IPL Thrilling Climax This Week

The I P L heads for a thrilling climax this week when the play-offs take place to decide the champions of this season popular T20 tournament.

The 5th edition of the glitzy cash-rich event is already being hailed as the most moving ever despite off-field troubles as packed houses watched beguiling cricket over the past 6 weeks. The last spot in the play-offs was decided in Sunday's last but one match of the 72-game league as defensive champions Chennai Super Kings sneaked through while Royal Challengers Bangalore were stunned by unfancied Deccan Chargers.

Table-toppers Delhi Daredevils will take on number 1 Kolkata Knight Riders in the 1st play-off in Pune on Tuesday, with the winner advancing to the May 27 final in Chennai. The Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, the 3rd and 4th teams in the league, will face-off in Bangalore on Wednesday with the scum being knocked out of the race The loser of the 1st play-off will then meet the winner of the 2nd in Chennai on Friday to determine the 2nd finalist.

The play-off system rewards constancy over seven weeks, said IPL chairman Raj Shukla. One bad day in the office does not ruin a team's chances. The winner of Sunday's name clash at the Chidambaram stadium in Chennai will pocket $2 million and the runner-up will get $1.5 million. The 3rd-placed team will get a direct entry into the Champions League to be held in India in October among the top domestic Twenty20 clubs from about the world.

Delhi Daredevils, led by Sehwag and featuring Sri Lankan veteran Jayewardene and South African fast bowler Morne Morkel, have shown consistent form by winning 11 of their 16 league matches. But the Knight Riders will fancy their chances on a slow Pune wicket ideal for their West Indies Sunil Narine, whose haul of 22 wickets this season is 2nd only to Morkel's tally of 25.

You can't predict what will happen in a T20 game, but we have faith in ourselves, said Knight Riders skipper Gautam Gambhir. We want to succeed this one for the people of Kolkata. Mumbai Indians, featuring the inspiring Sachin Tendulkar, bounced back after a shaky start to end 3rd and set up an intriguing clash against India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings.

We must not waste the s2nd life given to us, said Dhoni. We must execute our plans well as Mumbai will come hard at us. Among a series of scandals to hit the match has been police charges against Australian Luke Pomersbach, who played for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, over supposedly molest a woman and beating up her fiancé.

5 Indian players signed to IPL teams were also suspended after an undercover TV report alleged they were ready to take money for spot-fixing.

Delhi Daredevils' was big win

HYDERABAD: What happens when the possible champions meet the laggards? What else, but total annihilation! David Warner short-lived 54-ball 109 helped Delhi Daredevils inflict upon Deccan Chargers a massive 9-wicket succeeds that take them again to the top of the points table.

Having batted 1st and posted 187-4, thanks to Shikhar Dhawan and Cameron White, Deccan would have careful half the job done. They could even be excused for assume that it was all over once captain Virender Sehwag departed in the 1st over of the chase. But the home team had taken the field with no a single overseas bowler and paid heavily for that, as Daredevils gunned down the target with 20 balls to spare.

It didn’t help that Warner was in a mainly vicious mood. As a result, whatever Chargers had ended in their innings, Delhi did one better. The pint-sized Aussie gather his runs at a frenetic pace, starting with fours off Dhawan and success a pinnacle of demolition against Ashish Reddy, as the seamer accepted 20 in the 6th over. Warner joint with Naman Ojha (64, 46b) for 189 runs in 16.2 overs in an unbroken 2nd-wicket partnership.

He biffed sixes off most of Deccan’s attack and reached his 2nd IPL and 5th Twenty20 century in style, pulling another maximum off Ankit Sharma. The Warner-Ojha alliance totally overshadowed the 126-run connection between Dhawan and White, and brought Delhi back to the top of the table, where they replaced Kolkata Knight Riders. Deccan had earlier posted 187-4, thanks to their most consistent batsmen this season – Dhawan and White. The pair added runs at almost eleven per over as the home side shrugged off a normal start to go faster menacingly in the final 10overs.

After Kumar Sangakkara selected to bat, Chargers were 64 for the loss of opener Daniel Harris and captain Sangakkara. Dhawan opened the sluice-gates by cracking successive sixes off Shahbaz Nadeem and then wading into Irfan Pathan for 16 runs in the 13th over.Andre Russel, making his IPL debut, wasn’t spared either. The West Indian approved a hat-trick of fours to end with a wicket-less 39 from 4 overs. Morne Morkel came back after the Strategic timeout, and he too was taken to the cleaners – a 4 to fine-leg, another during point and a deadly 6 carted over mid-wicket.

Dhawan was run-out by a straight throw from fine-leg in the 18th over, and White full in by launching into Pathan again for maximum gain. The last 10overs yielded Chargers 123 runs, as Delhi bowlers insist on erring on the fuller side. And yet the whole failed to challenge Warner in the outline of mind he was in.

Man of the match:

David Warner

Gayle Stunning Royal Challengers beat Mumbai

MUMBAI: Chris Gayle exploded once again as Royal Challengers Bangalore beaten Mumbai Indians by 9 wickets at the Wankhede sports ground on Wednesday night. The succeed take Bangalore to 4th place on the points table, but this tent match-up was not as one-sided as the margin of victory suggests.

It could have gone either way when Chris Gayle decided to exert his influence on the match. Bangalore was suffering from the same lethargy that had afflicted Mumbai in the 1st innings, as they chased an ambiguous 141 on a wicket with some help for bowlers. Tillakaratne Dilshan was back in the pavilion, Virat Kohli was struggling to get going, and Gayle, dropped on 21 (by Devon Smith), had also survive a run-out chance. The going was certainly not easy for the visiting team when the West Indian took strike on the 2nd ball of Pragyan Ojha’s 2nd over.

Ojha had claimed Dilshan and approved just 3 in his opening over, and as he ambled in to bowl to the hulking southpaw Bangalore needed 88 from about ten overs - an situation at the best of times, slightly trickier considering the nature of the wicket.Gayle played out dots on the first 2 balls, following which he ran a brace. And then he did what he has come to be known for – he incinerated the bowler.

2 sixes off 2 unpardonable full-tosses, of which the second was an unforgivable no-ball and Bangalore, were favorites. The free-hit too ended in the stands, not only strengthening the Challengers’ place, but also getting Gayle his sixth fifty of the season. In the process, Gayle regained the Orange Cap from Virender Sehwag.

Such unafraid hitting appeared to spark Kohli into action, and the Indian super star deposited Kieron Pollard in the stands, before pulling Malinga to the boundary. It was  Virat Kohli who ended the match in style, carting Rohit Sharma for 6 over the bowler’s head, as Bangalore romped home with 2 overs to spare.

Earlier, Virat Kohli elected to field and on a pitch supporting seamers Bangalore made Mumbai struggle for runs. Zaheer Khan and Vinay Kumar started out with splendid opening over, and Muttiah Muralitharan vindicated his selection over Vettori with a double strike in the 16th over.

Zaheer khan & Vinay (playing after missing the previous game) reduced the home team to five for 2 after four overs as most batsmen struggled to make decent contact with the ball. James Franklin was the 1st to go, upper-cutting a Vinay short ball to third man. In the same over, Vinay trapped Rohit Sharma in front.Sachin Tendulkar survive a confident shout for leg-before against Vinay Kumar and Mumbai’s distress would have been further compounded if Kohli's throw from backward point had found the stumps, as Tendulkar was struggling to make his ground. The maestro hung in there, and hammered a succession of boundaries to get Mumbai on track.

But just as things were on an upswing, Sachin Tendulkar top-edged a Harshal Patel effort ball that came on to him faster than he had anticipated. Then began a phase of resurrection as Ambati Rayudu and Dinesh Karthik combined for 44 fast runs, before the former holed out to Harshal and was taken in the deep.

Muralitharan had been hard to get, and in the space of 2 balls – one of which was the famed doosraa – the Sri Lankan wizard dismissed both Karthik and Devon Smith, the man who had won Mumbai their last match. Kieron Pollard and Harbhajan Singh struck a few meaty blows, and the West Indian quick 18 runs from the 20th over, bowled by Vinay, as Mumbai Indians finished with 141. However, it was another West Indian who had the final say.

Man of the match:

Chris Gayle

Today Match

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

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

Younger’s helped Punjab Super Win

HYDERABAD: Young Mandeep Singh and wily Praveen Kumar kept Kings XI Punjab in IPL-V contention as they starred in their team’s 25-run win over the simple Deccan Chargers on Tuesday. The success pulled Punjab up to 5th place on the points table, one spot below Rajasthan Royals - who also have 12 points but a better Net Run Rate.

At Uppal’s Rajiv Gandhi International sports ground, Punjab were sent in to bat by Kumar Sangakkara and rode on Man of the match Mandeep Singh responsible 48-ball 75 to post 170-5. The visiting side then scuppered Deccan’s chase by creation recurrent inroads into the batting card. captain David Hussey – Punjab’s lucky talisman – pretty much decided the game when he take out a well-set Daniel Harris and the risky Cameron White in the space of 4 deliveries of off-spin, and when Sangakkara fell in the next over to Praveen, the chase was going only one way downhill.

Praveen had earlier foxed Shikhar Dhawan with one that bent away from the left-hander, a 5overs before Parthiv Patel was bowled by Parvinder Awana. Another implosion in the lower order – after Hussey’s in two strikes - arrested Deccan’s chase on 145-8, all but irremediably reserve a basement slot for the luckless team this season. Praveen ended his quota of four overs with 2 for 15, and Hussey’s brace of scalps cost him just 2 runs.

Earlier, Mandeep’s 2nd 50of IPL-V took Punjab to 170-5, ten runs more than the 160 that Deccan captain Kumar Sangakkara had said was par for the venue. The most creative scorer of the season for Punjab, Mandeep took off a dispose preying 18 off Veer Pratap Singh in the 2nd over. Not once did the 20-year-old did not permit the run-rate to dip.

While Dhawan provided the breakthrough Chargers were look for when he castled Shaun Marsh, Punjab by then were before now going at a at ease 8-an-over. And despite a usual exit policy being experienced by batsmen at the other end, Mandeep stuck to his guns, dispatch Daniel Harris over cover to bring up his 50 in 33 balls, and then targeting Amit Mishra for a couple of more boundaries.

But the bowler who suffers most at Mandeep’s hands was seamer Veer Pratap Singh, who accepted 35 in 16 deliveries to the solid opener, who was lastly, bowled trying to slog Ashish Reddy in the 16th over. In the next over, Azhar Mahmood was run-out after a mix up with David Miller, but the South African atone for the dangerous Pakistani’s dismissal by given that Punjab the late thrust. Miller’s 18-ball 28 was laced with 3 fours and one six off Reddy in the final over of the innings.

Man Of the match

Mandeep Singh (75)

Today Match

Mum Indians v RCB (20:00 local | 14:30 GMT)

Rajasthan Royals Big win

Aussie power kept Rajasthan Royals active and kicking in IPL-V as Shane Watson and Shaun Tait drove the inaugural champion to a 7-wicket succeed over Pune Warriors on Tuesday.

Tait’s excellent bowling (3 overs for 13) confined the home team to a paltry 125 after Sourav Ganguly selected to bat, and Shane Watson rapid winning 90 made the target appear even smaller than it was. The win, achieve with 22 balls to spare, take Royals to 4th on the points table, while for Pune their 6th repeated loss meant that the climb back into last-4contention now borders on the not viable.

Such was Watson’s supremacy that he needed little help from any other batsman - the next highest score for Rjasthan Royals was 18. The Australian all-rounder revved into activity in the 3rd over of the chase, going after Murali Karthik. After clearance long-on with a brutal strike, Watson goes for a repeat and was about caught by the implausible Steven Smith at the boundary.

Smith, a genuine candidate for the best fielder in the world today, fixed the ball and realizing he was going to exceed the boundary, tossed the ball in, but failed to hurl it the necessary distance. Smith pushed the ball in again – still beyond the boundary, but with both feet off the ground – and lastly fixed it on his 3rd attempt. A 6 was declared, but full points to Smith for attempt an implausible catch at the boundary – something he’s been doing almost every bloody match.

Watson continual with the same intensity, reaching his 50 in 27 balls, and ended with 10 fours, and 4 sixes, to his name, twice the number scored by the complete Pune team. He was named Man of the match, but there was another challenger who could have justly staked his claim on that honor – Tait.Shaun Tait bowled with fire as Pune struggled after elect to bat. The home team scored just 5fours and 2 sixes to stagger to 125 – not the most ideal platform from which to arrest a 5-match losing streak. Ganguly strangely assumed opening duties next to Michael Clarke.

The 2struggled to find the boundary and had score one apiece when the Pune captain fell to a Tait bouncer that had likely been a fire in at the behest of Ganguly’s opposite number- Rahul Dravid. David experience with Ganguly mode of play resulted in the left-hander’s wicket after the former India captain had been dropped by Tait off a Watson short release in the previous over. Soon after Ganguly’s exit, Clarke was trapped in front by Stuart Binny, stingy Pune of their senior-most batsmen one ball ahead of the Power play – which restricted an unforgivable 20 dot balls.

Despite the weariness of the innings, Pune chose to promote Bengal’s Aniston Maunder over the far more aggressive Angelo Mathews and Steven Smith. Majumdar looked to break free when he tonked 2sixes off Ankeet Chavan, but soon lost his stumps to a Johan Botha yorker. Robin Uthappa carried on for a while in the same slow vein of his previous IPL-V knocks and Steven Smith too failed to take off. Pune scored at less than a run-a fall in the final 8 overs, indicative of just how fine a job Tait and Binny (3-0-12-1) had accomplished for Royals.

Man of the match:

Shane Watson

Kolkata canters to a six-wicket win over Delhi

New Delhi May 8: Kolkata Knight Riders cantered to a 6-wicket win over Delhi Daredevils at the Ferozeshah Kotla here Monday.

Jacques Kallis' (2-20) brilliant bowling helped Kolkata control Delhi to 153 for 9. The visitors then egged on by Brendon McCollum’s 56 off 44 balls achieve the target losing 4 wickets and with 8 balls to spare. Captain Gautam Gambhir (36) and all-rounder Jacques Kallis (30) made valuable help as Knight Riders registered their sixth consecutive win in the league.

Kallis, who selected up two for 20, was also adjudging as Man of the Match for his all-round performance. The Knight Riders have 17 points, having played one match more than the Daredevils, who are on 16 points from 11 matches. Gambhir got his team to another flyer smash 5 fours on his way to 36 off just 21 balls. His opening partner Brendon McCollum gave him full support as the Knight Riders reached 60 at the end of the power play.

Umesh Yadav dropped Gambhir at 3rd-man but luckily for him, Varun Aaron castled him the very next ball. Kolkata were coast at 128 for one at the end of 15 overs but pacer Yadav gave the hosts an inkling of hope removing Kallis (30) and McCollum of consecutive balls. Yusuf Pathan (7) and Debabrata Das (1) held on to their nerves taking Kolkata across the line prior, Daredevils elect to bat made a good start, courtesy captain Virender Sehwag (21) and David Warner (23). After Brett Lee bowled a maiden in the 1st over, the next 2overs yielded 34 runs.

The joy still was short-lived as Kallis (2-20) gave Delhi a body blow, trapping Sehwag in front of the stumps. The Delhi dasher's dream run in the tournament came to an end after scoring five consecutive fifties. Though he wins himself the orange cap, overtake Rajasthan Royals' Ajinkya Rahane. Warner, played his 1st match in the 5th edition, didn't stay too long either as he fell victim to Kallis' bouncer?Former Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayewardene (30) looked in good touch and forged a 46-run stand with New Zealand's Ross Taylor. Keeper McCollum gave him a pardon when he was on 8 but Mahela failed to cash in as Gambhir ran him out.

Taylor's abysmal run in this year's match continued, as he scooped an easy catch to long off, giving medium-pacer Pradeep Sangwan his 1st scalp in the tournament. The New Zealand skipper looked totally out of sorts; scoring 16 off 27 balls. All-rounder Irfan Pathan played a cameo down the order hitting 36 off 22 balls, which integrated a 6 and four fours. Pathan's late surge propels Delhi to a fighting total.

West Indian Sunil Narine again bowled an economical spell picking 2 for 23 from his four overs.

Mumbai Indians have win by a single run.

PUNE: selected Member of Parliament Sachin Tendulkar might have had the power of the world on his shoulders. How else could one give details the 35 deliveries he faced to scratch out a painstaking 34? Well, at slightest the maestro spent some time in the center, which is more that what any other Mumbai Indians batsman did.

Tendulkar stodgy knock turned out to the highest score for Mumbai in what was being promote as the ‘Maharashtra derby’, and Pune shot themselves in the foot by flaw to chase 121 on a track with some degree of sluggishness, but which was far from being the minefield their leaden-footed batsmen made it out to be.

This meant that Mumbai was able to give Pune a dose of medicine. Sourav Ganguly’s team had banned Harbhajan Singh’s men from reaching a very gettable target at the Wankhede Stadium recently, and on Thursday night Mumbai returned the favors by stall Pune one run short of enforce a Super Over. Lasith Malinga was stated Man-of-the-match for figures of 4-0-25-2, and for granting just four in a crucial 19th over.

After Harbhajan selected to bat and watched his team stutters to a sub-par total Pune made heavy weather of the chase. Robin Uthappa, Jesse Ryder, Michael Clarke and Steven Smith were all back in the tent within ten overs, with the score still under 50. At that juncture, the maudlin would have a lot to wish for. Ganguly, after all, was in the middle, and in the company of Mithun Manhas the previous India captain could still be probable to drive his team on to its 2nd win in as many matches next to their State rival.

That was not to be. Ganguly pottered about, receiving his 1st boundary off the 23rd ball he faced, but was out almost right away after, as Malinga brought a trademark in-dipper to run into into his stumps. Manhas for now outscored Tendulkar, and was finally left facing the task of getting 12 to win off Munaf Patel’s final over.

while Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s inside-out four got the home team to within one blow of the target, Pune ended one run adrift, ensuring that honours at the end of this novel rivalry remained even. The win took Mumbai to 3rd on the points table, while for Pune the loss meant that they are now just ahead of the perennially subjugated Deccan Chargers.

Player of the match

   SL Malinga

Today Match

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

Kings XI Punjab thrillers win the match

BANGALORE: They tried their most excellent to make a hash of it, did they not? Twelve were needed from 3 overs, with 7 wickets in hand, when Kings XI Punjab decisive to spice things up.

3 run-outs, within the space of 7 balls for three runs, and Royal Challengers Bangalore were back in the game, with the visiting team needing five off the final over, to be bowled by Vinay Kumar. The 1st ball was a dot. On the 2nd, Vinay dropped a tough return catch of Paras Dogra, and then it was anybody’s game to win, or lose. It was lastly left to Piyush Chawla – that much-maligned bowler of long-hops – to redeem himself with an important maximum over long on. Chawla’s strike net Punjab another away win, one that catapult them to 4th place from 8th and left Bangalore languishin gat 6th.

The four-wicket verdict at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium had appear simple for the most part of Punjab’s chase, as the visitors tided over the early loss of Shaun Marsh and got stirring along nicely through Nitin Saini (50), Mandeep Singh (43) and David Hussey (45). But the rash of run-outs went next to the run of play, setting the stage for Chawla’s match-winning hit in the final over. A day after heavy rain lashed the garden city, pulling down the mercury by a few degrees, Hussey selected to field and restricted Bangalore to 158-5 after Chris Gayle (71) and Virat Kohli (45) had helpless to take the game away. 

Bangalore was pegged back mainly due to Man-of-the-match Azhar Mahmood’s warning bowling (4-0-20-3) at the death. Gayle and Kohli, who figured in a century stand, began quietly, as Mayank Agarwal was out inexpensively and as Praveen bowled an excellent opening spell, but picked up momentum as the innings went on. Praveen posed searching question with movement in the air, and even function with two slips to Gayle – a rare sight in Twenty20 cricket. But the 2 saw off the danger of swing to add 119 in fewer than 14 overs.

With Praveen bowling with such manage, Bangalore sought runs at the other end and the West Indian went after Ryan Harris and Parvinder Awana. The score had crawl to 48 in nine overs when the turnaround began. The man to be liable for letting the hosts off the hook was Chawla, who was pummeled repeatedly by Gayle and Kohli, usually over midwicket. Gayle was drop on 39, and he made Punjab pay by wading into Awana for 2 fours and 1 six. 

A hapless Abhishek Nayar too was meted out similar treatment, with one hideous hit - by Gayle - whizzing out of the stadium for perhaps the biggest strike of the season. Bangalore was 114 for one at the end of the 14th over, and a full in the vicinity of 180 looked on the cards considering the batsmen in the middle and the batting to come. But Gayle holed out against Azhar Mahmood and Kohli lost his stump to Chawla, peg back their team once again.

Bangalore mustered just 36 in the last 5 overs, and fell way short of what had looked possible when the two set batsmen were calling the shots in the middle. Punjab’s chase began defiantly with Mandeep taking the attack to Zaheer Khan, even hitting India’s vanguard bowler for a beautiful six over square leg. Saini, who hit just 5 boundaries in his 33-ball 50 runs, shared between the wickets, never once allowing the asking rate to creep up. He associated with Mandeep for 35 runs, before partner Hussey in a game-changing 73-run alliance in just 45 balls.

The Aussie club left-arm spinner Appanna for two sixes in the 13th over and gave the same action to Assad Pathan, the aggressive tactics hauling his side to a win despite a cascade of run-outs towards the end.

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)