Match 22 DC v RR

Shane Warne did not set the IPL alight in his first five matches this season, but he was terrific tonight in Ahmedabad. His captaincy was innovative as always and he bowled his best spell of the tournament, choking the run flow, dismissing a dangerous-looking Herschelle Gibbs, and helping Rajasthan Royals restrict Deccan Chargers' formidable batting line-up to a below-par total. Warne's charges responded to his leadership, with the ball and in the field, and the result was a clinical performance that set up Rajasthan's third win in a row.

Rajasthan's batting has blown hot and cold this season - scoring 200-plus in Mumbai and only 92 in Bangalore - but their performances gained consistency in the last two contests. Michael Lumb anchored another convincing display, leading the chase with a brisk 45, setting the platform for Yusuf Pathan to destroy Deccan's slim chances. Yusuf swung his bat powerfully, reached 50 off 23 balls, and sent a total of eight balls sailing over the boundary. The required-rate dipped below six in the ninth over, and Rajasthan eventually cruised past 148 with 26 balls to spare. The win catapulted Rajasthan from sixth to third in the points table.

Warne had promised surprises in the lead-up to this contest, but that he always does. After some confusion over who won the toss - Deccan had, and chose to bat - he unveiled his first. Adam Gilchrist thrives against speed while facing the new ball, and is perhaps familiar with the modus operandi of Shaun Tait, so Warne slowed it down by deploying little-known Sumit Narwal, who replaced Munaf Patel in this match.

Narwal got the ball to move away from Gilchrist, the IPL's most prolific six-hitter, and after two tight deliveries, induced a mis-hit that was held by Yusuf at mid-off. Deccan were 2 for 1 at the end of the first over.

Warne's next move didn't work. Yusuf is usually the go-to man when Warne wants to open with spin, but today he chose Abhishek Jhunjhunwala. Herschelle Gibbs responded by skipping down the pitch twice to loft the offspinner back over his head for sixes. The over cost 16, but Jhunjhunwala would make amends with two accurate throws to run out Andrew Symonds and Venugopal Rao later in the innings.

Laxman, meanwhile, had swatted Siddharth Trivedi to the midwicket boundary. The shot was forced and was further indication that Laxman isn't comfortable playing his naturally graceful game in the Twenty20 format. He tried it again against Tait - Warne had brought him on in the fifth over - and holed out to mid-on.

Symonds and Gibbs threatened to wrest the initiative. Symonds struck three boundaries in a Narwal over and the run-rate was still above nine when Warne came into the attack after the Powerplay. He bowled three tight balls to Symonds, and dismissed Gibbs with the next: drawing the batsman forward with flight and beating him with dip and turn. Naman Ojha took off the bails with Gibbs' foot on the line.

At 58 for 3, it was left to Rohit Sharma and Symonds to lift the innings, but a poor call left Symonds with no hope of completing the second before Jhunjhunwala's throw reached Warne, who had figures of 1 for 7 at the end of his second over. Two quiet overs followed before Rohit took on Trivedi, pulling him over midwicket for six and driving to the extra-cover boundary.

The wickets continued to fall - T Suman bowled, Venugopal Rao and Chaminda Vaas run out - but Rohit ensured runs were coming from at least one end. He was dropped by Adam Voges on the deep midwicket boundary on 30, and then smashed Tait and Narwal over the straight boundaries for sixes, before holing out on 49. His dismissal meant Deccan had to settle for 148, their lowest total of the season.

Lumb got Rajasthan's chase off to a fluent start by taking two boundaries of Vaas' first over. He was dropped by Gibbs at point off RP Singh when on 12 and made Deccan pay immediately. In RP's second over, Lumb helped himself to four consecutive boundaries against length deliveries, over point, through square leg, over mid-off and midwicket. The last ball went for four leg byes as well, and Rajasthan were firmly on their way.

The Yusuf show started after Naman Ojha was stumped, ending a partnership of 54. Gilchrist began with a slip and a silly point for Pragyan Ojha, Yusuf responded by sending the ball over the straight boundary. It was the beginning of an assault that rendered Deccan helpless. Yusuf would wind up and swing, sometimes it appeared as if he hadn't connected properly, but the ball would need fetching from beyond the boundary. He finished Deccan with 73 off 34 balls, Gilchrist put it succinctly when he said "We were pumped today".

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Match 21 MI vs CSK

Sachin Tendulkar was the rudder, Shikhar Dhawanprovided propulsion, and they combined for a 92-run opening partnership which charted Mumbai Indians' course for success at the Brabourne Stadium. The victory helped the hosts steam past Royal Challengers Bangalore and take top spot in the league with a game in hand. The absence of major setbacks during the pursuit of a formidable target, on a day their usually efficient bowling attack failed, emphasised Mumbai's status as one of the tournament favourites.

Chennai Super Kings also had several things going for them as they sought to nip their budding losing streak: MS Dhoni had returned, Matthew Hayden bludgeoned Zaheer Khan to seize the initiative, andSuresh Raina and S Badrinath forged a partnership of 142, the second-best of all IPLs. However, their bowling attack is perhaps the competition's weakest and Dhoni had too many chinks to find cover for against a ruthless batting line-up. Muttiah Muralitharan apart, none of the others caused a flutter, and Mumbai cruised home with an over to spare. The defeat was Chennai's third in a row and their fourth in six games.

Mumbai's start wasn't fluent. There were few boundaries in the early overs, and a healthy helping of extras were needed to stay abreast of the asking-rate. Tendulkar's timing wasn't there, though that had little to do against the bowling of Albie Morkel and L Balaji. Then Dhoni gave the fifth over to Joginder Sharma, who did not play the previous game, and Dhawan cut loose, peppering the leg-side boundary with two pulls and a flick. The 50 was up in the fifth over and Dhawan accelerated further in the next by pulling Balaji for consecutive sixes.

Dhoni tried left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati after the fielding restrictions were lifted, but Dhawan greeted him with a reverse-swat to the boundary. In Jakati's second over, Dhawan charged and lofted him straight to reach a 31-ball fifty with a six. He holed out three balls later, but had already caused serious damage. Morkel had been satisfactory but the rest, especially the unthreatening medium-pace of Balaji and Joginder, had leaked runs.

Murali, who had come on in the eighth over, trapped Saurabh Tiwary lbw in the tenth during the only phase when Chennai reined Mumbai in. They scored 94 off nine overs and only 12 off the next three. Mumbai needed 75 off 48 balls and it was now that Tendulkar decided to hit his first six of the season, stepping out to Murali and lofting him over long-on. He didn't demolish the bowling during this half-century, brought up off 40 balls, but stayed in long enough to ensure there would be no hiccups during the chase.

The introduction of Thissara Perera sealed Chennai's fate. The debutant started with a full toss - on offer aplenty from Balaji and Joginder too - that Tendulkar put away to fine leg for four. He then bowled two more, and Tendulkar glanced them both off his pads effortlessly. While Tendulkar was being steady, Pollard muscled 20 off 9 balls to hack away at the asking-rate, and Dwayne Bravo ended it with typical Caribbean flair, flicking Balaji for four before getting the winning run.

Mumbai's batsmen rose to the challenge on a day their bowlers under-performed. Only Ryan McLaren, who took the new ball for the first time, and Harbhajan Singh exerted control over Chennai's scoring-rate, while Zaheer, Bravo and Lasith Malinga, who was first used only in the 11th, went for over ten an over.

Hayden wielded his bat like a club from the start. He missed the first ball, a wide from Zaheer, and hit the second to mid-on. The next four, all length deliveries with width, disappeared to different parts of the off-side boundary, each placed straighter than the previous one and dispatched with immense power off the front foot. Those hits were with a regular bat but Hayden called for the little one when Harbhajan came on in the third over. He lasted two balls before a slider caught him in front, leaving Chennai on 32 for 1.

Parthiv Patel followed soon after, bowled off his pads by a McLaren yorker, which brought together Raina and Badrinath. Raina was severe on Bravo, hitting his first two balls for a six and a four, chipping him over the slips before dealing him another six and four a few deliveries later. He brought up his half-century off 32 balls, Badrinath lofted Zaheer over his head to reach 50 off 41. They added 142, but towards the end were unable to find the fifth gear. Chennai had plenty of wickets in hand and looked set for 200-plus, but Malinga returned and conceded only seven off the final over to keep them to well below that. In the end, 180 wasn't enough

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MATCH20 - IPL 2010 - RCB v DD

David Warner exploded at the top and Kedar Jadhavprovided a fiery finish to charge Delhi Daredevils to a strong 183, which they defended with relative ease. It was Delhi's first win after three losses and also marked Royal Challengers Bangalore's first loss at home.

The pitch was drier than the previous tracks at the Chinnaswamy Stadium and Bangalore had to do much of the damage against the new ball if they were to hunt down the strong total. However, Jacques Kallis and Manish Pandey were kept relatively quiet by tight spells from Dirk Nannes and Umesh Yadav. Nannes hit the deck hard and moved the ball enough to upset batsmen's timing and Yadav, the fastest Indian bowler currently going around in the circuit, with speeds consistently ticking over 140 kmph, surprised the batsmen with his line, length and bounce. And it wasn't all brawn from the youngster; he kept it relatively full to Kallis but hurled a few short deliveries at Pandey to keep him on a leash.

Bangalore's second opportunity to break free came in the eight over with the introduction of Andrew McDonald and Amit Mishra. It was the make or break moment, with Bangalore needing 129 from 13 overs, but Mishra slipped in fine spell to turn the game decisively in Delhi's favour. Mishra removed Kallis with a googly and induced Robin Uthappa to edge the reverse-sweep to inflict a double-strike from which Bangalore couldn't' recover. McDonald went for 18 runs in his first seven deliveries - Uthappa producing the shot of the day with a nonchalantly-hit six over the straight boundary - but bounced back in his second over by taking out Pandey, and when Rahul Dravid ran himself out in the same over the chase had derailed.

There was just one other moment of thrilling drama and it was provided by AB de Villiers, who jumped back at long-on to take an amazing one-handed catch, even as the ball appeared to have passed him, to get rid of Praveen Kumar.

The Delhi bowlers produced a disciplined performance, but it was their batsmen who set up the game. There were three phases of play in Delhi's innings - an explosive start by Warner, a serene partnership in the middle-overs between AB de Villiers and Dinesh Karthik, and a fiery finish provided by Jadhav.

It was Jadhav who gave Delhi the perfect finish, but for the majority of the innings they rode on the momentum provided by Warner. It was as though he was playing stick cricket - see the ball and give it a mighty thump. The shot that stood out was a crunchy pulled-six off Dale Steyn but what caught his impish mindset was actually a mishit against the same bowler. It was just about back of length outside off and Warner went for an ambitious pull, but the ball screamed towards the cover boundary. It was Twenty20 cricket at its best (or worst, depending on your point of view) and both the bowler and the batsman smiled.

There were no smiles from any bowler for the rest of the time when Warner flat-batted length deliveries over in-field and launched mighty sixes over long-on, but the entertainment ended when he fell, unable to clear long-off with yet another of his lofted hits.

When he departed in the fourth over, the score read 44 for 1 and it soon turned to 58 for 2 with Sehwag falling to Vinay Kumar, who is gaining a reputation for taking big wickets. The game changed in character from there on. de Villiers and Karthik preferred to deal in singles as they nudged and drove their way around. The period wasn't without its shares of thrills, with de Villiers pulling and Karthik sweeping Kumble for boundaries but it was definitely a lot quieter than at the start.

It threatened to get grimmer for Delhi when Karthik and de Villiers got run out - Karthik backed up too far at the non-striker's end and de Villiers was caught short by a direct hit from Eoin Morgan at backward point - but Jadhav, an unknown commodity for many of the Bangalore bowlers, connected with a few big hits to push Delhi towards a strong total. The shot of his stay was an audacious flat-batted six over long-on to a short delivery from Jacques Kallis, and he moved around the crease and also threw in a few deft shots - a late cut against Kumble being the highlight. The bowlers, caught off-guard, didn't know whether to bounce at him or bowl full, and Jadhav exploited that to the fullest to push Delhi to a very competitive total.

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Match19 - IPL 2010 KXIP v RR

Rajasthan Royals backed up a strong batting performance from Adam Voges and Faiz Fazal with a disciplined bowling effort that choked Kings XI Punjab after their top order had delivered a promising start. The 31-run win meant Rajasthan climbed to a joint-fourth position on the points table, leaving Punjab, who have lost four out of five games, at the bottom. A blistering cameo by Manvinder Bisla had raised Punjab's hopes of scaling down a large target, but a combination of crafty bowling, agile fielding and some irresponsible batting crushed any possibility of a successful chase.

Though the margin of defeat indicates a dominating show by Rajasthan, Punjab had their chances. Their bowlers managed to fight back after a strong start by the Rajasthan openers but faltered at the death in the wake of an assault from Voges and Fazal. Kumar Sangakkara and Bisla blazed away in their reply, racing to 76 in the first six overs, the highest score of the tournament after the Powerplay. But clever variations from seamers Siddharth Trivedi and Munaf Patel, and some uninspiring batting from the rest of the line-up, cut short what was gearing up to be a more exciting fixture.

The conditions at the PCA Stadium in Mohali were conducive for fast bowling with the Punjab opening bowlers beating the outside edge on more than one occasion, and Shaun Tait doing the same during the chase. Tait, who had a poor start to the IPL, bowled a couple of excellent outswingers at Ravi Bopara but suffered an onslaught from Sangakkara, whose frequent hits to the boundary were as much a consequence of good fortune as the batsman's conviction.

A smattering of fours through cover was followed by an inside edge to fine leg before Tait, dropping one short, led the Punjab captain to upper-cut a catch straight to third man; but not before 41 had been scored in the first four overs.

Bisla's brazen aggression threatened to set Punjab on course, but also contributed to his downfall, a result of a well-executed strategy from Shane Warne. Bisla, who shot to limelight with a blazing 75 against Bangalore, tore into Munaf off just his second ball. Given the restrictions, he had figured out his scoring areas, and proceeded to take 18 off the fifth over, including two fours and six through the leg side. Warne, too, suffered a similar fate, smashed for 10 in two balls but Bisla's ploy to strike against the turn cost him. Anticipating a slog, Warne had a deep midwicket in place, flighted the ball, Bisla obliged and holed out.

Yuvraj Singh had returned to form in a thrilling chase against Chennai, and looked to continue that when he smacked a straight six off Warne. But his ill-executed shot off Trivedi, having been dropped two balls earlier, marked the beginning of a dismal collapse that squandered a healthy position of 107 for 2 in the 11th over.

Both Munaf and Trivedi frequently took the pace off the ball which the Punjab batsmen, including Yuvraj and Bopara, failed to read. When Irfan Pathan was run-out brilliantly by Abhishek Jhunjhunwala in the 13th over, and Mohammad Kaif trapped in front by Yusuf Pathan 11 balls later, Punjab had lost four batsmen for 19 runs in 23 balls. Rajasthan had virtually sealed the game, and were met with little resistance when running through the rest of the batting.

Just as in their batting, Punjab had slipped up with the ball when the game had been on even terms. They had the better of the conditions after choosing to field, but Sreesanth, Shalabh Srivastava and Irfan struggled for control with the ball moving around. Short balls were dispatched through point by the openers Michael Lumb and Naman Ojha, while full deliveries were picked up with ease over the leg-side field.

Lumb had a woeful start to the tournament, but played with confidence, matching his aggressive partner Ojha stroke for stroke. However, Punjab struck to remove the openers within the first eight overs and earned the big scalp of Yusuf Pathan, caught off a slower one with seven overs still to go.

But the stage was set for yet another turn in the game, as the Punjab bowlers failed to measure up to improvisations from Voges. He found the boundary with ease, piercing the gaps, following a well laid-out plan. Joining Fazal, Voges had marked his scoring areas. The spaces on either side, between long-on and deep midwicket and long-off and deep extra cover, were exploited, as Yuvraj, Piyush Chawla and Irfan were taken for two fours and a six in consecutive overs.

Fazal, too, began fluently but ceded the floor to Yusuf and then Voges before opening up. He seized on length deliveries to dispatch four boundaries in successive overs off Irfan and Rusty Theron in the death overs; his 60-run stand with Voges, off 37 balls, gave Rajasthan a formidable total, one that thwarted Sangakkara's plans at the toss to limit them to under 150 and handed their team another morale-boosting win.

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MATCH18 - IPL 2010 - RCB v CSK

Robin Uthappa's blitz floors Chennai

"I'm just an ordinary cricketer who is working hard," said Robin Uthappa during the mid-innings break. His 38-ball 68 that rescued Royal Challengers Bangalore's innings, however, was anything but ordinary. Uthappa's eleventh-hour blitz helped his team recover from a shaky start and sluggish middle overs, after which Bangalore's bowlers throttled Chennai Super Kings to move to the top of the points table.

Chennai took wickets during the early and middle overs but it was the final 19 deliveries of Bangalore's innings, where Uthappa blazed away, that made the difference. Dropped on 5 and 25, Uthappa helped Bangalore take 52 runs off them, lifting his team from 119 after 17 overs to 171 for 5, when at one stage 150 looked difficult.

It was the speed and power with which Uthappa collected his runs that was dazzling: his last 39 came off ten balls. The over that swung the momentum Bangalore's way was the penultimate one, in which Uthappa - whose improvisation makes him the ideal Twenty20 batsman - struck three successive sixes off L Balaji to ransack 24 from six balls.

Until that explosion, Bangalore had struggled. From the time their talisman opener Jacques Kallis was bowled for 19 in 4.4 overs, ending a splendid run of four unbeaten innings, the home side failed to overcome Chennai's bowlers. On a juiced-up surface, an eagerly-awaited contest began with Chennai's new-ball duo wondering just what was needed to make a breakthrough. They thought they had success in the first over, when a peach of a delivery from Albie Morkel appeared to shave the outer edge of Kallis' bat, but it was not to be.

Manish Pandey rode his luck, following up an inside-edged four to fine leg with a top edge that dropped between two fielders, and then Kallis charged Morkel, slashing a thick outside edge that was lost in the lights by L Balaji at third man. Off the very next delivery, Kallis edged Morkel wide of a diving slip for four more.

Once Kallis went for 19, missing a straight one from Balaji, Bangalore's innings lost direction. Pandey continued to live dangerously without imposing himself. Then for the second time a wicket immediately followed a boundary. Rahul Dravid rocked back and dispatched Muttiah Muralitharan's fifth delivery for four; the sixth was a topspinner that pitched on middle and leg and beat the bat to crash into the stumps.

When the strategic time-out rolled around - that's the pace at which the innings panned out - Chennai had restricted Bangalore to their poorest start yet, 61 for 2. That soon became 63 for 3 when Pandey slogged Murali and was held by Suresh Raina at mid-on. However, Chennai proceeded to reprieve Uthappa and conceded substantial ground.

Confident after Uthappa's heroics, Bangalore began snuffing out the chase. Praveen Kumar has a knack of getting early wickets and troubling left-hand batsman, and he got Parthiv Patel to edge one in the first over. Chennai struggled during the Powerplay, finishing the six-over block on 29 for 1. Matthew Hayden called for the Mongoose immediately after and hit Kallis for three consecutive fours, but he and George Bailey were unable to get Anil Kumble away. Mixing flippers and googlies exceptionally, Kumble kept a check on runs and the pressure resulted in Hayden being run out by Rahul Dravid's underarm hit.

That breakthrough brought another, and R Vinay Kumar's perfect seam position dismissed Bailey for a woeful 18 from 27 balls. Vinay struck a bigger blow in his next over when he got Suresh Raina to slash to Kallis at third man, and then Kumble sent back M Vijay. The innings never recovered after four wickets had fallen for 17 runs. Vinay went for a few runs but finished with a four-wicket haul to help Bangalore surge ahead of Mumbai Indians in the points table.

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MATCH17 - IPL 2010 - MI v KKR

                       

                  Tendulkar and bowlers help Mumbai cruise

A graceful Sachin Tendulkar fifty was the highlight of Mumbai Indians' convincing seven-wicket win, which was set up by the bowlers who stuck to a strategy and restricted Kolkata Knight Riders to an underwhelming score at the Brabourne Stadium. Chris Gayle boosted Kolkata with a steady fifty, but the visitors will look back at the night and feel they pushed the pedal too late, despite keeping so many wickets in hand.

This IPL has revealed effective strategies used by teams to keep the batsmen in check. The tactic of bowling short at the body has worked well for Royal Challengers Bangalore, and today, Mumbai persisted with firing yorkers on the leg stump, cramping the batsmen for room. It was best highlighted in a passage of play in the Kolkata innings where they batted 37 balls without a boundary. Sixty-two off the last six overs was an improvement, but about 15-20 runs short.

The Mumbai openers began the chase in fifth gear by racing to 24 off two overs, all off boundaries. Shikhar Dhawan dented Shane Bond's confidence by smashing three boundaries off the first over, while Tendulkar gave Ishant Sharma a similar nightmare by fetching three more fours off the second, all crisply driven down the ground off the front foot.

It was as if Tendulkar was on a mission to hit Ishant out of the attack and further expose his poor form in limited-overs cricket. He was punished for bowling length to Tendulkar, punched through extra cover and pulled twice to bring up three consecutive boundaries. A flick for four past midwicket off Chris Gayle brought up Mumbai's fifty in just 26 balls, the fastest in IPL 3. The Kolkata seamers, especially Ishant, would have done well to learn from their Mumbai counterparts who varied their pace a lot more.

Spin was the only way to put the batsmen under pressure and when Ganguly introduced Murali Kartik, it immediately yielded a wicket. It dented the run rate as well as Mumbai scored only 19 off the next four overs. It was an opportunity for Kolkata to attack more and push for wickets but the bowlers couldn't sustain the pressure long enough. Saurabh Tiwary ensured Mumbai didn't lose their grip on the game by muscling Angelo Mathews over long-on and then smacking Gayle for two powerful fours down the ground.

Mumbai had the safety net of Tendulkar and even the dismissal of Tiwary against the run of play - caught brilliantly by Ganguly falling backwards - didn't shift the momentum. Tendulkar launched another assault on Ishant, bringing up his fifty with a flick over midwicket, and a cameo by R Sathish helped close out the match out in the penultimate over.

Mumbai's victory also highlighted the gulf in the quality of the bowling attacks. Suffocating Gayle is one of the toughest jobs in world cricket today but the experienced Mumbai bowlers found a way out - cramp him for width and fire it on the blockhole. It was also unusual seeing him being outscored by Sourav Ganguly, who's yet to find his feet in the game's most abridged format.

Mumbai kept firing in the fuller deliveries, varying their pace effectively to force Gayle and Ganguly to check their shots and drill the ball down the ground for singles. Kolkata were also guilty of not dispatching full tosses, hitting them straight to the fielders. They managed only ten fours within the first 15 overs. Mumbai in contrast, scored 16 in the same period.

Even the spinners stuck to the same plan. Harbhajan bowled over the wicket to the left-handers and adopted a flatter trajectory, firing it in before they could get under the bounce to scoop it away. A frustrated Ganguly tried to slog when he flighted one up, and lost his middle stump.

The promotion of Owais Shah, a lesson learnt from the previous game, infused some life and Gayle also started gaining in confidence. Shah's first boundary was a thick outside edge which flew to third man and his flick off Lasith Malinga to midwicket was the shot of the innings. Gayle then brought up his subdued fifty with consecutive boundaries. It was the only period which Kolkata had some semblance of command, as they added some respectability to the total. The bowling, though, let them down.

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MATCH16 - IPL 2010 - KXIP v CSK

Mediocrity met mediocrity on Sunday night, and somehow produced the first tie of the third edition of the IPL, leading to a Super Over, which gave Kings XI Punjab an unlikely victory. Irfan Pathan and Yuvraj Singh managed 82 runs in the 10 overs they faced between them, but the others batted poorly to score just 54 in the other 10. In the chase, even after a 65-run opening stand, the Chennai Super Kings batsmen contrived to be needing 10 runs off the last over. Fittingly for a match of low quality, the last over of the regulation game - bowled by Irfan and faced by Albie Morkel and R Ashwin - read: edge for four, missed slog for two byes thanks to an overthrow, single, another edge for two, a missed waft, and a powerful, nervous hit straight to mid-off with one needed off the last ball.

Juan Theron, playing his first IPL match and Punjab's bowling hero in the regulation time, bowled Hayden off the second ball in the Super Over, and despite a slogged six from Suresh Raina, once again 10 were needed in the last over. Muttiah Muralitharan was hit for a six first ball by Mahela Jayawardene, but he came back with a wicket and a dot to set the match up again. Yuvraj chose that extremely nervous moment to execute a delicate reverse-sweep, a shot he hardly ever uses, to finish the game off with two balls to go.

By halftime, though, Murali, the second Sri Lankan spinner to bowl the losing Super Over in as many tied matches in IPL, wouldn't have expected to play any further role in the game, let alone bowl the pressure over. In regulation time, he was the perfect spy, taking out two of the most prolific batsmen from his country, with 3 for 16 in his four overs. It wasn't as if Chennai needed any extra-ordinary bowling effort: the Punjab batsmen were hapless again.

Irfan, promoted to open the innings, and Yuvraj would have felt the rest of the team had turned on them. They got zero support from the other end, and the two batted together for only nine deliveries. There was a time when Irfan had scored 29 off 17 balls with five crunchy boundaries, but thanks to the struggling Ravi Bopara and Kumar Sangakkara, Punjab were 30 for 1 after five overs. Yuvraj, too, scored 43 out of the 70 runs that came while he was at the crease. He got to face only 28 out of 64 deliveries bowled when in the middle.

Between those spells of ordinary cricket from Punjab came Murali's genius. In his first over, inside the Powerplay, he beat Sangakarra twice in the flight, but the real beauty came in his second. This time he didn't bowl it flat when he saw Sangakkara charging down, just got it to dip more and then the bounce left him high and dry.

Jayawardene was made to look poorer than that. Murali first beat a late-cut with a topspinner from round the stumps, and then got a flighted offbreak to turn enough to beat the bat and get an lbw decision. At 64 for 4 after 11 overs, Punjab were looking at a freak innings from Yuvraj to keep them alive.

Yuvraj hit four fours and two sixes, but Mohammad Kaif and Manvinder Bisla at the other end wasted too many deliveries. The trend for Punjab, until this game, had been for one aspect of their game to do well, and the other to let it down. Still, to defend 136 against an in-form Hayden was too much to ask for. What's more, they had dropped their only bowler who could produce wickets, Sreesanth.

Hayden was not at his murderous best, but he was good enough he overtake Yusuf Pathan for maximum sixes in the IPL so far, and leave Chennai only 72 to get off the 68 deliveries. Punjab, the whipping boys of the tournament until then, used to letting matches slip after getting into winning positions, were about to turn one around from a losing position.

Their newest player, Theron, a medium-pacer, provided the turning point. Parthiv Patel dropped one at his feet and called Suresh Raina for a single, but Theron ran faster than Raina and kicked the ball into the stumps, from a good-length area on the pitch. Umpire Daryl Harper, who had earlier called a clear six a four, joined in the fun, sending M Vijay off when the ball was clearly sliding down leg.

About five overs later, the six call was corrected, and Parthiv was seeing Chennai through with what seemed a sensible fifty. Then came the rush of the blood. Just after having hit a boundary, he jumped out to Piyush Chawla and was stumped, leaving Chennai 16 to get off 16. Morkel and Manpreet Gony, who had earlier bowled poorly to give 20 runs in two overs, started slogging as if the requirement was sixty and not sixteen.

Theron, bowling the 19th over, only had to be straight when Gony produced the worst bit of cricket on a night that had had its fair share already. Throwing his front leg out of the way, and his head up, he slogged and lost his middle stump. An injury had confined Justin Kemp to the dressing room and Ashwin, like a hare in the headlights, couldn't do much with the last two deliveries of that over, setting up an exciting finale.

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MATCH15 - IPL 2010 - DC v DD

Andrew Symonds starred in an impressive all-round effort, racing to 35 and picking up three wickets, to help Deccan Chargers 

Symonds, Rohit star in 10-run win

achieve their third consecutive victory in the IPL - a result in contrast to Delhi Daredevils' run in the competition, as they slipped to their third defeat in as many games despite a counter-attack from captain Dinesh Karthik. Symonds' effort was backed up by an attacking knock from Rohit Sharma, who burst into spotlight after a quiet start to the competition to take Deccan to a challenging score, which proved just about adequate for them to continue their winning ways.

Deccan will look back at three stages where they came up trumps to snatch the game. They ensured the task of posting a competitive total was achieved, as Rohit and T Suman added 60 in quick time after three threatening innings by Deccan's overseas batsmen - Adam Gilchrist, Herschelle Gibbs and Symonds - had been cut short by timely changes in bowling; they fought back in the middle overs afterDavid Warner and AB de Villiers had combined to give Delhi a strong foundation for a successful chase; and they saw off a late scare from Karthik, who blasted 46 off 27. Symonds, bowling seam-up, bagged two wickets, including Karthik, off successive balls in the penultimate over to help seal a tight win.

The start to Delhi's chase was encouraging, as Warner began in ruthless fashion and followed that up with steady progress once the restrictions were lifted, underlining his determination to see his team through. While reaffirming his reputation as a big hitter, smashing four fours and two sixes in the first two overs, he proved equally adept nudging the ball around for singles and twos in the later overs.

Chaminda Vaas, among the most economical bowlers in the tournament, was taken for nine in his opening over. His partner RP Singh continued to be expensive, wilting to a brutal assault from Warner who alternated between clearing the ropes and drilling the bowler to the long-off boundary. A length delivery was sent over long-on and when RP held back to bowl short, he was flat-batted over point for another six.

Deccan, though, got rid of a major obstacle early in the chase, as Virender Sehwag suffered a rare lapse, miscuing Pragyan Ojha to be caught superbly by Gibbs. But de Villiers kept Warner good company, supporting him in a 51-run stand that gave Delhi the upper hand with two set batsman in the middle.

The partnership's end, however, marked a decisive moment in Delhi's chase. Warner attempted an impossible run, to be caught short at the striker's end; de Villiers soon fell, bowled off a full toss from Rahul Sharma in the 13th over, and when Mithun Manhas skied the same bowler to Suman 14 balls later, the game had turned Deccan's way. Moises Henriques, struck two fours but sliced Symonds to RP at point to make it 132 for 5 in the 17th over.

Rahul had enjoyed a successful start to his IPL season but Karthik's attack in the 18th over spoiled his figures. With his team in need of a desperate revival, Karthik bludgeoned Rahul through midwicket for a four and six, followed by a fearsome cut through point for a boundary. Symonds, too, was welcomed with a slash through point on the first ball of the next over, but showed sharp reflexes to send Karthik on his way, plucking an uppish drive with his outstretched right hand. Amit Mishra was caught behind the next delivery and Vaas bowled a typically miserly final over to finish things off.

The track in Cuttack was conducive to spin, taking turn and some extra bounce and Delhi used the conditions well, opting for a change in strategy, opening the bowling with a spinner. The slow bowlers grabbed the first three wickets; Monish Mishra and Gilchrist, who had blasted 24 off 14, and Gibbs, who, after smacking Dirk Nannes for two fours and two sixes, cut Yogesh Nagar straight to point. Symonds, with the confidence of two half-centuries behind him, looked ominous during his knock, finding the ropes with ease using the conventional shots but a mistimed slog put an end to his stay, as he slapped one straight to extra cover in the 14th over.

Suman, though, kept Deccan on course, picking out Henriques and Nannes for three boundaries before Rohit took off at the other end. Umesh Yadav was smashed for 18 in the 17th over, pulled over square leg and struck over long-on for sixes and sliced over point for a boundary. Henriques, too, wasn't spared, as he was dispatched over the ropes by Rohit in the next over, which fetched another 14. His parting shot was a steer over point off Nannes before a miscue to mid-off ended his innings. The final two overs yielded just 15, but Deccan's bowlers were able to put an under-performing Delhi under pressure and accomplish a hard-fought win.

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MATCH14 - IPL 2010 - mumbai indians vs royalchallengers banglore

R Vinay Kumar removed Sachin Tendulkar, Dwayne Bravo and Ambati Rayudu in one over to turn what had been a cat-and-mouse game until then, unmistakably Royal Challengers' way, also taking them to the top of the table. He benefited in part from the pressure created by his team-mates' smart swing bowling, changes of pace, bouncers to Indian batsmen, and aggressive spin bowling by Anil Kumble. It was a fitting reversal of roles for a man used to being among the top wicket-takers in Indian domestic cricket, and then watching others steal the spotlight - not the least when his state-mate Abhimanyu Mithun made his international debut ahead of him after just one season of impressive numbers.

There was no role reversal for Jacques Kallis and Manish Pandey, though, who added 50-plus for the first wicket for the third time in a row to scythe through the target without breaking a sweat. Kallis tightened the orange cap around his head, taking his tournament tally to 264 undefeated runs, but Pandey missed a fifty after a good start for the third time in a row.

The Bangalore openers will be the first ones to concede that the night belonged to their bowlers. Praveen Kumar and Dale Steyn laid the foundation by controlling the rampaging batting line-up that had scored 200-plus in both their previous matches. Praveen, with his swing either side in his first over, sent the message that scoring wouldn't be that easy against this attack, and Steyn in his first removed Sanath Jayasuriya with a quick outswinger.

Then Bangalore resorted to the nasty plan that has worked effectively for them so far: bounce the Indian batsmen out. Aditya Tare square-cut a short delivery from Jacques Kallis immediately before lobbing a sharp bouncer. Saurabh Tiwary - two fifties in two innings before this - managed to muscle a few bouncers away, but never looked in control. Anil Kumble then got him with a loopy googly in the man-versus-boy contest. Vinay followed the bouncer theme, and got Rayudu at the start of that definitive over.

While Bangalore had toyed around with other batsmen until then, at the other end Tendulkar was batting in a sphere of his own. He played the flick shot at will, and manipulated the on-side field, but in nine overs he had faced only 21 deliveries. The 22nd that he faced, he tried to flick again, moved too far across and exposed the leg stump. If this was a slightly lucky wicket for Vinay, there was no luck involved in the pin-point offcutter that removed Bravo two balls later. In 10 balls Mumbai had gone from 71 for 2 to 76 for 6, in 11 overs.

R Sathish and Kieron Pollard had to be circumspect for the next few overs, to make sure they lasted the 20 overs. After a five-over wait, Pollard opened up, hitting Praveen for a six and a four in the 17th over, taking Mumbai to 123. In the 18th, though, Steyn hurt them further. If Pollard was a touch unfortunate in hitting a full toss straight to deep point, the sharp bouncer was too good for Sathish. The running, tumbling catch that Rahul Dravid took at midwicket capped a night of near-perfect fielding.

Praveen, though, provided a blemish on a night of near-perfect bowling, giving Zaheer Khan length balls, which he hit for a six and two fours to take 16 off the last over, but 151 was still going to be hard to defend at a ground that hosted 212 v 208 last weekend.

Not with predictable bowling at any rate. Both Bangalore openers started off cautiously in the first overs from Zaheer and Lasith Malinga. Certain that there was nothing on offer that they couldn't handle, both of them attacked their second overs. It all went to an expected rhythm when Bravo and Pollard inside the Powerplay, as opposed to Harbhajan Singh. Their slower balls failed to surprise the batsmen, and their regulation pace was cannon fodder. By the end of Powerplay, Bangalore had reached 55. Pandey was 24, and Kallis, on 29, had already set his sights on another asterisk against his score.

Thereafter it was just a stroll in the park for Bangalore, made breezier by some lusty hitting from Robin Uthappa and Virat Kohli.

MATCH14 - IPL 2010 - MI vs RCB

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MATCH13 - IPL 2010 - RR v KKR

Finally, Rajasthan clicked as a unit and won a game. It was a slow wicket, perhaps one of the slowest tracks in this IPL, and Rajasthan, whose batsmen were harassed on bouncier pitches in this tournament so far, immediately looked more at home. Abhishek Jhunjhunwala led with a serene 45 to ensure Rajasthan capitalised on a solid start to end up with a very competitive 168, a total which they defended with a disciplined show from their spinners.

Kolkata didn't help their cause by a poor batting effort in the chase. Keeping wickets in hand is a sound ploy of course but they struggled to score runs and allowed the pressure to build up. Brad Hodge was the guiltiest of the lot. It might seem harsh for he scored almost a run-a-ball 36, but he never accelerated and allowed the chase to meander along. Hodge's approach was even stranger, considering Angelo Mathews and Owais Shah were cooling their heels in the dressing room. Even when he was well-settled, he waited for the new batsmen to attack, which was always going to be difficult on this slow track which aided the spinners. And Sourav Ganguly, too, struggled today though unlike Hodge, he tried to go for the big shots but could rarely find his timing. It might have been a plan that Hodge would drop anchor and the others hit around him but he never adapted to the changing demands of the chase.

Rajasthan relied heavily on spin - they started with Yusuf Pathan who took out the opener Manoj Tiwary with a quick skidding delivery and later returned to take out Brad Hodge - and it paid rich dividends on this pitch. It also helped that Shane Warne finally found his mojo today - he found drift and turn to keep the batsmen honest. Hodge was content, nudging Warne around, Pujara couldn't break free against him, and Ganguly couldn't connect with his intended big hits. Only Pujara played with a sense of purpose, hitting four fours right away on arrival at the crease but he too was slowed down by the spinners. And the chase had derailed.

At the toss, Warne had reckoned that 175 would be a good total and his batsmen responded well to the captain's call. They attacked with a plan, with one batsman looking to get after the bowling while the other rotated the strike. While Naman Ojha tried to find his touch, Faiz Fazal attacked at the start; while Jhunjhunwala settled in, Ojha attacked; and when Yusuf was new to the crease, Jhunjhunwala collected a few boundaries. Every time a wicket fell, they counterattacked. We don't know whether all this was planned or it just transpired that way in the middle, but what the approach did was to give Rajasthan a total that they were able to defend on this slow track.

It was Fazal who set the ball rolling with his attacking approach at the top. He walked in after Michael Lumb was trapped in front by Ashok Dinda for a first-ball duck and immediately looked to get after the bowling. In the same over, he swiped for a four but it was in the third over that he really got going with three boundaries against Dinda. He thrashed down the ground, pulled across the line and swung a delivery from outside off to the square-leg boundary to make his agenda very clear.

Fazal fell soon, flat-batting Shane Bond to mid-off but Ojha took over the attacking role to collect a few muscled boundaries against Matthews. However, he was run out in the ninth over, going for the second run but failing to beat an accurate throw from Mathews at long leg. Enter Yusuf and he drove couple of boundaries but yet again fell to the short ball, mistiming his attempted pull shot.

Jhunjhunwala, though, carried on and played a serene knock filled with late cuts, on drives and nudges into gaps, to push Rajasthan on. When he fell in the first ball of the 18th over, it looked like Rajasthan might lose their way but Adam Voges freed his arms to loot 17 runs in the final over, bowled by Ishant , to charge Rajasthan to a respectable total, which proved enough in the end.

MATCH13 - IPL 2010 - RR v KKR

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Tendulkar glow helps Mumbai shine

In his 21st year of international cricket, Sachin Tendulkar has been in superb form - runs have flowed in Tests and ODIs and now the Twenty20 format. His innings at the Kotla on Wednesday encompassed all that is brilliant about the man - not just in the manner of his own batting but in how it influenced Mumbai Indians, both necessary traits if they aspire to reach the IPL semi-finals.

Mind over body
That Tendulkar can score 200 in an ODI and continue to drag a cricket ball from outside off stump and hit it through midwicket at the age of 37 instead of 27, Geoffrey Boycott wrote recently, will continue to astonish many. Yet it should not, he added, come as a surprise: though a player's fitness starts to slip a bit when he hits the mid-30s, the vast experience gained allows him to play smart cricket. The result, as Tendulkar so aptly showed this evening, was that he can perform just as well as he did at 27 without stretching his body to breaking point.

Tendulkar is clearly enjoying his cricket, and it was evident in his body language throughout the game. After losing the toss and being asked to bat, a calm Tendulkar said he would have chosen to do so anyway. You could sense he was eager to get out and bat on what he called "a venue that has never been bouncy and tends to play slow and low". His mind was running, and the body caught up soon after in a thrilling display of what experience and form can produce.

Touch and thwack
Tendulkar has often been more of a touch artist than a bludgeoner but today he showed the gamut from subtle to sledgehammer. His first four boundaries were delicate, tapping the ball lightly with deft wristwork and helping it on its way square of the wicket on both sides. Then, after he scooped a thick edge just over the cover fielder for four, Tendulkar brought out the thump: he stepped out to the legspinner Sarabjit Ladda, made room and produced a big straight hit that bounced just in front of the sightscreen. He repeated the dosage for Amit Mishra. First he played a delicate caress to a fullish ball, hanging back and opening the face of the bat to get four between short third man and point, and next ball smashed it back past the bowler who smartly got out of the way. This trend continued until Tendulkar was dismissed by Mishra for a 32-ball 63.

Setting the tone
Getting a start is critical in Twenty20 and Tendulkar delivered in the manner that suits him best. He didn't give the bowlers a chance and made sure to keep the ball along the ground. His aggressive intent and the success it yielded, allowed the remaining batsmen to play around him. Aditya Tare slammed 17 from ten balls before he missed a slog, and the pair that followed built on a run rate that was over 10.50. The platform had been set, and Saurabh Tiwary and Ambati Rayudu were able to come out and ride on the wave, ultimately setting up a 200-plus total.

Big Brother
Aside from his role as batsman, what Tendulkar offers as a thinktank is massive. Two days ago, in the build-up to this massive clash, Tendulkar spent extra time with Tiwary in the nets at the Feroz Shah Kotla, feeding him with balls to fine-tune his sweep shots, which were going wayward. Clearly there has been a thought process behind elevating Tiwary to the first-choice playing XI this season. This season, Tiwary has played some sparkling innings for Jharkhand, the state he captains on the domestic front, and it has not been lost on the Mumbai management. Having someone of Tendulkar's stature give you additional time before a match can work wonders and the result was Tiwary's second belligerent half-century in a row. Under him the Indian players seem to have found the confidence to do well, and how Tendulkar continues to nurture the likes of Tare, Tiwary and Rayudu could be the decisive chapter in Mumbai's season.

Sachin the strategist
Today, Tendulkar held back the star West Indian duo of Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard, who had only reached India late last night, until the innings was almost done. Given the big bucks doled out for Pollard and Bravo, it would have been tempting to throw them in early but Tendulkar resisted and the move paid off richly.

During Delhi's chase he turned to Sanath Jayasuriya after Harbhajan Singh got a wicket in his first over, and the Sri Lankan allrounder struck in successive overs. Again, it would have been easy to keep Bravo and Pollard on but Tendulkar read the track and knew spin was going to be crucial. These are but small instances that allude to how he thinks.

Talisman effect
A Mumbai victory over Delhi in the Ranji Trophy always merits quite a few columns of newspaper space, and so should this win in the IPL. The playing field is vastly different, but given the form Delhi have been in and the all-round weight they boast of, this certainly qualified as an upset. They had won two in a row, and Mumbai can take fantastic encouragement from the fact that they've hit some form themselves.

Watching Mumbai's first two games this season, it is evident that this is a team that has the firepower to do well, but what they need to inspire them is Tendulkar. His injury in 2008 and patchy form in 2009 were undoubtedly factors in Mumbai's ordinary displays. But after two disappointing seasons the team may just have found the man in the right frame of mind. Captaincy has never been Tendulkar's strong point, as two disastrous stints in charge of India attest to, but in the Twenty20 format, and in such rich form, he may just be on the right path.

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