Champions League News
Mumbai Indians vs Somerset – CLT20 2011 – 2nd Semi-final Match – Result
Category: Champions League News,Champions League Results,Champions League T20 Cricket,CLT20 Mumbai Indians,CLT20 Somerset,Cricket NewsMumbai Indians have entered their maiden Champions League T20 final with a 10-run win over Somerset Sabres at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday.
Electing to bat, Mumbai posted a defendable 160 for 5 with Aiden Blizzard (54 off 39 balls), Kieron Pollard (24 off 18), Surya Kumar Yadav (23 off 19) and R Sathish (25 off 12) scoring the runs.
Match Notes
Toss – Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to Bat.
Result – Mumbai Indians beat Somerset by 10 runs
Adam Dibble (1-20) was the pick of the Sabres bowlers while Alfonso Thomas, Steve Kirby, Murali Kartik and Roelof van der Merwe also claiming a wicket each.
In reply, Lasith Malinga (4-20) knocked back Peter Trego (0) and van der Merwe (10 off 9) early on and then bowled two miserly overs at the death to ensure the win.
Craig Kieswetter (62 off 46) fought gamely and received good support from James Hildreth (39 off 33) as the pair put on 83 for the third wicket to bring the Sabres back in the hunt.
With 29 needed off the last three overs, Malinga conceded just seven off his third as Mumbai took the upper hand.
The turning point, however, came in the penultimate over bowled by James Franklin (2-16) even when skipper Harbhajan Singh (1-25) had an over left.
The New Zealander picked up two wickets in the over including that of Kieswetter and conceded just seven to leave Somerset needing 15 off the final Malinga over.
The Sri Lankan picked up a wicket off his second and third deliveries and gave away just four runs to end Somerset’s fine showing in the competition having made the semis after coming through from the qualifiers.
Earlier, Mumbai batted first and, after Sarul Kanwar made just two and Ambati Rayudu 19, Blizzard reached a 34-ball half-century with his third six through the hands of Jos Buttler on the mid-wicket boundary.
Roelof van der Merwe had James Franklin lbw with his second ball and Blizzard then fell for 54, bowled swiping wildly across the line at Murali Kartik.
Kieron Pollard, who had opted to play for Mumbai rather than Somerset, hit a six off Van der Merwe and another with a huge straight blow off Peter Trego but was bowled by Alfonso Thomas for 24 when he dragged on a good yorker.
Suryakumar Yadav (23 not out) and Rajagopal Sathish (25no) put on a quick unbroken 43 to leave Somerset chasing 161, and they lost Trego to the second ball of their reply, bowled by a Malinga yorker.
The Indians will now meet Royal Challengers Bangalore in the final to be played at the same venue on Sunday.
Mumbai Indians vs Somerset – CLT20 2011 – 2nd Semi-final Match – Post Match Presentation
Category: Champions League News,Champions League T20 Cricket,CLT20 Mumbai Indians,CLT20 SomersetMalinga: I had to take wickets at regular intervals. I will do my best to keep taking wickets early. I will come later on to use the old ball and try my variations. The only thing that i know is yorkers and slow bouncers. I have used it at the right time against the batsmen. We don’t mind facing any team and I will put up a good show in the final.
Lasith Malinga is the MoM for his superb bowling. He picked up 4/20.
Harbhajan Singh: It was a bat first wicket. All the games here have been low-scoring. The wicket was better. We batted well but we lost momentum in the middle. Sathish and Suryakumar batted well at the end. That gave us momentum but Malinga and Franklin were superb. Kieswetter and Buttler were sharing a good partnership, but Buttler’s wicket was crucial. Franklin bowled his heart out and one has to be top of their game to hit Malinga. Franklin was bowling a right sort of length on this track. I had another over but the wicket was nice to bat on. The batsmen were set and I decided to try out with Franklin and it paid off.
Alfonso Thomas: It has been a fantastic effort by the guys. We are gutted but we provided some good entertainment to the people. Malinga is a quality performer. It was a fantastic experience playing this tournament. Dibble performed well and we will take some good memories from this tournament.
Mumbai Indians vs Somerset – CLT20 2011 – 2nd Semi-final Match
Category: Champions League News,Champions League T20 Cricket,CLT20 Mumbai Indians,CLT20 Somerset,Cricket NewsOctober 08, 2011 : The second semi-final of the Champions League T20 this year will be played between Mumbai Indians and Somerset. Both teams, Mumbai Indians and Somerset have had two wins, a loss and one rained-off game so far and yet, Somerset have been the better sides of the two. First, they defeated the Auckland Aces and Kolkata Knight Riders to get to the main draw, before getting the better of Kolkata and the Warriors to enter the semi-finals. There was a loss to the rampaging Bangalore side and an abandoned game against South Australia as well. Mumbai Indians began with a stunning upset of Chennai Super Kings before moving on to defeat the Trinidad and Tobago side off the last ball of the game. A good batting display against the Cobras followed by rains abandoning that game and then a loss to New South Wales Blues meant that they had to await the results of the last round to know their fate. Trinidad and Tobago’s defeat of Cobras put them through to the semi-finals.
Match Details
Match – CLT20 2011 2nd Semi-final Match
Date – October 08th,2011 (Saturday)
Time – 14:30 GMT (20:00 IST)
Venue – MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Mumbai Indians had gone into the tournament with innumerable injuries to their squad, and that hasn’t stopped. Davy Jacobs had to catch a flight home and now, it is being said that Kieron Pollard has injured himself in the nets. If Pollard does not make it to the side, it would leave the Mumbai Indians with one of the most inexperienced lines-ups of the four. Many eyes would be on the opening batsman, Sarul Kanwar, who stitched up a 40 on his debut against the Cobras. His clean hitting will give Mumbai some hope even as the rest of the Indian batsmen at the top, Ambati Rayadu, T Suman and R Satish, have all found getting runs a struggle. The bowling has stood out, bowling their channels rather well. They restricted Trinidad and Tobago to 98 and made life difficult for New South Wales even as they chased 101. The one thing that captain Harbhajan Singh may want to beware of is the fields he set – as much as he would want to show himself off as an attacking captain, he had made a tactical blunder against the Blues by keeping a slip and a short-leg and yet having four fielders inside the circle only.
Somerset have gone about their business rather quietly. They were underdogs to begin with, especially with the absence of Marcus Trescothick, Craig Kieswetter and Jos Buttler, but registered their two wins in the qualifiers to get through. With Kieswetter and Buttler back, the side now has incision at the top and down the lower-order, even as Roelof van der Merwe continues to upset opposition plans at number three with his unorthodox batting. The bowling lies in the able hands of Alfonso Thomas, Steve Kirby and Adam Dibble, all of whom led the defence of their total of 145 against the Warriors. It will be interesting to see whether they will go into the game with the same line-up or the Chennai track will necessitate them to play an extra spinner in George Dockrell. Mumbai Indians will need Harbhajan Singh to inspire them with the bat and the ball, while Somerset looks at the slower bowlers, van der Merwe and Murali Kartik to choke the Mumbai scoring.
Mumbai Indians vs Somerset – CLT20 2011 – 2nd Semi-final Match – Highlights
Category: Champions League News,Champions League T20 Cricket,CLT20 Highlights,CLT20 Mumbai Indians,CLT20 SomersetWatch CLT20 Cricket Live 2011 Highlights:
Watch Champions League T20 2011, 2nd semi-final match, Mumbai Indians vs Somerset Highlights played on October 08, 2011 at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai.
Mumbai Indians will be looking to make their first Champions League final when they take on Somerset Sabres in the semis in Chennai on Saturday. The Indians would like to believe they can have the measure of the Sabres but the English outfit will know that if their batsmen can get the measure of the spinners, they could well be playing in Sunday’s final.
Match will be started at 14:30 GMT (20:00 IST). Check back for highlights after the match.
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Royal Challenger Bangalore vs New South Wales Blue – CLT20 2011 – 1st Semi-final Match – Post Match Presentation
Category: Champions League News,Champions League T20 Cricket,CLT20 New South Wales Blues,CLT20 Royal Challengers Bangalore,Cricket NewsKohli: I said two nights ago that such chases happen once, but we managed to do it twice. We had some idea going into the chase, but unfortunately Dilshan went cheaply. I have to say Chris takes away all the pressure on the others. It is a pleasure batting with him and his presence is always encouraging. I made the mistake the other day by getting out to their strike bowler, but this time I wanted to stay till the end. A big thank-you to the Bangalore crowd. They have always supported us all the way and we hope it stays the same in the future.
Virat Kohli is the MoM for his match winning unbeaten 84
Vettori: I think this has been pretty amazing. Two successive 200+ chases. Kohli and Gayle played absolutely brilliantly. It is always painful when we end up conceding 200+ runs but the batters stepped up for the team. We will go to Chennai and look to do well out there. We want a trophy for our efforts. Our bowling is a worry, but you have to feel for them on this track. The bowlers will be mighty happy that they will not need to bowl on this pitch.
Katich: I was happy with the score but Kohli and Gayle batted beautifully. Our fielding was not upto the scratch, and the missed chances cost us dear. The wicket was a bit sticky at the beginning, but credit to Bangalore for the chase.
Royal Challenger Bangalore vs New South Wales Blue – CLT20 2011 – 1st Semi-final Match – Result
Category: Champions League News,Champions League Results,Champions League T20 Cricket,CLT20 New South Wales Blues,CLT20 Royal Challengers BangaloreOctober 07, 2011 : Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli smashed half-centuries as the Royal Challengers Bangalore beat the New South Wales Blues by six wickets in their Champions League T20 semifinal at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday.
The Blues seemingly had the game in the bag after a whirlwind 68-ball 123 from David Warner and his 146-run partnership with Daniel Smith (62 off 42) saw them post 203 for 2 after being put into bat.
But the hosts, egged on by a near-capacity M Chinnaswamy Stadium, replied heroically through Chris Gayle (92 off 41) and Virat Kohli (84 off 49), reaching the target with nine balls to spare.
Match Notes
Toss – Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and elected to Field.
Result – Royal Challengers Bangalore beat New South Wales by 6 wickets
Gayle hit eight sixes and as many boundaries while Kohli hit six boundaries and two sixes as every NSW bowler came in for severe punishment with five of the seven bowlers used conceding more than 11 runs per over.
Pat Cummins (4-45) picked up three wickets in the space of 10 runs to add a twist to the game but Gayle and Kohli’s 141-run partnership off just 66 balls had already done the damage.
Bangalore slumped from 162 for 1 to 172 for 4 with Gayle, Saurabh Tiwary (0) and Mayank Agarwal (7 off 4) departing.
But Kohli stood firm at one end and the experienced Mohammad Kaif (13 off 
gave good support as Bangalore completed a remarkable win.
There were some nervy moments for both the batsmen as the Blues tried to get back into the game but Kohli hit Starc for a six and two boundaries when 22 were needed off 15 balls.
Earlier, Warner was in blistering form, notching up his second consecutive 100, compensating for the early loss of Shane Watson (4 off 9).
Smith, with just 43 runs in the four earlier innings, shrugged off his poor form and combined well with Warner to give the Blues an excellent chance to make their second final in three years.
Tillakaratne Dilshan was the pick of the bowlers claiming a wicket and conceding just 10 runs in his four overs while Dirk Nannes conceded 51 off his four and Sreeanth Arvind gave away 55 in his quota of overs.
Bangalore will now take on the winner of Saturday’s second semi-final between Mumbai Indians and Somerset Sabres in the final on Sunday in Chennai.