Cricket Tournaments

IPL 4

The fourth season of the Indian Premier League or IPL 4 or IPL 2011 is being held from April 8 to May 28. IPL 4 begins less than a week after the cricket World Cup final at Wankhede Stadium on April 2. The opening ceremony will be held in Chennai, with Chennai Super Kings also being the defending champions. Unlike the previous years, which featured eight teams, this edition will see 10 teams taking part. Pune Warriors and Kochi Tuskers Kerala are the two new teams to have joined the league.

New format

With the introduction of two new teams, the format has also been tweaked. This new arrangement will feature 74 matches. This was worked out since staying with the older format would have meant playing a whopping 94 matches compared to the 60 in the earlier seasons, where teams played each other twice in the league stage.

As per the new format, the ten teams have been split into two groups of five each, but the IPL standings table will not be separate. In the group stage, each team plays 14 games. First, they face the other four teams in their group two times each (one home and one away game). Further, the four teams in the group will play once match against the four teams placed in the other group. Finally, each team will play two league matches home or away against a fifth team that is selected randomly.

A four-game playoff stage will then be held after the group stage. The top 2 teams in the points table will play each other in first playoff. The winner of this match will straightaway make it to the final. The second playoff will be between the third and fourth ranked team. The loser of this game will be knocked out of the tournament, but the winner will face the loser of the first playoff in the third playoff. Whoever wins this match will become the second finalist.

The top three teams will also qualify for the 2011 Champions League Twenty20. As per the revised format, the qualifying teams will be the top two teams of the group stage and the winner of the second playoff.

The auctions

Fresh auctions for players for this season were held on January 8 and 9. The auction put up a total of 350 players for bidding. Each player in the auction pool had a bidding base price under which franchise owners could not bid. Players were allowed to set their base price between $200,000 to $400,000. After the bidding the top 15 priced players sold stood as follows:

Gautam Gambhir – 2.4 Million US$ (Kolkata)

Yusuf Pathan – 2.1 Million US$ (Kolkata)

Robin Uthappa – 2.1 Million US$ (Pune)

Rohit Sharma – 2 Million US$ (Mumbai)

Irfan Pathan – 1.9 Million US$ (Delhi)

Yuvraj Singh – 1.8 Million US$ (Pune)

Saurabh Tiwary – 1.6 Million US$ (Bangalore)

Mahela Jayawardene -1.5 Million US$ (Kochi)

David Hussey -1.4 Million US$ (Punjab)

Dale Steyn – 1.2 Million US$ (Deccan)

Muttiah Muralitharan – 1.1 Million US$ (Kochi)

AB de Villiers – 1.1 Million US$ (Bangalore)

Cameron White – 1.1 Million US$ (Deccan)

Jacques Kallis – 1.1 Million US$ (Kolkata)

Ross Taylor – 1 Million US$ (Rajasthan)

Some big names in international cricket remained unsold after the auctions. They included Sourav Ganguly, Brian Lara, Mark Boucher and Herschelle Gibbs.

Previous winners

Rajasthan Royals won by inaugural edition in 2008 by defeating Chennai Super Kings in a last ball thriller. In 2009, the venue was shifted to South Africa owing to general elections in the country. Deccan Chargers, who had finished last in the first edition, trumped Royal Challengers Bangalore in the final, to be crowned champions. And, in last year’s final M S Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings defeated Mumbai’s Indians by 22 runs to become the third team to win the crown.

IPL 4 teams

Chennai Super Kings

Chennai Super Kings

Owner: India Cements

MS Dhoni (Cap), Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay, Michael Hussey, Scott Styris, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Albie Morkel, Tim Southee, Subramaniam Badrinath, George Bailey, Doug Bollinger, Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Ben Hilfenhaus, Shadab Jakati, Joginder Sharma, Suraj Randiv, Nuwan Kulasekara, Srikkanth Anirudha, Yo Mahesh, Sudeep Tyagi, Abhinav Mukund, Kuthethurshri Vasudevadas, Ganapathi Vignesh

Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians

Owner: Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries

Sachin Tendulkar (Cap), Kieron Pollard, Andrew Symonds, Rohit Sharma, James Franklin, Harbhajan Singh, Lasith Malinga, Munaf Patel, Davy Jacobs, Clint McKay, ADilhara Fernando, mbati Rayudu, Dhawal Kulkarni, Ali Murtaza, Abu Nechim, Aiden Blizzard, Yuzvendra Chahal, Moises Henriques, Sarul Kanwar, Rajagopal Sathish, Tirumalasetti Suman, Pawan Suyal, Aditya Tare (wk), Santosh Yadav, Suryakumar Yadav

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Owner: Vijay Mallaya

Daniel Vettori (Cap), Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Saurabh Tiwary, Cheteshwar Pujara, Mohammad Kaif, Abhimanyu Mithun, Zaheer Khan, Charl Langeveldt, Dirk Nannes, Ryan Ninan, Asad Pathan, Luke Pomersbach, Rilee Rossouw, Johan van der Wath, Jonathan Vandiar, Mayank Agarwal, Sreenath Aravind, Arun Karthik, BN Bharath, Raju Bhatkal, Abrar Kazi, Nuwan Pradeep, Muralidharen Gautam

Delhi Daredevils

Delhi Daredevils

Owner: GMR Group

Virender Sehwag (Cap), David Warner, Naman Ojha (wk), Irfan Pathan, James Hopes, Colin Ingram, Andrew McDonald, Morne Morkel, Roelof van der Merwe, Venugopal Rao, Umesh Yadav, Ajit Agarkar, Varun Aaron, Travis Birt, Robin Bist, Unmukt Chand, Ajit Chandila, Ashok Dinda , Aaron Finch, Robert Frylinckl, Yogesh Nagar, Rajesh Pawar, Aavishkar Salvi, Sridharan Sriram, Vikas Mishra, Matthew Wade, Tejashwi Yadav, Vivek Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem, Prashant Naik

Kolkata Knight Riders

Kolkata Knight Riders

Owners: Shahrukh Khan, Juhi Chawla & Jai Mehta (Red Chillies Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.)

Gautam Gambhir (Cap), Yusuf Pathan, Jacques Kallis, Brad Haddin (wk), Brett Lee, Shakib Al Hasan, Eoin Morgan, Jaidev Unadkat, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Iqbal Abdulla, Sarabjit Ladda, Rajat Bhatia, Manvinder Bisla, Shreevats Goswami, James Pattinson, Pradeep Sangwan, Shami Ahmed, Laxmi Shukla, Ryan ten Doeschate, Manoj Tiwary

Deccan Chargers

Deccan Chargers

Owners: Deccan Chronicle, Deccan Chargers Sporting Ventures

Kumar Sangakkara (Cap/wk), Kevin Pietersen, Cameron White, Jean-Paul Duminy, Shikhar Dhawan, Michael Lumb, Ishant Sharma, Dale Steyn, Rusty Theron, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, Ashish Reddy, Anand Rajan, Ankit Sharma, Akash Bhandari, Bharat Chipli, Daniel Christian, Kedar Devdhar, Manpreet Gony, Harmeet Singh, Ishank Jaggi, Chris Lynn, Dwaraka Ravi Teja, Jaydev Shah, Sunny Sohal, Arjun Yadav, Ishan Malhotra

Kings XI Punjab

Kings XI Punjab

Owners: Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia, Karan Paul & Mohit Burman

Adam Gilchrist (Cap/wk), Shaun Marsh, David Hussey, Stuart Broad, Piyush Chawla, Ryan Harris, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Praveen Kumar, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Abhishek Nayar, Ryan McLaren, Love Ablish, Siddharth Chitnis, Vikramjeet Malik, Nathan Rimmington, Nitin Saini, Shalabh Srivastava, Sunny Singh, Amit Yadav, Bhargav Bhatt, Bipul Sharma, Mandeep Singh, Paras Dogra, Paul Valthaty

Rajasthan Royals

Rajasthan Royals

Owners: Emerging Media, Shilpa Shetty & Raj Kundra

Shane Warne (Cap), Shane Watson, Ross Taylor, Shaun Tait, Rahul Dravid, Paul Collingwood, Johan Botha, Swapnil Asnodkar, Deepak Chahar, Aakash Chopra, Aditya Dole, Ashok Menaria, Pankaj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Abhishek Raut, Siddharth Trivedi, Dishant Harendra Yagnik, Ankeet Chavan, Nayan Doshi, Samad Fallah, Dinesh Salunkhe, Amit Singh, Stuart Binny, Deepak Chahar, Faiz Fazal, Sumit Narwal, Amit Paunikar, Pinal Shah

Pune Warriors

Pune Warriors

Owner: Sahara Group

Yuvraj Singh (Cap), Robin Uthappa, Graeme Smith, Jesse Ryder, Callum Ferguson, Murali Kartik, Ashish Nehra, Nathan McCullum, Angelo Mathews, Wayne Parnell, Jerome Taylor, Tim Paine (wk), Dheeraj Jadhav, Ganesh Gaikwad, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Kamran Khan, Harshad Khadiwale, Mitchell Marsh, Shrikant Mundhe, Alfonso Thomas, Eklavya Dwivedi, Mohnish Mishra, Manish Pandey, Sachin Rana, Rahul Sharma, Imtiyaz Ahmed, Harpreet Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mithun Manhas, Shrikant Wagh

Kochi Tuskers Kerala

Kochi Tuskers Kerala

Owner: Kochi Cricket Pvt Ltd

Mahela Jayawardene (Cap), Brendon McCullum, Michael Klinger, Owais Shah, VVS Laxman, Brad Hodge, Steve O’Keefe, Ravindra Jadeja, Balachandra Akhil, Deepak Chougule, Gnaneswara Rao, Raiphi Gomez, Parthiv Patel (wk), Muttiah Muralitharan, John Hastings, Sreesanth, Thisara Perera, Ramesh Powar, RP Singh, Steven Smith, Kedar Jadhav, Chandan Madan, Sushant Marathe, Prasanth Padmanabhan

Schedule

Apr 8

Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Chennai.

Apr 9

Deccan Chargers vs Rajasthan Royals in Hyderabad.

Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Kochi.

Apr 10

Delhi Daredevils vs Mumbai Indians in Delhi.

Pune Warriors vs Kings XI Punjab in Navi Mumbai.

Apr 11

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Deccan Chargers in Kolkata.

Apr 12

Rajasthan Royals vs Delhi Daredevils in Jaipur

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Mumbai Indians in Bangalore.

Apr 13

Kings XI Punjab vs Chennai Super Kings in Mohali.

Pune Warriors vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Navi Mumbai.

Apr 14

Deccan Chargers vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Hyderabad.

Apr 15

Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Jaipur.

Mumbai Indians vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Mumbai.

Apr 16

Chennai Super Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Chennai.

Deccan Chargers vs Kings XI Punjab in Hyderabad.

Apr 17

Pune Warriors vs Delhi Daredevils in Navi Mumbai.

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals in Kolkata.

Apr 18

Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Chennai Super Kings in Kochi.

Apr 19

Delhi Daredevils vs Deccan Chargers in Delhi.

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Rajasthan Royals in Bangalore.

Apr 20

Mumbai Indians vs Pune Warriors in Mumbai.

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Kolkata.

Apr 21

Kings XI Punjab vs Rajasthan Royals in Mohali.

Apr 22

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Kolkata.

Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings in Mumbai.

Apr 23

Delhi Daredevils vs Kings XI Punjab in Delhi.

Apr 24

Deccan Chargers vs Mumbai Indians in Hyderabad.

Rajasthan Royals vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Jaipur.

Apr 25

Chennai Super Kings vs Pune Warriors in Chennai.

Apr 26

Delhi Daredevils vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Delhi.

Apr 27

Pune Warriors vs Chennai Super Kings in Navi Mumbai.

Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Deccan Chargers in Kochi.

Apr 28

Delhi Daredevils vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Delhi.

Apr 29

Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians in Jaipur.

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Pune Warriors in Bangalore.

Apr 30

Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Delhi Daredevils in Kochi.

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kings XI Punjab in Kolkata.

May 1

Rajasthan Royals vs Pune Warriors in Jaipur.

Chennai Super Kings vs Deccan Chargers in Chennai.

May 2

Mumbai Indians vs Kings XI Punjab in Mumbai.

Delhi Daredevils vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Delhi.

May 3

Deccan Chargers vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Hyderabad.

May 4

Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals in Chennai.

Pune Warriors vs Mumbai Indians in Navi Mumbai.

May 5

Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Kochi.

Deccan Chargers vs Delhi Daredevils in Hyderabad.

May 6

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kings XI Punjab in Bangalore.

May 7

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings in Kolkata.

Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Daredevils in Mumbai.

May 8

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Bangalore.

Kings XI Punjab vs Pune Warriors in Mohali.

May 9

Rajasthan Royals vs Chennai Super Kings in Jaipur.

May 10

Deccan Chargers vs Pune Warriors in Hyderabad.

Kings XI Punjab vs Mumbai Indians in Mohali.

May 11

Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Jaipur.

May 12

Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Daredevils in Chennai.

May 13

Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Kings XI Punjab in Indore.

May 14

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Bangalore.

Mumbai Indians vs Deccan Chargers in Mumbai.

May 15

Kings XI Punjab vs Delhi Daredevils in Dharamsala.

Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs Rajasthan Royals in Indore.

May 16

Pune Warriors vs Deccan Chargers in Navi Mumbai.

May 17

Kings XI Punjab vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Dharamsala.

May 18

Chennai Super Kings vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Chennai.

May 19

Pune Warriors vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Navi Mumbai.

May 20

Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals in Mumbai.

May 21

Kings XI Punjab vs Deccan Chargers in Dharamsala.

Delhi Daredevils vs Pune Warriors in Delhi.

May 22

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Chennai Super Kings in Bangalore.

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians in Kolkata.

May 24

Qualifier 1: First Placed Team vs Second Placed Team in Mumbai.

May 25

Eliminator: Third Placed Team vs Fourth Placed Team in Mumbai.

May 27

Qualifier 2: Winner of Eliminator vs Loser of Qualifier 1 in Chennai.

May 28

Final: Winner of Qualifier 1 vs Winner of Qualifier 2 in Chennai.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

If ever there was an award for the worst IPL team performance, the Deccan Chargers would have won it hands down. 82 is all they got in the third place play-off against the upbeat Royal Challengers Bangalore at the D.Y. Patil stadium. Okay, this wasn’t the best surface for the batsmen – both the pacers and spinners extracted enough from the pitch to trouble Deccan’s batsmen.

The figures of Praveen Kumar (2/18) and Anil Kumble (4/16) amply reflected this. Still, this was by no stretch of the imagination an 82 all-out pitch, as proved by Anirudh Singh’s fluent 40. Bangalore too had their moments of trouble during the chase, with the ball stopping on the pitch regularly.

What went in their favour though was that they were completely devoid of pressure, owing to the partly total they were after and, in the end, they cruised home by 9 wickets.

Clearly, it was their accurate bowling performance combined with some unreasonable batting by the opposition that won it for Bangalore. Deccan lost their first five batsmen with a mere 35 on the board, and after a steady partnership of 43 between Anirudh Singh and Venugopal Rao, gifted their last five wickets for the addition of just four runs.

Yes, you heard it right. So swift was the collapse that even the Royal Challengers looked rather embarrassed at having done so exceedingly well.

When a team performs so miserably, it is but natural for them to be criticised. And, there will be plenty of it for Deccan for the manner in which they capitulated with the bat. It all went wrong for Adam Gilchrist and co right from the time they won the toss and elected to bat.

The skipper’s miseries in the tournament continued as he failed for one final time – this time a full toss from opposition skipper Kumble found its way into the lone fielder in the deep. While Gilchrist can be considered a tad unlucky, the shot selection from a few others was far from sane.

Monish Mishra was trapped in front for a duck trying to play across the line while Rohit Sharma gave some easy catching practice to mid-on, also without opening his account. The most disappointing of strokes came from the blade of Andrew Symonds.

He had just been dropped in the previous over by Dale Steyn, but instead of making Bangalore pay, he fell to the South African in the very next over, driving a ball that was too close to his body.

The only phase during which Deccan looked in some semblance of control was when Anirudh and Rao combined to add a few important runs. Both had their moments, hitting one six each of the spinners. However, once Jacques Kallis pegged back Anirudh’s off-stump, things took a drastic turn as Kumble joined Kallis in finishing off the innings in a flash.

A word of praise has to be reserved for left-arm spinner Nayan Doshi, who beat the batsmen in the air more than once and ended with impressive figures (1/17).

There really wasn’t much to do when the Challengers went into bat. Still, Rahul Dravid and Kevin Pietersen batted with authority to take their side home after losing Kallis for 19.

Dravid’s five fluently-timed boundaries and Pietersen’s two sixes were enough to kill Deccan’s hopes, if at all they had any. Overall, an utterly disappointing contest. But, for those seeking solace, be grateful this wasn’t the final.

On a pitch where there was plenty of assistance for the faster men, the Chennai Super Kings outsmarted the Deccan Chargers at the D Y Patil Stadium to book their place in the finals against the Mumbai Indians. Under normal circumstances, 142 would not be a match-winning score, but on this surface, it was worth a lot more.

That said, it would be unfair to take anything away from Chennai’s bowlers, especially R Ashwin and Doug Bollinger, who kept things ridiculously tight in the first six overs, not allowing the opposition to score even at the pace of a run-a-ball. The fact that they managed to pick up wickets at will made the task doubly difficult for Deccan, who never recovered from the clumsy start and succumbed to a 38-run loss.

Earlier, Deccan were also effective with ball and, at one stage, had managed to reduce Chennai to 96 for 5 in the 15th over. Death bowling, however, proved to be Deccan’s Achilles Heel yet again as they allowed Chennai to recover to 142 for 7.

Despite the late surge by Chennai, Deccan would still have fancied their chances to chase down the target. However, their batsmen couldn’t stand up against a charged up opposition, who were going for the kill right from ball one. Dhoni opened with the trustworthy duo of Ashwin and Bollinger and the spin-pace combo did wonders for Chennai.

While the leg spinner tied up both Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibss, Bollinger troubled the openers with his seaming deliveries. In between, he mixed things up with yorkers and well-directed slower balls, and was handsomely rewarded for it. After struggling for his 20-ball 15, the Deccan skipper fell to the left-arm quickie while trying to flick a good length delivery.

In the very same over, T Suman came in and blasted a four before being sent back, going for his second big hit. At 23 for 2 in the 6th over, Gilchrist’s men were off to an unimaginably poor start. Things were only to get worse though.

With the run-rate creeping up with each passing over, Rohit Sharma lofted Albie Morkel straight into the hands of Muralitharan at long-on for 4, while Gibbs (18 from 26 balls) was put out of his misery by Shabad Jakati, when his attempted cut missed the bat and crashed into the stumps.

At 48 for 4 in the 11th over, a miracle from Andrew Symonds was the only hope for Deccan, albeit a faint one. That too evaporated when he fell to Ashwin for 23. Bollinger returned to claim two more wickets and end with sensational figures of 4 for 13, which told quite a story.

It was a far from happy tale earlier in the day, however, after MS Dhoni won the toss and took first strike. Symonds, who opened the bowling along with Ryan Harris, made full use of the bowler-friendly conditions to have Chennai on the mat.

Harris, in particular, was lethal claiming both Matthew Hayden and Murali Vijay, the former after he was dropped twice. All the bowlers, except an erratic RP Singh, chipped in to keep Chennai under the pump.

S Badrinath and skipper Dhoni did feature in a steady half-century partnership. But, that did not hurt Deccan much though. What did hurt was the fact that S Anirudha smashed 24 from 15 balls to help his side cross 140.

The bowlers did the rest for Chennai. As far as Deccan were concerned, it wasn’t just destined to be their day. Two simplest of catches dropped at the start of the game was the earliest omen.

A chase of 146 shouldn’t have proved all difficult for the Delhi Daredevils even on the slow turner at the Ferozshah Kotla. After all, the home side possessed one of the most potent batting line-ups in the tournament. However, a sense of complacency and some extremely charged-up bowling by the Deccan Chargers led to their downfall as the visiting side advanced to the semi-finals.

Delhi lost their top four with only 39 on the board. And the rut never stopped. There was an unexpected fight towards the end when Ashish Nehra joined Paul Collingwood to feature in an undefeated eighth wicket stand of 48. Deccan still got home by a comfortable margin of 11 runs.

Looking back at the game, it was one knock which stood out as the difference between the two sides. Like Deccan, Delhi too had got off to a promising start with the ball. At one stage, the batting side were struggling at 66 for 4 after Adam Gilchrist won the toss and decided to take first strike.

Delhi were comfortably on top when Andrew Symonds decided to take charge. He lofted the ball with consummate ease against the slower bowlers and, in the process, helped Deccan gain some momentum. Amit Mishra, Paul Collingwood as well as Tillakaratne Dilshan were slammed for sixes.

He hit five in all en route to a scintillating 34-ball 54. During this phase, he was well supported by rookie Mitchell Marsh. The youngster’s contribution of 13 from 19 balls may look ungainly in the scorecard. But, in the context of the game, it was precious. His most significant contribution was handing the strike over to Symonds, which was the need of the hour for Deccan.

Once Symonds fell though Delhi got themselves back on track. The bowlers conceded less than a run-a-ball in the last five overs to restrict Deccan’s mini-resurrection. Like at the end, the home side were sensational with the ball in the early part of the innings too.

The out of sorts Gilchrist was once again consumed early by Ashish Nehra while Umesh Yadav’s extreme pace did the trick for him. The bowler’s speed was too much to handle even for the in-form T Suman and Rohit Sharma, the former had his stumps shattered while the latter edged one behind the wickets.

At the halfway stage, Delhi would have fancied their chances to booking their semis berth. But, they only have themselves to blame for letting a golden opportunity pass by. Virender Sehwag was given a reprieve very early in the innings when Rohit Sharma spilled a tough chance off Chaminda Vaas’ bowling.

The same combination though combined to end Sehwag’s short stay at the crease not much later. Disappointingly, David Warner and Dilshan fell to rash strokes. The left-hander flirted outside the off-stump while the Sri Lankan went for a predetermined lap sweep, which saw him being trapped in front off Harmeet Singh’s bowling.

Coming in at 25 for 3, there was extreme pressure on the skipper. But, this time even Gautam Gambhir couldn’t bail the side out. With the pressure mounting, Mithun Manhas was run-out for 23 following a mix-up with Collingwood. Clearly, Delhi had underestimated Deccan’s bowling prowess. And by the time they realized this, it was too late. Collingwood did smash a few big ones towards the end, as did Nehra. But, after the initial disaster, they were always fighting a losing battle.

A scintillating, unbeaten 93 by Mahela Jayawardene was overpowered by an equally brilliant 68 not out by Rohit Sharma as the Deccan Chargers chased down a tough target of 175 set by the Kings XI Punjab at the scenic setting in Dharmasala. Rohit and T Suman joined forces after their team got off to a rapid start, at 54 for 2 in seventh over.

And, by the time, Piyush Chawla managed to have Suman caught behind for 43 (from 31 balls), the score had progressed to 120 in the 14th over. There were some anxious moments for Deccan after Suman’s dismissal. But, Rohit batted with great maturity to see his side through.

The beauty of the partnership between Suman and Rohit was that they attacked from the word go and never let the bowlers get on top of them. Both batted with supreme confidence, which came courtesy their successes in the recent games. They were especially severe on the seamers, lofting them with ease.

Neither among Vikramjeet Malik, Irfan Pathan or Shalabh Srivastava could make any kind of an impression. Pathan did strike early, getting the big scalp of the struggling opposition skipper Adam Gilchrist. Unfortunately for Punjab, he was the man to let Deccan off the hook when things got tight towards the end. Rohit took a liking to him, driving him with ease on the off-side and plucking twos and also lofting him for a magnificent six to level the score.

Suman, on the other hand, struck to his tried and tested formula of his inside out strokes and succeeded yet again. In all, he hit three fours and three sixes, supporting Deccan perfectly as they went about approaching the target in an aggressive manner. Kumar Sangakkara tried to distract the duo by constantly chopping and changing the bowling. But, it did not work as both the batsmen looked well-settled at the crease.

Eventually, it needed one from Chawla that turned away to end Suman’s resistance. Soon, Juan Theron cleaned up Andrew Symonds for 4 with one that kept low. But, Sharma ensured that there were no more hiccups. A couple of lusty blows by 18-year-old Mitchell Marsh helped as they registered a five-wicket win and kept their hopes of progressing to the semis very much alive.

Sharma’s genius undid some splendid work by Jayawardene earlier in the day. The former Sri Lankan skipper was in his elements once again after Gilchrist won the toss and inserted the opposition in. Punjab got off to the worst possible start as Shaun Marsh edged a superb outswinger from Ryan Harris first ball. However, that only brought a fired up Sangakkara to the crease.

Taking on RP Singh and Marsh, Sangakkara got Punjab into a position of strength. He did not slog but struck to his natural game, timing the ball to perfection. Thanks to his blistering half-century, Punjab raced to 87 in the 12th over, before indiscretion got the better of him, a predetermined reverse sweep was lapped up by Pragyan Ojha.

Following the skipper’s dismissal, Jayawardene’s bat fell silent and Yuvraj Singh’s lack of form did not help either. But, once Jayawardene broke the shackles dispatching Marsh to the fence, there was no looking back. He punched five consecutive fours off RP Singh to lift Punjab to 174 for 3. At the break, it seemed a competitive score. And, but for Rohit’s blaze, it could have been a match-winning one.

Deccan Chargers recovered sensationally after being in the doldrums at 14 for 3, the result of Dale Steyn’s magical opening burst, to stun Bangalore Royal Challengers by 13 runs. After Rohit Sharma and Monish Mishra combined to help Deccan reach a somewhat respectable total of 151, the bowlers fashioned a dramatic reversal at Nagpur.

Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis had taken Bangalore to 74 with ease after the loss of an early wicket. At that stage, the game seemed headed for a one-sided finish. But, once Dravid was dismissed by Andrew Symonds, caught in the deep one short of his half-century, things turned dramatically.

As wickets fell, it was only Robin Uthappa who kept his team in the hunt. But, after having played batman for so many games this season, he was bound to end up on the losing side someday. Painfully, it was this day.

Even as Bangalore faltered, no praise can be too high for Deccan’s bowlers. Right from the start, they were focussed. Ryan Harris, in an endeavour to bowl fast, ran in hard and was rewarded with his first ball itself. Manish Pandey was too late on an outswinger and only managed to edge it to a thrilled Adam Gilchrist.

And, while Dravid and Kallis batted like true veterans reading the game perfectly, Deccan did well to ensure that neither blazed away. Dravid was the more aggressive of the two, with some fluent strikes all round the wicket. His 49 was punctuated with eight boundaries, but his dismissal punctured what was until then a fluent chase.

Following Dravid’s departure, Kallis needed to take on the responsibility of guiding the team home. But, while he managed to reclaim the orange cap from Sachin Tendulkar, he wasn’t able to translate his start into a match-winning knock. He was deceived in the air by Pragyan Ojha and returned with 27 to his name.

Still, at 95 for 3, Bangalore remained favourites, but some splendid bowling from the unpredictable R P Singh turned the tide. Ross Taylor was castled by a yorker and Cameron White holed out. At the other end, Ojha got rid of Virat Kolhi and the chase had lost steam. Uthappa struck two magnificent sixes off Ryan Harris’ bowling, but Harmeet Singh got him for 34 with a well-directed straight delivery. That clinched it for Deccan.

No one would have given the ‘home’ side a chance after the disastrous start they were off to. Steyn ran in as fast as he could and knocked over the top three in no time. Adam Gilchrist was done in by one that left him, but not before taking the edge, T. Suman could not handle his short snorter while Herschelle Gibbs had no answer to his country-mate’s outswinger that beat him all ends up and crashed into the stumps.

In the third over, Deccan were gasping for breath at 14 for 3 and Anil Kumble’s decision to bowl first was justified. Steyn could have had another victim in his kitty, but for an edge falling short of slip. It was just the stroke of luck Deccan needed.

Mishra and Rohit Sharma took up the mantle of rebuilding with a sense of responsibility. The former played the aggressor between rotating the strike while Sharma timed the ball sweetly, just as he has being doing in his recent outings. The two took the score close to 100. And, with some help from Symonds and Harris, they managed to cross 150, enough for their charged up bowlers.

Ambati Rayudu’s sensational, unbeaten 55 off a mere 29 balls and Saurabh Tiwary’s rebuilding effort of 44 from 35 balls were responsible for Mumbai Indians recovering from a mid-innings collapse and posting 178 for 5 in their game against the struggling Deccan Chargers at the Brabourne Stadium.

The total was too good for Deccan, who were never in the hunt during the chase. The entire team succumbed to 115 all out before the stipulated overs and lost by an embarrassing 63-run margin.

Despite a professional performance by the Mumbai bowlers, it has to be said that the turning point of the match was the partnership between Rayudu and Tiwary. The duo added an impressive 65 in 7.4 overs at a stage when Mumbai where crumbling after a confident start.

The home team were cruising at 53 for no loss in the seventh over when things turned murky. Pragyan Ojha had Shikhar Dhawan stumped for 14 and in his next over cleaned up the dangerous Dwayne Bravo for 2. At the other end, Rahul Sharma claimed the ever so crucial scalp of Sachin Tendukar, who was well-set on 35.

Things could have gone horribly wrong for Mumbai had Rayudu and Tiwary not held things together. Mumbai were well-aided but Deccan’s fielders and some rather poor bowling in the death overs. Tiwary was lucky to survive on more than one occasion even as the bowlers went for over 12 an over in the last five overs of the innings.

Batting sensibly, Rayudu and Tiwary were initially prepared to get themselves in, at the same time ensuring that the run-rate did not come down drastically. And, once they were in, there was no stopping them. Rahul could have had Tiwary in his return spell, instead Herschelle Gibbs deflected it over the long-on boundary.

The fact that Deccan’s best fielder came up with that effort symbolized the agony of the Chargers. As if that wasn’t enough, Monish Mishra couldn’t latch on to a low offering from the same batsman. This was after the bowler had already been lofted for a maximum.

At the other end, Rayudu had better control. He slogged Andrew Symonds for a mighty off the last ball of the 16th overs. And, things only got worse for Deccan. Ojha did manage to pick up his third wicket by ending Tiwary’s important knock, but Rayudu continued his merry ways.

Jaskaran Singh was taken for 20 off the penultimate over, which featured two dismissive fours and a beautifully lofted, inside-out six. Kieron Pollard also threw his bat around a gathered three boundaries as Mumbai ended their innings on a high.

There was nothing noteworthy to talk about in Deccan’s chase. Gibbs hit a couple of boundaries off Harbhajan Singh and Adam Gilchrist lashed Lasith Malinga for a six. That was about it though. Gibbs, Gilchrist and VVS Laxman all few before the side crossed 40. Symonds, with 21, ended up being highest score, too low even in the shortest format of the game.

Only Sourav Ganguly can do it. He may have retired from international cricket, but continues to invite wrath from all over, only to silence the murmurs in one go. Prior to the crucial game against Deccan Chargers, there were calls for Ganguly to go down the order and allow big hitters to bat at the top.

And these were fair observations, as Ganguly had been sluggish throughout the series bar a 50, thereby allowing the opposition to get on top of Kolkata ever so often. But, Ganguly being Ganguly preferred playing the bad boy and, like so many times before, made it work and paved the way for his side’s much sought-after 24-run win.

The former Indian skipper slammed a memorable 88, rolling back the years at his home ground Eden Gardens to set up a challenging target of 182 for Deccan Chargers, with some good assistance from David Hussey. All the bowlers then chipped in and ensured that Deccan were always behind in the race despite a whirlwind start.

Herschelle Gibbs was the only one who kept Deccan’s hope alive with a half-century. But, on a pitch that was getting slower by the second, Kolkata bowled smartly and even a defiant 45 by Andrew Symonds could not save the defending champions from plummeting into further trouble.

Forget the rest, even Kolkata’s win. This was Ganguly’s game. Yet again, things weren’t easy for the beleaguered skipper and his men. Batting first, Kolkata were struggling at 68 for 3 after Chris Gayle and Cheteshwar Pujara fell early, the former failing to read an off-cutter from Symonds while the latter was also done in by the same bowler’s gentle medium pace.

A lot depended on Manoj Tiwary, but a disappointing shot against Pragyan Ojha put an end to his tale. The only positive to emerge from the disastrous start was Ganguly was finding his feet at other end.

He was in his elements from ball one, flicking it off his hips for a boundary. And, there was no looking back. He cut with confidence and was in his own when he lofted Kemar Roach for a maximum to long on. The timing was back and so were the gaps. All he needed now was support from the other end. That arrived in the form of Hussey.

Looking to resurrect the innings, Hussey collected a number ofn risk-free singles at the start of his innings, instead of trying to match Ganguly’s serene strokeplay. The duo gathered 78 in 7.3 overs, with some help from the opposition skipper as well, Gilchrist missing a Ganguly stumping when on 67 — another indication that this was Ganguly’s day.

Kolkata celebrated it by amassing 65 runs from the final five overs. Hussey got into the act with a couple of mighty sixes.

Chasing 182, Deccan were more than breezy in their start, aided by debutante offspinner Mohnish Parmar, who was asked to open the bowling. The first three overs went for plenty before Ajit Agarkar, who was also punched for a couple of boundaries, struck the telling blow by getting Gilchrist to mistime one.

Gibbs continued to flourish at the other end, with his typically wristy strokeplay. However, some tight bowling from Kolkata meant the run-rate was pegged back and once Shane Bond returned to end Gibbs’ stay, only the formalities remained.