Gambhir 4th fifty KK beat Chennai

Kolkata Knight Riders got a little bit quicker to the IPL5 playoffs, beating holders Chennai Super Kings in a closely-contested game at the Chidambaram Stadium. Chase down 140 in the last over, Kolkata strengthens their 2nd spot in the points table with 13 points, one below Delhi.

Kolkata lost the toss but did well with the ball. Economical spell by Kallis and Narine meant that Chennai never gain the desired momentum in their innings, last with just 139-5.Skipper Gambhir had a shock early in his innings when Albie Morkel struck him on the helmet with a bouncer, knocking the team crest off it.

Gambhir, who’s been in well form this season, was woken up by the knock. He put the crest back on the helmet and proceeds to play one of his normally combative innings. He made 63 – his 3rd score in the 60s in the tournament, to go with the 93 he had made in the last game – taking Kolkata closer to the target. 

The chase seems straightforward with Gambhir and Kallis adding 70 for the second wicket. But Dwayne Bravo bowled Chennai back in the game with their wickets. It left Kolkata 6 to get from the last over. Yusuf Pathan, who’s been in shocking form with the bat, opened up the game more when he tried to slog Ravichandran Ashwin and was caught at midwicket.

Enter Debabrata Das, a player Gambhir has striking for better things. Das smashed the next release for four powerfully wide of long-on to settle the game. Gambhir was man of the match, but chose to give it away to Das. The 25-year-old is yet to play 1st Class cricket and has had a couple of inspiring cameos and sharp field to show in IPL5.

Man of the match

Debabrata Das

Today Match

Chargers v Warriors (16:00 local | 10:30 GMT)

Royals v Daredevils (20:00 local | 14:30 GMT)

Delhi Daredevils Super Win

NEW DELHI: Virender Sehwag completes well his 1st encounter against a Rajya Sabha nominee as Delhi Daredevils wallop Mumbai Indians by 37-runs at the on Friday night.

The win took Delhi, by far the form horse of the season, to the top of the table with 12 points from 8 fixtures, a place in the last four now appear well within the realm of possibility.

Sehwag had said before the match how it would be a novel occasion playing against a likely member of the upper house – Sachin Tendulkar - and once his 39-ball 73, and Kevin Pietersen’s mind-blowing 50 runs took Delhi to 207 batting 1st the moment was made all the more memorable, as Mumbai gave up the ghost 37 runs short of the target.

The visitors, however, got it all wrong right from the start. Harbhajan Singh win the toss and selected to field, only to find the decision backfire as Sehwag, Mahela Jayewardene (55) and Pietersen (50 not out, 26b) all flaming half-centuries to hit Mumbai where it hurt – the 208 target an impossible mountain whichever way one look at it.

And when Mumbai lost Tendulkar, Aiden snowstorm and Rohit Sharma within the 1st 4 overs of the chase – with just 19 on the board – the match was likely to finish only one way. Although Ambati Rayudu 62 and Dinesh Karthik -40strove to make a first of it ask proved too much in the end, and all Delhi’s bowlers had to do was put it in the fit and wait for the batsmen to hole out.

Earlier, Delhi looked no gift horses in the mouth as Harbhajan sent them in, and directly went hell for leather. The home side posted 50 in under 6overs, 100 in 8 overs and 150 in 15 overs, not once allowing the scoring rate to dip, as 1st Sehwag and Jayewardene, and later Pietersen struck the large blows against almost the total of Mumbai’s bowling attack. But really, the writing was on the wall when Sehwag and Jayawardene joint for 135 runs in just 13.1 overs for the opening wicket.

Dinesh Karthik missed a stumping of Sehwag, off Robin Peterson; when the batsman was on 40, and the slip cost Mumbai over 30 expensive runs as the Delhi skipper went on to steal the attack with disdain.

Delhi Daredevils beat Pune Warriors

PUNE: Just four wickets fell, equitably divided across the 2 innings, and in the end Delhi Daredevils paid Pune Warriors back in the same coin, avenge a recent home beating to the same team with an 8-wicket away win at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium on Tuesday.

Virender Sehwag, speedy approaches top form – if not there already – made mincemeat of the 147 target, with a strutting unbeaten 87, as none of Sourav Ganguly’s tricks and ploys appears to work. Delhi overhauls the target with four overs to spare when the skipper swung Rahul Sharma for his 3rd six of the match.

Not once was Delhi tested, except possibly for a stray few moments when Sehwag left Mahela Jayewardene in the lurch, because the Sri Lankan’s run out early in the chase. But the Delhi skipper more than made up for the lapse with a display of aggressive batting after that, single-handedly takes his team across the line with ten boundaries and 3 sixes.

Earlier, Pune Warriors elected to bat and reached a reputable total – thorugh an unbeaten 145-run stand in 18.4 overs for the 3rd wicket- despite losing Jesse Ryder and Ganguly within the 1st2 overs of their innings. Manish Pandey (80) and Robin Uthappa (60) stepped up to be count; yanking Pune out from their hole and bringing them back to the brink of competitiveness.

They had to counter tight bowling from Delhi’s 2 left-arm spinners – Shahbaz Nadeem and Pawan Negi – who bowled their 8 overs for just 44 runs. But once the 2 were bowled out, Pune’s batsmen looked to up the tempo. Pandey struck 3 sixes, but was dropped at least 2 times (on 20 and 44) during his knock, before bring up his half-century in 40 balls. Uthappa was quite more watchful. He reaches his 50 in 52 balls, allowing his more frenetic partner to get the fast runs.

The last 4 overs of Pune Warriors innings yielded 47 runs, as the home team sough to break the shackles of their slow start. Pandey clouted a six off Irfan Pathan and following boundaries off Umesh Yadav. Uthappa too selected up steam, punch fours off Morne Morkel, who, in anticipation of then, had bowled inexpensively.

Pune’s last gasp hard work heaved them to 146-2, a totality that was no match for Sehwag in his present state of mind.

Player of the match

Virender Sehwag

Today Match

Kings XI v Mum Indians at Mohali 

Apr 25, 2012 (16:00 local | 10:30 GMT)

RCB v Super Kings at Bangalore

Apr 25, 2012 (20:00 local | 14:30 GMT)

De Villiers, Apanna excellent performance in Bangalore win

JAIPUR: Rahul Dravid rolls back the years with a delightful 50 in which he outpaced and outscored his younger team-mates. But the 58-run innings couldn’t stop a rare beat by 46 runs in a home game for Rajasthan Royals against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Bangalore posted an impressive 189-3 here at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. Both sides were equally matched at the halfway mark: Bangalore was 62-2 and Rajasthan 67-1. But the differentiator in the game was the fierce 21-ball 50 that AB de Villiers scored, adding 122 unbeaten with starter Tillakaratne Dilshan, who carried his bat for 76. It was a slow wicket with grip for the spinners, so when young left-arm spinner KP Appanna (4-19) dismissed Rajasthan’s top 4, the contest finished.

Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane have template their partnership in the match. Dravid, the more cautious of the two, looks to protect his wicket while Rahane blazes away. Down the order, they have Owais Shah, Brad Hodge and Kevon Cooper to provide fire power. Rajasthan made one more big start of 56 runs today with Dravid doing the fast-scoring but they could not get from Shah and Hodge what de Villiers give to Bangalore.

The evening didn’t start well for Bangalore. With 2ds to go for the game, they briefly lost the services of Chris Gayle, who felt sick and couldn’t maintain his dinner down. Virat Kohli had to open the innings with Dilshan, a move that didn’t work out after Kohli, having made a run-a-ball 16, miscued a lofted cover force to the lone man at the ropes. Gayle would come in at No. 4, not a place one is familiar to see the big-hitting Jamaican in. He was clearly off-color through his short stay.

Bangalore’s innings could be distinct in two halves: the 1st in which Rajasthan had the upper-hand, thanks to Brad Hogg’s pleasant spin bowling and his display of the wrong ‘un; and the 2nd in which Dilshan and de Villiers took manage and destroyed Rajasthan’s bowling, adding 122 runs for the 4th wicket in just 8.2 overs.

Hogg bowled t3 decent overs before being punish in his last one. In his 1st, he threw up the left-hander’s googly — the china man — and Mayank Agarwal untimely his slog-sweep to be wedged in the deep. In his next over, Hogg bent the big wicket of Gayle; trap him in front with a fast ball that cut in. Hogg’s china man is widely accepted to be one of the best in the business with testimonials from even Muttiah Muralitharan, who’d said that Sri Lankan batsmen struggle to read it.

With Bangalore 67-3 in the 12th over, Bangalore began their turn with Dilshan and de Villiers. It’s rare for a batsman to bat during the 20 overs and not make a hundred as Dilshan did today. But the Bangalore opener was safe the heavy slogging, thanks to de Villiers’ brilliant innings. One of the keys to their partnership was dismantle Rajasthan seamer Siddhartha Trivedi, who’s proven he to be one of the more hard bowlers to hit in the IPL. Trivedi’s off-cutters have served him well in the match. He began today’s game with two tight overs for nine runs. But Dilshan take a 6 and a 4 in his third over that went for 15. In his 4th, de Villiers dotted his slow off-cutters and put two of them away for sixes, taking 21 runs in all.

Player of the match 

AB DE Villiers

Today Match

Warriors v Daredevils (16:00 local | 10:30 GMT)

KKR v Chargers (20:00 local | 14:30 GMT)

Bangalore to easy win over Punjab

Mohali: Chris Gayle did it again. The West Indian smashed 87 in just 56 balls to deliver a 5-wicket succeed to Royal Challengers Bangalore over Kings XI Punjab.

Chasing Punjab's 163, Bangalore looked down for the count when they lost 3wickets for precious little on the board. But Gayle and A.B. de Villiers (52, 39b, 6x4) added 131, for the 4th wicket; in a shade under 13 overs to salvage their team from what appears a sure defeat.

In the end Vijay Mallya scored over Preity Zinta. Well, not really, but you get the drift. Now that this vital lump of information has been dispensing with, let us confess that it's all receiving a little too much. It's hard enough for addled, sleep-deprived brains to keep track of the international calendar, leave alone just about two months of the IPL, which generate cliffhangers and duds by the dozen, sideways from too much contrive information disseminated by loud-mouths you wouldn't ever tune into happily.

This exacting game lay somewhere between excitement and bleakness. For a short phase - and any phase in T20 cricket can't be anything but that - the match in danger to descend into mediocrity, the slow-burning, one-sided, low-scoring variety, far from the needless adrenaline rush typical of this format. It take Azhar Mahmood, who turned back the clock in his 14-ball 33, to light up the dusk, but the night belong, once again, to Gayle, who resolute to eschew risks at the start of his innings before erupt into a frenzy of big hits as the play panned out.

Still, we wouldn't really guilt you if, a few months hence, you've beyond what happened on this fine evening on the outer edge of Chandigarh; how Pakistan expert Azhar Mahmood cast aside his visa quandary to play a sizzling cameo; how Gayle went against his natural nature of going for the big heaves right from the get go; how Zinta stand on the sidelines chew nail by manicured nail as Bangalore moved decisively towards the target.

Nor would we judge the watcher for weakness to remember, a few days from now, that it was the domestic workhorse Par winder Awana's wicket-to-wicket bowling, which allowable the team from Le Corbusier city to scupper Bangalore's chase well ahead of it had gained any force. Or that Paul Valthaty, the feeling from last season, failed again; or that nobody, save for the half-centurions, reached double statistics for Bangalore.

Badly, how much of a excellent is too much of a good thing? We don't know yet. What matters is that Bangalore, ambitious by Gayle-force winds, made another spirited total look woefully short, and Punjab, in spite of giving it their all, failed to gain any points from this exacting home fixture. Last word to Gayle, whose only concern - ”Thank God nobody got hit today" - was far from the result of the match.

Man of the match:

  Chris Gayle

Today Match

Super Kings v Royals (16:00 local | 10:30 GMT)

Daredevils v Warriors (20:00 local | 14:30 GMT)

Chennai Super Kings beat Pune Warriors

CHENNAI: Defending champions Chennai Super Kings put in an all-round show to beat Pune Warriors by 13 runs at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium Chennai on Thursday.

Pune selected to field and Chennai compiled 164-5, chiefly through a 116-run opening stand among Faf du Plessis (58) and S. Badrinath (57), and then claimed regular wickets through strong catches to stall the visiting team 13 runs short of the target. Pune had kept themselves in the hunt in spite of the frequent wickets, and a 44-run alliance for the 6th wicket between Angelo Mathews and Steve Smith bring them to within 25 runs needed off the last 2 overs.

Doug Bollinger bowled an excellent 19th over, conceding just four and accounting for Smith and the 21 necessary in the last proved to be too much for the tail-enders after Mathews was clean bowled by Dwayne Bravo 1st ball of the 20th. Earlier, also paced half-centuries by the openers du Plessis and Badrinath – who was bump up the order in place of the out-of-form M. Vijay – take Chennai Super Kings to 164-5 on a slow wicket. The opening batsman’s added 116 in 15.3 overs. Chennai did not begin with any speed.

They reached 17 in four overs, when Badrinath kicked in, pristine fours off Samuels. du Plessis soon joined the fun, creaming a 6 and 4 in Bhubaneswar Kumar’s over, the sixth of the innings, as Chennai reached 42 at the end of the obligatory Powerplay.A phase of calm consolidation followed, as the Indo-South Africa activity put their trust in ones and twos, making only the loose delivery count for boundaries. One such couple brings up du Plessis’ 2nd fifty of the match, in 43 balls. Badri too joined the club of half-centurions when a spree of 4off Bhubaneswar got him to the attraction in 42 balls.

Chennai suffer a double jolt when both set batsmen were dismiss in the same over - bowled by Samuels - caught by the same fielder at deep square leg. A few balls later Suresh Raina was out for a duck, to a short-pitch release, which he top-edged to fine-leg. Captain Dhoni came in and smashed a victorious 28 off just 12 balls – include a menacing six off Samuels in the final over – as Chennai posted a spirited total. Robin Uthappa and Jesse Ryder began Pune’s chase with a flurry of boundaries before both lost their wicket to Nuwan Kulasekara. Uthappa was caught superbly by R. Ashwin running in from mid-off, while the plump New Zealander was taken by Bravo – who penniless into a jig after creation sure the ball hadn’t pop out following his dive.

Captain Sourav Ganguly arrived at the crease, at once pulling and flicking Bollinger for boundaries, as Pune ended their 1st six overs with 53 on the board, for the loss of 2wickets. They lost another wicket, that of Manish Pandey, to one more good catch – this time by S. Badrinath, who ran a fair distance and hung on to the ball through a confused dive at extra-cover.Shadab Jakati, who had bowled his 1st over for just four, returned for his s2nd and got the big wicket of Ganguly. The Prince of Kolkata go for a big one and sensing that, Jakati drop it somewhat short – the resulting shot looped up in the air and was easily caught by Kulasekara at mid-off.

The visitors needed exactly 100 runs from 10 overs, and although the ball had now started to turn, with Samuels, Smith and Mathews still around, Pune could yet have made a first of it, but the required blinder did not become visible, leaving Pune stranded on 151-7.

Man of the match:

Nuwan Kulasekara

Today Match

Kings XI v RCB (20:00 local | 14:30 GMT) 

Kevin Petersen century helped Daredevils win the match

DELHI: Delhi Daredevils rode on Kevin Petersen’s chance century to emerge 5-wicket winners over Deccan Chargers at the Feroz Shah Kotla here, on Thursday.

The win was Delhi’s 4th in 5 games season, while for Chargers the result was their 4th successive loss. The England superstar Kevin Petersen 9 sixes in his 64-ball 103 – as Delhi chased down the 158 target with 5 balls to spare – but was dropped 3 times (on 6, 68 and 94) in the course of his tempestuous knock.

Delhi buckled under the must early in their chase. They were 23-3 in the 5th over, with Naman Ojha, Virender Sehwag and Mahela Jayewardene back in the pavilion, as Dale Steyn (4-0-19-2) came up with another brilliant spell. But Pietersen soon take charge, taking Amit Mishra to the cleaners and then going on a six-hitting spree against J.P. Duminy in the 13th over. Three huge sixes later, Duminy had the chance to get his man, but spilled a return catch that was coming to him at a rate of knot.

Soon, the necessary rate was pulled down to convenient proportions, and one more drop of Pietersen, this time by Sangakkara, permitted Delhi to reach the target without more ado. Earlier, left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem (4-0-16-3) kept up his excellent work and, in tandem with South Africa paceman Morne Morkel (4-0-23-3) limited Deccan Chargers to 157-8 after they had selected to bat.

Chargers made a rapid start during Shikhar Dhawan and Parthiv Patel, who added 71 in 41 balls for the 2nd wicket, and had reached 101 in 11 overs before it all started to fall apart. A big score look on the cards, but Nadeem drag the visitors each it looked to pull away. The left-armer picked up a wicket in each of his 1st 3 overs as no other batsmen spent sufficient time in the center to make an impact.

Dhawan worthless a glorious starts when he was missed in front going for a repeal sweep against Nadeem. Parthiv kept going at the other end, and reached his insistent peak in the 11th over – bowled by Umesh Yadav – biff a six and slashing straight to 3rd-man to be caught. Parthiv benefit from a stay of execution as the release was called a no-ball for height, and received another life when Pietersen dropped him at fine-leg in the next over.

The little keeper-batsman was lastly caught by Jayewardene at deep square leg. Bharat Chipli throws his bat roughly for a precious 25, massacring Ajit Agarwal for boundaries to take the score past 150, before Morne Morkel return to clean up the tail. The South Africa fast had Abhhishek Jhunjhunwala caught after, while Dale Steyn hit his countryman directly to Sehwag at cover.

The sub-160 total may just have tested Delhi, especially after the early loss of 3 wickets, but Petersen’s blazing, albeit chancy, hundred ensured that the home team romped home with 5 balls to spare.

Man of the match:

Kevin Pietersen

Kolkata Knight Rider’s easy win by 8 wickets

MOHALI: Gautam Gambhir played a captain’s beat as Kolkata Knight Rider’s exact sweet revenge on Kings XI Punjab with an easy 8-wicket win at the PCA Stadium here, on Wednesday night.

Adam Gilchrist selected to bat and his team could control just 124-7 in the face of some tight KKR bowling. The visit side then chased down the target in 16.3 overs, mainly through Gambhir, whose 44-ball 66 not out was lace with 7hits to the fence, and one beyond it.

Gambhir led from the front in two 53-run partnerships – at the top of the order with Brendon McCollum and an victorious one later with Jacques Kallis – as KKR faced no trouble in pleasing the modest task. The win was a reversal of the heart-breaking 2-run defeat that KKR had suffered at the hands of Punjab just a few days ago at the Eden Gardens. But the template for succeed was laid earlier, when Punjab stagger to 124 on a grassy pitch with some group in it. Not quite a belter and not really helpful to hitting across the line, the wicket sowed doubts in the minds of Punjab’s batsmen.

Paul Valthaty messed up his return game, slash a wide Brett Lee release to the wicket-keeper. Skipper Gilchrist kept the momentum, hammering boundaries through the leg-side before an unfortunate hamstring pull - brought about by a quick single - compelled him to retire, in the sixth over, just as Punjab were looking to step up the run rate. Kolkata’s bowlers then tighten the screws on Punjab. Sunil Narine was as stingy as ever, and added two to his bag of wickets late in the innings, but really the pick of the bowlers were L. Balaji (4-0-20-1) and Rajat Bhatia (4-0-23-1), who gave nothing away, thanks to an correct line.

Tight bowling on a helpful pitch destined that no partnerships were allowed to develop – the highest being 24, twice over. Once Gilchrist was out with injury, the onus of accelerate fell on the 2 remaining Aussies in the eleven – Shaun Marsh (33) and David Hussey.Marsh left in a huff when he edge to Manvinder Bisla at the back the wicket and the ‘keeper claimed the catch, though replays were indecisive if Bisla had taken it cleanly. Priety Zinta stood agitated on the sideline as Gilchrist stepped in to sort things out in the middle.

An implosion followed. Hussey was run out; Dimitri Mascarenhas and Paras Dogra were dismissed going for ugly heave. Gilchrist return in the 17th over and clout the only six of  Kings XIPunjab’s innings, as the home team ended with a modest 124, at least 30-40 runs short of what would have been a viable total.

Man of the match: 

 

Gautam Gambhir

 

Today Match

Daredevils v Chargers (16:00 local | 10:30 GMT)

Super Kings v Warriors (20:00 local | 14:30 GMT)

Challengers beat Warriors in a thriller

Bangalore: Saurabh Tiwary and AB de Villiers smashed 21 runs off Ashish Nehra's last over as Royal Challengers Bangalore came out of nowhere to steal a 6-wicket win over Pune Warriors at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here, on Tuesday after Chris Gayle have set the home side on the path of big speed with a murderous 81 .

Set a target of 183 by Pune, Bangalore was jolt when Gayle was clean up by a Nehra yorker and with 56 needed off 26 balls; the Indian paceman knew the scale had skewed yet again. What followed rival the frenzy of Chris Gayle assault. Ashok Dinda bowled a great 19th over for just 7run, leaving Bangalore 21 to get in the final over.

Nehra limited Tiwary to a single on the 1st ball. De Villiers lost his balance 2nd ball attempting a Dil-scoop, and yet managed to get the ball to the four. Immediately the South African made amends for his off-kilter shot with 2 fantastic sixes.

Nehra was confused. Four needed off 2balls, as the rain came down, but nobody, least of the batsmen, were in the mood to troop off. De Villiers scampered a single, leaving the home team 3 runs to get for a excellent last-ball win. The left-arm paceman charged in, erred on the fuller side and Tiwary - may the Lord sanctify his brave soul - flat-batted it with every his might over long-on.

What a win for Bangalore, and what a wonderful performance by the man who set it up - Gayle! The West Indian hammered 6 sixes - 5 successively off a distraught Rahul Sharma after an unusually subdued start. He scored just 3 off his 1st 8 balls, but garnered momentum with a four and a couple of sixes against Nehra early in his knock. The hulking West Indian reached a swelling of brutality when a series of 4, 6, 6, 6, 6, and 6 sought to salvage Bangalore, who was stare down the barrel at 72 for 3 in the 12th over.

Such was Gayle's power on the contest that it overshadows the exploits of Pune after they had selected to bat. Robin Uthappa and Jesse Ryder lived up to their promise of not reserved aggression at the top of the order. Uthappa made clear his intent in the 2nd over, slog-sweeping Dilshan for 6, and kept the fours flowing as Ryder too got into act at the other end.

The pair added 63 in 7 overs, at which point the chunky New Zealander top-edged and was held at Deep Square. Ganguly came and not here in a hurry, timing a sweet cut directly into the hands of Mayank Agarwal at deep point, but Uthappa nonstop to get fast runs and reached his half-century in 33 balls with a boundary off Dilshan.

The great right-hander was handed a couple of reprieve - a missed run-out by Dilshan and a rough high chance by Apanna at the long-off boundary - but was unable to create the lives count as he was out after adding just8 to his score. It was time then for Marlon Samuels to make it happen. The West Indian sped to a 20-ball 34, adding 47 in under 5 overs with Steve Smith, as Pune looked set, shortly, to breach the 200 mark, but fell well short of the magical mark.

Man of the match:

Chris Gayle

Today Match {18-04-12}

Kings XI Punjab

Kolkata Knight Riders

(20:00 local | 14:30 GMT)

Rajasthan chased big Target

JAIPUR: Brad Hodge went ballistic as Rajasthan Royals sealed their perfect home record in IPL-V with a impressive last-over win, by 5 wickets, over the stressed Deccan Chargers at Jaipur, on Tuesday.

Deccan Chargers, looking for their 1st toss success of the season, selected to bat and post a huge 196-2, as their top 4 batsmen came to the fore with racy knocks, and looked set to lastly get on the points board after they peg Royals back in spite of the visitors’ rapid start. 55 were needed in 4overs when Dale Steyn came on to bowl. Hodge spanked four repeated boundaries to arrest the spiraling asking rate, and continued his physical attack against Anand Rajan’s medium-pace, in the 19th over, to leave Royals with 11 to get off Steyn’s final over

Brad Hodge took a single and a couple on the 1st two balls, and the responsibility for the end-game shifted to the unknown entity Dishant Yagnik – who had been penciled in as a last-minute replacement for the injured Shreevats Goswami. The left-handed Yagnik did not even need the 4balls at his disposal - 2 purposeful hits on the off-side, every the way to the fence, and Chargers be left staring at one more defeat from a position of implicit invincibility.

Hodge was man of the match for his 48 runs at 21balls 6 fours and 2 six, but really Royals should thank their captain Rahul Dravid for providing them the start they wanted. Dravid 42, 24balls 7 fours and one six added 62 in just 5.5 overs with Ajinkya Rahane 44, 31balls, 5 four, 1six setting up a good platform for the later batsmen to capitalize on. Chargers had a decent total to bank upon, but lapse in fielding – Owais Shah and Johan Botha were drop, though neither proved costly – and a lackluster business end of the match cost them dear, just the way it had against Mumbai Indians when Rohit Sharma denied them an expected win in the last over.

Chargers, however, had started on the right foot. Sangakkara 44, 32balls, 5 fours, one six and Shikhar Dhawan 52, 43balls, 8 fours gave their team a solid 94-run opening stand, and although they were out within 14 runs of each other, Chargers didn’t let the dismissals change the scoring rate. It was left to the devices of J.P. Duminy to take the visit side to 196. The South African hocked 5 sixes on his way to an unbeaten 26-ball s 58 runs flowed thick and fast in the death overs. Eventually, Brad Hodge innings overshadow Duminy’s, leaving Chargers still exclusive of a win to their name in three games this season.

Player of the match 

BJ Hodge

Kings XI Punjab win the first match

MOHALI- Dimitri Mascarenhas’ 5-for set up Kings XI Punjab’s 1st win of IPL-V as they beat Pune Warriors by “7”wickets at the PCA Stadium here, on Thursday. The victory was Punjab’s 1st over Pune across the short the past of the league.

Punjab selected to field and bundled out Pune  Warriors for 115 in 19 overs on a track with a little something for the seamers, and then chases down the condition with 14 balls to spare. Although the home team lost an out-of-sorts Paul Valthaty 1st ball to Ashok Dinda, and had to tide over a tight Rahul Sharma spell in the center of the innings, the low total was never going to be any trouble once Shaun Marsh dug in at one end.

Pune might have experienced Punjab further had they held their chances, but 2 dropped catches and a missed run-out of Marsh didn’t do them any favoritism and in the end, the Aussie’s solid victorious 64 (54b, 7x4, 1x6) brought Preity Zinta’s outfit their 1st points of the season. But really, the seeds of the win sown when Pune take strike and Punjab put in the hard yard. Praveen Kumar and Provender Awana started their spell tidily and the 1st get through came about when the perilous Jesse Ryder was run out by David Hussey. At 28-1 in the 6th over.

The opening of Mascarenhas’ medium-pacer changed all that. The English all-rounder accounted for Captain Sourav Ganguly in his 1st ball, a leading edge that lobbed happily to Marsh at point. 2 deliveries later, a stressed Marlon Samuels was clean bowled and put out of his misery. Mascarenhas removed Robin Uthappa just as the Bangalore and was decision his feet, as Pune lost half their side for 75 in the 13th over, and return for another double-wicket burst – in the 18th over.

Mithun Manhas 31 who provide the only conflict against restricted Punjab bowling, heaved Mascarenhas for 6 over long-off to begin the 18th. The bowler got his own back in the very next ball, as Manhas tried to sweep, missed, and saw his stump scattered. Mascarenhas wasn’t completed. He added Rahul Sharma to his bag of scalps and concluded with figures of 4-0-25-5, leaving Pune - tottering at 110 for nine – at the point of no return.

Man of the match:

Dimitri Mascarenhas

Today Match -13-04-12

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals

Match 15, Eden Gardens, Kolkata, Fri, 13 Apr 2012 08:00 PM IST.

Chennai super king win the match in a last ball thriller

Chennai: Defending champions Chennai Super Kings pulled off a amazing last-ball victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore after organism on the back foot for a mass of the contest at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

Daniel Vettori selected to bat and Bangalore piled on a huge 205-8. Chennai began their chase in a speed, as Faf du Plessis (71, 46b)Suresh Raina (23, 14b)and M.S. Dhoni (41, 24b) kept them in the hunt, with the asking rate heaving beyond the initial 10 runs-per over mark.

Bangalore Royal Challenge regularly tightened the screws and the equation read 43 to get in 2overs when Dhoni got out. The visit teams were rank star as Virat Kohli came on for the 19th over. Albie Morkel, who had walked in at the skipper's the sack, changed the complexion of the match in the space of 6 deliveries. Kohli's over interpret 4, 6, 4,6,2,6, as Morkel massacre the part-timer for 28 runs, bringing the must down to 15 from the final over, to be bowled by Vinay Kumar.

Vinay accepted a single on the 1st ball, dismissed Morkel on the 2nd, and once again the momentum swung Bangalore's way. But with 14 to get in4 balls Dwayne Bravo, now on strike, did not disappoint. He top-edged a waist-high no-ball to the fence, clubbed a 6 off a full-toss and stole a single - bringing Chennai to within one batter of the target.

Ravindra Jadeja face the last ball of the match with his team needing a couple, and the $2 million get edged a chancy 4 to 3rd-man to deliver an unlikely 5-wicket win from an almost impossible position. It was unlucky that Muttiah Muralitharan, who bowled his 4 overs for just 21 amid the destruction and also cleaned up Chennai's top 3 batters, ended up on the losing side.

Earlier, a 109-run stand in 11 overs between Chris Gayle and Kohli take Bangalore to 205. This rematch of the 2011 IPL last began with Mayank Agarwal making plain his intent. He took four off R. Ashwin - who had opened the bowling- and Bollinger. Agarwal was drop on 16 by the left-arm paceman off Ashwin and he made Chennai pay for the lapse, signal sixes off Ashwin and Bollinger as Bangalore raced to 50 in the 5th over.

Agarwal completely outshone Gayle in their 53-run chance stand, as the West Indian contribute just 6 to the association. Having begun the season with two losses in 3 matches - as against Bangalore's one each record - Chennai would have hope for its battery of spinners to stifle the flow of runs and give them a starting in the game. As it happened, the bowlers failed unhappy.

Agarwal to-edged Albie Morkel to mid-on, exit the stage to Gayle and Kohli. The West Indian, who had at that stage scored a four-less 11 in as many balls, went crazy when Raina was introduce. 3sixes, all over long-on, ruined Raina's 1st over, and then it was the turn of Shadab Jakati, who was also dispatch right over and beyond the leg-side, the 2nd hit bring up Gayle's fifty in 27 balls.

The grin that spread across Gayle’s face each time he clobbered a bowler indicated how much he was enjoying batting. A century looked on the cards, but Ravindra Jadeja came on to bowl and got rid of the West Indian. Kohli, who had struggle with his timing, got addicted to the act in the 18th over - bowled by Morkel. A pull over mid-wicket, a scamper two - to bring up his 50 - and another savage heave over the boundary, and Kohli had bring Bangalore to the brink of 200.

The last over, however, was anti-climactic. The visitors lost 4 wickets - 3 to Bollinger, one to a run-out - and it took Vinay's last-ball six to heave Bangalore to 205, the top total of IPL-V, which proved inadequate in the face of Morkel's incredible hitting at the far end of Chennai's pursue.

Pollard all-round expertise. 27-run win for Mumbai Indians

MUMBAI: Kieron Pollard’s all-round proficiency and Lasith Malinga’s famed stinginess brought about a 27-run win for Mumbai Indians over Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday.This was Royals’ 1st defeat of the season, and it came to be in spite of a scorching 76 by Owais Shah as the visit side pursued in serious the imposing 198 it was set by Mumbai.

Shah, who hammered 5 sixes and as 5 fours in his 42-ball knock, alliance for 92 runs in 57 balls with Ajinkya Rahane (40, 31b) for the 3rd wicket, after captain Rahul Dravid and Shreevats Goswami had exit to Munaf Patel off straight balls in the 2nd over of the chase. Rahane last until the 12th over, before holing out to long-on (off Pollard), but Shah moved on unabated, getting 50 in 32 balls and going on a boundary-hitting spree against Harbhajan and the West Indian import.

Rajasthan Royals needed 64 from 6 overs when Malinga returned for his 2nd spell, and splayed Shah’s stumps with an intense Yorker. Johan Botha was out in the same over, and although Kevon Cooper and Ashok Menaria strike some lusty blows, ask soon spiraled beyond redress and into a bout of wickets as Pollard (4 for 44) cleaned up the tail. Munaf, who was on a hat-trick in the 2nd over, done with 4 for 28, while Malinga was stinginess personified with figures of 4-0-13-2. Munaf now holds the Purple Cap for being the highest wicket-taker so far in IPL-5.

Earlier, Mumbai total 197-6 thanks to Pollard (64, 33b, 6x4, 4x6) and Rayudu (47 no., 32b, 1x4, 3x6). The 2 got together after Richard Levi and Rohit Sharma had jump-started Mumbai, and added 96 in just 52 balls for the 4 wicket to put the home team confidently in the driver’s seat. Mumbai begin its innings with marked speed and although two fast wickets – of Levi and Rohit, both to Brad Hogg’s left-arm fare – should have most probably pegged them back, Pollard and Rayudu show no sign of letting up as the Mumbai team reached 100 in the 13th over.

The West Indian, who had been droning along well all this while, revved into action when Botha came on in the 14th over. Pollard waded into the South African, bludgeon 22 runs to boost Mumbai’s already sky-high scoring rate. Pollard reached his 50 in 31 deliveries with a sizzling straight hit off Ankeet Chavan, and followed it up with successive fours in the same over. He was lastly caught at long-on, off Chavan, after a nasty hoick failed to clear the fours.

Rayudu had kept back himself busy too, flat-batting Trivedi and Cooper for sixes to sustain the energy. Although Mumbai lost 3 batsmen in a hurry – Pollard, Dinesh Karthik and James Franklin within 10 balls of each one other – skipper Harbhajan saunter in and struck a lively 18 off 6balls. Bhajji’s cameo took Mumbai unbearably close to the magical mark of 200, leaving Royals to follow down the highest total so far of IPL-V to protect their perfect 2012 record – a mission that proved impractical for David’s men.