CL T20 squads come in for all teams

One of the costliest players bought in the IPL, missed season 3 of IPL due to a knee injury. Yes, it is Andrew Flintoff, he will miss the Champions League 2nd Edition this Sepetember too. Chennai Super Kings will miss the English all rounder Flintoff. But, the Giant who recently retired from the Test form- Muttiah Muralitharan is in the action for the Champions League.

Maxertainment 3: KKR stun last year runners up RCB

Sourav Ganguly-led Kolkata Knight Riders registered their second consecutive victory after they beat the Bangalore Royal Challengers by 7 wickets at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday. With this win they have now defeated the two finalists of the IPL season 2. Knight Riders made a blazing start of their innings in order to chase down the modest target set by Bangalore Royal Challengers. Openers Manoj Tiwary and Brad Hodge gave a tremendous start to the Knight Riders. Together they put up the opening stand of 101 runs.

Tiwary, after making his maiden IPL half-century, got out to van der Merwe’s delivery. Brad Hodge also became the victim of van der Merwe after scoring 50. Sourav who had failed to get any score on the board last time looked good today and his 6 off a Del Steyn delivery reminded his golden days. He was unlucky to get out while trying to hit the winning shot.

The Challengers, after a disastrous start, managed to set the target of 136 to Kolkata Knight Riders. Earlier, Knight Riders captain Sourav Ganguly won the toss and elected to field first against the Bangalore Royal Challengers at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday.

Charles Langeveldt and Angelo Mathews soon justified Ganguly’s decision and got the two quick wickets of SP Goswami and Manish Pandey. Goswami was caught by Ishant Sharma, while Pandey was bowled by Mathews.

After the two quick wickets, the Bangalore was looking to consolidate the innings but Murali Kartik gave them another jolt when he got the wicket of Virat Kohli. He was caught by Angelo Mathews. All eyes were on Rahul Dravid after the devastating start, but he too disappointed everyone and became the second victim of Angelo Mathews.

Robin Uthappa, who was trying to have a good partnership with Kallis, walked down the track and went for the lofted big hit but ended up nicking it behind the wicket, Mathews was the bowler.

RE van der Merwe was caught by Hodge and Mathews picked up his fourth wicket. However, Jacques Kallis remained not out on 65.

Preview: KKR vs RCB

Preview: KKR vs RCB

Kolkata Knight Riders VS Royal Challengers Bangalore

Venue: EDEN GARDENS, KOLKATA

Date: 14^th March, 2010

Time: 3pm

Kolkata Knight Riders
With ‘Miracle-Coach’ Dav Whatmore at the helm and Bengal’s dearest Dada running affairs on the pitch, the Knight Riders would want to put last season’s horrendous run behind them and start afresh. After winning the 1^st game, they will try to prove that the win was not just a fluke. Sourav who failed to score in the last match will try to shut the crtics’ mouths. Owais Shah and Angelo Mathews need to keep up the form they showed in the match against DC. Bowling seems to have improved thanks to the tips and tricks of the legendary Wasim Akram. Team’s bowling comprises of pace batteries like Ishant and Langaveldt and if they hold up, we may see a resurgence of the Dark Knights.
KEY PLAYERS: Sourav Ganguly, Angelo Mathews, Ishant Sharma, Charl langaveldt

Royal Challengers Bangalore

This year, Bangalore boast of a very strong team indeed, with fantastic hitters of the likes of Ross Taylor, Cameron White, Kevin Pietersen and new signing Eoin Morgan, and the dependability of South Africans Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher. They also possess possibly the best of the local batting talent, in dynamic and ambitious youngsters Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey and Robin Uthappa, apart from stalwart Rahul Dravid. Skipper Anil Kumble leads the bowling attack that also boasts of the likes of test No.1 Dale Steyn. On paper they look strong enough to do an encore of last year’s final appearance. With an inspiring captain at the helm, one cannot rule out them going all the way.

KEY PLAYER: Jacques Kallis, Manish Pandey, Dale Steyn, Anil Kumble

SQUADS:

RCB: Jacques Kallis, Manish Pandey, Srivats Goswami, Vinay Kumar, Bhuvanesh Kumar, K P Appanna, Eoin Morgan, Akhil Balachandra, A Mithun, Steven Smith, Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Robin Uthappa, Mark Boucher, Dale Steyn, Dillon Du Preez, Cameron White, Ross Taylor, Kevin Pietersen, Roelof van der Merwe, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, S Sriram

KKR: Sourav Ganguly(C), Brendon McCullum, Chris Gayle, Brad Hodge, Owais Shah, Manoj Tiwari, Rohan Gavaskar, Chirag Pathak, Cheteswar Pujara, Harshad Khadiwale, Wriddhiman Shah, Angelo Matthews, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Ganapati Vignesh, Ajit Agarkar, Varun Aron, Iqbal Abdulla, Eklakh Ahmed, Ashoke Dinda, Ajantha Mendis, Charl Langeveldt, Murali Karthik, Ishant Sharma

Day 1 of the Maxertainment 3 ends on a high!

The IPL 3 has kick started in a superb form. Yet, another classy performance in the acts of the opening ceremony. The whole stadium rocked. Deepika was sizzling. UB-40 was fantastic. The crowds at DY Patil were going mad.

The first match, DC vs KKR, started off. DC’s Gilly won the toss and chose to field first. Rudi Koetzen said Lets Play and the Game begun. For the horror of the KKR team, they lost the first wicket in the first ball when Manoj Tiwary hit it to the covers.

Soon, the all expected Dada Ganguly too fell to the Old Fox Chaminda Vaas and took a long hop to the dug out for a duck.

It seemed all the same for the KKR team, same like the season two. Soon, Brad Hodge and Cheteshwar Pujara too got out. The Kolkata team were struggling at 31/4.

But, the 129 run partnership re-build the team and made their score a respectable one with Angelo Mathews (65 runs) and Owais Shah (54 runs).

The Deccan Chargers, Defending Champs came into bat with a target of 162 runs. The DC camp had a strong batting line up and everyone expected that it was a easy win for them.

The starting for the Chargers looked like slogging until VVS Laxman (22 runs) got out at 61 runs on the board. A good batsman goes out and a better one comes in. Herchelle Gibbs came in to partner his captain Adam Gilchrist. But the spin of Hodge, got him out for 54 runs just when the team score was reaching hundred.

Perhaps, everyone would have thought Symonds and Rohit Sharma is there and they will win it for them. But .everything changed with Gilly’s dismissal. Charl Langeveldt got his first wicket of the tournament when he got rid of his countryman, Gibbs (19 runs).

Rohit Sharma and Andrew Symonds were expected to do more. But, soon Symonds hit a ball to Sourav Ganguly’s hands ending his innings for just 5.

Rohit Sharma too didn’t stay long as not expected. Just adding 13 runs to the scorecard, he too perished with the ball of Mathews.

Winning dreams perhaps changed for them. Only, newbies were left. Anureet Singh and Tirumalsetti Suman could not ensure that DC win.

So, KKR ensured that they had a win in their hands as they won with 11 runs.

Its the same saga this year. DC were last in 2008 and came to win the IPL in 2009. KKR were last in 2009. The question is Will they be the Champs this year?

IPL kicks off today

IPL IS BACK AND UNDOUBTEDLY WITH A BANG! THIS YEAR IS EVEN MORE SPECIAL AS IT’S THE HOMECOMING OF IPL AFTER A SUCCESSFUL SECOND SEASON IN SOUTH AFRICA. THOUGH THE USUAL BUZZ HAS STRANGELY BEEN  MISSING  , THE TIME HAS COME FOR IPL3 TO FINALLY START !

NEW PLAYERS, STRONGER TEAMS  AND OF COURSE NEW TALENTS OUT OF THE BLUE  HAS RAISED THE EXPECTATION LEVELS OF THE THIRD SEASON! THOUGH QUITE A FEW INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS MIGHT BE MISSING OUT THE INITIAL PART OF THE TOURNEY, OUR OWN DOMESTIC POOL IS ENOUGH TO PROVIDE THE CRACKERS !  THIS SEASON IS ALSO BEING STREAMED LIVE ON YOUTUBE!

THE MAIN PLAYERS TO WATCH OUT FOR THE SEASON ARE KIERON POLLARD, MITCHELL MARSH, JUSTIN KEMP , ADRIAN BARATH , GEORGE BAILEY AND MANY MORE !

THIS TOURNAMENT IS ALSO IMPORTANT FOR THE YOUNGSTERS WHO WANNA MAKE IT TO THE INDIAN TEAM THAT FLIES TO THE WINDIES FOR THE T20 WORLD CUP!

THE FIRST MATCH OF THE SEASON IS  DECCAN CHARGERS VERSUS KOLKATTA NIGHT RIDERS.

A BRIEF PREVIEW OF THE MATCH

DECCAN CHARGERS

STRENGTHS:

TEAM’S STRENGTH HAS ALWAYS BEEN THEIR BATTING WHICH CLICKED AS A UNIT LAST YEAR AND EVENTUALLY MADE THEM WIN THE TOURNAMENT. THIS TIME AROUND TOO ITS MORE OR LESS THE SAME TEAM. BATTING OPENED BY GILCHRIST AND GIBBS ,FOLLOWED BY LAXMAN , ROHIT SHARMA, V.RAO  AND A WRECKER-IN-CHIEF ANDREW SYMONDS IS ENOUGH TO GIVE ANY SIDE THE JITTERS. THE BOWLING HAS BEEN POWERED WITH THE INCLUSION OF ROACH.

WEAKNESS:

THE TEAM FOR TODAY HAS A HUGE AND EXPLOSIVE BATSMEN BUT NO RYAN HARRIS AND KEMAR ROACH. RP SINGH IS NOT IN GREAT FROM.

OPPURTUNITIES:

THEY CAN PROVE THAT THEIR FIST WIN WAS NO FLUKE AND THEY ARE STILL THE CHAMPIONS.

KOLKATTA NIGHT RIDERS

STRENGTHS :

IN A TOURNAMENT LIKE THIS ALL-ROUNDERS PLAY A VERY IMPORTANT ROLE.PLAYERS  LIKE AJIT AGARKAR , ANGELO MATHEWS ,SHUKLA CAN BE QUITE HANDY WITH THE BALL . GANGULY , GAYLE,  HODGE , CAN ALSO MAKE A FEW OVERS PASS BY QUICKLY.

WEAKNESS :

FIELDING AND BOWLING AT DEATH HAS BEEN THE MAJOR WEAKNESS OF THIS TEAM IN BOTH THE PREVIOUS SEASONS. NEW COACH WHATMORE PERHAPS WILL RESOLVE THIS ISSUE. LAST SEASONS DEBACLE MIGHT BE PLAYING ON THEIR MINDS TOO.

OPPURTUNITIES :

THEIR BATTING HAS ENOUGH FIREPOWER TO CHASE DOWN ANY TOTAL AND THE BREATHNECK PACE AT WHICH THEY SCORE THEY CAN POST HIGH TOTALS TOO.

BOTH TEAMS ARE EVENLY MATCHED ON PAPER ,BUT IPL IS ALL ABOUT PLAYING AT THE MIDDLE. SO GRAB A DRINK AND ENJOY THE SEASON.

LET THE GREAT INDIAN SEASON BEGIN!!!!!

JOIN US AT THE LIVE CHAT!

Preview: DC vs KKR

IPL 3

DECCAN CHARGERS VS KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS

Venue: DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai ( Neutral Venue )

Date : 12th March 2010 ( 8pm onwards )

TEAM DC:

The Deccan Chargers camp is filled with full of batting starrs. Gilchrist and Gibbs will lead the team by opening the innings. Rohit Sharma, Andrew Symonds will be given the responsibility to look after the middle order. Venugopal Rao, Ravi Teja and T Suman will be around the two middle order batsmen. The power pack batting will totally contrast over the bowling of the team. Kemar Roach won’t be available for the first match. RP Singh has not done well in the Indian soil. A lot will be expected from Pragyan Ojha who will be favored with the Indian soil to turn the ball.

TEAM KKR:

KKR was the team in 2009 like DC was in 2008. Its the same situation. DC changed their jerseys and picked the cup. KKR too now has changed the jersey. Hope they follow the footsteps of KKR. It is expected that Brad Hodge will open with Ganapathy Vignesh, the former ICL star. Ganguly will take care of the No.3 spot. Other players will be around these batsmen. Owais Shah will be given the responsibility of the middle order. Shukla, Tiwary and others will be around him. Ishant Sharma and Varun Aaron, the Jharkand pacer will open the bowling for Kolkata Knight Riders.

PITCH:

The soil is obviously brought from the South African land. So, you can expect a lot for the batsmen and if bowlers bent their back, will hit the timber.

KEY PLAYERS:

DC:-

Adam Gilchrist: The Captain of the Chargers will have a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. He will lead the team from the front and score a lot.

Pragyan Ojha: The spinner will turn the ball in the Indian pitches and trouble the batsmen as IPL is back in India. With no other key bowler, Ojha has to lead from the front.

KKR:-

Sourav Ganguly: He is back as the Captain of the team and will have a lot of pressure to perform. He is capable of playing the long and steady innings.

Bradley Hodge: The Australian batsman is in fine form always and is to open the innings.

SQUADS

DC:-

Adam Gilchrist, Ammana Ashish Reddy, Andrew Symonds, Anirudh Singh, Arjun Yadav, Azhar Anjum Bilakhia Bodapati Sumanth Chaminda Vaas, Dwaraka Ravi Teja, Dwayne Smith, Harmeet Singh, Herschelle Gibbs, Kemar Roach, Laxman VVS, Mitchell Ross Marsh, Mohnish Dinesh Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Rahul Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Rudra Pratap Singh, Ryan Harris, Tirumalasetti Suman, Venugopal Rao

KKR:-

Ajit Agarkar, Ashok Ali, Ashok Dinda, Chirag Pathak, Cheteshwar Pujara, Eklakh Ahmed, Ganapathi Vignesh, H.Khadiwale, Iqbal Abdulla, Ishant Sharma, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Manoj Tiwary, Murali Karthik, Rohan Gavaskar, Sourav Ganguly, S. Singh, V. Aaron, Wriddhiman Saha, Ajantha Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Brad Hodge, Brendon McCullum, Charl Langeveldt, Chris Gayle, David Hussey, Mashrafe Murtaza, Owais Shah, Shane Bond

Preview: Kolkata Knight Riders

When Shah Rukh Khan bought the Kolkata Knight Riders, he would have never imagined in his wildest dreams that his side would fare so badly in the first two editions of the IPL.

They were hurt in the first edition of the mega-event by their lack of firepower in batting, with McCullum and Gayle  both not taking part in the later stages of the tournament, and were beset by controversies in the second edition: Coach John Buchanan’s multiple captaincy theory, the Fake IPL player saga that purported to expose the inner secrets of the team, and an inability to finish out close matches. They lost five matches in the last over, and mid-way through the tournament, owner Shah Rukh Khan left the team to fly back to India.

A year later, KKR have a more settled look to their side with Dav Whatmore taking over the reins of the side after Buchanan was given the boot. There are no multiple captains either, with India’s most successful captain ever Sourav Ganguly named captain for the whole tournament.

With Chris Gayle available for almost the entire tournament, it gives them the explosive package that they sorely missed in the first two editions. The team management has exchanged Moises Henriques with Owais Shah and Manoj Tiwari from Delhi.  By buying Shane Bond for a whooping price in the auction, the bowling line up looks power packed with the likes of Ishant Sharma, Charl Langeveldt, Ashoke Dinda and Ajantha Mendis in the ranks.

Legendary Wasim Akram has been appointed as the bowling mentor. It will be an ideal opportunity for youngsters such as Cheteshwar Pujara and Ganapathi Vignesh – who cut off his links with the ICL to prove his worth this season. KKR will be hoping for a much better showing this time around and with a glance at their squad that feat is not beyond them.

KEY PLAYERS:

Sourav Ganguly: One of the finest captain, Sourav Ganguly is back as the captain of the KKR. Ganguly was termed the ‘God of off-side’ for his fluent run-scoring ways in that region. Never mind six, seven or eight fielders on the off-side, he could still pierce even the narrowest gap between them and score runs fluently. A match-winner, Ganguly is capable of demolishing bowling attacks single-handedly, and his liking for spin bowlers is well documented. His part time medium pace can also prove to be dangerous for the opponents.

Chris Gayle: Devastating – the only word defines this man from the West Indies. The first player to score a century in Twenty20 Internationals, Gayle will try to score quick runs for the team as the opener. He may not turn the ball much, but puts batsmen in trouble by bowling in a good line and length with his lethal Off Spin.

BB McCullum: Another devastating batsman in the side, who recently got a international T20 century, will be hoping to carry forward the recent form. He will be keen to play another innings like the one he played in the IPL season 1 opener.

Bradley Hodge: The 35 year old Australian Veteran is a lot to play for. Being the highest run scorer for KKR last year, he surely will be aiming to achieve that feat this season too since he is in fine form for the Aussies. Not only swing his bat, he would have to roll his arms too with is milky off spin.

Ishant Sharma: Lean and tall, Ishant can bowl around the 145kmph mark consistently, and generate bounce while bowling long spells. With Akram in as the bowling coach, it can be expected of him to be more dangerous for the batsmen.

SQUAD:

Sourav Ganguly(C), Brendon McCullum, Chris Gayle, Brad Hodge, Owais Shah, Manoj Tiwari, Rohan Gavaskar, Chirag Pathak, Cheteswar Pujara, Harshad Khadiwale, Wriddhiman Shah, Angelo Matthews, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Ganapati Vignesh, Ajit Agarkar, Varun Aron, Iqbal Abdulla, Eklakh Ahmed, Ashoke Dinda, Ajantha Mendis, Charl Langeveldt, Murali Karthik, Ishant Sharma