"Champion of Champions" Chennai Super Kings

[VinodKumar's]

Vijay payaluku bahtila Ashwin opening yerkai vidalam pola. Oru season ku oru century adichitu team la maindain aagikitu irukaan. He is batsman bajji.

[wizzy]

mathavangaluku chance kondugappa..CSK winning for the third time will kill the goose.

[SoftSword]

adhu final'la dhanae...

[hamid]

Paavam ajay :d

[wizzy]

^is he watching the massacre live?

[hamid]

I think so. He posted he got tickets. Ayyo paavam

[ajaybaskar]

Chennai Super Kings look to bounce back against Deccan Chargers

VISAKHAPATNAM: Defending champions Chennai Super Kings would look to bounce back after their humiliating defeat against Mumbai Indians in the campaign-opener when they take on a depleted Deccan Chargers in their second IPL fixture on Saturday.

Chennai, the most consistent side in the short history of IPL, were beaten fair and square in front of their home crowd by Mumbai in the inaugural match of the season on Wednesday and they would look to register their first win of the edition against Deccan, one of the weaker sides this year.

The side led by India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni did not look like a team chasing a hat-trick of titles with their key batsmen failing miserably and bowlers coming a cropper to lose against Mumbai by eight wickets. They could post a meagre 112 and lost the match with 19 balls to spare.

Much will depend on the combine of Dhoni and Suresh Raina to secure Chennai's first win on Saturday. Both have not been in the best of forms recently and they would look to make a mark for their team tomorrow.

All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, the costliest player at this year's auction, came a cropper against Mumbai, but he can be a match-winner any day with his all-round skills in home conditions.

Two other key players, Australian Doug Bollinger and Ravichandran Ashwin -- their pace and spin spearheads -- would also be eager to make a mark quickly in the tournament against a side which will be without captain Kumar Sangakkara who would be missing tomorrow's match due to national duty against England in Sri Lanka.

Deccan, on the other hand, are one of the least fancied sides this year with some of their key players having to sit out of the tournament.

They failed to progress to the knock-out phase last year and finished seventh. This year, the Hyderabad-based side will miss the services of India pacer Ishant Sharma who underwent surgery on his ankle recently.

West Indian Darren Bravo, who has been compared with the legendary batsman Brian Lara, will also not be available as he will be doing national duty at home in the Test series against Australia starting tomorrow.

Much of Deccan's batting responsibility will fall on Australian Cameron White, South African Jean-Paul Duminy Indian players Shikhar Dhawan and Parthiv Patel, this year's only big signing.

On the bowling front, the outcome of the match could depend on South African tearaway pacer Dale Steyn and Indian leg-spinner Amit Mishra. Mishra was the leading wicket-taker for Deccan last season, with 19 scalps.

[ajaybaskar]

IPL 2012 - DC vs CSK, Match 6: Statistical Highlights

• Suresh Raina took his runs` tally to 1865 (ave.35.86) in 64 matches - the most by a batsman in the IPL.

• Dwayne Bravo (43 not out off 18 balls) recorded a strike rate of 238.88 - the highest in the present tournament, outstripping the 210.00 (42 not out off 20 balls) by Irfan Pathan for Delhi Daredevils against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on April 5.

• Bravo`s knock is his highest for Chennai Super Kings at the IPL. His five sixes in the innings are the most by a Chennai batsman against Deccan Chargers in an IPL match.

• Ravindra Jadeja became the ninth bowler to register a five-wicket haul in the IPL. He has joined Sohil Tanvir (six), Anil Kumble, Ishant Sharma, Lasith Malinga, Amit Mishra, Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel and Lakshmipathy Balaji.

• Jadeja (5/16) recorded a career-best bowling performance in Twenty20 - his first instance of five wickets in an innings.

• Jadeja (48 off 29 balls) recorded his highest innings in Twenty20.

• Jadeja is the fourth player to be dismissed hit wicket in the IPL, joining Misbah-ul-Haq (Bangalore), Swapnil Asnodkar (Rajasthan) and Musavir Khote (Mumbai).

• Jadeja`s bowling figures are the best by a Chennai bowler in the IPL. Lakshmipathy Balaji was the first Chennai bowler to take 5 wickets in an innings.

• Jadeja`s performance is the best by a bowler against Deccan Chargers, bettering the 5 for 17 by Amit Mishra for Delhi Daredevils at Delhi on May 15, 2008.

• Jadeja became the first all-rounder to produce a five-wicket haul and register a 40-plus innings in the same match in the IPL history.

• Chennai Super Kings` 74-run victory is their third largest by runs margin in the IPL - the two biggest are by 92 runs against Bangalore in 2009 and by 78 runs against Deccan Chargers the same year.

[ajaybaskar]

CSK Web site ranks number one

Chennai Super Kings may not have had a great start to IPL-5, but its Web site ranks number one among all IPL team sites, according to a global analytics survey.

The CSK Web site is ranked 3,802 in India and 1,12,107 globally, ahead of its IPL contemporaries. The ranking was done by Alexa, provider of global Web metrics.

It has come out with a report of the top 50,000 Web sites globally. CSK is followed by Deccan Charges with a ranking of 7,767 in India and 1,67,996 globally.

Delhi Daredevils, Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab come in next.

CSK's Facebook page was recently ranked as “one of the fastest growing pages in the world”, said a press release; the page currently has over almost 1 million followers.

[ajaybaskar]

Scoring less than 120 twice in 3 matches is not expected from a team which bats deep till No.8. What is happening?

Siggya maatha vachuruvaanga pola irukke?