Kolkata Knight Riders breezed into the final of the Indian Premier League after scoring a thumping 18-run win over Delhi Daredevils in the first Qualifier on Tuesday.

It was an interesting clash between the two IPL heavyweights but Kolkata emerged winner as they bowled with more discipline with each and every bowler taking at least one wicket.

Kolkata Knight Riders recovered from regular blows to post a fighting 162 for four after electing to bat and then stopped Delhi to 144 for eight at Subrata Roy Sahara stadium.

It is for the first time that KKR have made it to the summit clash in five editions of the league so far.

Yusuf Pathan, who was going through a lean patch so far, struck form just at the right time for Kolkata as his uneaten 40 and a crucial 56-run stand with Laxmi Shukla (24 off 11) in just four overs helped his side cross 150-run mark.

The top three KKR batsmen — Gautam Gambhir (32), Brendon McCullum (31) and Jacques Kallis (30) batted well but could not convert the starts into big knocks.

Delhi too paid the price of not having big partnerships as they lost wickets intermittently. Pressure gradually grew and the lower-order batsmen failed to soak in that.

Mahela Jayawardene top scored for them with his 40 and for Kolkata Jacques Kallis (2/24) and Sunil Narine (2/24) shared four wickets between them.

Delhi still have a chance to make the final as they will play in second Qualifier on May 25 against the winner of the Eliminator, which will be plyed between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings.

For Delhi it was a forgettable start to the chase with both the openers — Virender Sehwag (7) and David Warner (10) were dismissed within 13 balls.

Warner was bamboozled by a turning ball from Shakib Al Hasan which hit his pads before landing in gloves of McCullum. However umpire Billy Doctrove held the appeal.

Sehwag was out next ball when he chased a widish Balaji delivery and just managed an edge into the gloves of McCullum.

Jayawardene (40) and Ojha (29) added 59 for the third wicket to not let Kolkata build on the momentum. The Sri Lankan hit some majectic shots and Ojha too was impressive with his shots.

Rajat Bhatia broke the partnership by having Ojha caught at point and Iqbal Abdulla had Jayawardene stumped as the match again shifted in Kolkata’s over.

Delhi surprisingly kept Ross Taylor behind in the line-up and sent Venugopal Rao ahead of him. Delhi needed 54 off the last five overs and Venugopal did not help their cause by taking 22 balls for his 13.

Taylor struck a towering six off Sunil Narine and now everything depended on him as Delhi required 33 from 12 balls.

However, the Kiwi fell while going for a big shot off Kallis. Negi and Mokel were out in the last over, in which they required 26 runs and it was all over for Delhi in this contest.

Source: Times of India

Mumbai opener Sachin Tendulkar and Dwayne Smith denied Rajasthan any breakthrough as they chased down 163-run target with two overs to spare.

While Smith stayed unbeaten at 87, Tendulkar remained not out after scoring 58 as Mumbai Indians won the last league clash of the tournament by 10 wickets.

Shane Watson top-scored with a 36-ball 45 as Rajasthan Royals posted a challenging 162 for six in their Indian Premier League match against Mumbai Indians.

Watson hit four boundaries and two sixes before Owais Shah and Ashok Menaria provided the late flourish at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.

Batting first after the coin landed in skipper Rahul Dravid’s favour, Rajasthan lost their openers early to be placed at 31 for two in the sixth over.

Dhaval Kulkarni accounted for both the batsmen – he had Dravid caught behind by Dinesh Karthik and then sent back the in-form Ajinkya Rahane as he pulled a short ball straight to midwicket.

Watson along with Stuart Binny added 53 runs for the third wicket to stabilise Rajasthan’s innings. What must have helped the hosts was that the two consumed just six overs to add those runs.

Both played some effective shots during their partnership and prominent among those were the six by Watson over deep midwicket off Dwayne Smith, and Binny’s slog-swept maximum off Harbhajan Singh over deep square leg.

Even the quick Lasith Malinga got a bit of stick initially as Watson picked two fours against the Sri Lankan.

A moment of indiscretion cost Binny his wicket as Kieron Pollard ran him out to cut short his innings at 30 off 17 balls. Binny hit three fours and two sixes.

But Watson continued to fight as he smashed Pollard for a massive six over deep midwicket and followed that with a four to fine leg.

However, while going for one too many, Watson ended up holing out to deep midwicket after mistiming Pollard’s final delivery in the 14th over.

Shah then produced a few hits to the fence, including a six and a four off Pollard, to prop up Rajasthan’s innings.

Shah was, to an extent, helped by Malinga as the Lankan made a mess of a chance in the deep after failing to judge the ball.

Menaria, too, looked in good nick and contributed 21 off 20 balls, which included an upper cut six off R P Singh over third man. Luck was on Menaria’s side as the batsman, after being cleaned up by Malinga, found that the bowler had overstepped.

In the final league game of the season, with the playoff places already decided, Rajasthan have brought in Dishant Yagnik for Shreevats Goswami and Brad Hogg in place of Johan Botha.

Source: Times of India

Royal Challengers Bangalore imploded in their most crucial match of the season and failed to qualify for the playoffs after choking in a low-scoring chase. Their defeat in Hyderabad allowed Chennai Super Kings to hang on to fourth spot at the end of the league stage.

Deccan Chargers scratched to 132 on a slow pitch, but their bowlers and fielders lifted the gloom of their campaign with a performance that brought the tournament’s most intimidating batting line-up to its knees. Chargers, who spent most of the season languishing at the bottom, left Pune Warriors holding the wooden spoon and moved to eighth spot.

The game was Royal Challengers’ to lose. A target of 133 should not have been too daunting for their top heavy batting line-up. The chase had several turning points – Chris Gayle’s dismissal, Dale Steyn’s first three overs and Virat Kohli’s rush of blood, to name a few. Steyn was unplayable with figures of 4-0-8-3, but crucially, he found support from the slower bowlers. Amit Mishra took two in an over to set Royal Challengers back and Ashish Reddy frustrated the batsmen with slower balls in the final stages.

Gayle has largely determined Royal Challengers’ fortunes this season, by combining big hits with longevity at the crease. He has, on occasion, started sedately before embarking on a boundary barrage. Today Gayle batted as though he was determined to finish in ten overs, pounding 24 in Manpreet Gony’s first over, the second of the innings.

In the third, Gayle had to face Steyn, bowling at serious pace. After ducking under a short ball aimed at his head, Gayle tried to make room by moving towards leg and bottom edged another fast short ball on to his stumps. Steyn then had Tillakaratne Dilshan lbw in his next over, and Royal Challengers were 40 for 2 when Saurabh Tiwary retired hurt after straining a hamstring in the sixth.

An overthrow that cost six runs was the only major blip on an unusually good day in the field for Chargers. Duminy’s leaping catch at short cover to get rid of AB de Villiers was an example of their improvement. The tension was palpable in the Royal Challengers camp as de Villiers walked back, because their tail began at No.7.

Tiwary returned in the tenth over after Mishra’s double-strike. He and Kohli kept Royal Challengers in the hunt during their brisk stand of 46, which came at 7.45 runs an over. The plan seemed to be to knock off as many as possible before Steyn returned for his final over. Kohli swung Ashish Reddy over long-on but a repeat of that shot the following ball found the fielder. A furious Kohli swung his bat at thin air in frustration.

Steyn returned to knock down Zaheer Khan’s middle stump to round off another dream spell. The game was all but sealed for Chargers as the asking rate proved too demanding for Royal Challengers’ tail. Kohli sat at the dug out with his pads on, hands on his face, wondering what could have been.

Besides Steyn, Chargers had another South African to thank – JP Duminy. The two-paced pitch produced attritional cricket and Chargers struggled to score at six an over. Duminy did his best to compensate for the failures of his other overseas colleagues with a late surge, pounding five sixes in an aggressive half-century.

Only two boundaries were scored in the Powerplay overs, which produced just 23 runs. By the end of the tenth over, the score was an underwhelming 47 for 3. Duminy, who began watchfully, hit the first of his five sixes when he heaved R Vinay Kumar over long-on in the 16th over. He hit three more in a single over from Muttiah Muralitharan, which cost 20. His knock was valuable in getting Chargers to a middling total on a slow pitch. It turned out to be enough.

Kanishkaa Balachandran is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

Shakib’s all-round show brings about 34-run win over Pune….

There wasn’t much to play for, but whatever was at stake turned out to be motivation enough for Kolkata Knight Riders.

Shahrukh Khan’s franchise rode on Shakib Al Hasan’s all-round show to carve out a 34-run victory over the hopeless Pune Warriors, ensuring that they would finish the league stage in the top two. KKR thus avoided playing in the ‘eliminator’ – the fixture of their unceremonious exit last season – and will face off against Delhi in the ‘Qualifier 1’.

On a sluggish pitch at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium on Saturday night, Kolkata batted first and reached 136-4, thanks to Brendon McCullum (41) and Shakib Al Hasan (42). The visiting team then arrested Pune’s chase on 102-8, as their three-pronged spin attack – primarily Shakib with 4-0-18-2 and Sunil Narine with 4-0-15-1 – came to the fore.

Pune lost Robin Uthappa early, and when Michael Clarke and Jesse Ryder exited within five runs of each other, the requirement was all uphill. Sourav Ganguly’s dismissal – plumb in front to Shakib – only steepened the incline, and once the required rate crossed ten an over, there was only one way the match was going to end. The defeat was Pune’s ninth successive in IPL-V.

Earlier, Gautam Gambhir elected to bat and KKR reached 136-4 against tight Pune bowling on a sluggish pitch where shot making wasn’t easy. The par total was reached largely due to the 67 in 7.3 overs that McCullum and Shakib added. McCullum provided the initial impetus, and then Shakib made the best of his chances to keep the board ticking.

Gambhir fell cheaply when he struck Wayne Parnell into the hands of mid-on. Jacques Kallis went after Michael Clarke, and was bowled as the newly married Aussie let slip a flat one. McCullum and Shakib got together, taking their side to 50 in the 12th over, before Bangladesh’s sweetheart changed gears. He watched as McCullum took successive boundaries off Ashish Nehra, and capitalized on heaps of good fortune to open the sluice gates.

In the 13th over of the innings, Uthappa fluffed a stumping when Shakib had scored five, as the ball hurried down to the fence for byes. Shakib added insult to injury by heaving a six over mid-wicket on the next ball. A delivery later, Parnell dropped the Bangladeshi at deep square leg and that was followed by another maximum, taking the tally from Clarke’s unfortunate over to 20.

At 101 for two in 15, the visiting side looked set to post a competitive total. But McCullum and Shakib departed in successive overs – the former caught at extra cover, the latter bowled by a Bhuvneshwar Kumar yorker.

What the duo didn’t know then was that they’d done enough to fulfill Kolkata’s agenda of gaining full points from the fixture and have two shots at making the final.

Source: Yahoo Cricket

Delhi Daredevils confirmed their standing as the team to beat with a fearsome opening burst from their fast bowlers, Morne Morkel and Umesh Yadav, before a typically brutal David Warner innings pretty much guaranteed top spot. Kings XI Punjab, one of the lower-profile teams in the tournament, managed to stay alive till the final weekend of the league phase but couldn’t make it to the playoffs as a power-packed Daredevils line-up dismantled them with ease on a spicy pitch in Dharamsala. The result also meant that Mumbai Indians became the third team to qualify for the playoffs.

On one of the best tracks for fast bowlers in the IPL this season, Daredevils stacked their team with five quicks, four of whom could nudge the 90-mph mark. Morkel and Yadav were virtually unplayable with the new ball, and by the end of the Powerplay overs, Kings XI were reduced to 20 for 4 and their campaign was seemingly over.

Mandeep Singh has been Kings XI’s most prolific batsman this season, but he fell for a golden duck as he was drawn into nibbling an away-cutter from Yadav to the keeper. Adam Gilchrist has a century and two fifties in his last three innings in Dharamsala but he was dismissed cheaply this time, top-edging a pull, in what might well be his final competitive innings.

Paul Valthaty’s disastrous season continued, as he flailed about in his comeback game against some high-quality pace from Yadav and Morkel before finally holing out for a ten-ball 2. The biggest blow, though, was in the sixth over, when Yadav got Hussey to mishit a shortish ball to mid-on. Yadav finished his first spell with the figures of 3-1-4-3.

Kings XI have been written off before, only to repeatedly show they were no pushovers. They proved it again as Azhar Mahmood, who has been instrumental to Kings XI’s fight this season, stabilised the innings with a 57-run stand with Siddharth Chitnis. Both struggled to time the ball early on, but some freebies from Andre Russell helped them find their feet.

There has been a clamour for Russell’s inclusion this season, especially given Ross Taylor’s horror run with the bat but the allrounder had a day to forget, leaking 51 runs on a day when no one else in his team went at more than 6.25. His worst over was the 17th, which was taken for 22 runs with Gurkeerat powering three boundaries, before Mahmood rounded it off with two more. That lifted the run-rate above six for the first time in the innings.

Kings XI finished with 141, which seemed enough to challenge a Daredevils side missing both Virender Sehwag and Taylor. Those hopes were dashed once Warner unleashed those familiar hits over long-on and midwicket, again highlighting the number of match-winners Daredevils have in their squad.

It wasn’t a flawless innings from Warner, who was hit by a bouncer from Ryan Harris early on, edged plenty and was put down at midwicket by Mandeep. That drop came at the end of an over in which Warner had muscled three sixes and a four off Parvinder Awana. Twenty-three came off that over as Awana, who went for only 12 in his four overs last game, watched helplessly.

Warner chopped the first ball of the next over to bring up his 50 off 25 balls on a pitch where most batsmen struggled. He couldn’t add to his collection of Twenty20 centuries, though, as he slapped Harris to Mandeep at point in the 13th over. There was a brief lull in the scoring after that, but with the required-rate just above four, Daredevils were never really in trouble of losing.

Siddarth Ravindran is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

Rajasthan Royals needed to succeed in their final two matches to have a chance of qualifying. They would have expected to win the first of those: against Deccan Chargers who had been victorious in only two matches of 14 this season, and only won once in 18 matches at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. Instead, they were knocked out of the playoff race by a stifling spell of legspin bowling from Amit Mishra which sucked the momentum out of Royals’ innings, tying them to their lowest total of the season.

After Royals chose to bat, Chargers were their usual woeful self in the Powerplay overs, putting down three catches to reprieve each of Royals’ top three. Royals’ highest run-scorer this season, Ajinkya Rahane, was dropped in the first over by wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel, but Chargers weren’t made to pay as Dale Steyn had Rahane edging to slip in the next over.

Royals have won the three games Shane Watson has fired in this season, and lost the three he failed in, highlighting how important he has become to the side’s fortunes since his arrival from the West Indies. Watson, too, was given a life in the fifth over, as Shikhar Dhawan couldn’t latch on to a diving effort at midwicket. On the very next delivery, Ashish Reddy let a drive from Rahul Dravid through his fingers at mid-on, conceding a boundary. The over ended with Watson blasting a straight six and Chargers demoralised.

Mishra lifted them with his first ball. It drifted in and spun away and Watson ended up playing inside the line to be bowled. The biggest wicket had been taken, and in Mishra’s next over, he got another breakthrough as a quicker googly left Stuart Binny bowled and clueless. He continued to get plenty of spin through his spell, mixing in googlies with his legspinners and bowling the odd delivery from wide of the stumps to change the angle.

Even Chargers’ fielding lifted after Mishra’s intervention, with both the catching and ground fielding improving. Dravid’s fight came to an end in the 12th over as he chopped a wide delivery to little-known Queensland batsman Chris Lynn, who nearly shelled it before grabbing it on his second effort.

The acceleration for Royals now had to come from Owais Shah, playing in place of the injured Brad Hodge. He wasn’t at his most fluent today though, struggling against the accuracy of Chargers’ bowling. It wasn’t just that Steyn was proving unhittable, even the Indian contingent of Gony and Veer Pratap Singh kept the batsmen mostly down to singles.

Only 65 runs came in the final ten overs, which meant Chargers were in with a chance of ending Royals’ chances and also their horror run at home. Shikhar Dhawan continued to be one of the bright spots of Chargers’ campaign, with only Chris Gayle scoring more than him this season. He and 21-year-old Akshat Reddy added 60 in seven overs to put Chargers on course.

Midway through the innings Chargers were so relaxed that their coach Darren Lehmann and stand-in captain Cameron White were exchanging a joke in the dug-out. It wasn’t a cruise to victory though as Reddy and White were dismissed in the space of seven deliveries, after which the boundaries proved elusive. Siddharth Trivedi choked the runs, giving away only 20 in four overs, and memories of the match-winning situations that Chargers have slipped from this season come back. There was no heartbreak for the fans however as Ashish Reddy slapped a couple of boundaries to finish off Royals.

Siddarth Ravindran is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

Disciplined show by bowlers after brilliant execution by Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli helped Royal Challengers Bangalore thrash Delhi Daredevils at their home ground Ferozeshah Kotla by 21 runs on Thursday.

Chasing the highest target of the tournament, Daredevils fought hard with Ross Taylor and Venugopal Rao but managed to score just 194/9, conceding a comprehensive victory to the visitors.

Zaheer Khan finished with 3/38 while Vinay Kumar ended up with decent figure of 2/35.

After Bangalore posted 215/1, Delhi lost both openers David Warner and Unmukt Chand early.

Zaheer Khan struck in the second over to dismiss Warner, while Vinay Kumar ended Unmukt Chand’s challenge in the fifth over to reduce Delhi to 45/2.

Prasanth Parameswaran sent back Mahela Jayawardene to give Delhi Daredevils third blow at the score of 69 in the ninth over.

Delhi Daredevils lost Venugopal Rao (36) after crossing 100-run mark, giving Royal Challengers Bangalore fourth success.

Rao shared 38-run stand with Ross Taylor before being caught by Harshal Patel off Muttiah Muralitharan with scorecard reading 107 after 11 overs.

Vinay Kumar dismissed dangerous Ross Taylor (55) just after Zaheer Khan sent back Naman Ojha raising Royal Challengers Bangalore hope for victory.

Zaheer Khan dismissed Ojha just after Delhi crossed 150-mark. Khan got Ojha caught by Saurabh Tiwary to reduce Delhi to 151/5.

Capitalizing on the breakthrough, Vinay Kumar got Taylor caught by Mayan Agarwal to rattle the hosts with scorecard reading 159 in seventeenth over.

Chris Gayle smashed a rollicking unbeaten 128, his first century of the season, to propel Royal Challengers Bangalore to a mammoth 215.

Gayle took some time to settle after being invited to bat by Mahela Jayawardene, who led Delhi in place of an indisposed Virender Sehwag, and then hit hapless Delhi bowlers at will all around the Feroze Shah Kotla ground.

Initially, he took 17 balls for his first 10 runs and then scored the next 90 in just 35 balls as he hit 13 sixes and seven fours in his whirlwind 62-ball unbeaten knock.

Together with his skipper Virat Kohli (73 not out), he rattled up a 204-run stand, highest for any wicket in the league this season. Kohli too looked in much better touch today as he scored freely and never looked uncomfortable.

The youngster faced 53 balls and hit 10 boundaries, including one six.

There was no escape from the Gayle ‘storm’ and Delhi sorely missed Morne Morkel, who was rested today as the hosts have already secured a berth in the play-offs.

Jayawardene did everything to stop a marauding Gayle but the West Indian was unstoppable as neither the spinners nor the pacers had an answer to the power-hitting of the left-hander.

At the start, Delhi pacers did a good job with Umesh Yadav bowling a fiery maiden over to Gayle and Varun Aaron dismissing Tillakaratne Dilshan (10) with his second ball.

Dilshan looked in good touch as he had driven Irfan Pathan for two exquisite straight drives in the opening over but a leading edge that flew to Pathan at mid-on brought about his end.

Kohli hit four elegant boundaries, two each off Yadav and Aaron immediately after arriving at the crease.

Delhi though did extremely well to contain Gayle till then. The explosive Caribbean faced 17 balls till the power-play and scored only 10 runs.

Gayle’s first six came off fellow Jamaican Andre Russell, who played in place of rested Morne Morkel, in the eighth over and second off Y Venugopal Rao in the 10th over as RCB reached 79 for one at half-way mark.

The stage was set for a big score and soon Gayle was his usual attacking self. He hit left-arm spinner Pawan Negi for a 106-meter long six and then completed his fifty with a long-off boundary off Russell.

All hell broke loose after that as Gayle hit Pathan and Negi for three sixes each and RCB went on to score 78 runs in the last five overs.

Source: Times of India

Kings XI Punjab severely dented the chances of Chennai Super Kings qualifying for the play-offs and kept themselves in the reckoning with a convincing six-wicket win in the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the picturesque HPCA Stadium on Thursday.

Skipper Adam Gilchrist, making a comeback to the Kings XI set-up after a hamstring injury kept him out of nine matches, scored an unbeaten 64 of 46 balls to carry his team past the 121-run target set by Chennai.

Thus, Kings XI (16 points) moved into the fifth position behind Chennai (17). Punjab have to play table-toppers Delhi Daredevils while Chennai have finished all their 16 games.

Two wickets each by Praveen Kumar, Azhar Mahmood and Parvinder Awana helped Kings XI restrict Super Kings to a paltry total of 120 for seven and gain two crucial points.

Mandeep Singh (24) and Gilchrist gave their team a sprightly start, scoring 51 in six overs, before the Indian youngster got castled by Albie Morkel. In the absence of Shaun Marsh, Punjab’s batting line-up looked thin in star power. Nitin Saini (1) and David Hussey (9) put their team in a spot of bother by getting out in quick succession.

Gilchrist, however, held his end up, hitting out aggressively. He exploded towards the end, scoring 22 runs of Yo Mahesh’s 15th over and that sealed the win for Punjab.

Put in on a pitch with a greenish tinge, defending champions Chennai lost Murali Vijay (10) and Michael Hussey (7) without much on the board. Suresh Raina, who is the only player yet to miss a match in the IPL, smacked Mahmood for two sixes. However, he fell caught behind in the same over while slashing at a wide ball.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who promoted himself up the order, again played a lacklustre innings scoring six off 16 balls.

West Indian Dwayne Bravo came to the rescue of Super Kings when his team was reeling at 46 for four in the 11th over. He played a watchful innings of 48 off 43 balls, stringing small partnerships with Ravindra Jadeja (13) and Morkel (14) as Chennai stuttered to a below par score.

Source: Yahoo Cricket

It had all built up to that one moment. Gautam Gambhir, playing three spinners against the home side’s decision to stick to three fast bowlers at the Wankhede Stadium, had hoped at the toss that the pitch would turn later. Kolkata Knight Riders had just about recovered from a horror start to post a decent 140. Mumbai Indians had found run-scoring as difficult as Knight Riders had, but had lost only two wickets at the halfway stage.

The last ball of the 11th over, Sunil Narine bowled a good length delivery to Sachin Tendulkar, who went for the cut. The ball spun in a mile and cannoned into off stump off bat and pad. Had both not come in the way, it would have taken out leg stump. With one of the game’s greats not being able to pick Narine, the rest of the Mumbai Indians line-up had little chance. He finished with 4 for 15; had Lasith Malinga not got six off a dropped catch on the straight boundary, Narine could have had 5 for 9.

The 32-run margin was substantial in the end, and it was down to how swiftly Knight Riders barged in to the opening created by Tendulkar’s dismissal. The pressure was already on Mumbai Indians after Herschelle Gibbs had crawled to 13 off 24 deliveries, four of those runs being overthrows. When Tendulkar fell, the asking-rate had touched nine. Ambati Rayudu and Kieron Pollard had hunted down a much stiffer target against Royal Challengers Bangalore a couple of day ago. It wasn’t to be today. Not on this pitch.

The Wankhede crowd waited for their all-star line-up to fire. They waited for the big hits to come. In vain. With 58 needed off 28, Shakib Al Hasan lured Rayudu out with a wider one to give Brendon McCullum an easy stumping. Jacques Kallis, who had got a ripper from RP Singh first ball, had Pollard edging a slow bouncer to McCullum. Next ball, he trapped Dwayne Smith in front with a skiddy delivery which nipped in. Rohit Sharma was Mumbai Indians’ only hope now; Narine had him caught by a diving McCullum off a leading edge. The rest caved in.

Smith’s fall had made it 96 for 6, exactly the same perilous position Knight Riders had found themselves in after being stunned early by an atrocious umpiring decision and a terrific ball from RP Singh. Their lower order and Yusuf Pathan rode on some fortune, though, to take 44 off the final 26 balls.

Stroke-making was hard as the usual Wankhede bounce combined with the ball not coming on. The pitch did not have any role to play in the first dismissal, though; umpire Subroto Das had. He adjudged McCullum lbw though the batsman was at least two metres out of his crease to a ball that pitched outside leg and would have missed off. Knight Riders were to get another rough one later, when Tendulkar was caught plumb in front first ball by Shakib, only to be denied by umpire Billy Doctrove.

RP Singh followed up the McCullum wicket by uprooting Kallis’ off stump with a ripper, getting a short of a length ball to swing in and zip through the gate. A stunned Knight Riders tamely allowed the home bowlers to build up the pressure.

Even Gautam Gambhir, who has had a golden run this season, found it difficult to score, and could not capitalise on two let-offs. He was dropped by the wicketkeeper and by Tendulkar at third man, but was bowled on 27 as he missed a Pollard cutter.

Knight Riders continued to struggle to time their shots, with Tiwary pottering to 17 off 27 deliveries at one stage. An inside edge off Pollard brought him four, and he hammered the next ball past mid-off for another. Harbhajan Singh and Malinga were hit down the ground for sixes.

From 6 for 2 to 89 for 3 seemed a creditable recovery, given the pitch, but three wickets for seven runs nearly undid Tiwary’s efforts. Yusuf, caught off a RP Singh no-ball, could not do much to break his poor run, but along with the lower order, managed to get Knight Riders to 140.

It hadn’t looked to be a challenging total at the break, it turned out to be a match-winning one, and all but took Knight Riders to the playoffs.

Abhishek Purohit is an editorial assistant at ESPNcricinfo

Mahela Jayawardene smashed unbeaten half-century to help Delhi Daredevils beat Kings XI Punjab by 5 wickets in an Indian Premier League match at the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium on Tuesday.

With the victory, Daredevils became the first team to qualify for the play-off stage of the IPL 5 with 20 points from 14 matches.

Jayawardene hit eight boundaries in his 49 balls 56 innings and added unbeaten 45 runs with the Irfan Pathan (19 not out) to take the hosts over the target with an over to spare.

Pathan hit three boundaries in his rapid 10-ball knock.

Piyush Chawla dismissed Naman Ojha (34) in the fourteenth over to break the 58-run fifth wicket partnership between Ojha and Mahela Jayawardene and reduced Delhi to 95/5 in 13.6 overs.

Ojha hit two sixes and three boundaries in his quick 29-ball innings.

Chasing 137-run target, Delhi lost four top-order batsmen inside six overs to start the run chase nervously.

Pacer Parvinder Awana struck twice in the sixth over to dismiss Ross Taylor (0) and Venugopal Rao (7). Awana’s effort rocked Delhi run chase as he reduced Daredevils to 37/4 in 5.4 overs.

Awana also struck with the very first ball to dismiss Delhi skipper Virender Sehwag (8) in the fourth over as the hosts were reduced to 28/2 in 3.1 overs.

Praveen Kumar gave Punjab early breakthrough in the third over when he dismissed David Warner (14).

Earlier, Umesh Yadav (3-21) and Varun Aaron (2-19) helped Delhi restrict Punjab to 136/8.

Electing to bat, Punjab lost wickets at regular intervals and managed to set a modest 137-run target for the strong Delhi batting line-up.

Skipper David Hussey remained unbeaten on 40 off 35 balls, which included a six and five boundaries, for Punjab but failed to stitch meaningful partnerships in the innings.

Praveen Kumar (8) got run out in the penultimate over as the visitors were reduced to 126/8 in 18.1 overs.

Pacer Umesh Yadav dismissed Piyush Chawla (10) in the eighteenth over to break the blossoming 29-run partnership between Hussey and Chawla.

Spinner Pawan Negi dismissed young Gurkeerat Singh (8) in the thirteenth over as Punjab lost wickets at regular intervals.

Azhar Mahmood became second victim of Yadav in the twelfth over as Punjab lost half-the-side for just 80 runs.

After a terrible mix-up with skipper David Hussey, Punjab batsman David Miller (4) got run out in the tenth over to add more agony to their team. Miller’s wicket reduced Kings XI to 63/4 in 9.4 overs.

Yadav got rid of Nitin Saini (15) in the eighth over soon after teammate Varun Aaron stuck twice in two overs to reduce Punjab to 54/3 in 7.2 overs. Saini hit two fours in his run-a-ball innings.

Aaron dismissed in-form Punjab batsman Mandeep Singh (21) in the sixth over to dent the Punjab run charge. Mandeep smashed five boundaries in his quick-fire 12-ball knock before Aaron got better of him.

Punjab lost Shaun Marsh (13) early in the fourth over when pacer Aaron struck with his very first ball and reduced Punjab to 24/1 in 3.1 overs. Marsh hit three boundaries in his 15-ball slow innings.

Earlier, Punjab skipper David Hussey won the toss and decided to bat against Delhi.

“It (toss) does not matter, we would have chosen to bowl anyway. Ross Taylor and Pawan Negi in, Roelf van der Merwe and Yogesh Nagar are out for us,” said Delhi skipper Virender Sehwag after losing the toss.

Punjab have made two changes in the side as they included David Miller and Harmeet Singh in place of Ryan Harris and Siddharth Chitnis.

Teams:

Delhi Daredevils: Virender Sehwag (capt.), Mahela Jayawardene, Irfan Pathan, Umesh Yadav, Naman Ojha (wk), Venugopal Rao, Pawan Negi, Morne Morkel, David Warner, Varun Aaron, Ross Taylor.

Kings XI Punjab: David Hussey (capt.), Harmeet Singh, Piyush Chawla, Parvinder Awana, Azhar Mahmood, Nitin Saini (wk), David Miller, Mandeep Singh, Praveen Kumar, Shaun Marsh, Gurkeerat Singh.

Source: Times of India