Today is the first semi final of DLF IPL 2010 between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore. The match is to be played at DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai at 8pm today. This is a knockout match i.e. the team which looses will be out of the League. Mumbai captain Sachin Tendulkar is hopeful of the team’s performance and will wish that Mumbai forgets about last match against KKR and get back to the winning streak. Mumbai has played superbly in this season of Indian Premier League and were the first team to qualify for the semi finals. They have won 10 off the 14 matches and are far ahead of all other teams in terms of points, but today none of that matters. Royal Challengers know that on a given day, it can be anyone’s game. RCB has defeated Mumbai earlier in group match and would like to repeat that performance today.

Fans of both teams would be cheering for their teams and would hope that the teams don’t falter at this crucial stage. The man to watch out today from Mumbai will be Sachin Tendulkar who has amazed one and all with his performance in this season. On the other hand Royal Challengers Bangalore have also played excellent cricket in this tournament and would be hoping that today the team effort will once again see them through to the finals.

We have fingers crossed today and lets hope may the best team wins.

The stage is all set for the first semi final to be played between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore. The match will be played at DY Patil Stadium on 21 April 2010 at 8 pm Indian Standard Time.

Mumbai Indians Team
S Tendulkar (Captain), D Bravo, S Dhawan, J Duminy, C Fernando, Harbhajan Singh, S Jayasuriya, Z Khan, D Kulkarni, R McLaren, C Madan, I Malhotra, S Malinga, A Murtaza, G Napier, A Nayar, K Pollard, A Rayudu, R Sathish, K Sahabuddin, R Shukla, A Tare, S Tiwary.

Royal Challengers Bangalore Team
A Kumble (Captain),, B Akhil, KP Appanna, RV Uthappa, MV Boucher, R Dravid, SP Goswami, JH Kallis, V Kohli, R Vinay Kumar, B Kumar, P Kumar, A Mithun, EJG Morgan, MK Pandey, KP Pietersen, SPD Smith, S Sriram, DW Steyn, LRPL Taylor, D du Preez, RE van der Merwe, CL White.

Final eleven will be announced before match.

Match: 56th T20, IPL3
Venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Date: April 18, 2010
Time: 8 pm
Toss: Mumbai Indians elected to bat.
Result: Kolkata Knight Riders won by 9 wickets

Mumbai Indians won the toss today and elected to bat first. Today’s match had no impact on semi finals so Mumbai Indian I had as many as six changes in the squad. Aditya Tare and Shikhar Dhawan opened the innings but could not give Mumbai a good start. Mumbai Indians were 14/2 in 2.5 overs. Then S Tiwary and J Duminy got into a good partnership and took the score to 77. Tiwary and Duminy both got out at the same score leaving Mumbai Indians struggling at 77/4 in 13.1 overs. The stand in captain D Bravo also failed and Mumbai looked in real trouble with 5 wickets down at 89 in 15.4 overs. A Rayudu and R Satish then took the score past 100 at the end they were able to post a meager total of 133/8 in 20 overs.

Chasing 134 to win, KKR got off to a superb start. Ganguly and McCullum played shots right from the first over and scored runs with ease. Both these scored 97 runs for the first wicket partnership. Mumbai Indian bowlers looked clueless against KKR batsmen today. Finally KKR were able to win today’s match by 9 wickets but still they are out of IPL 2010.

A nice end to KKR’s journey of this year’s IPL which witnessed many ups and downs throughout.

Match Notes

* Mumbai Indians: 50 runs in 7.2 overs, Extras 1
* Mumbai Indians: 100 runs in 16.3 overs, Extras 3
* Innings Break: Mumbai Indians – 133/8 in 20.0 overs

* Kolkata Knight Riders: 50 runs in 6.3 overs, Extras 3
* Kolkata Knight Riders: 100 runs in 13.6 overs, Extras 10
* BB McCullum: 50 off 52 balls (7 x 4)

Match 56 Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians Scorecard

Match: 56th T20, IPL3
Venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Date: April 18, 2010
Time: 8 pm

In a dead rubber today, Kolkata Knight Riders will take on Mumbai Indians at Eden Garden in the last group match of DLF IPL 2010. The teams have already qualified for semi finals so this match is of no importance. Kolkata Knight Riders are out of DLF IPL Season 3 as Chennai Super Kings won the match against Kings XI Punjab leaving KKR on the 6th position in points table. Mumbai Indians have decided to rest captain Sachin Tendulkar today so that he is all charged up for semi finals.

Mumbai Indians Team
D Bravo (Captain), S Dhawan, J Duminy, C Fernando, Harbhajan Singh, S Jayasuriya, Z Khan, D Kulkarni, R McLaren, C Madan, I Malhotra, S Malinga, A Murtaza, G Napier, A Nayar, K Pollard, A Rayudu, R Sathish, K Sahabuddin, R Shukla, A Tare, S Tiwary.

Kolkata Knight Riders Team
S Ganguly (captain), C Gayle, A Mathews, G Vignesh, L Shukla, Rohan Gavaskar, Harpreet Singh, Mandeep Singh, B Hodge, C Pathak, C Pujara, O Shah, M Tiwary, Harshad Khadiwale, B McCullum, W Saha, A Agarkar, V Aaron, A Dinda, M Kartik, BAW Mendis, C Langeveldt, I Sharma, Iqbal Abdulla.

Match: 55th T20, IPL3
Venue: Feroz Shah Kotla Delhi
Date: April 18, 2010
Toss: Deccan Chargers elected to bat
Result: Deccan Chargers Won by 11 runs

In a virtual semi final i.e. the winner moving on to semifinals, Deccan Chargers and Delhi Daredevils were facing each other at Ferzo Shah Kolta ground in Delhi. Deccan Chargers won the toss and elected to bat first. In this do or die match, Gilchrist once again failed to give Deccan’s a solid start. Once he was out, wickets started to fell at regular interval.Deccan Chargers were reduced to 66/4 in 9 overs and they needed some one to score fast runs. Symonds came to the rescue of Chargers as he scored a brilliant 54 off 30 balls (3*4,5*6). He took the score past 100 and it looked that Delhi bowlers had no answer to him. But then Mishra got the priced wicket of Symonds and with his wicket, Delhi came roaring back in the game. Delhi bowlers gave just 29 runs in last 5.3 overs and limited Deccan Chargers to a total of 145/7 in 20 overs.

Delhi Daredevils needed 146 to move into semi finals but Deccan Chargers were in no mood to let them win so easily, Deccan’s bowlers started of really well and got rid of D Warner in the second over. Soon Sehwag and Dilshan also got out leaving Delhi Daredevils struggling at 25/3 in 3.4 overs. Last match star and Delhi captain could not repeat his performance this time and was out for 4. With 4 top order batsmen out for just 39, the match was equally balanced in favor of both teams. Though at one stage it looked Delhi had an upper hand but the bowlers of Deccan Chargers got wickets at crucial time and made the match a real thriller. After 10 overs Delhi were 59/4 and needed 86 in last 10 overs to qualify for semi finals. Delhi lost two quick wickets and were struggling at 72/6 in 12.5 overs. P Collingwood kept the hunt on for Delhi Daredevils and in the last 2 overs they needed 27 to win. Nehra and Collingwood scored 10 runs in the 19th over and in final over they needed 17 to win. The bowl was in the hand of C Vaas and he did not let the captain down and bowled a wonderful last over and gave just 6 runs and thus Deccan won the match by 11 runs and thus enter semifinals.

Delhi Daredevils are out of DLF IPL 2010.

Match Notes

* Deccan Chargers: 50 runs in 6.5 overs, Extras 2
* Deccan Chargers: 100 runs in 12.1 overs, Extras 2
* A Symonds: 50 off 26 balls (3 x 4, 5 x 6)
* Innings Break: Deccan Chargers – 145/7 in 20.0 overs

* Delhi Daredevils: 50 runs in 7.6 overs, Extras 0
* Delhi Daredevils: 100 runs in 16.2 overs, Extras 2
* PD Collingwood: 50 off 38 balls (1 x 4, 3 x 6)

Match 55 Deccan Chargers vs Delhi Daredevils Scorecard

Match details
Match : 54 DLF IPL 2010
Sun-18 April 2010
Time: 4pm
Venue: Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharmasala
Toss: Chennai Super Kings elected to field.
Result: Chennai Super Kings won by 6 wickets

Today in the 54th match, Kings XI were invited to bat first and they did got off to a good start with M Jayawardene scoring 21 off just 8 balls before getting out. But the real star for Kings XI Punjab was Shaun Marsh. He batted superbly today and provided full entertainment to the jammed packed Dharamsala stadium crowd. Marsh (88* runs off 57 balls) along with Sangakkara (33 runs off 24 balls) played with ease and Chennai Super King bowlers looked helpless in front of them. But then CSK got two quick wickets off Sangakkara and Yuvraj and it looked like they will be back in the game, but Shaun Marsh and Irfan Pathan then played superbly and scoring runs at a very good run rate. They both took scored 99 runs in last 8 overs and thus made sure that if Chennai has to go to semi finals, they have to show their best performance today.

While playing under immense pressure to perform or perish, Chennai Super Kings started off cautiously. But Hayden again failed today and was out when the team score was 13. M Vijay was the next to go and the scorecard read 27/2 in 4.1 overs. This was not the start, CSK would have wanted. Suresh Raina and S Badrinath then were at the center and they had to shoulder a huge responsibility to sail the drowning ship of Chennai. S Raina played superbly and scored 46 off just 27 balls but just when it looked CSK are getting back on track, Theron got his wicket leaving CSK 89/3 in 9.4 overs. CSK were 123/3 in 14 overs and required 70 off last 6 overs to win this match and enter the semi finals. A brilliant 53 by Badrinath and 54 not out by Dhoni helped CSK inch closer to victory as they needed 16 to win in the last over. Dhoni showed his class and scored 2 sixes and a four to register a 6 wicket win over Kings XI Punjab.

Thus Chennai Super Kings won today’s match and have entered semi finals. KKR are also now out for the contention of semi finals.

Match Highlights

* Kings XI Punjab: 50 runs in 6.1 overs, Extras 3
* Kings XI Punjab: 100 runs in 12.3 overs, Extras 3
* SE Marsh: 50 off 41 balls (6 x 4, 2 x 6)
* Kings XI Punjab: 150 runs in 17.2 overs, Extras 4
* Innings Break: Kings XI Punjab – 192/3 in 20.0 overs

* Chennai Super Kings: 50 runs in 6.1 overs, Extras 3
* Chennai Super Kings: 100 runs in 11.3 overs, Extras 4
* S Badrinath: 50 off 35 balls (7 x 4, 2 x 6)
* Chennai Super Kings: 150 runs in 17.1 overs, Extras 9
* MS Dhoni: 50 off 29 balls (5 x 4, 2 x 6)

Match 54 Kings XI Punjab vs Chennai Super Kings Scorecard

Match details
Match : 55 DLF IPL 2010
Sun-18 April 2010
Time: 8 pm
Venue: Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

In a match that would decide the fate of both teams, Deccan Chargers will take on Delhi Daredevils at Feroz Shah Kolta today. With a win today, Deccan Chargers, will reach to the second spot in points table where as if they loose today they will be dependent on the outcome of other matches and net run rate of other teams. Delhi on the other hand has to win today’s match if they wish to see themselves in semi finals. If they loose today, they will be knocked out if Chennai wins the other match today. It has all gone down to wire and out of any of the team except Kings XI and Rajasthan Royals can proceed in semi finals.

Today’s super Sunday will decide the teams for the semi finals of the third edition of DLF Indian Premier League though KKR vs MI is still to be played on Monday.

Team For Today’s Match
Delhi Daredevils Team
Gautam Gambhir (Captain), V Sehwag, D Warner, S Ladda, Joginder Singh, R Bhatia, AB de Villiers, T Dilshan, M Henriques, K Jadhav, Paul Collingwood, K Karthik, A McDonald, M Maharoof, V Mahesh, M Manhas, A Mishra, D Nannes, A Nehra, W Parnell, S Ranjan, A Salvi, P Sangwan, Sarandeep Singh, U Yadav.

Deccan Chargers Team
A Gilchrist (captain/wicket keeper), RJ Harris, DR Smith, A Symonds, WPUJC Vaas, Y Venugopal Rao, MR Marsh, B Sumanth, MD Mishra, AA Reddy, AA Bilakhia, HH Gibbs, VVS Laxman, DB Ravi Teja, RG Sharma, TL Suman, AS Yadav, Anirudh Singh, PP Ojha, Harmeet Singh, RP Singh, KAJ Roach, R Sharma, Jaskarandeep Singh Bhuttar.

Match details
Match : 54 DLF IPL 2010
Sun-18 April 2010
Time: 4pm
Venue: Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharmasala

Today’s match between Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings will seal the fate of Chennai Super Kings. They had to win today’s match to qualify for the semi finals. On the other hand, Kings XI Punjab would like to save the pride and win today’s match. Also today’s match is of much interest to Kolkata Knight Riders as if Chennai Super Kings win today, KKR will be knocked out. So not only Kings XI but Kolkata Knight Riders fans would also be praying for Kings victory today. The match is to be played at Dharmsala a new good looking stadium will host its second match on 4pm IST.

Teams for today’s match
Chennai Super Kings Team
MS Dhoni (Captain), R Ashwin, SK Raina, M Vijay, HK Badani, ML Hayden, S Badrinath, GJ Bailey, L Balaji, DE Bollinger, C Ganapathy, MS Gony, MEK Hussey, SB Jakati, AB Karthik, JM Kemp, JA Morkel, M Muralitharan, M Ntini, PA Patel, NLTC Perera, T Thushara, S Tyagi.

Kings XI Punjab Team
Kumar Sangakkara (Captian), Yuvraj Singh, Shawn Marsh, Brett Lee, Irfan Pathan, Sreesanth, R Powar, V.R.V. Singh, P. Chawla, Karan Goel, Uday Kaul, Wilkin Mota, Ajitesh Argal, Tanmay Srivastava, Sunny Sohal, Ryan Ninan, Ravikant shukla, Ranadeb Bose, Vikramjeet Malik, Taruwar Kohli, Amanpreet Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Shalabh Srivastava, Love Ablish, Manvinder Bisla, Bipul Sharma, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Brett Lee, James Hopes, Shaun Marsh, Luke Pomersbach, Simon Katich, Mahela Jayawardene, Burt Cockley, Ravi Bopara, Yusuf Abdulla, Nuwan Kulasekara, Adrian Barath, Jerome Everton Taylor.