McCullum and Hodge gun down Chennai

May 18, 2009

Kolkata Knight Riders 189 for 3 (McCullum 81, Hodge 71*) beat Chennai Super Kings 188 for 3 (Raina 52, Dhoni 40) by seven wickets

Kolkata Knight Riders, powered by fifties from Brendon McCullum and Brad Hodge, staged one of the most thrilling chases in the tournament and showed why the bottom-placed team may still prove to be the king-makers in this crucial last phase of the league games. Chennai Super Kings, who looked set to seal a semi-final spot with their mammoth total batting first, will now have to put the celebrations on hold.

The run-chase owed its success to three partnerships: the opening stand totally dominated by McCullum, his association with Hodge, where he took charge initially before letting his partner step up, and Hodge's match-winning association with Wriddhiman Saha, whose calm presence combined well with the timely acceleration to stun Chennai.

The return of the seamers at the death heralded a decisive shift in the game as Hodge found an unlikely foil in Saha, who smote a six and a four in the 17th over from L Balaji that went for 14. The next over from Albie Morkel bled 13, with Hodge collecting two fours, one slapped back past the bowler and the other swung behind square leg.

With Chennai short of options, it was hoped that Balaji would be able to hit the blockhole but he was guilty of the same slip-up that cost Kolkata their previous two games. He gifted Hodge length balls, two of which were struck clean and straight over long-off, and a generous full toss to Saha off the final ball, who duly obliged to smack it over midwicket to bring it down to six off the last over. Suresh Raina tried his best, but despite an attacking field and a dot ball first up, the wave was against him. Hodge and Saha stole singles off the second and third deliveries, a tight run to cover on the fourth, before a swat to long-on with a deep enough Jacob Oram allowed them to scamper back for the second and level the scores. With the field brought up, an incredibly calm Saha chipped Raina over cover to seal a comeback win.

McCullum threatened to wrest the game with his blistering innings, displaying the same destructive batting that was on view in the first match of the IPL's inaugural version. His dominant innings today was as much a reflection on his brilliance as the lack of support from the other end, especially in the initial stages.

McCullum announced his intent from the first over, slashing one past slip, and clipping Morkel past square leg. Keeping him off strike became Chennai's immediate objective and Sourav Ganguly made their job far simpler, struggling to get bat on ball, a stark contrast to McCullum's free flow. McCullum feasted on Morkel, smashing him for 16 in the third over, while Ganguly was made to look like an irritable fly-swatter by Sudeep Tyagi. He was eventually put out of his misery, chopping one on from Muttiah Muralitharan, though Chennai, in hindsight, would have wished he had continued.

The dismissal did not deter McCullum; the run-chase received a massive boost in Tyagi's next over, as Chennai were suddenly made to grapple with the possibility of an upset. Tyagi was clattered for four consecutive fours - two over cover, one through fine leg and the other over midwicket - before gifting a freebie that was promptly dispatched into the stands. Kolkata had made 56 in the powerplay of which 50 had come off McCullum's blade.

Hodge has been Kolkata's best batsman in the tournament, and adapted to his subordinate role superbly, allowing McCullum the bulk of the strike, something his predecessor had appallingly failed to do. The scoring dipped with Murali and Shadab Jakati doing their utmost to restrain Kolkata, but McCullum's determination to put the horror of his team's run behind him bode ominously for Chennai. If the Powerplay was lit up by his brute force, his handling of spin exhibited his subtle touch, as he opened the face to Murali's doosra, chopped him through point and shared the floor with Hodge, who cut loose himself, thumping Jakati for two sixes.

McCullum survived a chance on 66, dropped by Oram, who palmed a catch over the ropes at long-on, leaving Chennai with a sense of foreboding as the match slipped away. However, the lapse did not prove too costly, as Jakati just managed to squeeze one through his attempted swipe to just kiss the offstump. When the in-form David Hussey was run out seven balls later, Chennai had fought back to steal the advantage which seemed to hinge on the fortunes of one batsman, but as they were to find out, it wasn't quite so simple.

Chennai were missing Matthew Hayden, their most prolific batsman this season, but his team-mates made up for that by posting a formidable score. The effort owed to a calculated performance by Raina and an equally shrewd effort by MS Dhoni, who built on a solid opening stand to put Kolkata Knight Riders under pressure.

Raina shrugged off a relative slide in form - he had managed just 48 in his previous three innings - to quickly slip into his natural mode of play, using the flicks, dabs and cuts that characterize his batting with relentless frequency and opened up in timely fashion to retain the tempo set by the openers. Dhoni, meanwhile, proved again that he remains Chennai's best middle-order batsman. He had been involved in four 50-plus stands before this, and added another to his tally, mixing up his raw power and rotating the strike. The innings was set up by an admirable display by the openers Parthiv Patel and George Bailey who put together a busy stand of 59, attacking the seamers early on and retaining the momentum once the spinners came on, scoring a boundary virtually every over amid a spate of singles and twos which never allowed the bowlers to settle into a rhythm.

However, their efforts were in vain as McCullum's blistering knock and Hodge's reliability produced an upset which has made Chennai's hold on the No.2 spot in the points table a little shaky.

Rohit breaks Kolkata hearts

May 16, 2009

Deccan Chargers 166 for 4 (Gilchrist 43) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 160 for 5 (Hodge 48, Hussey 43) by six wickets

A day of great political change in Bengal, with three decades of Communist domination coming to a dramatic end, was almost matched on the field by the team from Kolkata - almost but, yet again, not enough to end the Knight Riders' losing streak. They have lost several close games this season, but few have been as heart-breaking as this last-ball defeat against the Deccan Chargers, where in an incredible final over Mashrafe Mortaza went into meltdown and Rohit Sharma slammed the 21 runs to script a sensational victory. The success gives Deccan a boost in the intense scrap for the semi-final places, lifting them to third place with 14 points.

It was a match filled with talking points but none more so than the no-ball called on the first ball of the final over of the match with Kolkata deemed to have only three fielders in the circle. Brendon McCullum was livid with the umpire but, after lengthy discussions between him and the umpires, the decision stood. It had been hit for four past square leg as well, which meant that Deccan needed only 16 off the over, far more gettable than the initial 21.

The expensively acquired Mortaza, getting his first game of the tournament after an increasing clamour for his inclusion, kept the batsmen to two off the next two deliveries before giving the game away. A full toss on middle stump was swiped over midwicket for one of the biggest sixes of the tournament, and then there was a wide. Seven needed off three.

Rohit coolly punched one to long-on for two, then crashed the next ball wide of cover for four. One needed off the last ball, and Rohit completed the turnaround in high style pulling it for six to leave Mortaza with the unflattering figures of 4-0-58-0.

It undid all the good work of the previous two overs, when Kolkata relentlessly built up an advantage. Mortaza himself gave away only seven runs in the 18th and dismissed danger man Andrew Symonds with an agile run out. Ajit Agarkar, who had gifted away Kolkata's previous game, was also superb, with a mix of yorkers and low full tosses that Deccan found hard to get underneath.

It hadn't seemed that it would get this close when Adam Gilchrist provided Deccan his customary blistering start, swinging sixes over midwicket and peppering the off-side boundaries as well. The introduction of spin stemmed the runs, with Murali Kartik troubling the batsmen with his sharp turn and bounce. The part-timers Brad Hodge and David Hussey also put the squeeze on, and after Gilchrist holed out in the 10th over, the asking-rate started steadily spiraling upwards, till Rohit's heroics settled the matter.

It had been a cameo almost as incandescent as Rohit's that lifted Kolkata towards a defendable score. When Hussey walked out after 14.5 overs, Kolkata had plodded along to 85 for 2. He hurtled to a 17-ball 43 which nearly doubled their total by the end.

There was an over almost as dramatic as Mashrafe's final one when Deccan were bowling as well. The penultimate over was started off by RP Singh, who was forced out of the attack after sending down two above waist-high full tosses and just one legitimate delivery. Eight had already been taken off the over but worse was to follow when Harmeet Singh was brought on to complete it. Hussey swatted a short ball for four, then collected a couple of hard-run twos, before bludgeoning two sixes to round off the over. Twenty-eight came off it, the most expensive one of the tournament.

Despite Hussey's efforts, Kolkata only reached a middling 160 because of the go-slow of the earlier batsmen. Hodge and Sourav Ganguly couldn't get any sort of momentum going after the McCullum dismissal in the fifth over, only 25 runs coming in the six overs before the strategic break.

Ganguly, in particular, had a torrid time. One of his signature strokes during his high noon was the dance down the track to deposit the left-arm spinner over long-on. He attempted that shot off Pragyan Ojha's first over; not only did he miss the ball, he was struck a painful blow to the groin, and spent a few moments on his knees to get his breath back.

There was a controversial moment in the seventh over, when he stuck out his left hand to stop the ball as he was completing a single. Deccan appealed for 'obstructing the field' and when it was turned down, they were not too pleased with the decision, Gilchrist letting the umpire S Ravi know that the throw had been heading for the stumps.

At the other end, Hodge wasn't at his best either, only able to knock around the singles, and was especially uncomfortable against the spinners. Ganguly tried to get a move on after the time-out, but his struggle continued before the misery ended when he found the fielder at long-off in the 15th over. Hodge managed to string together some fours before Hussey's frenetic intervention, but a nerveless Rohit consigned them to another defeat.

Hayden struggles, but pushes Chennai over the line

May 16, 2009

Chennai Super Kings 151 for 3 (Hayden 60*) beat Mumbai Indians 147 for 5 (Duminy 62, Nayar 33*, Jayasuriya 30) by seven wickets

Some of the most bizarre stats you will ever see in Twenty20 games added excitement to the chase, but in the end Chennai Super Kings pushed Mumbai Indians out of the tournament - barring even more bizarre permutations later on. Chasing 148 Matthew Hayden had scored at various points in his innings 5 off 16, 9 off 23, and 20 off 33. His first boundary came off the 34th ball he faced (better believe all this), but he hung in till the end as Mumbai lost yet another close game after having bowled exceptionally well in the first half of their defence. Chennai now are formalities short of making it to the semi-finals.

One of the litmus tests of exceptional players is how well they do when they are performing below themselves. Hayden passed that test today. The Mumbai bowlers were effective in keeping him down, especially Lasith Malinga and Dwayne Bravo who set the tone, not giving him the length balls at all. In their first spells Malinga and Bravo bowled 11 balls to Hayden for just one run. But for a wide, Malinga even bowled a maiden. He also took Parthiv Patel's wicket first ball, the 10th time a wicket has fallen to the first ball of an innings in this IPL.

It would have been easy then for Hayden to try something outrageous to either hit out or get out. But he swallowed his ego, waited for his opportunities. How he looked during the struggle didn't seem to matter. Following Malinga and Bravo, Harbhajan Singh and JP Duminy kept it tight too, giving away 21 in overs 7 to 10.

At the strategy time-out Chennai needed 92. S Badrinath gave them a six in the first over after, but he fell in the same over. And Hayden went back to the grind again. Finally, in the 13th over, Hayden hit a four, off a short one from Chetanya Nanda, and then three more to never let the asking-rate cross 10. He got good support from MS Dhoni, who scored 23 off 22, and ran superbly between the wickets.

That the win came with five balls to go takes away from how close the teams were. They needed 27 off the last three overs when Harbhajan was brought back. A sloppy throw from Yogesh Takawale meant Hayden retained the strike, and Hayden hit a six next ball to provide the final twist. That six took him to 51 off 51, 31 runs coming off the last 18 balls. Now we're talking.

Mumbai, who have become the embodiment of "so near and yet so far", will look back at the final few overs of both innings as the ones that made the difference. Duminy, their most consistent batsman this season, got to his IPL best, but the Mumbai batsmen couldn't get the big hits then that would have taken the total from the realms of the competitive to the challenging. At 105 for 3 after 16 overs, they looked primed for a big assault, but could manage just 42 more, and 16 of them in the last two.

In a must-win game for Mumbai, Jayasuriya had answered the call early. A move up the order seemed to have worked. After two quiet overs the vintage Jayasuriya was on display, short-arm-jabbing fours and sixes to the leg side, and lofting a six over point. But just when it seemed one of those famous Jayasuriya innings that end the match in the first quarter itself was on, he skied one from Sudeep Tyagi, but not before he had put the Mumbai innings on its way. In two overs, the score went from 16 for 1 to 49 for 2, and Jayasuriya went from 2 off 7 to 30 off 17.

Duminy capitalised on that start, setting Mumbai up, despite tight bowling by spinners in the middle overs and the loss of Sachin Tendulkar in the 11th over for the second time this tournament. Abhishek Nayar and Duminy batted sensibly till the 16th over, adding 31 in the next 5.1 overs. In the 17th over, Duminy, who had until then relied mainly on his exceptional running between the wickets to get 35 off 40, opened up, but a smart 19th over from L Balaji robbed them of the momentum. Chennai scored 30 off the last 13 balls they faced, Mumbai 17.

Cool Sangakkara takes Punjab to victory

May 15, 2009

Kings XI Punjab 123 for 4 (Sangakkara 43*) beat Delhi Daredevils 120 for 9 (Karthik 32, Lee 3-15, Sreesanth 2-20) by six wickets

For the first time in what has been a mediocre campaign, the Kings XI Punjab arrived at the ground with three words carved in their minds: find a way. Yuvraj Singh, with his team in a do-or-die scenario, decided on fielding first on an obscure track and his bowlers vindicated that, limiting Delhi Daredevils to 120. They nearly muffed up a small chase, losing early wickets in a chaotic first six overs and then struggling after the strategic time-out, but yet again Kumar Sangakkara's level-headedness and Irfan Pathan's clutch hitting came up trumps. Delhi failed to hold it together defending a poor total, but can still make the semis even if they don't win any of their remaining games.

The side clinging on for hope before the semi-finals played with grit, while the one on song with near-flawless performances this season turned in a poor display. Brett Lee handed Virender Sehwag another poor score, Sreesanth dismissed Delhi's most consistent pair, and Lee returned with an inestimable wicket-maiden 17th over to help set up an achievable chase.

If any Delhi batsman needed time at the crease ahead of the semi-finals, it was Sehwag, but he again fell cheaply, ticking a short Lee delivery down the leg side. Sehwag has yet to cross 38 in this tournament - and seven innings have added up to only 107 runs. In the next over, Gautam Gambhir steered the ball to deep backward point but didn't run the first one hard enough and was done in by a good throw.

With two wickets from four matches at 69.50 at an economy rate of 10.69, coming into this match, you could have said Sreesanth was lucky to get another chance. But he was on top of his game today with four tidy overs of nippy medium pace that accounted for AB de Villiers and Tillakaratne Dilshan. Sreesanth got his act together by hitting probing lines and finding just the hint of swing needed to keep the batsmen guessing, and though he didn't have further success, the damage had been done.

Punjab kept a check on proceedings during the Powerplay, allowing only four boundaries, one of which was down to poor fielding by Lee at third man. Dinesh Karthik and Mithun Manhas strung together a 50-run partnership but neither was allowed to cause much damage. The 17th over was priceless for Punjab, during which Lee had Farveez Maharoof ducking, slashing and fishing before knocking him over. Lee picked up his third wicket with the first ball of the penultimate over and finished with 3 for 15. He bowled fast, bent the ball back on a couple occasions, and offered the batsmen nothing. It was just what his captain would've expected given Punjab's predicament.

Then their chase began frenetically and an upset seemed likely. In between two tidy overs that cost just four runs Simon Katich plundered 18 off six balls from Pradeep Sangwan. Maharoof dismissed him with his first ball, only to serve up three no-balls in a 13-run over. Ashish Nehra bowled Sunny Sohal for 3, after which Gambhir let off Yuvraj Singh at slip. Maharoof roped in his line and had Luke Pomersbach caught splendidly by de Villiers, who replaced Gambhir at slip.

Delhi only allowed one more four before the strategic break, with Nehra returning frugal figures of 4-1-6-1. This was Nehra's best spell all tournament, one based on an asphyxiating back-of-a-length line. He is now tied first with 16 wickets.

From needing 71 from the last ten overs, Sangakkara whittled it down to 44 from 36. He leaned heavily on reserves of patience he's showed before in this IPL, chalking out which bowlers to go for and what areas to target. His bat came down to cut the wide deliveries with clinical precision. With Daniel Vettori wheeling through his first three overs and only giving 11, Punjab needed to find a loose over. They got two. Sangakkara made room to chip Rajat Bhatia repeatedly over the off side, or slap the ball through the arc between point and gully for ones and twos. Bhatia's two overs cost 19 and that helped Punjab immensely.

The equation was 35 from 30 balls when Sangwan came back for the 16th over. Yuvraj failed to connect on the first three balls, drove two down the ground, and then slapped the fifth straight to point. That two-run wicket over was followed up by just three in Bhatia's third, and now Punjab were sweating.

Step up Irfan. Sangwan choked, and a half-tracker and full toss were duly dumped for sixes. That made it 42 from four overs for Sangwan, criminal when defending a small total. From ten an over required, the asking rate was now seven and a half. Maharoof chipped in with two wides, then craned his neck as Irfan clubbed another six. Having done so well between overs nine and seventeen, Delhi lost the plot. Irfan's 21 from 11 balls proved immense.

Punjab came to Bloemfontein needing a win, and they've done that. It is one massive step in the right direction.

Cool Rajasthan take humdinger

May 14, 2009

Rajasthan Royals 145 for 7 (Quiney 51, Jadeja 42, Jayasuriya 2-3) beat Mumbai Indians 143 (Tendulkar 40, Nayar 35, Warne 3-24) by two runs

The spectators at Kingsmead were treated to yet another humdinger as the Rajasthan Royals prevailed by two runs in a see-saw encounter with the Mumbai Indians. Rajasthan were in control of the game for 14 overs before Sachin Tendulkar and Abhishek Nayar opened out and gave Mumbai hope. It all came down to the final over when Mumbai needed four runs but a combination of some incredible death bowling by Munaf Patel and panic running resulted in three wickets, incredible scenes and a third-place spot for Rajasthan.

When Nayar made room and lofted Johan Botha over deep extra cover in the penultimate over, Mumbai - who battled required rates crossing nine an over - suddenly needed six off nine deliveries. The following delivery, Nayar played all around a yorker, lost sight of the ball and ambled out of his crease, only to be run out by the keeper. The dismissal was as untimely as Mumbai's revival, which came a little too late and resulted in a last-minute scramble for the required runs.

Munaf had leaked 14 off his previous over but Warne was brave enough to toss the ball back to him for the final over. Munaf beat Dhawal Kulkarni off the first ball and then slipped in a yorker to trap him lbw. Chetanya Nanda pushed the third, a full toss, to mid-off but perished to a direct hit. That put Harbhajan Singh back on strike but he could only squeeze a single off the next ball. Three were needed off two balls when Lasith Malinga took strike but yet another suicidal single, this time to cover, closed out the match.

It took a good 15 overs for the chase to actually come alive. Mumbai were kept on a tight leash by some excellent restrictive bowling by Rajasthan, particularly the slower bowlers. The duo of Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar - with 20 years of experience behind them - were silenced, to the extent that they had to settle for singles and an array of dot balls when the situation demanded at least a boundary every over to keep with the rising asking rate.

Much of that had to do with the early loss of wickets. At 23 for 3, Mumbai looked to their most explosive pair to give the innings a shove but the ball somehow just didn't find the boundary. The spinners were spot on target, varied their pace and slipped in the odd yorker. The boundary drought lasted 45 balls, before Tendulkar chipped down the track and lofted Warne over extra cover.

Jayasuriya tried to break free by slog sweeping the spinners but those heaves met thin air. When he connected, the ball ballooned off the bottom half of his pad and skied to short midwicket where Yusuf Pathan took a diving catch. JP Duminy barely had enough time to settle in before he chopped one from Siddarth Trivedi onto his stumps. It was a smart bowling change by Warne, who decided to bring in a seamer after Tendulkar charged Yusuf and carted him over long-on for a massive six. The anxiety levels in the Rajasthan camp shot up when Tendulkar slammed Ravindra Jadeja down the ground for three consecutive boundaries.

Warne let out a war cry when he trapped Tendulkar fell lbw trying to sweep him but the game was far from over, at least in Nayar's mind. With a stance as imposing Lance Klusener, he took his left leg out of the way to mow Botha for consecutive fours over the on side and the following over, he did the same to Munaf. The equation had come down close to a run-a-ball before panic set in.

There were doubts as to whether Rajasthan had made enough especially after Rob Quiney and Jadeja had given the innings the impetus with a stand of 61 in six overs. Rajasthan Royals' shoddy batting effort against Deccan Chargers demanded a few changes at the top of the order and Quiney responded positively to his recall to the side in place of the inconsistent Swapnil Asnodkar. In his earlier games, Quiney often made starts, only to throw it away. Tonight, he seemed determined to stay at the wicket and play the dominant role in the stand with Jadeja, who matched Quiney in his powerful shots over the on side.

The spinners had held the initiative with some tight bowling to pressurize the top order but the pair chose attack as the best form of defence. Between overs 12 and 15, Rajasthan managed 50 runs and the batsman who started the domination was Jadeja, who cut Harbhajan past point and slog swept over the on side. Quiney was particularly strong over the onside, slog sweeping Duminy high over deep square-leg before tonking Bravo for 19 in an over. The power behind his strokes stood out as he sent the ball sailing at least half a dozen rows back.

An excellent legstump yorker by Malinga sent back Quiney for 51 and after his departure, the runs dried up. Rajasthan managed only 22 off the last five overs and lost three wickets in the final over of the innings, bowled by Jayasuriya. Mumbai also lost three wickets in the final over of their innings but it was Rajasthan who had the last laugh.

Bangalore sneak home in thriller

May 14, 2009

Royal Challengers Bangalore 132 for 8 (Taylor 46, Kohli 38) beat Chennai Super Kings 129 (Hayden 60, Kumble 2-12) by two wickets

Royal Bangalore Challengers beat Chennai Super Kings with two balls and two wickets to spare to keep alive their semi-final hopes in a match that swung - rather, careened - between the sides.

Needing 130 to win, after Chennai's lower-order capitulation following Matthew Hayden's 38-ball 60, it seemed Bangalore would sail through. But by the end of the Powerplays, struggling at 33 for 3, the semi-final looked a distant dream. Ross Taylor then played a mature innings, unlike his attacking one against Kolkata Knight Riders, taking on the anchor role while Virat Kohli hunted for boundaries. The match had swung in Bangalore's favour at the end of the 19th over, largely because of a six from Praveen Kumar that left them needing just five off the last.

Taylor nearly undid his efforts by stepping out and wildly swinging at a shorter delivery from Jacob Oram only to get the top edge, which was caught by Dhoni running back halfway to the boundary. Praveen was joined by Vinay Kumar at the crease, with the equation now a run-a-ball. Praveen took a single off his first ball; Vinay Kumar flicked the next to wide of midwicket and the batsmen scrambled two. There was more drama to follow as Vinay Kumar, using a runner, cut the next ball to backward point and L Balaji misfielded after diving at the boundary. Bangalore were unsure if they had got four and the batsmen, after taking a single, pushed off for one more, before a sheepish Balaji signalled a boundary and the end of the game.

Though the climax was thrilling, Bangalore will know they made a meal of the chase after their bowlers had bowled Chennai out for an under-par total. They started badly but should have never let it get to the final over.

Albie Morkel struck in the second ball of the innings, trapping Jacques Kallis leg before for a duck though replays suggested Kallis was hit just outside the off stump. Rahul Dravid looked in good nick, driving Morkel behind square for a four and then cutting Sudeep Tyagi to third-man boundary. But when he tried to repeat the shot in the next ball, he misjudged the bounce and popped a catch to S Badrinath to backward point. Tyagi's next over went for 11 runs but Morkel, who had conceded three runs in his second, struck in his third: Robin Uthappa was trapped by one that came in and hit him on middle and leg. Morkel, like Kallis, bowled his quota on the trot, finishing with 2 for 13. He varied his length and the new batsmen - Virat Kohli and Ross Taylor - cautious after the early collapse, chose not to take any risks.

Kohli and Taylor collected the runs through singles. Kohli did cut and sweep the spinners for fours but couldn't beat the fielders when driving down the ground. The two added ten more than MS Dhoni and Hayden had managed - 30 - between the Powerplay and the strategy break.

Kohli survived a chance in the 13th over, when he hit Murali for four over mid-on and just out of reach of Hayden, who had run in to take the catch. The over turned into a tug of war between bat and ball after that; Murali followed the four with three dot balls - two of which beat Kohli - after which Kohli charged down the track and hit a six over midwicket. Another big six off Jakati in the next over pushed their run-rate over six. But just as Bangalore looked to be steadying their innings, Chennai yanked the mat from under their feet with two wickets in the space of six balls. Kohli pulled a short ball from Balaji over midwicket and Oram ran in from the boundary to take a tumbling catch. Mark Boucher then missed the doosra by Murali and edged a catch to Hayden at slip. Murali gave away only two runs in that over which also featured an un-Twenty20 field for the final two balls: a slip, short leg and leg gully were in place for the new batsman Roelof van der Merwe.

With Taylor and van der Merwe at the crease Bangalore held the initiative. But that slipped from their grasp with an unnecessary move from van der Merwe: after Taylor pulled Balaji for a six over midwicket, the two batsmen took a single only to see an overthrow go past them. Van der Merwe was late on the second run would still have made the crease at a stretch. However, he ran in sluggishly, not grounding his bat and was run out.

Bangalore live to bat another day but they'll have to work on it in the meanwhile. As will Chennai, who just imploded towards the end of the innings. Chennai crossed 100 in the 13th over but managed only 28 more in the next seven.

However the collapse was triggered by some tight bowling by Bangalore in the middle overs. Kallis were chiefly responsible for staunching the run flow with Kallis taking a two wickets in consecutive overs, including a maiden one.

Hayden had power-hit Chennai to 52 in the Powerplay overs and then looked to consolidate the score with Dhoni. Vinay Kumar and Praveen went for 28 runs in their first two overs as Hayden messed up their lengths by stepping out and swatting them over the fielders for boundaries. The run-rate was over nine an over even after the loss of two wickets but things began to crumble with Dhoni's fall. Dhoni tried going for a big shot but van der Merwe pulled off a stunning catch off his own bowling by diving to his wrong side. The fall of wickets hadn't affected Hayden's batting - he launched van der Merwe for a six over his head one ball after Dhoni's wicket - but he fell in the next over by Kumble, when he mistimed a pull and was caught by at the boundary by Vinay Kumar. After that, the other bowlers joined in tightening that noose: van der Merwe conceded three in his final over, B Akhil two off his first, Vinay Kumar and Praveen picked up a wicket each, while Kumble ended S Badrinath's agonising nine-ball stay.

In the end a few more runs lower down the order could have meant Bangalore's exit from the tournament.

Canny Bhatia steals one for Delhi

May 13, 2009

Delhi Daredevils 173 for 7 (Karthik 44*, de Villiers 44, Ojha 2-26) beat Deccan Chargers 161 (Gilchrist 64, Symonds 41, Bhatia 4-15, Sangwan 3-18) by 12 runs

Rajat Bhatia, arguably the best allrounder in India's domestic cricket, announced himself on the world stage tonight. Everything about Bhatia, his pace, his demeanour, his run-up, suggest an innocuous medium-pacer, but he was canny and deadly at the death, taking four wickets for four runs as Deccan Chargers choked to lose once again to Delhi Daredevils. Chasing 174 Deccan needed 25 in three overs, with six wickets in hand, but lost them all for just 12 runs.

When Bhatia came to bowl his final spell, Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds had almost hit Delhi Daredevils into submission. After Gilchrist's powerful 33-ball 64, Symonds had chased smartly, mixing the big sixes with chipped couples. Twenty-five from 18 looked as innocuous as Bhatia is reputed to be, but when Symonds was tricked by a slower one from Bhatia things became interesting.

Dwayne Smith was fooled by a slow legcutter two balls later, and the game had turned. A big choke followed as Venugopal Rao gloved an Ashish Nehra bouncer next over, and RP Singh ran himself out after failing to get bat to another bouncer. Soon Deccan found themselves needing 14 off the last over, and Bhatia was accurate with his slower balls again, removing Pragyan Ojha and Shoaib Maqsusi.

It was a night when Delhi's domestic bowlers undid two Australian heavyweights. That Delhi could entertain hopes of winning the match despite the amazing hitting was thanks to the 18-year-old Pradeep Sangwan. When Sangwan came on to bowl, Deccan had raced to 30 in two overs. Sangwan removed T Suman in his first over, and claimed Rohit Sharma in his second, which was a maiden as well. Deccan scored 50 in the Powerplays, despite only three runs off two Sangwan overs.

If Sangwan seemed to be playing a different game from his colleagues, Gilchrist wasn't too far off that either. Unlike Delhi's domestic players, Deccan were hampered by their domestic batsmen who seemed to be caught in the headlights. By the strategy break, Gilchrist had peppered the leg-side boundary with five sixes between long-on and square-leg, scoring 63 from 31. Others - Suman, Rohit, Ravi Teja and extras - contributed 20.

It was Sangwan again who struck after that time-out, getting rid of Gilchrist with a yorker outside off, which the batsman played on. Still Gilchrist left the chase in able hands, Symonds, who came in at a surprisingly low No. 5. Right from the off, Symonds showed he was in great touch, hammering sixes and finding gaps in the field nonchalantly. With Delhi's main bowlers bowled out, the chase seemed in the firm control of Symonds, until Bhatia struck out of the blue.

Dinesh Karthik's blitz earlier in the day was not so out of the blue, yet it was surprising that he should provide Delhi the impetus. With Virender Sehwag back, the batting line-up looked imposing, and Gilchrist chose to take the bull by the horns by sending Delhi in.

His bowlers answered the call, his fielders didn't, dropping three of their destructive batsmen. Chaminda Vaas got David Warner in his first over (Sehwag batted at No. 5) with a slower offcutter. RP should have extended his lead as the holder of the purple cap when he got Tillakaratne Dilshan to lob one straight to Rohit at gully. Straight out it came, and Dilshan punished Deccan after that.

Two more catches were dropped: AB de Villiers' by Teja when he was seven, and a first-baller from Sehwag by Symonds. Although Sehwag didn't hurt Deccan enough, Dilshan did severe damage and de Villiers capitalised as well.

de Villiers went on to score 44, but got out just before he could cut loose towards the final few overs. Dilshan, however, punished Shoaib Maqsusi. Inside the Powerplays, Dilshan scooped him for a four and a six in consecutive deliveries, and managed two more boundaries down the ground in what was tied with the most expensive over of the tournament, at 24 runs.

Vaas came pretty close of ridding his team-mate of the dubious honour, when he went for 23 in the last over of the innings. Karthik, who smote an unbeaten 23-ball 44, hit him for two huge sixes into the on side and a pleasing four over extra cover. Vaas added five wides from his side.

Delhi wallop Kolkata to go top

May 10, 2009

Delhi Daredevils 125 for 3 (de Villiers 40*, Warner 36) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 123 for 8 (Ganguly 44, Agarkar 39, Mishra 3-14) by seven wickets

The reduced canvas of a Twenty20 game is supposed to shorten the gulf between sides but in Johannesburg there was no hiding the difference in quality between the two teams at opposite ends of the table. Another commanding performance from Delhi Daredevils helped them sweep past struggling Kolkata Knight Riders and regain their No.1 spot. After their bowlers, led by Ashish Nehra and Amit Mishra, had restricted Kolkata to a paltry total, the batsmen - led by AB de Villiers - kept the chase in hand and strolled to victory with seventeen balls to spare.

It initially seemed Brendon McCullum would script a surprise after he swatted the game's second ball for six and jumped out with intent on the next. However, he was wrongly adjudged lbw off Nehra's next delivery, with the ball going over and wide of offstump, and Delhi gained an advantage they never relinquished.

Worse was to follow for Kolkata three balls later, when the reliable Brad Hodge edged to first slip for a duck. Morne van Wyk, one of the few bright spots in Kolkata's campaign, continued the procession by slapping a Dirk Nannes short ball to square leg. By the end of the second over Kolkata had lost three of their foreign recruits for nine runs.

Sourav Ganguly and Yashpal Singh tried to get their side back on the rails. Ganguly carved one into the Kolkata dug-out in the fourth over, and Yashpal collected a couple of hard-hit boundaries in the next. The singles were also being picked off, and Ganguly was looking extremely good, particularly square on the off side.

Enter Mishra. He got rid of Yashpal and Wriddhiman Saha in his first over, and Kolkata slid to 46 for 5 after eight. There was some less than assured running between the wickets when Ganguly and Moises Henriques were together before Henriques became Mishra's third victim after an uncomfortable eight-ball stay that yielded two runs.

Kolkata were then content to take the singles, cutting out most risks - Ganguly opening up only on a free hit, clobbering Mishra over long-on for a massive six. Ajit Agarkar also found some rhythm against Pradeep Sangwan, lofting him for a couple of boundaries. Just as Kolkata seemed to be recovering a bit, Delhi got rid of Ganguly.

Agarkar then threw his bat around to take his side into triple-digits, taking his chances with some uppish shots, to finish on a 29-ball 39.

It wasn't the most threatening of targets, on an easy-paced track, and Delhi's batsmen had their task made simpler still by being fed short balls early on. That helped Gautam Gambhir and David Warner get off to a brisk start and, by the time debutant Sourav Sarkar was taken for three fours in the fifth over, Delhi had piled on 45.

They were in a bit of trouble after Gambhir crashed one straight to point and Ishant Sharma removed both Warner and Tillakaratne Dilshan in the same over. Delhi were then 69 for 3 but Kolkata didn't switch to all-out attack mode. de Villiers and Karthik were allowed to get their eye in, knocking the singles around. The fielding also was not in same league as Delhi's; Agarkar had only given away three runs in the first five balls of the 14th over, but on the final delivery the long-off fielder made a hash of a simple stop to ruin the tight over. The anguish on the bowler's face was a familiar sight for Kolkata fans.

de Villiers hastened the victory by striking a boundary almost an over after that, and Delhi were again back to the summit of the IPL table, with a game in hand over their nearest rivals as well.

Rahane and Duminy renew Mumbai's hopes

May 10, 2009

Mumbai Indians 157 for 2 (Rahane 62*, Duminy 59*) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 141 for 7 (Boucher 48*, Harbhajan 2-15) by 16 runs

Pushed into the corner after three successive defeats, Mumbai Indians turned in a fine all-round performance at St George's Park, converting a middling target of 158 into a match-winning one. Sachin Tendulkar failed with the bat, falling for a third-ball duck, but he didn't falter with his captaincy moves. Starting with the promotion of Ajinkya Rahane, who scored an unbeaten 62, it was the bowling changes which proved crucial in the end as they resulted in the fall of four wickets. The wheels came off Bangalore and the game was over when they needed an improbable 40 off the last two overs.

Mumbai had earned their revenge after being vanquished by Bangalore exactly a week ago at the Wanderers. Their defeat to Delhi Daredevils was just as demoralising when their batting imploded. Today, they reworked their batting order, turned in a much more commanding performance and lost just two wickets. A stand of 104 between Rahane and JP Duminy gave their comeback campaign a surge and the momentum rubbed off on the bowlers who all chipped in with equal measure to effect timely breakthroughs and in turn strangle the runs.

Bangalore had the momentum briefly early in the chase when Kallis whipped a couple of stylish boundaries through the on side. The introduction of Dwayne Bravo sent him back as he upper cut a short delivery straight to third man. Robin Uthappa's inconsistency showed up again as he slapped Kulkarni straight to short midwicket before Virat Kohli perished in the same manner. Kohli looked to get on top of the seamers but when Tendulkar brought on Chetanya Nanda, it immediately brought about a wicket.

The run-out of Rahul Dravid, done in by a flat throw from Malinga in the deep, sunk Bangalore and at the end of 10 overs, they were desperately in need of a recovery at 58 for 4. Ross Taylor heaved Nanda over deep square-leg to bring about the first six of the innings but the relief was only temporary as Malinga returned for a new spell and sent Taylor back with a lightning quick yorker. Malinga had set it up earlier in the over with similar deliveries and one could sense a wicket was around the corner.

Boucher at the other end tried to glue the chase together but the support wasn't forthcoming. Harbhajan returned for a new spell and sent back the dangerous Roelof van der Merwe thanks to a brilliant leg-side stumping by Yogesh Takawale. At the start of the 14th over, Bangalore ran out of specialist batsmen and by the end, needed 66 off the last six overs. Mumbai on the other hand managed 65 off their last six and that proved the difference.

Bringing back Sanath Jayasuriya gave the innings a much-needed push after Tendulkar's early fall. He ensured Mumbai held the edge in the first Powerplay with 46 on the board with a wicket down, a contrast to the way they started against Delhi where they struggled to find the ropes.

He fell soon after van der Merwe came into the attack but the spinners couldn't contain Rahane, who made the most of his promotion. He began by slogging Kumble over the on side, including a huge six over wide long-on on his knee.

His intention was to get positive against the spinners and he demonstrated that by regularly chipping down the track to smother the spin and loft inside out. Not all aerial shots found the boundary but it didn't matter as he and his partner Duminy kept rotating the strike.

Duminy broke the boundary drought - which lasted more than three overs - with a massive six, off a front foot pull, off the debutant Abhmanyu Mithun. That shot signalled his arrival after a quiet start as he lofted van der Merwe over his head and swung Vinay Kumar over backward square-leg for another half a dozen.

Between overs 11 and 14, Mumbai scored 25 runs. In the next three they managed 33, indicative of their revival. Rahane reached his fifty with a deft dab to third man and Duminy raced towards his as he went into fifth gear with some scorching drives through the off side. Mumbai went into the break with much cheer, and their bowlers stepped up to fashion a much-needed win to move up by one place in the points table. It will take a while to get up higher but at least they crossed the first hurdle.

Duminy and Zaheer keep Kolkata down

May 1, 2009

Mumbai Indians 148 for 6 (Duminy 52*) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 139 for 6 (Hodge 73, Zaheer 3-31) by nine runs

Kolkata Knight Riders made a good attempt at causing possibly the biggest surprise of the season so far but fell short despite smart bowling for most of Mumbai's innings and a first fifty for them by Brad Hodge, who kept together a chase that threatened to fall away early on.

Mumbai turned the game irreversibly in six overs: the last three of their innings and the first three of Kolkata's. The main characters in this script were JP Duminy and Zaheer Khan. Duminy's late assault helped Mumbai scored 42 in the last three overs of an otherwise limp effort and, on the other side of the break, Zaheer removed Kolkata's openers Chris Gayle and Sourav Ganguly in his first two overs.

Hodge's innings was, in isolation, the best individual effort of the match. Chasing 149, Kolkata were 8 for 2 in the third over. Hodge consolidated along with Morne van Wyk and, while they didn't score at a spectacular rate, their 89-run stand kept Kolkata in the hunt. Hodge made an especially slow start, scoring 3 off the first 14 balls he faced. But once he'd stepped out and lofted Harbhajan Singh for a four in the sixth over, he pulled out a remarkable mix of sensible batting and attacking cricketing shots.

The three sixes he hit were hit down the ground without any power at all, just a clean swing of the straight bat. Despite the run-rate climbing every over, Kolkata were always with a chance while Hodge was in. With 61 required off the last six overs, he hit Graham Napier for back-to-back fours. With 51 needed from the last five, he hit Zaheer Khan for a six over long-off, and suddenly Kolkata needed just 38 in the last four overs with seven wickets in hand.

That's when Lasith Malinga delivered two near-perfect overs of death bowling, giving away just 11 runs and shutting Kolkata out. Mumbai's last three overs were a mirror image.

Kolkata had done everything right in the first 17 overs, but they still had Duminy to take care of. When Laxmi Shukla came on to bowl the 18th over, Duminy was 22 off 26 and Mumbai had reached only 106. He pulled Shukla for two sixes in the 18th over, and suddenly all Kolkata's good work from the first 17 overs seemed wasted. Ishant Sharma bowled a superb 19th over, giving away just nine runs and taking a wicket, but Duminy still stood between Kolkata and an easy target.

Two more sixes followed in the last over, both down the ground, off length deliveries from Dinda. The latter came off the last ball, which meant he had scored 30 off the last 11 balls he faced.

It was the most critical phase of the match: only two sixes had been hit before that, both by Sachin Tendulkar, emphasising the concern that Mumbai have been overly reliant on Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya. Once Jayasuriya was out for 6, there was no danger of repeating the hammering they had handed out to Kolkata earlier this week.

It was also a day when Mumbai and Kolkata experimented a lot. Kolkata made proactive and frequent bowling changes, and didn't let the batsmen settle to any kind of rhythm. After the first 12 overs of the innings, five of seven bowlers used by Kolkata had gone for less than six an over, and four of them had taken a wicket each. Mumbai sent in their hitters Harbhajan Singh and Abhishek Nayar at Nos 3 and 4. Neither move worked and Mumbai paid the price of aiming too high.

When it came to Kolkata's innings, both teams tinkered with their opening combinations. Ganguly replaced Brendon McCullum at the top of the order, and Mumbai didn't open with Malinga, saving him for the latter half of the innings. The final experiment worked for Mumbai, with Malinga bowling tight overs towards the end, and it's the final experiment that counted.