IPL 2014 KKR second time won the title final match beat KXIP

2014 IPL 7th Season Piyush Chawla had possibly played the most important shot - and the most important cameo - of his career: the 4 on the 3rd ball of the 20th over, which handed Gautam Gambhir team their second IPL trophy in 3 years, by 3wickets, this time at the cost of the most explosive team of the season, Kings XI Punjab.

Kings XI Punjab Wriddhiman Saha’s swashbuckling 55-ball 115. The 1st century in an IPL final and the first by an Indian wicket-keeper propelled a slow-starting Punjab to 199 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Punjab Maxwell and Miller, and a resurgent Virender Sehwag had earlier contributed just 8 in 12 balls and Kings were 32/2 after 6 overs and 58/2 after 10 overs – their lowest scores this season after Gambhir invited them to bat. Sehwag (7) fell to an Umesh Yadav bouncer that grew on him. Bailey promoted himself over Maxwell, only to be bowled by Narine’s first ball of the match, the first of the 6th over. Even more of a surprise was watching Wriddhiman Saha pad out instead of Maxwell to join Manan Vohra. 

Wriddhiman Saha and Vohra (67) went on to add 129 in 12 overs following a watchful start against Kolkata’s 2nd-line of spinners. Wriddhiman Saha was spectacular with his power and placement and seemed to be perpetually conscious of changes to the field. He caught up to reach a half-century in just 29 balls and then mauled the bowling.

Punjab would have considered them favorites after Johnson sent back the Orange cap holder Robin Uthappa in the first over of the chase. Captain Gambhir too perished for 23 – the first of Karanveer’s four – and it was left to Pandey and Yusuf Pathan to sort things out. Clubbing 4 sixes in a 22-ball 36. He added 71 in 7.2 overs with Pandey before holing out to Karanveer.

But with 15 needed in the last 2 overs, Chawla took it upon himself, hooking Johnson over deep backward square-leg before hitting the winning runs and taking off in celebration. Unfortunately, for Punjab, a cracking more severe awaited their own bowlers.

Score Details

Kings XI Punjab- 199/4(20)

Kolkata Knight Riders- 200/7(19.3)

Player of the match

M Pandey 

Player of the series

G Maxwell

IPL 2014 Sehwag Century KXIP Will Meat KKR,Beat CSK By 24 Runs

IPL 2014 Sehwag 58-ball 122 from earlier in the day looks like an everyday sort of innings. Suresh Raina seemed to be batting in a trance that was slowing down time, and slowing down cricket-ball action film.Chennai Super Kings were 100 for 2 after six over’s. It was the highest Power play score in Twenty20 cricket. Suresh Raina was brilliant on 87 off 25 balls. 

With Chennai Super Kings' bowlers feeding him a juicy, back-of-a-length diet interspersed with full-tosses (they bowled 17 in all), Sehwag raced along at a strike rate of over 200, outshining all of his teammates in the process. Manan Vohra only scored 34 out of an opening stand of 110, Glenn Maxwell 13 out of a second-wicket stand of 38 and David Miller 31 out of a third-wicket partnership of 63.

When du Plessis took a difficult diving effort at extra cover to send back Sehwag Kings XI were 211 for 3 with 11 balls to go. It was the third time in three matches this season that they had crossed 200 against Super Kings. For the third time, their batting firepower set them up for a comfortable victory. For six unreal over’s, though, their total looked glaringly inadequate.

The direct hit caught Raina well short Run-out could end Suresh Raina innings from George Bailey. Having brought on Karanveer Singh, the leg spinner, and having brought the field in to deny Brendon McCullum the easy single, Bailey himself was called on to capitalize on the batsman's over-eagerness to bring Raina back on strike. Bailey sprinted hard to his left, picked up the ball, transferred it to his throwing hand, and released a hard, flat throw, all this on the turn.

The direct hit caught Raina well short. The throw broke the wicket, and broke the spell that Raina had cast over the game. Having scored 100 in the first six overs, Super Kings could only manage 102 off the last 14, and even a customary last-ball six from MS Dhoni. 

He had reached his fifty in 16 balls, and become the second-quickest to the mark in the IPL, That happened in the sixth over, in which the unfortunate Parvinder Awana - went for 33, in a sequence that read 6, 6, 4, 4, 4 (no ball), 4, 4. 

They also made a couple of tactical decisions that were, in retrospection, questionable: Ravindra Jadeja and David Hussey walked in ahead of Dhoni, who finally came in with 87 required from 47 balls, with too little firepower left in the dugout. The task proved well beyond an out-of-sorts Dhoni in the end.

The evening had been lit up by Sehwag second IPL century. Coming towards the close of a season in which he has steadily gathered form, the Sehwag who burst upon the Wankhede came extremely close to resembling the Sehwag of his peak years, hardhearted on the smallest amount of width, sneering against the spinners, and equally capable of stinging power and cheeky placement. 

Score Details

Kings XI -226/6(20)

Chennai Super Kings-202/7(20)

Player of the match

Virender Sehwag

IPL 2014 Eliminator Round Chennai Beat Mumbai

2014 IPL 7th Season Chennai Super Kings to turn it on when they have to Faced with elimination in the, well, ‘Eliminator’, MS Dhoni’s team cruise past caring champions Mumbai Indians without so much as a rivulet of sweat stain their yellow jerseys.

After restricting Mumbai Indians to a below-par 173 at Brabourne Stadium. Chennai super kings Suresh Raina, named captain of India for the ODI tour of Bangladesh celebrated the new role by hitting yet another IPL fifty, a 33-ball 54. Dhoni’s choice to field did not seem to be a wise one after Mumbai Indians openers Michael Hussey and Lendl Simmons had put on 54 in the Power play. Mumbai’s total (173).

Chennai super kings FAF du Plessis (35) and Dwayne Smith (24) made the most of their chances to lay a foundation and took Chennai Super Kings to 60 without loss in 6 overs. He scratched around for 5 off ten balls, but when medium pace was reintroduced in the form of Bumrah, Hussey cut with authority for his first boundary. A spate of sixes in Ojha's last over followed and Hussey over with a 29-ball 40, having featured in a game-changing partnership of 89 in 9.1 overs with Suresh Raina. The end came when Raina, fittingly, flicked the 4th ball of the 18th over to the fence for the winning runs.

Mumbai Indians were 143/2 in the 17th over with Simmons (67) having hit top-gear soon after reaching a half-century, but gathered just 30 from the remaining 20 balls amid a torrent of wickets. Their chain of heavy hitters - Corey Anderson, Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Ambati Rayudu and Aditya Tare - was all out forcing the pace. 

But none of them wasted time as they contribute a total of 56 in 38 balls. The final push however never arrived and the innings rode almost entirely on the impetus of the 76-run opening stand between Michael Hussey and Simmons.

Score Details

Mumbai Indians-173/8(20)

Chennai Super Kings-176/3(18.4)

Player of the match

Suresh Raina

IPL 2014 Kolkata goes to final beat KXIP Uthappa record

IPL 2014 in India Robin Uthappa prolonged a stellar season and took the record for the highest runs scored by an Indian batsman in an all IPL season. Gambhir, though scratchy with the bat, had helmed an impressive turnaround by Kolkata Knight Riders beat Kings Xi Punjab. Knight Riders eased into the IPL final.

Kings XI Punjab would not have been worried by a target of 164, but the advent of a non-stop drizzle in the third over meant they had to undertake one of the wilier bowling attacks with the scene of the match being shortened at any given moment.

The fast Bowler Umesh Yadav was not among those bound for England in July. His chosen way to vent was an opening spell of 2 for 12 in 3 over’s.

An Bangladesh Player Shakib Al Hasan and Piyush Chawla grabbed a wicket, while conceding only 11 runs in 3 over’s, as Kings XI Punjab meander to 97 for 6 in after 16 over’s. George Bailey attempted a counterattack, but Sunil Narine kept the last but one over to 4 runs to all but seal the result.

Akshar Patel snared the in-form Robin Uthappa and a stressed Manish Pandey in the same over. Karanveer Singh furthered his stocks with 3 wickets. However, in between their strikes Knight Riders had benefited from important cameos to secure a formidable total. His exit however seemed to drain Knight Riders' momentum until Yusuf Pathan and Shakib Al Hasan contributed 41 off 33 balls in the push towards the death over’s.

Score Details

Kolkata Knight Riders -163/8(20)

Kings XI -135/8(20)

Player of the match

Umesh Yadav

IPL-2014 7th Season first century Lendl Simmons Mumbai Beat KXIP

IPL-2014 7th Season Lendl Simmons first century for this season walked in with a strike-rate of 115. It would have been adequate considering Mumbai Indians' target was a relatively unchallenging 157. Mumbai's chances at a playoff spot not only depended on wins in every match they play. Lifting Mumbai to as high as 5th in the table.

Mumbai wavered from their course as the need to gain points on run-rate took a backseat to Simmons' landmark. Once the necessary single was taken calmly through square leg, Pollard immediately slammed the final ball of the 18th over into the crowd beyond long-on.

Simmons drew impressive power from swift hands and a steady base. The cut was a frequent source of boundaries as he accounted for 55 of the opening partnership's 68.

The target seemed set to be far steeper in the wake of Virender Sehwag employing his see-ball-hit-ball-forget-about-feet method with telling effect. He had taken Kings XI to 23 after 2 overs, but a freak run-out gone Sehwag ruing another start not capitalized on.

There were cracks on the Mohali pitch, but initial waywardness from Shreyas Gopal and Pragyan Ojha cost 51 in four overs. With their most potent weapon, Glenn Maxwell, still in the shed, Kings XI was primed for another assault.

But as had happened in the previous encounter between the two sides, the middle order was stymied and then sent back. Krishmar Santokie broke the 64-run stand for the 2nd wicket as Marsh holed out. Gopal's leg spin was persisted with and the gamble proved dividends as Vohra and Glenn Maxwell were pried out.

A slow pitch and a sudden dearth of big-hitters pushed Kings XI into a prolonged state of caution. Noticeable speeding up took as late as the 18th over and George Bailey strove towards a score that might offer some fairness to their start. The eventual 156 did not, nor was it good enough.

Score Details

Kings XI-156/8(20) 

Mumbai Indians-159/3(19) 

Player of the match

Lendl Simmons