IPL: Graeme Smith Joins the Party

Written on April 28, 2009 – 9:55 pm | by Glass Pearl |

After scoring just 18 runs in his first three matches, South African captain and Rajastan Royals player Graeme Smith scored 44 not out, tonight.

With the brilliant Yusuf Pathan who scored 62 runs (off only 30 balls), Smith put together a match winning partnership at Supersport Park.

The defending champions won (for the second time in this IPL T20 series) with 5 wickets after scoring the required 143 runs. Their win leaves them 4th on the log, after 5 matches.

The leading team this year is the Deccan Chargers (unbeaten after 4 matches) whose openers Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs have blown away all in their wake, backed up by good bowling from RP Singh.

Leading batsman in the series so far is Matthew Hayden (Chennai Kings). Hayden scored 215 runs so far in his 4 matches with an average of 53.8.

South African bad boy of cricket Herschelle Gibbs (Deccan Chargers) is in second place with 183 runs with an average of 91.5, joined in 5th place by team mate Adam Gilchrist who scored 163 (average 40.8).

Another South African AB de Villiers (Delhi Daredevils) is 3rd on the batting list having scored 105 runs in a previous match. He scored 176 in total with an average of 88.

So far the IPL’s most expensive guys Kevin Pietersen and injured Andrew Flintoff have not made much of an impact on the tournament.

With a month left, the most exciting cricket still lies ahead!