Right that’s it from me. Another game to do very shortly. That was a total non-event in the end, but worth watching just for the magnificence of MS Dhoni and Brendon McCullum earlier. CSK are a formidable looking side.
Chennai Super Kings win by 45 runs
20th over: Sunrisers 164-6 (Williamson 26, Rasool 2) target 210 It’ll be Mohit Sharma to finish things off. Rasool works him away for a single to get off the mark, before Williamson clubs a short ball cleanly through mid-on for four. After McCullum’s brilliance earlier, it’s unlikely Williamson could have made a real difference to the outcome but, with him batting right down at six, the Sunrisers didn’t help themselves to even compete. An exchange of singles, then a lovely clean six down the ground by Williamson from a slower ball. Last ball, 47 needed from it... and they only get one.
Updated
19th over: Sunrisers 150-6 (Williamson 14, Rasool 0) target 210 Bravo into his final over, having taken 1-20 from his first three. Singles from the first two balls take the required rate up above 36, at which point the match should really be stopped. It isn’t though, even though some of us have a match report to write and another game to OBO in 35 minutes. None of the players are even pretending to give the tiniest one about this match any more. One, one, one, one, one, wicket, goes the over.
Wicket! K Sharma c Raina b Bravo 4
Karn Sharma drives a length ball inside out, over extra cover and Raina runs round from mid-off to take an excellent diving catch.
18th over: Sunrisers 145-5 (Williamson 11, K Sharma 2) target 210 Ashish Nehra comes back to bowl his final over. He starts with a wide, before Williamson chips for a single. Another wide and there’s no real reason for him to be struggling with his line here; you will rarely see a bowler under less pressure than this. These two are working it around into the gaps and rotating the strike nicely here. All of which is as useful as... well, make up your own simile.
17th over: Sunrisers 138-5 (Williamson 7, K Sharma 1) target 210 Bravo comes back and the sound of Ravi’s stumps detonating (explosive stumps aren’t actually coming in until the 2018 edition of the IPL, although the TV people have put the sound effect in for the clatter of wickets) wakes me from my slumber. Karn Sharma the new man.
Wicket! Bopara b Bravo 22
Yorker, Bopara wasn’t quick enough to get bat on it. Stumps gone.
16th over: Sunrisers 132-4 (Williamson 5, Bopara 21) target 210 Microsoft decides to use Ravi Jadeja for the first time in this year’s tournament. To hell with it, he might as well bowl himself in tandem with McCullum here. Bopara nails a six straight over mid-off and the crowd barely notices. Even better next ball as he wanders down the ground and launches gloriously, straight for another. “JE SUIS JIMMY ANDERSON,” he does not scream.
15th over: Sunrisers 115-4 (Williamson 1, Bopara 8) target 210 As per the laws of the sport, we have to go through the motions of the remaining overs. 18 needed an over from here. Warner guides a short ball down past backward point for four. He then moves to 50 with a clean pull over mid-wicket, but falls looking to repeat the trick next ball. Williamson, rather a dead man walking here, comes to the crease.
“Should’nt Bopara & Williamson, both with considerable experience, bat higher up the order?” asks Rohit Singh. “Same mistake as Delhi with Yuvraj & Duminy.” That’s a good point, yup. That said, I don’t think it would have made a difference today with Warner having struggled for fluency.
Updated
Wicket! Warner c Smith b Pandey 53
Hit hard and clean to mid-wicket, where Smith times his jump perfectly and catches it on the rope.
14th over: Sunrisers 102-3 (Warner 42, Bopara 7) target 210 It looks like Ashwin will bowl through and why not? He’s been excellent here and has half a shout for LBW against the switching Warner. He actually leathered the hell out of it, so no dice. After a single, Bopara too tries the switch hit and ends up smothering the ball. An unorthodox forward defensive, he’ll tell you that was. Brilliant from Ashwin: three from the over and he finishes with 1-22 from his four overs.
13th over: Sunrisers 99-3 (Warner 40, Bopara 6) target 210 Bopara slaps Pandey away to mid-off for a couple. With 15-plus an over needed, I reckon Warner needs to have a thrash now. He tries to pull a Pandey bumper away but misses out and wears it on the grill of his helmet.
12th over: Sunrisers 93-3 (Warner 39, Bopara 1) target 210 Warner nudges into the on-side for a couple, bringing up his 2000th IPL run. We’ve had one boundary in the last five overs; Ohja looks to add to that but fails and loses his wicket in the process. Bopara is in! I’m both bored and have lost track of how many runs Ohja had. The telly and Cricinfo disagreed at some point.
Wicket! Ohja c M Sharma b Ashwin 15
Ashwin sends down a flat one, Ohja looks to go straight down the ground but doesn’t get enough on it and that’s well held by Mohit.
11th over: Sunrisers 88-2 (Warner 35, Ojha 18) target 210 Bravo nearly has Warner brilliantly caught and bowled, as the batsman muscles a pull back down the ground and Bravo, bending down, almost gets his fingers underneath it. Two runs, then comedy fielding! Ohja is struggling at the non-striker’s end, but the throw is wide. Bravo fields and looks to the other end, where Warner too is in trouble, but then he throws the ball approximately 30 yards wide of the target.
10th over: Sunrisers 80-2 (Warner 30, Ojha 13) target 210 Ashwin again. This match is over. Go home, there’s nothing to see. Just five from the first five balls, but then Ashwin gets his length wrong and Ojha clears mid-wicket.
Let’s see what the ECB have to say.
True or false. New England seamer Mark Wood owns an imaginary horse? STORY: http://t.co/dABpRe7qyM pic.twitter.com/Da0hyf2g7C
— England Cricket (@ECB_cricket) April 11, 2015
9th over: Sunrisers 69-2 (Warner 29, Ojha 4) target 210 Remember when Dwayne Bravo played cricket? Well the good times are being rolled back! He’s on, bowling to Warner and gets cut hard to cover for a couple. Bravo was expensive against the Delhi Daredevils on Thursday, with not many to defend, but he’s looking alright here. A couple of singles, then a sliced aerial drive by Warner that plugs at third man for two. Seven from the over.
8th over: Sunrisers 62-2 (Warner 23, Ojha 3) target 210 Ashwin is on, perhaps a little later than we might have initially expected. He gets a bit of turn, from outside leg back into the left-handed Warner. The Aussie batsman goes for the switch hit scoop over third man, gets in a tangle and falls flat on his arse: “Oof Jesus!” yells Warner with a smile. Just four from the over as the required run-rate drives on north of 12.
7th over: Sunrisers 58-2 (Warner 21, Ojha 1) target 210 The new batsman is Naman Ojha, the new bowler Ishwar Pandey. His first ball is launched clear of square leg by Warner for a nice clean six. The Sunrisers are not too far behind the worm now, but are two wickets further down and probably won’t have the firepower to accelerate enough at the end. Four leg-byes down to long-leg finish the over.
6th over: Sunrisers 46-2 (Warner 15, Ojha 0) target 210 Sharma too will get three overs unchanged. He goes short and Warner’s pull is fingertipped over the rope, goalie-style, for six. A decent effort from Jadeja running around and leaping to his left, but he should have been on the rope. A couple more out to cover then a quick single to mid-off, before there’s a big appeal for a catch off the outside edge when Sharma beats Rahul; there’s a noise, but I reckon that’s bat on pad. No matter as his middle stump goes tumbling the very next ball.
Wicket! Rahul b M Sharma 5
A slower ball out the back of the hand. Rahul looks to deposit it somewhere outside India, gets nowhere near the ball and is cleaned up.
5th over: Sunrisers 37-1 (Warner 6, Rahul 5) target 210 Nehra is going to get a third over on the spin and why not? Well, he’s gone for 20 so far, but that’s still fewer than Hyderabad need. Warner knocks down the ground for one, then Rahul edges just short of slip and away for four. He was pushing forward at a slower one bowled across himm but the slips were too far back for that delivery. Just five off an excellent over.
4th over: Sunrisers 32-1 (Warner 5, Rahul 1) target 210 Dhawan goes hard after a short ball, the result being a one-bounce four over mid-on. Again, little footwork, but he’s timing it so nicely right now. A single brings Warner on strike and he mistimes a thrash to square leg for one. But then Dhawan goes, struck by the OBOers curse (because I’m just that damn influential) and Rahul enters at number three. Sorry, Sunrisers fans, I’d say that’s your team pretty well cooked. A pull to fine leg gets Rahul off the mark.
Wicket! Dhawan c Jadeja b M Sharma 26
A slower ball and Dhawan doesn’t pick it. He looks to drive, it takes a thick leading edge and Jadeja snaffles it at gully.
Updated
3rd over: Sunrisers 24-0 (Warner 3, Dhawan 21) target 210 That single means Dhawan retains the strike and he cuts the first ball of this Nehra over for one. Warner nurdles, Collingwood style, into the on-side for the same, then Dhawan cuts for another. Down the ground from Warner but again, just one run. Dhawan though stands tall to the fifth ball and runs it off the face of the bat, down to the wide third man boundary for four. One more off the last.
2nd over: Sunrisers 15-0 (Warner 1, Dhawan 14) target 210 From the other end it’ll be Mohit Sharma, who surely can’t bowl worse than his two namesakes on the other side did. A short ball is as tasty as bacon and onion roll drizzled in tomato soup and Dhawan flicks that away for a one-bounce four, square on the leg-side. That’s the only scoring shot of the first five balls though and the final one only coughs up a single.
1st over: Sunrisers 10-0 (Warner 1, Dhawan 9) target 210 Ashish Nehra will open the bowling to David Warner and the Australian immediately flips him away for a single. You would imagine these two need to put on a big partnership for the Sunrisers to get anywhere close. Dhawan times a nice back-foot cut through cover for four, then, with equally glorious timing, pushes down the ground for another boundary. A single to third man makes 10 from the over. Behind the rate already.
Updated
Well what an innings from McCullum. Dhoni’s fast 50 helped the total towards monstrous proportions, but that was all about the Kiwi captain. It’s going to take something rather special for the Sunrisers just to get close. Back in a few.
End of innings and McCullum century
20th over: CSK 209-4 (Bravo 0, McCullum 100) The final over then and Boult, with decent figures of 0-19 from his first three overs, will bowl to Dhoni. The first ball is short and another tracer bullet of a pull through mid-wicket for four. That’s his 50 from just 28 balls but it proves all he’ll get. Jadeja comes in and is run out immediately. So McCullum has three balls to find 11 runs for his century. The Dilscoop brings six of them first ball, back over long leg, then the same shot brings four. One ball left, McCullum is 99 not-out... he pushes to mid-off, dashes sharply... and gets there!
Wicket! Jadeja run out 0
Jadeja sacrifices himself to get McCullum on strike, blocking the ball, running for a single that was never on and Boult threw down the stumps.
Wicket! Dhoni c Warner b Boult 53
A yorker on off-stump is hit like a rocket but at very catchable height, straight to Warner at mid-off on the edge of the ring. Very well taken, give how hard it was hit.
19th over: CSK 194-2 (Dhoni 49, McCullum 89) The Sunrisers’ best bowler today, Ravi Bopara, will get a fourth over ahead of Ishant Sharma, who has been their worst. McCullum works his first ball for a single before Dhoni nails a hard pull over square leg for four when Bopara drops short. McCullum should then have been run out by the bowler, but, having turned and taken aim from the middle of the pitch, Bopara missed with his throw after McCullum had given up. Another short ball and a it’s a one-bounce four over mid-wicket to Dhoni. A single moves him to 49.
18th over: CSK 184-2 (Dhoni 40, McCullum 88) Off comes the helmet for Dhoni and he smashes the first ball of Karn’s final over miles back into the stands beyond the bowler’s head. A dot, then a full-toss is launched over mid-wicket. This could be a nasty end to the innings for the Sunrisers. A push for one, before McCullum hammers a hard pull straight to the fielder on the fence for another single. The last ball of the over Dhoni absolutely destroys, another straight six. 20 from the over and Dhoni has 40 from 22 balls.
17th over: CSK 164-2 (Dhoni 21, McCullum 87) Our strategic timeout is done. It takes two and a half minutes to say “whack the buggery out of the thing”, you see. Bhuvi Kumar again and Dhoni gets in on the six-hitting game running down and slogging to cow-corner. There’s no swing now for Kumar, as you’d expect, so he looks eminently hittable. That’s a shame for a very likeable bowler. A single gives Brendon McCullum a couple of balls at him and Kumar gives him a wide. A good yorker dug out for one, then Dhoni turns it round the corner for another.
16th over: CSK 152-2 (Dhoni 11, McCullum 86) If you’re Brendon McCullum, do you have the guts to tell Dhoni to let you have the strike? He gets it now as Dhoni hoiks a shorter one into the gap at mid-on for one. He gives it back straight away with a push out to cover point. One more round the corner, then McCullum cuts hard, in the air over cover and sees it drop millimetres short of Williamson’s fingertips. The first proper boundary off Bopara to Dhoni as he drives an attempted yorker wristily through cover for four. One more makes nine from the over.
15th over: CSK 143-2 (Dhoni 4, McCullum 84) Warner brings back his strike bowler, Boult, and his first two balls whizz past Dhoni’s off-stump. Four dots in a row as the India captain can’t squeeze the ball through the ring of fielders on the off-side, before he finally runs one down to the backward point boundary for two. A quick single but that’s an excellent over from Boult.
— Innocent Bystander (@InnoBystander) April 11, 2015
14th over: CSK 140-2 (Dhoni 1, McCullum 84) Ravi the destroyer comes back and after a couple of singles there’s another outstanding run-out off his bowling. Dhoni promotes himself up the order though; he’s not a bad batsman when you want to keep the accelerator pressed down. Unlucky for Bopara on the final ball as he finds McCullum’s inside edge and it flies down past off-stump and away for four.
Wicket! Raina run out 14
This is hilarious. It’s brilliant fielding, because Rahul made an excellent diving stop at point and threw down one stump very sharply. It’s another run-out from Ravi Bopara’s bowling though.
13th over: CSK 133-1 (Raina 13, McCullum 79) It’s Karn Sharma again and the first three balls yield a pair of singles. The fourth ball though yields McCullum’s seventh six, this one 85m back down the ground. The fifth ball goes for the same amount, flat and like a rocket over mid-on. 14 from the over and you wonder what Dale Steyn is thinking.
12th over: CSK 119-1 (Raina 12, McCullum 66) Heh, Ishant Sharma is back. A waist-high full-toss and McCullum reverse-pulls around the corner, where it’s misfielded and allows them a couple. Another full-toss follows, even higher, even more woeful and the batsman simply flips it over fine-leg, miles back into the stands to bring up his 50. The next ball he comes down the track, turns it into another full toss and drives it through point for four more. And it’s another huge no-ball! This is wonderfully, brilliantly hilarious bowling. Full-toss again, and McCullum scoops straight back over the keeper’s head for another six. Pulled away for one, then the final ball is hooked away by Raina for a couple more. 23 from the over and Ishant has 0-46 from his three overs so far.
11th over: CSK 96-1 (Raina 9, McCullum 47) Huh, Warner has taken Bopara off, which is a surprise after his last over went for just three. Bhuvi Kumar comes back into the attack and Raina pushes his first ball for a sharp single to bring McCullum back on strike. Down the ground he goes from a full-toss, but it’s cut off at long-off for one. The bowler then drops a fraction short and Raina carves it with perfect timing past backward point for four. If these two stay together for a few overs we’ll be looking at a monster total.
10th over: CSK 89-1 (Raina 3, McCullum 46) A change of spinner, with the offie Parvez Rasool on. McCullum clubs him out over extra cover, where it runs to the boundary and beats Bhuvi Kumar’s rather pathetic slide. I saw someone yesterday mention that the Royals’ incredible relay catch proved that the idea that fielding standards are poor in the IPL is nonsense; the thing is, they’re hugely erratic, which by definition is not good. McCullum slogs a short one into the empty stands at mid-wicket for six more.
9th over: CSK 78-1 (Raina 2, McCullum 36) It’s Ravi Bopara time! The man you want to turn to to halt carnage and his bowling immediately brings the run-out. That’s not much comfort mind, as Suresh Raina enters in his 117th IPL match. That was a superb throw by Boult. Raina pushes for a single, then McCullum dabs to Boult for another sharp one, but this time Raina is home comfortably. Another single down the ground, and that’s a great over from Ravi. Just three off it.
Updated
Wicket! Smith run-out 27
That was probably the only way this partnership was going to end. A dab to short third man by McCullum, they dash through and a Boult’s direct hit has Smith short by miles.
8th over: CSK 75-0 (Smith 27, McCullum 35) Speaking of gloriously stupid fun. Karn Sharma will carry on and Smith lofts a drive cleanly over the long-on rope for six more. Three singles and a leg-bye, before the bowler goes up for LBW against Smith. It wasn’t even close to hitting.
Sky are showing an advert for Prison Break. Remember Prison Break? I rewatched the first season a while ago and it was gloriously stupid fun.
7th over: CSK 65-0 (Smith 19, McCullum 35) That’s the end of the powerplay and it’s been a good one for CSK. Ishant continues, overpitches and Smith drives nicely off the front foot, straight back past the bowler for four. Smith then pushes for one, before Sharma oversteps yet again, by miles, while sending down a wide. Scenes. McCullum picks mid-on for the free hit and goes with the cross-bat slog. Six runs, obviously. The final ball is a full-toss that McCullum slaps over extra-cover for four.
6th over: CSK 49-0 (Smith 14, McCullum 24) Double Sharma as Karun comes into the attack and, when he drops short, McCullum does his thang and whacks it over square leg into the stands. That was a freebie. Only a couple of singles from the rest of the over though.
5th over: CSK 41-0 (Smith 13, McCullum 17) Time for the first bowling change and Ishant Sharma comes in. McCullum gives him the charge, because of course he does, but this time doesn’t connect properly and there’s no run. Nevertheless, the broadcasters stick the explosion sound effect in. I can’t decide if this is brilliant or awful. Anyway, Sharma oversteps and McCullum will get a free-hit, but can only squirt the yorker away for a single. This is a good comeback from Sharma; he gets one to shape away from Smith then beats him with a low one. “This has been [Smith’s] weakness over the years,” says the commentator. He presumably means batting. Another no-ball from Ishant and Smith backs away and drives the free-hit nicely through point for four. Good wrists there from the batsman.
My apologies, I had Smith’s score wrong there as it turns out those overthrows earlier came from a leg-bye.
4th over: CSK 34-0 (Smith 14, McCullum 16) How traditional, the two opening bowlers are unchanged for the first four overs. Pft, innovation my backside. A leg-bye to open, then McCullum charges, swings and connects with nowt while the ball whistles just past leg stump. Boult sends down a fine yorker, but McCullum chips it back over his head and down the ground for four. A clip away to mid-on for one, then Smith knocks the final ball off his pads and down to fine-leg for another boundary.
3rd over: CSK 24-0 (Smith 10, McCullum 11) That LBW shout agains McCullum in the last over did in fact pitch in line, but it was far too high. Kumar continues and sends down a wide to Smith, who was running down the pitch at him. There’s a chance to run Smith out next ball as McCullum comes haring through for the run with his partner daydreaming; a direct hit would have done for him but it ends up flying past the stumps and away for four overthrows. McCullum then lofts a length ball over mid-wicket for the first six of the day. On the replay, the TV people put an explosion sound effect in as the bat connects with the ball. You can’t make jokes about this tournament. Another wide, leg-side this time, is bookended by a couple of good dot ball yorkers. And another to finish the over.
The commentators are referring to Smith as “Dr. Smith, because it says D R Smith on the back of his shirt.” It actually says “India Cements”, but never mind.
Controversial opinion on Steyn, this one.
@DanLucas86 @BoknRoll Should've happened in Worldcup. He's totally out of form. Great bowler but out of form. Needs to "find" himself again.
— Kevin Wright (@kevtintinwright) April 11, 2015
Updated
2nd over: CSK 11-0 (Smith 5, McCullum 5) Right then, Boult v McCullum. And it’s a false start as he begins with a leg-side wide. D’oh. Full and wide outside off-stump next and McCullum thrashes it through cover for four runs. Vicious. The next ball keeps low and beats the batsman’s thrash. They take a sharp single to mid-off, bringing Smith back on strike. Boult is getting a bit of swing back in to the West Indian and raps him on the pad, before Smith clips away another single to short fine leg. The final ball brings an appeal for LBW, but it looks to have pitched outside leg.
1st over: CSK 4-0 (Smith 4, McCullum 0) Bhuvi Kumar is the man to get things underway and he immediately makes this look like international cricket, by beating a wild swish from Dwayne Smith. He really is as bad a player as will ever play 105 ODIs. Smith looks to turn the fourth ball through mid-wicket and gets a thick leading edge through cover for four. There’s a soupcon of movement for the seamer but I wouldn’t expect that to last on what looks to be a very hot day.
I reckon you still want to get him out.
Dominic Cork on bowlers v Brendon McCullum. Analysis, that.
Well, if Warnie says so...
@DanLucas86 @Cricket_Ali Genius decision, that. Warnie was banging on about how good Bopara was during the World Cup.
— Akshay (@AkshayP5000) April 11, 2015
So Boult and Williamson make their IPL debuts. The former will presumably be opening the bowling, to McCullum. Eeee!
Dale Steyn dropped for Ravi Bopara
Honest to god, Dale Steyn has been replaced by Ravi Bopara. Seriously. “In what kind of parallel universe does that happen?” asks my colleague James Dart. He’s right: the IPL is weird.
CSK: B McCullum, DR Smith, S Raina, F du Plessis, R Jadeja, MS Dhoni, DJ Bravo, R Ashwin, M Sharma, I Pandey, A Nehra
SRH: D Warner, S Dhawan, L Rahul, N Ojha, K Williamson, R Bopara, P Rasool, K Sharma, B Kumar, I Sharma, T Boult.
Toss news
Microsoft Dhoni of CSK wins the toss and elects to have a bat. Shut up, that joke never gets old.
Back to cricket news, and the West Indies have named the uncapped duo Shai Hope and Carlos Brathwaite in their squad for the England tour later this month. Full story and all that here.
What’s your favourite Eagles song?
Also, I didn’t realise Joe Walsh played the piano. The Dude was full of crap: the Eagles were awesome.
So this feels like an opportune moment to talk about Kevin. Will the Sunrisers miss him? Probably not, if his performances in last year’s tournament were anything to go by. He followed that up with a good Big Bash, yes, but the faster, quicker Australian pitches would have been more to his liking anyway. I don’t want to say he’s finished as a batsman and I’d dearly love for him to make a stirring comeback this summer, but as the fact he only sold for his base price anyway suggests, he’s no longer the India-conquering force of 2012 and in the likes of Rohit Sharma, McCullum and Warner, there are new kids in town.
A note on that video: is there anything less likely than a Randy Meisner Facebook community?
Preamble
Morning folks. On to day four of the IPL then and we have a double-header. I’ve just switched on the telly and, what with all the lights, glitz and macho posturing it genuinely took me 10 minutes to realise that they’re showing WWE wrestling and not highlights of previous matches.
No, it’s not exactly cricket, but it feels churlish to complain. After all, today’s match is going to see Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni and everyone’s favourite New Zealander, Brendon McCullum, go up against David Warner, Trent Boult, Dale Steyn and everyone’s favourite Englishman, Ravi Bopara. The Sunrisers’ Kevin Pietersen-free squad also features Kane Williamson, Shikhar Dhawan and Eoin Morgan – whose form in the shortest format is at least a bit better than it is in ODIs – so the competition new-ish boys will take some knocking down.
Still, some knocking down is what the Super Kings are capable of. In the second match of this year’s tournament they managed to defend 150 on a flat wicket using only Indian bowlers and an off-colour Dwayne Bravo. Still, for my money the Delhi Daredevils lineup is nowhere near the tournament’s most imposing, and you’d reckon that the home side today can ill-afford another failure from both B-Mac (I hate that nickname, but it feels apropos for this tournament, don’t you think?) and Raina.
The Super Kings are the heavy favourites with the bookies for this one, although I fancy Hyderabad, under Warner’s stewardship, to cause an upset. Then again, I suppose the appeal of T20 is that it’s largely anyone’s guess who’s going to come out on top.
Team news and toss news will appear here when I get it. Until then, here’s some funky music from the band I saw last night, to keep you entertained. I even got to hug that puppet.
