Mumbai Indians vs Deccan Chargers Highlights - 2nd Leg

Deccan Chargers Bat

Mumbai Bat

Watch cricket highlights - Mumbai Indians vs Deccan Chargers from IPL 2009 - the 2nd game between the two in season 2.

Scoreline: Deccan Chargers 145/6: Rohit Sharma 38 - RP Singh 4-19-2
Mumbai Indians 126/8: JP Duminy 52 - Rohit Sharma 2-6-4 including a hattrick

Hara-kiri at its purest. Committed without even the realistic possibility of loss looming.

From 49 to get off 36 balls, with JP Duminy and Dwayne Bravo around, Mumbai ended up losing by 20 runs. Along the way Rohit Sharma picked up a hat-trick much like Yuvraj Singh’s hat-trick (in the sense - the hattrick ball being the first delivery of a new over). The worst part of the Mumbai collapse was that they were given a couple of reprieves by Suman and yet insisted on paying their odes to the art of hara-kiri in the modern world. Fantastic viewing stuff.

Recall: The Chargers won the earlier game - Chargers vs Mumbai - 1st Leg.

Zaheer Khan who did some shoulder-damage while diving in the last game will miss this game for Mumbai, while word is there’s a good chance Vaas might play today. Must be cos of his high success-rate vs Tendulkar.

England could host Pakistan-Australia Tests

After UAE, England could be the next neutral venue for Pakistan's home Tests.

Discussions between the PCB, ECB and Cricket Australia (CA) are at an advanced stage as the three parties try and find a way of rescheduling Pakistan's 'home' series against Australia in England next summer.

Australia were due to tour Pakistan for a full series in March 2008 but pulled out because of security concerns. The tour was postponed, but after the terrorist attacks on the Sri Lankan team in March this year and the subsequent ICC move to take the 2011 World Cup away from Pakistan, international cricket within Pakistan is all but ruled out for the next few years. The PCB, therefore, is looking for ways to minimize the impact on its FTP and is actively looking at neutral venues where it can stage future home commitments.

Abu Dhabi and Dubai, where Pakistan just played an ODI series against Australia, is one option but England has always been another, ever since Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman, floated the idea last year.

"There is a lot of discussion going on between the three parties," an official involved in the negotiations told Cricinfo. "Nothing has been finalised just yet but we are getting closer to the possibility that Pakistan plays its Tests against Australia in England next year."

There are obstacles still in the way before any agreement is reached. The first is the itinerary: CA wants to play two Tests and two Twenty20 internationals, while the Pakistan board is keener on a three-Test and three-ODI series. Whichever schedule is settled upon, it will have to be worked in between three international series in the English summer: Bangladesh are touring in May-June for a Test and ODI series and West Indies in July and August. Additionally, in June, Australia are due to play a five-match ODI series with England. Further complication may come in the form of the P20, the ECB's answer to the IPL, which begins from next summer and may involve international players.

Other hurdles are TV rights and the costs involved. Sky Television has the rights to England's home Tests but this covers those contests where England are the hosts. As the rights holder to Pakistan's home contests, Ten Sports are likely to be the broadcaster. "The TV rights are a pressing question," the official said. "It is crucial for the PCB to continue to benefit from broadcasting rights and Ten Sports and Sky will have to come up with some kind of compromise to ensure that happens. It shouldn't be a problem."

As the PCB found in the series against Australia in the UAE, the costs involved in hosting a 'home' series at a neutral venue are prohibitive. Cash-strapped already - though perhaps not as much as initially thought - the cost of holding a series in England will have to be weighed up seriously. "As it was in Dubai, the costs in the UK will be very high," a PCB official said. "That is something we really have to look at, in terms of how much revenue we will be able to generate."

The venues for the series are yet to be decided though cities such as Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham - traditionally home to large British Asian populations - are likely to be on any shortlist.

Chennai Super Kings vs Deccan Chargers Highlights - 2nd Leg

Chennai Batting

Deccan Batting


Watch cricket highlights - Chennai Super Kings vs Deccan Chargers from IPL 2009, the 2nd Leg.

Scoreline: Chennai 178/3 - MS Dhoni 58 (37), Matthew Hayden 43 (26), Suresh Raina 32 (19), Murali Vijay 31
Deccan Chargers 100 all out - Dwayne Smith 49 (23) - Shadab Jakati 4-22-4

The possibilities of the Matthew Hayden-Murali Vijay thing was on display today followed by Dhoni lifting himself up the order despite the lurking presence of Pragyan Ojha. Quiet to start with and still mesmerized by Ojha for the most part, Dhoni apart from a huge six off Pragyan opted to ease himself in as Raina took charge.The final Chennai assault however had the Dhoni the bulldozer at its forefront, playing one Dhoni shot after the other. Good stuff to watch, even for the non-Dhoni fans.

The Chargers pretty much were out of the chase after a duck farm at the top (1/3). Dwayne Smith however is definitely worth a watch with some of the best hits of the game. Jakati continued to hold batsmen in a Goa trance and the Chargers yoyo looks quite sodden at this point.

Recall: Deccan through a Gibbs 69 won during the 1st round between the two sides this season.

Kings XI Punjab vs Kolkata Knight Riders Highlights - 2nd Leg

KKR Bat

Punjab Bat

Watch cricket highlights - Kings XI Punjab vs Kolkata Knight Riders from IPL 2009 - the 2nd Leg.

Scoreline: KKR 153/3 - Brad Hodge 70 (43), Sourav Ganguly 22
Mohali make it off the last ball - Mahela Jayawardene 52, Simon Katich 34

Kolkata had a listless start though Gayle spanked a few - remember this day cos this is probably the first and last time you’ll see McCullum taking 31 deliveries for his 19. Brad Hodge appeared to have taken the game away from Mohali with serious late hitting on a pitch that the experts out there said was around 130-140.

Classy Jayawardene eventually was central to the Kings runchase - he was lucky to escape a plumb LBW at a crucial point in the game, but KKR didn’t lose the game because of that. Their fielding did them in today.

There was a heated moment between Ishanth Sharma and Yuvraj Singh after the latter was dismissed but if you watch the last part of the 2nd video carefully, things seemed to have cooled down by the time the players came out to shake hands - Yuvraj makes an in-good-humour reference to the Sreesanth slap (IPL 2008) by raising his hand in a halfway-slap while meeting Ishanth.

Pregame: Punjab lost Round 1 between the two in a rain curtailed game - KKR vs Mohali Kings XI - 1st Leg. Chris Gayle’s final game by the way for KKR this season.

Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bangalore Highlights

Mumbai Batting

Bangalore Batting

Watch cricket highlights - Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bangalore from IPL 2009.

Scoreline: Mumbai 149/4 - Sanath Jayasuriya 52, Dwayne Bravo 50 no - du Preez 3 wickets on debut including a double-wicket maiden
Bangalore finish it in 18.1 overs - Robin Uthappa 66 (42), Jacques Kallis 69

Last season, Bangalore frustrated its home-boys by picking people like Jaffer and Kallis consistently ahead of Taylor and Cameron White. They did the same today going for Jaffer in place of Goswami (not sure if it was insanity or injury) and some guy called Du Preez ahead of Steyn while sticking with the Kallis-Boucher combo ahead of Taylor-Ryder. And it fell into place perfectly on the day. However the pain of seeing Kallis seal his place in the side was offset by one of the best sights in limited-over cricket - Robin Uthappa rediscovering his touch towards the end of play. A couple more of these and he should be back where he belongs - in the Indian ODI/T20 team.

Mumbai appeared to go into shock after the Du Preez debut double-wicket maiden over - even the bowling was insipid today. Bangalore is going super right now, but one can’t help but wonder if these sort of team selections can be successful long-term.

Thus, the impotent selection committee speculated.

Pregame: The first clash between the two sides this season - Anil Kumble against Tendulkar/Jayasuriya - seems the most interesting thing on offer here considering RCB seem adamant about Kallis ahead of Taylor/Ryder