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

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

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

David Hussey shines as Punjab keep their head above water…

Deccan Chargers did it again. The Hyderabad franchise on Sunday night gave a perfect demonstration of what it takes to be a permanent resident of the basement.

After batting first and posting a huge total (190-4) through their most consistent batsmen, Deccan conspired to give it all away at the doorstep of victory. Eighty-two runs were needed by Kings XI Punjab, chasing to stay alive in the tournament, in just six overs with their frontline batsmen back in the pavilion, when David Hussey decided to step it up.

The Aussie smashed an unbeaten 65 in just 35 balls, adding 45 in 3.2 overs with Gurkeerat Singh, as Punjab stole an unlikely win from the jaws of defeat. It has to be mentioned that it was the unheralded Gurkeerat (29 n.o., 12b) who did the brunt of the scoring in the last over, bowled by Manpreet Gony, when 16 were required for victory.

Gurkeerat blazed a six and two boundaries to take Punjab home by a margin of four wickets, leaving Chargers in their usual sorry state of despair, yet again. The win leaves Punjab in seventh place, but they have three matches left – two against league leaders Delhi Daredevils and one against defending champions Chennai Super Kings.

Punjab did not begin their chase well. They were three down in the eighth over with just 56 on the board. And when Azhar Mahmood departed following a brisk cameo, it appeared to be all over for the home team. But Hussey came in, pulling T.P. Sudhindra for six and then going on a rampage against Amit Mishra, who was pulverized for 21 runs in the 15th over, as the Punjab skipper sought to meet the sky-high asking rate.

Another maximum against Sudhindra got Hussey to his fifty, and boundaries continued to flow thick and fast as first Piyush Chawla and then Gurkeerat wasted no deliveries in getting into their groove.

Earlier, Chargers’ most reliable batsmen associated to good effect as the team posted 190 after electing to bat. Shikhar Dhawan and Cameron White struck their fifth half-century each of IPL-V as they combined for 96 runs. The two came together after Parthiv Patel and Kumar Sangakkara departed early, and did not allow their relentless pace of gathering runs to slacken at any stage.

White was dropped twice (on 34 and 37) and capitalized on the reprieves to go berserk towards the end. Daniel Christian came in and threw his bat around. Christian’s late fireworks took Chargers to a total in the vicinity of 200, and they lost despite being in the driver’s seat for the most of the match.

Source: Yahoo Cricket

Chasing 171, Deccan Chargers managed to score just 145, conceding an easy victory to Kings XI Punjab in the IPL clash at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium on Tuesday.

David Hussey, Praveen Kumar and Parvinder Awana claimed two wickets each for Punjab while Daniel Harris reamied top scorer for Hyderabad.

Parvinder Awna removed Parthiv Patel (17) after Praveen Kumar scalped Shikhar Dhawan (8) to spoil Deccan Chargers’ start after Kings XI Punjab set 171.

Patel’s dismissal reduced Chargers to 31/2 in five overs.

Daniel Harris, though steadied the innings, David Hussey got him and Cameron White in the 11 th over to derail Chargers’ chase.

In the next over, Praveen Kumar struck again to dismiss skipper Kumar Sangakkara, giving total control to Punjab.

Earlier, Mandeep Singh smashed a strokeful 48-ball 75 as Kings XI Punjab posted a challenging 170 against Deccan Chargers in their Indian Premier League match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.

Mandeep blasted eight fours and three sixes to set the foundation for a big score for the Kings XI. The right-handed batsman stitched 55 runs for the opening wicket, before adding 39 and 33 runs with Hussey and Azhar Mahmood respectively.

The 20-year-old opener started the proceedings for Punjab on a cautious note before blasting two fours and a six in the second over off Veer Pratap Singh.

Other opener Shaun Marsh also picked up three boundaries spread over two overs off Rusty Theron before being dismissed by part-time spinner Shikhar Dhawan. Dhawan deceived Marsh on the flight as the ball deflected off the pads onto the stumps.

Ashish Reddy then dismissed Nitin Saini in his first over to reduce Punjab to 58-2 in 7.4 overs. However, Mandeep hit the last ball over wide long-on.

Amit Mishra was then introduced into the attack but skipper David Hussey sent him sailing over extra over only in his second ball. Mandeep too ensured that runs keep coming thick and fast and brought up his fifty with a lofty inside out shot off Daniel Harris over cover.

Veer then got rid of Hussey when he had him caught at long-off. But Mandeep was unperturbed and blasted successive fours off Mishra through the midwicket area to bring up the hundred for Punjab.

In the 15th over, Mandeep took Veer to the cleaners. He first slammed a six over fine-leg and then one ball later, scooped one over the bowler’s head.

Ashish finally got rid of the opener when he had his off-stump pegged back in the next over while he was looking for a big slog.

Azhar Mahmood then clubbed a couple of fours before falling prey to a big mix-up in the 17th over. However, new man David Miller provided the late charge, smashing three fours and a six in his 18-ball cameo to swell the total.

Source: Times of India

After batsmen, Royals bowlers fired in unison to help Rajasthan register a comfortable 43-run victory over Kings XI Punjab in an Indian Premier League match at the PCA stadium, Mohali on Saturday.

Chasing 178-run target, Punjab lost wickets at regular intervals against Rajasthan.

Johan Botha struck again to dismiss Gurkeerat Singh (23) to reduce Punjab to 112/6 in 16.3 overs.

Stuart Binny dismissed Azhar Mahmood (24) in the fifteenth over to add more misery to hosts Punjab. Mahmood hit a six and two fours in his run-a-ball innings.

Rajasthan bowlers kept the hold over the Punjab batsmen as the hosts lost four top-order wickets inside nine overs.

Johan Botha dismissed Shaun Marsh (34) in the ninth over to reduce Punjab to 59/4 in 8.3 overs. Marsh hit a six and five boundaries in his quick 27-ball innings.

Siddharth Trivedi got rid of Punjab skipper David Hussey (8) in the eighth over soon after Shaun Tait dismissed Nitin Saini (2) in the sixth as Punjab struggled to break free in their run chase.

Punjab lost opener Mandeep Singh (7) in the second over against Rajasthan. Pacer Shane Watson struck early in his first over to reduce to 8/1 in 1.3 overs.

Electing to bat, Royals batsmen fired in unison to help Rajasthan post 177/6 against Kings XI Punjab.

Punjab pacer Ryan Harris struck twice in the final over to stop the visitors from crossing the 180-run mark, which looked possible when Brad Hodge (36) was going ballistic.

Harris dismissed Stuart Binny (0) and Hodge to finish his spell with 4 for 34 runs in four overs. Spinner Piyush Chawla (2-38) was the only other successful bowler for the Kings XI.

Hodge hit couple of huge sixes and two fours in his 23-ball blitzkrieg whereas Johan Botha (14 off 8 balls) remained unbeaten for the Royals.

Rajasthan lost Ashok Maneria (34) and Rahul Dravid (46) in quick succession in the middle overs.

Chawla struck again to get rid of Maneria in the sixteenth over soon after Rajasthan lost their skipper in the 14th. Maneria hit two sixes and a four in his quick-fire 27-ball innings.

Punjab pacer Ryan Harris got better of Dravid in the fourteenth over to reduce Royals to 117/3 in 13.2 overs. Dravid hit eight boundaries in his quick 39 balls innings and put on 41-run for the third wicket with Ashok Menaria.

Dravid also added quick 69-run stand for the second wicket with Shane Watson (36) as the duo resurrected the Royals run charge after early blow.

Chawla spun magic to get rid of Watson in the eighth over to reduce Rajasthan to 76/2. Watson smashed two sixes and four fours in his 17-ball whirlwind knock.

Harris struck in his very first over to give hosts Punjab an early breakthrough when he dismissed in-form opener Ajinkya Rahane (5) and reduced Rajasthan to 7/1 in 1.2 overs.

Earlier, Rajasthan skipper Rahul Dravid won the toss and decided to bat against Punjab.

Rajasthan brought in Shaun Tait, Johan Botha and Dishant Yagnik as they left out Owais Shah, Brad Hogg and Shreevats Goswami from the playing XI.

Stand-in skipper David Hussey will lead the Punjab side again as Adam Gilchrist is still not match-fit. “He’s been running around, hitting balls, I don’t think he’s too far away,” Hussey said about Gilchrist fitness.

Just one change for the home side as Gurkeerat Singh made his debut replacing Paras Dogra.

Teams:

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

Rajasthan Royals: Rahul Dravid (capt), Siddharth Trivedi, Shane Watson, Shaun Tait, Dishant Yagnik (wk), Brad Hodge, Ankeet Chavan, Johan Botha, Stuart Binny, Ashok Menaria, Ajinkya Rahane.

Source: Times of India

Kings XI Punjab have a win over Royal Challengers Bangalore by 4 wickets nerve breaking thriller match and moved up into the top 4 teams. They were almost at the tip of the victory, when they lost unnecessary wickets in a hurry to capture the victory, and were almost losing end, when Piyush Chawla hit a sixer and gave a break to this nerve breaking thriller match.

The top order batsmen of Kings XI Punjab made good scores and helped them to capture an easy win. They lost an early wicket of Shaun Marsh at just a score of 38runs. Mandeep Singh made a good score of 43runs in 30balls with 6 fours and 1 sixer. After Mandeep’s wicket, Nitin Saini, and David Hussey had a good partnership and took the score t0 141.

Nitin Saini, who made half-century was caught, while he was trying to hit sixer in a hurry to capture the victory soon. However, David Hussey tried to stay till the end, but got run out. They lost 4 wickets, which even includes Hussey’s within no time. 3 out of these 4wickets were unwanted run-outs. In the last 4 overs, RCB well restricted KXIP, but Piyush Chawla hit a sixer and ended the thriller match when the need was 2 runs out of 2 balls.

Earlier, in the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s innings, they lost their first wicket soon in the second over itself. The next two batsmen Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli had a good partnership of 119runs. Chris Gayle made a outrageous score of 71 in 42 balls with 6 boundaries and 4 sixes. He was caught in Azhar Mahmmod’s balling. Soon, they even last the wicket of Kohli in Piyush Chawla’s bowling.

After them RCB batsmen were out one after another and could only add 21runs. Kings XI Punjab’s Azhar Mahmood was good with the ball today. He took the crucial three wickets, which included the wickets of Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, and Andrew McDonald.

Teams

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Daniel Vettori, Chris Gayle, Andrew McDonald, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Saurabh Tiwary, Mayank Agarwal, R Vinay Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Asad Pathan and KP Appanna.

Kings XI Punjab: David Hussey, Mandeep Singh, Shaun Marsh, Azhar Mahmood, Ryan Harris, Piyush Chawla, Nitin Saini, Praveen Kumar, Parvinder Awana, Paras Dogra and Abhishek Nayar.

Kings XI Punjab were disconsolate after their previous match, when they leaked 32 runs in the final two overs of the chase to gift victory to Mumbai Indians. Three days later, they were faced with the same situation, but this time there were no goof-ups as they upset Chennai Super Kings and silenced the crowd at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

Punjab seemed to have scored too little after choosing to bat first, ending on 156 after 20-year-old opener Mandeep Singh made his first half-century of the season. They lost 6 for 27 towards the end of the innings, which meant there was no late flourish, leaving Chennai the happier side at the halfway stage.

When Faf du Plessis confidently strode down the track to hammer Punjab’s quick bowlers, Chennai were galloping along at nine an over. With Chennai possessing a line-up that had hitters down to No. 10, the game was slipping away but Punjab didn’t lose faith. They caused a Chennai collapse to match their own – 5 for 38 – to scrap their way back into the game.

Of Piyush Chawla’s IPL performances this season, most people only remember the caning he received at the hands of Robin Peterson and Ambati Rayudu, but he has also been one of the most economical bowlers of the tournament.

He showed that the Mumbai mauling was an aberration, with a superb spell in the middle that put the brakes on Chennai. He had Suresh Raina stumped, getting a delivery to slant past the outside edge, and then had Ravindra Jadeja slicing to cover to finish with 4-0-20-2.

Still, Chennai had two power-hitters, Dwayne Bravo and Albie Morkel, in the middle after 15 overs, and the target was 58 away, certainly not beyond their reach. Both had choked Punjab with the ball, and were now seemingly ready to finish the job with the bat.

Azhar Mahmood then showed off his Twenty20 experience, bowling a mix of slower balls and yorkers in the 16th over to stifle Chennai. Praveen Kumar followed up with a series of low full tosses, which also proved hard to put away. Parvinder Awana, the least experienced of the lot, also kept his cool, regularly find the blockhole and following the batsmen as they backed away.

With 32 needed off the final two overs, Praveen stuck to the low-full-toss strategy, and though Bravo smacked a straight six, he holed out three deliveries later. An inside-edge for four brought it down to 17 off the last over, with Mahmood given the responsibility of bowling it. He was spot-on, dismissing Morkel first ball and dishing out the yorkers.

Chennai were nearly out of it, with 11 needed off two deliveries. The batsman Nuwan Kulasekara then backed away from the stumps, Mahmood followed him but Kulasekara shuffled across towards off and the ball went down leg to the keeper. They scrambled a run, and expected a wide to be signalled. There wasn’t one, though, much to Chennai’s consternation. R Ashwin had a heated argument with Praveen Kumar, but there was no change in the umpire’s decision, and the game was finally Punjab’s.

Mahmood had been instrumental to changing the game earlier on as well, removing both set openers, du Plessis and S Badrinath. MS Dhoni promoted both Jadeja and Wriddhiman Saha ahead of himself, but neither could make an impact. Dhoni himself was run-out in 14th over, charging out after under-edging a ball and not realising it was right next to the keeper. With Chennai at 88 for 5, not only had Punjab fought back, they were ahead.

It hadn’t seemed that they would topple Chennai when they wasted the start provided by Mandeep, who wilted under the heat and humidity of the afternoon. He had begun well, avoiding the slogs and heaves that are integral to Twenty20, and favouring inside-out drives to provide the initial acceleration. He faded, though, managing only one boundary in the 11 overs after the Powerplay.

Punjab’s captain, David Hussey, also decided to demote himself, sending Mahmood and David Miller ahead of him, another move that didn’t work. That left Hussey only four overs to bat at the end, and needing to swing from ball one, he failed. Punjab seemingly ended well short of a total to challenge Chennai, but their bowlers got it right to pull off an unlikely victory.

Siddarth Ravindran is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

Robin Peterson borrowed shots from his namesake, Kevin Pietersen, as he played a cameo punctuated with switch hits on his IPL debut to snatch victory for the Mumbai Indians. Peterson scored 15 runs off four balls in the penultimate over and Ambati Rayudu smacked two sixes to cost Kings XI 27 runs. The pair took Mumbai from a position where victory seemed unlikely, with 32 runs needed of 12 balls, to where it became an obvious conclusion with only five runs to get in the last over.

After allowing Kings XI Punjab to post their highest total in IPL 2012 with a bowling effort that was dominated by deliveries that were too short, Mumbai were favourites to win when Rohit Sharma was at the crease, marching to his half-century. Parvinder Awana swung the pendulum back towards Kings XI with a double strike in his final over – the 18th – in which he removed both Sharma and Harbhajan Singh. Peterson and Rayudu had the final say though, as they ravaged the 19th over and prevented Kings XI from completing the home and away double against Mumbai this season.

In an innings which mirrored the Kings XI’s, Mumbai started solidly, were held up in the middle and blazed their way through to the end. Sachin Tendulkar and James Franklin, who was moved to open the batting in the previous match and stayed there, built a sturdy foundation. Tendulkar started by sweeping Bhargav Bhatt to long-leg, allowing his touches of finesse to shine through. Franklin clipped Praveen Kumar through midwicket and drove Parvinder Awana over the covers and the pair put on a fuss-free fifty-two run stand.

Azhar Mahmood caused some jitters in the Mumbai camp when he had Franklin caught behind off a beautiful delivery that nipped away from him. In his next over, Mahmood accounted for Tendulkar, who got a thin inside edge through to Nitin Saini. Piyush Chawla had Dinesh Karthik caught at short fine leg and Mumbai were no longer in command. It set the stage for Rohit, who had not performed to expectation so far, to step up and he did. He announced his intent by smashing Chawla for a flat six over long-off and helped himself to boundaries off full tosses offered by both Awana and Praveen when they missed their lines.

Rohit was guiding Mumbai to victory when he slashed the ball to Mahmood at backward point and the advantage returned to Kings XI. Harbhajan made little contribution as he top-edged without moving his feet to be caught at long-off and Mumbai seemed to need a little miracle to dig themselves out of the hole Awana created.

Peterson started the seemingly impossible, switch hitting Chawla twice for four and slog sweeping him for six before Rayudu launched the legspinner for back to back sixes. Mahmood made it tough for Mumbai to score the last five but they did so with a ball to spare to claim a memorable win.

Kings XI would have thought they had enough runs at the halfway stage, having scored 88 runs off the last seven overs of their innings. David Hussey and David Miller starred in the last third of the Kings XI innings to give them a competitive total on a slow surface with a fourth-wicket stand that mixed defiance with aggression.

Saini and Mandeep Singh built a sturdy foundation for Kings XI with an opening stand of 35 but Kings XI stagnated when Mandeep was dismissed. They scored just 12 runs in four overs after Mandeep returned to the dug out and crawled to the 10-over mark at 56 for 2. In a surprise move, Harbhajan brought Franklin on to bowl and he slowed Kings XI up further. He bowled four good balls upfront, which yielded only four runs, before Shaun Marsh attempted to slice a ball over the off-side but top-edged it to Harbhajan at cover, who took a swirling catch.

Miller was the perfect for partner for Hussey and showed aggression from the get-go, when he pulled the second ball he faced, a short one from RP, through midwicket. Having seen short balls get punished, Kieron Pollard offered Hussey two more and was clubbed over midwicket and upper cut over third man.

Munaf Patel searched for yorkers but missed his length and dished out full tosses. Miller swiped him over long-on and Hussey did the same, to bring up a well-earned half-century. Clint McKay copied Munaf and got the yorker right on occasion. Still, he did not survive the late assault from Hussey, who steered him third man and made room to hit him over his head for six. Munaf finished the innings having conceded back to back sixes off Miller, who ended unbeaten on 34 off 17 balls.

Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo‘s South Africa correspondent

Another day. Another ripper. This time seen to rightful rest by Shaun Marsh. The Aussie southpaw smashed an unbeaten 40-ball 68, allowing Kings XI Punjab to chase down Mumbai Indians’ 163 in the last over at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.

Marsh’s knock overshadowed James Franklin’s 51-ball 79 in the first innings, as a Sachin Tendulkar-reinforced Mumbai failed to defeat an Adam Gilchrist-less Punjab. Mumbai elected to bat and posted a total at least 20 runs less than what they had appeared set for when Franklin and Dinesh Karthik were going great guns, and failed to restrict Punjab despite Kieron Pollard’s unbelievable 4-0-14-2 outing.

Marsh was accorded timely help by Nitin Saini (30), Mandeep Singh (24) and David Hussey (21) – who was captaining the side – and in the end Punjab’s batsmen completed what had been set up by their bowlers, principally Parvinder Awana (4-0-23-2) and Piyush Chawla (4-0-19-0).

Earlier, Mumbai won the toss and limped at the beginning of their innings, scoring their first run only after eight balls had been bowled, as Praveen Kumar and left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt bowled testing spells. Opening with Tendulkar, back after an injury layoff, and Franklin the home team reached 34 runs in five overs.

Tendulkar played a few crisp strokes, caressing Azhar Mahmood for a four through third man, and was dropped by Awana at fine leg off the same bowler. But the lapse did not prove costly as the maestro was run-out soon after – by a direct hit from David Miller from deep mid-wicket. Rohit Sharma was dismissed cheaply in the next over – the tenth – and then followed a phase of aggression from Mumbai, as Franklin and Dinesh Karthik combined for 75 in six overs.

Franklin powered Bhatt into the crowd, heaving the ball from outside off to the leg side, a stroke that brought him one of his four sixes. Karthik too made his time in the middle count, reverse sweeping Hussey and blitzing Mahmood for fours. A total in excess of 180 looked on the cards when these two were cruising along, but Karthik was run out going for a second as Mumbai ran into a road block.

Wickets started to tumble as the new batsmen looked to turn it on. Pollard, Franklin and Harbhajan Singh all got out within ten runs of each other (Praveen claiming two in two balls) and Mumbai finished with a total well short of what they looked like getting at one stage.

Source: Yahoo Cricket