Cricket Tournaments

Bangalore Royal Challengers 185 for 4 beat Mumbai Indians 143 for 8 by 42 runs

Man of the match: Chris Gayle

And Chris did it again! Bangalore sealed their spot in the finals of IPL 4 thanks to yet another magnificent effort from their ‘man Friday’ Chris Gayle. Co-incidentally, it was a Friday as well. The West Indian swashbuckler slammed 89 murderous runs to guide Bangalore to a match winning score. Gayle was dismissed 11 runs short of what would have been his third IPL ton this season. And after his dismissal, Bangalore struggled to up the ante. Even so his performance was enough to end up as the difference the two big sides.

Mumbai could not answer to Gayle’s exploit with the bat and eventually fell short by 42 runs. The openers did get off to a great start, but Gayle played his part with the ball too, bowling a tight over which produced just two runs. Following that the pressure built up and the innings started crumbing. Everything went according to plan for the Royal Challengers post the opening stand by Mumbai openers, which meant that Vijay Mallya’s team easily made it to the final of the tournament, which has produced some very ordinary cricket.

Though Gayle contributed in the field as well, it was his effort with the bat which, undoubtedly, made all the difference. Gayle also helped his opening partner, Mayank Agarwal, find his feet. The 20-year-old Agarwal wasn’t overawed by the occasion and contributed a handsome 41 off 31 in an excellent 113-run opening partnership, which set the tone of the game for both sides. Bangalore were rarely the second best after that.

Of course, the batting side was assisted in a big way by Mumbai Indians’ bowlers and some of their captains’ baffling tactics. First of all, Sachin Tendulkar elected to bowl first on a track where the side batting first has lost all but one game. Even more shocking was the fact that the new ball was given to Abu Nechim ahead of the best bowler of the tournament, Lasith Malinga. And they had to pay and extremely heavy price for it, that of losing the match itself.

Nechim tried his best to keep the Bangalore openers under check. Yet, he ended up conceding 27 runs. The first four came when an edge went past the slip region, another beat skipper Tendulkar, who was patrolling the mid-off area. This got worse for Nechim as Gayle slammed a six and an easy four and the tone of the game was set. At the other end, Agarwal took on Harbhajan Singh and came out first. Agarwal took most of the balls from Harbhajan’s first two overs, crashing him straight down the ground and also hitting with the turn. The World Cup winning off spinner was rather clueless.

For a change, Mumbai were shabby in the field too. Malinga dropped a catch offered by Agarwal at square leg. 57 came in the first four overs and then Gayle took on the other bowlers as well. In between, Malinga bowled and excellent over which went for a solitary run. However, the others were picked up for special treatment. Rohit Sharma bowled a few tight deliveries, before Agarwal launched for a four and a six. The first ten overs of the innings produced 111 runs, which culminated with Gayle slashing Nechim into the side screen for yet another maximum.

After dropping Agarwal, Rohit finally was the one who got. However, Gayle continued on his merry ways lofting a clueless Harbhajan for four consecutive sixes, all in the midwicket region. Munaf Patel finally managed to help Mumbai see the back of Gayle. A slower one foxed him as he missed a well deserved ton. Following Gayle’s dismissal, the runs dried down. The balls started playing tricks and suddenly Mumbai were left wondering why they couldn’t do the same earlier. Sadly, they knew the answer too. The Gayle effect.

During the tough chase, Tendulkar kept Mumbai in the hunt briefly. He played some proper cricketing shots and improvised as well during his impressive knock of 40 which came in just 24 balls. However, J Syed Mohammad turned out to be the hero for Bangalore as he managed to turn one sharply across Tendulkar and get his stumped, a rarity in cricket. The result struggled. Kieron Pollard, who has done nothing in the tournament, had one last chance to turn hero, but failed again. He was caught brilliantly in the deep by Abhimanyu Mithun, who lunged full stretch over the boundary and managed to claim a brilliant catch. By now though Bangalore were already celebrating as the match was over long before.

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.

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.

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 132 for 7 beat Kolkata Knight Riders 126 for 9 by six runs

Kochi Tuskers Kerala managed to outshine the Kolkata Knight Riders in a game the latter would have expected to win but did not since the opposition had a bagful of tricks on a surface that suited them more than KKR. The slow Eden Gardens wicket saw Kolkata spinners Yusuf Pathan and Shakib Al Hasan combine to keep Kochi down to an extremely manageable 132 as both picked up three wickets each. However, even though Kochi’s tweakers, the spin trio of Muttiah Muralitharan, Ramesh Powar and Ravindra Jadeja did not get as many wickets, they proved to be equally hard to get away and in the end throttled the Knight Riders by six runs.

In the end, Kochi overall bowling performance outdid the Kolkata batsman. While for Kolkata Brett Lee and Laxmipathy Balaji picked up only a solitary wicket between them, with the former also going for a few runs, the Kochi pacers were far more effective and successful too. While R. Vinay Kumar got Jacques Kallis with a shorter one, which the latter hooked but straight to the fielder, skipper Gautam Gambhir was cleaned up by a fuller length delivery from R P Singh. Despite the modest target, 27 for 2 in the 5^th over with two of their main batsmen gone was not the kind of start KKR needed. And it only was to get worse.

Manvinder Bisla, who was proved that he can be quite a handy bat at the top, perished trying to take on Ravindra Jadeja, as he was clean bowled while missing a drive. The much needed partnership at last developed for Kolkata when Manoj Tiwary and Eoin Morgan joined forces. However, even as they went about the rescue mission, they found the going extremely tough against the spinning trio. Muralitharan was back at his wily best, Jadeja stuck to his strength of not giving the ball any air while Powar did exactly the opposite.

As it often happens in such a pressure situation, a wicket fell courtesy a run out. Morgan, normally a quick runner between wickets, went for a single which was never there and Jayawardene scored with a direct hit to push Kolkata into further trouble at 73 for 4 in the 13^th over. It was now left to Manoj Tiwary to take the game into the Kochi camp. Tiwary played his part by flaying RP Singh for a couple of boundaries, but Singh got Shakib at the other end, the Bangladesh skipper missing a low full toss, to keep Kochi ahead of the race.

Along with Tiwary, Yusuf was KKR’s last hope. The latter was batting down the order following an injury he picked up in the field. However, the big hitter couldn’t work any wonders. His slammed his customary six over cow corner off Powar, but in Shahid Afridi-fashion tried to repeat the stroke and perished to the same bowler the very next ball. Left all alone and with the run rate mounting, Tiwary was forced to take on Jadeja, but only managed to get himself stumped down the leg side.

Iqbal Abdulla and Rajat Bhatia threw their bats around and kept KKR’s hopes alive faintly. But Vinay Kumar bowled a smart last over, most of the slower balls, to keep KKR in check. All this was after Shakib and Pathan had restricted Kochi to 132. Brendon McCullum and Jayawardene got starts, but failed to go on. The middle order capitulated and it was only a late burst of 29 from Jadeja, inclusive of three sixes, that got them to 132. It did not seem enough at the halfway mark. But, the Kochi bowlers did enough to ensure it was.

Mumbai Indians 124 for 3 beat Pune Warriors 118 by seven wickets

A poor batting performance by the Pune Warriors put paid to their hopes of pulling off another upset, against the Mumbai Indians, as they went down to Sachin Tendulkar’s men by seven wickets, off the last ball of the match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. They managed a miserable 118, getting bowled out inside 18 overs. Things could have been even more worse for the Warriors had Robin Uthappa not chipped in with a 35-ball 47. But, even Uthappa’s effort did not nothing more than lend a semblance of respectability to the Warriors’ total. Mumbai did make heavy weather of the chase, but in the end the Warriors’ total was just not good enough.

Mumbai opened the bowling with the spin of left-armer Ali Murtaza, which clearly caught the Warriors off guard. The openers just could not get away and, as a results, the wickets started falling soon. Abu Nechim got rid of Jesse Ryder and Mithun Manhas while Munaf Patel chipped in with the big wickets of Tim Paine and Yuvraj Singh. In the fifth over of the game, the Warriors had slumped to 17 for 4 and there was no way back from there.

Things could have been worse for Pune had Andrew Symonds managed to disturb the stumps with an underarm throw when Uthappa was dangling out of his crease. Thanks to the reprieve, Warriors managed to stage a fightbacj of sorts. Uthappa took on the medium pace of Kieron Pollard and James Franklin and added some easy boundaries, and there were some free hits too. Wickets continued to fall at the other end though as Murtaza and Lasith Malinga combined to pick up a couple of wickets each. Having no option, Uthappa also fell going for a big stroke in the 15^th over. Despite his knock, the Warriors had only managed 98 when he was dismissed, such was the extent of damage done in the earlier overs.

With no pressure on them at all, Sachin Tendulkar and Ambati Rayudu went about their task in an easy manner after the experiment with James Franklin at the top failed. Tendulkar and Rayudu combined to add 74 for the second wicket. Both fell when the game was well within striking distance, reducing the run rate. Rohit Sharma and Andrew Symonds combined to tick down the remaining runs. But, for sure, Mumbai would not have wanted the game to go down to the last ball as it did. In a somewhat dramatic fashion Murali Kartik was slammed for six off the last ball of the match to bring the curtains down on what should have been a one-sided game and was but for the fact that Mumbai weren’t proactive. Still, it was a game Pune deserved to lose and they did.

Mumbai Indians (99/2) beat Delhi Darevils (95) by 8 wickets

Man of the match: Lasith Malinga

When Lasith Malinga is no fire, even the best struggle. And so, it wasn’t that tough an ask for the Sri Lankan slinger against an inexperienced Delhi Daredevils side. He yorked four with toe-crushing deliveries and fooled the fifth with a slower one to end with unbelievable figures of 5/13 and shoot Virender Sehwag’s team out for a miserable 95. In response, the Sachin Tendulkar led-Mumbai Indians lost a couple of wickets to some good bowling and an exceptional piece of fielding. But that was about it as, devoid of any kind of pressure, Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma saw the team home in an unhurried fashion.

Undoubtedly, it was Malinga’s two spells which made all the difference and the result a foregone conclusion. Among a bunch of relatively unknown players, openers David Warner and Sehwag were Delhi major hope, as the home team batted first. However, Malinga had his own plans. He cleaned up Warner and Unmukt Chand with his trademark deliveries in his first over and the second over of the innings. Later, when a partnership was developing for the Daredevils, he returned to derail them again. Malinga began his destruction act part two by bowling Venugopal Rao (26) with yet another and followed it by breaking Morne Morkel’s bat, a precursor to yet another ‘bowled Malinga’ dismissal. As if for variation sake, he foxed Ashok Dinda with a slower one to claim his five for.

Thanks to Malinga’s sensational spell, the other bowlers too faced no pressure at all. Harbhajan Singh, who opened the innings, bowled a tight spell of 2/14 and was rewarded as batsmen were forced to go after him, with no runs coming from Malinga’s bowling. Ali Murtaza chipped in with the crucial wicket of Delhi top scorer Naman Ojha, while the rest of the bowlers had precious little to do.

The only hope Delhi had of a recovery from a disastrous start came to the fore during the partnership between Ojha and Rao. The duo was forced to rebuild the innings in 50-over style, with singles and twos interspersed with the odd boundary. With them at the crease, Delhi had a semblance of hope, but the alliance did not last long enough. Ojha perished trying to go for the requisite big hit, while Rao became another victim of Malinga’s yorking beauties. Earlier, skipper Sehwag tried to stem the rot, making an uncharacteristic 19, which included playing out a maiden off Malinga. But, a misunderstanding with Aaron Finch led to his downfall, as Tendulkar hit down the stumps to catch his opposite number short of the crease. An equally bigger blow was in store for Delhi as their priciest buy, Irfan Pathan, lasted a solitary ball, falling prey to a run out after another misunderstanding.

For Delhi to make a match out of it, they needed something Malingaesque with the ball. Morkel began well claiming Davy Jacobs very early in the piece and then a Jonty Rhodes-type fielding effort by Roelof van der Merwe saw the back on Ambati Rayadu. But, Tendulkar and Sharma knocked down the target with rather ease thereafter. There was no way back for Delhi following the Malinga show.

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.

Virat Kohli

Even as the Bangalore Royal Challengers became the first IPL team to make it to the semi-finals of the Champions League T20, one man would have been mightily relieved. Virat Kohli did not manage to take Bangalore past the finish line against the Mumbai Indians, but did well enough to knock Sachin Tendulkar’s team out and keep his side in the hunt. And against the Lions, he went one step ahead, leading the team to victory, as Bangalore marched their way into the final four.

For Kohli, it was a matter of turning from culprit to hero. He nearly messed things up for Bangalore during their chase of 160, before brining them right back on track.

Kohli first ran out key man Robin Uthappa in the 15th over of the innings, and then failed to make much contact with the ball in the next over. For some inexplicable reason, Bangalore had not gone for the kill from the word go and they seemed in eminent danger of being knocked out. However, this was when Kohli made amends, and in the best way possible. Over 40 were required from the last four overs when Kohli smashed Ethan O’Reilly for two sixes and a four. Bangalore’s chase was back on track with those three big hits as they cantered home.

The win also meant that Kohli had put behind the past and conquered the present. The image of him on his haunches, being consoled by Rahul Dravid, who himself must have been heartbroken having batted through the innings in the defeat, will be looked upon as a poignant moment of this tournament. But with having managed to pull Bangalore out of the hole, and more importantly guide them in to the semi-finals, Kohli would now have some happy memories going into the final four. Also, the close win would mean Bangalore would be better prepared for the bigger challenges ahead, even as the loss of Jacques Kallis would be a major setback.

Another key component in Bangalore’s win was the performance of their skipper Anil Kumble. His magical spell of 1/13 from his four overs meant Lions were restricted to just a respectable total. Bringing all his experience into play, the former Indian skipper did not give any room to the batsmen and ensured they were strangled for runs. Like Kohli, he also was looking for redemption, having dropped Dwayne Bravo in the previous game, which allowed Mumbai to come back into the match, and go on to win it. Here, he was on top of the game with both ball and as skipper.

Kumble’s introduction of Kohli in the bowling attack managed to stem the flow of runs from both ends, following the unlucky run out of Vaughan van Jaarsveld, who slipped while trying to make his ground. As the pressure mounted, Kumble sent back top-scorer Alviro Petersen, who missed a slog sweep.

The two Ks continued to choke Neil McKenzie, who was making a comeback. Even though the former South African opener managed to score at just over a run a ball, it wasn’t enough to help Lions maintain the momentum. In the end, it needed a rollicking Robert Frylinck to take them to a decent score. However, they couldn’t keep down an inspired Bangalore, despite a spirited challenge in the field as well.