Today's Events (27/05/2012 - Sunday)

Event-Sunday BBQ & Beer Brunch

Sunday BBQ & Beer Brunch Category: Restaurant Promotions Garden Cafe Poolside, St. Thomos Mount HO 12:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Event Details

Visit Garden Cafe with family and friends and enjoy your favorites from their live stations, wood-fired pizzas and Showarmas also salads and curries from their buffet. Enjoy unlimited beer with live music. Price: Rs. 995 + taxes

Event-Sarvani Sangeetha Sabha

Sarvani Sangeetha Sabha Category: Music & Concerts Raga Sudha Hall, Mylapore 6:15 PM Onwards

Event Details

Sarvani Sangeetha Sabha presents a Harikatha in Telugu on Syama Sastri’s Sri Kamakshi Vaibhavam by M. V. Simhachala Sastri Bhagavatar who will be accompanied by Neela Jayakumar & V.R.Jayakumar. Phone: 24992672

The Biggest Event of all

The defending champions have peaked at the right time to storm into their third consecutive title clash, and they take on the most consistent side of the season. If both teams live up to their billing it could be fireworks!

IPL 5 Season Finale: Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders

The road they took:

Chennai Super Kings:

In a format of upsets and unpredictable thrills, their presence in the league final has been a constant. They haven’t been their dominating self from the last two seasons. Their batsman took time to find their bearings, their best bowlers left on international duty. Ten days ago when Adam Gilchrist was pushing them to the brink, they needed host of results to go their way. Since then the drama has unfolded:
Two of the best batsmen this season: Chris Gayle (who ran into a red-hot Dale Steyn) and Ajinkya Rahane failed to take their respective teams to the playoffs when it mattered.
Chennai recovered from twin blows to first soak up pressure, before Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo took apart the best death bowler around, Malinga. Mumbai, clearly unnerved, again paid the price for an unsettled batting order. Delhi has sizzled for the most of this season. Their chief architects were an intimidating top order, and the best pace attack of the season. Again, in a crunch game, their thinking was scrambled. Irfan Pathan’s injury should have just needed a bowling replacement. Instead they left out purple-cap holder Morne Morkel. CSK didn’t need a 2nd invitation to slam the barn door down.

Kolkata Knight Riders:

The road to redemption which started with a tough, but sensible decision of dropping Ganguly is nearly complete. In two seasons under the no-nonsense leadership of Gambhir, and some bargain buys – KKR has turned around their form and record, won back fans, and stayed away from controversies. They’ve played the least number of matches among the top four. Their consistency with the ball, especially in a format dominated by bat deservedly led them to the finals:
On a slightly shaky ground after losing couple of matches in the last week of league stage, they dismissed Pune Warriors (Ganguly and all) to book their playoff spot. Up next against table-toppers Delhi, they showed chilling efficiency in casting them aside in a chanceless performance. In the process Kallis’s straight drive which hurt Irfan probably dealt a telling blow to Delhi’s chance as well.

Advantages:

CSK:

The core of the side has been settled across the seasons – mostly retained at auctions. It speaks of clarity of thinking and instills faith in the players. Their batting runs deep. Vijay’s ton means, each of their batsmen have found crucial form ahead of the big match. Hussey at top, and Dhoni lower down can adapt to soak up pressure or attack as needed. Raina, duPlessis, Jadeja, Bravo and Morkel provide enviable firepower.
The champion’s mettle. They needed to bring their A-game for three games on trot to make it a hat-trick of trophies; they’ve done it twice. They’re no strangers to finals, and they’re playing at home. If that sounds like ‘unstoppable’ it probably is!

KKR:

In the last eleven matches, they’ve lost only twice. Their consistency is a rare commodity in this format. Their bowling attack might not have the pace of Morkel or Steyn, death bowling of Malinga, or guile of Murali – but they’ve got the best all-round bowling attack. Lee, Kallis, and Balaji can swing it at pace. Bhatia’s offcutters have made it tough all season. And they’ve got plenty of high quality spin options: Shakib, Iqbal Abdulla, Yusuf and of course, Sunil Narine! Their benchwarmers – tenDoeschate, Shukla or Marchant deLange ain’t too shabby either.
With minimal fuss, their batting has got the job done. On rare occasions when the consistent Gambhir has failed, Kallis has done what Hussey does for CSK. McCullum hasn’t been his destructive self, but has hung in there to find form. Tiwary, Shukla have been efficient. Crucially, Yusuf Pathan regained some of his game-breaking touch in the last game.

Head-to-Head: 1-1

Both sides won their away games, though Chennai had to sweat over it more until Bravo’s last ball six. Kolkata has won eight of their nine away games of the season – if Chennai is low and slow, it might play straight into their hands. At their best, Kolkata's bowling can defend even a modest 140. At their best, even 220 might not be safe against Chennai's batting!

Battles to watch out for:

CSK middle order vs Sunil Narine: Dhoni, Bravo and Morkel have demolished the best of them at death. Sunil Narine has conceded only six sixes in the entire tournament (one of them a catch dropped at boundary) and never more than one in a spell. Who’ll trump?
Kolkata would certainly enter the Chepauk cauldron as underdogs, given Chennai’s intimidating record and form. However, they’ve done it once this season. Can they do it against seasoned campaigners on their home turf and in their first ever final? If they do, Dhoni’s midas touch might be well and truly over.