Alex Hale Joins 6 club ..... not quite !! - CSK Vs MI in IPL 2015

For those madly following IPL – there is a break –   “ No Match” today …. Some fans might not have read this scorecard which read :     Nottinghamshire 142 for 2 ; beat Birmingham 141 for 7  by eight wickets    It was the inaugural day of the England’s premier domestic T20 tournament and thanks to Hale’s blitz, it is off to a flying start. The match was being played in Trent Bridge, Nottingham.  The  real drama unfolded in the 12th over of the Notts’ innings.

In a hurried finish to IPL preliminary Sunrisers folded for a small 133, their lowest in IPL – Dale Steyn made 19 – the  second highest by a number 11 batsman in the IPL, after Munaf Patel’s 23* for Rajasthan Royals vs Delhi Daredevils in Bloemfontein in 2009.

Now, in the IPL format in Qualifier 1: Chennai Super Kings  play  Mumbai  Indians tomorrow at 8 pm.  On May 20,  in the 1^st eliminator RCB will play RR at Pune.  The loser of game 1 will play winner of eliminator 1 to quality for the finals !!

Initially, it appeared as though MI would never make it despite the star-studded bench of coaches !  they started poorly, losing  their first four games  and at one stage – won  only two of their first seven matches, raised their game in the middle stages  and now have run into super charged CSK.   Past records point to CSK.   They are not unbeatable -  Mc Cullum who gave many good starts is out - Pawan Negi has risen as a clean hitter – a big bonus – there is Bravo, who seem to be taking wickets and catching anything flying !  MI look susceptible – but have great players in their ranks – and their new star is  Hardik Pandya. 

……. And at this stage, their latest recruit to arrive is  26-year old England batsman Alex Hales.  Hours before the start of the game Hales had just landed from London, and with hardly a breather he is here with a Mumbai Indians jersey on.  Hales comes with a great knock just made …. It was not  quite 36 off an over. Three sixes off Boyd Rankin were followed off the next three balls he faced in the next over from Ateeq Javid.  Such a good player was not part of English WC squad !!   so exciting matches ahead ! watch out !!

In 1968, Glamorgan’s spinner Malcolm Nash had his moment of infamy in a match against Nottinghamshire at Swansea.  The  ball allegedly used in the famous over was sold for a record £26,400 at Christie’s in London in 2006……….. those of us regularly following Cricket know it too well – in that match the poor spinner was torn apart by Garfield Sobers for six sixers in a over ……… later to be matched by Ravi Shastri, Herchelle Gibbs, Yuvraj Singh and Jordan Clark (Nash, Tilak Raj, Daan van Bunge, Stuart Broad and Gurman Randhawa – being the sufferers). 

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.