Centurion, May 8 (PTI) Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni heaped praise on opener Matthew Hayden for his contribution at the top of order while the retired Australian returned the compliment by terming the Indian as an inspiring leader and a dangerous batsmen.
Hayden, the second Indian Premier League's orange cap wearer with 378 runs, has been in consistent form with three fifties this season, and Dhoni said the Australian's aggressive batting has been a huge asset for the team.
"He (Hayden) is brilliant. He knows his cricket and is enjoying his aggressive batting. He has given us the kind of start we need and I am happy that I have been able capitalise on those starts," said Dhoni of Hayden who was adjudged man of the match for scoring 89 yesterday.
Hayden, on the other hand, showed high regards for Dhoni as an inspiring leader and one of the hardest hitters of the game who can play unorthodox shots with ease.
"It was good that it (my performance) helped my team win. But I must say that I was very well supported by MS Dhoni. MS is a fantastic captain and player," he told reporters.
"MS gets some great power from unorthodox shots. He is a danger in this form, danger in any format really. When he is going he just strikes the ball as hard as anyone on the planet. And these small boundaries ... He is just unstoppable."
Showing posts with label Dhoni. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dhoni. Show all posts
Friday, May 8, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Dhoni and Jakati ensure huge win
Chennai Super Kings soared to the top of the points table in dramatic fashion, recording their third consecutive win in a comprehensive defeat of Deccan Chargers at Buffalo Park. The game had everything: excellent swing that had Deccan reeling at 1 for 3, left-arm spin from Shadab Jakati that gave him his second consecutive four-wicket haul and ripped the heart out of Deccan's batting, and two whirlwind innings, one by Dwayne Smith that could only stave off the inevitable and another by MS Dhoni, at the start of the match, to set up the win. Much of that, and a dropped catch and a missed run-out, took place in a frenetic opening ten overs of Deccan's chase that had more twists, turns and frenetic passages of play than an entire Twenty20 match.
Deccan's win against their opponents in the previous encounter Durban was based on a powerful start from Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs but the change in venue brought about a shocking change in fortunes as both departed for ducks. Gilchrist was trapped first ball bang in front of the stumps off a loopy delivery by Albie Morkel and Gibbs played all over a full delivery by Sudeep Tyagi and lost his legstump to a ricochet.
VVS Laxman, desperately seeking runs to keep his place in the side, soon fell to a tame chip to midwicket off Morkel. With three ducks at the top of the order, Deccan's line-up was already resembling a poultry farm - a procession of headless chickens was, one felt, another wicket away.
That it didn't come to that owed itself to some luck and then lots of bravado. A huge mis-hit from Smith when he was on 2 fell towards three waiting fielders but, inexplicably, landed safely; the following ball produced a thick leading edge that was fluffed by Tyagi at third man. What followed in the next couple of overs stung Chennai more than those missed chances.
Choosing attack as the best form of defence, Smith bludgeoned boundaries over the on side with tremendous bat speed. One over from Albie Morkel yielded 19 runs, including two sixes; one, off a high full toss, was hit over midwicket and the next ball was flicked squarer on the on side. The next over from L Balaji was hit for 18 with Rohit Sharma joining the party.
Top Curve
Prime Numbers
*
54
The average score for Chennai in the Powerplays - the highest for any team in the tournament
*
34.57
The average partnership between Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs at the top of the Deccan Chargers innings
*
81
The percentage of runs hit by Gilchrist in boundaries
*
21
The number of golden ducks in the tournament
*
28
The number of runs put up by the Deccan batsmen, barring the partnership between Dwayne Smith and Rohit Sharma
Bottom Curve
Dhoni shuffled his bowlers and brought on Jakati when the 50 partnership came up in just 21 balls to try and make things happen. Things did happen, though not quite as Dhoni intended. First, Smith clubbed Jakati for a huge six into the grass embankment. In his next over Jakati got rid of Rohit before an amazing sequence that saw four - four run-out chances being fluffed off one ball. Smith hit it to deep point, Jakati couldn't collect the return, Badrinath backing up, threw it back to Jakati who again didn't collect the throw but broke the stumps with Smith and non-striker T Suman almost at the same end; Jakati then picked up the ball and tried to hand it to Badrinath, who had moved to the stumps but flicked it wide of him.
The bowler had his revenge the same over, though, when he trapped Smith in front for 49. That effectively ended Deccan's chase, the rest of the wickets a blur as the innings folded by the 15th over.
Chennai's win was built on their batting, though, as they won the toss and piled on a target which, by this tournament's standards, was way above par. Dhoni, having said before this match that his form was "pathetic", addressed the issue by promoting himself to No. 3 and the quality time spent in the middle helped recover his form.
The start provided by Matthew Hayden and M Vijay gave Chennai and Dhoni the impetus. Hayden feasted on some wayward bowling by biffing deliveries over the off side and walking down the pitch to set the bowlers off their rhythm. Suresh Raina matched Hayden in terms of power and intimidation. After Suman helped Deccan hit back with the wicket of Vijay, his figures were torn apart by Raina, who clubbed him for three consecutive boundaries over midwicket.
Dhoni was already well set at the crease and a six off Pragyan Ojha that landed on the roof at long-on was a sign of things to come. The tentativeness which affected his form in the earlier games was refreshingly absent as he kept busy at the cease, pushing the singles and bludgeoning the bowlers down the ground with his unconventional, yet powerful checked drives. He hammered Harris down the ground like a cannon and took on the same bowler for a reverse sweep that found the boundary. He reached his half-century with a savage pull off RP in the final over and led his team to a score that later exposed the shortcomings of the side heading the table when the match started. It ended, of course, with another team shooting to the top.
Deccan's win against their opponents in the previous encounter Durban was based on a powerful start from Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs but the change in venue brought about a shocking change in fortunes as both departed for ducks. Gilchrist was trapped first ball bang in front of the stumps off a loopy delivery by Albie Morkel and Gibbs played all over a full delivery by Sudeep Tyagi and lost his legstump to a ricochet.
VVS Laxman, desperately seeking runs to keep his place in the side, soon fell to a tame chip to midwicket off Morkel. With three ducks at the top of the order, Deccan's line-up was already resembling a poultry farm - a procession of headless chickens was, one felt, another wicket away.
That it didn't come to that owed itself to some luck and then lots of bravado. A huge mis-hit from Smith when he was on 2 fell towards three waiting fielders but, inexplicably, landed safely; the following ball produced a thick leading edge that was fluffed by Tyagi at third man. What followed in the next couple of overs stung Chennai more than those missed chances.
Choosing attack as the best form of defence, Smith bludgeoned boundaries over the on side with tremendous bat speed. One over from Albie Morkel yielded 19 runs, including two sixes; one, off a high full toss, was hit over midwicket and the next ball was flicked squarer on the on side. The next over from L Balaji was hit for 18 with Rohit Sharma joining the party.
Top Curve
Prime Numbers
*
54
The average score for Chennai in the Powerplays - the highest for any team in the tournament
*
34.57
The average partnership between Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs at the top of the Deccan Chargers innings
*
81
The percentage of runs hit by Gilchrist in boundaries
*
21
The number of golden ducks in the tournament
*
28
The number of runs put up by the Deccan batsmen, barring the partnership between Dwayne Smith and Rohit Sharma
Bottom Curve
Dhoni shuffled his bowlers and brought on Jakati when the 50 partnership came up in just 21 balls to try and make things happen. Things did happen, though not quite as Dhoni intended. First, Smith clubbed Jakati for a huge six into the grass embankment. In his next over Jakati got rid of Rohit before an amazing sequence that saw four - four run-out chances being fluffed off one ball. Smith hit it to deep point, Jakati couldn't collect the return, Badrinath backing up, threw it back to Jakati who again didn't collect the throw but broke the stumps with Smith and non-striker T Suman almost at the same end; Jakati then picked up the ball and tried to hand it to Badrinath, who had moved to the stumps but flicked it wide of him.
The bowler had his revenge the same over, though, when he trapped Smith in front for 49. That effectively ended Deccan's chase, the rest of the wickets a blur as the innings folded by the 15th over.
Chennai's win was built on their batting, though, as they won the toss and piled on a target which, by this tournament's standards, was way above par. Dhoni, having said before this match that his form was "pathetic", addressed the issue by promoting himself to No. 3 and the quality time spent in the middle helped recover his form.
The start provided by Matthew Hayden and M Vijay gave Chennai and Dhoni the impetus. Hayden feasted on some wayward bowling by biffing deliveries over the off side and walking down the pitch to set the bowlers off their rhythm. Suresh Raina matched Hayden in terms of power and intimidation. After Suman helped Deccan hit back with the wicket of Vijay, his figures were torn apart by Raina, who clubbed him for three consecutive boundaries over midwicket.
Dhoni was already well set at the crease and a six off Pragyan Ojha that landed on the roof at long-on was a sign of things to come. The tentativeness which affected his form in the earlier games was refreshingly absent as he kept busy at the cease, pushing the singles and bludgeoning the bowlers down the ground with his unconventional, yet powerful checked drives. He hammered Harris down the ground like a cannon and took on the same bowler for a reverse sweep that found the boundary. He reached his half-century with a savage pull off RP in the final over and led his team to a score that later exposed the shortcomings of the side heading the table when the match started. It ended, of course, with another team shooting to the top.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Bookies tip Dhoni’s team to go all the way
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Bookmakers have bad news for Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta. Ahead of IPL II, they are putting money on Chennai Super Kings followed by the Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians with Deccan Chargers bringing up the rear.
Rates opened in Kolkata on Monday and even in the time of economic slowdown, business of Rs 25,000 crore is expected. That’s Rs 1000 crore more than last year. The bookies are looking at nearly Rs 450 crore for each match of the competition which begins in South Africa this weekend.
Having burnt their fingers last year with Bangalore Royal Challengers, the bookies are a lot more careful this time. “As it was a completely new concept with players from different countries in one team, it was very difficult to predict who would perform well,” a Mumbai bookie explained. The Bangalore team is fourth on the list of favourites this year.
The bookies are quoting MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings at Rs 4.3 for a rupee. This means, if the team wins, a punter would get Rs 5.3. From being second-last on the favourites’ list last year, Virender Sehwag’s Delhi Daredevils move up to second at Rs 4.7.
Shane Warne may talk of unleashing a ‘tornado’ or a ‘wild thing’ called Kamran Khan but losing Saturday’s friendly to Cape Cobras have hurt Rajasthan Royals’ ratings. They are being quoted at Rs 8.
“We had planned to open Rajasthan Royals’ rate at Rs 5.5 bringing them to third position but their poor performance in the practice match, that too against a local team, forced us to rethink,” the bookie said.
On Sourav Ganguly’s Knight Riders, the rate is Rs 8.25 which is 25 paisa less than the odds on Kings XI Punjab where Yuvraj Singh is king. Some distance behind are Deccan Chargers who will fetch Rs 11 for every rupee invested. Quite a comedown that from being second on the list last year.
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