Chennai Super Kings played the smarter cricket and deservingly won the IPL Cup by defeating fancied Mumbai Indians by 22 runs at the packed DY Patil Stadium.

Batting first after winning the toss, the Super Kings shrugged off a slow start as “Player of the Match” Suresh Raina (57 not out), dropped twice, led from the front to pile up 168 for five and then turned in some brilliant performance in the field to restrict Mumbai Indians to 146 for nine.

The much-heralded Mumbai batting line-up caved in under pressure despite a brave 48 by skipper Sachin Tendulkar and big-hitting by Kieron Pollard (27 off 10) even as the Super Kings took some brilliant catches with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni yet again spot-on with his field placements and bowling changes.

Apart from Raina, there were quite a few other heroes for the Super Kings. Spinners Muttiah Muralitharan (17 runs in four overs), Shadab Jakati (2 for 26 from three) and Ravichandran Ashwin (24 in four) and later, seamers Albie Morkel and Doug Bollinger, all chipped in at the right moment to author a historic victory for the Super Kings who had finished runners-up in 2008.

The other factor that tilted the scales in the Super Kings, who also won the Fair Play trophy, favour was the team composition, besides of course their superior fielding. The Chennai outfit kept their faith in their three specialist spinners and held their catches.

The Mumbai Indians went in with just one in Harbhajan Singh while opting for an overly pace attack that was not as effective on a pitch that grew progressively slower.

The home team, faced with a big target, never got into their stride despite a promising second wicket partnership between Tendulkar and Abhishek Nayar who put on 66 runs. But Nayar committed a blunder attempting a non-existing single and was run out. The rot well and truly set in at that point.

Later, despite Tendulkar farming the bowling, wickets fell at the other end. The spinners came into their own with Ashwin up front followed by Muralitharan and Jakati, who dismissed Tendulkar and the dangerous Saurabh Tiwary in one over, doing the bulk of damage.

The Mumbai Indians kept back the powerful Pollard and when he came into bat, the asking rate had climbed to over 15. He blasted some massive hits, but it was all too little too late and he eventually fell to a brilliant catch by Matthew Hayden who thus atoned for a dropped chance earlier in the evening.

The turning point of course was Jakati’s third and the 15th over of the innings when he removed Tendulkar and Tiwary. Thereafter, the rest of the batsmen, barring Pollard, were simply not up to the task and although Pollard took 22 off Bollinger in the 18th over, his exit signaled the end of the Mumbai Indians’ challenge.

Super Kings did well not to look the gift horse in the mouth when they batted. The going in the initial overs was rather painful and scratchy despite a few big hits by the two openers, Murali Vijay and Hayden who looked distinctly out of depth.

In fact, Hayden was lucky to survive a plumb leg-before decision early in his innings, but even otherwise, was unconvincing. At the other end, Vijay batted quite beautifully until he tried to break the shackles and departed in the eighth over.

Hayden followed his partner back into the dugout, miscuing a big hit. Subramaniam Badrinath did not stay long and with the runs all but dried up, he too fell trying to force the pace and the Super Kings were reduced to 67 for three in the 12th over.

In walked skipper Dhoni and almost immediately set about repairing the damage. Raina, meanwhile, lived a charmed life, being dropped when on 13 and 28 and the Mumbai Indians were to pay a heavy price for these lapses.

The pair went on at a good clip to add 72 runs for the fourth wicket before Dhoni fell in the 18th over trying to maintain the brisk pace.

At this stage, the Super Kings still did not have enough runs on the board, but Raina and Albie Morkel came up with some big hits to push the score along. However, just when the partnership appeared to be flourishing, Morkel was run out attempting a bye in the final over.

Lasith Malinga sent down two dot balls to Raina and off the third, the southpaw batsman attempted a suicidal bye that caught Morkel well short of the crease. Another dot ball followed to new man Anirudha Srikkanth and then five wides. Anirudha hit the fifth legal ball to the boundary and finished the innings with a two.

Thus, a total of 168 gave the Super Kings lots to play with after looking hopelessly out of the contest in the first 10 overs when they scored a mere 59 runs.

Source: Yahoo News

Doug Bollinger scalped four crucial wickets as Chennai Super Kings beat Deccan Chargers by 38 runs to enter the IPL 3 final where they will play with Mumbai Indians on Sunday.

It was a triumphant performance by the Chennai bowlers as they bowled out the Hyderabad site for 104 runs while defending 142 runs.

Bollinger got rid of Adam Gilchrist, Tirumalsetti Suman, Bodapati Sumanth and Ryan Harris. Whereas Shadab Jakati chipped in with two wickets. jakati scalped opener Herschelle Gibbs and Monish Mishra.

Albie Morkel, Albie Morkel and Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan contributed with one wicket each.

R Ashwin of Chennai Super Kings scalped Andrew Symonds to give a big blow to the Deccan Chargers run-chase in the second IPL semifinal at DY Patil Stadium.

Shadab Jakati took his second wicket of the innings as he scalped Monish Mishra. Jakati shortened the ball knowing Mishra coming down for a big hit. Mishra missed the ball and the rest was accomplished by MS Dhoni behind the wicket.

Jakati clean bowled Herschelle Gibbs to give a big blow to the Deccan’s hope of reaching the semifinal.

Deccan got a big blow when their Mr. dependable Rohit Sharma returned to the pavillion. Rohit looked to clear the man at the boundary and got the toe end of the bat and found Muttiah Muralitharan at long on.

Bollinger took his second wicket of the match when he dismissed Tirumalsetti Suman. The Deccan batsman made room and hit hard but the ball flied to Raina where he caught easily.

Doug Bollinger provided the first breakthrough by getting rid of explosive opener Adam Gilchrist. Though Deccan skipper is going out of form, his wicket gave a psychological edge to the Chennai squad. Gilchrist was caught by Anirudha at mid wicket who to completed a low catch.

Earlier, Ryan Harris took 3 wickets as Deccan Chargers restricted Chennai Super Kings to 142/7 in the second IPL semifinal on Thursday.

Subramaniam Badrinath top scored for Chennai with a 32-ball 30 before he was run out by Deccan Chargers captain Adam Gilchrist.

Srikkanth Anirudha hit 2 sixes and a four in his 15-ball 24 and it was due to him that Chennai touched the 140-run mark.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Albie Morkel were dismissed in successive overs to leave Chennai struggling at 96/5.

Harmeet Singh had Dhoni caught by Rohit Sharma at gully after the Chennai captain added 52 runs with Badrinath for the fourth wicket.

Pragyan Ojha struck in the next over when he had Albie Morkel (4) caught by Andrew Symonds at long-on.

Batting first, Chennai Super Kings were struggling with three wickets down after five overs.

Harris gave Deccan an early breakthrough when he had Matthew Hayden (8) caught by Andrew Symonds in the covers in the second over. Hayden, who was dropped when he was yet to get off the mark by RP Singh at short extra cover and by Tirumalsetti Suman at gully when he was on 4, did not make Deccan pay.

In his next over, Harris trapped Murali Vijay (15) plumb in front of the wicket.

In the next over, Andrew Symonds had in-form Suresh Raina caught by wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist to reduce Chennai Super Kings to 29/3.

Deccan have made three changes to their team. Ryan Harris, Herschelle Gibbs and RP Singh come in for Mitchell Marsh, Chaminda Vaas and Rahul Sharma.

Chennai have made two changes to their playing eleven. Srikkanth Anirudha comes in for Sudeep Tyagi and Muttiah Muralitharan comes in for Justin Kemp.

Teams:

Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt.), Murali Vijay, Matthew Hayden, Suresh Raina, Subramaniam Badrinath, Albie Morkel, Srikkanth Anirudha, R Ashwin, Shadab Jakati, Doug Bollinger, Muttiah Muralitharan.

Deccan Chargers: Adam Gilchrist (Capt.), Herschelle Gibbs, Monish Mishra, Rohit Sharma, Andrew Symonds, Tirumalsetti Suman, Bodapati Sumanth, Pragyan Ojha, Ryan Harris, Harmeet Singh, RP Singh.

Source: Times of Indian

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni smashed an unbeaten 54 off 29 balls to beat Kings XI Punjab by 6 wickets and take Chennai Super Kings to IPL 3 semifinals at HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala on Sunday.

Dhoni’s knock was studded with 2 huge sixes and 5 fours and he finished the match with 2 balls to spare.

Subramaniam Badrinath smashed a half-century off 35 balls before Piyush Chawla had him stumped by Kumar Sangakkara. Badrinath hit 2 sixes and 7 fours in his 36-ball knock.

Suresh Raina smashed 3 sixes and 5 fours in his 27-ball 46 before he was dismissed by Juan Theron.

Raina became the first player to hit 1300 runs in IPL history enroute his fiery knock before Theron had him caught by Karan Goel at sweeper-cover.

Raina’s swashbuckling knock came after Ramesh Powar dismissed Matthew Hayden and Murali Vijay in successive overs to dent the Chennai run chase.

Powar first had Hayden (5) caught behind by Kumar Sangakkara in the third over.

Powar, who opened the attack for Punjab, struck in his second over by tossing up a delivery, Hayden set himself up to play a big shot, but it bounced slightly shorter than he expected and then turned just enough to take the outside edge.

In the next over, Powar induced Vijay out of the crease by another flighted delivery. Vijay looked to get close to the pitch of the ball, but it turned sharply down the leg side and Sangakkara completed a sharp stumping.

Earlier, Shaun Marsh and Irfan Pathan added 99 runs off 48 balls for the fourth wicket to power Punjab to 192/3.

Marsh’s unbeaten 88 off 57 balls was studded with 5 sixes and 8 fours and Pathan’s 27-ball 44 came with the help of a six and 4 fours.

The unbeaten stand came after R Ashwin clean bowled Sangakkara (33) and in the next over Suresh Raina trapped Yuvraj Singh (1) plumb in front of the wicket to reduce Punjab to 93/3.

Punjab lost Mahela Jayawardene in the third over when Sudeep Tyagi took a good catch at mid-off off Albie Morkel after Chennai skipper MS Dhoni won the toss and opted to bowl in their must-win encounter.

Chennai effected two changes in the side, bringing in Justin Kemp and Sudeep Tyagi for Michael Hussey and L Balaji.

Punjab made three changes, leaving Reetinder Sodhi, Shalabh Srivastava and Vikramjeet for Sunny Sohal, Ramesh Powar and VRV Singh.

Teams:

Kings XI Punjab: Kumar Sangakkara, Shaun Marsh, Mahela Jayawardene, Yuvraj Singh, Karan Goel, Irfan Pathan, Juan Theron, Ramesh Powar, Piyush Chawla, Sunny Sohal and VRV Singh.

Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni, Matthew Hayden, Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina, Albie Morkel, Justin Kemp, S Badrinath, R Ashwin, Shadab Jakati, Doug Bollinger and Sudeep Tyagi.

Source: Times Of India

Gautam Gambhir cracked an unbeaten 57 as Delhi Daredevils spanked Chennai Super Kings by six wickets in a low-scoring IPL match to virtually seal a semifinal berth on Thursday.

Captain Gambhir led a remarkable recovery with a resolute batting display with Mithun Manhas (25 not out) after his side made a messy start in the run chase of 113 by losing their top three batsmen for just six runs in the second over.

The duo shared 75 runs from 70 balls for the unfinished fifth wicket as Delhi romped home with eight balls to spare and snap their three-match losing streak at M A Chidambaram Stadium.

Gambhir, who fought dehydration by applying water on his head and body on few occasions, struck five fours in his 56-ball innings, his second IPL 3 half century, and hit the winning runs, a two, as Delhi reached 113 for four in 18.4 overs on a pitch which offered turn to slow bowlers .

Earlier, Chennai Super Kings could make just 112 for nine after electing to bat with left-arm pacer Ashish Nehra taking three wickets for 26 to lead a superb bowling display by Delhi Daredevils.

With the win today, their seventh in 13 matches, Delhi are virtually in the semifinals with 14 points. They play Deccan Chargers at home in their last league match on April 18.

Despite the loss, Chennai are still not out of semifinal race with 12 points from 13 matches though the paltry total after batting first took down their net run rate to plus 0.270.

Pacer Dough Bollinger was the most successful bowler with two wickets for 24 runs in his four overs while Ravichandran Ashwin and Shadab Jakati got a wicket apiece.

Delhi made a disastrous start in their run chase, losing their top three wickets for just six in the second over and looked like throwing away the match before Gambhir and Manhas rescued them.

On a track which offered turn to slow bowlers, Chennai opened bowling with a spinner and Ravichandran Ashwin did not disappoint his captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni by removing dangerous David Warner in his third ball for a duck.

Warner tried to play a cut shot but failed to negotiate the turn Ashwin extracted and the ball spooned to cover for Murali Vijay to take a diving catch.

Virender Sehwag (4) played his characteristic style and fell the same way as he has been doing for a while in IPL III, out cheaply for four after playing a big shot early on as the thick edge off Doug Bollinger’s first ball was easy picking for Matthew Hayden at slip.

Three balls later, Tillakaratne Dilshan (1), who returned to playing eleven after being dropped due to poor form, did not last long as he tried an expansive shot off Bollinger only to see inside-edging the delivery and his furniture being disturbed.

Gambhir and wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik started the repair work by sharing 32 runs from as many balls for the fourth wicket before the latter was out for a 16-ball 13 in the seventh over.

Karthik top-edged a pull shot off Jakati for S Badrinath to take a well-judged catch at midwicket to reduce Delhi to 38 for four.

The early wickets saw run rate plummeting and Delhi were 56 for four at the halfway mark. After Karthik’s dismissal Gambhir and Manhas did not have a four for five overs as they ran mostly for singles.

The duo opened up from the 16th over onwards and struck some lusty blows off Ashwin, Suresh Raina and Bollinger to ease past the target of 113 with eight balls to spare.

Manhas gave able support to Gambhir and his 32-ball 25 contained two fours.

Earlier, left-arm pacer Ashish Nehra took three wickets for 26 to lead a superb bowling display by Delhi Daredevils as they restrict Chennai Super Kings to a paltry 112 for nine.

Needing to win the match for a semifinal berth, Chennai failed to apply themselves against a disciplined Delhi bowlers as their top six batsmen were back at the hut by the halfway mark for just 55 runs after electing to bat.

S Badrinath top-scored with a 29-ball 30 while Murali Vijay (17), Suresh Raina (15) and Michael Hussey (15) got the starts but failed to convert them to big scores as Chennai slumped to their lowest IPL III total.

For Delhi, Nehra took important wickets of openers Vijay and Matthew Hayden and that of Badrinath in his four overs. Sehwag chipped in with a superb two for 18 from his four overs while Dilshan, Amit Mishra and Dirk Nannes got one each.

Source: NDTV Cricket

Half-centuries by Suresh Raina and Murali Vijay and a three wickets haul by R Ashwin helped Chennai Super Kings steamroll Kolkata Knight Riders by nine wickets at the Chepauk.

Chris Gayle hit the top of off-stump and Matthew Hayden is on his way back to the dug-out. Just the start Kolkata Knight Riders wanted.

Kolkata are 139 for eight

Kolkata recovered well after losing four early wickets against Chennai Super Kings. Angelo Mathews top scored with 48 to lend some respectability to Kolkata’s total.

R Ashwin was on fire for Chennai, snapping up Gayle, McCullum and David Hussey while Doug Bollinger was lucky to get an LBW decision against Ganguly.

Ashwin prized out Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum in the third over of the innings to leave Kolkata reeling.

Gayle smoked R Ashwin out of the park for a six and then danced down the track to be completely deceived in the next delivery, Easy stumping opportunity for MS Dhoni.

McCullum tried to sweep Ashwin but top edged to Muralitharan at short fine leg.

Ganguly was unlucky to be given LBW off Doug Bollinger by umpire Sanjay Hazare. Kolkata Knight Riders are in deep trouble.

Angelo Mathews and Tiwary stitched a solid partnership to bail KKR out of a disastrous start against Chennai.

Suresh Raina helped Chennai Super Kings make a crucial breakthrough after Manoj Tiwary holed out to Murali Vijay in the deep.

MS Dhoni was brilliant behind the stumps and he kept his cool again to stump Saha off Shadab Jakati as Kolkata Knight Riders plunged into further trouble.

Laxmi Ratan Shukla struck some lusty blows for Kolkata Knight Riders before being done in by a short ball from Doug Bollinger.

Mathews played a great hand in rebuilding Kolkata’s innings before top edging his Sri Lankan teammate Muralitharan for 48.

The Toss

Kolkata Knight Riders have won the toss and decided to bat first against Chennai Super Kings in a must-win IPL clash at the Chepauk on Tuesday.

Brief Preview

This is as tight as it gets. Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders face off in a must-win tie for both sides. With the run to the semis getting hotter with every match, the stakes are higher than before.

After two appalling seasons, Kolkata Knight Riders have a chance this time of making it to the first four. However, for that to happen, every game for Sourav Ganguly’s men will be a knock-out. The skipper blasted his teammates for a poor show against RCB the other night and every player will want to prove his worth.

Chennai Super Kings, on the other side, have been on an upward surge with Murali Vijay showinng his big-hitting skills. MS Dhoni is a shrewd captain and it remains to be seen who – amongst two of India’s most successul captains holds his head high tonight. CSK have a great bowling attack and with Muralitharan warming the benches for the last few matches, KKR will be a worried lot.

Teams

Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (C) (W), Murali Vijay, Matthew Hayden, Suresh Raina, Albie Morkel, Subramaniam Badrinath, Ravichandran Ashwin, Srikkanth Anirudha, Muttiah Muralidaran, Shadab Jakati, Doug Bollinger

Kolkata Knight Riders: Sourav Ganguly (C), Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, Manoj Tiwary, Angelo Mathews, Wriddhiman Saha (W), Laxmi Shukla, Ajit Agarkar, Ashok Dinda, David Hussey, Iqbal Abdulla

Source: ESPN Star

Deccan Chargers continued to climb up the points table by beating Chennai Super Kings comprehensively by six wickets at their “home” venue in Nagpur to draw level with Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders and the losing side. The win was set up by their bowlers, after MS Dhoni decided to bat on a scorching afternoon, who restricted Chennai to 138, allowing the batsmen to chase at a comfortable pace despite two early jolts and the sapping heat. Deccan struggled against spin initially, losing three wickets to the slow stuff, but rode on another fifty from T Suman and Andrew Symonds’ cool head to seal victory with five balls to spare.

The only bit that really went right for Chennai was the toss, which Dhoni won and had little hesitation in choosing to bat. When Chennai accelerated from 21 after three overs to 55 for 1 from six it seemed a run-fest was on the cards. As it turned out, Chennai had little to celebrate thereafter. In the eighth over, M Vijay called for a suicidal second run and that momentary brain freeze changed the complexion of Chennai’s innings. It was another example of the schizophrenic series he’s had, with aborted starts amid some match-winning knocks, and from there Deccan never let the initiative slip.

From 65 for 2 in eight overs, Chennai slowed down to reach the half-way stage at 74 for 2 with Symonds and Pragyan Ojha keeping a check with stump-to-stump bowling. Chennai’s predicament had been brought about by their batsmen’s urge to dominate and as wickets fell around him, Suresh Raina began to improvise cleverly. He moved to leg to clip the ball fine and walked down the pitch to upset the bowlers, but also reined in his attacking instincts, knocking the ball in the gaps during the middle overs. Gilchrist put down a tough chance when Raina was 27 and he broke a 38-ball period without a boundary by stepping out and launching Ojha for a straight six and repeated the shot to Symonds in the following over. Raina struggled to keep a partner at the other end, as Michael Hussey pulled Symonds to deep midwicket and S Badrinath fell for 6.

When Raina fell for 52, Chennai only had 122 on the board with 16 deliveries to go and no recognised batsman to follow. Deccan never allowed matters to slip their grasp as Harmeet Singh stymied runs and Ryan Harris returned to pick up wickets in the last over. In a team which had more experienced names in their bowling line-up, the hero of the innings was Harmeet, who bowled with excellent control, changing his pace and offering the batsmen no width to score off. His dismissal of Matthew Hayden with his first ball, drawn into a drive, and final two frugal overs were a blow to Chennai’s hopes of getting a challenging total on the board.

A target of 139 meant than Chennai had to strike early to have any chance of a successful defense. The very impressive R Ashwin’s dismissal of the Deccan openers in the fifth over, with lovely traditional offspin, gave Chennai a sniff but Suman emphasised how crucial his presence at No. 3 was with a sensible innings. Against Bangalore two nights ago, Suman had batted aggressively because Deccan where chasing 185 but today he focused on staying at the crease.

He reigned in the big shots and along with Symonds -after Rohit Sharma fell to another aerial shot outside off stump – he stablised the innings, allowing himself to gain confidence against spin. Suman chipped Shadab Jakati for four and swung Raina for six, Symonds launched Jakati down the ground for maximum to negate the pressure, and the equation came to 49 from 36 balls. Dhoni had to turn to Sudeep Tyagi for his first over, the 15th, and Suman greeted him with four and six to cross fifty, the striking point being the use of a straight bat and clean swing. He fell with 32 needed from 24, a task which Symonds made sure was accomplished without too many jitters.

Deccan’s win means the match to follow tonight will break up the tie between Kolkata and Bangalore.

Jamie Alter is a senior sub-editor at http://iplt20cricketlive.com/?p=2797 Chennai Super Kings 165 for 4 (Hayden 35, Pollard 2-27) beat Mumbai Indians 141 for 9 (Tendulkar 45) by 24 runs…

Siddarth Ravindran is a sub-editor at Cricinfo…

This was more Cricinfo Slogout – or whatever your preference for keyboard-fuelled cricket is – at its best as Chennai Super Kings, led by M Vijay, pulverized the Rajasthan Royals bowling and set up a 23-run win. Having been given first use of a belter of track by his captain, an in-form Vijay drubbed a dazed attack into submission with an outstanding century of powerful and clean hitting that carried Chennai to a record total. From 91 for 2 after ten overs, Chennai ransacked 155 in the final ten, and 76 in the last five, with Vijay and Albie Morkel setting a record for the tournament’s highest partnership.

After 20 overs that resembled the mid-point of the French Revolution, Rajasthan had their task cut-out. Their reply was a hard-hitting one led by Naman Ojha and Shane Watson, but though they titled at the windmill for a while, Doug Bollinger’s fine debut – 2 for 15 from four overs – made sure Chennai held on for a victory that kept alive their hopes of a place in the semi-finals.

There’s a special kick that comes from finding a new sensation. So step up, Vijay, and take your bows. On a scorching Saturday afternoon, Chennai bolted out of the stables. The tone was set when they reached 66 for 1 after six overs, with Vijay flexing his muscles to reach 28 off 14 balls. Suresh Raina was cut off by Warne for the second time this season, but that proved to be the best thing to happen to Chennai. Morkel teed off with a trademark slogged six off Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, and when Warne began with a terrible long hop the result was six more. Vijay also launched Warne for six to raise a fifty.

After that costly over Chennai’s run rate was near ten. It went past that mark the first ball of the next over, as Vijay late cut Yusuf Pathan for four and charged him for six, and then nearly touched 11 when Morkel slogged four and six off successive deliveries. Off went Yusuf to nurse figures of 0 for 44 from four overs. Two more incredible shots flowed in the next over, bowled by Shaun Tait. Morkel’s unleashed a perfect drive past cover, Vijay made room and used the pace on the ball to steer a six over third man. By this time the fans were high on some awesome batting, and a pulled six out of the ground sent the spectators at deep midwicket into delirium. After 15 overs, Chennai were 170 for 2.

Upon the conclusion of the 16th over, they were 196 for 2. Vijay’s seventh six came promptly on resumption after the time-out, with Sumit Narwal starting off by bowling length. Morkel didn’t want to be left out and drove a straight six to raise the century stand in 43 balls, but was left marvelling at his partner’s strokeplay when two more sixes flew off Vijay’s bat in a 26-run over. Narwal went for 41 in two overs and it was left to Warne, Watson and Tait to try rein in the rampant batsmen.

Rajasthan had a chance to run out Vijay but Warne failed to collect cleanly. Two runs from four balls seemed like damage control, but Morkel rounded off by taking ten off the last two deliveries. A hammered straight-drive down the ground for four got Vijay to three figures from just 46 balls, and he celebrated with more devastating hitting down the ground as Rajasthan’s bowling imploded. Even the wickets of Morkel, Vijay and MS Dhoni in the final over couldn’t give Rajasthan much lift. Vijay was responsible for 52% of his team’s runs, and his incredible 152-run alliance with Morkel left them battered.

After losing the toss Warne, beads of sweat dripping down his face, said he didn’t have too many issues with Rajasthan having to chase. This clearly wasn’t what he had in mind, even if Rajasthan’s openers took 62 off the Powerplays without trying anything silly and Ojha and Watson gave it their all. Morkel’s first two overs cost 29 as Michael Lumb and Ojha took three fours a piece, but a tidy start from Muttiah Muralitharan forced Lumb to continue attacking Morkel and that led to his dismissal for 37. The cheers across the ground reached a crescendo four balls later when Bollinger did a David Hussey and plucked a surreal catch to dismiss Yusuf. It was another example of how seriously boundary-catching is taken, as Bollinger parried that ball over the ropes, threw it back into play, and then hopped across to pouch it. And to think yesterday Kings XI Punjab’s fielders couldn’t catch dollies inside the circle.

Bollinger was into the thick of things later when he was handed the ball after a tidy two-over spell early. Watson had targeted the midwicket boundary ruthlessly during his 25-ball 60, hitting Murali for three sixes in the 15th over, but a missed swipe against Bollinger left his stumps rattled. Watson and Ojha, who played excellently after keeping wickets in the sweltering heat, had looted 97 in 43 deliveries with some audacious shot-making but with the dangerman gone, Rajasthan’s chase fizzled despite Ojha battling on to an unbeaten 94. In a match where 469 runs were made in 40 overs, Bollinger allowed just 15 runs from four overs.

Jamie Alter is a senior sub-editor at Cricinfo

Sachin Tendulkar and Shikar Dhawan hammered half-centuries as Mumbai secured a comfortable five-wicket home victory over Chennai.

Suresh Raina, freed of the captaincy burden with the return of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, smashed an unbeaten 83 and together with Subramaniam Badrinath (55 not out) added 142 in an unbeaten third-wicket stand for the third wicket to power Chennai to 180 for two.

But that total proved insufficient as Tendulkar hit 72 and Dhawan made 56 as Mumbai overhauled the target with a full over to spare.

Chennai were asked to take first strike and opener Matthew Hayden began on an ominous note, smashing Zaheer Khan for four consecutive boundaries.

But the left-hander’s stay was brief, the burly batsman falling victim to Harbhajan Singh who was pressed into service inside the powerplay.

Chennai then showed familiar weaknesses as other opener Parthiv Patel followed Hayden back to the pavilion, bizarrely bowled by Ryan McLaren for eight.

Those dismissals brought Raina and Badrinath together and the duo began the task of rebuilding.

Raina injected momentum by smashing Dwayne Bravo for a six and a four off consecutive deliveries and repeated the feat in the bowler’s third over.

The left-hander continued to find the boundaries regularly, raised his half-century off 32 deliveries and batted sensibly at the death.

Badrinath, not quite as fluent as Raina, played the supporting role well and reached his half-century off 41 deliveries, smashing six boundaries along the way.

That total looked defendable, but Dhawan stamped his authority in brutal fashion, smashing Joginder Sharma for three boundaries in the medium-pacer’s first over and then smashing Lakshmipathy Balaji for consecutive sixes.

He reached his half-century off 31 deliveries and had added 92 for the opening wicket with Tendulkar when left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati ended his stay.

Chennai then gave themselves a chance by removing Saurabh Tiwary and Rajagopal Sathish cheaply, but Tendulkar helped Mumbai regain control of the chase.

Mumbai skipper, who had contributed only 24 to the opening stand, quickly closed in on a half-century, a milestone he reached in 37 deliveries and continued the onslaught in the company of Kieron Pollard.

Sri Lankan all-rounder Thissara Perera, making his IPL debut, was introduced for the first time in the 16th over and was smacked for 19, Pollard and Tendulkar clobbering two boundaries apiece as Mumbai cantered to victory.

Source: ESPN Star

Robin Uthappa cracked a dazzling half-century, while R Vinay Kumar scalped four wickets to help Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Chennai Super Kings by 36 runs in their Indian Premier League match on Wednesday.

Put into bat, Bangalore first rode on Uthappa, who blasted 68 runs off 38 balls, to post a competitive 171 for five after a slow start and then restricted Chennai at 135 for seven to stretch their winning streak to three games.

Pacer Vinay Kumar emerged as the wrecker-in-chief and he was ably supported by skipper Anil Kumble and Praveen Kumar, who picked one each giving away 15 and 21 runs to bring Chennai’s downfall at the M Chinnaswamy stadium here.

Earlier, Uthappa starred in a 19-ball 52-run stand with Mark Boucher to take Royal Challengers Bangalore past the 150-mark.

Struggling at 119 for five in 17 overs, RCB piled up 52 runs in the last three overs, thanks to the unalloyed blitzkrieg of Uthappa, who unleashed an array of attacking strokes to destroy the Super Kings.

In the 19th over, the Karnataka batsman launched a brutal attack on Lakshmipathy Balaji and clobbered him for three successive sixes to set the stands on fire.

His awe-inspiring innings was studded with three fours and six sixes.

Chasing 172 to win, Chennai had a shaky start when they lost opener Parthiv Patel (1) in the last ball of the first over off Praveen Kumar.

However, Matthew Hayden (32) and George Bailey (18) steadied the ship with a crucial 55-run partnership for the first wicket but with Praveen and Dale Steyn bowling a tight line, the duo could not free their arms.

Skipper Anil Kumble also bowled brilliantly to further suffocate the duo as Chennai reached 29 for one in six overs.

Still needing 143 off 84 balls, Hayden took refuge to his Mongoose bat and belted three successive fours off Jacques Kallis in the eighth over to ease the pressure.

However, the euphoria was shortlived as the Chennai lost both the set batsmen in the 10th over off R Vinay Kumar.

While Hayden was run out by Rahul Dravid, Bailey failed to negotiate an away going delivery and edged it to Mark Boucher as Chennai were reduced to 59 for three in 9.4 overs.

Vinay Kumar struck again in his next over, removing skipper Suresh Raina (9) in his third ball. After hitting a six of the first ball, Raina miscued one to wide third man and Kallis made no mistake.

Kumble then dismissed Murali Vijay (3) in his fourth over when going for a slog sweep, the Tamil Nadu batsman ended up giving a simple catch to Eoin Morgan at deep midwicket as Chennai looked down the barrel at 74 for five in 12.3 overs.

S Badrinath tried to breakfree with his 17-ball 31 but he soon perished as Vinay Kumar took his third wicket of the day.

Put into bat, Royals had to struggle hard to keep the scoreboard ticking as pacers Morne Morkel, Sudeep Tyagi and Lakshmipathy Balaji used the pace and bounce in the wicket to straitjacket the RCB batsmen.

But it was Muttiah Muralitharan who strangled the RCB batting line up most in the middle overs with his off-spin as the Sri Lankan scalped three wickets — Rahul Dravid (14), Manish Pandey (20) and Virat Kohli (24) — for 25 runs.

Frustrated at not being able to connect the ball with the meat of their bats, the RCB batsmen charged at Muralitharan only to lose wickets in a heap.

However, Uthappa, who was dropped twice — first by Ravichandran Ashwin and then by Murali Vijay — held the innings at one end and stepped the gas in the final overs to take Bangalore past the 150-mark and change the course of the match.

Source: NDTV Cricket