Jaipur match Rajasthan Thriller Win pune out

Both teams started well with the bat, but the difference between the Rajasthan Royals and Pune Warriors was in the finishing. That's the reason why the hosts managed to maintain their unbeaten record at home.

They went to fourth in the points table, for which they should thank their batsmen. It wasn’t a match where the winner could afford to blink.

Chasing a mammoth 179-run target, Rajasthan’s openers Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane played all the right shots as Aaron Finch’s bowlers began to flinch. Both right-handers knew that they had a mountain to climb, and they ensured that Pune’s bowlers were beaten to the ropes.

If Dravid drove with élan, Rahane cut the ball with equal finesse as Rajasthan made sure that they were never too far behind the run rate.

Score Details

Pune Warriors India- 178/4 (20) 

R Uthappa -54(41)
A Finch (C)-45(32)
M Marsh -35(21)

Rajasthan-182/5 (19.5)

A Rahane -67(48)
R Dravid -58(40)
S Binny -35(13)

Player Of the match-A.Rahane

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)

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)

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) 

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)

Pune Warriors well started IPL

Mumbai, (IANS): Pune Warriors started their IPL campaign with a 29-run win over title favourites Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede ground on 06-04-12.

Asked to bat 1st, Pune Warriors Ended 129 for 9 in 20 overs. Mumbai Indians lost wickets at regular interval and could manage only 100 for 9 in reply. Pace bowler Ashok Dinda was the pick and chooses of the Pune Warriors bowlers, bagging four for 17.

Pune Warriors, who are in their 2nd IPL season, made a poor start but vital innings from Man of the Match Steve Smith (39) and Robin Uthappa (36) helped them to post a meek target on the board.Pune Warriors lost their top 3 batsmen for 27 runs in 5 overs. Lasith Malinga set the ball rolling, remove Manish Pandey, who didn't trouble the scorers, in the very 1st over.

Captain Sourav Ganguly (3), most important the Pune Warriors for the 1st time, was stumped by Dinesh Karthik after he came down the track to charge Mumbai Indians captain Harbhajan Singh while Wayne Parnell (11), startlingly promoted up the order, in his zeal to up the ante gone his leg stump to pacer Munaf Patel.Callum Ferguson (12) looked in touch but he was run out by straight throw from Rohit Sharma as Pune Warriors were abridged to 47 for four in 8.5 overs.

Smith and Uthappa then resurrect the innings with their 44-run stand on a slow bowling to bring Pune back on track. Uthappa hit 3 fours in his 33 ball knock. Kieron Pollard take an easy catch off his own bowling to get rid of Uthappa came from Murali Kartik (14) and a few lusty blows from Smith in the death overs catapult the Warriors to a finished score of 129.

Mumbai Indians had the worst possible opening to their chase as they lost 3 wickets in the space of 2 overs with just 5 runs on board. South African big hitter Richard Levi, who hit a half-century in the first match against Chennai Super Kings, didn't trouble the scorers and was confused by Uthappa off spin bowler Murali Kartik. In the next over, Dinda strike twice to get rid of Ambati Rayudu (1) and Rohit (1) to create kit worse for Mumbai Indians.

Dinesh Karthik (32) played a gritty hand as he forged a 49 run partnership with New Zealand all-rounder James Franklin (32). Karthik although fell quickly, stumped off the bowling of his namesake Murali Kartik, after bring Mumbai back in the chase. Franklin (32) carried on and kept Mumbai in the hunt, but after the fall of West Indian Kieron Pollard (8), the writing was on the wall.

Mumbai needing 45 off the last 3 over could manage only 15 runs as they slumped to their 1st loss in the match.