finals before in 2009 and 2011 but lost both of them while #SRH are straddling unknown territory. Who will feel better? Guess, SRH because they have nothing to lose, they will treat it as a new fresh game but RCB with those two losses in their bag will carry bad memories with them.

Home ground Advantage?
Yes, very much with RCB. They will have the home crowd rooting for them big time and put pressure on visiting SRH. Also, Eliminator and Qualifier1 were played in New Delhi. The conditions, pitch were dramatically different than Chinnaswamy.

X-Factors
For RCB, it would be undoubtedly Chahal's bowling alongside #Virat-AB batting combination.

For SRH, it would be their key bowlers - Bhuvi, Mustafizur (if fit) and #Warner's batting.

Weather?
Rain is forecast for match day and this will make things interesting especially at the toss. Monday is reserve day for the finals though.

Preparations?
RCB qualified for the final on Tuesday (4 days ago) and already camped in Bengaluru since. They will have rested their players well, tackled niggling injuries and adjusted to the conditions better. 
SRH on the other hand had to sweat it out in Eliminator on Wed, Qualifier1 on Friday and then fly down from NewDelhi to Begaluru late last evening (owing to a flight delay). This has given them very less, if at all, time to recuperate and prepare for this game at the venue.

All in all looks like a SRH Bowling vs RCB Batting contest this.
Can't wait for the game to get started.
Let the best team win!!!

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Thursday 8 January 2015

Ind v Eng (Bengaluru, ICC World Cup 2011)

Venue: Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

What climax? What drama? What a game of cricket?
Spellbinding stuff from both teams in this very high scoring game!

On paper, the Indian team appeared much stronger and expected winners of this contest.
A beautiful afternoon in the garden city and #MSDhoni, the Indian captain won the toss and elected to bat.

#Sehwag and #Tendulkar started in blazing fashion and put on 46 until Sehwag was prized by #TimBresnan for 35. #Gambhir joined Sachin and both of them tore into the English attack. Sachin was severe on #GraemeSwann, the premier English spinner and notched up his century. When he fell for a superb 120, score read 236 for 3 in 38.2 overs.

This meant an ideal launch pad for the Indian middle order to unleash their guns in the last 12 overs.
#YuvrajSingh 58 and #Dhoni 31 launched an assault of epic proportions to propel India past 300 shortly. When Dhoni was claimed by Bresnan at team score of 305 in the 46th over, India was looking well beyond 350 as target.

However amazingly, they just imploded through poor strokeplay and tight disciplined bowling by the English bowlers towards the end. Final score India 338 all out in 49.5 overs. Bresnan starred with a 5-for, mostly responsible to hold that total back.

One bowl short of 50 overs. Will that one unplayed delivery cost Indians dearly?

A massive target none the less. England needing around 7 runs per over from the start to chase it down. Looked real tough. However to their advantage the Chinnawamy stadium is extremely flat and docile for batting.

England captain #AndrewStrauss and top batsman #KevinPietersen opened England's innings in style pummeling the Indian quicks to all parts of the park. They reached 68 in under 10 overs before Pietersen was caught and bowled by #MunafPatel. #JohnathanTrott followed soon after for 18, scoreline 111-2 (16 overs). Runs were under control but they needed to ensure wickets were not lost too soon.

#IanBell joined his captain and slowly they started dominating the Indian bowling. Strauss was severe on the seamers and equally attacking against the spinners. Ian Bell found his touch too. In no time, they had crossed 150, then 200 and 250 as well (under 40 overs). Strauss completed a brilliant hundred to match Sachin's century while Bell completed a wonderful supporting fifty.

At 281 in the 43rd over (and on course for a facile victory), tragedy struck for England. In desperation, Dhoni threw the ball to #ZaheerKhan, the master of reverse swing, and he produced a magical spell to claim Bell and Strauss in one over followed by #PaulCollingwood soon after.

Suddenly, the target seemed to be slipping away from England's grasp. However there was still some twist left in the tale. Graeme Swann and Tim Bresnan, who had bowled wonderfully, produced some massive sixes against #PiyushChawla to get things closer. When #AhmedShahzad smashed Munaf Patel for six over long on in the last over needing 10 runs to win, England sniffed victory again.

Last ball, 2 runs to win.
Munaf to Swann
A good yorker, dug out by Swann towards mid off and scamper for a run.
Scores tied
India 338 all out
England 338 for 8 

Amazing scenes in the dressing rooms. England felt they should have won. India thought they shouldnt have been stretched this far after putting up a mammoth score.

All in all, a tremendous result.
Cricket was the winner in this one!

MOM: Andrew Strauss (As Nasser Hussain put it during the presentation party - very few innings can match, let along surpass, a Sachin Tendulkar hundred and Strauss did just that today!)

Match Highlights: