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Deccan Chargers added two more points and moved up to 3rd position with yesterdays 53-run victory against Rajasthan Royals. This victory is their largest in term of runs. Hyderabad now need only 2 more wins to move to the Semi Final. On the other hand Rajasthan Royals, the defending champions have to win their rest of the games, 3 out of 3, to make it to the Semi Final.

IPL 2009 – Match 40 – Deccan Chargers Vs Rajasthan Royals – Full Scorecard

Dwyane Smith showing his skills with the bat

Gilchrist won the toss and elected to bat inspite of the fact that on the previous two occasions team batting second won the match. Gilchrist and Suman opened the innings for Deccan Chargers. Gilly opened his account with a huge six over square leg. He was unlucky to be judged LBW of the bowling of Yusuf Pathan, the ball pitched outside leg stump. He scored 10runs of 11 balls. Suman played some good shots and lost his wicket trying to hit one over mid wicket. He scored 29runs in just 19balls including 3 fours and a six.  Expectations were high when Rohit Sharma came to bat but he couldn’t do much and was stumped by Ojha of the bowling of Jadeja. Deccan Chargers were 77/3 during strategic break. Symonds scored quick 30runs in 19balls. Dwayne Smith was the star with the bat. He scored 47 important runs in just 32 balls. He was well supported by Vaas and Rao and helped Deccan Chargers reach 166/7 in 20 Overs.  Yusuf Pathan took 3 wickets while Jadeja claimed 2 wickets.

Deccan Chargers in full charge, close to sealing their position for Semi Finals

Rajasthan Royals needed 167 runs at 8.35 runs per over. They opened their innings with Smith and Asnodkar. Vaas played his first match in this DLF IPL 2009 and got the wicket of Smith of his very first ball. Smith too was unluck to be judged LBW, the ball hit him above knee roll and replay showed that the ball would have missed the stumps. Nothing went right for the Rajasthan Royals after the 15th Over of the first innings, till then they were in control of the game. Dwyane Smith took it from them at the end of first innings and they never came back. Royals lost wickets at regular intervals and none of the batsman could make a big score. Asnodkar made 44runs before losing his wicket in a terrible mixup with Jadeja. Deccan Chargers bowled well and were supported by good fielding. Royals were bowled out for 113 in the 20th over of their innings with 3 balls to spare. Rohit Sharma, the part timer again got wickets, 3/12 in 3 overs this time.

Dwyane Smith was the man of the match for his 47runs.

IPL T20 Points table after 40 League matches

DLF IPL T20 – Points Tally:

Delhi Daredevils, Chennai SuperKings and Hyderabad Deccan Chargers where in the top 3 positions and they look comfortable for the Semi Finals. There is tough competition between Rajasthan Royals, Kings XI Punjab, Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore for the fourth position. The top 7 teams just have 1point difference with their next team and the points of the teams are in descending order 14,13,12,11,10,9,8.

Todays Matches:

Royal Challengers Bangalore Vs Kolkata Knight Riders

Mumbai Indians Vs Kings XI Punjab

Its a must win situation for Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers in todays games. A win for Kings XI Punjab means they move to 4th position and Mumbai Indians nearly out of the competition. Mumbai Indians badly need a good opening stand between Sanath and Sachin. Kings XI Punjab are in good form and if one among Sangakkara, Yuvraj and Jayawardane plays well they can expect themselves in good position.

Bangalore would badly want to win this game and keep their hopes alive to make it to the Semi Finals. Their batting has been the problem and the top order needs to make good score. Kolkata needs McCullum and Hodge to score some runs.

My Guess:

I expect Kolkata Knight Riders to continue their habit of losing games by big margin.

Kings XI Punjab looks stronger than Mumbai Indians.