Yuvraj’s Punjab Win
May 2, 2009 by Ash gee news under Sports News
Durban: Kings XI captain Yuvraj Singh sizzles with the bat, fires with the ball, claiming a hat-trick. But he could not rescue his team from losing to resurgent Royal Challengers by 8 runs. The little description again testifies the cliché that cricket is a team game in which individual glory can’t win matches everyday.
They beat Mumbai Indians narrowly the other day when almost everybody contributed for team’s cause. But today that team effort was missing, especially in the batting department. From 84 for 3 in 13th over, they somehow lost they way and ultimately managed to score 137 for 7, eight short of Bangalore’s total of 145.
On the other hand, Bangalore, despite having started off poorly in IPL-II, Bangalore have now won their second consecutive matches and kept their hopes afloat for the semi-final berth.
Having suffered a severe middle-order slum, Bangalore did well to reach around 150 thanks to Roelof van der Merwe who scored a brisk 34 off 19 balls with three hits to the fences and three over it.
Punjab also needed someone to steer them to the target after Yuvraj Singh took them to around half-way mark with a typical attacking 50. The Sri Lankan duo of Sangakkara (17) and Jayawardene (19) contributed to reach them near to bangalore’s total, but they failed up the tempo of run rate which kept increasing with the passing of every over.
The spin duo of Kimble (2/25) and Roelof van der Merwe (2/22) kept a tight lease on Punjab batsmen and never allowed them to break free. Their effort again proves that IPL-II is being dominated by the whipping boys of cricket, the bowlers. The teams which have better bowlers have been coming out victorious which is good things to happen on a cricketing field.
However, Yuvraj Singh love-affair with Kingsmead continued as he scored a half-century after claiming hat-trick with the ball. Coming as an opener Yuvraj, who smashed 6 sixes off Stuart Broad in T20 World Cup here two years back, slams fifty off 34 balls smashing 4 sixes and 3 fours before being caught by Kallis off the bowling of his Bangalore counterpart Anil Kumble. It’s his effort that Punjab reached 70/1 in 10 overs from where their slump started.
But the match will also be remembered for Yuvraj Singh who set the Kingsmead on fire early on claiming the first hat-trick of IPL season two and helped his team restrict Challengers to a moderate 145/9 in allotted 20 overs.
First, he removed Jacques Kallis and Robin Uthappa in the 5th and 6th ball of eleventh over and then plumbed Mark Bouchar in the first ball of his next over. The triple blow by the Punjab captain left Bangalore batting shivering in the middle overs.
Just when it looked that Robin Uthappa (19) and Jacques Kallis (27) would take Bangalore to a relatively safe position with a 42-run partnership, Yuvraj Singh removed both the batsmen in two consecutive balls.
The deliveries with which Yuvraj took his second and third wickets were treat to watch. First, he baffled Kallis with an arm ball and then forced Boucher give in with another arm ball.From 84 for 6 after 13th over, Bangalore did well to reach around 150 thanks to Roelof van der Merwe who scored a brisk 34 off 19 balls with three hits to the fences and three over it.
It was not Yuvraj alone, but ever improving left-arm seamer Yusuf Abdullah also fired with the ball again picking up four crucial wickets to be the latest possessor of Purple Cap replacing Lasith Malinga.
Bangalore’s misery with the bat continues as they were again tottering at 44/3 after 7 overs. After Jesse Ryder, they lost Rajesh Bishnoi (18) and Shreevats Goswami (10).
Bishnoi started off well, hitting two huge sixes and a four during his 14-ball stay. But he perished trying to hit one Yusuf Abdullah delivery through the covers. Piyush Chawla held on to a fine catch.
The same combination of Abdullah and Chawla brought the downfall of Goswami, the hero of the last match against Kolkata.
New Zealand dasher Jesse Ryder’s poor IPL form persisted as he became the first casualty of the match in the very first over. Irfan Pathan, who seemed to get back some kinds of rhythm in his bowling, removed his caught at slip by Mahela Jayawardene. Ryder scored just 2 off 5 balls.
In the absence of Kevin Pietersen, who left Bangalore team to play for England Test team against West Indies, Anil Kumble walked out as captain for the Royal Challengers.
Teams
Bangalore Royal Challengers (Playing XI): Shreevats Goswami, Jesse Ryder, Robin Uthappa, Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher(w), Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Roelof van der Merwe, Anil Kumble(c), KP Appanna, Rajesh Bishnoi
Kings XI Punjab (Playing XI): Karan Goel, Kumar Sangakkara(w), Yuvraj Singh(c), Mahela Jayawardene, Simon Katich, Tanmay Srivastava, Irfan Pathan, Piyush Chawla, Ramesh Powar, Vikramjeet Malik, Yusuf Abdullah
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