Chennai Super Kings thrash Rajasthan Royals by 63 runs

JAIPUR: An inspired bowling effort by Johan Botha and a late surge by Ajinkya Rahane (52 off 36) was all Rajasthan Royals had to offer on Monday night.


The home team's plan to give an ideal send-off to captain Shane Warne was spoiled by MS Dhoni and his Men in Yellow.

Eventually, a rather daunting target of 197 put up by Chennai Super Kings proved too much for the Royals as they crumbled to a 63-run defeat at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Monday.

Doug Bollinger grabbed three wickets and R Ashwin two as Royals were bowled out for 133.

A new pitch, which had a lot more bounce than the one used for earlier matches, and Dhoni's blitz towards the end of the Chennai innings, meant that the Royals had an extremely difficult task when openers Rahul Dravid and Shane Watson walked out to bat.

They had to score at close to 10 runs per over. Pressure was on the home team, which enjoy chasing.

Royals skipper Shane Warne had opted to chase on winning the toss. As wickets kept tumbling, the contest was over long before the end.

For Dhoni, setting the stage on fire isn't an unfamiliar act. On Monday, he did an encore. His knock of 41 off just 19 balls, punctuated by three fours and three sixes, took CSK to 196 for three and perfectly complemented Murali Vijay's 53.

On a new pitch - used for the first time in four years - Warne wouldn't have expected this.

What looked quite significant at the toss was the two captains pinpointing the impact that the shorter boundaries at one end of the ground could create.

The CSK openers, Michael Hussey and Vijay, made sense of this statement, smashing the ball around.

A lacklustre bowling effort from the Royals, backed up by some sloppy fielding, aided them.

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Yuvraj, Harbhajan ready to tour West Indies

CHANDIGARH: Amidst speculations that most of the senior members of team are likely to skip the upcoming West Indies tour, Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh confirmed that they will play if selected.

"The board has not discussed anything with us in this regard. But if selected I would definitely play in West Indies," said Yuvraj Singh on Monday.

Bhajji also reiterated Yuvraj's commitment.

After losing seven matches on the trot and then finally winning a game at his hometown Pune Warriors skipper said, "Sourav will definitely play the next match. He was supposed to play against Kings XI Punjab but wanted two more days to get fit."

The southpaw said he is not sure of his team getting a berth in playoff games but "we would take one game at a time and see later on."

Regarding recent media reports of unsavoury elements surrounding senior Indian players in South Africa during IPL 2, Harbhajan Singh said, "I do not want to comment on it. And do not ask this question ever to me. Mind you."

Fletcher to be part of selection meeting for WI tour

Team India coach Duncan Fletcher will get his first opportunity to acquaint himself with captain MS Dhoni, selectors and senior BCCI officials when he arrives in the country later this week to help select the one-day squad for the West Indies tour.

The national selection committee, along with Dhoni, are scheduled to meet in Chennai on May 13 to pick a 15-member squad for the five-match One-day series in West Indies.

Fletcher will join them and it will be his first interaction with the men responsible for all cricketing decisions in BCCI.

However, Fletcher is unlikely to travel with the team to West Indies. Instead, the BCCI will appoint bowling consultant Eric Simmons as the interim coach during the tour while Fletcher will officially take charge when India depart for England for a Test and One-day series. BCCI officials said Fletcher was keen to attend the May 13 selection committee meeting.

After coaching England's national team for eight years and spending time as batting consultant with the South African national team, Fletcher replaced former South African coach Gary Kirsten for the India job.

His success with England in particular, where he helped the team regain the Ashes after 18 years, brought him into limelight as one of the top coaches in the world.

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Don't copy Malinga, but learn from him

NEW DELHI: There's only one thing on the minds of IPL teams not titled Mumbai Indians: How and why is Lasith Malinga so dangerous? And how can his success be emulated?

The MI seamer has bagged 24 wickets in 10 games in IPL 4 so far, and his strike rate has sent shockwaves down opposition spines. While his slinging action cannot be emulated, maybe there are lessons to learn from Malinga's success for every Indian seamer.

For one, Malinga is adept at not pitching the ball in a good length area, which is between four to six metres from the stumps. His preferred length is between six to eight metres, and by mixing his deliveries, he ensures that none of the batsmen are able to read him easily.

By the time you have read Malinga, an over is already up. Then there are the variations. If a batsman is expecting Malinga to bowl one of the deadly yorkers, there could be a bouncer - either fastish or a markedly slower one - in store.

As Virender Sehwag has pointed out, Malinga doesn't depend on the pitch to be effective. An economy rate of below seven in the T20 format also marks him out as extraordinary.

In his team, Munaf Patel and Harbhajan Singh are the other two bowlers who have that kind of an economy rate, and the only other IPL bowlers in this club are Pune Warriors' Rahul Sharma and Kolkata's Iqbal Abdulla.

"Malinga is very quick through the air and that is probably why he doesn't bother how the pitch is playing. Irrespective of the nature of the track, he will give you wickets. If he is bowling on a pitch that will assist pacers, he will be simply unplayable," former Indian pacer Manoj Prabhakar said, adding: "In this format, every batsman is trying to hit out. The bowlers who have not done something innovative to survive have struggled. Malinga is a thinking and innovative bowler."

India's bowling coach Eric Simons agreed that Malinga's success is a pointer for every IPL seamer. "He is a unique bowler. But everything that works with him can't work for someone else. The focus should be on concentrating on your strengths to develop yourself as a mature bowler," Simons said, pointing out that Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel have been bowling exceptionally well this season because they know their limits.

Reverse swing is another important element in Malinga's repertoire. "He reverses the ball late. Even Zaheer can do it well, but in T20 it's not effective because he doesn't have Malinga's pace. Munaf gets close to the stumps and is showing improvement in every series. It will do a world of good to the other Indian seamers if they follow Zaheer and Munaf's footsteps," Prabhakar said, adding that Sreesanth has the talent but not the temperament to try things differently.

While Zaheer and Munaf have been India's best bowlers, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma and Vinay Kumar are the other top contenders for the West Indies tour.

Praveen depends heavily on swing, and is not as effective with the older ball. Ishant depends too much on his rhythm to get going, while Vinay utilises the short ball well and also varies his pace.

Against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Vinay uprooted Chris Gayle's off-stump using a Malinga-style 'slinging' action.

Early wickets are a must in T20 if a team's score is to be limited to the 150-run range, and this is where Malinga has been so effective for MI.

He has targeted the top order with success in every match. How many Indian bowlers can meet such a requirement?

DEADLY MALINGA

Matches: 10

Wickets: 24

Economy Rate: 5.79

Strike Rate: 9.7

How Slinga foxes batsmen: Bowls short of a good length, between six to eight metres from the stumps Lethally accurate yorker Mixes up deliveries well Also uses fast and slow bouncers Reverse swings at speed.

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