Preview: FINAL - Rajasthan v Chennai

Rajasthan Royals vs Chennai Super Kings, to be played Sunday 1st June.

After 58 matches, it all comes down to a 3 hour face-off in Mumbai, between MS Dhoni’s Super Kings and Shane Warne’s Rajasthan Royals.   A look at the head to head sees Rajasthan pummelling the Chennai side in match 24, with Sohail Tanvir picking up the best analysis of the IPL so far, at 6 for 14, to fillet the batting line-up and set up an easy Rajasthan victory.  

The return match in Chennai was as recently as match 49, on 24th May, and resulted in a tighter win for the Royals, a dominant opening partnership of 127 leading to a total just too big for Chennai to chase – they fell ten runs short....

Match Report: SEMIFINAL 2 - Chennai v Punjab

The second semi final of the IPL competition was not much more competitive than the first, with Kings XI Punjab stuttering to a total well short of par, and the Chennai Super Kings taking care of business with the minimum of fuss.  

As often happens in 20/20, when a side batting first gets into serious trouble, the pace of the game slows down and they are allowed to limp to a total around 100-120 – perhaps they would have been better to fire out and take a long shot on getting 140...

Match Report: SEMIFINAL 1 - Delhi v Rajasthan

An utterly comprehensive victory for the Rajasthan Royals saw them through to the final on Sunday, with a crushing win by 105 runs.  

They batted well up front, and were supported by significant contributions all the way down their order - with all-rounder of the tournament Shane Watson hitting 52 runs and taking three wickets to boot...  

Preview: SEMIFINAL 2 - Chennai v Punjab

Chennai Super Kings v Kings XI Punjab, played at Mumbai Saturday 31st May

The second semi final features MS Dhoni’s Super Kings against the all-conquering Kings XI, led by Yuvraj Singh.   As 2nd vs 3rd in the table this is theoretically a closer game than the first semi final, but of course anything can happen in 20/20....