Cricket Tournaments

Kochi Tuskers Kerala 98 for 2 beat Rajasthan Royals 97 by eight wickets
Man of the match: Brad Hodge

In what was one of the worst batting performances in this edition of the IPL, the Rajasthan Royals were shot out for 97 and Kochi then chased the target down with 8 wickets and 76 balls to spare to keep their hopes of progressing in the tournament alive. Batting first on a smallish ground, the Royals tried to bat Kochi out of the game, but only managed to embarrass themselves. Brad Hodge helped himself to four wickets and an unbeaten 32 as Kochi cruised home and, in the process, knocked the Royals out of the tournament.

While Hodge picked up four, S Sreesanth was equally impressive and it was his opening spell during which he picked up the wickets of Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane that set the tone of the game. The Royals had faint chances of progressing further in the tournament at the start of the game, but the chance evaporated rather quickly as the partnerships never built. Faiz Fazal fell lbw early on in the piece. However, the bigger wickets were those of Dravid and Rahane. With three wickets down for 26, Rajasthan were in the dock very on.

Unfortunately, Rajasthan decided not to try and rebuild. Instead the batsmen continued to go for their strokes and perished one after the other. There were some positive moments too. Ashok Menaria slammed a six off Sreesanth and Shane Watson, in fact, got three off little known left-arm spinner P Prashanth. However, it did not last long. Watson was clean bowled by a fuller length ball from Prasanth Parameswaran, the 37-run over bowler! And then, Hodge took over.

The Aussie discard got the easy scalps of Pinal Shah, Jacob Oram, Shane Warne and Menaria, all of whom perished in an effort to loft the ball out of the ground. At the loss of the four wickets, Rajasthan had slid to 89 for 9 and eventually folded up for a paltry 97.

Kochi then took the opportunity to improve their net run rate. Brendon McCullum started by going after the erratic Shaun Tait. After being clean bowled by Tait off a no ball, McCullum slashed Tait for a four and six. Next, he lifted Oram for three sixes straight down the ground, before falling for 29 off just 12 balls. Hodge and Parthiv Patel continued the good work as the game was brought to an end in 7.2 overs. Not surprisingly, it was among the biggest wins in IPL history.

Kings XI Punjab 170 for 6 beat Delhi Daredevils 141 for 8

Man of the Match: Piyush Chawla

Paul Valthaty returned to form slamming a stroke filled 62 as Punjab notched up an impressive 170 batting first, more than enough against the increasingly hapless Delhi Daredevils. The latter put up another pathetic effort in the field and followed it up with yet another below par batting effort as they clearly missed Virender Sehwag’s exploits at the top.

In contrast, Punjab found a new hero in Piyush Chawla, who has been under the hammer for a while. Chawla took the opportunity to get some easy wickets against the struggling Daredevils as the Kings notched up their third consecutive win to keep their campaign alive, just like Kochi did later in the day.

Punjab weren’t on top of their game per se, but what Punjab did badly, Delhi did worse. Irfan Pathan swung the ball and picked up three wickets, but found nothing in the form of support from the other end. Morne Morkel troubled Valthaty with his pace and bounce. As a result, he offered plenty of chances, but Delhi spilled everything. Yogesh Nagar and Irfan were equally responsible for allowing Valthaty to survive an easy run out  chance. Soon, Venugopal Rao also put down an easy chance.

Looking at Punjab’s flaws, Gilchrist threw his wicket away. Shaun Marsh tried to keep the game in the balance, but Valthaty continued his ugly ways and kept getting away. He tried to cut, pull and slash all balls at his disposal, but did not succeeded. Valthaty finally managed to slam two sixes off James Hopes to give himself some confidence. Hopes made another mistake bringing on S Sriram in the 13th over. Marsh slogged him for three big sixes on the on side as the over went for 25 runs. Punjab raced away. Marsh and Valthaty both fell to Irfan in the second spell. However, Naman Ojha dropped Dinesh Karthik and that ensured Punjab ended up with 170.

Delhi chase did not get underway in a great fashion. David Warner had another bad day. He and Naman Ojha could not press the accelerator and as a result the pressure built. Praveen Kumar bowled another maiden over. Ojha finally found the middle of the bat, slashing Shalabh Srivastava for two sixes and a four. However, Ojha soon fell for 28 and Warner too fell soon after.

Piyush Chawla, who had a bad World Cup, which has cost him a place in the national side, finally found some groove against the equally struggling Daredevils batsmen. He reined himself him, not showing over reliance on the googly. He was rewarded with the important wickets of Sriram, Rao and skipper Hopes, all in consecutive overs. As a result, Delhi went down without a fight and, deservedly, stayed at the bottom of the IPL table.

Royal Challengers Bangalore 151 for 1 beat Rajasthan Royals 146 for 6 by nine wickets

Man of the match: S. Aravind

The Rajasthan Royals were completely outclassed by their much superior opponents, Royal Challengers Bangalore, as Daniel Vettori’s men outdid Shane Warne’s struggling army. First, the Rajasthan’s batsmen undid the good work of their openers Shane Watson and Rahul Dravid to end with a disappointing 146 for 6 and then their bowlers also struggled against the in form trio of Chris Gayle, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Virat Kohli as the batting side effortlessly got past the winning mark. Rajasthan’s fielding also let them down as they dropped crucial catches. In short, it turned out to be a totally one sided match.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore’s bowling was led by S Aravind, who was highly effective with his variations. In contrast, Rajasthan’s bowling was well below par against the rampaging Bangalore batsmen on a surface will clearly suited the latter side. The massive nine-wicket victory meant that Bangalore now need only one more win to assure their qualification into the next round. On the other hand, Shane Warne’s Rajasthan will need nothing less than a miracle to go through following another big loss.

The only time Rajasthan looked in control was when their openers Rahul Dravid and Shane Watson got them off to a solid start yet again. The dependable duo added 73 from 57 balls. Unfortunately, both the openers were dismissed in the space of three balls, both falling to Aravind, and the others couldn’t do much to repair the damage. On the other hand, Dilshan and Gayle slammed 68 from 40 deliveries before a great catch from Ross Taylor broke the partnership.

However, by the time Dilshan was dismissed, Bangalore were well in control of the game and, unlike Rajasthan, they did not throw away the great start given by their openers. Gayle’s knock silenced the Jaipur crowd very soon as their realised where their team was heading for rather soon. Gayle slammed an unbeaten 70, which means now he needs a mere 27 runs to claim the orange cap from Virender Sehwag, who has ruled himself out of the tournament to go in for his much delayed surgery.

Bangalore had raced to 38 when Warne put down Gayle at mid-off. That was possibly Rajasthan’s best chance to dismiss Gayle. He hardly offered any chances thereafter as he and Dilshan went about hammering the Rajasthan bowlers. All the first four overs of the innings went for over 10 runs an over as Bangalore were clearly underway.

Earlier, it was S Aravind’s three wicket haul that prevented Rajasthan from setting a challenging total despite an impressive start. Dravid and Watson had added 73 when Aravind got rid of both the openers in the 10th over. Aravind later returned to get the wicket of Johan Botha, who has played some crucial knocks in the IPL, to make sure that Rajasthan got no momentum going into the final overs.

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

Man of the match: Rahul Sharma

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Man of the match: Mike Hussey

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

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

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

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

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

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

Man of the match: Albie Morkel

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Man of the match: Lasith Malinga

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

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

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

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

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

Sehwag Warner show destroyed Punjab

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

Man of the match: David Warner

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kolkata Knight Riders 85 for 2 beat Rajasthan Royals 81 (Balaji 3-15) by eight wickets

Man of the Match: Laxmipathy Balaji

The Kolkata Knight Riders certainly look a different and more confident outfit under Gautam Gambhir as opposed to the previous three seasons. And this difference was clearly evident on Sunday, when the thrashed the Rajasthan Royals by eight wickets in a thoroughly comprehensive manner, in this case the margin of defeat said it all. Batting first, Rajasthan Royals crumbed under the pressure of some good bowling, especially by Laxmipathy Balaji and some incredible fielding, which culminated in run outs, to knock down the Rajasthan Royals to a miserable 81 all out. In reply, Gautam Gambhir and Manoj Tiwary then combined forces to kill any hopes of a Royal fightback courtesy two quick wickets by featuring in a sedate partnership that eventually blossomed into a match winning one.

Even as contributions came from all around, it was Balaji’s man of the match winning effort that was most crucial. After all, he took out the dangerous Shane Watson, who had come at the back of his record breaking 185 not out in Bangladesh. It needed something special to see the back of Watson, and Balaji produced one such delivery on Sunday, which pitched on the middle stump and left Watson enough to beat his wide bat and click the off stump. Not surprisingly, wild celebrations followed. Balaji returned in his second spell to claim two more victims. The dismissals weren’t as dramatic but crucial nonetheless and were taken with two wicket taking deliveries indeed. He first cleaned up with an off cutter which kept low and two which the batsman from Mumbai had little idea how to deal with. Next, he got Ashok Maneria, who perished trying to break the shackles but only ended up skying a catch.

Balaji finished with figures of 3 for 15 and inspired the others too. The fielding was, in particular, exceptional. Faiz Fazal fell following a misunderstanding as Iqbal Abdulla produced a diving stop off his own bowling and threw down the stumps at the non striker’s end. To make matters worse, another confusion between Abhishek Raut and Maneria resulted in the dismissal of the former. Shakib Al Hasan did not make any mistake in the field and wicket keeper Manvinder Bisla easily did the rest. A key moment in the game came when Ross Taylor was at the crease. The one man who could turn any game on its head overbalanced going for a flick of a delivery down the leg side. Wicket keeper Bisla was alert enough to take off the bails in a flash and Taylor was found short of his crease.

At 67 for 5, it was good as a hopeless case for the Royals and, along with Balaji, Shakib too took the occasion to get among the wickets. He cleaned up both Amit Singh and Shaun Tait with arm balls of varying length, but neither had a clue. The hat trick was averted, but Brett Lee returned to dismantle Siddharth Trivedi’s furniture and the Royal mess was complete. Tait gave some faint hopes to the Royals as Kallis failed to read a bouncer from the speedster and fell hanging his bat embarrassingly. A little later, Bisla was overpowered by the genius of Shane Warne after the former had an almighty struggle in the middle. However, Gambhir and Tiwary bided their time by and once they got their easy in it was an ‘as easy as it gets’ victory.

Delhi Daredevils 190 for 7 beat Pune Warriors 187 for 5 by three wickets

Man of the match: Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh was the man of the match in the game between the Pune Warriors and Delhi Daredevils, but it was one of those rare occasions when a person from the losing side gets the player of the game award. It was one of those days on Sunday at the D. Y Patil stadium as Yuvraj bludgeoned 66 from 32 balls and later picked up four wickets for 29 runs. Yet, the Daredevils had enough firepower left to sneak in a victory. It was a tough chase made tougher thanks to Yuvraj’s all round effort. First, he and Jesse Ryder put up a magnificent effort with the bat to take the Warriors to a highly challenging 187 for 5. Later, Yuvraj got breakthroughs at crucial intervals to keep the Daredevils innings in check after some explosive early batting. However, there was precious little from others in the form of support, which allowed Delhi to escape and snatch their first win of the tournament.

The foundation for the Daredevils’ win was laid by a superb opening stand between David Warner and Virender Sehwag. The two swashbucklers were in their elements as they added 75 in seven overs before Warner fell in the only was he seemed likely to get out – run out. But, before his departure, he ensured Delhi had the upper hand in the game. He took a special liking to Wayne Parnell as well as Alfonso Thomas, and most of his boundaries and sixes came of the duo’s bowling. The South African pair had no answer to the Aussie’s assault as Delhi made the most of the power play overs.

Skipper Sehwag too played his part in the opening act, slamming six fours in a 23 ball knock of 37 before his stumps were knocked back by an innocuous Ryder delivery. At 97 for 2, Delhi were still on top, but this where Yuvraj took over. He sent back Irfan Pathan and Naman Ojha off consecutive deliveries to bring the game back on an even keel. Rahul Sharma assisted him at the other end dismissing Matthew Wade as 97 for 2 quickly became 120 for 5. However, Delhi had an ace up their sleeve which turned the game right back in their favour.

Venugopal Rao and Aaron Finch were both held back, a move which could have easily backfired but didn’t. On the contrary, they combined to score 56 runs between themselves in 32 deliveries, one over from Shrikant Wagh going for 20 runs and changing the equally. And in spite of the fact that Yuvraj dismissed both Rao and Finch in the penultimate over, James Hopes saw them through with a couple of crushing hits.

Yuvraj would have believed he had done enough, but the combined forces of Delhi outpowered his solo act.

Rajasthan Royals beat Deccan Chargers by 8 wickets

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

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

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

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

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

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

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