Love itTwo fruit salad XIs battling it out, with neither side playing exceptionally well. Good for AB- he should be opening the innings from the next game on. Can't say I like either team, although it's good to have Varun Aaron among the top five wicket takers.
Can't see KXIP going to far to be honest, rely too much on 1-2 players. Whereas Chennai have 4-5 batsman that can score big at a decent clip.CSK are such a model of consistency. For all the talk about CSK not caring about finishing games quickly and KXIP bossing it from the go, CSK have still managed to pip KXIP to the top of the table on the basis of NRR.
Actually both teams are evenly balanced, in strengths and weaknesses. KXIP rely excessively on Max-Mill-Bay, and them getting dismissed cheaply will dent their chance of a win, but good for them, they're getting support from Sandeep, Rishi and especially Balaji. Likewise, Chennai would not want to lose both Dwayne and Baz cheaply- Raina is still not in it completely, and lower order is not tested, so too much falls on Dhoni- but they too have their Indian bowlers doing their bit for them. Chennai's overseas bowler is definitely doing a lot better than his KXIP counterpart. Both teams have a sense of togetherness, unlike the fruit salads and Rest Of Worlds, and can make it to the semis.Can't see KXIP going to far to be honest, rely too much on 1-2 players. Whereas Chennai have 4-5 batsman that can score big at a decent clip.
Well this didn't last long..As a fan of the Indian Domestic scene (not just the Indian team), I don't wish to watch any feed of the IPL from Dubai. Actually, I don't wish to watch the IPL at all. It has crushed the Indian domestic scene, by pushing India's domestic players, top performers included, to the fringes, and out of contention. On the other hand, they scout zealously for overseas players, even folks who have never played an international game before. That amount of scouting was never done in domestic games.
They'll also fight tooth and nail against T20 teams of other countries to hold on to their overseas players for CLT20. That's because they're weak without them- but what stopped them from breeding their own player pool? That's what those teams from abroad did all these years- but the IPL is merely grabbing them with big moneybags. How cheap!
Now, it's in Dubai, when it could simply have had a change in format, or date, and that would benefit Indian audiences a lot more. The last time the IPL was shifted abroad, to South Africa, they played only to TV audiences in India. Revenue loss for advertisers was so high, that stupid ten-minute break was introduced- so anti-viewer that was! That the ridiculous injunction has been lifted is good news, so I won't watch any video feed. Watch it on Cricinfo/Yahoo or not, I won't support the IPL any longer. Franchises can snatch and hoard overseas players as much as they want.
If the umpires had a brain between them they would have gone to the third umpire. Definitely a dead ball.That's a dead ball ffs. What a dick move.
By legal I meant he hasn't asked him to re-bowl the ball.Umpire didn't say it's legal. Umpire said he couldn't see what happened because Russell was behind him.