IT’S WARNIE VS DHONI

Super Sunday Set To Break TV Records

The mega final between Aussie legend Shane Warne’s Team Jaipur and the country’s coolest star M S Dhoni’s Team Chennai promises to break all records and become the biggest television spectacle in the history of Indian sport. Just sample this: A staggering 99 million viewers have already watched the IPL matches between April 18 and May 24. Even as some commentators warned of a cricket overdose, evening after evening, families have gathered before TV sets, planned dinners over weekends to set the stage for a grand finale on Super Sunday.

With glamour, hype, cliffhangers, stars and controversies, T20 has already offered a full platter. There is only one worry though: let us just hope the final too doesn’t turn out to be a tame affair like the two semifinals. If Team Jaipur won by 105 runs on Friday night, Team Chennai had it even easier winning by nine wickets. Mohali won the toss like Delhi on Friday, but elected to bat. Even this proved to be disastrous as they lost wickets in virtually every over early on.

WHO’LL WEAR THE CROWN TONIGHT?

The IPL’s been every bit the cricketing revolution it was touted to be. After 44 days, it climaxes today with a battle royale.

TV EYEBALLS

99m have tuned in so far. The expected TV audience tonight may exceed that of the T20 World Cup final Sports audience reach in India (no of people tuned in for over a minute): 1. World Cup Cricket ODI (2007): 32.8m 2. T20 final (2007): 48.3m 3. Soccer World Cup (2006): 6.7m * The Super Bowl final in 2008 was watched by 97.5 million people.

BET-O-METER

Team Jaipur: 8/11 Team Chennai: 9/11 (Ladbrokes)

STRENGTHS

A terrific bunch that has gelled superbly as a unit under the guidance of Warne, who is both captain and coach. All-rounder Shane Watson, pacer Sohail Tanvir, Asnodkar and Yusuf Pathan have all been a hit

Dhoni’s cool captaincy and the middle order. If the likes of Albie Morkel, Suresh Raina, Badrinath and Dhoni himself get going, then Team Jaipur might struggle. New ball bowlers Ntini and Gony are also a threat.

WEAKNESSES

Graeme Smith, who has scored 441 runs at an average of 49, will be missing after a recurrence of a hamstring injury. The youngsters could be under pressure in the biggest game of their lives

Stephen Fleming’s departure has further weakened the top order, putting pressure on Parthiv Patel, Suresh Raina and Dhoni himself to fire. Also, Muralitharan has hardly looked the champion bowler that he is

WARHEADS

Sohail Tanvir
Albie Morkel
Shane Watson
Makhaya Ntini
Swapnil Asnodkar
S Badrinath
Yusuf Pathan
Suresh Raina

DARK HORSES
Mohammed Kaif
Parthiv Patel

ROAD TO FINALS

Won: 12, Lost: 3, In semis, beat Delhi Daredevils by 105 runs

Won: 9, Lost: 6. In semis, beat Team Mohali by 9 wickets

CROSSING SWORDS

Jaipur has won both the home and away matches against Chennai. The first was won by 8 wickets on the strength of Sohail Tanvir’s 6-14. Graeme Smith blasted 91 in the 2nd for a 10-run win

Jobs on a Cruise Ship

Ganguly helps Kolkata beat Kings XI

Skipper Sourav Ganguly (86*) led from the front to beat Kings XI Punjab by three wickets in their Indian Premier League tie at the Eden Gardens.

Chasing 176 runs, Kolkata got off to a good start until Sreesanth rocked Salman Butt and Debabrata Das in his successive deliveries. Butt contributed 24 runs in 18 balls while Das returned without scoring. David Hussey (12) continued his poor form against the spin bowling. Piyush Chawla rocked his middle stump comprehensively. Laxmi Shukla too did not last long and lost his timber to VRV Singh in the 10th over.

Earlier, Kings XI Punjab rode on rollicking knocks by Kumar Sangakkara (64) and Shaun Marsh (40) to pile up 174 for 6 in their Indian Premier League tie against Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday. Coming together after the early loss of James Hopes, Marsh and Sangakkara added a brisk 83 runs of only 57 deliveries to put their side in the drivers' seat before a crowd of 30,000 at the Eden Gardens.

Sangakkara was especially brilliant, letting loose several delicate shots all over the park earning huge applause from the spectators, who relished every minute of his brilliant batting. Marsh, one of the principal scorers of the tourney, executed some power-packed shots before holing out to long off, giving Sri Lankan off spinner Ajantha Mendis his first wicket of the IPL on his debut.

Umar Gul (4/23), the pick of the Knight Riders bowlers, finally got rid of Sangakkara, as the Sri Lankan played across the line to a delivery that pitched on the good length spot and came further in and rapped the willower on the pad, as the visitors became 133 for 3. Yuvraj Singh then played a cameo, adding 31 runs with Mahela Jayawardene (11 not out) before the former got run out following a horrible mix up.

The Kings XI seemed well positioned for a 180 plus total, as they reached 170 for 4 after the penultimate over, but Gul's superlative bowling at the death restricted them to a run rate of 8.7 per over. Gul not only conceded only four runs, but also was on a hat-trick, as he picked up Irfan Pathan (7) and Piyush Chawla (0) of back-to-back deliveries. It was left to Tanmay Srivastava to thwart Gul's feat.

Young pacer Ishant Sharma, a find for the Indian team during their tour to Australia earlier this year, once again was lacklustre conceding 49 runs in his quota of four overs.

Jobs on a Cruise Ship

Kings XI Punjab Steal Win Over Mumbai By One Run

Mumbai Indians just lost their way towards the end of their IPL tie against Kings XI Punjab and consequently lost it by 1 run at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Interestingly, there were five run outs in this match with three coming off in the last over. Batsmen to fall short of the crease were Dwayne Smith, Sachin Tendulkar, Ashish Nehra, Siddharth Chitnis and VS Yeligati.

After posting a target of 190 runs, Kings XI Punjab thought they had enough on the board. But, Mumbai batsmen had other ideas. Jayasuriya started off in his usual style and quickfired 21 runs before Sreesanth caught him plumb. Dwayne Smith (20) came after his departure and added 45 runs with Tendulkar but a throw from Yuvraj at mid-off saw him short off the crease.

Mumbai captain and opener Sachin Tendulkar then took control of the innings and hammered 65 runs. Abhishek Nayar also joined the party and made quick 27 runs before leg-spinner Piyush Chawla took his wicket.

After Tendulkar fell, Pollock and Uthappa followed him soon. Chitnis hit some big shots but failed to carry his side home. But what really was worth the money of this match was the last over by VRV Singh. Not that he picked any wicket but it showed what pressure can do. After two run outs, Mumbai needed 4 runs off 2 balls. Yeligati and Fernando added two runs. They required two runs off the last ball. Yeligati ran but Yuvraj threw himself on the stumps, of course with ball and then ecstatic Kings XI players ran all over the ground.

Earlier, after put in to bat, Kings XI Punjab made 189 runs at the loss of four wickets with the help of the knocks from Shaun Marsh and Luke Pomersbach.

'Man of the Match' Shaun Marsh continued with his purple patch as he not only slammed a half-century but also built a 133-run partnership with Luke Pomersbach before Siddharth Chitnis removed him for 81 runs. Shaun Pollock caught him at the long on. Luke Pomersbach who was playing a second fiddle to Marsh, took over after his fall and scored unbeaten 79 runs. Skipper Yuvraj Singh's poor run with the bat continued as he fell for just 7 runs. Chitnis picked him as his second victim after Marsh.

With this win, Kings XI Punjab become the second team to make it to the semi-finals after Rajasthan Royals.

Jobs on a Cruise Ship