Story Lions Will Roar : CSK's Journey In DLF IPL 2011

[Aditya]

Have you made the kit. It looks good and the update is also written well. KIU

Yes, I've made the kit.

 

[Prats]

I'll follow this story for sure. I supported CSK from previous season and wanted to win them. I'm also a huge fan of Dhoni. Really love his strategies, plannings and decisions and his play too.

@ Dipak - How can they drop Dhoni? He plays a vital role in the team. He is a part of their victory in this season. He's a great captain too.

 

[Dipak]

I'll follow this story for sure. I supported CSK from previous season and wanted to win them. I'm also a huge fan of Dhoni. Really love his strategies, plannings and decisions and his play too.

He is a dumbhead. All he does is nothing. Other player deliver and people say that 'He has led the side to IPL and CWC, he is great'. But the reality is that the players but in their best and he takes all the credits

 

[just_cricket]

All he does is nothing

Yeah - the guy has only won two IPL titles, a Champions League title, the world no. 1 test ranking, and a world cup... Surely he has got out of bed at some stage? Would you class him scoring the first triple century in T20 cricket, winning every test he captains from now on by an innings, and winning every tournament he ever takes part in as a small contribution then?

 

[Aditya]

Enough of Dhoni talks. Everyone has different views, some people like Dhoni's captaincy some don't. As simple as that.

 

[Prats]

Yeah - the guy has only won two IPL titles, a Champions League title, the world no. 1 test ranking, and a world cup... Surely he has got out of bed at some stage? Would you class him scoring the first triple century in T20 cricket, winning every test he captains from now on by an innings, and winning every tournament he ever takes part in as a small contribution then?

Perfectly said JC.

Discussion ends here.

 

[The Rock]

Discussion ends here.

No no! Even I wanted to be a part of it!

Another good update. Good work on the jersey too! So when does the journey begin, Aditya?








MSD For Life! MSD All The Way! MSD FTW!

 

[Aditya]

DLF Indian Premier League 2011 : Season 4
Match 1 : Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders
Played at : MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai

Welcome to MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. We're here for the first match of DLF Indian Premier League. We have a epic encounter in the making, two strongest side, if you want, you can call them. Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders are gonna take on each other today, in Chennai. Chennai Super Kings, like they've been in the last three seasons, look a really solid side. Kolkata on other hand, have had a complete change in their squad.

In the last three seasons, they had a fairly good side but they always lacked the "balance" that a side must have to beat the other good sides but this time around they have a fairly balanced side. Ganguly will not be leading Kolkata any more, in fact it's very sad that Ganguly wont be taking part in DLF Ipl season 4. Any how, Gambhir will be the captain of Kolkata side. Just few days ago, Gambhir and Dhoni (who will be leading CSK in today's match) these two played a excellent knock in the CWC 2011. In today's match, they'll be playing against each other. Should be a great contest this.

Lets see what is happening in the opening ceremony.

Opening Ceremony​

​

​

​

Sharukh Khan performs in the opening ceremony

Children's perform a beautiful dance

Sunidhi Chauhan sings in the opening ceremony

Players were asked to sign the MCC spirit of cricket banner​

​

So, that's what happened in the opening ceremony. Now, let's head away to Sunny ji for the pitch report and then to Harsha Bhogle for the toss.

Pitch Report​

​

​

​

The pitch looks good for batting, the only area of concern for the players will be the BOUNCE. The pitch here in MA Chidambaram is usually low and slow and I think that might be the case today as well. So, the ball might keep a little at times, which can get frustrating for the bowlers. The pitch has some shine, this means that the pitch should be really helpful for the spinners.

Today, it's not as hot as it is usually in Chennai. Good breeze is flowing in the ground. So, the players should not find it much hot here, today that is. We have good playing conditions here. Keeping the pitch in mind, whichever captain wins the toss should look to bat first.

Toss
​

​

​

​

Hello to out viewers, it's time for the all important toss. I have with me, match referee, Chris Broad, the two captains, Dhoni, Chennai Super Kings captain and Gambhir, Kolkata Knight Riders captain.

Gambhir has the coin, Dhoni to call..... Dhoni calls.....HEADS

And the coin comes down as heads.... Dhoni you've won the toss, it was tough to hear you say HEADS, it's so noisy here. The build up in the stadium is amazing, isn't it after the long world cup?

Indeed and I'm glad that I'm a part of the CSK squad, every match of IPL we play here, Chennai people are always behind us. It's....It's..brilliant to play here in MA Chidambaram stadium.

So Dhoni, after a hectic world cup you've another big task in your hand and that is to do well in this tournament.

Yes...I'm really looking forward to this tournament... I've not really practiced much after the WC final, I've just tried to give my body some rest. So that I can feel fresh for this tournament and lead the CSK side well.

Good luck for the match Dhoni, do well.

Thanks a lot!

Gambhir you have lost the toss, does that make any difference?

I don't think so, toss is something that is not in your hands. But I feel that the pitch might just be a little helpful for the batsmen in the first innings then in the second innings and that will be because of the turn. I expect this pitch to help the spinners in both the innings, but slightly more in the second innings.

How have you prepared for this tournament? Have you taken some time off the game as well?

Yes, after the world cup, I was feeling quite tired and so I just took some time off the game and took some rest but I did some batting practice yesterday and today and I was timing the ball well. So, I guess I'm ready for this tournament.

Good to hear that, best of luck for today's match.

Thanks!

News from here is, Chennai Super Kings have won the toss and they will be batting first.

Let's have a look at the team line ups now. ​

Chennai Super Kings​

​

​

​

Kolkata Knight Riders​

​

​

​

4 overseas players that will be making appearance for the Chennai Super Kings will be : Albie Morkel, Scott Styris, Tim Southee and Dougie Bollinger. Srikkanth and Vijay will open the batting for CSK. Raina, Dhoni and Albie Morkel, Badrinath and Styris will be the batsmen playing in the middle order. A great middle order isn't it? So many hard hitting batsmen, as they say "when they hit the ball, it stays it". Ashwin, Jakati, Southee and Bollinger will be the four main bowlers for the CSK.

Kolkata on other hand, are a great side on paper, they have been in the last three years too but this time it's a completely different side. Can there be changes in fortunes this time, let's see. Two excellent batsmen will open the batting for KKR, Kallis and Gambhir. Tiwary, Morgan, Doeschate, Bisla, Pathan, Bhatia will take care of the middle order. Lee, Abdulla and Balaji will be the 3 main bowlers for KKR.

Overall, both the teams are looking great on paper but playing well on the field, is what that matters.

Fan's Views​

In each match, one of the Set Max anchor will ask one question to a few people sitting in the stadium. Today, Gaurav Kapur got the chance to ask the question to some people sitting in the crowd. This match's question is "What are your thoughts about MS Dhoni"? Let's see what the people sitting in the ground had to say about Dhoni.

Dhoni is a fantastic leader and a great batsman. I have immense respect for him as a player and as a captain. Without him, the Indian team wouldn't have been what it is now.

Dhoni is just lucky, his captaincy skills are not special. He's just a ordinary player who has always had a great side to lead. I just think...he is lucky..

Dhoni is just a institution in himself, a great leader who always leads from the front. Chennai should be really happy that they have Dhoni as their captain.

I'm a big fan of CSK and Dhoni. I'm a big fan of his strategies, plannings and decisions and his play too...

MSD is brilliant....MSD all the way! MSD FTW!

Dhoni means a ultimate leader, he knows the weaknesses and strengths of each and every player of his team. If I need to be very fair, he's a sort of a captain, that every team requires.

So, that were people's views on Dhoni as a player and as a captain. Few interesting points there. Most of the people had positive views about Dhoni, but few had negative views too.

Contets​

Now, we're just moments away from the match to start. There are few competitions being held just for PlanetCricket members. It can't get easier then this, you just need to predict the winner of the match and man of the match. For man of the match, you can just select one player from the playing XI of both the teams. Also, you can vote in the poll, just vote for the team you're supporting and if the team, you're supporting wins, you'll get 800 vCash prize. For the other two questions, the member who gives the correct answer will get 500 vCash prize. Before the match starts, let's have a look at the DLF Ipl 2011 trailer.

[youtube]yQ3ltCih8V0​

[/youtube]

It's time for a short commercial break now, after the break, we will take you straight to the live action.

 

[just_cricket]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Just_Cricket
Dhoni means a ultimate leader, he knows the weaknesses and strengths of each and every player of his team. If I need to be very fair, he's a sort of a captain, that every team requires.

Uh, when did I ever say that?

 

[Aditya]

Imagination. Tried something innovative, just to make the update a little more interesting. There has been a lot of discussion on Dhoni lately on this forum, I thought it should be a good idea to add this fun to the update.

 

[Dipak]

Dhoni is just lucky, his captaincy skills are not special. He's just a ordinary player who has always had a great side to lead. I just think...he is lucky..

..

 

[Bevab]

I did not have immense respect for Dhoni as a captain. I just said that he is the best India has right now.

 

[Aditya]

I've added few things by my own, to make the comments look interesting.

 

[Meet]

I liked the update, indeed.

 

[Aditya]

DLF Indian Premier League 2011 : Season 4
Match 1 : Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders
Played at : MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai

1 to 5 overs update​

Players walk out into the middle​

The players are coming into the ground. The atmosphere here in the stadium is just terrific, truly electrifying. If we look at these two teams, head to head, Chennai Super Kings are surely are the favorites to win but remember, this is a new season and both the sides have some changes to their team.

Kolkata has quite a few changes; they've a completely different squad. So, it won?t be so easy today, for CSK to beat KKR.

Anirudh Srikkanth, will open the batting for Chennai Super Kings, along with Murali Vijay. Anirudh is a classy player, he might start his innings a little slowly but once he gets settled at the pitch, he can indeed play the big shots. Watch out for this guy in this season, he can be dangerous.

Murali Vijay will be the other opener for CSK. Vijay has been amazing since the last year's IPL. He has just improved as a batsman. He already has a century in the IPL. Can he play the way he did in the last year's IPL and champion?s league? Time will tell....

Laxmipathi Balaji opened the bowling for KKR. He is a very intelligent bowler and is a great death-bowler. His slow balls come in really handy at the end of the innings; batsmen really find it hard to hit him for big shots when he is bowling in the later part of the innings. Can be a very dangerous bowler this guy, Balaji.

Iqbal Abdulla was the other opening bowler for KKR. Abdulla is a terrific performer for the Mumbai ranji side. He is more than handy with the bat, although you can?t call him an all rounder but still he can make some runs with the bat, some crucial runs. With the ball, he is amazing but that is in first class cricket. Can he do something special in IPL? Let's see....

Murali Vijay departs for 1​

First over from Balaji was a really good one. Just 4 runs came off the over. First 4 balls of the over were dot balls. On the 5th ball, Anirudh took a single and gave Murali the strike. On the 6th ball, Murali wasted no time and got off the mark. No matter how experienced you are, you do get nervous when you're on 0. No batsman likes to get out on 0.

Murali Vijay didn't trouble the scorers much. He departed for just 1 run off 2 balls. It was a brilliant catch from the KKR keeper, Bisla. Abdulla bowled a good delivery, the ball spun a little. Murali defended the ball but somehow got some edge on the ball and the ball went to the keeper. The catch wasn't easy, Bisla needed to dive onto his left side. He did that well and took a superb catch. It was a bit of a weird dismissal and that?s why Murali was not able to believe that he is out but he did need to depart, he has no other option. Next batsman to come into bat was Suresh Raina.

Murali departed cheaply but Raina at his very best​

Raina from the ball one knew what he needed to do. He was looking positive, not looking to change his style of game play. Usually Raina likes to get off to a good start in his innings, tries to play his shots and put the opposition on back foot. That's what he was doing in this match. Raina smashed Abdulla for two big sixes in just one over. This really got Raina going and CSK were on top despite losing an early wicket. Anirudh on other hand was playing the supporting role.

He was not going for the big shots by himself, he was just rotating the strike and giving the strike to Raina because he saw that Raina is going well and he should be given most of the strike. This is called a team man, isn't it?

Lee bowled the 5th over, he replaced Balaji. Balaji?s 2nd over did some damage to his figures. He gave away 16 runs in his 2nd over. Raina was going after him, he was just not allowing Balaji to bowl the way he wanted. Balaji was forced not to bowl short because Raina was hooking and pulling the ball well. So, he was forced to bowl full length which wasn't working as well. As the fielding restrictions were on, Raina was easily able to find the gaps and hit the boundaries or take singles. In the 3rd over, bowled by Balaji, there was a huge shout for an LBW against Raina. At the first look, it seemed that Raina is LBW but no, umpire didn't though so. Balaji was very disappointed by the decision but the hawk eye showed that the umpire was right. After this, Raina really went after Balaji and didn?t allow him to settle down.

This change of bringing Lee did work; Lee gave away 7 runs in his first over. Lee was bowling the Yorkers really well, Anirudh was having a hard time but he did well to survive. He gave Raina the strike on the 4th ball. Raina defended the 5th ball and smashed the last ball of the over for a SIX. So, CSK team is back in the match, all thanks to Raina. 5 overs were bowled and CSK were 44 for 1.

CSK : 49 for 1 after 5 overs
Anirudh Srikkanth 13*(13)
Suresh Raina 33*(15)
Last Wicket : Murali Vijay 1(2)
Iqbal Abdulla 2-0-22-1
Brett Lee 1-0-7-0