Cricket Tournaments

Chennai Super Kings 205 for 5 beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 147 for 8 (Ashwin 3-16) by 58 runs
Man of the match: M Vijay

It was a perfectly scripted victory by the Chennai Super Kings. That would be the best way to describe the mauling they gave the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL final on Saturday night. Almost everything went according to plan for M S Dhoni’s men in yellow. They won the toss and batted first on a slowish pitch. Their openers, who had not put their best foot forward in recent games, came to the party and registered a record opening wicket partnership. Chennai ended up with a score in excess of 200 and, most importantly, man of the tournament Chris Gayle was sent back for a duck in the first over. What more could Chennai have asked for as they successfully defended their IPL title.

Murali Vijay was the star of the match. He had an ordinary tournament till date. However, cometh the hour, cometh the man. Vijay combined with Michael Hussey in a sensational 159 run opening stand, which lifted Chennai to a mammoth total on their home ground. R Ashwin then took care of Chris Gayle, by sending him back in the opening over for a duck and virtually sealed the fate of the game.

Vijay and Hussey looked in little or no trouble as they went about building their match winning partnership. Interestingly, even as a number of big shots were played in the opening overs, there was hardly an element of risk in those. Very few chances were offered. There was one from Vijay in the 10 over, when he played a flick that only just cleared Luke Pomersbach near the boundary. Had the fielder judged it perfectly, he might still have been able to hold on to it. But, it wasn’t to be. He then slogged the next ball, but survived an edge. That was about it though as Vijay learnt from his mistakes and did not play any more rash shots until he was approaching his ton.

The opening partnership lasted for one ball less than 15 overs and both the players matched each other perfectly. Hussey played his chip shots and also drove well. Well the occasion arose, he lofted the ball and got his fours and sixes as well. However, for most part he was content rotating the strike. A majority of the big hitting was left to Vijay at the other end. Vijay timed his lofted strokes perfectly on the big day. In between, he placed the ball properly in the gaps and ran exceedingly well between wicket. As a result, Vijay started cramping up and eventually fell short of his ton by five runs. Before him, Hussey also fell. But, by that time a great platform had been laid.

After their job with the bat was done, the bowlers took over and did an equally good job. R. Ashwin gave Chennai the best possible start with the ball sending back Gayle off the third ball of the innings. In a smart move, Ashwin bowled two deliveries that turned away from Gayle. The third one came in and skidded on. Gayle tried to cut it, but only ended up falling into the trap and edging one behind to Dhoni. A B de Villiers came in and hit a few fours, but did not last long enough to trouble Chennai. He was trapped by Shadab Jakati and when Suresh Raina accounted for Virat Kohli, the faintest of Bangalore hopes had disappeared as well.

Chennai Super Kings 177 for 4 beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 175 by six wickets
Man of the match: Suresh Raina

The Chennai Super Kings never looked like winning it and the Royal Challengers Bangalore never looked like losing it. Yet the end result was a sensational six wicket win for the former, who eventually became the first team to make it to the IPL finals in the fourth season. In a dramatic late assault, Suresh Raina and Albie Morkel carted Zaheer Khan and S Aravind all over the park to completely tilt the momentum of the game, which they easily won in the end with ample wickets in hand. The efforts of Raina in particular undid all the good work done by Virat Kohli earlier in the evening, whose unbeaten 70 had taken Bangalore to a challenging 175 in spite of the early loss of their dynamo, Chris Gayle.

The win saw Chennai make their third final in the four year old competition while the task for Bangalore suddenly becomes a lot more challenging. Not only do they have to beat the winner of the eliminator, but even if they do so, they will meet Chennai again in the final and that too at the latter’s home ground, the M A Chidambaram stadium. And statistics point out that Chennai have not lost a single match on their home ground this season.

Looking back at the game, it was definitely their bowling that cost Bangalore a game they should clearly have won. However, a few bad overs was all it needed for things to turn around. It all began in the ninth over bowled by Virat Kohli. In an over full of full tosses, 16 runs were leaked to give Chennai some much needed. A few overs later things got even worse for Bangalore. Abhimanyu Mithun sprayed it all over the place and conceded 23 runs. It was about the time Raina was beginning to settle in. In this particular over, he carted Mithun for a six over covers and slammed another over covers. Despite all that, Bangalore still held the edge as the equation read a difficult 82 from 42 balls. And it only got worse from there as Gayle, who could not contribute with the bat, chipped in with a excellent spell of 0 for 19 from four overs to make the equation 58 from 24.

Bangalore held the edge clearly, but this is when Raina proved his worth to the tea. He took on Zaheer Khan, who bowled a marvellous first spell, during which he not only took out Michael Hussey, but was extremely mean as well. But, just like in the World Cup final, he was taken apart in his second spell, which had only one over left. Raina carted two big sixes in the midwicket region. At the other end, M S Dhoni brought him bottom-hand into play to get another six. Even though Dhoni fell on the same over, 20 runs came off it and Chennai were well and truly on track.

The arrival of Morkel signaled the beginning of the end for Bangalore. S Aravind was slammed over both long-on and long-off by him before Raina slashed a full toss into the midwicket boundary. The over cost one more than Zaheer’s and left Chennai needing only 12 off the last over to be bowled by Daniel Vettori. It was easy for Chennai having done all the hard work. Morkel hauled a boundary to wide long-on and deposited the fourth ball over midwicket to launch Chennai into yet another IPL final.

The assault of Raina and Morkel outdid the impressive effort of Kohli, who blended caution with aggression to guide Bangalore to a healthy total. All this after Gayle was trapped lbw by R Aswhin cheaply. Kohli, in the company of Luke Pomersbach, made sure the scoreboard kept ticking. Pomersbach took on Dwayne Bravo and collected 17 runs in the 15th over. Kohli, on the other hand, batted with mature aggression never looking ugly even while going for the big stroke. He scored comfortably against Raina and Morkel, with two sixes off the latter’s in the 19^th over. However, the same duo extracted their revenge by featuring in a match-winning partnership.

Mumbai Indians 160 for 7 beat Pune Warriors 139 for 7 by 21 runs

Man of the match: Rahul Sharma

The battle of the neighbours Pune Warriors and Mumbai Indians once again proved to be the story of one between a big brother and a small brother. Mumbai maintained their ascendancy, reclaiming their position at the top of the table, while Pune continued to remain at the bottom, with their seventh loss in a  row, the latest coming at the DY Patil Stadium, which means they are all but out of the tournament now. Even if they win all their remaining league games, which in itself will be a miraculous achievement, it might not be enough for them to qualify for the final four.

Mumbai win was built around two men who saw to it that their side ended up with a highly competitive total which, at one stage, seemed would be a below par one. T Suman and Kieron Pollard, who haven’t had much to do with the bat in this IPL so for, put their hands together on this occasion. Their blitzkrieg undid the excellent effort of the Pune spinners.Yuvraj Singh, who for some reason hasn’t bowled much in this tournament got the big breaks, dismissing Sachin Tendulkar and Ambati Rayudu in his spell. Leg spinner Rahul Sharma was even more impressive. Not only did he pick up a couple of wickets, but gave away as little as seven runs in his four overs, even for him to earn the man of the match award in spite of the teams loss.

Due to the efforts of Yuvraj and Sharma, Mumbai weren’t in a great position at 114 for 5 with five overs to spare. This is where Suman and Pollard stepped up a gear. They were aided by the fact that Alfonso Thomas sprayed it all over the place, and before Pune could realise, Mumbai had lifted themselves bak into a comfortable position. Earlier, Mumbai had cruised past 50 at the top of the innings before the spinners came in. Yuvraj made the major breakthrough when he got a well set Tendulkar to chip one to short extra cover. The runs soon dried up and, in an effort to clear the fence, Rayudu too perished to Yuvraj.

In a surprising move, Suman was sent ahead of the big hitting and so was Pollard, and both the tactics worked in the home side’s favour.Suman entered with an aggressive mindset and transformed it into two big sixes. Sharma kept Pune in the game by getting rid of Rohit Sharma and Suman in his second spell. However, by then Suman had already caused some damage and Pollard only added salt into the wounds for Pune. The big hitting West Indian slammed Thomas as hard as he could Mumbai amassed 27 runs in the penultimate over of the innings, and had the momentum going into the break.

To make matters worse, Pune got off to the worst possible start. Jesse Ryder chipped the first ball of the innings straight into the hands of backward point. Former Proteas skipper Graeme Smith’s poor run was extended as he fell cheaply. Manish Pandey did get some runs but he was far from fluent and, unlike Mumbai, Pune’s decision to promote Abhishek Jhunjhunwala did not work as the match meandered towards the predictable finish

The problem for Pune was that they never got any momentum going from the very start. As a result they were always playing catch up. And even Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa couldn’t do much after that. Even as Sourav Ganguly has been brought in as a replacement Ashish Nehra, one wonder whether it is all too late for the Pune Warriors.

Chennai Super Kings 149 for 2 beat Rajasthan Royals 147 for 6 by eight wickets

Man of the match: Mike Hussey

Even as Mumbai Indians made light work of Pune Warriors, Chennai Super Kings reiterated that they are on par with Sachin Tendulkar’s men, coasting to their fourth win in a row in the game against Rajasthan Royals. The conditions were tough and Chennai found it tougher at the beginning of the innings when Rahul Dravid and Shane Watson got the Royals off to a magnificent start. However, Chennai fought back in their trademark style with the ball, and when it was their turn to bat, they just crushed the Royals’ challenge with the slightest of problems during the course of the chase. If Dravid was method combined with cheekiness, Suresh Raina and Michael Hussey just went about their task in an unfussy manner and eventually coast to victory.

For starters though the Dravid and Watson were exceptional, opening the innings. Apart from picking the boundaries at will, they did most other things right as well. The duo was quick between the 22 yards, picking up important singles and ran their twos hard as well. All this was before Dravid, uncharacteristically but successfully took on the spinners. Dravid hammered R. Ashwin for a couple boundaries to midwicket in one of his expensive overs, then collected three fours off Suraj Randiv’s bowling, all hit in different directions as even Watson seemed to be enjoying the Dravid’s T20ised game. He even drove Shadab Jakati with finesse as Rajasthan cruised to 86 without loss after 10 overs.

From that point, they should have easily crossed 160. But, Chennai fought back like Super Kings. Jakati pulled off a superb return catch offered by Watson in the 11^th over. Somehow, despite having nine wickets in hand, the Royals could not capitalise on the excellent start. Wickets kept tumbling at frequent intervals as the Royals lost the plot. Ashok Menaria gifted away his wicket to Ashwin, while Johan Botha fell trying to get after Jakati. All hopes rested on Dravid, but with the Chennai heat taking its toll he too perished after a well made 66. There was nothing much from the other big names either. Ross Taylor did manage a couple of boundaries, but Albie Morkel picked up a couple of wickets to slow down the rate again. Rajasthan only managed to score at 6 an over in their second half of the innings as Chennai clearly held the upper hand.

The Royals did get off to a good start with the ball, getting Murali Vijay early, but they had an off day in the field, which allowed to release the pressure on Chennai. Raina and Hussey the joined forces to outdo Rajasthan’s chances in a mature alliance that all but saw them through to victory. Raina was lucky when Watson dropped a difficult chance, and there wasn’t much joy for the Royals thereafter.

Rajasthan’s bowling was off track, just like Chennai’s in the first half. Siddharth Trivedi maintained a leg side length and was punished accordingly. With the run rate manageable, Raina and Hussey maneuvered Watson and Botha around. However, when left-arm spinner Nayan Doshi was induced into the attack, he was deposited for two sixes and the floodgates had opened. Stuart Binny, who had a bad day in the field, added to his misery by bowling tripe. It seemed Chennai would cruise home by nine wickets, but Raina fell just before the finish line. It was too late for any hiccups through as Hussey eased Chennai into victory.

Chennai Super Kings 165 for 5 beat Deccan Chargers 146 for 8 by 19 runs

Man of the match: Albie Morkel

In a T20 game, a quick fire cameo can often make the difference between a win and a loss. And that’s exactly what happened on Sunday in the game between the Chennai Super Kings and the Deccan Chargers. Even as Deccan’s miserable fielding let them down badly, the Super Kings found their own hero in Albie Morkel to end with excellent figures of 3 for 38 to derail what once seemed a winning chase from the Deccan Chargers. However, more importantly, it was his effort with the bat that mattered. Morkel hasn’t been among the runs in this tournament, but on Sunday he slammed three consecutive sixes of Ishant Sharma in his total of 19 runs. The over produced 21 runs, but the importance of the knock can be gauged by the fact that the Super Kings won by exactly the same number of runs that Morkel scored i.e. 19.

It was Deccan’s game for the taking really, but they had no one to support Sunny Sohal, who slammed an amazing half century. His 30 ball knock was expectedly full of unnerving strokes that made the Super Kings bowlers suffer. But, deep down in their hearts, M S Dhoni’s men, as they have often done in the past, were aware that it was probably a matter of one wicket and the tables could well turn. Even when Sohal fell for 56, Deccan were in total command. They 95 off 79 balls with ample wickets in hand, but couldn’t manage it as Chennai built up the pressure and Deccan’s poor fielding effort eventually came back to haunt them.

Yes, this game will be remembered for Deccan’s outrageous fielding more than anything else. They had Chennai on the mat for most part of the innings with the ball, but when it came to catching and fielding it just wasn’t their day. Michael Hussey, who has had a number of lives in his tournament, got one more in his kitty and made good use of it. Suresh Raina got two in one game itself and celebrated it with a half century. Raina was on 25 when Harmeet Singh dropped him and eventually ended up amassing 59 off 35 balls before finally being caught. However, the horror was far from over for Deccan as Morkel took Sharma apart to give them a torrid time.

At the start of Deccan’s innings, it seemed Sohal’s bludgeoning would undo all their bad work. Braveness and good luck combined in equal measure for Sohal as Deccan raced away. Even when he was struggling he just closed his eyes and the ball hit the bat to land in some safe, fielder-less part. When not struggling, Sohal drove the ball through the off side, lofted it over covers and carted the spinners all over the park, basically whenever he wished too. He hit as many as four huge sixes in his knock, before eventually succumbing to his own impetuosity. Going for a third reverse heave, he failed and the ball crashed into the stumps. The game was still Deccan’s at 71 for 1, but Chennai were smarter from here.

Shadab Jakati and Suraj Randiv combined to dry the runs down and eventually Shikhar Dhawan lost his wicket as well as his patience. Deccan still held the better chance, but not for long. Morkel began to turn the game as a rising delivery was good enough get rid of Bharat Chipli’s wicket. Ashwin helped out by keeping the runs down. Kumar Sangakkara had no option but to trying something adventurous, but only lost his middle stump to Doug Bollinge. Cameron White struggled his way to 13 off 18 balls. J P Duminy did not get many, and soon the Deccan charge was over.

Rajasthan Royals 144 for 4 beat Pune Warriors 143 for 7 by six wickets
Man of the Match: Ross Taylor

Spinner Rahul Sharma came up with an excellent spell of 3 for 13, but it was not enough to stop Pune Warriors from succumbing to their six defeat in a row as Rajasthan Royals went to the top of the table. Sharma needed some support from his fellow and more experienced spinner Murali Kartik, but it wasn’t among the latter’s better days as he ended up with unsavoury figures of 0 for 41 and it was during his last spell that the game totally slipped away from the Warriors as Ross Taylor, with some good support from Ajinkya Rahane, took the Royals home rather easily in the end. While the win put Royals on top, the Warriors stayed at the bottom in the battle

It was anybody’s game heading into the last six overs. 52 runs were needed, believe it or not, Sharma came up with an incredible effort of a wicket maiden, that of the dangerous looking Ashok Menaria, who was just beginning to open up his shoulder. That over gave Warriors the upper hand, but as they have often done in the tournament, they handed back the advantage. Kartik conceded 17 runs in the next over as Taylor put away his loose deliveries with rather ease.

There were two short deliveries and one that did not pitch as Taylor helped himself to two fours and a maximum. That over changed the equation again, but unlike the Warriors the Royals did not give back the advantage. Alphonso Thomas and Jerome Taylor tried their best to keep Rajasthan down. But, Rahane picked a slower ball from Jerome Taylor and deposited into the point boundary while Taylor slashed Thomas into cow corner to dash all their faint hopes.

Like Deccan earlier in the day, the Warriors’ fielding came back to haunt them. Of course, they weren’t as bad, but had Nathan McCullum held on to a lofted stroke from Taylor off Thomas’ bowling, things might have been tighter. Of course, it was a tough chance as McCullum lunged full length in an effort to get the ball. He did manage to get there, but the momentum of his dive meant the ball slipped out and with it possibly the game as well.

Pune did not deserve to win per se as only Rahul Sharma stood up for them. They were poor with the bat and should have got a lot more. The top order failed with Jesse Ryder and Yuvraj Singh also not contributing much. Robin Uthappa was the only one who played a decent hand. He took on Shane Warne and succeeded briefly, but even at 40 plus, the legend had the last laugh. Uthappa both swept and reverse-swept Warne to get the battle underway. He then slogged the leggie over midwicket after a close appeal was turned down the ball before

Warne skidded one through that rapped Uthappa, but the umpire was unmoved. There was one more appeal in the over as Uthappa remained clueless, but survived again. Not for long though, as Warne changed ends, got one to rise slightly on Uthappa, who only ended up top edging it to the wicket-keeper. Not only the match, Warne had won the battle within the battle.

Deccan Chargers 129 for 7 beat Kochi Tuskers Kerala 74 by 55 runs
Man of the match: Ishant Sharma

Ishant Sharma undoubtedly produced one of the greatest spells in the four year old history of the IPL as the Deccan Chargers successfully defended a modest target of 130 against Kochi Tuskers Kerala on a pitch that offered ample bounce for pacers from both sides, but the former team had better bowlers to make use of the conditions even though it has to be said that the Kochi bowlers did a good job themselves. However, Ishant was just too good on the day as he knocked out five top batsmen with his pace, bounce and movement to decide the fate of the match rather early.

Ishant began his unbelievable demolition act after South African speedster Dale Steyn got the vital early breakthrough in the very first over of the innings. Brendon McCullum was the victim as the ball moved away appreciably, but not before taking the edge of his bat. Ishant took over from there and was all over the Kochi batsmen. Parthiv Patel was the first of his victims. He jabbed at one that lifted after pitching and like the Steyn delivery moved away to take the bat’s edge to the wicket keeper. In a surprising move, equivalent of Bangalore promoting Zaheer Khan, Raiphi Gomez was sent in at number four. And just like Khan, one ball was all he lasted. The ball came in sharply on this occasion and Gomez clearly had no clue about it.

Brad Hodge was the next of Ishant’s victims. The Aussie tried to drive one outside off stump, but the ball once again came in and cleaned up the stumps. Four wickets were down and Kochi had only scored 2. The only silver lining if one can call it so was the presence of skipper Mahela Jayawardene, who was trying to hold one end up as the wickets crumbled one by one. However, Ishant wasn’t done yet. Kedar Jadhav was trapped plumb in front of the stumps from a vicious Ishant in ducker. And to top it all, he ended mission destruction by get the edge of Jayawardene with one that pitched on a good length. Mahela wasn’t even trying anything expansive. It was just a defensive push, but Ishant was too good for it on this day. When Mahela left, Kochi were struggling at 11 for 6 after four overs. Ravindra Jadeja and Thisara Perera forged together a steady partnership, but by then it was all too late.

Earlier, Deccan Chargers recovered from their own collapse to post 129. It wasn’t a great total, but a decent recovery considering the fact that they were at one stage struggling at 37 for 3 at the halfway mark of their innings, Kumar Sangakkara leading from the front with a sedate half century. Kochi played their part in letting Sangakkara get away. Sreesanth bowled an unplayable delivery that knocked out Sangakkara’s stumps. However, TV replays showed that it was a no ball and the former Lankan skipper survived.

Sangakkara and Cameron White then joined forces to feature in an important partnership. They were severe on Vinay Kumar and Perera in a three over period where the boundaries flowed. However, Vinay got Kochi back into the game getting White caught at deep midwicket forcing Sangakkara to edge a slower ball off consecutive deliveries. The others continued to struggle and 129 was all Deccan managed, way better that Kochi’s effort of 74!

Chennai Super Kings 145 for 2 beat Pune Warriors 141 for 6 by eight wickets
Man of the match: Doug Bollinger

A mature half century from S Badrinath and his counter attacking partnership with the demoted Suresh Raina enabled the Chennai Super Kings to overcome a tricking target of 143 against the Pune Warriors, who themselves got that far thanks to a breezy, unbeaten knock of 62 from their skipper Yuvraj Singh. Earlier, the Chennai bowlers made very good use of the extra pace and bounce in the surface at the D Y Patil Stadium to keep the Warriors down before Yuvraj launched a late assault.

Badrinath it was who steered the Chennai chase after a slow start by Murali Vijay and Mike Hussey made them a bit edgy. As he is known to do, Badrinath played proper cricketing shots to prove once again why technically sound players like him can also succeed in the IPL. Rahul Dravid is another shining example of the same. Coming back to Badrinath, he came in after Murali Kartik took out Hussey, who threw his wicket away unable to break the shackles. Chennai weren’t even score at 5 per over when Badrinath took charge. And eight overs had already passed by.

Badrinath began by attacking the wicket taker Kartik, slamming him for four to long-off and then lofting him for a six over cover. Next, he placed him down to third man to earn another boundary. As 16 runs came of the over, Chennai were finally underway. He hit Yuvraj for a six soon and Chennai were in command. At the other end, Vijay continued to struggle and his misery finally ended when he skied a slower ball and was caught easily. Badrinath was then joined by Raina. Badrinath continued in a similar vein and, as the partnership progressed, Raina too grew in confidence. In fact, he brought the curtains down on the match by lofting Jerome Taylor for huge sixes.

In hindsight, Pune’s lack of runs came back to haunt them again. They got off to a poor start as Jesse Ryder was consumed by Doug Bollinger off a short, rising delivery. Mohnish Mishra, who has played one match winning innings in the IPL also fell in a similar fashion, unable to judge the line of a short one. At the other end, Nuwan Kulasekara sent back Mithun Manhas with one that came in, beat the bat and pad to dislodge a bail. Manish Pandey too failed trying to swat Tim Southee, but unable to get any power into the shot. Pune had stumbled to 41 for 4.

Yuvraj had no other option but to break free and get as many as possible on his own. Robin Uthappa showed flashes of brilliance with a couple of six, but his impetuosity got the better of him again as R Ashwin dismissed him with the carom ball. This was followed by some clean, lofty hitting by Yuvraj. He slammed Ashwin, Bollinger and Southee for big hits as 50 came in the last five overs. His single handed effort though paled in comparison to Chennai’s combined brilliance.

Royal Challengers Bangalore 161 for 7 beat Delhi Daredevils 160 for 6 by three wickets

Daniel Vettori and J Syed Mohammad hit crucial boundaries to ensure that Virat Kohli’s half century did not go in vain as Royal Challengers Bangalore managed to chase the target of 161 with three balls to spare. Challengers looked in a bit of trouble after Kohli was dismissed, but both Vettori and Mohammad held their nerves to ensure Bangalore got home in the end despite Delhi’s comeback with the ball.

Until Kohli was at the crease, the Bangalore chase looked in control as he was finding the ropes at will during his wonderful half-century. However, David Warner scored a direct hit to run out AB de Villiers and give Delhi some inspirational hope. Only a couple of balls later, Morne Morkel cleaned up Kohli and the match was very much back in the balance. The pendulum swung as Mohammad managed to pinch two boundaries off Umesh Yadav. Vettori also played a solid hand as Bangalore got home in the last over.

While credit must be given to the abovementioned duo, it was undoubtedly Kohli who set up the victory. He hit boundary after boundary as Delhi looked clueless. And this was after Tillakaratne Dilshan was gone second ball of the innings. Kohli managed as many as six boundaries in the first ten balls he faced as Ashok Dinda and Irfan Pathan were lacklustre. Pathan in particular was disappointing as Kohli took a liking to him, flicking and driving with a lot of ease.

At the other end, Chris Gayle was getting into his act too. He began by hammering Morne Morkel for a four and a six. 62 came in the first five overs as Bangalore looked at total ease. James Hopes gave some hope to Delhi by dismissing Gayle with a shorter one but not before they had added 82 in rapid quick time. Kohli brought up his fifty very soon. But, soon Delhi had their moment too as Villiers failed to beat a Warner throw and Morkel sent back Kohli.

Wickets continued to tumble as Cheteshwar Pujara perished going for a pull. Vettori and Tiwary scraped around for a while before the latter hammered Morkel for a crucial six. Morkel had his revenge soon enough and Abhimanyu Mithun too succumbed to the pressure, before the cool heads of Mohammad and Vettori saw them through to the end with some crucial boundaries.

Earlier in the day, James Hopes scored a half century to help  Delhi recover for a poor start. Zaheer Khan and S Aravind troubled the opening pair of Virender Sehwag and David Warner, with the new ball doing enough. They were never in with a chance of setting up a decent total until Hopes and Venugopal Rao combined in a fifth wicket alliance of 47. Warner was cleaned up by an incoming Zaheer snorter. Sehwag hit a few streaky boundaries before running himself out.

Thanks to the partnership between Rao and Hopes, Delhi had a decent platform with five overs to go, But, Rao lost his cool and cost Delhi some crucial runs. A few sixes from Irfan Pathan and Naman Ojha took Delhi to 160, but Bangalore had enough in their  arsenal to chase it down.

Chennai were brilliant in the field

Chennai Super Kings 142 for 6 beat Pune Warriors 117 for 9 by 25 runs

Chennai Super Kings got back to their winning ways as they successfully defended a mediocre score of 142 for 6 against Yuvraj Singh’s Pune Warriors, who struggled to 117 for 9 in their allotted 20 overs to lose the game by a pretty big margin of 25 runs. Chennai were very good with the ball as well as in the field, which enabled them to outdo Pune in spite of having put up a less than competitive score on the board.

Albie Morkel and Doug Bollinger, who opened the bowling, were excellent at the start of the innings for Chennai. They bowled a number of good short deliveries on the responsive pitch and the Pune openers clearly struggled. Mohnish Mishra fell to the slow nature of the surface. He tried to guide a ball down to the third man region, but only ended up edging it onto the stumps. Jesse Ryder managed to survive the faster men, but was done in by the smart R Ashwin. The off spinner bowled an arm ball disturbed, which the left hander couldn’t read and ended up exposing his stumps.

There was more trouble for Pune as Manish Pandey also fell while trying to steer a ball from Morkel down to the third man region and, like Mishra, also ended up disturbing his stumps. Soon, Pune plunged into further difficulty as Ashwin’s carom ball turned the other away and even fooled the in form Robin Uthappa, who was beaten all ends up and was bowled round his legs. Pune never recovered from that terrible start.

M S Dhoni introduced more spin as Suraj Randiv and Suresh Raina contributed with a few quiet overs. It was up to Yuvraj and Mithun Manhas to try and bring Pune back on track. Manhas did manage a mishit six off Randiv, but perished soon after ending Bollinger to Dhoni. With wickets falling, Chennai’s fielding also improved by leaps and bounds as the runs dried up. Yuvraj managed 34 but wasn’t in his elements and another brilliant fielding effort from Shadab Jakati enabled Chennai to see the back of him. The chase had already run out of steam by then.

Earlier, Pune had done much better during their turn with the ball to restrict Chennai to 142. Chennai themselves struggled, with M Vijay failing to time the ball. Both He and Michael Hussey were lucky as a number of edges made it to the boundary, with Hussey even being dropped once. But, it wasn’t going to be long before Pune got their deserved breakthrough. Vijay fell to a bouncer from Alfonso Thomas as Nathan McCullum took the simplest of catches. Thomas soon knocked over Raina as well as Chennai struggled their way to the halfway stage of the innings.

The spin of Yuvraj and Murali Kartik kept the runs down further with only Hussey holding fort for Chennai. Dhoni helped Hussey by slamming a couple of boundaries before he was stumped going for another big one. There was more bad news for Chennai as Hussey too fell a few balls later to Jerome Taylor, while trying to add more runs in Chennai’s account. Morkel had another failure with the bat and even a six from S Badrinath only enabled to lift them to 142. In the end, thanks to Chennai’s bowling and fielding effort it was enough.

Mumbai Indians 164 for 4 beat Chennai Super Kings 156 for 9 by eight runs

Man of the Match: Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh picked up three wickets in one over to quell Chennai Super Kings challenge completely against the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday. The off spinner’s deciding over was the 18^th over of the match, and until then, it was anybody’s game thanks to a superb innings by Subramaniam Badrinath, who remained unbeaten on a brilliantly compiled 71 off 48 balls, but his team fell short of victory by eight runs. Earlier, in the day, Rohit Sharma played a rare knock that did complete justice to his abundant talent, caressing the ball with ease en route to his 48 ball 87, a potential man of the match performance but for the antics of Harbhajan later in the day. The Mumbai Indians were also exceptional with their fielding, which only added to the pressure on the Super Kings, who eventually succumbed.

Coming back to the Harbhajan over, chasing 165 the Super Kings were 136 for 5 in the 18^th over and looked like they would easily coast to a win. However, Albie Morkel fell off the second ball of the over, his slog sweep only making contact with thin air as the ball breached the bat and crashed into the middle stump. That was the beginning of the end. Ravichandran Ashwin, trying to clear the field himself after facing one ball, instead of giving back the strike to his well-set mate, perished giving a catch in the deep. And to make matters worse, Joginder Sharma hit one up in the air the very next ball to offer Harbhajan his third wicket of the over and fifth overall. A helpless Badrinath could only watch from the other end as one after the other his partners departed. Sachin Tendulkar smartly brought Lasith Malinga on in the next over to ensure the game was put beyond Chennai’s reach. And despite, Badrinath’s best efforts, including a six in the last over, the target was beyond reach for Chennai.

Earlier, in the innings as well, Malinga and Harbhajan were responsible for keeping Mumbai ahead of the game by striking crucial blows. Malinga got rid of the dangerous looking Michael Hussey, who had unhurriedly rushed to 41 off 33 balls and was threatening to take the game away from the Mumbai Indians. However, a brilliant piece of catching cut short his innings and brought Mumbai back in the game. Harbhajan, at the other end, got the big scalps of Suresh Raina and Srikkanth Aniruddha to start the Chennai collapse. At the fall of Aniruddha’s wicket, Chennai were 123 for 5 and things only got worse for them, with Harbhajan scalping three more and Malinga added a wicket to his kitty as well.

Harbhajan’s effort pretty much overshadowed the one by Rohit Sharma earlier in the day. His contribution was equally crucial to the team’s cause though. Mumbai had lost their openers Rajgopal Satish and skipper Sachin Tendulkar to great deliveries under seam-friendly conditions earlier in the day. But, on this day, Rohit was unfazed. Of course, he was aided by some poor bowling as he was offered three boundary balls in his first four balls and accepted all of them – the wicket-takers Doug Bollinger and Albie Morkel being the guilty party. That got Rohit off, setting the tone for his innings, and he never looked back.

Rohit found solid company in the form of Ambati Rayudu, with him he did the repair job with great élan. Rayudu is a special talent himself, but this Mumbai innings was all about Rohit. He was severe in his gentle manner on every bowler. Joginder Sharma’s half volleys were dispatched, Suraj Randiv’s flighted spinners were lofted with ease and the penultimate over from Suresh Raina went all over the park. Rohit deposited him over long on, slog swept him and banged him over midwicket as 17 runs were added to the total. At the other end, Andrew Symonds also took charge, slamming two huge sixes in his unbeaten knock of 31. But, even Symonds brutality paled in comparison to Rohit’s sublime knock, which indicated why the Indian selectors have been so exasperated by his underperforming was. He is special talent for sure, but he needs to deliver more knocks like the one on a good Friday.

Royal Challengers Bangalore 175 for 1 beat Kolkata Knight Riders 171 for 5 by nine wickets

Man of the match: Chris Gayle

Chris Gayle arrived, he slammed the ball and he conquered the Kolkata Knight Riders. Yes, that in short was the tale of the game between Shah Rukh Khan’s team and the Vijay Mallya owned franchise. Flown in as a replacement for the injured bowler Dirk Nannes, Gayle batted as if he had a point to prove to his former team, bludgeoning 102 off 55 balls, inclusive of seven huge sixes to make a mockery of KKR’s challenging target of 171. It was a win the Royal Challengers were desperately seeking and Gayle addition certain has come as a force to be reckoned with for the Challengers, making one wonder how he wasn’t selected in the initial auctions, and even more surprisingly, how he was left out of the West Indies squad.

That topic can be discussed on a later day, but on Friday, it was all about Gayle massacring the Kolkata bowlers, but Gautam Gambhir forced to sit back and watch in dazzled amazement. He featured in two partnerships with Tillakaratne Dilshan and Virat Kohli and dominated both. Dilshan it was who began as the aggressor taking on Yusuf Pathan, who opened the innings on a tricky pitch. But once Gayle got his eye in, it was all him, but even the aggressive Dilshan happy playing second fiddle.

He began by whacking the left arm seam of Jaidev Unadkat for six well over long-on. Shakib Al Hasan was next in line and was given the same treatment. The Bangladesh skipper’s deliveries disappeared over midwicket and deep square leg. The Gayle party had just begun though. Yusuf was lofted over covers, Manoj Tiwary over long-twice on, one of them being mistimed, which also went for six. When Gambhir tried medium pace, it didn’t work either. Rajat Bhatia was hit all over the park, conceding 17 in an over. And just to prove that he was not all about hard force, he guided one down to third man to pick up one of his 10 boundaries.

All this while Dilshan, who was once running neck and neck with Gayle, fell way behind. The only time one realised that he was also batting was when he perished in the 13^th over, trying to remind everyone that he too could play the big strokes. But Laxmipathy Balaji was good enough to get through his defence. But, by that time Bangalore had raced to 123 for 1 and the game was over. If KKR believed they had any grim hopes, Virat Kohli blew that away pretty soon. In fact, he nearly blew away Gayle’s chances of getting a ton when he instinctly dispatched a full toss to the boundary, with Gayle still needing two for his 100. There was no more drama though as the West Indian crashed Hasan to get to his 100 as well as take his new franchise to victory.

Earlier in the day, it seemed that KKR would get back to their winning ways courtesy an impressive batting performance. Zaheer Khan was taken to the cleaners once again as KKR raced to 33 in two overs. Sanity was restored when spin was introduced, but KKR continued to build on the start. The opening pair of Kallis and Brad Haddin added 44 inside 5 overs, Kallis, Gambhir and Pathan all contributed 40s, but no one could build on from there. Still, KKR reached 171 for 5, which was handy. In hindsight though, it was far from enough, and Kolkata were left ruing the fact that they could not cross 190 after garnering 33 in the opening two overs. To be fair to KKR though, with the mood Gayle was in, even that wouldn’t have been enough.

Kochi Tuskers Kerala 135 for 3 beat Chennai Super Kings 131 for 4 by seven wickets (D/L method)

Man of the match: Brendon McCullum

A superlative knock of 47 from 33 balls and crucial cameos from Parthiv Patel and Brad Hodge enabled Kochi Tuskers Kerala to upset reigning champs Chennai Super Kings by a comfortable margin of seven wickets in a rail curtailed game at Kochi’s Nehru Stadium. Earlier, Chennai struggled their way to 131 for 7 in 17 overs, which was build on the back of an 18 ball 28 from Murali Vijay and a laboured half century from Suresh Raina. The Duckworth Lewis revised the target to 135, which the home team got to without much trouble thanks to McCullum’s early burst.

The Kiwi opener was in his elements right from the very start. He began by depositing Albie Morkel straight over his head and never looked back from there. Continuing to be severe on Morkel, McCullum slammed him through his favoured extra cover region as well. The only consolation for Morkel was that he want the only one being taken to the cleaners. Doug Bollinger too was treated the same way when he resorted to bowling length. And when Shadab Jakati got a chance to bowl, he too was taken for plenty. As such, M S Dhoni pinned a lot of his hopes on Tim Southee, who is known to bowl some great yorkers. However, he too strayed in line and was taken away for boundaries.

At the other end, Mahela Jayawardene departed after a couple of big hits off R Ashwin. But, McCullum soon found solid company in the form of little Parthiv Patel. The diminutive wicket keeper played a couple of lovely drives apart from miscuing a few to the boundary to keep Kochi on par with the run rate. McCullum eventually departed miscuing Ashwin while Patel also fell while trying to clear the boundary. But, Hodge and Ravindra Jadeja batted sensibly to see their team through without much trouble and with as many as two overs to spare, the duo opening up their arms towards the end after getting set.

In contrast, Chennai found the going much tougher with the bat. It did not help that there was rain around, and the match had to be stopped after nine overs. In that time, Chennai lost the big wicket of Michael Hussey, who was done in by the conditions, which made even R P Singh look lethal. Vijay was the only batsman for Chennai who looked in control of the proceedings. But, he too threw his wicket away, gifting it to Thisara Perera, when on 28. Raina did get a half century, but he clearly was undone by the conditions. This is apparent from the fact that he took 40 balls to complete his 50, an innings replete with edges and mishits, with only luck favouring him.

The story wasn’t too different with S Badrinath and even Dhoni struggled to break the shackles. R P Singh troubled him towards the end with some nagging yorkers as Dhoni managed on 14 in 13 balls. A big hit by Morkel improved their score marginally. But, once McCullum unleashed his fury, it was clear Chennai hadn’t got enough runs on the board.