Windies warm to brash T20 style

Hands thrust deep in pockets and cursing their bosses through chattering teeth for agreeing to a Test series in chilly England, the World Twenty20 can't have come quick enough for the West Indies.

When WI captain Chris Gayle, who thrives on packed houses and warm weather cricket, surveyed the rows and rows of empty seats at Chester-Le-Street as his team suffered a second Test drubbing, his thoughts would have drifted back to the IPL.

Had not the West Indies Cricket Board stepped in to fill the Test gap left by Zimbabwe and then Sri Lanka, Gayle as well as other teammates would have been raking in serious cash in the IPL in South Africa.

The Skipper made it clear which aspect of the game he preferred when he arrived in England two days before the first Test having played for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the opening part of the IPL extravganza.

"Everyone knew this would happen," he said. "Maybe there should be a window for the IPL when all players should be available so everybody can get the chance to play against the best, like the World Cup."

The West Indian players, or at least some of them, are regularly at loggerheads with the WICB over financial rewards, although many have already reaped the benefits of Twenty20.

They came out on top in the unlamented Stanford Super Series last year when players became instant millionaires.

Their record on the international front has mirrored their unpredictable talents.

At the 2007 World Twenty20, Gayle smashed 117 in the game against hosts South Africa, and shared a record opening stand of 145 with Devon Smith, but still they lost.

They were then humiliated by Bangladesh by six wickets and failed to reached the Super Eights second round.

In all, the West Indies have won four of their 11 T20 internationals and will face a tough task to make the Super Eights in the 2009 event having been placed in Group D with Australia and Sri Lanka.

Their 15-man squad saw big-hitting Xavier Marshall recalled but Devon Smith misses out.

There are plenty of potential big run-makers in the West Indies line-up.

However, it's their ability of their wayward bowlers to keep a tight leash on opposing batsmen which will concern coach John Dyson.

In the second Test against England, the Caribbean side conceded 61 extras, 28 of them no-balls with frontline Fast bowler Fidel Edwards the worst culprit with 22 no-balls.

Andrew Flintoff ruled out of World Twenty20

England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff was ruled out of the World Twenty20 competition which gets happening on June 5.

The 31-year-old - who had constant injury problems over the past few years - has failed to make progress in time from right knee surgery after he suffered the injury during the Indian Premier League series 2009 in South Africa.

Nick Peirce, the England and Wales Cricket Board medical officer, required to allay fears this could cast doubt on Flintoff taking part in the upcoming Ashes series 2009 where England will be seeking to recover them after the humiliating 5-0 whitewash in 2006/07 when Flintoff captained the side.

"Andrew Flintoff is making brilliant progress and there is no swelling or pain now in the knee," said Peirce of the all rounder, who was England's star player when they won the Ashes in 2005 which was the last time he scored a century for the England side.

"He has been putting in some tremendously hard training with Lancashire and should start running and practicing this week.

"We have obtained permission from ICC to name Adil Rashid as a replacement," said Miller, a former England spinner.

Deccan chargers are 2009 DLF IPL champions

For once, Ravi Shastri was entitled to bellow his lungs out on the mic and invite the world and its uncle to party, because this was an occasion that was worthy of some over-the-top hype. The finals couldn't have featured teams better suited to headline writers if it had been scripted - after all, these were the sides that were locked in a 'least-worst' contest last year. But in a true testament to the nature of T20 cricket, where the form of the day is what counts, they had risen to the summit of this year's contest.

It started off on expected lines - Anil Kumble won the toss and opted to bowl, Adam Gilchrist said he wasn't sure what he would have done on winning the toss.

With Kumble opening the bowling in recent matches, one of the most eagerly awaited battle-within-battles of the finals happened in the first over itself, when Gilchrist faced up to his opposite number. However, it was not a classic by any means - it was a hands down triumph for Kumble who bowled Gilchrist off the third ball of the match, giving his team a huge early advantage. Mindful of Gilchrist's penchant for swatting faster bowlers like so many flies, Kumble cleverly slowed down the pace of the ball, to lure him out and fool him with the wrong 'un.

Much like in the semi-finals, Kumble brought himself on for only one over inside the power-play. In the previous match, his target had been to get Hayden, this time it was Gilchrist. He failed then, but was right on the money today.

Hyderabad suffered another jolt when Suman was out to Vinay Kumar - the leading edge going in the direction of the covers, where Manish Pandey took a well judged catch despite the fact that 2 other fielders were running in, and no one called for it.

To have a reasonable chance at a match-winning total, Hyderabad needed Symonds and Gibbs to combine well. They did get a partnership going but were fortunate. Had Rahul Dravid - the world record holder for catches in Test cricket - not fluffed a sitter off Andrew Symonds. The unfortunate bowler was Vinay Kumar, and Symonds was then on 5 from 6 balls, and Hyderabad were 23 for 2 in 5.2 overs.

Hyderabad then had another slice of luck, when Gibbs edged a ball between the wicket-keeper and Dravid who was at a widish first slip off Kallis.

With Symonds opening his shoulders and looking dangerous, Anil Kumble went to his go-to bowler for tight situations - i.e. himself. The change worked, as Kumble got Symonds bowled, the ball looping off the batsman's thigh pad and onto the bails, and after a brief recovery Hyderabad were once again on the backfoot, heading into the strategy break at 62 for 3.

The Bangalore bowlers maintained the pressure, and it was a matter of time before something happened. Either Gibbs and Rohit Sharma would be successful in breaking the shackles, or would perish in trying to do so. Hyderabad had endured a 36 ball dry spell, boundary wise, but the batsmen finally found their timing and placement with a flurry of boundaries, and Praveen Kumar's third over went for 20 runs, both batsmen hitting him for sixes. The fifty partnership was raised in 41 balls, and both batsmen looked set to explode.

However, the finals had a set script to follow - everytime a batsman or partnership looked threatening, Kumble would bring himself on and get a wicket. That is exactly what he did in his fourth over - the 17th of the innings - by foxing Rohit Sharma who holed out to long off for 24 off 23 balls. Kumble wasn't done though, and off his final ball, scalped Venugopal Rao as well to leave Hyderabad 115 for 5 after 17 overs. Kumble returned with absolutely outstanding figures of 4-0-16-4, and appropriately enough, the last ball he bowled in the tournament got him a wicket.

The other bowlers followed Kumble's lead and Hyderabad were not able to get in a single big over at the end of their innings, and ended up with a slightly below-par total of 143 for 6. Herschelle Gibbs had carried his bat through the innings for 53 not out off 48 balls.

Bangalore, who towards the end of the tournament had discovered a realiable opening pair, started cautiously, with both Kallis and Pandey playing carefully at the start. They had wanted to build a good base, but purple cap holder RP Singh put paid to those plans when Kallis dragged a ball back, to send his leg-stump cartwheeling in the fourth over.

Bangalore's young success story, then fell to Hyderabad's young success story, when Pragyan Ojha got Manish Pandey off the first ball he bowled, edging the ball into Gilchrist's gloves. Ojha got further success when he outfoxed van der Merwe to get him stumped after a cameo innings of 32 off 21 balls. Then Harmeet Singh, who had an economy rate of almost 9 before this match, uprooted Dravid's leg stump when the latter tried to be too cute and moved too far across his stumps. At 79 for 4 in 11.4 overs, the match hung nicely in the balance. The side that won the next passage of play would be the one most likely to get their hands on the trophy.

In a pressure match, while chasing a decent total, the pressure got to Bangalore and from 99 for 4 in 14.1 overs, they slid to 110 for 8 in 16.4 overs, losing two big wickets in two balls to Andrew Symonds. First Ross Taylor pulled a ball straight down the throat of deep square leg, then Virat Kohli dragged his foot out of the crease to be excellently stumped by Gilchrist.

After that the writing was on the wall for Bangalore, and though Robin Uthappa managed to strike a six, he had been left with too tall a mountain to climb for a man who had been so out of form in the tournament. The Royal Challengers still made a spirited attempt, but fell short of the target by one DLF Maximum to end on 137 for 9.

It was thus Adam Gilchrist who lifted the silverware this time, ending season two of the IPL on a nicely symmetrical note - The last team last year was No.1 this year, while the the second last team came out second. A legendary, retired Australian cricketer beat a future India captain the last time, while a legendary, retired Australian cricketer beat an ex-India captain this time.

Full marks to Adam Gilchrist - he deserved every bit of the glory that came his way, though one couldn't help but feel for Anil Kumble who was at least as deserving of glory as Gilchrist, but unfortunately had to finish second.

Chennai Super Kings put Kings XI Punjab on the brink of elimination

After witnessing the ouster of the 2008 IPL champions in the hands of Kolkata, Kingsmead was ready to host another do-or-die encounter for Punjab against the Chennai Superkings. MS Dhoni won the toss for Chennai and opted to bat first. While Punjab had no changes in their eleven, Chennai replaced Jakati, Tyagi and Albie Morkel with Ashwin, Gony and Thushara.

With Hayden sitting out due to his injury, it was once again Parthiv Patel and George Bailey to open the proceedings for Chennai. While the pair were circumspect against Brett Lee, they took their chances against the likes of Irfan Pathan and Powar, taking Chennai to a steady start. Punjab turned the tables on Chennai by getting the top order in quick succession. Bailey was the first to depart when a throw from Yuvraj found the batsman short of the crease. His opening partner Parthiv Patel was the next man to go, bowled by Ramesh Powar after scoring 32 off 23 balls.

Kingsmead witnessed top order collapses earlier in the day with the batsmen failing to score for both Rajasthan and Punjab. The trend seemed to continue into the second match when Badrinath and MS Dhoni got out in quick succession, with a rejuvenated Sreesanth getting the better of the batsmen. In what could be termed as the ball of the tournament, Sreesanth emulating Waqar Younis, bowled a steaming yorker, castling the stumps of MS Dhoni. He went on to finish his spell with figures of 2/23.

Another wicket could have gone down for Chennai, but for a decision from the third umpire. Jacob Oram attempted a quick single and was found short of the crease. Luckily for him, the third umpire ruled the decision in his favour after replays suggested that Powar might have lost the ball during his attempt to break the stumps. When a furious Preity Zinta was fuming over the run-out decision going against Punjab, two more wickets went down for Chennai, bringing the smile back on the Punjab team owner's face. Mota and Chawla were the contributors for the smile, getting the wickets of Raina and Gony respectively. Punjab had more reasons to celebrate when Jacob Oram and Ashwin got out to Irfan Pathan in the 18th over, trying to go for quick runs.

The jinx of Chennai not having won a single match at Durban seemed to have hit them again when the batting failure saw Chennai end up with a score of 116/9 at the end of 20 overs.

Punjab started off the chase steadily, not wanting to give early wickets. However, MS Dhoni and co had other ideas, wanting to give Punjab a run for the money. They got a wicket early in the innings when Thushara dismissed Sohal. Not wanting to give away any freebies, Dhoni had his bowlers maintain a tight line. He employed Muralitharan early in the innings to make things tough for Punjab. His strategy paid off when the Sri Lankan Maestro got the key wickets of Simon Katich and Pomersbach and ended up with miserly figures of 2/8 off his 4 overs.

While Punjab thought that Yuvraj and Sangakkara would get the team out of trouble, they were proved wrong by Chennai. After the strangulation of runs, Chennai ran into the middle order of the Kings XI team. Raina was the first to break into the middle order dismissing Yuvraj Singh in the 13th over. Punjab's hopes rested on Sangakkara to pull off something special. But that was not to be as the Sri Lankan keeper was dismissed by Ashwin, who went on to take the wicket of Mota in the same over. The off spinning trio of Muralitharan, Ashwin and Raina caused enough damage from which the Punjab team could not recover.

They gave away just 38 runs off their combined 12 overs, most importantly picking up 6 wickets during that time. This eventually led to the Punjab team, losing the match by 24 runs.

Kolkata Knight Riders send Rajasthan crashing out

Some years ago, Laxmi Ratan Shukla surfaced as the lead player in India's search for an all-rounder. He disappeared into the huge expanses of domestic cricket after playing three one-day internationals. On Wednesday, we finally got to see a good all-round show from him as Kolkata Knight Riders scampered to a four-wicket win that sank defending champions Rajasthan Royals out of the Indian Premier League 2009.

With a hives of wickets falling around him as Kolkata Knight Riders chased just 102 for victory, Shukla stayed calm and collected as he made an unbeaten 48 (46 balls, three fours, two sixes) and shared a match-winning stand of 57 runs in eight overs with Ajit Agarkar (13 off 17) to steer the team home with three balls to spare.

Walking in at 37 for five in the 10th over, Shukla stood tall against every trick that Rajasthan Royals Skipper Shane Warne and the situation threw at him. Not for a moment did he seem under pressure and he came up with conventional and creative shots, taking a few risks along the way. Above all, it was a smart approach that smacked of a never-say-die spirit.

To give Warne due cricket, the Rajasthan Royals Skipper was aware that his team had made a sub-par score against steady bowling and electric fielding and made a clarion call to the fielders before they started their defence. And his squad responded magnificently in their bid to stay afloat in the race for the semifinals

Munaf Patel claimed two wickets up front while Amit Singh saw the back of the dangerous Brendon McCullum and panic seemed to strike Kolkata Knight Riders ranks. The scoring slowed down and it needed the calm and mature approach shown by Shukla and Agarkar for the team to be able to head home in slightly better frame of mind after a dismal tournament.

Earlier, Naman Ojha made 21 runs in the first over of the match against Brad Hodge but Rajasthan Royals were caught in a web of confusion, unable to make up their mind whether to seek a simple win that would still keep them in the race or for a big win that would make a huge impact to their net run rate.

Poor shot-selection and run out dismissals afflicted Rajasthan Royals through their innings and they were unable to make a score that could challenge Kolkata Knight Riders any more that it did in the end. On a day when their batsmen needed to fire big time, Rajasthan Royals had little to show for their determination.

Kolkata Knight Riders were indebted to South African paceman Charl Langeveldt who claimed three for 15 in his four overs on appearance in IPL 2009. Shukla was delightfully parsimonious in his four overs when he kept firing yorkers almost at will.

Bangalore Royal Challengers keep semis hope alive

While Bangalore Royal Challengers went into the match in a must-win situation for the team to stay in the semis track, Delhi were a relaxed outfit having already qualified for the semis. Virender Sehwag won the toss and elected bat first.

While Skipper Sehwag was looking for a good outing at the Wanderers after his rash of failures, Bangalore Royal Challengers hoped for early wickets to put pressure on Delhi straight away. Bangalore's wishes were granted when Praveen Kumar, bowling the first over of the match, got the wickets of Sehwag and Manhas. A legside delivery from Praveen Kumar had Sehwag flicking the ball straight to the hands of Ross Taylor. Mithun Manhas, who came in at number three, attempted a pull off Praveen Kumar. However he played the shot too early and holed out to a diving Kallis at the 2nd slip. Gautham Gambhir and de Villiers got together and played good criket, getting Delhi out of the gap. However the prospective pair was nipped by Bangalore Royal Challengers when Gambhir was dismissed by Kallis. It was once again left to de Villiers to help Delhi to a good score with Dinesh Karthik partnering him.

Bangalore got a critical break on the other side of the strategy break when van De Merwe dismissed his South African team-mate de Villers. Delhi drooping further with the old war horse Anil Kumble castling McDonald's stumps. The spell of wickets put a break on the run-rate. Dinesh Karthik and Nagar played for singles and twos trying to get Delhi to a reputable score. Bangalore kept the pair on a leash, not giving away the boundaries. Eventually, Karthik and Nagar were dismissed. Mahroof got some quick runs towards the end helping Delhi reach a score of 134/7 at the end of over.

Delhi started off well with the ball with Nehra getting the wicket of Robin Uthappa in the first over. Uthappa's incapability to come up with a contribution continued to anguish Bangalore Royal Challengers through the tournament. Rahul Dravid joined Kallis at number three and the experienced pair took a cautious approach, ensuring that Bangalore did not lose further wickets. The duo played diligently, going about the chase in a judicious manner and brought up the fifty partnership. They looked good to take Bangalore to the target until Dravid was out to Nagar in the 13th over. A soft dismissal resulted in Dravid heading back to the dug-out after scoring 38 runs.

Kallis held his end and continued the well work for Bangalore Royal Challengers. Taylor gave him well company as they took the team closer to the target. Taylor played some good shots until he got out to Nagar. Meanwhile, Kallis played crucial role in keeping Bangalore's semi-final hopes alive and went on to bring up a well made fifty in the process. Boucher provided him the perfect support as they kept the run-rate on par with Delhi, eventually winning the match by 7 wickets with one over to spare. Kallis remained unbeaten on 58 off 56 balls and his sturdy innings earned him the man-of-the-match.

Man of the match: Kallis