I'm at a loss for words...

Predictably, KR lost again by 6 wickets to Bangalore (source). Why predictably? Because I could sense that the only team KR felt as if they had a fighting chance with, and could probably win against, in IPL 2 is Punjab. And that chance was loooooong gone.

Looking back at my previous posts, I think I have the makings of a bookie. Even without watching the game and knowing how the game works, I managed to predict that Chennai and Delhi are going to be the top two teams even while Deccan was having a good run on the playing XI at the time. It's a good thing that gambling is not allowed in my religion or I could have raked in some dirty money by now XD.

The one I didn't predict was Rajasthan, although I did think it's gonna be one of the contenders for the top four positions. But I still think it'll be Chennai and Delhi in the final. Hmmm, we'll see what happens at the semis.

Deccan Chargers won against Chennai Super Kings by 6 wickets

Chennai Super Kings innings (20 overs maximum)
Parthiv Patel c Gilchrist b Edwards 0 (2)
Matthew Hayden c Sharma b Ojha 49 (35)
Suresh Raina c & b Sharma 25 (19)
Mahendra Singh Dhoni c Shoaib b Ojha 22 (22)
Jocab Oram not out 41 (29)
Albie Morkel c Singh b Venugopal Rao 13 (7)
Sumbramaniam Badrinath c & b Singh 8 (9)
Manpreet Gony not out 0

Extras (w 4, nb 3) 7

Total (for six points in 20 overs) 165

Fall of wickets 1-0 (Patel, 0.2 overs), 2-64 (Raina, 6.5), 3-102 (Dhoni, 12.3), 4-103 (Hayden, 12.6), 5-129 (Morkel, 16.5), 6-165 (Badrinath, 19.5)

Bowling:
Fidel Edwards 4 0 21 1
R.P. Singh 3 0 32 1
Dawyne Smith 1 0 17 0
Venugopal Rao 4 0 35 1
Rohit Sharma 3 0 18 1
Pragyan Ojha 2 0 11 2
S.M. Shoaib 3 0 31 0

Deccan Chargers innings (target: 166 runs from 20 overs)
Adam Gilchrist c Muralitharan b Raina 44 (19)
Herschelle Gibbs not out 69 (56)
V.V.S. Laxman c Oram b Raina 4 (5)
Rohit Sharma c Dhoni b Balaji 18 (19)
Dwayne Smith lbw b Muralitharan 12 (5)
Azhar Bilakhia not out 12 (14)

Extras (lb 2, w 3, nb 5) 10

Total ( for four wickets in 19.3 overs) 169

Fall of wickets 1-67 (Gilchrist, 5.4 overs), 2-75 (Laxman, 7.3), 3-114 (Sharma, 13.4),

4-130 (Smith, 15.2)

Bowling:
Lakhmipathy Balaji 3.3 0 41 1
Manpreet Gony 1 0 20 0
Albie Morkel 3 0 29 0
Muttiah Muralitharan 4 0 17 1
Suresh Raina 4 0 18 2
Joginder Sharma 1 0 14 0
Jacob Oram 3 0 28 0

Toss: Deccan Chargers chose to field

Points: Deccan Chargers 2, Chennai Super Kings 0

Man of the match: Herschelle Gibbs (Deccan Chargers)

Umpires: Ian Howell (South Africa) and T. Wijewardene (Sri Lanka)

TV umpire: Shashank Ranade (India)

Match referee Devdas Govindjee

Kolkatta Knight Riders v Chennai Super Kings abandoned due to rain

For someone who knows nothing about cricket, I think I will always remember IPL 2 as the tournament where the team I support has experienced everything across the board on their very first week: Won, Lost, Tied and N/R. That should be an achievement in itself, yes?

Joke aside, I want them to quickly pick themselves up from their 'languishing' position in this 2nd week. I don't know why I think this, but their match against the Mumbai Indians is their break it or make it stage. I hope the climate agrees with me and postpones its torrential wrath to another day (when KKR is not playing hehe). I shall wait for the result of that match with a lot of anticipation and nervousness.


News update
Cape Town, April 25: Incessant rains made it impossible for the umpires to start with the Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders IPL encounter at the Newlands stadium, Cape Town, as a result, the game had to abandoned with both the teams having to share a point apiece.

The rain god did show mercy for sometime when the weather remained clear for just ten minutes in between. However, the drizzle revived again, making the weather in Cape Town very unpleasant.

Both the teams badly needed a win as each of them has lost two matches out of three. Before coming to this match, by virtue of their one win each, they had two points.

Chennai Super Kings now stand at third position in the points table while Kolkata Knight Riders are languishing at seventh spot.

Delhi Daredevils beat Chennai Super Kings by 9 runs

Scoreboard (source)

Delhi Daredevils innings

Gautam Gambhir c Dhoni b Balaji 0
Virender Sehwag c Morkel b Gony 6
AB de Villiers not out 105
Tillekratne Dilshan c Raina b Morkel 50
Dinesh Karthik c Flintoff b Balaji 18
Manoj Tiwary c Flintoff b Balaji 9
Daniel Vettori not out 0
Extras (w-1) 1
Total (for five wickets in 20 overs) 189
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Gambhir, 0.1 overs), 2-8 (Sehwag, 1.6), 3-76 (Dilshan, 8.3), 4-114 (Karthik, 13.6), 5-188 (Tiwary, 19.5)
Bowling
Lakshmipathy Balaji 4-0-19-3
Manpreet Gony 4-0-45-1
Albie Morkel 4-0-41-1
Andrew Flintoff 4-0-50-0
Joginder Sharma 1-0-8-0
Muutiah Muralitharan 3-0-26-0

Chennai Super Kings innings (target: 190 runs from 20 overs)

Parthiv Patel c de Villiers b Sangwan 16
Matthew Hayden c Nannes b Sangwan 57
Suresh Raina c de Villiers b Sangwan 41
Mahendra Singh Dhoni c Karthik b Vettori 5
Andrew Flintoff c sub (Warner) b Nehra 16
Albie Morkel not out 13
Subramaniam Badrinath c sub (Warner) b Vettori 7
Manpreet Gony run out (Sehwag/Vettori) 6
Joginder Sharma run out (sub Warner) 4
Lakhsmipathy Balaji run out (Sangwan/Nannes) 0
Muttiah Muralitharan not out 0
Extras (lb-6, w-8, nb-1) 15
Total (for nine wickets in 20 overs) 180
Fall of wickets: 1-57 (Patel, 5.2 overs), 2-90 (Hayden, 7.6), 3-108 (Dhoni, 10.3), 4-139 (Raina, 14.1), 5-156 (Flintoff, 15.6), 6-168 (Badrinath, 18.3), 7-175 (Gony, 18.6), 8-179 (Joginder Sharma, 19.3), 9-179 (Balaji, 19.4)
Bowling
Derek Nannes 4-0-32-0
Ashish Nehra 4-0-33-1
Avishkar Salvi 3-0-41-0
Pradeep Sangwan 4-0-28-3
Daniel Vettori 4-0-29-2
Manoj Tiwary 1-0-11-0
Toss: Delhi Daredevils chose to bat first
Points: Delhi Daredevils 2, Chennai Super Kings 0
Player of the match: AB de Villiers (Delhi Daredevils)
Umpires: Billy Doctrove (West Indies) and Simon Taufel (Australia)
TV umpire: Shashank Ranade (India)
Match referee: Devdas Govindjee (South Africa)
Reserve umpire: Zed Ndamane (South Africa)

This week's progress...

Chennai Super Kings beat Bangalore Royal Challengers by 92 runs

Source

Port Elizabeth, April 21 (IANS) Scoreboard of the Indian Premier League match between Chennai Super Kings and Bangalore Royal Challengers at St. George's Park here Monday.
Chennai Super Kings
Parthiv Patel b Pietersen 30
Matthew Hayden run out (Dravid) 65
Suresh Raina c Kohli b Kumar 28
Mahendra Singh Dhoni c Bishnoi b Kumar 16
Andrew Flintoff not out 22
Albie Morkel b Steyn 5
Extras (lb 5, w 8) 13
Total (for five wickets in 20 overs) 179
Fall of wickets: 1-106 (Patel, 10.1 ov), 2-106 (Hayden, 10.2), 3-144 (Dhoni, 15.6), 4-165 (Raina, 18.6), 5-179 (Morkel, 19.6)
Bowling
Praveen Kumar 4-0-37-2
Dale Steyn 4-0-35-1
Jacques Kallis 2-0-28-0
Vinay Kumar 1-0-12-0
Virat Kohli 1-0-9-0
Anil Kumble 4-0-26-0
Kevin Pietersen 3-0-14-1
Ross Taylor 1-0-13-0
Bangalore Royal Challengers innings (target: 180 runs)
Praveen Kumar b Gony 0
Robin Uthappa st Dhoni b Muralitharan 20
Jacques Kallis lbw b Morkel 24
Ross Taylor c & b Flintoff 1
Kevin Pietersen lbw b Muralitharan 0
Rahul Dravid c Flintoff b Balaji 20
Virat Kohli c Badrinath b Joginder Sharma 11
Rajesh Bishnoi c Balaji b Muralitharan 0
Vinay Kumar c Hayden b Balaji 5
Dale Steyn run out (Raina/Dhoni) 0
Anil Kumble not out 1
Extras (lb 1, w 4) 5
Total (all out in 15.2 overs) 87
Fall of wickets 1-0 (Kumar, 0.3 overs), 2-40 (Kallis, 5.2), 3-47 (Taylor, 6.5), 4-49 (Pietersen, 7.3), 5-50 (Uthappa, 7.5), 6-66 (Kohli, 10.5), 7-66 (Bishnoi, 11.1), 8-74 (Vinay Kumar, 12.4), 9-78 (Steyn, 13.3), 10-87 (Dravid, 15.2)
Bowling
Manpreet Gony 3-0-24-1 (2w)
Laksmipathy Balaji 2.2-0-18-2
Albie Morkel 2-0-12-1 (1w)
Andrew Flintoff 3-0-11-1
Muttiah Muralitharan 4-1-11-3
Joginder Sharma 1-0-10-1 (1w)
Toss: Chennai Super Kings, chose to bat first
Points: Chennai Super Kings 2, Bangalore Royal Challengers 0
Man of the match: Muttiah Muralitharan (Chennai Super Kings)
Umpires: Brian Jerling and S.J.A. Taufel (Australia)
TV umpire: Russell Tiffin (Zimbabwe)
Match referee: Gundappa Viswanath (India)

This week's matches so far...

Mumbai Indians won!

Well, obviously I dunno how to read the figures but here's me trying on cricket speak: today's match saw Mumbai Indians won against Chennai Super Kings by 19 runs! (link).

I've read comments on loss of support in KKR over the captaincy issue but I always root for underdogs anyway so I'm alright with that. I'm against Shah Rukh's statement that he "would rather try the multiple captain idea and fail". I don't like the fact that the word 'fail' is lingering in his head when it comes to trying this new game plan or gameplay out. New ideas/concepts/theories should always be tried in any field that we're passionate about. Maybe I'm receptive to this because I'm a student researcher and coming up with new stuff is our bread and butter. But really, doing everything by the book may work most times, but then where's the fun in being followers of old traditions in a new game format of Twenty20?

I hope he's inserting the word 'fail' there just to ease the audience's heart, not because he really feels that way. I have a short limit for tolerating failures in others (which strangely doesn't apply to myself XD), so if KKR is still not gaining major grounds this year I know I will completely lose interest in them come next IPL, and continue to be so until they climb to the top spot some day (when?? Why can't it be this year??). I want them to at least make it to the 2009 semi-finals. Is that too much to ask? Surely not. Honestly, I want them to win the championship. And if I feel this way, I know KKR and its owners feel it 10,000 times more acutely than I do.

Other clips I found on IPL 2009:
Short clip of IPL Press Conference
Shah Rukh Khan at IPL Gala Parade - Part 1, Part 2
ipl season 2 kicks off with star studded gala carnival across cape town
IPL 2: The Cricket Carnival - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
IPL 2: Countdown begins!
Bollywood meets cricket as South Africa hosts the IPL
IPL cricketers dance to SA drummers' tunes!
Shah Rukh Khan & Preity Zinta announce Bollywood starlet contest at IPL press event April 17 2009