Royal Challengers set up a final clash with Chennai Super Kings after beating Mumbai Indians by 43 runs in the second qualifying final of IPL 4 at MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai on Friday.

Chasing a mammoth victory target of 186 runs, Mumbai managed 143/8 in their 20 overs.

Daniel Vettori scalped Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu and Kieron Pollard in his successive overs.

Vettori first had Rohit caught by Luke Pomersbach at sweeper cover and one ball later trapped Rayudu plumb in front of the wicket for a first ball duck.

Abhimanyu Mithun took a superb one-handed catch at long-on to dismiss Pollard in Vettori’s next over.

Zaheer Khan then clean bowled James Franklin to reduce Mumbai to 99/7 and ending all their hopes of a fightback.

Left-arm spinner Jamaluddin Syed Mohammad had captain Sachin Tendulkar stumped by AB de Villiers to reduce Mumbai to 68/3 in 8 overs.

Tendulkar charged down the pitch but was beaten by the delivery that turned sharply and the Master was in no position to negotiate the sharp turn and AB de Villiers removed the bails in a flash.

Tendulkar hit 7 fours in his 24-ball 40 before falling to Syed.

Sreenath Aravind dismissed Aiden Blizzard and Harbhajan Singh in his successive overs as Mumbai got off to a poor start.

Aravind first had Blizzard caught by Mayank Agarwal at long-on and in his next over had Harbhajan caught by Luke Pomersbach at deep mid-wicket.

Blizzard hit 2 fours in his 11-ball 10 while pinch-hitter Harbhajan hit a six and a four in his 7-ball 13.

Earlier, Chris Gayle’s 47-ball 89 and Mayank Agarwal’s 31-ball 41 powered Bangalore to 185/4.

AB de Villiers hit a six in his unbeaten 15-ball 21.

Gayle smashed 89 runs off 47 balls before Munaf Patel had him caught by James Franklin at long-on.

Gayle’s blitzkrieg knock was studded with 5 sixes and 9 fours ad he was lloking good for more before Munaf struck in the 15th over.

Bangalore lost their third wicket in the next over when Virat Kohli edged a Abu Nechim delivery onto his stumps.

Munaf struck again in his next over when Lasith Malinga took a superb diving catch at short third-man to dismiss Luke Pomersbach.

Gayle reached his half-century off 27 balls and was ably aided by his opening partner Mayank Agarwal as the two brought up Bangalore’s 100 in the ninth over after brining up the 50 in the fourth over.

All plans to contain the Bangalore openers failed as Mumbai captain Sachin Tendulkar deployed as many as six bowlers in the first nine overs.

Bangalore lost their first wicket when Kieron Pollard had Agarwal caught by Rohit Sharma at long-on.

Agarwal hit 2 sixes and 2 fours in his 31-ball 41 and put up a 113-run opening stand with Gayle.

The carnage started after Tendulkar won the toss and chose to bowl.

Mumbai brought in Abu Nechim and Rajagopal Satish in favour of T Suman and Dhawal Kulkarni.

Bangalore replaced Mohammad Kaif with Jamaluddin Syed Mohammad.

Teams:

Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar (Capt.), Aiden Blizzard, Ambati Rayudu, Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, James Franklin, Rajagopal Satish, Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel, Lasith Malinga, Abu Nechim.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Daniel Vettori (Capt.), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Saurabh Tiwary, Luke Pomersbach, Sreenath Aravind, Abhimanyu Mithun, Zaheer Khan, Jamaluddin Syed Mohammad.

Source: Times of India

Kolkata Knight Riders began nervously, Mumbai Indians finished similarly, but it was Mumbai who booked a place in the Champions League T20 and in the semi-final equivalent of IPL 2009. What will irk Kolkata is that they were the better side for 39 overs in the previous match between these sides, but one bad over then set up this rematch in the quarter-final equivalent. Mumbai did enough to make use on the second chance.

Kolkata’s top order came out trying too hard for a big start, losing four wickets for 20, and Ryan ten Doeschate’s 70 was not recovery enough on a good Wankhede track with short boundaries. A blazing start from Aiden Blizzard and Sachin Tendulkar seemed to have put to rest Mumbai’s habit of muddled chases, but they choked again. For the second night in a row, though, James Franklin took Mumbai home with a much less miraculous but much more assured 29, with much more on the line.

Munaf Patel bowled smartly to capitalise on Kolkata’s palpable nervous energy, taking three wickets, including those of Jacques Kallis and Yusuf Pathan. It was a subtle change-up immediately after being driven for four that sent Kallis back. The wicket-taking delivery was pitched in the similar area, but was bowled with a scrambled seam and hence a touch slower. The slice settled with a diving Tendulkar.

Gautam Gambhir, Sreevats Goswami and Manoj Tiwary concentrated just on the boundaries, in the process failing to place the good balls for singles. The dot balls mounted, and all three fell to shots they would normally not play. ten Deoschate played sensibly, though, looking for singles and punishing the bad ones. That calm rubbed off to Yusuf, their 60-run stand took the run-rate past six an over, and a big finish could not have been ruled out.

Munaf, though, returned to interrupt the comeback with more clever bowling. Convinced that the short ball would trouble Yusuf, he let his Baroda team-mate have some. The first one took a top edge for four, the second went for a single along the ground, and the third one was mistimed over midwicket. Munaf persisted, and with his fourth bouncer of the over, he sent his man back.

Ambati Rayudu, a part-time keeper, proceeded to miss ten Doeschate and Shakib Al Hasan in the next two overs. ten Doeschate went on to score the highest for a No. 6 this IPL, Kolkata got 60 in the last six, but they were still at start still meant Kolkata were a blazing start away from elimination. Blizzrad and Tendulkar provided just that. Blizzard relished the pace of Brett Lee, Tendulkar took care of the spin of Iqbal Abdulla and Yusuf Pathan. A lot of class and a lot of power merged effectively to bring up the fifty in the fifth over. There was remote semblance of redemption for Lee when he came back to remove Blizzard, but not before the batsman had hit him for four and six in that over.

Then Mumbai stumbled. Rohit Sharma ran himself out, Tendulkar fell to a sharp bouncer, and Rayudu seemed to have been sawn off. From 81 for 0 in the eighth over, Mumbai had been reduced to 103 for 4 in the 13th. A mini partnership happened, but Shakib trapped Pollard to make it 123 for 5. T Suman couldn’t handle the nerves and holed out to long-off.

The asking rate now crossed a run a ball for the last two overs, but a top edge off Lee’s first ball brought it back to 11 off 11. L Balaji, who failed to defend 21 in the last match, didn’t get a shot at redemption. The last over went to Shakib – his figures 3-0-17-2 until then – who needed to defend seven. Harbhajan lofted the second ball over midwicket, and let out a roar.

Sidharth Monga is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

Kolkata Knight Riders had their Champions League debut all but booked when they began the last over with 21 to defend. Three edged boundaries off L Balaji and two missed yorkers later, James Franklin and Ambati Rayudu had seen Mumbai Indians to a highly unlikely win, breaking their three-match losing streak. The win set up a repeat clash between the two teams in the eliminator, an equivalent of a quarter-final.

In all the chaos of the last over, which stunned the full house at Eden Gardens, Chennai Super Kings emerged the biggest gainers. Had Kolkata won the game, which they should have despite all those edges, Chennai would have finished third, and would have had to win two games in order to make the final. Now they need win only one of the two.

Mumbai gained too: they needed to finish the chase off in 5.1 overs to make it to the top two, but by beating Kolkata they could have ensured a psychological advantage in their eliminator. For the best part of their 19 overs of batting, Mumbai scarcely looked like a team that could do so. Iqbal Abdulla removed T Suman in the second over, the pinch-hitter Harbhajan Singh managed 30 off 29, and Rajat Bhatia’s leg-rollers broke the batting order’s back with thee wickets in three overs.

At 96 for 4 in the 13th over, it seemed too much was left for Kieron Pollard and Franklin. Pollard lived up to that expectation, but Franklin kept the fight up mostly with well-placed couples. A six and a four in between meant Mumbai were not completely out of it even when Balaji ripped Pollard’s leg stump out with 40 required off 15.

If this was robbery in broad floodlights, Kolkata weren’t the most vigilant victims either. As much as the edged boundaries in the last over, Kolkata will also look back at little moments towards the end that proved to be decisive. Balaji bowled a wide with one ball left in the 18th over, and Ambati Rayudu lofted the compensation delivery over extra cover for a six. It wouldn’t be Rayudu’s last six of the night.

The last ball of the 19th over hit Rayudu in the pad and rolled towards the keeper. The batsmen had all but stolen a leg-bye when wicketkeeper Shreevats Goswami went for a direct hit, and conceded an overthrow. That kept Franklin – 28 off 18 now – on strike for the last over. L Balaji went for a wide yorker first ball, and a thick edge off the low full toss went between the keeper and the short third man. A slower bouncer followed, and the tope edge cleared the keeper again. Thirteen off four now looked so much more gettable.

Balaji went back to the wide-yorker plan, and Franklin smacked the next low full toss past extra cover for four. Under pressure and in the face of some ill luck, Balaji was just not landing them right. The next ball was a low, wide full toss again, and another thick edge beat third man to make it five of two. The next low full toss found extra cover, and brought Kolkata some relief. However, just then Balaji chose to bowl the worst delivery of the over – a high full toss on the pads – and Rayudu helped himself to his second, and decisive, six.

The stunned Eden gardens crowd could scarcely believe what they were seeing after they had cheered their team all night to what looked like a comfortable win. Most of it was thanks to Jacques Kallis who batted solidly at first and rapaciously towards the end. Along the way he was helped by breezy 30s from Manoj Tiwary and Yusuf Pathan, but it was Kallis who provided the innings the final impetus with 19 off the last five balls he faced. It was fitting then that the man who minimised the damage with the wickets of Kallis and Yusuf was none other than Franklin.

Sidharth Monga is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

The prospect of a final face-off between Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne had dominated the build-up to this clash, but on the field it was overshadowed by an imposing performance from Shane Watson. Not only did he deliver a fitting farewell for his captain from competitive cricket, but left Mumbai Indians under serious pressure of keeping their qualification chances alive following a third straight defeat. For someone who had struggled to capitalise on starts this tournament, Watson compensated with a splendid all-round effort, serving a painful reminder to Mumbai of what they should have achieved on a good pitch with each of his crushing blows into the heart of a packed Wankhede crowd.

The Tendulkar-Warne contest should have been a non-event as left-arm spinner Ankeet Chavan twice had Tendulkar trapped in front, including one off the first ball, only for the umpire Paul Reiffel to think otherwise. Backed up by his disciplined bowling at one end, Watson dismissed T Suman and Ambati Rayudu in successive overs from the other, depriving the hosts of the attacking start they would have hoped for after choosing to bat. And just as Kieron Pollard had warmed up at the death after muscling a couple of boundaries, Watson cleaned him up to restrict Mumbai to a below-par total, one that was given some respectability by a classy half-century from Rohit Sharma.

It didn’t take long for Watson to set about punishing Mumbai, as he smote Harbhajan Singh for two massive sixes over midwicket in the second over of the chase. He followed that up by drilling Lasith Malinga past mid-off in an over that perhaps produced his only moment of discomfort. Malinga responded venomously, knocking back Watson’s chin with a bouncer – it escaped the grill, there would have been some pain but he didn’t show it. His own response? A memorable counterattack, pulling Malinga each time he dropped short, his next seven balls producing three fours and a flat six and stunned crowd not used to seeing their star-studded home team being overwhelmed in that manner.

A sense of resignation was felt in the crowd, if not among the players, when Watson smacked Harbhajan for three consecutive fours in his comeback over, while Rahul Dravid, happy to play the supporting role, showed his own class with some delightful boundaries off Pollard and Munaf Patel. The pair remained unbeaten, Rajasthan romped home, marking a satisfactory end after their turmoil-filled build-up to the tournament.

Rohit had won praise from Warne as one of the most exciting talents in Indian cricket, and he undoubtedly would have impressed his opposing captain with his performance today. He quickly took the lead in the stand with Tendulkar, his stand-out shot being imposing drive against Warne through extra cover, matched by a delightful punch in the same region off Johan Botha who couldn’t restrain Rohit despite chasing him as he made room.

Rohit used his feet well to spin, stepped up in the late overs after Tendulkar’s duel with Warne was cut short by an upper cut off Amit Singh though Warne wasn’t finishing his spell without a cheer. His final victory with the ball was the stumping of Rohit, stunned by the turn and losing his bat to square leg after a wild swing gone bad. At the end of the game, Warne was still smiling after Mumbai stayed baffled.

Siddhartha Talya is a sub editor at ESPNcricinfo

Anand Rajan took three wickets and Ishant Sharma took two as Deccan Chargers pulled off a stunning 10-run victory over Mumbai Indians in their IPL match at Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.

Chasing a victory target of 136 runs, Mumbai could manage 125/8 in their 20 overs.

Rajan scalped Tirumalasetti Suman and Sachin Tendulkar in one over to reduce Mumbai Indians to 83/6 in 16 overs.

Rajan first had Suman caught by Shikhar Dhawan at long-on and three balls later trapped Tendulkar plumb in front of the wicket.

Tendulkar hit 3 fours in his 42-ball 37 before falling to Rajan.

Leg-spinner Amit Mishra had Andrew Symonds caught by Ishant Sharma at long-off to reduce Mumbai Indians to 54/4.

Symonds scored 8 runs off 19 balls before falling to Mishra.

Ishant Sharma dismissed Ambati Rayudu and Rohit Sharma in his successive overs to place Mumbai Indians at 25/3.

Jean-Paul Duminy gave Deccan the first breakthrough in the third over when he clean bowled Aiden Blizzard with a beauty of a delivery that pitched on leg-stump and hit the top of off-stump.

Ishant struck in the next over when Rayudu walked too much across and was clean bowled from behind his legs.

Ishant then bowled a superb leg-cutter to have Rohit caught behind by Kumar Sangakkara.

Earlier, Dhawal Kulkarni took three wickets as Mumbai Indians restricted Deccan Chargers to 135/6.

23 runs came off the last over of the Deccan innings that was bowled by Munaf Patel.

Shikhar Dhawan hit a six off the first delivery and took a single off the next.

Amit Mishra then hit the last four deliveries for fours and even collided and exchanged quite a few heated words with Munaf.

Kulkarni took his third wicket when he clean bowled Daniel Christian with a superb yorker.

Deccan lost their fifth wicket when Kulkarni had Bharat Chipli caught by Tirumalasetti Suman in the covers off a slower delivery.

Deccan lost Sunny Sohal and Jean-Paul Duminy in successive overs to be reduced to 58/4 in 10.4 overs.

Kieron Pollard had Sohal caught by Andrew Symonds at backward point and in the next over, Harbhajan Singh had Duminy stumped by Ambati Rayudu for the double breakthrough.

Deccan lost their second wicket when Pollard took a superb catch running backwards to dismiss Deccan Chargers captain Kumar Sangakkara off Kulkarni.

Sangakkara hit a six and a four in his 28-ball 27 before falling to Kulkarni.

Lasith Malinga gave Mumbai Indians an early breakthrough when he clean bowled Michael Lumb on the second ball of the match.

The breakthrough came after Sangakkara won the toss and chose to bat.

For Deccan, Michael Lumb and Anand Rajan come in for Dale Steyn and Ravi Teja respectively. Mumbai are unchanged from the last match.

Teams:

Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar (Capt.), Aiden Blizzard, Ambati Rayudu, Kieron Pollard, Rohit Sharma, Andrew Symonds, Tirumalasetti Suman, Dhawal Kulkarni, Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel, Lasith Malinga.

Deccan Chargers: Kumar Sangakkara (Capt.), Shikhar Dhawan, Sunny Sohal, Bharat Chipli, Jean-Paul Duminy, Daniel Christian, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Anand Rajan, Michael Lumb.

Source: Times of India

Bhargav Bhatt (4-22) led disciplined Kings XI bowlers to bundle out Mumbai Indians for 87 as Punjab thrashed the table-toppers by 76 runs in their Indian Premier League match at the PCA stadium in Mohali.

Chasing 164-run target, Mumbai lost wickets at regular intervals against Punjab and failed put up any fight in the match.

Praveen Kumar started the Mumbai downfall as the pacer struck early to give Punjab a crucial breakthrough in the form of Sachin Tendulkar’s wicket in the third over.

Praveen then dismissed Blizzard in the fifth over after Bipul Sharma scalped Sharma in the previous over as Mumbai lost three wickets in three consecutive overs.

Young spinner Bhargav Bhatt took the responsibility for the Kings XI to wrap up the Mumbai tails as he finished with impressive figure of 4 for 22 in four overs.

Ryan Harris scalped T Suman in the tenth over as the table-toppers continued to lose wickets in consecutive overs and finally were bowled out for just 87 runs in 12.5 overs.

Electing to bowl, Munaf Patel took 5 wickets for 21 runs as Kings XI Punjab post 163/8 against Mumbai Indians.

Munaf Patel was on a roll as he struck twice in an over twice in the latter part of the Punjab innings to put a break to the hosts charge. Punjab lost six wickets for just 35 runs in last five overs as they were restricted to 163/8 from 128/2 in 15.1 overs.

Munaf dismissed Ryan Harris (6) and Dinesh Karthik (31) in the nineteenth over after he struck twice in the sixteenth over too to get rid of David Hussey (0) and Shaun Marsh (43).

Marsh top-scored for the Kings XI as he hit five boundaries in his quick 34-ball 43 runs knock and added a crucial 70-run stand with Adam Gilchrist (28) for the second wicket.

Punjab skipper hit a six and two fours in his 28-ball knock before Lasith Malinga struck in the eleventh over to break the partnership. Malinga struck again in the last over to dismiss Praveen Kumar and finished with 2 for 24.

Patel gave Mumbai an early breakthrough as he struck in the fourth over to dismiss young Paul Valthaty (14), who hit three boundaries in his run-a-ball innings.

Earlier, Mumbai skipper Sachin Tendulkar won the toss and decided to field against Punjab on Tuesday.

Assured of a berth in the play-offs, table-toppers Mumbai Indians started as outright favourites and playing with an unchanged side against bottom-ranked Kings XI.

The hosts Punjab have made one change in the side as they brought in Bipul Sharma in place of Siddharth Chitnis

Teams:

Kings XI Punjab: Adam Gilchrist (capt/wk), Dinesh Karthik, Praveen Kumar, Bipul Sharma, Mandeep Singh, Paul Valthaty, Shalabh Srivastava, Shaun Marsh, David Hussey, Ryan Harris, Bhargav Bhatt.

Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar (capt), Ambati Rayudu (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Rohit Sharma, T Suman, Munaf Patel, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Andrew Symonds, Dhawal Kulkarni, AC Blizzard.

Source: Times of India

Mumbai Indians played like the dominant side they have been this IPL, and Delhi Daredevils like the middling one they have been. Consequently Mumbai took another step towards qualification for the next round, Delhi towards elimination.

Except for a period of four overs where Mumbai lost two wickets for 17 runs, they bossed the whole game. Aiden Blizzard teased headline writers with seven boundaries off Morne Morkel’s first two overs, and then Ambati Rayudu and Rohit Sharma absorbed the shock of two quick wickets to follow it up with an assault that got Mumbai 67 off the last six overs.

On a flat and quick pitch, with short boundaries, 178 was still not beyond Virender Sehwag and David Warner. Not against Mumbai, though, whose big three with the ball – Lasith Malinga, Harbhajan Singh and Munaf Patel – killed the game in three overs. Harbhajan got Warner with a straighter one, Colin Ingram had no clue about a Malinga yorker, and Munaf got a top edge from Sehwag first ball. It left Delhi too steep a climb, although an 87-run stand between half-centurion James Hopes and Venugopal Rao meant sure all time-outs were utilised.

The first innings had got off to a similarly emphatic start for Mumbai. Blizzard took to the pace and the regulation length from Morkel, who has troubled a few Indian batsmen with pace and bounce. To Blizzard, though the faster they came, the faster they went. One of the seven boundaries was a cut from in front of leg stump. A defeated Morkel found time for a bemused smile even as the total reached 50 in five overs.

Irfan Pathan, though, found swing, and with a wicket-maiden brought Delhi back. Shahbaz Nadeem added to Sachin Tendulkar’s wicket when he removed Blizzard with one that skidded on. This was a time when things could have easily gone wrong for Mumbai, but Rayudu and Rohit batted sensibly. It was Rayudu who took lead in both rebuilding and in attacking once he was in.

Rayudu began pushing Delhi out of the contest in the 10th over when he targeted James Hopes. He moved across the stumps, and waited with a high back lift. He got a length ball from Hopes, and pulled it over short fine leg. It didn’t make for pleasant viewing, but Rayudu immediately balanced it aesthetically with a proper drive through extra cover next over. Two overs later, Ajit Agarkar served him a leg-stump half-volley, which Rayudu flicked out of Agarkar’s home ground.

Rayudu’s hitting rubbed onto Rohit, who lofted Morkel and Hopes for lovely straight sixes. Morkel found a semblance of redemption with Rohit’s wicket in the 17th over, Agarkar with a last over to Kieron Pollard and Andrew Symonds that went for just five. In between, though, Rayudu punished Delhi some more. He didn’t go hell for leather, instead he placed his shots well and hit Nadeem and Hopes for a six and three fours. From 30 off 26 he had gone to 59 off 39. Malinga, Harbhajan and Munaf soon told him he had done enough.

Sidharth Monga is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

Despite a spirited half-century by Manish Pandey, Mumbai Indians beat Pune Warriors India by 21 runs in their IPL match at the DY Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai on Wednesday.

All the pressure added up for the Pune Warriors as their batsmen failed to chase once again, and some brilliant bowling by Mumbai Indians choked the home side to yet another defeat.

Manish Pandey scored 59 runs in 47 balls.

The Mumbai side were at the top of their game in the field.

Harbhajan Singh and Munaf Patel struck early for Mumbai as Pune lost his openers in pursuit of 161 runs.

Tirumalsetti Suman Suman blazed his way to a 16-ball 36 and Kieron Pollard (29) provided the late fireworks as Mumbai Indians recovered from a sluggish start to post a challenging 160 for seven against the Warriors.

Mumbai had managed just 65 runs for two wickets after 10 overs but found an unlikely hero in Suman, who hit three sixes and as many fours to lead the fightback.

Pollard played a useful cameo (29 off 21), with two fours and as many sixes to help Mumbai go past the 150-run mark after being invited to bat.

Pune bowlers had done an exceptional job early on and leg-spinner Rahul Sharma returend incredible figures of 4-0-7-2 but the good work was undone when Suman and Pollard had their way.

Pune captain Yuvraj Singh accounted for Mumbai’s most productive duo of skipper Sachin Tendulkar (24) and Ambati Rayudu (27).

As in earlier games, the opening partnership did not yield too many runs for Mumbai as the new partner for skipper Tendulkar, Australian youngster Aiden Blizzard (6) perished in the third over to leave them at 18 for one.

The left-handed batsman was caught by a diving stumper Robin Uthappa in front of the slip fielder. But Tendulkar was in very good touch as he drove and clipped Alfonso Thomas and Shrikant Wagh for three fours in the first two overs.

Once again it was left to the Tendulkar and Rayudu to forge a meaningful stand.

Rayudu hooked West Indies pacer Jerome Taylor and then glided the bowler over the head of wicket keeper for successive fours to step up the run rate.

Tendulkar then glanced and top-edged left-arm Wagh for successive fours to help Mumbai finish the power-play with 49 on board.

One run later, the master batsman had a close shave when he was well out of the crease after setting out for a run, but Uthappa failed to hit the stumps from short square leg.

Yuvraj brought himself into the attack and struck a major blow in his second over by sending back Tendulkar, who was caught off a full blooded drive brilliantly by Jesse Ryder at short extra cover.

His partnership with Rayudu, the most successful pair for Mumbai in the tournament, realised 40 runs in 35 balls.

Yuvraj accounted for Rayudu too by having him caught at long off for 27 as Mumbai reached 69 for three from 58 for one in quick time.

Suman, surprisingly promoted ahead of both Pollard and Andrew Symonds, struck the first six of the match with a heave off Ryder over long-on.

The Hyderabad Ranjji player then off-drove Yuvraj for a four and hoisted Taylor over long-leg for his second six.

Rohit Sharma, strangely subdued at the other end, fell to the leg spin of the lanky Rahul Sharma in the next over, caught at long-on off a slog in the 15th over.

Suman continued to impress with his aggressive batting and struck Alfonso Thomas for two successive boundaries and followed it with a six over long off in the 16th over to give the much-needed thrust to the flagging innings.

Suman departed while trying to hoist Rahul over long off and was caught by Mithun Manhas.

Pollard took over the attacking reins and in one over from Thomas, the 19th of the innings, he cracked two fours and a six off the South African bowler whose analysis then read an unflattering 1 for 53.

The most impressive bowler for the Warriors was Sharma who has had a very impressive stint in the IPL. He finished with very creditable figures of two for seven in four overs while Yuvraj Singh and Jerome Taylor picked up two wickets apiece.

Teams

Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar (capt.), Ambati Rayudu (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Rohit Sharma, Munaf Patel, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Andrew Symonds, Dhawal Kulkarni, T Suman, AC Blizzard.

Pune Warriors: Yuvraj Singh (capt.), Robin Uthappa (wk), Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Mithun Manhas, Rahul Sharma, Shrikant Wagh, Jesse Ryder, Graeme Smith, Alphonso Thomas, Jerome Taylor, Manish Pandey.

Source: Times of India

Mumbai bowlers and fielders were literally running on fumes today. The home side after being outplayed in the last game by Rajasthan Royals put up a terrific all-round performance to outclass Kings XI Punjab by 23 runs in their Indian Premier League match at Wankhede stadium.

Chasing 160 runs to win, Kings XI Punjab got off to a slow start after losing skipper Adam Gilchrist (0) in the first over. However, Paul Valthaty (33) and Shaun Marsh resisted spirited Mumbai attack with 72-run stand for the second wicket.

Both Valthaty and Marsh looked visibly uncomfortable at the crease as the hosts kept bowling in right areas. Medium-pacer Andrew Symonds ended Valthaty’s struggle in the 11th over when the later tried to hoick one over long on. Kieron Pollard took a smart catch as Wankhede erupted.

Mumbai then claimed David Hussey (1) and Dinesh Karthik (1) in quick time to put pressure on Punjab’s middle-order. The home team then sweated through the remainder of the match to denounce Kings XI Punjab to their third straight defeat, despite a top score of 61 from Australian Shaun Marsh.

Harbhajan Singh, Lasith Malinga and Munaf Patel collected two wickets apiece, as Punjab managed 136-8 in their 20 overs.

Earlier, Sachin Tendulkar (51) and Ambati Rayudu (51) shared a 95-run partnership for the second wicket after losing Davy Jacobs early to help Mumbai post a challenging 159-5 on the board. Both batted with poise against pace and spin alike and put Punjab attack to the sword with stirring strokeplay.

Aggressive Rayudu, who completed his fifty off just 35 balls with the help of eight fours and a six, was dismissed in the 15th over while attempting to go over deep mid-wicket against Piyush Chawla. Dinesh Karthik took an outstanding catch at deep tumbling down backwards within an inch of the boundary rope.

The Mumbai skipper also played attractive shots during his 45-ball knock, hitting three fours and a six. He looked well set before being caught out by Abhishek Nayar off Ryan Harris.

After getting rid of Rayudu and Sachin in quick succession, Punjab bowlers did well in the end to restrict the hosts for a par score at Wankhede. Piyush Chawla and Ryan Harris grabbed two wickets each.

Kieron Pollard (20) and Rohit Sharma (18) were other notable contributors for the home team.

Source: Bikash Singh, Yahoo! Cricket

Rajasthan Royals were better equipped to surprise championship leaders Mumbai Indians on a difficult track, beating them by seven wickets at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium here Friday to jump to the second position in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

With the win, Rajasthan Royals also snapped Mumbai Indians’ three-match winning streak and now have nine points from eight matches, while the visitors remained at the top of the league despite suffering their second loss from seven matches.

Royals’ skipper Shane Warne was spot on with his decision to bowl first as the spinners did extremely well, on a dry and cracked pitch, to restrict the Mumbai Indians to just 94 for eight, their lowest score in IPL history.

Off-spinner Johan Botha picked up three wickets for six runs while left-arm spinner Ashok Maneria got two for 20, including the prized scalp of Sachin Tendulkar, which was his maiden Twenty20 wicket.

Rajasthan Royals achieved the target by losing three wickets and with 11 balls to spare. Botha starred with the bat again, top scoring with 45 off 39 balls (4×2, 6×1) and was also adjudged the Man of the Match.

While Rajasthan Royals batsmen applied themselves on the slow turning track, Mumbai Indians failed to read the wicket and struggled against the spin.

None of the Mumbai Indians batsmen could get to 20 and failed to get a decent partnership. Andrew Symonds top scored with 17 while opener Davy Jacobs made 15.

Much was expected from Tendulkar, against his old cricketing rival Warne. But it was 20-year-old Maneria, who opened the attack, who ended all hopes of the much-expected duel, with a great delivery that enticed Tendulkar to charge the bowler and wicketkeeper Dishant Yagnik stumped the batting maestro.

Maneria bowled his four overs on the trot and in his last over struck again, taking an easy return catch off to dismiss the in-from Ambati Rayudu (11). The dismissal triggered the collapse of Mumbai Indians and they lost six wickets for just 37 runs.

Despite a slow start, Botha made the chase look easy. He was involved in two crucial partnerships with opener Shane Watson (26) and Ross Taylor (13 not out) that took the Royals home safely.

With Watson, Botha added 39 runs for the second wicket and stitched a 34-run stand with Taylor for the third wicket. Botha was bowled by Munaf Patel in the 18th over and at that stage, the hosts were just five runs away from a win.

Source: Yahoo Cricket