Kings XI Punjab vs Mumbai Indians – 21st May 2008Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Robin Uthappa used to be one of my favorite cricketers. Used to be, that is! But when you run out Sachin Tendulkar, and that too in a situation when he was single handedly going to win the game for your team, well, the loyalties are bound to wither.
Having committed the most punishable offence in blogging : inactivity, I am feeling a certain amount of guilt but the emphasis is always to bring quality rather than quantity, and so it will be. Apologies, nonetheless.
Coming back to the match, Mumbai …read more

If you lock yourself in a room alone and ask yourself yourself about a score you would be embarrassed about in a T20 innings. I bet it would be higher than 67. Even the Knight Riders thought so. Was it stupendous bowling, a lethal pitch or remorseful batting? We may never know because when Mumbai batted, Jayasuriya yet again ensured that it is he people would discuss, not the match.
He took Shoaib 4-wkt Akhtar to the cleaners, took him for 23 in an over, so much so that the Indian news channels suddenly started wondering whether Akhtar was on dope …read more

Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Superkings – 14th May 2008 – Mumbai

We had earlier reported that Sachin Tendulkar would play this match. Well, of course he played and led the Indians well. His captaincy was un-Tendulkarish, refreshing and nice to analyze. But he is not everyone who has watched this match would talk about. Limelight is a very narrow road, and the person who trudged down that path was the great Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya. He scored his 100 in 45 balls, the second fastest in the tournament. Just watch the video and have a great time.
Even good bowlers like …read more

If ever there was a passionate game of cricket played, it was this one. Shah Rukh Khan, the owner, was jumping up and down the dugout as his team went about defending the midget-like total of 134. Yeah you heard that right. 134. Most of the batsmen had failed for the KKRs and now it was time for the debutante Shoaib Akhtar to justify his Price in the IPL.

In came Shoaib and Virendra Sehwag was out first ball he faced. Caught by the Keeper.
Then it was the turn of Gautam Gambhir as he fiddled with a wide one, just …read more

Kings XI Punjab vs. Mumbai Indians (April 25, 2008)
There are a lot of incidents in life which one feels should not have happened. Being slapped by a senior in your cricket team is one of the worst. Having played (and still playing) some sort of cricket myself, I can at least try to understand the agony that Shantakumaran Sreesanth must have felt when he was slapped by Harbhajan Singh. According to most sources, after the match (which the Kings finally won), Sree (Kings) went over to Harbhajan (Indians) and said, and I quote: “Hard Luck, mate.” The next moment, Sreesanth …read more