68: DC vs RR

Once again, exams coming up this next week so could be the last entry for a few days at least. The final result here was a 5 wicket for Deccan chasing just 127, not that this tells the whole story of a very nervy chase from DC who did their best to keep Rajasthan in it towards the end. Their win, just their 3rd of the tournament and 2nd of all time at Hyderabad, put the Royals out of the tournament on a rare off night for their in form side and I'm sure they'll be very disappointed having put themselves in a good position going into the last couple of rounds.

Dale Steyn - 4-0-16-2 & MoM
The man that walked away with the MoM award has deserved to win far more games for Deccan given the way he's bowled this year. He's been simply awesome throughout with very few off days and is always a threat with the new ball at the start of the innings. He sent back Rajasthan's top run scorer Rahane through some movement off the seam that gave a simple catch to Dhawan at slip and had Watson in trouble with his pace, producing a sharp, lifting delivery that struck his glove to fall in no man's land. His opening two over burst was as threatening as usual and was impossible to get away at the end. Yet another great performance from DC's main man and they'll need to hold onto him next year if they're to improve in 2013, easily their best player.

Amit Mishra - 4-0-20-2
Mishra has struggled this year, not taking many wickets and getting hit for plenty, so it was a surprise to see how beautifully the ball was coming out of his hand today. The ball he sent back Watson with would have got most players out in any format of the game, pitching on middle and leg to hit the top of off stump past Watson's prod forward. Watson is undoubtedly the crucial wicket to get when playing Rajasthan as he has the ability to take the game away from you in just a few overs so this was a huge moment in the match. Mishra then showed the other side to a leg spinner's game as he got rid of Binny with the perfect googly that ripped back in from outside off to beat an attempted cut shot. There was turn, flight and drift all on display from the experienced leggie and I thought he was the stand-out bowler today and possibly should have got the MoM himself, getting Watson early was what won Deccan the match.

Akshath Reddy - 42 from 35 balls
Deccan have contrived to lose games from all sorts of positions this year but a steady opening partnership of 63 between Dhawan and the 21 year old Reddy looked to have ensured an easy win. Reddy is a bright young prospect with an impressive domestic record (average - 52.6) behind him, similar to that of Mandeep Singh at KXIP, as well as a 20/20 hundred. Looking at these stats is a surprise we haven't seen more of him this year and I'd imagine DC will be wishing they'd given him more chances especially with  the failings of some of their other domestic batsmen, we can see the success Mandeep has had this year and maybe Reddy could have done something similar with a bit of backing. He played the pace of Watson and Tait very competently and looked an excellent player of spin as he used his feet in an assured manner to loft Botha into the stands nicely. He showed a bit of inexperience in getting out, looking to hit out when he could so easily have played calmly to carry his bat and bring up a 65*, not to be though but a promising showing from the youngster nonetheless.

Ajit Chandila - 4-0-20-1
As is Deccan's way, they were in no hurry to win the game and instead lost regular wickets and invited the pressure from Rajasthan onto them, having dropped plenty more catches in the field earlier. Chandila's accuracy was key in this building of pressure through the middle overs, undoubtedly a man worthy of a mention, particularly given his 4/13 against Pune in his last outing. His team-mates refer to him as the 'doorknob' (apparently his action looks like someone opening a door, although I can't see it myself!) and although not a big turner of the ball, he is very consistent and has a good straight ball, as Uthappa found out 5 days ago to be stumped to complete a hat-trick for Chandila. Here he sent back the DC captain Cameron White, caught and bowled to one that stopped on him, and came back superbly having been hit for 11 in his first over. It's a shame he featured so late for Rajasthan but I'm sure we'll see more of him next year, particularly as his stats suggest he's a decent late-order batsman too, a man to watch in 2013.

66: KXIP vs CSK & 67: DD vs RCB

Punjab vs Chennai
Our first visit to the stunning ground at Dharamsala and it was the perfect start from Punjab at their adopted home, it's a shame there aren't more games here because it is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the IPL. Their bowlers used the conditions perfectly to have the Chennai line-up in all sorts of trouble throughout before completing their modest chase pretty comfortably to keep themselves in with a chance to qualify, so long as they win their final game and hope Bangalore and Rajasthan drop points. Meanwhile the defending champions Chennai look likely to miss out on the play-offs unless they get extremely lucky with the other results. I must say it's a real shock that they've struggled this year as they have a stronger side with the addition of Jadeja, and I'd suggest Raina's failures at no. 3 have been the key reason as he's normally so reliable for them.

Punjab's seamers - Kumar 2-18, Harris 1-24, Mahmood 2-28, Awana 2-12
I couldn't pick out any one of the KXIP pace bowlers because they were all superb here and each deserve a mention. Having won the toss Gilchrist was keen to get first use of the overhead conditions, on a pitch with good carry, and his bowlers did not let him down. The amount of play and misses throughout the innings was unbelievable, the ball swinging and seaming past the swinging blades with alarming regularity for CSK who simply couldn't get near the ball. All 4 bowled their maximum allotted overs, the 16 overs of seam taking 7-82, a total of 7 wickets in the day falling to catches by the keepers which highlights how good a day it was for those who could pitch the ball up and let the wicket do the rest. Awana was narrowly the best on show, not getting the ball to move as prodigiously as his team-mates but still getting it to do enough in the right areas to beat frequently beat the bat of Dhoni in particular. CSK never recovered from their early set-backs as KXIP produced a master-class in exploiting the swinging ball, difficult just to survive let alone score runs.

Dwayne Bravo - 48 from 43 balls & 3-0-18-2
The only thorn in Punjab's side in this game was Bravo, who did his best with both bat and ball. Coming in at 42/3 in the 8th over against a ball doing plenty is not ideal and he really had to battle to hang around, accepting when a ball was too good and moving on to the next one. It was an intelligent innings in that he realised the pace bowlers could only bowl 16 overs and that the other 4 would be the ones to go after. Hussey and Chawla's 4 overs cost 35 runs as Bravo noticeably looked to step on the accelerator against the turning ball. He fell to the penultimate ball of the innings which left him 2 short of a deserved 50 and the lack of support around him meant CSK could only post 120/7. The total was a low one but CSK would have known that the pitch would still be in the bowlers favour and Bravo clearly hadn't given up hope. His two quick wickets, both caught behind, had KXIP at 69/3 in the 11th and one more wicket then and the game could have been extremely tight. It wasn't to be though as Chennai ended up totally outplayed with just a slim chance of getting 4th spot, not through a lack of effort on Bravo's part who was exceptional.

Adam Gilchrist - 64* from 46 balls & MoM
It was equally tough going for Mandeep Singh and Gilchrist at the start of their chase and, though they rode their luck, they made it through the difficult patch to effectively seal the win. When Mandeep fell, unnecessarily having a hoick in the 7th over, the Punjab skipper realised the importance of staying in to the end and did just this. This was his comeback game from injury and the decision to drop Marsh meant he was under plenty of pressure to score, pressure he thrived under to post his first meaningful score of the season. Gilchrist has struggled with his timing all year but there was no evidence of that here, particularly in the 15th over from Mahesh that was smashed as he carted it for a couple of boundaries and 2 pick-ups over square leg to the short ball for his 2 sixes of the day. He's certainly still got it and the combination of him and Mandeep at the top could be perfect for Punjab, a proper captain's knock as he saw his side home.

Delhi vs Bangalore
The strange decision to rest a couple of their star players backfired as you could argue that they'd have won an astonishing match if Sehwag and Morkel had been there, probably not though as Bangalore didn't too badly themselves! An awesome partnership between Gayle and Kohli saw RCB post a daunting total of 215/1 and, whilst Delhi threatened to pull-off an astonishing win, they were massive underdogs from the half-way mark, particularly without their best batsman.

Chris Gayle - 128* from 62 balls (13 sixes!) & MoM
It's safe to say we know where the orange cap is going this year as Gayle's incomparable innings moved him 160 runs clear at the top of the pile with 706 (easily an IPL record). It was another example of his new formula - play calmly for the first 10 and then tee off in the second half. At the half-way mark he had 35* from 29, the next 33 balls he faced went for a staggering 93 runs along with a record equaling 13 maximums. It just seems that whenever he wants to hit a six he'll manage it, scooping a near perfect yorker from Aaron over point for 6 at one point, as the bowler looked on the verge of laughter, there's just nothing you can do when bowling to a set Chris Gayle! If its even remotely full then it'll be cleanly swung over wide long-on to leave the fielders with no chance and it's not as if he struggles with the short ball. I'm running out of ways to describe his batting and I think 'ridiculous' is the only way to cover it, no one else in the world can even get near him in terms of ball striking.

Virat Kohli - 73* from 53 balls
When Dilshan fell, at 11/1, Delhi would have felt they were well and truly in the game but an unbeaten partnership of 204 from 17.4 overs saw to this. Kohli played his role perfectly as he looked to play as few dot balls as possible and made sure Gayle saw as much of the bowling as possible when it became clear that he was well and truly in the zone. This makes it sound like Kohli was simply scoring singles though and this is far from the truth as he picked up plenty of boundaries himself, mostly in the late assault alongside his partner. He's a classy player, one of the best of his generation in terms of talent, and there's no doubt that he's got a big career ahead of him. The captaincy has turned his form round and all of a sudden he's finding the middle with ease, timing it nicely with the pace on offer from Yadav and Aaron early on and never looking back from there. A superb knock that will understandably be overshadowed by Gayle's heroics, but it must be remembered that without Kohli's assured innings the big Jamaican would not have been able to play as freely as he did.

Ross Taylor - 55 from 26 balls
Coming back from injury, Taylor has really struggled this year, scoring few runs at under a run a ball and this has led to a very top-heavy Delhi batting line-up relying heavily on Sehwag, KP and now Warner. For this reason Delhi will be delighted that the Kiwi was able to rediscover his form in such brutal fashion, even keeping DD's glimmers of hope just about alive whilst he was at the crease. As per usual it was midwicket that he targeted and when he was going along nicely with Venugopal Rao (36 from 24) you couldn't rule Delhi out. He dealt with Murali really well, which is far easier said than done, playing with a horizontal bat to take the spin out of the equation and pummeled the leg-side boundary, his wagon wheel would certainly be an interesting sight! That is the kind of destructive innings that Delhi had paid for and they'll be hoping for more of the same in the play-offs, when he fell it was pretty much game over despite some impressive stroke play from Russell at the end. 

65: MI vs KKR

With not long left in the league stage now every game seems to take on extra significance with the points so hotly contested, and here we saw two sides both desperate to finish as high up in that table as possible. Kolkata did magnificently well to comfortably defend a low-ish total and you could so see from their celebrations how much it meant to them. Mumbai will be disappointed but know they still stand a great chance of finishing in the top 4, if not in the coveted top 2.

RP Singh - 4-0-33-2
Kolkata's top order have done so well that this year, mainly thanks to the captain Gambhir, that their middle order is lacking in form because they simply have not had many opportunities. Thus early wickets are crucial against KKR to expose that scratchy middle order and MI did just this thanks to RP Singh with the new ball. He sent back two of Kolkata's experienced overseas players with consecutive deliveries in the 2nd over. The first was fortunate to say the least, McCullum somehow given out despite being a good 2 metres down the wicket to a ball pitching outside leg and going over the stumps, but the next ball to get Kallis was a beauty. It pitched on a perfect length in line with off and straightened to crash into the top of off stump, the ideal ball to bowl first up to the new man whose footwork wasn't quite there. RP could have had Gambhir out in his next over as Tendulkar spilled a tricky chance on the boundary that ended up going for 6 and his figures were later dented somewhat by bowling the death overs. RP Singh caused a major set back for KKR who in the end did well to recover to reach a somewhat respectable 140/7, thanks in the main to this start from the left-armer who showed good control of lines and movement.

Manjoy Tiwary - 41 from 43 balls
Having had such a successful season last year, elevating him to national selection, a lot was expected from Tiwary and no.4 is no easy place to bat in 20/20 cricket. In this game he looked much more assured from the outset and whilst his S/R may not look impressive it was a crucial innings to get Kolkata back into the match from a precarious situation. He hit a couple of cracking sixes off the bowling off Harbajahn, skipping down to loft him into the stands over mid-wicket, and Malinga who saw a slower ball picked up beautifully over his head for an elegant straight six. Tiwary was beginning to express himself having started cautiously and would have been frustrated to get out at a key moment at the start of the 15th over, even so it was an important knock both for his team and personally, as he looks to rediscover some form.

Lakshmipathy Balaji - 4-0-11-2
Kolkata under-performed with the bat and knew they'd have to pull off something special with the ball to get a win, luckily they did just this with MI dismissed for just 108. Mumbai had gone for a pace attack whereas KKR where clearly banking on spin at the Wankhede Stadium, having brought in the likes of Shakib and Abdulla, and this put a lot of pressure on the sole specialist seamer Balaji, who can be a mercurial bowler on his day, but I thought they'd miss Lee's experience. Not to be though as Balaji was exceptional from the start, beating Gibbs with a couple of perfect away swingers in the first over before returning in the middle overs to take the big wicket of Karthik who was playing cooly. I've seen Balaji unplayable at times only to follow it up with average displays in the next game but there's no doubting his performance in this match. He set the tone early on for his side with a high quality start and they never let the game slip up away from there, which is the risk when defending a low total.

Sunil Narine - 3.1-0-15-4 & MoM
There is no doubting who the surprise package of this IPL has been as Narine has well and truly made a name for himself as a world class limited overs bowler, taking the purple cap from Malinga in the process. In 12 games he has 21 wickets at an awesome economy of just 5.25 and I'm yet to see a batsman look comfortable against him. More of the same against Mumbai here, it's clear to see that Gambhir sees him as the match-winner, with the use of Narine's 4 overs being of paramount importance, and it's not often he disappoints. He came on early to bowl in the powerplay to no avail and was immediately withdrawn from the attack only to return in the 11th over to send back a clueless Tendulkar who was bowled when looking to cut a ball that ended up far too straight for the shot. It's not often you see a bowler outclass the Little Master and shows just how good Narine really is! The fact that he turns it both ways and is seemingly impossible to read makes him a fearsome death bowler and when Mumbai were needing upward of 14 an over in the last few you just felt KKR would be sure of the win with Narine still having a couple of overs up his sleeve. He picked up a few more wickets and now will rightly wear that purple cap, unless Malinga has something to say about it.

Exams Break!

Mid-way through my IPL break due to a few exams at uni and it looks like I've missed some good ones.

Punjab vs Deccan looked a cracker as once again the Deccan bowlers failed to capitalise on the good work of their batsmen, Dhawan and Cameron White again. David Hussey marshalled his side home to a win that keeps them in the hunt for 4th spot as Gurkeerat Singh showed what the IPL is meant to be all about, a relatively unheard of Indian player making himself for himself with a nerveless innings. I love watching Punjab play so disappointing to have missed it, will now be cheering on Rajasthan and KXIP in the hope on of them makes the play-offs. As for Pune, looks like I'll be waiting until next year for some success!

Today has seen Mumbai put a real dent in Bangalore's chances for the semis in a win that has opened the door to the rest of the chasing pack. Pollard, along with Rayudu, sealed the last over win with some big hitting against compatriot Gayle after Agarwal played a gem of a knock to post a very defendable score for RCB. As I write this Kolkata are just about to come out to defend 159 against Chennai, I think they'll just about scrape home thanks to some Narine heroics but we'll see.

Looking forward to getting tomorrow's paper out of the way to get back for Wednesday's big one - Mumbai vs Kolkata! Enjoy the cricket.

58: KKR vs MI & 59: DD vs CSK

Kolkata vs Mumbai
Today was billed as a 'Super Saturday' of IPL cricket as 4 of the 5 big five battled it out for some important points, in that respect it can be seen as a bit of a disappointment as both were fairly one sided affairs. However, this did not make KKR vs Mumbai any less watchable, those who did see it were treated to one of the great 20/20 innings from Rohit Sharma who continues to astound his critics by mixing the stupid with the sublime. His knock today took the game well out of Kolkata's reach who were then able to defend their big total comfortably.

Herschelle Gibbs - 66* from 58 balls
The South African veteran has now recovered from an injury and is fit to open the innings alongside Sachin, something that'll delight MI fans as the combination of aggressor and anchor at the top is perfect in this format. He started well on debut too, using his feet to carve Lee through and over the offside to pick up 3 beautifully struck boundaries in the 2nd over. When Mumbai lost Tendulkar, to a beauty from Shakib, he showed all his experience as he was content to play the supporting role to Rohit who was in sublime touch. Gibbs managed to score consistently off all bowlers, even managing to hit Narine and Bhatia for runs where most before have struggled. A good start for Gibbs and Mumbai fans we will be hoping him and Sachin get off to some more starts in the final few games.

Rohit Sharma - 109* from 60 balls & MoM
Its vital that a number 3 in 20/20 is able to perform consistently and Mumbai's poor form with the bat has partly been down to Sharma's ups and downs, in that way his performance today was more of the same following a few low scores! He has the ability to make batting look ridiculously easy, most that have played against him will talk of his potential, Shane Warne went as far to say that he could become one of the Indian greats and this incredible knock showed just why. Eden Gardens is a tricky venue to bat with the ball not coming on to the bat and playing into the hands of the slower bowlers, other batsmen struggled to go at anything over the 130 S/R mark, but Sharma was unfazed as he attacked right from the outset. He played Shakib's 5th over with pure class, getting deep in his crease to cut a couple through backward point before heaving a length ball over deep mid-wicket to bring up his 2nd six of the innings, racing to 22 from just 12 balls. Bhatia was demolished later on, sweeping him before coming down the wicket to stroke one through cover with the keeper up at the stumps. Barely a single KKR bowler escaped him as he brought up his 100 (his first in IPL cricket) in another big over from Brett Lee, a truly incredible innings from a batsman that really is brilliant to watch. He was undoubtedly the match winner, batting sublimely on a surface where everyone else struggled to score at a good rate, the MoM award was never going anywhere else.

Jacques Kallis - 4-0-40-0 & 79 from 60 balls
Yet another good performance from Kallis, although less so with the ball against a rampant Sharma, doing his best to track down the 182/1 set by MI. Wickets were constantly falling around him, with their best player Gambhir falling in the first over it was always going to be a tough chase, but he continued to time the ball well with the typical textbook strokeplay we have to expect from Kallis as well as some beautifully struck sixes off the spinners. When he was batting with Pathan (40* from 31 balls) KKR had a glimmer of hope, but in truth 183 was far beyond KKR's reach with the average score at Eden Gardens being around the 150 mark. There's not a lot you can do when someone plays like Rohit did, KKR could only take it on the chin and walk away slightly happy with the form shown by Kallis and Yusuf.

Delhi vs Chennai
A totally one-sided game that Delhi never really got into, as Chennai used the swing on offer at the start of Delhi's innings to take the vital early wickets against DD who never recovered. A comfortable win for CSK who are getting on a bit of a role at a crucial point in the tournament, not that Delhi will be too fussed as everyone's allowed an off day and with KKR's defeat they still sit at the top of the league.

Ben Hilfenhaus - 4-0-27-3 & MoM

It was another great example of how to use a swinging ball in your favour, MoM for the second match running with a another great showing. By sending back the Delhi top 3 inside the first 5 overs of the match, in his opening 3 over burst, he effectively put the game out of DD's reach given their top heavy side. Sehwag was bowled by one that moved away late to hit off, an absolute beauty from Hilfenhaus in a performance similar to that of Zaheer Khan against Pune a couple of days ago. His figures were dented by bowling an over at the death, he probably should bowl 4 through at the start, having also sent back the in form combination of Warner and Ojha. Delhi never recovered from these early set-backs and he rightly earnt MoM as a result.

Yogesh Nagar - 43 from 47 balls
Being in a line-up like that of Delhi's calibre must be a strange experience for a relatively unknown domestic player, in an ideal world he won't actually get a bat as the big names before him will do the hard work. Here though Nagar came in to face the 6th over, far sooner than they'd have planned and his grafting innings was important to them putting up a slightly respectable total in triple digits. He struggled to find the boundaries, eventually reaching the ropes with a boundary and a six in the 19th over, but managed to keep the runs ticking over in a good partnership with Venugopal Rao and were it not for Nagar they'd have struggled to reach 100, having come in at 24/4 with a fairly long tail.

Murali Vijay - 48* from 40 balls
The resurgence in form of Vijay and Raina will surely be a massive boost to Dhoni and his CSK troops as they look to guarantee a place in the semi-finals. Vijay is a destructive player at the top of the order and Chennai had obviously discussed getting ahead of the required rate at the start and not making the same mistake when chasing a low one as they did recently against Rajasthan. He and Hussey (38 from 32) got them off to a quick start and an opening partnership of 75 ensured there would be no nervy finish as Raina's cameo (28* from 20) sealed the 2 points. Vijay looked pretty comfortable throughout, an early cover driven boundary to settle the nerves, and later on played a gem of a shot over cover off the bowling of Aaron for a maximum. It looked a totally different pitch to the one that saw Delhi capitulate to 114/5 and this was down to the assured nature in which Chennai batted, Vijay in particular.

57: PWI vs RCB

Ganguly sat out this game, probably to the dismay of the majority of the crowd, and this gave Steve Smith the chance to lead a young Pune side that seemed to be looking to identify the players worth keeping for next year. Unfortunately for them, Bangalore are well and truly in the hunt for the play-offs and this is mainly as a result of Chris Gayle's batting, which once again made the difference.

Chris Gayle - 57* from 31 balls & MoM
The pitch at Pune is quite a slow one that proves difficult to score off, which proved to be the case for every batsman other than the incomparable Gayle. He normally starts in a sedate manner, playing himself in during the powerplay overs and catching up later on but this innings proved to be an intelligent change from the norm. Perhaps he identified that the first 6 would be by far the easiest time to score, or perhaps he was just going to go all out for 20 overs to eclipse Warner's heroics from yesterday, but he was in unbelievable form as he brought up his half century inside just 6 overs! The last Pune bowler to suffer against Gayle was Sharma, this time it was Kumar who served up 4 length deliveries in one over and each one was smashed over the straight boundary for a maximum. At the other end Dilshan (who went on to play a good knock of 53 from 44) was struggling to find his timing on a tough pitch and after 6 overs RCB had gotten off to a flyer at 66/0, Gayle with 50 of them. Who knows what he could have scored today were it not for him holing out with a flat hit to long-on to Mathews (who bowled well with 3-0-14-1) but his quick start was crucial to RCB reaching a well over par 173/3 on a tricky wicket. Dilshan and Tiwary, 36* from 30, scored some late runs to ensure his efforts did go to waste, a really difficult chase for Pune as it proved. He knows his areas and whenever the ball lands on a good to full length it invariably disappears make over the bowler's head, imagine running up ball in hand to see him at the other end

Zaheer Khan - 4-0-21-2
Pune desperately needed a good start if they were to avoid 7 successive defeats and the wise old head of Zaheer made sure they didn't. After zipping a couple across 2012 debutant Mishra, Khan decided to change up the angle by coming round the wickets, with immediate effect. Mishra was trapped plumb in front looking to flick to leg and then he sent Pandey back two balls later with a peach that pitched on middle and off before straightening to hit the top of off stump. A disastrous start for Pune at 4/2 after 1 over as Zaheer Khan proved far too skillful for a couple of PWI's young domestic players. He threatened to do the same to Clarke in the next over, close to sneaking past the outside edge, and was economical for the rest of his spell, pure class from the experienced left armer.

Robin Uthappa - 38 from 23 balls
I think the key issue with the Pune batting line-up is that they lack a consistent, aggressive opener to take the game to the opposition, the likes of Sehwag, Warner, Gayle and Gambhir that the top sides possess. Ryder has done it at times but is far too inconsistent for an overseas star, unbelievable that the in form Tamim Iqbal is yet to be given a chance, and the man that can do this is Uthappa who came in at 4 today although I think he should open. PWI too had realised that they'd need big runs from the first 6 overs, Clarke and Uthappa near enough playing a shot a ball despite the two early wickets and it was compelling viewing. When Clarke fell, caught on the deep midwicket fence it was going to be down to the ex-Royal Challenger Uthappa. He was striking the ball nicely, smashing a slower ball from Patel over deep-midwicket with a ferocious front foot pull. The issue with him in the past, and the reason he hasn't played more international cricket, is that at times he plays brainless shots and here was a prime example. Murali was always going to be the threat in the middle overs and Pune should have played him sensibly to score around a run a ball off his 4 overs and get the bulk of the runs at the other end. Uthappa started well, staying firmly rooted to his crease and unleashing the perfect reverse sweep to pick up a boundary, but immediately after the time-out (71/3 after 8) he had one of those rush of blood to the head moments. He came dancing down the track to get nowhere near a doosra and was comfortably stumped, the wrong shot at the wrong time to send him back and put RCB well in command. He and Majumdar (31 from 26), who has really impressed in his 2 chances, were looking in control and steadied it nicely for PWI, Uthappa's dismissal made a difficult task near impossible.

Muttiah Muralitharan - 4-0-16-2
Murali would have been a contender for MoM here, his spell was almost as much of a game changer as Gayle's destructive innings. It's hard on Vettori to sit out but it does seem to be to the benefit of the team as Murali adds a totally different dimension to those middle overs where RCB had seemed a bit toothless at times. Barring that early reverse sweep from Uthappa he was not hit for a single boundary as the batsmen are forced to play him with caution (or at least they should do!) as he turns the ball both ways and rarely misses his length. Despite being a slow wicket at Pune its not a big turner so instead he mixed up his flight, playing a big part in the Uthappa stumping as he went through with a lofted shot despite being nowhere the pitch, to keep the PWI batters guessing all innings. A class act as he so often is and the RCB side is certainly a much stronger one with him in it, although I'm still not sure they've got it quite right. Vinay Kumar was down to come in at 7 today which puts a lot of pressure on their top order, lucky it contains the likes of Gayle, Kohli and de Villiers!

55: DC vs DD & 56: RR vs CSK

Deccan vs Delhi
This game was not one for the bowlers as 380 runs were scored for the loss of just 5 wickets, in the end Deccan's horrendous form at their home ground in Hyderabad continued, 1 win in 16 attempts. Their team selection was strange, filling up their four overseas slots with batsmen and this was reflected in their cricket as they put on an impressive total before getting pummeled by Warner and Ojha in the 2nd innings to somehow lose the game comprehensively having scored 187/4.

Shikhar Dhawan - 84 from 49 balls & 2-0-27-1
Deccan's experienced opener has been one of few bright spots in an otherwise disappointing season and his aggressive knock today took him to 4th in the top runs scorers list, with 467 runs @ 42.5. After Harris and Sangakarra had fallen in quick succession towards the end of the powerplay he was forced to consolidate for a period, alongside the in form Cameron White, in what was a fairly sedate start for DC in reaching 64/2 at the midway point with both players feeding on loose deliveries and rotating the strike. It was here that Dhawan, in particular, decided to kick on and unleashed a range of different shots to pile the pressure on the Delhi bowlers. He is deadly when given width to cut and is extremely strong through mid wicket, but he also treated us to some clever improvised dinks over short fine leg and some clean hitting down the ground to the spinners. After 29 balls he had just 28 runs which means the next 20 balls he faced went for an astonishing 56 runs, the perfect example of playing yourself to then tee off later on. Dhawan's partnership with White, who played another vital knock for DC of 65 from 40 balls, was worth 126 and had put Deccan in an excellent position at the half way mark. He even sent Sehwag back in the first over of Delhi's innings to top off his good work.

David Warner - 109* from 54 balls & MoM
The issue was always going to be how well the inexperienced bowling line-up fared against a strong Delhi batting outfit and, after the 2nd ball dismissal of Sehwag, it ended being a total mismatch, thanks in the main to the match winner Warner. He was yet to get going this year, mind you he's not been there long, but well and truly turned things round with an astonishingly brutal innings, a S/R of over 200 for over a 50 ball period is a pretty rare thing! As a bowler, unless you are immaculate in the areas you bowl to Warner you will get hammered, and it's safe to say he was fed some poor stuff by the DC bowlers. Most of his 7 sixes came from bowlers dropping short and getting picked up over deep square leg, exactly how he brought up the 100 with a 102m maximum. He wasn't even slogging and if anything it was a chance-less innings, every time a ball was in his zone it got the treatment without fail. A true masterclass as not for one moment did the Daredevills fall behind the rate thanks to the MoM who made it very clear to the Deccan selectors that they cannot leave out bowlers of Steyn's calibre and expect to compete with a side like Delhi. They go top of the table with this win. Not a bad replacement for KP as it turns out!

Naman Ojha - 64* from 46 balls
The risk with this result would be to focus entirely on Warner's innings when actually there was another high class one being played at the other end by Ojha. Delhi have struggled to find the perfect position for their keeper thus far, he'd probably prefer to open the innings in truth, but now he looks a good bet for that number 3 position, particularly as it separates their big 3 batsmen. Having Warner at the other end allowed Ojha to calmly play himself in unfazed by an otherwise daunting required rate, scoring just 7 runs from his first 15 deliveries. He gradually grew into the innings, hitting Dhawan for a couple of enormous straight sixes to end the 9th over from which point he never looked back. Every one of his 5 sixes were back over the bowler's head, predominantly from spinners, which highlights his ball striking ability, the last of them being the six that got his side over the line with plenty of balls to spare. Delhi could not rely on just Warner to win it for them, he'd need a partner and Ojha did this job perfectly, the 2 of them putting on an unbeaten 189 runs at around 11.5 an over, far too good for the Deccan bowlers. It's always great to watch some of the lesser known domestic players make a name for themselves and the joy on his face at the end of the match was terrific to see.

Rajasthan vs Chennai
In stark contrast to the day's early start, this was a low scoring affair as Rajasthan came so close, even becoming favorites at one point, to defending a total of just 127/6. The ball was swinging and seaming throughout but was coming on to the bat nicely which made the low scoring a bit of a surprise, Chennai eventually finishing it off thanks to Morkel and 2012 debutant Anirudha at the end.

Ben Hilfenhaus - 4-1-8-2 & MoM
We've seen Hilfenhaus use swing to his advantage plenty of times in test cricket, but here was a great example of how to do so in the game's shortest format and it was an absolute masterclass that set his side up to win, rightly gaining him the MoM award. It was a performance similar to those of Praveen Kumar at Punjab, bowling his 4 overs straight through at the start, having discovered that he is not a death bowler against Mumbai's Dwayne Smith. Two of his more ordinary deliveries got him his wickets, caught at mid-off and third man, but he regularly beat the bat with movement in the air and off the pitch. The battle against team-mate Watson was particularly compelling, beating him 3 times in a row at one point, eventually swinging it away to produce the edge to a booming drive that just about carried to third man thanks to an outstanding catch from Ashwin. His miserly economy rate and 2 early wickets played a huge role in keeping Rajasthan down to just 127 and gave his batters the perfect opportunity to notch up a massive win for CSK, although it was far closer than they'd have imagined. Yo Mayesh was also impressive with the ball, his 2-21 definitely earning him a mention.

Siddharth Trivedi - 4-0-18-2
RR's performance with the ball was good for so much of the innings until eventually being punished for serving up too many length balls at the end, and Trivedi was instrumental in providing a close finish. Known mainly for his cutters and changes in pace, he realised that this pitch was suited to ordinary line and length bowling and instead relied on seam movement off the pitch to make it difficult for CSK. He gave them little to work with with his impressive consistency that earnt him 13 dot balls including a couple of huge wickets. Firstly that of Dwayne Bravo, when he and Hussey were batting calmly together, and then Dhoni with his final ball to a sharp catch at point, normally such a good finisher for Chennai and India. That last over was the 16th of the match and cost just 3 runs, putting Rajasthan in an excellent position with CSK still needing 47 from 24 balls.

Srikkanth Anirudha - 18* from 6 balls
Unfortunately for Rajasthan the youngster Anirudha, alongside the experienced Albie Morkel, made light work of this target and got home with 11 balls to spare! We all know Morkel can hit boundaries from ball one, ask Virat Kohli, but Srikkanth was the surprise package as he matched the hard hitting South African with an identical score of 18 from just 6 balls. The 18th over from Watson was the one that turned the equation comfortably in CSK's favour, helped by the fact that Anirudha smashed the 4th ball over mid-wicket for 6 and then followed it up with a calm square drive for another boundary. He then made sure of the win with an incredible pick up over the leg side from a searing Tait yorker that somehow cleared the boundary, a remarkable shot. He was also helped by having luck on his side, bowled the next delivery, another missile from Tait, only to be reprieved by a no-ball. He took his chance today, with Badrinath unwell, to produce a nerveless display to grab Chennai the win they so dearly needed to stay in the battle for 4th place.