CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SEMIFINALS
With the
Round-robin fixtures over, we have four teams qualified for the semis, 3 from
India and 1 from the WINDIES. The teams are
1.
Rajasthan Royals
2.
Chennai Super Kings
3.
Mumbai Indians
4.
Trinidad and Tobago
Let us now look how
these teams fared in the league phase of the tournament.
RAJASTHAN
ROYALS:
The Rajasthan Royals under the solid
Rahul Dravid are still now unbeaten at their fort, Sawai Man Singh. With 4 wins
from as many games are the more favourites when they play at Jaipur. Their new
findings Sanju Viswasnandh, Pravin Tambe and Rahul Shukla have been match
winners alongside the experienced Dravid and Hodge. Their bowlers have been economical
and Dravid has a variety of options to choose from the playing XI. If they
continue like this, the title is within their reach and would be the 3rd IPL
team to win both IPL and CLT20.
CHENNAI
SUPER KINGS:
Men in Yellow have always dominated
cricket, be it the Aussies at the International level or the CSK at the IPL. MS
Dhoni’s men are on a rampage towards winning the title and that was evident
from their devastating batting from the first 3 matches. Openers Vijay and
Hussey are in form at the top to give steady starts while Raina and Dhoni could
blast towards the end to set a huge total on the board/successfully complete a
chase. The Bowling dept. has caused a lot of worry as they have conceded 180+
and 190 runs in the first 2 matches and 120 runs in 15 overs in the last match.
If they find some form, something they did against the Brisbane, they could be
the first to win the IPL and CLT20 twice.
MUMBAI
INDIANS:
The IPL champions, despite losing their first
match to the Rajasthan Royals, came back to win their last 2 matches to storm
into the semis eliminating the Otago Volts on the basis on NRR. Their batsmen
Smith, Sharma and Pollard have been in form compensating the failures of
Tendulkar, Rayudu and Karthik. Their bowlers Johnson and Counter-Nile have
worked together to prove that Mumbai still has a strong bowling unit despite
the loss of Malinga. Indian bowlers Harbhajan and Ojha have bowled economically
in the middle-overs and also chipped in some wickets. They are out with a motto
THIS TIME FOR SACHIN and are very strong in proving that given their
star-studded line-up.
TRINIDAD
& TOBAGO:
The Caribbean champions are here for
the last time given that the next time, the premier league teams would be
participating. Their star players Bravo and Pollard have decided to play for
the IPL franchises and giving an instable middle order for the Trinidad. But
the openers stepped up and provided that fire-power in their line-up. The
bowling unit has the wily Narine and Rampaul in their ranks to provide
break-throughs and slow the run-rate of the opposition. The 2009 runners are up
with a task to win the title and reach home with it given the national side is
the ICC T20 champion.
So, we could expect interesting,
nail-biting thrillers with the games to be played at the weekends. Hang on to
our updates and don’t miss the Action!!!!!!!!!
Guha
Karthikeyan
