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

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

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

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

Chasing 115-run target, Chennai Super Kings lost Michael Hussey (38) after he put on a 75-run opening stand with Murali Vijay against Delhi Daredevils in a crucial Indian Premier League match at the MA Chidambaram stadium on Saturday.

Irfan Pathan struck in the eleventh over to give Delhi a crucial breakthrough but it seem too little too late. Hussey hit a six and five boundaries in his quick 32-ball innings as he laid a solid platform for the hosts to win the match comfortably.

Hussey and Vijay helped Chennai raced to fifty in just 6.3 overs against Delhi.

Electing to bowl, pacer Ben Hilfenhaus (3-27) led a discipline Chennai attack to restrict Delhi to 114/5.

Yogesh Nagar top-score for the visitors with unbeaten 43 off 47 balls which included a six and a four in his patient knock. Irafan Pathan remained unbeaten on 13 off 17 balls.

For Chennai, Albie Morkel (1-15) and Ravichandran Ashwin (1-17) took a wicket each as they supported the red-hot Hilfenhaus perfectly.

Delhi lost Venugopal Rao (26) after he tried to revive their innings with Nagar. Ashwin dismissed Rao in the fourteenth over to break the 48-run fifth wicket partnership between Rao and Nagar. Rao hit two sixes in his quick 24-ball innings.

Sent in to bat, Delhi lost four top-order batsmen inside six overs to give upper hand to hosts Chennai.

Albie Morkel dismissed Mahela Jayawardene (8) in the sixth over to reduce Delhi to 24/4 in 5.2 overs.

Delhi lost Jayawardene soon after Naman Ojha (3) became the third victim of Chennai pacer Ben Hilfenhaus three balls earlier.

Table-toppers Delhi started their innings on the wrong foot as they lost David Warner (8) and skipper Virender Sehwag (4) inside three overs.

Hilfenhaus continue his good outing in the league as he dismissed Warner in his second over to reduce Delhi to 12/2 in 2.1 overs. Warner hit a four in his short 9 balls stay but he failed to carry on with his century-making form in the last game against Deccan Chargers.

The Aussie pacer Hilfenhaus gave hosts Chennai a perfect start when he got better of Sehwag in the very first over of the match.

Earlier, Chennai skipper MS Dhoni won the toss and decided to field against Delhi.

Chennai bring in spinner Shadab Jakati in the playing eleven replacing pacer Yo Mahesh.

Delhi made two changes in the team as Roelf van der Merwe replaced Andre Russell and Umesh Yadav returned in the place of Shahbaz Nadeem.

Teams:

Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wk), Srikkanth Anirudha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Dwayne Bravo, Ben Hilfenhaus, Michael Hussey, Ravindra Jadeja, Shadab Jakati, Albie Morkel, Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay.

Delhi Daredevils: Virender Sehwag (capt), Mahela Jayawardene, Irfan Pathan, Umesh Yadav, Naman Ojha (wk), Venugopal Rao, Yogesh Nagar, Morne Morkel, Roelf van der Merwe, Varun Aaron, David Warner.

Source: Times of India

Even 187 wasn’t enough to push Deccan Chargers’ inexperienced bowling attack to pull off a surprise win against Delhi Daredevils. David Warner filled the vacuum left by Kevin Pietersen with a blistering century – his second in the IPL – in only his second game of the season. With a little help from Naman Ojha, Daredevils butchered their way back to No.1, overhauling the target with 20 balls to spare.

Chargers risked fielded a bowling attack without foreign players, the most experienced being Amit Mishra. It was a recipe for a mauling. There was no respite even at the other end as the promising Ojha capitalised on his promotion, hitting five sixes in his 64. The pair overshadowed a similar performance by another Indo-Australian left-right duo earlier in the evening, by Shikhar Dhawan and Cameron White.

Daredevils’ response was so swift and intimidating that Virender Sehwag’s early departure was a distant memory. Sehwag tried to make a mockery of the decision to open the bowling with Dhawan by lofting the first ball of the chase to long-off. A similar attempt off the second ball resulted in a top edge that swirled to point as White held a well-judged catch running backwards.

It was the only memorable bit of fielding from Chargers. The familiar misfields reflected on another flat performance in the field, completely out of synch with the batting performance. Warner hit two forceful boundaries to take 16 off the opening over and set the tone for the rest of the chase.

Warner proceeded to expose the lack of depth and experience among the bowlers, one that should serve as a lesson for the franchise before the next trading window. TP Sudhindra, back after warming the bench for over a month, gave away 13 off his first over. Ashish Reddy, one of the impressive newcomers this season for Chargers, had his confidence dented with a 20-run opening over. Two consecutive short balls were pounded by Warner over cover and deep square-leg respectively. When he pitched it full, he was spanked through the off side.

Manpreet Gony was the only bowler to return with respectable figures. Mishra, the most experience, went for an embarassing 44 off four. Twenty-six of those runs came off Ojha, who used his feet to smash two sixes down the ground.

Warner, who looked below his best on the more sluggish pitches in the West Indies, was at home here with the ball coming onto the bat. He played his trademark pulls, including the one that brought up his century. Their stand of 189 was the second-best in the IPL, behind Adam Gilchrist and Shaun Marsh’s 206 for Kings XI Punjab last year.

The 126 between Dhawan and White wasn’t lacking in quality though. The pair shrugged off a relatively slow first half with power hitting in the last nine overs to give their loyal fans something to cheer for. The partnership featured audacious shots like the Dilscoop and the paddle sweep interspersed with powerful straight hits and muscled sixes over deep midwicket.

Dhawan was particularly strong over the on side, fetching consecutive sixes off left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem and raced to his fifty with consecutive straight hits off Irfan Pathan.

When the slower bowlers tossed it up, Dhawan hammered them over the on side; when Morne Morkel aimed at the base of the stumps, he strolled across his stumps and paddled him over the helpless short fine leg fielder. A century was there for the taking against a stunned bowling attack, but it took a brilliant fielding effort from Nadeem, effecting a direct hit from behind square leg to catch Dhawan a mile out of his crease.

White, who had earlier brought up the century stand with a six over deep midwicket off Nadeem, holed out to a top edge in the final over. Chargers, in the last nine overs, plundered 117 runs. Unfortunately, their bowlers failed to back that effort.

Kanishkaa Balachandran is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

Delhi bowlers threw no challenge as Kolkata Knight Riders chased down 154-run target with 8 balls to spare to secure a comfortable 6-wicket victory at Ferozeshah Kotla and reach top of the table on Monday.

After restricting hosts to a modest 153/9, Kolkata Knight Riders got off to a solid start with openers Gautam Gambhir and Brendon McCullum posting 68-run stand for the first wicket.

Pacer Varun Aaron gave Delhi first breakthrough by dismissing Gautam Gambhir (36).

However, Kolkata appeared unperturbed by the wicket of Gambhir as McCullum steered the score along with Jacques Kallis.

The duo put Kolkata in a solid position before pacer Umesh Yadav struck in the 16 th over to dismiss Jacques Kallis and Brendon McCullum in consecutive deliveries.

McCullum made a swashbuckling 56 and shared 60-run stand with Jacques Kallis (30).

However, the double strike came too late and visitors surged towards an easy victory.

Delhi Daredevils didn’t fire as a batting unit as Kolkata Knight Riders restricted them to a manageable 153 for nine in the clash of table-toppers.

Opting to bat first, Daredevils started off well with skipper Virender Sehwag blasting 23 off only nine deliveries but failed to convert his good start.

The likes of David Warner (21), Mahela Jayawardene (30) got out just when they looked set, while Ross Taylor (16)’s woeful run with the willow affected Daredevils’ chance of putting up a good score.

With Sehwag and Kevin Pietersen doing the bulk of the scoring in the earlier matches, the Daredevils middle-order were put to test for the first time and they failed miserably.

It was only due to Irfan Pathan’s (36, 22 balls, 4×4, 1×6) lusty blows that the table-toppers crossed the 150-mark.

As many four batsmen were out in the final over of the innings bowled by ‘mystery spinner’ Sunil Narine who again had enviable figures of two for 23, while Jacques Kallis (2/20) made telling impact removing both Sehwag and Warner.

Sehwag was again off the blocks in a flash as he hit a couple of boundaries and a huge six over mid-wicket off left-arm seamer Pradeep Sangwan in the second over of the innings.

Warner, who looked scratchy during the first few deliveries, then got his act together as he hit Brett Lee for a straight six and followed it up with a cover drive.

In only 3.2 overs, Sehwag-Warner duo added 40 runs and it looked like KKR bowlers were in for a ‘Knightmare’ when Kallis provided twin-breakthrough.

First he had Sehwag adjudged leg before when he was trying to work the ball on the leg-side. So confident was Kallis that he didn’t even bother to appeal at the first go. Sehwag had hit three boundaries and a six in his 23.

Source: Times of India

Skipper Virender Sehwag smashed 38-ball 73 to help Delhi Daredevils thrash Rajasthan Royals by 6 wickets in their Indian Premier League match at the Sawai Mansingh stadium.

Sehwag’s blitzkrieg make sure that Delhi chased down the modest 142-run target in just 15.2 overs as Daredevils continue their winning momentum. With the victory, Delhi registered their eight wins in ten matches and stand atop the points table with 16 points.

Sehwag raced to his fifty in just 20 balls to lead the Delhi run chase. Sehwag put on 96-run stand with Pietersen for the second wicket in quick time as the duo revive the run chase after early blow.

Sehwag smacked one six and a dozen boundaries in his whirlwind innings before Brad Hogg got better of him in the fifteenth over. But it was too little too late as Delhi required just 11 runs with 5.2 overs to go after Sehwag’s fall.

Delhi lost Ross Taylor (6) and Kevin Pietersen (36) in quick succession to be reduced to 106/3 in 11.4 overs.

Hogg dismissed Taylor in the twelfth over after Shane Watson got rid of Pietersen in the previous over to break the imposing second wicket stand between KP and Sehwag.

Pietersen hit a six and three fours in his 34-ball patient knock as he played the second fiddle to marauding Sehwag.

With the latest half-century, Sehwag scored record fifth consecutive fifties of the season.

Delhi raced to fifty in just five overs and scored 61 runs with the loss of 1 wicket in the mandatory six powerplay overs.

Ankeet Chavan struck in the very first over to give Rajasthan an early breakthrough. Chavan trapped Mahela Jayawardene leg before wicket to reduce Delhi 0/1 in 0.3 overs.

Asked to field first, young leg-spinner Pawan Negi (4-18) helped Daredevils restrict Royals to 141/6.

Rajasthan openers Rahul Dravid (57) and Ajinkya Rahane (42) started their innings aggressively as they added 71 runs to lay down a solid foundation but the latter batsmen couldn’t capitalize on it.

Negi struck twice in his final over to rock the Royals innings as they lost five wickets in the span of 25 runs.

Dravid hit seven boundaries in his quick-fire 43-ball knock before pacer Morne Morkel got better of him in the penultimate over. Dravid raced to his half-century in 35 balls to hold the one end as wickets kept falling from the other end after a solid start.

Pawan Negi removed Brad Hodge (1) and Ashok Menaria (2) and leave the Royals stuttering at 95/5 in 13 overs.

Pacer Umesh Yadav struck in the twelfth over to dismiss Owais Shah (1) and reduced Rajasthan to 90/3 in 11.4 overs.

Pawan Negi dismissed Shane Watson (8) soon after he got rid of in-form Ajinkya Rahane (42) in the ninth over.

Skipper Rahul Dravid and Rahane started Rajasthan innings aggressively and added 71 runs for the opening wicket.

Rajasthan scored 56 runs in their mandatory powerplay of six overs without losing any wicket.

The most successful opening pair of IPL 5 has added fifty-run stand in just 5 overs to lay down a solid foundation for the hosts.

Earlier, Rajasthan skipper Rahul Dravid won the toss and decided to bat against Delhi on Tuesday.

Squads:

Rajasthan Royals: Rahul Dravid (capt), Ajinkya Rahane, Brad Hodge, Owais Shah, Shreevats Goswami (wk), Ashok Menaria, Shane Watson, Brad Hogg, Ankeet Chavan, Pankaj Singh, Amit Singh.

Delhi Daredevils: Mahela Jayawardena, Virender Sehwag (capt), Kevin Pietersen, Ross Taylor, Yogesh Nagar, Naman Ojha (wk), Irfan Pathan, Pawan Negi, Umesh Yadav, Morne Morkel, Shahbaz Nadeem.

Source: Times of India

Delhi Daredevils had an easy win over Mumbai Indians. Tremendous batting performance of the DD’s top order and good bowling helps them to have an easy win over MIs. Mumbai Indians lost their 1st wicket on the 3rd of the innings itself, and next they lost the second wicket and 3rd wicket for a score of 19 itself.

After these wickets, Dinesh Karthik, and Ambati Rayudu showed some resistance and took the score to 115. After they lost wickets on regularly, and were 38runs deficit for wining at the end of the innings. Irfan Pathan, Shahbaz Nadeem, and Umesh Yadav took 2 wickets each.

Earlier during the Delhi Daredevils Innings, openers Virender Sehwag, Mahela Jayawardene, and Kevin Pietersen showed a outstanding performance and lead the score to shoot-up easily. Skipper, Sehwag showed an outstanding performance by scoring 73 in 39 balls with 8 fours and 4 sixers. Mahela Jayawardene scored 55 runs out of 42 balls, and Kevin Pietersen stood not out by scoring half-century in 26balls with 6 boundaries, and 3 sixes. They made an huge score of 207.

Team

Delhi Daredevils: Virender Sehwag, Naman Ojha, Kevin Pietersen, Mahela Jayawardene, Ross Taylor, Yogesh Nagar, Irfan Pathan, Morne Morkel, Umesh Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem, Ajit Agarkar.

Mumbai Indians: Harbhajan Singh, Aiden Blizzard, Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Kieron Pollard, Ambati Rayudu, Robin Peterson, RP Singh, Lasith Malinga, Rahul Shukla.

Just four wickets fell, equitably divided across the two innings, and in the end Delhi Daredevils paid Pune Warriors back in the same coin, avenging a recent home loss to the same team with an eight-wicket away win at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium on Tuesday.

Virender Sehwag, fast approaching top form – if not there already – made mincemeat of the 147 target, with an swashbuckling unbeaten 87, as none of Sourav Ganguly’s tricks and ploys appeared to work. Delhi overhauled the target with four overs to spare when the skipper swung Rahul Sharma for his third six of the match.

Not once was Delhi tested, except perhaps for a stray few moments when Sehwag left Mahela Jayawardene in the lurch, causing the Sri Lankan’s run out early in the chase. But the Delhi captain more than made up for the lapse with an exhibition of aggressive batting thereafter, single-handedly taking his team across the line with ten boundaries and three sixes.

Earlier, Pune Warriors elected to bat and reached a respectable total – thorugh an unbeaten 145-run stand in 18.4 overs for the third wicket- despite losing Jesse Ryder and Ganguly within the first two overs of their innings. Manish Pandey (80) and Robin Uthappa (60) stepped up to be counted, yanking Pune out from their hole and bringing them back to the brink of competitiveness.

They had to counter tight bowling from Delhi’s two left-arm spinners – Shahbaz Nadeem and Pawan Negi – who bowled their eight overs for just 44 runs. But once the two were bowled out, Pune’s batsmen looked to up the tempo.

Pandey struck three sixes, but was dropped at least two times (on 20 and 44) during his knock, before bringing up his half-century in 40 balls. Uthappa was rather more watchful. He reached his fifty in 52 balls, allowing his more frenetic partner to get the quick runs.

The last four overs of Pune’s innings yielded 47 runs, as the home team sough to break the shackles of their slow start. Pandey clouted a six off Irfan Pathan and consecutive boundaries off Umesh Yadav. Uthappa too picked up steam, punching fours off Morne Morkel, who, until then, had bowled economically.

Pune’s last gasp efforts heaved them to 146-2, a total that was no match for Sehwag in his current state of mind.

Source: Yahoo Cricket