Mike Hussey strokes Chennai to victory !

Hussey began his 1PL 2011 career with a superb, scintilling knock, like the blistering innings he played against Pak in the T20 2010.

Hussey was responsible for powering Chennai to 183, setting a target of 184 to Bangalore. Bangalore cracked under pressure !

Bangalore's fielding was below par and Hussey was let off when he was on 8. He went to score 83 not out. The support bowlers of Bangalore gave 101 runs off nine overs !

When Chennai started, except for Kohli and Bram Villiers, no batsmen impressed. Their muddled thinking and bungling cost them the match !

When Bangalore batted, Morkel removed the dangerous Dilshan. AUK Pathan was bowled by Southee for 14 and M Agarwal was removed by Ashwin when the score was 31. Bangalore was faced with 13/14 runs per over as the required rate and lost the match by 21 runs !


The Australian Effect is here in IPL. The Kangaroos are back from the BD
tour and are active in the fourth edition of the IPL.

It is a paradox the Dilshan, the highest scorer in the WC 2011, 500 runs, is
all at sea in IPL Last match he was scratching here and here, even though
he scored a fifty and yesterday he was out to Morkel for a duck ! What a
great game cricket is ! A man who scores a century goes out for a blog and
the man who goes out for a duck scores a hundred in the next match. Cricket
is indeed a funny game !

Bangalore's decision to send a pinch hitter, Asad Pathan, failed, as Pathan,
who hit two fours and a six off Albie Morkel, perished attempting a scoop
off Southee ! It seems all Pathans are pinch hitters !

Experts point out that the best batsmen should be in the top order. What we
saw yesterday was that Bangalore were 31/3 and then it was too late for
Kohli and Bram Villiers to lift them to victory. Rightly did Mahela open the
innings for Kochi. The best should come up in the order. Villiers opening
and Kohli at No 3 or 4 should be ideal. Remember, Kohli was India's No 3 !

Pathan and Agarwal can come down in the order. Anyway it is upto the
Bangalore think tank to decide.

If we look at the latest matches, Kallis and Gambhir powering KKR to
victory, or Valthaty and Gilchrist powering Punjab to victory, the top order
has delivered. Even in the WC, the SL top order was it form and that is why
they became finalists !

S Tiwari and Pujara should come up the order and Agarwal and Pathan can come
lower down. Pujara has immense talent and this talent can be utilised if he
comes up the order.

Anyway Dhoni's tactics seemed to bring home the bacon. Batting first and
winning only Dhoni can. He proved it today with ease.

Kohli played well but he could not pick up singles, Pujara cracked under
pressure and Tiwary could not hit boundaries due to scoreboard pressure.
When Villiers hit Southee for 15 off the 18th over, it was too late.

Fielding cost us the match, said Vettori after the match. Three catches were
dropped and catches win matches.

Vettori said, 'I think it's an attitude thing. It's all about energy. A
couple of things went wrong today, big crowd, lot of noise, lot of pressure,
(but) it's still about attitude.' Saying that Villiers and Kohli should be
supported by others, he added 'They're big-time players, everyone knows how
good they are, but they need people to help them out too, we can't rely on
them every game.'

Asked about the poor form of Dilshan, he said 'I think you always expect a
lot from your key player. We expect a lot from ourselves in the IPL'.

RCB lost the game due to a little bit of fielding and little bit of bowling"
and not due to batting, he averred.

One of the greatest catches was seen when M Vijay, ran like a hare and took a superb catch. It can be called the catch of the Tournament.