Cricket Tournaments

Kings XI Punjab 232 for 2 beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 121 by 111 runs

Man of the match: Adam Gilchrist

In an ideally scripted world, the Royal Challengers would have outdone Kings XI Punjab with Chris Gayle going hammer and tongs at the picturesque Dharamsala. However, it was pretty much the other way round as Punjab skipper, Adam Gilchrist, who for a day returned to the Gilly of old and smashed Bangalore’s bowlers all over the park in a display of batting reminiscent of the equally big-hitting Gayle’s batting. Gilchrist found an exceptional partner in Shaun Marsh, who was equally aggressive, and the duo featured in a world record partnership of 206 runs as the Kings XI finally ended Bangalore’s winning streak. The mammoth 111-run win not only ensured that Gilchrist’s team was level on points with Kolkata, but also gave a massive boost to their net run rate as Bangalore folded up for a meagre 121.

Though there were other impressive performances in the game, the match was all about Gilchrist. Following his heroics with the bat, he made his impact on the game in the field too, taking an excellent catch diving to his left hand side. More that the wicket, it was the fact that Chris Gayle was dismissed that mattered the most. Bangalore are used to Gayle getting the team off to a great start. But, on this occasion, they were clearly in unknown territory and things only got worse. Ryan Harris sent back both Gayle as well as the other in form man, Virat Kohli. Then, Praveen Kumar continued his association with maidens, bowled his fifth of this IPL. With runs not coming, the Bangalore batsmen were forced to go after Piyush Chawla, who cleaned up the lower order, helping himself to four wickets.

Returning to the man of the moment Gilchrist, his knock would certainly give a run for its money to some of equally devastating innings by Gayle. Gilchrist took his time to flourish. In fact, most of the runs were scored by Paul Valthaty in the early part of the innings. It was only in the company of Marsh that Gilchrist really began to open up. He began by thumping a short ball from Abhimanyu Mithun and then sashayed down the wicket to loft S Aravind, who until then was proving rather economical, and then slammed him down the wicket again. At the other end, Marsh also got into the act and dispatched him for a six and a boundary. 21 runs came off the over, and Punjab were well and truly underway.

Kohli, taking over from the injured Daniel Vettori, brought in Gayle to try and slow down the scoring. But, on this day, everything was in vain. Gilchrist lofted for two mammoth sixes and Bangalore continued to bleed, left right and centre. Nothing changed even with the introduction of South African pace man Charl Langeveldt. Gilchrist pulled him for two massive sixes before completing a batting hat trick of sixes by depositing him over the midwicket boundary. The bowler and the captain could do nothing but watch in amazement.

Their expressions remained the same as Punjab weren’t done yet. Marsh also took the opportunity to prove some of his big hitting skills. He looted 30 runs off a Johan van der Wath, all on his own, which would have almost made Gilchrist jealous. The over was perfectly divided with three sixes and three fours. The boundaries came in the extra-cover region while the sixes ranged between midwicket, long-off and one straight down the ground. While for Punjab it rained fours and sixes, the same cannot be said of Bangalore, who clearly capitulated under pressure.

Chargers cruise to easy win over Warriors

Deccan Chargers 138 for 4 beat Pune Warriors 136 for 9 by six wickets
Man of the match: Amit Mishra

For once, the Deccan Chargers bowled to their potential and the result was that they were successful in keeping the Pune Warriors down to a chaseable total. Their batsmen too did not falter for a change as Kumar Sangakkara signed off with a consolation win for his team. All the Decaan bowlers, pacers Dale Steyn, Ishant Sharma as well as spinners Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha were all over the Pune Warriors batsmen, as a result of which, the Yuvraj Singh-led side never found themselves in any position of strength. Daniel Christian too played his part in the bowling department as the Deccan Chargers cruised home to an easy six-wicket win.

The only thing that went right for Pune was when the aggressive Mitchell Marsh went after the bowlers. However, that only proved to be a flash in the pan for the Warriors. Kumar Sangakkara’s experiment of opening the innings with JP Duminy did not work. But, once the ball was in Steyn and Ishant’s hands, the Warriors’ collapse began. Jesse Ryder was sent back by an awesome catch taken by Ravi Teja in the cover region. Teja dived to his left and successfully plucked the ball. Sourav Ganguly could not repeat hits heroics of his comeback game. He offered a simple chance to Ojha at mid-off, off Christian’s bowling. Ojha, himself, got into the wicket-taking act when he fooled Pandey with an incoming delivery and disturbed his furniture.

Pune were in deep strife losing three wickets for 45, but things only got worse for them. Amit Mishra got back to back wickets to put paid to the Warriors hopes. He first forced Robin Uthappa to edge one which was held gleefully by the bowler himself. The very next ball, Mithun Manhas failed to read a googly and went for a cut, which proved fatal as his stumps were dislodged. From a disappointing 45 for 3, the Warriors slumped to a pathetic 45 for 5 and they were was no looking back from there.

Skipper Yuvraj Singh tried to steady the ship once again. Yuvraj slashed Ojha for two boundaries in a row, but could not last long enough as fell to Christian, top edging one. If at all the Warriors to gain some credibility to their scoreboard, it was due to a wonderful counter attack by the other Marsh – Mitchell. He slammed the spinners for some big hits as 34 runs came in the last three overs of the innings, Marsh finding some support from Wayne Parnell. It wasn’t enough though as Shikhar Dhawan and Sunny Sohal got their team off to a good start, before Sangakkara and Duminy shut them out of the game, and the tournament as well.

Delhi Daredevils 179 for 6 Deccan Chargers 175 for 5 by four wickets

Man of the match: Virender Sehwag

Virender Sehwag’s greatness was on the display against the Deccan Chargers as he single handedly took his team to victory in a game they clearly deserved to lose. Earlier, their fielding was atrocious with catches being dropped and bowlers bowling no balls made matters worse. As a result was should have been a target of around 150 ended up being 176. Then, even with the bat, all except Sehwag struggled. Wickets fell early and by the time they were four down, the required run rate was well above 11. This is when Sehwag decided to take charge of the Chargers. He went on an all out attack, blessed with two chances, but fell only when victory was well within sight. Cleary a one man show that defeated the combined effort of 11 others from the opposition.

Sehwag’s effort outdid the one he had put up against the Kochi Tuskers Kerala a few days ago and was clearly a treat to watch. As boundaries came left right and centre, the Deccan Chargers had no answer and skipper Kumar Sangakkara looked clueless. The greatness of Sehwag’s knock can be gauged from the fact that the next best score in their innings was as low as 17, coming from James Hopes.

Even as the Daredevils’ bowlers, barring Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar, were massacred as Deccan lifted themselves to 175, Sehwag absorbed all the pressure even as the others around him failed. His partners Aaron Finch, Naman Ojha and even the in form Venugopal Rao were taken out by the pace of Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma as Sehwag could only watch as a spectator. At 25 for 3 after six overs, Sehwag knew only he could take his team home. He did and how, smashing 119 off 56 as Deccan bowlers were pummeled all over the park. Sehwag was severe on everyone. He began by slamming debutant Ishan Malhotra to deep square leg and deep midwicket as well. There were more fours to follow as Sehwag took 23 from the over and set Delhi underway. More attacking strokes followed as Sehwag slammed 13 from the next over bowled by Christian.

Even when Sangakkara introduced spin, nothing changed. He slammed Amit Mishra straight over his head, but was lucky to be dropped the next ball by Ankit Sharma. He made full use of it as Sehwag as the very next ball was guided to third man as well. Even after Sehwag lost another partner in Birt, he did not slow down, or rather he could not as the run rate was still on the higher side. And it worked perfectly for Sehwag as well as Delhi. Sehwag soon slammed Mishra for three consecutive fours. In between, another chance went down and with it Deccan’s hopes.

As a last throw of the dice, Sangakkara brought back Steyn. But, the move to bring on Bharat Chipli from the other end misfired big time. His medium pacers were easily dispatched to all parts of the ground as Sehwag brought up a magnificent hundred in the process. Steyn eventually got his man in the 17^th over, but then the game was well out of Deccan’s grasp.

Sehwags’ effort outdid J P Duminy stunning innings earlier in the day. After being reprieved, the left hander smashed 55 off 31 balls. Sangakkara and Shikhar Dhawan also got chances and made Delhi pay. On other days, it would have surely cost them the game, but they need to thank Sehwag for rescuing them.

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.

Rajasthan Royals 111 for 2 beat Kochi Tuskers Kerala 109 by eight wickets
Man of the match: Shane Warne

Shane Warne continued to mesmerise and, on Sunday, it was his spell of 3 for 16 that ensured the Rajasthan Royals returned to their winning ways against the so far impressive Kochi Tuskers Kerala. The Aussie spin wizard got the key wickets of Brad Hogde and broke a fighting partnership between Parthiv Patel and Ravindra Jadeja, claiming both, to restrict the Kochi Tuskers to a well below par score of 109. And chasing it, the Rajasthan Royals had little trouble as Rahul Dravid and Shane Watson put on an assured 71 run opening stand before Dravid ran himself out uncharacteristically for a well complied 44, when he looked got for a lot more than that.

The match, essentially though, was about Rajasthan’s excellent bowling effort and Kochi’s poor batting stint. In the home conditions that favoured slow bowlers, Rajasthan’s spinners shone. South African Johan Botha, who was returning from an injury, took out Mahela Jayawardene with the first ball of his comeback game. Botha turned a delivery right across Jayawardene, and the ball hit the thigh pad before deflecting off to the stumps. VVS Laxman, who was replacing the injured and, more importantly, in form Brendon McCullum, got run out to get Kochi off to the worst possible start.

The Warne show then took over. Hodge fell to one from Warne that did not rise as much as he anticipated. The Kochi innings was in complete disarray until Jadeja and Patel joined forces. Warne welcomed Jadeja with a bouncer, but to his credit, the former Rajasthan batsman did not try anything fancy. The duo did well to steady the ship. Importantly, they did not take any risks against Warne, Watson and Botha and reserved the big strokes for the lesser known Indian first class bowlers. However, with time and overs running out they were forced to take on Warne, and this is where Kochi plummeted into further trouble.

Jadeja once tried to loft Warne, but did not succeed in his endeavour. Frustrated, he reverted to his favourite slog sweep, only for the ball to take the top edge of the bat and give Warne a simple caught and bowled. The master had done the trick again. But, he wasn’t finished yet. The very next ball, Patel, indifferent to the fact that he had lost his well-set partner, went for a horrendous reverse sweep, which only saw him get clean bowled. In a moment of madness, all the hard work done by Patel was undone. There was no comeback point for Kochi from there as no capable batsman was left in the wings. The innings soon folded up for 109, with Siddharth Trivedi helping himself to three wickets.

For Kochi to have a semblance of a change, they needed a spectacular start. Instead, Watson it was to thrashed the first ball of the chase to the cover boundary, and there was just no looking back. With no pressure of scoring at a particularly high rate, Dravid went about his task in a brisk but risk free manner. He drove and cut with ease before depositing Jadeja into the stands for the first six of the game. Unfortunately, he ran himself out needlessly, but by then the game was all but done and dusted with.

Mumbai Indians 172 for 4 beat Deccan Chargers 135 for 8 by 37 runs

Man of the match: Lasith Malinga

The Mumbai Indians recovered splendidly after losing three wickets without the addition of any run to club the hapless Deccan Chargers by 37 runs in Sunday’s second match. Finding themselves in trouble at 70 for 4, having lost Sachin Tendulkar, Ambati Rayudu and Kieron Pollard all on the same score, Mumbai found their heroes in Rohit Sharma and Andrew Symonds yet again. The two featured in a game changing partnership of 102 that came of just 65 balls to make Deccan suffer another taste of defeat. This was made possible thanks to yet another toe crushing effort by Lasith Malinga, who ended with exceptional figures of 3 for 9 as well as the man of the match award as Deccan Chargers crashed to 135 for 8 chasing a target of 173.

Mumbai Indians’ innings was chiefly about two partnerships, the major one being that of Symonds and Sharma. At 70 for 4 and three of their big guns gone, Mumbai needed to consolidate and they did so with the partnership between the two Ss. The best and most crucial feature of their partnership was the fact that they bid their time when needed, but when they blossomed they did so without any inhibitions. 40 runs came in the last two overs as Sharma and Symonds took the Deccan bowlers to task. Symonds started the boundary hitting show by slamming Dale Steyn pacy deliveries at an equally fast pace for two fours and a six in the 19^th over. Sharma went one step ahead in the final over, hoicking Daniel Christian for three massive sixes and adding a four as Mumbai raised themselves from a troubled situation to post a challenging total.

The total was doubly difficult to chase as Malinga was in his elements once again, not only with the ball, but in the field as well. A customary yorker first took care of Shikhar Dhawan, who honestly, was out for no fault of his. More pedigreed batsmen have failed to keep the slinger’s toe crushers from destroying the stumps. Cameron White struggled during his stay at the crease. And, with the big hit not coming, he lost his cool and going for an non existent single was beaten by a throw from, guess who, Malinga! The Lankan’s bowlers former skipper Kumar Sangakkara battled on valiantly before Malinga was successful in uprooting his stumps too with a low full toss after the former had managed to gather 34. The chase was as good as over when Davy Jacobs stumped Daniel Christian while standing up to Munaf Patel. Dan Christian struck a few customary big hits, but even before he was stumped off Munaf Patel for 21, the game was well in Mumbai Indians’ grasp.

The only time Deccan where in the game was when they got those three wickets at the score of 70. This was after Sachin Tendukar and Davy Jacobs had combined to get Mumbai off to a decent start. Following Jacobs’ exit for an enterprising 32, the Mumbai Indians were comfortably placed at 70 for one at the time of the strategic time out. The introduction of spin, however, turned things around completely. Tendulkar perished trying to clear Amit Mishra, but only managed to sky one to Dale Steyn at long on. Two balls later, Ambati Rayudu also fell, finding the fielder in the deep as 70 for 1 soon became 70 for 3. And to make matter worse, Kieron Pollard went for a paddle sweep which only lobbed up in the air and presented a simple chance to Sangakkara.

Deccan had a great chance to build up the pressure, but Symonds and Sharma knew better how to deal with the pressure. And once the partnership flourished and Malinga got his act right again, Deccan were always going to come second best.

Sehwag Warner show destroyed Punjab

Delhi Daredevils 231 for 3 beat Kings XI Punjab 202 for 6 by 29 runs

Man of the match: David Warner

Delhi Daredevils finally got their act right as Virender Sehwag and David Warner slammed 77 each to hoist their side to an improbable T20 total of 231 before Kings XI Punjab fought back equally valiantly thanks to wonderful knocks by Adam Gilchrist and Shaun Marsh, but just had a little too much to do and fell short of the target by 29 runs. As the scorecard suggests, the game was essentially about which team was poorer of the two bowling outfits as the both the teams crossed 200 with the bat. The final result proved that the Daredevils were just a tad better that the Kings XI Punjab bowlers. But, that wasn’t what set up the game for the Daredevils. It was the blistering partnership between Warner and Sehwag that did.

Sehwag and Warner added 146 for the opening wicket in less than 12 overs. The ball was coming onto the bat for a change and both Warner and Sehwag enjoyed it. Sehwag slammed a magnificent 77 off just 35 balls, falling after slamming three consecutive sixes off David Hussey over. As expected, he perished going for the forth. At the other end, Warner was slightly more sedate but only in comparison to Sehwag. Warner got most of the strike early on and made best use of it, cutting, pulling and driving everyone with ease. Praveen Kumar, Ryan Harris and Shalabh Srivastava, all were taken to the cleaners by Warner as Punjab looked helpless.

The show wasn’t over even when the two departed for the same score of 77. Venugopal Rao and Naman Ojha combined forced to loot 47 off the last three overs, as Harris was literally pulling his hair out. Delhi ended up with a massive 231 for 3, their highest in the IPL and third overall highest score. Punjab needed something special to pull this off.

Delhi were poor in the field dropping both the dangerous openers, but they still managed to cling on. Irfan Pathan got Paul Valthaty early, and with the pressure mounting, Gilchrist perished being forced to slog Varun Aaron, playing his first game. Marsh played an exceptional knock of 95 from 46 balls. It was worthy of a match-winning effort, but wasn’t too be as, on the day, the combined efforts of Warner Sehwag outshone Marsh’s solitary brilliance.

Following their magnificent chase against the Pune Warriors, the Delhi Daredevils would have been in a confident frame of mind going into the match against the Deccan Chargers. However, everything came to naught as their batsmen struggled chasing a challenging, but hardly overwhelming, target of 169. Only David Warner, who has been the Daredevils’ best batsman, stuck it out for yet another half century, but the rest struggled and even a late assault by the relatively unknown Yogesh Nagar could not reduce the margin of deficit. This was after Sunny Sohal and Kumar Sangakkara combined to put Deccan in charge with a precision-like 92 run stand. The Daredevils did fight back well with the ball, following the dismissal of the two. But, with their weak batting faltering once again, it just was not enough.

At the end of the day, the partnership between Sohal and Sangakkara proved to be the decisive one. Things began well for the Chargers with Sohal driving the first ball of the day to the boundary. Shikhar Dhawan also got into the act, slamming a couple of fours. But, Irfan Pathan got the breakthrough for Delhi, pegging back Dhawan’s furniture. However, Delhi had little reason to smile after that as Sohal and Sangakkara went about their task in a refined manner. Neither player resorted to slog cricket. While Sohal used deft touches and drove with gentle ease, Sangakkara dominated the spinners, driving and lofting them with great success.

The important factor of their partnership was that both kept finding the boundaries at will, without taking too many risks. Sangakkara took left arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem to the cleaners, depositing him into the stands and also claiming a couple of boundaries. When the youngster Nagar was introduced, he too was treated with equal disdain, the former Lankan captain driving him for a couple of boundaries. All this while, Sohal was content with his deft play, before he too opened up after reaching his half century. Sohal took on Morne Morkel successfully, blasting him for a six and a four.

At 106 for 1 in the 12^th over, things did not look bright for the Daredevils, but they fought back thanks to some good bowling in the second half of the innings. Ashok Dinda made the breakthrough, getting Sangakkara caught in the covers, one short of a well deserved half century. A little later, Sohal also fell to Nadeem trying to move on with things. Cameron White did contribute an unbeaten 31, but it wasn’t his fluent or quickfire knock that could have taken the game away from the Daredevils.

Having chased down 180 the other day, the Daredevils would have been confident of surpassing this total as well. For that though they needed both Sehwag and Warner to fire. The initial signs were highly promising with Sehwag racing off the blocks with three successive fours. However, Harmeet Singh, playing in his first game, undid Sehwag and the wheels just fell off the innings from that point. Aaron Finch departed first ball while Naman Ojha was claimed by Daniel Christian before he had scored too many.

Once again, it was left to Warner and Venugopal Rao to do the rescue act. They did put their best foot forward, but with the pitch offering spin neither could repeat their heroics of the last game. Eventually, Rao fell for 21, which came at less than a run a ball, while Warner could manage on 51 despite being at the crease for 15 overs. When he fell, Delhi were still one short of 100. All the bowlers combined well to restrict the Daredevils, and Nagar’s final act was a mere consolation joy of some big hits.

(Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Rajasthan Royals match abandoned at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore without a ball being bowled due to persistent rain.)

Kings XI Punjab (166 for 2) beat Deccan Chargers (165 for 8) by 8 wickets

Man of the Match: Paul Valthaty

Paul Valthaty put up yet another sterling performance, this time with both bat and ball to steer Kings XI Punjab to an easy eight wicket win over Deccan Chargers at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Uppal, Hyderabad. Valthaty first ensured that he restricted Deccan to a challenging total with some cunning slow cutters, following a threatening partnership between Kumar Sangakkara and Shikhar Dhawan, that was on course to take the game away from then. Next, he opened the innings with the bat and continued from where he left off against Chennai Super Kings to seal the game for Punjab in no time, with some great support from his skipper Adam Gilchrist.

Following the early loss of Sunny Sohal, the Chargers fought back well courtesy a counter-attacking partnership between Sangakkara and Dhawan. The duo was severe on Praveen Kumar, Ryan Harris as well as Ryan MClaren and looked in charge as they added 75 in quick time. However, one brilliant piece of fielding by Shaun Marsh was enough to turn around the fortunes of the sides. Marsh dived full length and stopped a fierce stroke from Sangakkara at extra cover. The loss of a run made the former Lankan skipper uncharacteristically slog sweep the next ball off Piyush Chawla, only to find the safe hands of McLaren in the deep. That was the beginning of the end for Deccan.

Three runs later, Dhawan perished to what was to be a leg side wide from Valthaty, but his effort to get too smart got the better of him as he was gobbled up at short fine leg. From there onwards, Deccan’s innings hit a roadblock and Valthaty was in charge. Bharat Chipli, who was Deccan’s hero in the last game, found Valthaty’s slower ones extremely tough to handle. He was lucky to survive on one occasion, but perished soon after going for a big shot. At 112 for four, in the 15^th over, Kings XI were clearly in the commanding position. However, the big hitting Daniel Christian raised Deccan’s hopes by slamming 30 off 14 balls.

Once again, it was Valthaty who turned the game in Punjab’s favour with two strikes in two consecutive balls. He first cleaned up Christian and very next ball trapped Amit Mishra plumb in front as the latter tried to go for a scoop shot he is clearly not adept at. Valthaty found good support in McLaren at the other end, who got the bog scalps of J P Duminy and the big hitting Manpreet Gony. Thanks to their efforts, Deccan were restricted to 165 for 8.

The home side still had a chance, considering they had Dale Steyn in their ranks. But, Valthaty and Gilchrist sealed the game inside the first five overs itself. Runs flowed at an easy pace off Steyn and his opening partner Ishant Sharma. However, it was Gony who had to bear the brunt of Valthaty’s attack 23 runs came in his one over, in which Valthaty charged him, drove him and lofted him with utter ease. Valthaty had an answer to every delivery Gony bowled. With no pressure on him, Gilchrist also found the going easy and soon eased into his game. In fact, he went on to beat Valthaty in the race for 50 in typical Gilchrist style. In all, he slammed five fours and three sixes before perishing to Mishra. Valthaty’s numbers were even more astounding, but not surprising considering his previous knock. He faced a mere 47 balls for his 75, clearing the boundary on as many as five occasions before he too fell to Mishra, the only wicket-taking bowler for Deccan.

Abhishek Nayar and Dinesh Karthik completed the formalities and the match was over with more than two overs to spare. A comprehensive win indeed.

Hussey set up Chennai’s win

Chennai Super Kings 183 for 5 beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (162 for 7) by 21 runs

Man of the Match: Michael Hussey

Michael Hussey batted through the entire Chennai Super Kings innings and scored a brisk, unbeaten 83 from 56 balls to set up an easy 21 run win for the Super Kings along with some good support from his team mates as well as the opposition, Royal Challengers Bangalore, who suffered their third defeat in the tournament. Hussey’s brilliance was well supported by quick cameos by Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina and M S Dhoni as, batting first, Chennai put up an impressive score of 183 for 5. Bangalore were miserable in the field, with misfields, overthrows and dropped catch from even their better fielders. While a couple of experienced bowlers did well to keep down the runs, the rest like Johan van der Wath, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Ryan Ninan were taken for plenty as Chennai set up a match-winning total. Then, when their turn with the bat came, Bangalore were equally miserable. They lost too many early wickets. And even though A B de Villiers and Virat Kohli got among the runs, the intent was clearly missing.

The match, thus, was essentially about Hussey and Chennai’s batting effort. Hussey hit eleven boundaries in all, eight of them coming on the on side, signifying that Bangalore’s bowlers had not got their act right. But, Hussey went along on his merry ways and found the fence on the other side too when the opportunity presented. In between, his running between the wickets was amazing, typifying the Aussie in him.

Hussey got good support from his mates as well. His opening partner Vijay raced to 31 from 21 balls. He slammed van der Wath for three big hits, which included one six, as Chennai shifted gears. At the other end, Hussey had it easy against Dilshan finding the fence on a couple of occasions. Even as Ninan sent back Vijay, Raina came in and kept Chennai ahead of the game. He got the better of both Ninan and van der Wath, racing to 29 in 16 balls, before handing over the baton his skipper Dhoni, who himself blasted 22 in 16 balls.

184 was a chaseable target provided Bangalore got off to a Valthaty-style start. On the contrary, the first three wickets, including the big one of Dilshan, fell with a mere 31 on board. And with de Villiers and Kohli also struggling to up the ante during their alliance, Bangalore were always playing catch up. No surprising, they came second by some distance.

Rajasthan Royals beat Deccan Chargers by 8 wickets

(Royals: 141/2), Chargers (137/8). Man of the match: Siddharth Trivedi

Deccan Chargers, led by Kumar Sangakkara, were clearly the more talented of the two sides, but Shane Warne and his brigade were cunning enough to help Rajasthan Royals outwit the Deccan charge. First, Siddharth Trivedi came up with a super effort of 3/15 from his allotted 4 overs and then Johan Botha, promoted to number three, cracked a sparkling half-century to lead Rajasthan to a royal win, with nine balls to spare and as many as eight wickets in hand.

Even as Botha was the star with the bat, it was undoubtedly Trivedi, who set up the victory charge as Deccan clearly struggled to come to terms with the pitch and conditions. They did get off to a great start though, with Shikhar Dhawan cracking 24 from 5 balls. However, once he perished going for a slog against Amit Singh, who also picked up three wickets, it was all downhill for the Chargers. Skipper Sangakkara fell caught behind off Trivedi, nicking the third ball he faced, for a duck. What Chargers needed at that stage was a partnership to steady the innings. But, that did not come as Bharat Chipli inside edged one, again off Trivedi.

The stagnant story continued for the Chargers as Warne brought himself into the attack. In spite of a year of being away from competitive cricket, Warne was effective as ever. He put opener Ishank Jaggi out of his misery, who had way to 25 off 28 balls, failing to give Chargers the momentum they were so keen for. For the home team to put up a competitive score from that point, they needed the now experienced Jean Paul Duminy to fire. However, the left-hander from South Africa struggled, exposing his limitations against quality spin bowling. As Warne cast a spell around him, Duminy had no answer for it and eventually perished to the legendary leggie.

Daniel Christian and Ravi Teja added a few crucial runs. Though they were not scored at lightning pace, the duo managed to propel the Chargers total to a sense of respectability. Still, 137 was never going to be enough unless the Chargers bowling came up with something exceptional. Instead, it were the Royals who came up with an extraordinary move, promotion Botha to number three, which made the big difference in the end.

Chargers did begin the pursuit of defending their total well, with Dale Steyn keeping things extremely tight. The run rate was under six for most part of the opening partnership, before Steyn was finally rewarded for his efforts – Amit Paunikar falling caught behind for 20. At the other end, Rahul Dravid also struggled, but to his credit he still scraped to 28 off 35 balls, a significant contribution in the context of the game. He also fell to the guile of Steyn, failing to read a slower ball.

Despite the loss of their openers, Royals were never under extreme pressure considering the small total and the number of wickets they possessed. Botha went about his task in a methodical manner, picking the singles and twos, but not failing to find the boundary whenever the opportunity presented itself. Ross Taylor came in a plundered a couple of big sixes to ease the nerves if there were any, and Botha finished off things in the penultimate over, the winning runs coming off the struggling Pragyan Ojha. Steyn aside, the bowlers let Chargers down with Amit Mishra and Ishant Sharma failing to rise to the occasion, but their batmen were the bigger culprits.