Another sparkling knock of 89 not out by Mumbai Indians skipper Sachin Tendulkar helped his side recover from a jittery start and post a challenging 174 for 5, batting first against Rajasthan Royals. And, with the batsmen from the latter side hell-bent on committing hara-kiri, the Mumbai bowlers did not have to shed much sweat for a comprehensive win.

As many as three Royals’ batsmen ran themselves out, something which definitely would not have pleased the Sunday night crowd at Jaipur. The innings continued to stumble along as no partnerships were built and, eventually, Rajasthan lost by a disappointing margin of 37 runs.

The story of the match was the innings of one man versus the rest on a difficult pitch for the batsmen. And that man was, guess who, Sachin Tendulkar. After winning the toss and electing to field, Rajasthan were off to the best of starts, all thanks to Shane Watson, who bounced out two Mumbai batsmen.

Both Ambati Rayudu and Saurabh Tiwary were found out as Watson gave them the chin music. Before that though, he got the all important scalp of Sanath Jayasuriya for 1. The politician from Sri Lanka, who was recalled after being made to sit out for a few games, punched one tentatively to end his short stay at the crease.

Mumbai were in all sorts of trouble at 30 for 3, when JP Duminy joined Sachin. The left-hander from South Africa gave ample support to his skipper as they went about rebuilding the innings.

While Sachin went for the big strokes, Duminy ensured that he gave his captain most of the strike. Sachin was in his elements throughout his knock, but his much-awaited tussle with opposite number Shane Warne was the highlight of the game.

Even after all these years, the Mumbai bomber showed scant respect to the legendary spinners. He charged down the track and hit Warne inside out more than once. And when Warne pitched one short, he had the answer ready with his cut.

Although Duminy left Sachin with the score on 93, Sachin continued to blaze away. He slammed Siddharth Trivedi for two mighty sixes in the last over of the innings as Mumbai ended their innings on a high.

There was nothing noteworthy in Rajasthan’s batting effort. Michael Lumb began with two crispy boundaries, but Dhawal Kulkarni had his revenge pretty soon when he had him caught by Duminy.

Naman Ojha did nothing wrong to get dismissed for a duck. He was at the receiving end of an unplayable outswinger from Zaheer Khan, which he somehow managed to nick. What followed next was bizarre, to put it lightly, as three consecutive wickets fell to run-outs.

Shane Watson was the first victim, and the most crucial one at that. Faiz Fazal had run halfway down the pitch, leaving Watson with no option but to respond to his call. Fazal, himself, was the next victim, not knowing where to go. Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, who batted well for his 22 until then, was beaten by a strong throw from Tiwary.

By the time Yusuf Pathan came into bat, the score read a miserable 62 for 5. Rajasthan needed well over 100 runs at better than 12 runs per over. On his day, it would have been a cakewalk for Pathan. But, this was Sachin’s day.

And so, he fell without contributing much as the script got murkier for Rajasthan. Aditya Dole and Abhishek Raut struck some lusty blows towards the end. All that did though was reduce the victory margin.

There has never been any doubt about the prodigious talent of Dinesh Karthik. The problem has been that over the years he himself has been his biggest enemy, throwing his wicket away to atrocious strokes after looking in great nick.

This wasn’t the case against Rajasthan Royals though, as he clobbered 69 from 38 balls to lead Delhi to a memorable 67-run win against Shane Warne’s army. Of course, the numbers don’t tell the true story. The significance of the knock has to be gauged from the circumstances under which it was scored.

Delhi were batting first and needed to set a decent score. Karthik was demoted down the order and four batsmen before him came and went, leaving the side reeling at 67 for 4 in the ninth over.

This is when he joined forces with skipper Gautam Gambhir, and the duo went about the rebuilding task with great gusto. Gambhir (43) was not in his elements, yet he ensured that he rotated the strike regulating and gave Karthik the opportunity to excel. At the start, even Karthik took some time to settle down, but once he opened up, there was no stopping him.

The beauty of his innings was the slog-free manner in which went about his task. Hardly, a single ball was cross-batted, proving the youngster had certainly learnt a lesson or two about the art of batsmanship. If anything, there were drives straight down the ground, and impressive cuts and pulls.

He was devastating towards the death, using the bottom hand lofting Siddharth Trivedi as well as Sumit Narval for sixes and set up Delhi’s highly challenging total of 188.

Without doubt Karthik played a match-winning knock. But, there were a couple of other extremely crucial contributions as well — none bigger that Farveez Maharoof’s, who claimed Rajasthan’s in-form men, Micheal Lumb and Faiz Fazal, in his very first over.

The Sri Lankan all-rounder was making a comeback into the team and had to fill the big shoes of Dirk Nannes. And boy, did he do his job well. Lumb was inexplicably deceived by a length delivery that did nothing extraordinary and held out, while Fazal was trapped by a slower one which came in and clearly beat him for lack of pace.

Interestingly, the other major contribution came from David Warner, not with the bat, but in the field. He plucked out four catches in the deep and also affected the run-out of Abhishek Jhunjhunwala.

For Rajasthan, things only looked somewhat brighter when Naman Ojha, at the top of the innings, and Yusuf Pathan, towards the middle, struck some hefty blows. Neither lasted long enough to make any kind of impact on the game though.

Things were far from gloomy for Rajasthan at the start of the match though. Warner was cleaned up by a perfect yorker from Sumit Narval, Virender Sehwag became the latest addition to fall victim to a short ball.

Soon, Paul Collingwood was stranded in the middle of the pitch, while Kedar Jadhav fell to Shane Warne’s guile. Rajasthan had everything going their way till Karthik showed his true colours.

If ever Rajasthan Royals wanted to assure themselves that they are still good enough to compete against the best despite the loss of their big guns, they only need to look at their performance today against defending champions Deccan Chargers.

Stating the game as perceptible underdogs, they ended up hammering the Chargers by eight wickets and made it a hat-trick of victories after the three setbacks at the beginning of the tournament. The stand out aspect of Rajasthan’s performance was the thoughtful manner in which they went about their task.

Things weren’t going to be easy once they lost the toss and were faced with the prospect of having to deal with a rampaging Adam Gilchrist. However, Shane Warne’s men stood up to the task on this day. The captain himself had some shrewd tactics up his sleeve, most of which worked wonderfully well for his side.

He opened the bowling with Sumit Narval, who responded with the massive wicket of Gilchrist in the very first over, the Deccan skipper wanted to make a statement at the outset, but only managed to lob one straight up in the air.

Following the poor start, Deccan were in desperate need of some runs from their experienced men, VVS Laxman and Herschelle Gibbs. The latter looked dangerous for a while, taking on Abhishek Jhunjunwala in one over and despatching him all over the park. But, if Warne’s one weapon had failed, it only forced him to dish out the next one in his armoury, a more lethal one named Shaun Tait.

Usually erratic, Tait was in his elements for a change, in sync with Warne’s script. Laxman failed to time a short ball and was sent back for 10. The skipper himself played a significant role with the ball. Rolling back the years, he forced a well-settled Gibbs to drag his feet to a ball that pitched on middle and left him, totally deceiving him in the air, and had him stumped. The Warne magic might be waning, but against the Proteas, he still seems quite a handful.

Gibbs went for 25, leaving the Chargers struggling at 58 for 3. Pretty soon all the hopes of a recovery died a volcanic death. Andrew Symonds (22) came up with a couple of delectable drives before running himself out, going for a non-existent run.

The ball had left the fielder’s (Jhunjhunwhala) hand when a hesitant Symonds went for the inexplicable. More hesitations followed which resulted in a couple more batsmen being stranded. Rohit Sharma was the common factor in all the dismissals, though he wasn’t the culprit on each occasion.

To his credit, at least he tried to bat sensibly and ended up as the innings’ top-scorer with 49. However, a total of 148 was never going to be enough unless Deccan had something exceptional up their sleeve.

On the contrary, Micheal Lumb and Yusuf Pathan provided the extraordinary stuff as Rajasthan cruised home. Lumb hit a hapless RP Singh cruelly for four consecutive fours. And after he was unfortunately run-out for 45, Pathan ensured that the dismissal was forgotten in a flash.

With eight mighty sixes, most of them off the spinners, he ended up unbeaten on 73 from 34 balls. The underdogs had done it again.

On a batsman-friendly pitch at Mohali, Punjab Kings XI got themselves into a winning position chasing Rajasthan Royals’ imposing total of 183, courtesy a whirlwind start. Kumar Sangakkara, opening the innings, smashed an amazing 29 from 13 balls while Manvinder Bisla was even more astonishing, scoring 35 from 18 balls.

But, once Bisla was dismissed by Shane Warne, Punjab completely fell apart. From an impressive 85 for one in the eight over, they collapsed to 115 for 5 in the 13, the loss of Irfan Pathan taking the match well out of their reach.

Punjab’s batting effort was in complete contrast to Rajasthan’s innings, earlier in the evening. After losing the toss and being invited to bat, they made an extremely confident start for a change. Michael Lumb, from whom skipper Warne had great hopes, did not let his captain down.

Against a bowling attack which seemed low on confidence right from the start, Lumb was in his elements. Irfan Pathan, as in the earlier games, was wayward and the opener took full advantage of it, striking a number of boundaries using the width offered. The other left-arm seamer, Shalabh Srivastava, also went for plenty, nullifying the good work done by Juan Theron, who was impressive once again, keeping the ball in exactly the right areas.

Theron’s effort, though, was overshadowed by Rajasthan’s royal batting performance. After Lumb was smarty dismissed, stumped by Piyush Chawla for a well-made 41, Faiz Fazal once again proved his mettle in the middle overs. In partnership, first with Yusuf Pathan (28) and later with Adam Voges (45*), Fazal ensured that Rajasthan’s great start was not negated.

The beauty of his batting was that he picked the gaps in the field taking minimal risks. And even when he went for the boundaries, more often than not, he ensured that it was a calculated shot and not a mere slog. Fazal was unluckily run out by Chawla for 45, but his knock set up things perfectly for Voges.

The hard-hitting Australian found the boundaries without much trouble against Irfan and Srivastava. And when Kumar Sangakkara tried out Yuvraj Singh belatedly, he too was given similar treatment. Voges’ knock meant Royals had the cushion of an extra few runs in case the bowling wasn’t top notch. Punjab, themselves, did not help their cause being shabby in the field right throughout.

Putting the disappointing bowling and fielding effort behind them, they did make a sparkling start to their case. Sangakkara led from the front, taking both Munaf Patel and Shaun Tait head on. However, the innings did not last long enough and Tait got the better of him with a short ball, which he fended away and was caught near the boundary line.

In came Bisla and went all guns blazing from ball one. Neither Tait for Patel had any answer to his stand and deliver tactics. And, when Warne came on, he did not hesitate to go down the track and hit him into the stands. The veteran leg spinner had the last laugh though. Like Sangakkara, Bisla’s innings also promised a lot, but lasted only a while longer than his skipper. And therein lay Punjab’s problem.

In 20-20 cricket, the value of keeping wickets in hand is often underestimated. However, it is equally important to ensure that you don’t leave too much to be done at the fag end of the innings. Finding the proper balance is most important.

While the Kolkata Knight Riders managed to succeed in the first aspect, they failed miserably in the second and, as a result, handed the under pressure Rajasthan Royals their first win in the tournament at the Motera stadium in Ahmedabad. Chasing Rajasthan’s challenging 168 for 7 on one of the slowest pitches in the tournament, the Knight Riders could muster only 134 for the loss of five wickets.

The Royals, for the first time in this IPL, looked at ease as the pitch offered enough for their spinners. Skipper Shane Warne was smart enough to sense the occasion and open the bowling with Yusuf Pathan. And the all-rounder, who failed with the bat, responded immediately.

He sent back opener Manoj Tiwary with a quickish one, which Tiwary failed to read and was clean bowled. Brad Hodge and Cheteshwar Pujara then strung together a useful partnership. However, the Royals ensured that they remained in the hunt by not allowing either of the batsmen to run away with the game. Warne also played his part by keeping the runs down from his end though he could not pick up any wickets. And the tactics paid rich dividends.

As the pressure and required run-rate mounted, Pujara was taken out for 29 by pacer Siddharth Trivedi and the aggressive Pathan returned to knock out Hodge, bowling him through the gate as the batsman tried to break free from the shackles imposed. Hodge contributed 36 from 34, but in the context of the game, it was a poor effort.

He fell at the start of the 15th over, by which time the Knight Riders had scored only 95 and had a tall mountain to climb despite having wickets in hand.

Also, it did not help that the ball wasn’t coming on to the bat towards the later part of the match. Sourav Ganguly struggled like to time the ball at all as Munaf Patel and Shaun Tait finished off things very well for the Royals, bowling some accurate Yorker length deliveries.

Ganguly’s ordeal ended in the final over when he was dismissed for 33 by Patel. But, the match was over long before. Owais Shah hit a couple of mighty sixes, but in between those two strokes, he also found the going tough. The Royals took a cue from the battering they received against Bangalore and bowled some good short deliveries as well.

With the bat too they put in an improved performance. Abhishek Jhunjhunwala led the way with a composed 45, but Adam Voges quickfire, unbeaten 37 from 22 balls, 17 of which came in the last over from Ishant Sharma was equally crucial. In between too, the Royals batted sensibly.

After losing Michael Lumb early, Naman Ojha and Faiz Fazal too turns to go after the attack. Thus, the runs kept coming despite the loss of wickets. This approach saw them garner a fighting total pf 168, which was enough to earn them their first points as Kolkata mistimed their chase.

In the second part, the teams that will be in the spotlight are the champions of the inaugural IPL, Rajasthan Royals, Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings

1) Rajasthan Royals
Rajasthan created history by winning in the 1st season, after defeating Chennai in a thrilling final. However, the second time around, Shane Warne’s magic didn’t work as the Royals finished at a lowly 6th spot.

This time, they are determined enough for another IPL trophy with the addition of Australian players such as Damien Martyn and Adam Voges, who were bought for a base price of $100000. The team strategy would be easier for Shane Warne to follow since communication would become easier. Not many changes in the Royals squad is also good because the players are used to playing with each other.

Warne’s all-round role as a determined captain and a champion leg-spin bowler would be crucial for the team’s success. Along with Graeme Smith, who is by far the trump player of the team. Youngsters such as Ravindra Jadeja, Munaf Patel, Naman Ojha, Amit Singh and Swapnil Asnodkar make Royals a team to contend with.

However, the Royals need to deal with the fact that only England’s Dimitri Mascerenhas is a match-winning all-rounder. They will miss Shane Watson dearly like the last season. However, they are a decent fielding side, so this should help do really well.

2) Kings XI Punjab
Punjab reached the semi-finals of the 1st season unexpectedly. And last year, they finished 5th, missing out the semi-finals yet again by a narrow margin. Despite good performances, it is quite mind-boggling that Yuvraj Singh was replaced by Kumar Sangakkara as skipper.

They are a good unit with the likes of Mahela Jayawardene, Yuvraj Singh as a player, Shaun Marsh, Ramesh Powar as well as youngsters such as Irfan Pathan, S Sreesanth, Yusuf Abdulla, Piyush Chawla, Sunny Sohal and the impressive left-handed batsman Karan Goel. The presence of Indian youth makes them a crowd favourite.

Who knows Sangakkara’s captaincy could be worth the risk just as he is inspirational for Sri Lanka. Tom Moody as coach would ensure that there is a good working relationship between Moody and Sangakkara. However, this move shouldn’t backfire like Kolkata’s where Brendon McCullum was made captain in the place of Sourav Ganguly. This will ensure Punjab an outright chance for victory.

3) Chennai Super Kings
Chennai are a side that has been the most consistent in the first two seasons. Could it get any better when it is known that they were the finalists in the first season and 4th in the 2nd season, losing to eventual runners-up Royal Challengers Bangalore in the semi-final in Durban in South Africa.

It can get better and more exciting cricket is expected from Chennai. With Mahendra Singh Dhoni as captain and wicketkeeper, Chennai has got the right balance. Their team is flexible enough to perform with newly acquired all-rounders such as South Africa’s Justin Kemp and Sri Lanka’s latest sensation Thissira Perera.

Who can count out Jacob Oram and Albie Morkel? Despite Andrew Flintoff’s and Michael Hussey’s absence, Chennai has the star power to perform consistently. The likes of Matthew Hayden who was the top-scorer of the IPL last season, Suresh Raina who played the perfect second fiddle to Hayden with the bat at the No.3 position and sometimes won matches due to his exceptional fielding, S Badrinath who is undoubtedly the next big thing of Indian cricket alongside Parthiv Patel who has won Dhoni’s faith thanks to his contributions at the top of the order as well as improved wicketkeeping, allowing Dhoni to focus on his captaincy.

The bowling too is strong and is led by Muttiah Muralitharan. Laxmipathy Balaji is an experienced bowler. Makhaya Ntini adds to the firepower of the bowling attack. Not to forget that Chennai has a number of bowling all-rounders which gives Dhoni various options in forming his bowling strategy.

Youngsters such as Srikkanth Aniruddha, Manpreet Gony, Joginder Sharma, Sudeep Tyagi and Shadab Jakati only enlighten Chennai’s position to win the IPL this time. Undoubtedly, Chennai is an overwhelming favourite to not just win the IPL, but also qualify for the Champions League 2010, which they missed out narrowly last season thanks to controversies created by the IPL.