It was a great evening on 22nd April 2013 at Chennai where the finalists of the first IPL were about to battle with each other. Since the inception, the fight between these two teams have been a splendid matter. There have been some changes in both the teams, but more or less the spirit has remained the same.
It was a toss time and Rahul Dravid, on winning the toss decided to bat first. Shane Watson - one of the reason for making Royals the champions in 2008 opened the batting with Ajinkya Rahane, one of the highest run scorers in 2012 season. There was a steady start and it seemed that Rahane had decided to stay till the end of the innings by not going for risky shots. But he could not survive for more overs and so was the case for others. On the other side, Watson, after 2-3 calm overs, started to loose his patience as always, but in a systematic and planned fashion and provided a sign of staying for as many overs as he can.
And as expected, Shane Watson (33), the native of Queensland knocked a great innings and showcased his strength with a splendid century (which was the first century in IPL 2013) hitting a huge six. He made it possible for Royals to cross 175 and finally, put a comparative total of 184 with the blasting innings by Stuart Binny. Hence there was nothing to do from the Fielding side except Mr. Cricket running on the entire ground. He stopped merely 15-20 runs at the boundaries with his superb fielding demonstrations throughout the innings.
The second innings started with a debt of a giant 9.3 RPO(runs per over) for the Super Kings. As all know, CSK are powerful in all the three departments of Cricket (namely batting, bowling and fielding), many people expected that provided a good start, they should get the target. CSK batting started with M Vijay and M Hussey, who showed a temperament of sticking to the creeze, yet scoring the runs.
Usually, Michael Hussey is considered as a test player and he is not meant for big shots. But to the surprise of all, he thrashed all the bowlers outside boundary and since beginning only, he took care that they would not get increasing required run-rate. Murli Vijay was dismissed very early by Chandila. But then Suresh Raina with Michael Hussey built the innings very comprehensively and set up the base for their chase. They totally rules out the claim of RR for the victory and easily progressed towards the win.
After the second strategic time out, it was James Faulkner - the most economic bowler for Rajasthan Royals, dismissed Michael Hussey, his countryman with a glorious delivery. Two quick wickets followed this and RR came back strongly into the match. The last over needed 11 runs and CSK had Chris Morris on strike and Dwayne Bravo off strike. All hopes of RR was on the Watson, who was chosen to bowl the 20th over. With first two balls causing a single run, the target was 10 off 4 legal deliveries. Bravo, as expected, then hit a huge six leaving negligible target for them which they easily completed with one delivery left. Thus, an action pack match finished with one ball remaining and CSK winning the match by 5 wickets.
According to me, the players of the match were totally Aussie power namely, Michael Hussey (both fielding and batting), Shane Watson (batting) and James Faulkner(bowling). One of the prime assets of CSK is their running between the wicket. They are very smart in converting 0s into 1s and 1s into 2s. If a team needs to control them, then the chances of singles and doubles should be cut down. In all, I can say that Mr Cricket proved that he is above than time. He is, in real terms, unstoppable, disaster manager and rescue operator and many more adjectives for him. One must remember his innings against Pakistan in ICC WorldCup semifinal and Said Ajmal's over.
Usually, Michael Hussey is considered as a test player and he is not meant for big shots. But to the surprise of all, he thrashed all the bowlers outside boundary and since beginning only, he took care that they would not get increasing required run-rate. Murli Vijay was dismissed very early by Chandila. But then Suresh Raina with Michael Hussey built the innings very comprehensively and set up the base for their chase. They totally rules out the claim of RR for the victory and easily progressed towards the win.
After the second strategic time out, it was James Faulkner - the most economic bowler for Rajasthan Royals, dismissed Michael Hussey, his countryman with a glorious delivery. Two quick wickets followed this and RR came back strongly into the match. The last over needed 11 runs and CSK had Chris Morris on strike and Dwayne Bravo off strike. All hopes of RR was on the Watson, who was chosen to bowl the 20th over. With first two balls causing a single run, the target was 10 off 4 legal deliveries. Bravo, as expected, then hit a huge six leaving negligible target for them which they easily completed with one delivery left. Thus, an action pack match finished with one ball remaining and CSK winning the match by 5 wickets.
According to me, the players of the match were totally Aussie power namely, Michael Hussey (both fielding and batting), Shane Watson (batting) and James Faulkner(bowling). One of the prime assets of CSK is their running between the wicket. They are very smart in converting 0s into 1s and 1s into 2s. If a team needs to control them, then the chances of singles and doubles should be cut down. In all, I can say that Mr Cricket proved that he is above than time. He is, in real terms, unstoppable, disaster manager and rescue operator and many more adjectives for him. One must remember his innings against Pakistan in ICC WorldCup semifinal and Said Ajmal's over.
