41: CSK vs KKR

Chennai vs Kolkata

Suresh Raina - 44 from 34 balls & 3-0-22-0
The leading run scorer in IPL cricket has had a tough time of it this year, before today's innings he was averaging just 19 with a top score of 36, and whilst Raina was nowhere near his best it was at least an encouraging step in the right direction. The footwork was almost non-existent to begin with, against a fired up Brett Lee, and with every run scored he looked more assured. He played some nice punches through the covers as well as an incredible swat over long-off for a maximum from a back of a length delivery from Lee. Unfortunately he got out unnecessarily at a crucial point in the game that set CSK back, but his success is success is crucial to that of Chennai's as so often that 2nd wicket partnership has put them in commanding positions in the past. His few overs of off-spin were nothing to write home about but shows another dimension to his game, if Chennai are to get back to where they want to be in the league, they'll need Raina at his best.

Jacques Kallis - 4-0-21-2 & 26 from 31 balls
It was another great all-round display from the best in the modern game. It was a slow pitch that proved difficult to score on all day but Kallis still managed to find some life from it with some pacy bouncers as well as giving away few scoring opportunities. His two wickets were big in the context of the match, as both Raina and Bravo were two players that really could have hurt Kolkata. He then chipped in with some important runs, in a partnership of 70 with his captain, that put KKR well on top in the chase, showing his class with a couple of well struck slog sweeps off the spinners. He'll have been disappointed to get out when he did, allowing CSK back into it but all in all an impressive display.

Sunil Narine - 4-0-24-1
Despite being around half way through the IPL season, Sunil Narine seems as impossible to read as ever. No one seems willing to take a risk against him, unable to leave their crease due to the ball spinning both ways, and instead play with extreme caution. His economy so far is just 5.53 and the fact that he tends to bowl in the powerplay at the start and then the death overs makes these Malinga-esque figures even more remarkable. He is just so difficult to hit, as Jadeja found out when he skied one to a boundary rider towards the end of the innings, and continues to bamboozle the opposition with every passing game.

Gautam Gambhir - 63 from 52 balls
How Gambhir didn't pick up another MoM award is beyond me, on a pitch where others had struggled before him he was just brilliant. The form batsman at the moment, along with Sehwag, Gautam looks a vital wicket for the opposition to take as he  combies a S/R of 143.7 with a rock solid technique, bringing him 365 runs and not far from the orange cap. Morkel managed to pin him with a cracking bouncer that smashed into his helmet but that only seemed to focus him more. His timing is perfect at the moment, the sign of a man at the top of his game, and he cashed in when offered any width to take plenty of runs to the backward point boundary. The captain took his side within touching distance before falling at the start of the 19th over, which meant Das was able to hit a couple of boundaries to seal the game and somehow take the MoM award. I'm not saying Das' knock wasn't important, but how the four balls he faced was a better showing than that of Gambhir I do not know!

Ravichandran Ashwin - 3.4-0-22-2
Probably the most reliable 20/20 spinner going, he has been so consistent for Dhoni over the past few seasons for CSK, and can take wickets at any point in the innings. He turns the ball both ways, making him a real handful in the powerplays as batsmen are wary of using their feet, and is immensely consistent, shown by a 20/20 economy of under 6.5. Ashwin was too good for McCullum early on and the bravery shown in the final over was awesome to watch. The ball was flighted up miles to Pathan who almost swung himself of his feet to play and miss before skying the next ball for a simple catch. He was so close to winning his side the match and shows just why he's become Dhoni's go to man at Chennai.

39: DD vs RR & 40: MI vs DC

Delhi vs Rajasthan

Virender Sehwag - 63 from & MoM
One of the most feared players in the game's shortest format and on today's evidence, as well as recent form, it's no wonder why. Today's was his 4th consecutive IPL half-century, the first player to achieve this, and it was another example of ruthless hitting. Jayawardene and Pietersen both fell early so he had to knuckle down (relatively speaking) more than he's used to, hitting the bad balls but not really going after the bowlers unnecessarily. Some of his strokeplay to the spinners was stunning, backing away to leg to open up the offside and stroke the ball through the covers. Were it not for his innings, at a S/R of 161.5, Delhi would have got nowhere near their total of 152/6 and won the man of the match award as a result. Surely he can't do it again next time?!

Morne Morkel - 4-0-26-1
The holder of the purple cap is included mainly for his phenomenal 19th over (0,0,1,0,2,W) that won Delhi the match from a position when it seemed all over as Rajasthan needed just 15 from 12 balls with 9 wickets in hand. Under immense pressure he produced a near perfect over, mind you the 4th ball was undoubtedly a leg-side wide that he got away with, that featured 4 pin-point yorkers, the last of which trapping Hodge plumb in front to put Delhi on top from an unthinkable position. It was an outstanding display of death bowling from DD's spearhead and showed why he's been the top bowler of this year's edition, even though his compatriot from Deccan might have something to say about that!


Ajinkya Rahana - 84* from 63
Sehwag's innings briefly earnt him the orange cap until Rajasthan's diminutive opener had his chance. It was yet another gem of an innings from Rahane, certainly in with a shout of more international recognition, and it really should have won his side the match. It was a well paced innings, knowing that he has the ability to up his S/R against the spinners through the middle overs, and was full of some of those straight batted shots down the ground and through the covers that we now associate with him. His 84* took him to a total of 416 runs at 59, unfortunately one of his few play and misses came off the last ball and cost his side the match so I'm sure he'll be absolutely gutted, not that this should take anything away from a magnificent 20/20 display, not his first this year either. The six he squeezed over backward point in the last over was good enough to win any match, unfortunately it just wasn't to be. He's definitely been my favorite player to watch this year, I just wish he was a Pune Warrior!

Mumbai vs Deccan

Harbajahn Singh - 4-0-13-2
Mumbai's captain has been under immense pressure of late, losing his place in the Indian side, skipper of an under-performing team and not taking many wickets himself, some Mumbai supporters have even been calling for him to dropped! His efforts today were brilliant, taking the responsibility of the new ball and looking to play the holding role for his side. He gave away next to nothing, taken for just one boundary through the slips, and ramped up the pressure that also led to wickets at the other end, as well as marshaling his troops successfully. An awesome performance from a man under the pressure of the city of Mumbai.

Lasith Malinga - 3.4-0-16-4
We all know of Malinga's usual role in 20/20 cricket, 2 overs at the start and 2 at the death but not this time. I really liked the way Harbajahn utilised him today, in particular the 9th over when he was brought back to bowl at Deccan's best players in Duminy and White, doing his job as he bounced out White to put his side well on top. At the death he was as good as ever, his control of both his yorkers and slower balls is 2nd to none as he claimed the last  two wickets in consecutive deliveries with the batters mis-reading his change of pace. The batting side always know whats coming from him but that doesn't make it any easier to play.

Dale Steyn - 4-0-10-2 & MoM
Malinga may be the most difficult bowler to get away in 20/20 cricket but I still maintain that Dale Steyn is the best, once again he did not disappoint today! It was a stunning effort and the fact that he got MoM on the losing side highlights just how incredible his performance. Even defending just 100 you know you've got a chance with Steyn in your side, despite only having 24 balls at his disposal. It only took him one to open his account today as Levi was bowled by an absolute peach, crashing into his stumps to prompt a yawning celebration from the bowler, all too easy for the world's best! Rohit Sharma, one of the most gifted players in world cricket, was clueless against him and must have missed more than he connected with. I run out of superlatives when trying to describe just how good he is, if only Deccan had someone at the other end to back him (Ishant Sharma out injured is a huge loss for DC), not to mention his fielders who continue to let him down. It is such a treat to watch him bowl, Mumbai knew they only had to play him out and score at the other end but were still not able to see him out wicketless, even in a 20/20 game! He is unbelievably good and I can't wait to watch him in England in a couple of months time with a red ball in hand.

37: CSK vs KXIP 38: KKR vs RCB

Chennai vs Punjab

Mandeep Singh - 56 from 50 balls & MoM
I noticed Cricinfo had mentioned 20 year old Mandeep Singh as a man to watch before the start of this year's IPL, after a good season domestically, and a first class average of 63 is a clear sign of a batsman with plenty of potential. It looks like he's made the opener's spot his own now, whether alongside Marsh or the absent Gilchrist, having played the anchor role with great success today. He got off to a brilliant start with the fielding restrictions in place, able to time strokes to the boundary and pick gaps without having to hit the cover off the ball, and like most short batsmen he looked adept when anything was dropped short, cutting and pulling boundaries early on. The middle overs is something he is yet to adapt to as he looked to be trying to hit the ball too hard and his timing went as a result, the incredible heat in Chennai may have played a part too! He allowed the likes of Marsh, Miller and Mahmood to play around him and is now providing the stability at the top of the order that Punjab so desperately needed.

Azhar Mahmood - 18 from 12 balls & 4-0-25-3
His late arrival has been exactly what Punjab were after and today Azhar Mahmood should probably have got MoM, after a brilliant display with the ball and useful cameo. He is a really experienced 20/20 campaigner and highly versatile, shown by his promotion to number 3 today, and although he scored just 18 runs they came at a S/R of 150 with back to back sixes over long-on to keep up the momentum. It was with the ball that he proved the match winner, taking the huge wicket of du Plessis with a sharp caught and bowled following a clever off-cutter. He then sent back CSK's other opener Badrinath to put his side right back in the game, before coming back brilliantly at the death when Chennai's big hitters Bravo and Morkel were sensing the possibility of an upset. A great all-round display from a man that's turned around Punjab's fortunes.

Dwayne Bravo - 4-0-28-2 & 30 from 21 balls
The Trinidadian will be gutted to have ended up on the losing team today as, like Mahmood, he did a top job with both bat and ball, not to mention his energetic fielding. On a pitch that was receptive to the slower bowlers Bravo utilised canny changes in pace to give the batsman little to work with through the middle overs, as well as taking the wicket of Mahmood which put CSK right back in the game after a good start for the visitors. His batting was a self-less display in a losing cause, coming in at a time when Chennai needed more than 10 an over. A couple of big hits kept things interesting but ultimately his side fell just short, all those bumps and bruises he got in the field were to no avail!

Gautam Gambhir - 93 from 51 balls & MoM
A real captain's performance from Gambhir as he well and truly led from the front with an incredible innings that deserved a hundred. He gave 3 really tough chances throughout but apart from those never looked in much trouble against seamers or spin. He's one of the best players of spin in the world and this was so evident today, the inside out shot over cover a clear trademark of his. Seamers were punished when erring in length and I can remember one incredible pick up over mid-wicket that was played with an almost straight bat, one of 5 sixes in total! He got fired up today, seemingly unhappy with words from de Villiers behind the stumps, and this only seemed to spur him on. I'm sure he'll have been delighted with his sides win as well as a brilliant innings, an astonishing S/R of 182!

Jacques Kallis - 41 from 27 balls & 4-0-31-2
Another top all-round display we were treated to, this time from the best in the business Jacques Kallis. He has dropped down to number 3 in the order, allowing Gambhir to open, and this has benefited the team immensely as Kallis has the class to bat anywhere. Today he came in after a great start from McCullum and Gambhir and kept the innings ticking over before a big finish with 3 well struck sixes, including a stunning hit down the ground. He then bowled with real pace, topping 140kph at times, to sent back two of RCB's most dangerous players in Kohli and then compatriot AB first ball. He bats at 3 and bowls 4 overs a match, showing how crucial he is to KKR's fortunes and today's was a great effort.

Chris Gayle - 86 from 58 balls
Not the Jamaican's best today, but this highlights just how good a player he is, scoring 86 at a S/R of 148 would be considered a fantastic achievement from anyone else! Wickets were constantly falling around him and KKR clearly bowled well, RCB can't simply rely on him to win it for them every time. It was his late assault, off Bhatia in the 19th (1,0,6,6,4,6), that showed just how dangerous he is, able to change gears with devastating ease, although maybe he should have risked some big hitting in the middle overs when RCB still had a chance. If only someone had stayed with him, the loss of de Villiers first ball was probably where the game was lost for them.

Sunil Narine - 4-0-11-1
It was a good day for all the West Indians today as Narine showed why he's the most dangerous spinner going this year, particularly on the spin-friendly pitch at Eden Gardens. Not a single player could pick him today and this was highlighted by the fact that he wasn't taken for a single boundary and his economy was a staggering 2.75! One ball that ripped across Gayle from a length was a real cracker that would have put a few doubts in the minds of the RCB batsmen still waiting in the dugout. He hasn't played every game this year for KKR, sometimes dropped on the seam friendly wickets, but I think the fact that he turns it both ways without being easily noticeable means he should be one of the first names on the team sheet. Simply too good!

36: DD vs MI

Once again, just the one match on Friday 27th but there was more than enough entertainment to make up for it. Delhi's star-studded line-up showed just how serious their title aspirations are this year as they hammered a strong Mumbai team at the Feroz Shah Kotla, a top performance all round and I'm sure the other teams are looking on with envy.

I thought it was a slightly negative move when Harbajahn decided to bowl first having won the toss. It looked a great wicket for scoring runs and the reason seemed to be that Delhi always like to bowl first and then chase, so rather than playing to their own strengths Mumbai were looking at their opposition, almost in fear of DD making a mockery of the Mumbai total if chasing. Accordingly, the Daredevils put on the best opening partnership of the tournament to date, Jayawardene and Sehwag working in terrific harmony to put on 135 in just 13 overs. It was the Sri Lankan who started the stronger, his experience against compatriot Malinga was obvious as he stroked him round in the third over for 3 well struck boundaries including one delightful cover drive. In my eyes he is the best batsman to watch in the world as his game is all about timing and every shot is straight out of the text-book. Sehwag soon got into his stride and was carving deliveries over the off side whenever presented with width, RP Singh will still be wondering how Sehwag swatted a short, wide ball over long-off for one of his 4 sixes! Jayawardene gave Sehwag plenty of the strike, such was the way he was striking the ball, and when he eventually fell for 55 from 42 balls his side were in a great position. Sehwag fell soon after to the first ball of the 16th over for a magnificent 73 from 39 balls, his 3rd consecutive half-century and well and truly leading from the front, but the innings threatened to stagnate a touch with a couple of new men it at the end.

However, Pietersen made sure that this would not be the case as, alongside Ross Taylor, the 17th and 18th overs were pummeled for 38 runs combined. Mumbai's Peterson had bowled really nicely up until this point as after 3 overs he had 3-17, including Sehwag with some brave flight, but KP ruined his figures (3-37) with a few big hits including a trademark switch hit maximum over cover/mid-wicket! His 50* from 26 kept up the momentum and put DD above the 200 mark, a serious total on any pitch. Karthik will rue his missed stumping when Sehwag had just 40 runs but who knows, maybe this would just have allowed KP to come in earlier and put on even more runs such is the nature of this Delhi side. Mumbai's key man Malinga had returned from injury but he, not at his brilliant best, failed to inspire an MI attack against arguably the most dangerous batting side in the tournament, 207/5 was a huge total that would take a monumental effort to overcome.

Mumbai don't have a bad batting side themselves but the issue was that theirs is lacking in form, quite unlike that of DD. They got off to a really poor start as Blizzard, making his 2012 IPL debut for the unwell Franklin, tamely pushed a ball to cover for a duck and Mumbai were 0/1 after 3 balls. After 3 overs and a ball, they'd also lost their 2 best batsmen in Tendulkar and Sharma who both chipped the ball to mid-off and mid-on respectively and at 19/3 the game looked to be over already. If Mumbai were to get back into it Karthik and Rayudu, the hero from MI's last game, were going to have to play a couple of special innings and they certainly did their best. They put on 96 from just under 10 overs that featured intelligent stroke-play coupled with sweet striking as well as very aggressive running between the wickets. Karthik (40 from 28) fell in the 13th over, bowled by an Agarkar yorker, when Mumbai could really have done with the partnership going on for another 3 or 4 overs, particularly as it was now turn to MI's last front-line batsmen in Rayudu and Pollard with 93 runs still needed. A few boundaries later and the game was essentially ended as Shahbaz Nadeem (2-35) sent both back in consecutive deliveries in the 16th over to leave too much for the tail, Rayudu holed out to deep mid-wicket and Pollard bowled. Rayudu played another top innings for his side, seemingly coming to terms with the tough job in the middle order, and its a shame that his 62 from 39 had to be on the losing side. For a little man he really can strike a long ball and he'll be keen to keep this form to claim a place in that Indian limited overs side. Delhi's effort with the ball was led, as per usual, by the outstanding Morkel (4-0-21-1) whose pace and bounce has proved so tough to hit this year and earnt him the purple cap. Their 4 other bowlers are all talented domestic players and with the imminent return of Varun Aaron their side will be even stronger, good in all departments.

A complete performance from Delhi as their big top 4 (Sehwag, Jayawardene, KP and Taylor) all fired and then the bowlers backed them up with a disciplined performance. Mumbai will be worried at just how easy it was for Delhi, not just today but in the last match, as MI would certainly have considered themselves title contenders this year, and probably still do. I think their biggest issue at the moment would be that Tendulkar and Sharma are yet to provide stability at the top of the order, they don't have a batsmen in the top run scorers, despite Sharma showing flashes of what he's capable. Delhi are yet to live up to their potential in any of the 4 previous editions, so it may be too early to call them favorites this time round, but at the moment they look comfortably the most dangerous and consistent side in the competition. DD are sitting pretty at the top of table and look difficult to catch.

35: PWI vs DC

After yet another game was rained off (RCB vs CSK), Thursday's solitary match had a lot to make up for and it was indeed an significant result as Deccan picked up their first win of IPL 2012. The strange thing was that it came without Dale Steyn, comfortably their best player this year, who was rested. Who knows, maybe he'll struggle to fight his way back in to the side?!

It was the same pitch used for Pune's last home game a couple of days ago and looked the perfect wicket for batting, consequently Sangakarra was keen for his side to make first use of it having won the toss. There was yet another re-shuffle at the top for Deccan, still searching for that winning formula, as Dhawan and Patel opened up for DC, getting them off to a flying start. Nehra's first over went for 16 as both players immediately found the middle of the bat and the boundary on a lightning fast outfield, with a couple of sixes added in the next few overs for good measure. Their running between the wickets was looking really positive but there's always a fine line between aggressive running and suicidal, as was the case went Dhawan was sent back at the end of the 4th over, well short having attempted a single to Pandey, who fielded impeccably all innings, at cover. Patel was then caught on the deep square leg boundary by the same man, having already hit a couple of nice shots in that region, to the last ball of the powerplay. The scoreboard read 50/2 and the stage set for another Deccan middle order collapse to leave themselves well short of a par total. However, Cameron White managed to turn round both his own fortunes and that of the team to almost single-handedly propel DC to a daunting total. His previous best in IPL cricket was just 31, astonishing for an ex-T20 international captain, and he rediscovered his fierce hitting of old. Responding well to the promotion to number 3, he was able to play himself in cautiously and then gradually accelerate as the innings went on. The spinners were treated with contempt as he hit 5 sweetly struck maximums in the ark from cover to mid-wicket, eventually holing out having smashed 78 from 46 balls to put Deccan in a really strong position. A key component of Deccan's struggles have been the failings of their most experienced players in Sangakarra and White and it was crucial that at least one of them found some form. The last 10 overs went for 106 runs, taking DC out of Pune's reach in the end, and this was almost completely down to the revitalised Aussie. Despite a good showing in the field, Pune's bowling let them down a touch. There was no stand-out performer and White's jobs was made easier by a lot of length balls that were duly dispatched and this helped DC to accumulate a handy 177/4.

The pitch had played very true and this would have given PWI hope that the target was achievable, so long as they got off to a good start. Unfortunately this was not the case as both men had gone by the end of the powerplay to leave a big task for the middle-order. Pandey, Ganguly and Uthappa all got into the twenties but none were able to go on from there or score at a S/R of above 120 and this was ultimately why they fell short. It really was a do-able chase, particularly as Deccan's bowling line-up looked slightly tooth-less without their go-to man Dale Steyn. However, they did their job and let the score-board pressure build on the PWI batsmen who would end up getting themselves out. The way they let the game get away from them was strange to watch as neither batsman at the time, Uthappa (29 from 27) and Samuels (3 from 8), seemed particularly fussed. They simply let the likes of Ashish Reddy (2-32) and others, not taking anything away from the DC bowlers who all played their role well, bowl to them without even looking to attack. A late flourish from Steve Smith (26 from 13), again left with too much to do, and Manhas (22* from 14) only made the game look closer than it actually was, eventually falling 18 runs short at 159/7. Deccan didn't have to do anything special with the ball, staying disciplined and encouraging the PWI batters to get themselves out. A prime example being the tight opening spell from slow left armer Ankit Sharma (2-0-11-1) that led to Ryder chipping a simple catch to mid wicket. This poor performance from Pune was exactly what Deccan would have been looking for. Having put on a good score, thanks mainly to MoM White, the nerve-wracking finish that has plagued DC's season so far never materialised as their bowlers gave away little and let the score-board pressure do to the work. The joy and relief on the faces of the faces of the Deccan players at the end of the game was great to see as they richly deserved the win having been the better side throughout, high fives all round!

It really was a disappointing all round performance from Pune with both bat and ball, especially as a win would have put them right up there with the top sides in the table. The balance wasn't quite right today, I'm not sure either Kumar or Samuels should have been 4 over bowlers and it would have been nice to see either some of Ganguly, Ryder or Smith's so far unused leg-spin. I'm sure they'll be calls for Tamim Iqbal's inclusion at the expense of Samuels, and rightly so given his momentum sapping innings, but this would lead to a big re-shuffle and it'll definitely be interesting to see what line-up next takes the field in the reverse fixtures in a few days. A couple of frustratingly under-par performances from Pune who really could do with getting their revenge against DC to put themselves back in the top 4 mix. However, a huge win for Deccan and if they get another couple of wins on the trot, from their games in hand, they could easily catch up with the rest, the only issue being that they really can't afford to lose many! Plus, you can't imagine Steyn will be sitting out for long, winning formula or not!

33: KXIP vs MI

Yesterday saw the first abandoned match due to the heavy rain and storms in Kolkata (RCB vs CSK looks like it may go down the same route today), probably a good point for Deccan given how strong KKR are at Eden Gardens, and so we followed on today with Punjab taking on Mumbai, who produced another thrilling final over contest as they did in the reverse fixture just a few days ago.

Mumbai will have been disappointed with their showing from that game and were desperate to make amends, they have the players to beat anyone on their day and all they need is a few players in form. However, Hussey won the toss and decided to have a bat first, despite the fact that every side chasing in Mohali has won, on a wicket offering something for batting and bowling. KXIP's latest opening stand is beginning to provide some of the stability that they've been lacking so far and Mandeep Singh (22 from 16) and Saini (17 from 22) got them off to a solid if unspectacular start. They took advantage of some poor Mumbai bowling, generally pitching it too short, with boundaries hit regularly either side of square. I've been really impressed with Mandeep Singh so far this year, seemingly in the Dravid role in that he times the ball sweetly at the start but then tends to struggle when the field is sent back, but he fell in the last over of the powerplay edging a short, wide ball through to the keeper, to leave KXIP at 44/1 after 6 overs. MI returned from the time-out a much better side, Patel bowling an excellent 7th over to Marsh, pitching up around off stump for a maiden. The pressure that this created helped McKay send back Saini in the next over and a spell of a few quiet overs of accumulation between Hussey and Marsh, who struggled to get going today, was ended as Franklin got Marsh to hole out in the 13th over leaving Punjab at 80/3 and not in a particularly strong position to kick on with a new man in.

Hussey and Miller had other ideas as they put on what I thought would be the match turning partnership, putting on an unbeaten 89 from just 43 balls to put Punjab in the driving seat. Hussey is the most prolific batsman in 20/20 cricket and is experience showed today, placing the ball in gaps and running well through the middle overs before kicking on at the end. McKay and Patel bowled some good yorkers in the death overs but whenever slightly off length they were punished, Hussey (68* from 40) hit one glorious pick up over long off for six that McKay could only smile at and admire. Miller (34* from 17) also showed his power, hitting the final 2 balls of the innings over midwicket for 6 to take KXIP to 168/3. RP Singh was probably the pick of the bowlers in terms of figures (1-27), but McKay also impressed, Hussey ruining his figures late on. I wasn't convinced with Harbajahn's use of his bowlers today, using a total of 7 bowlers which seemed unnecessary, especially given how under-utilised the debutant Peterson was, bowling a solitary over that went for 3 runs. Punjab's late surge had put them well and truly on top, especially against a mis-firing MI batting line-up.

Franklin and Tendulkar got Mumbai off to a steady start in reply without taking many risks. Kumar bowled well again without reward, he really must be due some wickets soon, as MI reached 40/0 at the end of the powerplay, plenty of wickets in hand but an ever-rising required rate. The spell from Azhar Mahmood swung the match back in KXIP's favour, sending back both openers (Tendulkar 34 & Franklin 22) who were deceived by some seam movement to be caught behind. This brought in two new men who were immediately confronted with a required rate of approaching 10 and a win looked very distant at the end of 11 overs as Karthik was sent back by Chawla with the score at 66/3, and Pollard fell not long after. The chase was mainly achieved on the back of Sharma and Rayudu, two of Mumbai's most important players last year who have yet to really kick start their 2012 seasons. Rohit was making batting look exceptionally easy, as he does when playing well, which makes it so confusing as to why he enters such poor slumps in form. He stroked 50 from 30 balls, including 3 well struck maximums, at which point he fell to Awana in the 18th over to put the game back in Punjab's hands, MI needing 32 from the last 2 overs. But then up stepped Rayudu and Peterson (16* from 7), who almost went under-used with the bat as well, to turn the game on its head in the 19th over. Chawla was thrown the ball, bowling a leg spinner at the death is always going to be a gamble no matter how good they are, and he was carted for 27 runs from the bats of both players in a show of superb hitting, Rayudu (34* from 17 and MoM) smashing the final 2 deliveries over long off and long on to virtually seal the game. Perhaps Hussey will wish he had bowled the 19th over himself, his off spin darts may have been more difficult to hit than Chawla's leggies but Peterson was middling it from ball one and looked set to hit any ball to the boundary. Rayudu hit Mahmood for a boundary in the final over to get the win, not Mumbai's first incredible come-back to win a last over thriller.

Punjab will be extremely disappointed to have lost, especially having been the better side for the majority of the contest. Mumbai possess so many match winners in their side to the point where they can never be counted out of a contest and that was the case today. Not many would have backed Mumbai at the half way mark in their innings but Sharma, Rayudu and Peterson all played an important part in getting them over the line. Mahmood bowled well (3.5-23-2) and, along with Hussey and Miller's partnership, looked set to take Punjab over the line. Even having gained the win, Mumbai probably still have more issues than Punjab, mainly that their bowling looks nowhere near as strong without Malinga and their batting is still inconsistent. That said, a big win for them and a real let-off, Punjab probably should have won it and will rue that 19th over.

31: PWI vs DD

Delhi got their revenge against Pune in the 31st game of this edition as they righted the wrongs of their defeat just a few days ago. The DDs have such a strong outfit this year and Sehwag made batting look ridiculously easy on a pitch that PWI had been forced to graft on earlier, a comfortable win for Delhi that sees them go clear at the top of the table.

The previous 2 pitches at Pune had both proved good batting decks and neither captain seemed quite sure what today's would offer as they were plenty of cracks to suggest some dodgy bounce. Ganguly won the toss and decided to make first use of it, but any fears of variable bounce were immediately realised as Ryder, who played so well against Delhi last time, was bowled by Irfan Pathan's second ball that kept really low having pitched on a length. In the next over Ganguly played an unnecessary swipe over the off-side, a trade-mark shot of his years ago, that landed in the hands of 3rd man and suddenly PWI found themselves at 1/2 after just 9 balls, a dream start for the Daredevils. Pandey, promoted to opener today, and Uthappa have both often been accused of not batting responsibly in the past and they had no choice but to do just this. The powerplay is the time when batsmen can afford to take risks with the field up but having lost 2 wickets so early they were forced to accumulate carefully and wait for a bat ball to put away. They did a fantastic job too, with good communication and running and noticeable feature throughout. Pandey is at his best when opening, unfortunately for him that is the case for most of the PWI batting line-up, and he times the ball so cleanly when presented with some pace, stroking Morkel back over his head for an effortless six in the 6th over. Uthappa played more circumspectly, in the knowledge that he has the ability to catch up later on, and they had recovered nicely to reach 50/2 after 10 overs. The spin bowlers were particularly difficult to score off and few risks were taken off either Nadeem or Negi, both of whom's 4 overs went for just 22 and instead the pace bowlers were targeted later on. Yadav's spell cost 40 runs as both players clearly enjoyed the pace on the ball, able to hit through the line and use the pace cleverly to score behind square. The last 10 overs went for 96 runs as Pandey (80* from 56) and Uthappa (60* from 58) managed a record breaking partnership of 145 to get Pune back into the game with a seemingly par score of 146/2. Pandey in particular looked far more assured and this was terrific to see, the only issue being that to get the best out of him as an opener Uthappa and others must drop the down the order, a real dilemma for the selectors.

Given the ease with Delhi managed to chase the score, some may well point fingers at this partnership. Though it was undoubtedly crucial in getting Pune to a defendable total some may well say that they should have gone harder earlier in pursuit of a total good enough to truly challenge such a powerful top order as Delhi's but I disagree. Had they risked it in the 10th over or even before, then PWI may well have found themselves at 60/4 at the half way mark and all of a sudden are struggling to even hit 120. From the 13th over onwards the acceleration was clear, Pandey hitting a 4 and a 6 off Yadav to kickstart the late assault. The spinners had simply executed their plan perfectly, bowling to their field and giving away little, Uthappa's reverse sweeps hit the men and it was just a tough pitch to score on. Had Sehwag gone early then the chase would have been compltely different but he was in sublime touch. He let Jayawardene do the bulk of the scoring at the start but when he fell, run out after a mix up, it was all Sehwag, despite a brief cameo from KP. His striking was as clean as ever and some of the sixes were incredible in that he barely seemed to hit them, one pick up over square leg off the bowling of Wright stands out in my mind. Both Pune spinners, Karthik (4-0-26-0) and Sharma (4-0-33-1), bowled well at times to have Sehwag (87* from 48 and MoM) in some trouble but the run rate was at around 10 throughout the DD innings and consequently the required run rate plummeted to leave absolutely no pressure on the batting side as they cruised home in the 16th over. He is a player that can make any total seem miles under par and that was the case today, Pandey and Uthappa had to had play well to get their side back in it but then all that hard work was to no avail as 146 is not a total to daunt an in form Sehwag.

Delhi now find themselves 2 points clear at the top of the table and are, rightly so, considered serious contenders for the title. Their bowling line-up is well balanced and their batting is simply awesome, KP returns to England soon but the returning Warner is a decent enough replacement! As for Pune, Uthappa and Pandey did really well, fully taking on the responsibility to make up for a disastrous start and get their side back in it at the half way mark. Unfortunately, Sehwag was at his best today and will chase down near any 20/20 score on his day. The side chosen looked the best balance that Pune have come up with yet in terms of batsmen, all rounders and bowlers but the issue is finding the right order. I really like the Ryder/Uthappa opening partnership but the problem is that there are so many other openers in the side (Pandey, Ganguly and Wright) which will always mean some men can't play in their preferred position. Its so tough to get right and every time I try to think up the right combination there's always an issue somewhere! Good luck to the Pune management staff on that one and hope to see the players come back well next match, Sehwag was simply too good for them today.

30: RR vs RCB

Just the one game today to start the week as the Rajasthan fortress of Jaipur was breached, Bangalore producing a really impressive display to see off the hosts. The Royals have been over-achieving so far and they've done brilliantly to find themselves in the top four, but the gulf in class between the sides was evident.

The Rajasthan formula for home success has been based around batting first and then defending a total and so it was a surprise to see Dravid opt to field. That said, they'd have been pleased with their early work, despite sloppy fielding throughout, as their bowlers restricted well. Gayle suddenly fell ill just before the start, your guess is as good as mine, and this saw Kohli walk to the crease alongside Dilshan to open. I thought this would be just what Kohli would need to regain his form, the first 6 being the best overs to bat in the innings, but he still didn't quite look at this best despite a couple of well timed strokes through the offside. He fell in the 4th over spooning a drive out to the man on the cover boundary, he's normally a very intelligent player and such a shot was unlike him and the sign of a man slightly low on confidence. Dilshan was also a man looking to play himself into some form and it was a really tough pitch to do so with variable bounce in particular posing problems, Dilshan came forward to a ball on a length that whistled past his helmet alarmingly, but he showed his experience to battle through and even brought out the Dilscoop. There was plenty of spin there for Brad Hogg to exploit and he started well, Agarwal holed out in his first over thanks to a good catch from Hodge and then he sent back an out of sorts Gayle, in at 4, who was trapped in front by a wrong'un, sparking Ganguly-esque celebrations not to be missed! Bangalore were at 75/3 at the end of the 12th over with Rajasthan well on top, none could have predicted the incredible turn around to follow.

AB de Villiers has had a great IPL so far and immediately made his presence known, heaving the 6th and 7th balls of his innings high over midwicket. He has became so adept at finding the gaps in the last couple of years and must be a nightmare to bowl, today he totally transformed RCB's innings, alongside Dilshan (76* from 58) whose knock was vital in getting Bangalore through a tricky start. The two of them put on an unbeaten 122 from just 50 balls to complete a remarkable turnaround to take them well past the score of around 140-150 that Dilshan said would have been very competitive. AB showed off some effortless hitting all around the ground where the rest had struggled to time the ball at all, and Rajasthan had no answers to his 59* from 23 balls. Few men this year have been able to nail that number 5 position, that often requires big hitting from ball one, but he makes it look far too easy and is every bit as important to RCB as Gayle. Hogg started well but his figures (2-39) suffered from the late blitz and Pankaj Singh bowled a good opening spell, unlucky to leave with 1-32, but Rajasthan are a still a side struggling for wickets, particularly when bowling first without the scoreboard pressure. 189/3 was never on the cards and would have come as a huge surprise to RR, they will have known at the half way mark that they'd need a minor miracle to overhaul it, eventually falling well short at 143/7.

The opening partnership of Dravid and Rahane has been the most successful of any this year and the platform they provided would have given a glimmer of hope. Dravid was the aggressor in a stand of 56, with his typically fluid off side game, as Rahane struggled to time the ball before falling for 13 attempting to clear the ropes. Despite RCB's star-studded line-up it was a relatively unknown player that grabbed the headlines and prevented a fight back from materialising, the young slow left armer Appanna bowling beautifully to take 4-19. His accuracy was relentless, sending down an impressive 14 dot balls, and found some spin from the wicket. He dismissed the Rajasthan top 4, the stumping of the dangerous Owais Shah possibly the nail in the RR coffin, and saw his side through for the win that their batting had set up. Dravid's innings (58 from 42) was a strange one as he looked a totally different player inside and out of the powerplay overs. With the field up he is able to play his more natural game, piercing the gaps with exquisite timing and elegance, but when the fielders drop back he struggles to hit big, often a case of trying to over-hit it. However, that is not his job and he was going to need to be the anchor of the chase, with Rahane, Shah or Hodge as the danger man, but this did not materialise and he was forced to go for it himself. Vettori, the more experienced RCB slow left armer, put in a disciplined performance of his own. His 4 overs went for just 20 runs and built the pressure that Appanna was able to benefit from as the RR batsman had to take him on, in that respect a promising partnership for RCB. Rajasthan's chase fell away from the end of the powerplay as the pitch proved tough to score on, it was never a 190 track and the Dilshan-de Villiers effort was simply too good.

A comfortable win for RCB and one they needed given their indifferent start, the league table is extremely tight at the moment and Bangalore will be hoping to string a few wins together to get back to the top where their impressive line-up should probably be. All the RCB overseas players are world class international players whereas none of Rajasthan's equivalent play regularly at the international level, highlighting just how impressive their campaign has been so far, and RCB looked the better side today. The Royals let themselves down a bit in the field and with the ball today, but will know that better bowlers would have got the treatment from Dilshan and de Villiers (MoM) today, who put together a great fightback to seal the game for Bangalore.

29: DC vs KKR

Sunday's 2nd game went with the form books, even after Kolkata's customary wobble, as they eventually overcame Deccan who plummeted to a 5th straight defeat and find themselves cut adrift at the bottom of the table. The coaching staff will be pulling their hair out as yet again it was an error in the field that will leave them thinking 'what if..?'. It was the 15th time in 29 games so far that a match has been decided in the last over, an incredible statistic that speaks volumes of the quality of cricket on show so far.

Gambhir won the toss and, given the rain around, decided to bowl first and possibly let Duckworth-Lewis help them out in the chase. Deccan were desperate for a result and they got a steady, if unspectacular, start through their experienced opening partnership of Dhawan and Sangakarra. They both played some cracking shots through the off side when given width but played within themselves to try to make it through the first 6 unscathed. However, the skipper played an uncharacteristic slog to the penultimate ball of the 6th over to be cleaned up by Balaji, transforming a solid 37/0 into a precarious 39/1 at the end of the powerplay. Dhawan and Patel set about building the partnership that did so well in the last match but, as so often been the case this year, the introduction of Bhatia completely halted any momentum that Deccan were looking to build. Sides really need to work out how to score against him, his 1-26 was one of his most expensive spells yet, as he continues to sap any life out of an innings by pitching it up with a long on and long off with clever changes of pace, I'm surprised more players don't try to sweep him. The last 10 overs went for just 59 runs as constant wickets falling saw new men walking to the crease to play themselves in and struggle to get going. Dhawan battled to reach 50 but was guilty of decelerating through the middle overs, he scored 32 from his first 25 balls and just 18 from the next 25. The undoubted star of the show was Brett Lee who hit the deck hard with good pace to show why he is now considered a 20/20 specialist with fantastic figures of 4-0-15-1, I love watching him play due to attitude and commitment with the ball and in the field and its great to see him performing well as the KKR spearhead. Equally, Balaji and Narine continued their good form with 2-22 and 2-26 respectively. Deccan's batting, in particular the middle-lower order, continues to disappoint and that is a real issue that needs to be solved, scoring just 126/7 was simply not good enough.

DC possess the best pace bowler in the world and its vital that the batsmen give him and the rest more to defend, 126 was unlikely to be a winning total as it proved. Steyn was as brilliant as ever, sending back McCullum in his opening 3 over spell over and coming close to cleaning up Gambhir and Bisla too. However, without Ishant Sharma they simply lack another quality pace bowler and in that sense they have been unlucky. Gambhir and Kallis looked set to walk KKR home as neither looked in much trouble against the DC spinners, given the manageable required rate. Gambhir (30 from 28) had other ideas as he decided to play an inexplicable loft straight to mid-off to hand Deccan a life-line, had they lost today he would have been livid with himself and his shot selection, with the score at 64/3. Pathan fell soon after, playing a brain-less slog that he missed all ends up to have his stumps pegged back, giving plenty of ammunition to his growing list of critics. Steyn was brought back in the 17th over to bowl his last one and he proved too good for team-mate Kallis, who knicked his first ball through the slips for a boundary only to feather the next one through to Patel behind the stumps, Steyn finishing with 2/24 and another world class showing. Tiwary and Das were left needing a run a ball from the last few overs, it should have been easy but a few dots later the pressure was on. Das played a big shot out to long on where Pratap Singh misjudged the flight and ended up diving forward to spill what should have a simple catch. At the time Kolkata needed 17 from 14 and that wicket would have ramped up the pressure, particularly given the way KKR had thrown away the Punjab game from a similar position. Tiwary, despite signs of serves, saw his side home with an important (30* from 28) as they won with 5 wickets to spare in the final over. Deccan's spinners in Mishra (1-27) and Ankit Sharma (1-19) also did well but could not build up any pressure with such a low total to defend.

Kolkata picked up another win but once again are still not quite firing on all cylinders. Their bowling performance was brilliant and this part of their game has been good all tournament, but their highly rated batting line-up is still struggling, Yusuf in particular may not have many chances remaining. As for Deccan its hard to see how they can change things round dramatically, there are few players of real quality sitting unused on the bench, domestic or overseas, they just need their current line-up to start performing and offering the excellent Steyn some support.

28: MI vs KXIP

As per usual the IPL treated us to yet another beauty of a match that saw a real upset as the underdogs of Punjab managed to overhaul the much fancied Mumbai side whose inconsistency continues this year, still trying to find that perfect line-up

Mumbai enjoy a luxury in the form of plenty of experienced and proven domestic players, something Punjab can only dream of, and to such an extent that they announced just 3 overseas players in their team at the toss. Harbajahn won it, beating Hussey to first use of an immaculate wicket that looked great for run scoring. Punjab were going have to be extremely disciplined with the ball if they were going to stay in the game and they got off to a really good start. Kumar bowled an exceptional maiden first up, swinging it away from newly promoted opener Franklin who could barely even get bat on ball. 11 runs were scored from the first 3 overs, as the returning Tendulkar and Franklin took a few more risks to take their side to 39/0 at the end of the powerplay, from which point the game could have gone either way. Crucially, KXIP managed to take 2 wickets on quick succession to get into the ascendancy, Tendulkar run out by some terrific work from Miller on the boundary, whose fielding was brilliant all innings, and Sharma fell to a loose drive from Awana and at the half way mark MI were at 58/2, plenty of work to do. Dinesh Karthik, a reliable player that I think has been underused by Mumbai thus far, played a really busy knock to kick start the innings alongside his Kiwi partner. Their partnership of 77 from just 6 overs looked set to launch Mumbai towards a really big total, Punjab fed Franklin's favourite shot as he struck some massive blows over wide long on and Karthik played intelligently into the gaps and ran hard to put their side well on top going into the last 5 at 129/2.

Punjab had been magnificent in the field all day, led by Miller and Hussey, and it was fitting that a run out turned the game back in their favour, a misunderstanding cost Karthik (35 from 20) and this wicket completely halted Mumbai's push. The remaining batsmen all struggled to get going and despite Franklin's best efforts (79 from 51) could only post a par score of 163/6, the last 5 overs going for just 34 runs. Punjab came back nicely to keep themselves in it at the half way point and they had a couple of their most impressive performers this year to to thank. Awana bowled intelligently at the death, having learnt from last time, and suprised Pollard with some good pace, taking 2-23 from his 4 overs. Mumbai knew the main threat was Chawla (4-0-19-0) and they played him out without taking risks, the pressure that Chawla created led to a couple of run outs from his bowling, exceptional control from a leg spinner. KXIP would have been thrilled to have kept Mumbai down to 163, they fielded excellently and deserved their success.

I was a neutral in this match but this all changed when Punjab came out to bat. Munaf Patel, someone I'm really not a fan of, was intent on imposing himself on the young Punjab players and thought the best way to do this was to get in the batsman's face, following them down the pitch and shouting at them and anyone he could see. He's a proven international player and why he feels the need to do this to a couple of domestic youngsters who probably look up to him I do not know, for that reason I really enjoyed seeing him go wicketless for his 4 overs and hit for more than 10 an over! Mandeep Singh (24 from 21) and Saini (30 from 25) put on 48 for the first wicket and hit some attractive boundaries over the off side, a stable opening partnership is what has eluded KXIP all season and for the first time Marsh was able to come in when a platform had been set for him. Marsh, who has been the key player for Punjab over the last 5 seasons, played an absolute gem of an innings. Most lefties seem to have a touch of elegance about them and Marsh is certainly in this category, even his big hits over the leg side looked classy and he continued to find the middle of the bat to put Mumbai under the pump. Hussey did well alongside him for a period but he fell with the match still in the balance, at 119/3 and still needing 45 at around 10 an over. It was Pollard who sent back Hussey in a cracking 16th over that went for just 1 run to complete a great spell of 4-0-14-2, full of clever changes of pace. However, Ojha undid this hard work as his next over went for 14 runs including 5 wides that gave Punjab the initiative and Marsh (68* from 40) finished it off in the last couple of overs, smashing sixes either side of the wicket to seal it in the final over and complete a MoM performance with the bat.

It was a brilliant result for Punjab that few would have predicted and you always got the sense that they play as more of a team than Mumbai, who in contrast seem like plenty of big names playing for themselves. Their fielding display was faultless and all the diving stops were greeted with pats on backs and plenty of clapping, always the sign of a happy dressing room. Mumbai don't do themselves any favours at the moment, not the first time they've had disciplinary issues (Munaf always involved) and with a squad like theirs they need to climb that table and fast, Malinga is a huge loss and they'll want him back as soon as possible. A top innings from Marsh, who looks back at his best which is so crucial to KXIP's fortunes, as well as a good first half display from fielders and bowlers alike.

27: DD vs PWI

Apparently the TV viewings and ratings for this year's edition of the IPL have once again fallen from last year, although it is still very profitable, and this is such a shame because so far we fans have been treated to some great matches. Saturday's 2nd serving of Delhi vs Pune was a real treat and threatened to be another tight finish before a moment of inspiration from Pune's iconic captain, great viewing!

The toss was a bit confusing as no one seemed entirely sure what Sehwag had chosen to do having won it, but unsurprisingly Delhi took the field first as they always like to do. The DDs started really nicely as Pathan opened with a flawless maiden to Uthappa and Nadeem followed it up with another tidy one to leave PWI 4/0 after 2 overs, needing to accelerate and take advantage of the powerplays. What followed was a compelling spell of cricket as Ryder and Ganguly, following the dismissal of Uthappa, decided to throw caution to the wind and swung the bat at near every ball that came down at them. Some were middled, most few from outside outside edges but all of a sudden Pune had launched themselves to 52/1 at the end of the powerplay which soon became 88/1 at the half-way point - an excellent position from which to post a daunting total. Delhi will definitely count themselves unlucky, Morkel in particular found the top edge of Ryder's bat but he was swinging so hard that it flew to the boundary and even over it, and Ganguly was also showing signs of improvement, lofting KP's off spin over the long off boundary. However, I don't think Sehwag's captaincy did his side any favours, rather than look to his wicket-taking bowlers he and Pietersen bowled overs 7, 8 and 9 (which combined to leak 30 runs) and handed Pune the initiative and an important point in the match when he perhaps should have been looking to his front line bowlers as the partnership had to be broken.

Morkel was eventually brought back in the 15th over to have Ganguly caught on the long on boundary for a patient and important 41 from 35, a welcome return to form for the skipper, and left his side on 125/2 after 15 overs with a real license to go after the bowling in the last 5. This was a job expertly done by the clean hitting Ryder and Smith, who becomes a better finisher every time he walks to the crease at the moment! Anything in Ryder's ark was swung over wide long on and Smith combined innovation (including an audacious switch hit for 4) with big hits down the ground as in total PWI scored 67/1 in this period to catapult them to 192/3, the big total you have to set when up against Delhi. Ryder eventually fell with 2 balls to go, having scored a brilliant 86 from 58 balls with Smith as the catalyst, hitting 34* from just 13 balls (SR - 261.5!). Once PWI had gotten away at the start the Delhi bowlers were powerless to resist throughout, their star performers in Morkel and Nadeem were both expensive, 3-50 and 0-44 respectively and only Yadav was capable of building any sort of pressure. The late push from Ryder and Smith would turn out to be crucial as a total of around the 170 mark would probably have come up short.

In pursuit of 193 Delhi decided to go top heavy and sent Jayawardene in alongside Sehwag to open up. Alfonso Thomas, an experienced 20/20 performer and 2012 debutant, and Nehra were both extremely impressive with the new ball as they hit their lengths perfectly, crucially little width was given to Sehwag to free his arms at and after 4 overs Delhi were at 16/1, backed up by sharp work in the covers from the youthful pair of Pandey and Smith. Thomas got Jayawardene with the worst ball he bowled all day, a slower ball full toss that was pushed harmlessly to Smith at cover, Mahela could barely believe what he'd done. The bad news for PWI was it bought the in form Kevin Pietersen to the crease, fresh from his 103*, and you'd excuse Pune had they been a little nervous at the prospect of Sehwag and KP batting together, I certainly was! My fears were immediately realised, both knew that they were key to this run chase and played accordingly, hammering the ball to all parts in a 5 over partnership that saw an astonishing 71 runs scored. KP immediately took a liking to Mathews' bowling as he hit 3 sixes in 4 balls and Sehwag was not to be outdone as he laid into Ryder's solitary over of medium pace with a couple of typical slashes over the off side for maximums. The timeout came at the 9 over mark and with Delhi flying along at 87/1 it was one that PWI badly needed. What was to follow was the game changing moment, from who else but the Pune captain.

Ganguly, obviously fed up with the efforts of his bowlers, decided to take on the responsibility, bringing himself on, with the dream result. His first ball pitched on a length on an off stump line, kept a touch low, snuck underneath KP's heave and cannoned into off stump, sparking celebrations that had to be seen to be believed! The whole team chased him on his mini-lap of honour (he is 39 remember!) as this was a huge wicket in the course of the game when KP (32 from 23) and Sehwag (57 from 32) had rapidly been taking it away from PWI, a moment of pure inspiration from Dada. He then sent back the dangerous Pathan in his next over, having already been hit for 6, single-handedly sparking a dramatic turnaround. The job was not done yet though, they were desperate for the wicket of the Delhi skipper and Karthik, man I feel is too good not to be a regular starter for PWI, duly obliged in the next over to pouch a sharp caught and bowled that put Pune back on top for the first time in a while, leaving DD at 115/4 and needing to score at around 10.5 an over. From there the remaining batsmen had too much to do, with the required rate constantly climbing and no settled player at the crease. Thomas, who bowled exceptionally with 4-0-22-3, and Nehra (4-0-26-0) returned to finish the job adeptly in the last 4 overs to leave Delhi comfortably short at 172/7, a serious collapse having been on top and this was down to Ganguly's game swinging spell of 4-0-27-2, rolling back the years to his allrounder days!

Pune's win was mainly down to the work of 4 men, each having exceptional games in their own right. Ryder is showing signs of rare consistency this year as he played both maturely, to last until the 20th over, and aggressively with a S/R of 148. I can barely come up with enough compliments for Steve Smith at the moment and he did his job perfectly today, providing the acceleration needed to put Pune just out of reach, as well as being a delight to watch in the field. Thomas, who was so important to PWI last year, has found it to tough to get a look in this time but looks good for a string of matches now, showing he bowls well at the start and end of an innings, much like the injured Dinda. Last, but by no means least, was the MoM and undoubted star of the show, Ganguly. His batting was much better today, scoring at a good rate which meant less pressure on his partner Ryder and together they laid the foundations for the strong finish. His inspired move, one that few would have predicted, to bring himself on what was won his team the match as a few more overs of KP and Sehwag could have ended it as a competition. Great stuff from Pune and an important win having suffered consecutive defeats away from home. Delhi will be disappointed but not overly so, how Ryder and Ganguly both managed to survive those fraught powerplay overs I do not know and the game would have been very different had either fallen. They still have an incredibly strong line-up and will be up there at the end of the season. A great match to watch and plenty of credit should go to both sides for the entertainment, tipping this way and that and constantly keeping fans on the edge of their seat!

26: CSK vs RR

Unfortunately I only got back for the final 5 overs of this game, but even that was a cracking watch with another last over finish for IPL 2012, as Chennai's captain cool MSD hit the necessary 2 runs from the final ball to win the match.

A glance at the scorecard tells me that Chennai did well to restrict the Royals to just 146/4 having lost the toss. Dravid was keen to make first use of the wicket, although in the end it probably played slower than what he had in mind. Rahane, deservedly holder of the orange cap, went early on and this brought in Owais Shah(52 from 43) who played yet another good knock for RR. Its a shame it never quite clicked for him at international level because he really is a star in limited overs cricket, able to hit the ball to any area at will. It was him and Menaria (36 from 34) that put on a decent partnership for the 3rd wicket to set up a possible grandstand finish for RR but they struggled to get the ball away at the end, the last 3 overs going for just 17 runs and this made all the difference as another 10 runs could have won it for them. Kulasekera followed up his good showing from last time with 4-0-17-1 and Ashwin proved just why he's so highly rated in the shortest format with 4-0-19-1 and the big wicket of Rajasthan. Given that they'd only lost 4 wickets Rajasthan may well have hoped for more but struggled to reach the boundaries at the end thanks to good death overs from Kula in particular.

In reply, Chennai guaranteed their 3 successive win, thanks mainly to another good innings from Faf du Plessis (MoM). It was thought he was merely covering for the absent Mike Hussey but du Plessis has done a brilliant job so far and his 73 from 52 further stamped his claim on that opening position. I'd never seen a lot of him before this year and always thought of him as a bit part cricketer but he's been so much more than that and has the ability to play some delightful shots down the ground, Hussey may be a bit worried by now! Hogg was the only man to have him in much trouble and was as hard to read as ever, taking 1-18 and he has become RR's most dangerous bowler even at the age of 41. CSK got themselves into some late trouble, as du Plessis and Raina both fell to clever changes of pace from the returning Kevon Cooper (4-0-23-2) who built the late pressure to make for a tense finish. Dhoni and Bravo just about scored the 30 runs still required and this was mainly thanks to brilliant running between the wickets, as is often the case with those two, as they scampered the 8 runs required from the last over with a quick 2 to finish from the final ball, denying Stuart Binny who'd done so well under pressure to just fall short. Dhoni even said post-match that he was never going to risk going for a boundary in that over, he'd have taken a super over with their big hitting line-up and this showed his brilliant confidence in his side that must be installed into the rest of the CSK line-up, he really is a great captain.

Rajasthan will wish they'd scored a few more runs, albeit on a slow pitch, as they struggled to reach the boundary towards the end and middle overs. Chennai have such a superb bowling line-up and their spinners, most notably Ashwin, can reel in the opposition in those vital middle overs meaning the game is never out of CSK's reach. CSK have plenty of momentum after 3 wins on the trot, recovering from a poor start and look like the impressive outfit that we've come to know in the IPL, both sides now going well in the competition.

25: KXIP vs RCB

Friday saw just the one match as Punjab and Bangalore battled it out in Mohali. A glance at the team sheets showed just how tough a game it would be for KXIP, RCB are a side full of high profile names and vast 20/20 experience, and it was no surprise that Bangalore left with a tight win despite having been in trouble at some stages.

Vettori won the toss on a sporting wicket and opted to bowl first and let his strong batting line-up chase down a total with Dave Hussey captaining in Gilchrist's absence, the first time he'd missed a match through injury in an astonishing 16 years, remarkable! Punjab's batting is yet to fire this tournament and the trend of early wickets continued for them, they are still searching for that stability at the top of the order. This is predominantly as a result of Valthaty total loss of form this year, possibly weighed down by expectations after last year's heroics, and he looked a man low on confidence as he spooned a catch to mid off soon after his partner, debutant Saini, to leave Punjab 27/2 after 5. It was once again up to Marsh to rebuild the innings, in this instance alongside Hussey, and he looked to be in good knick with some delightful text book strokeplay including one gorgeous cover drive. The partnership was going along well, excellent running was a noticeable feature between the Aussies, and any momentum they were generating was completely halted when McDonald sent back Marsh. McDonald is a fringe player for RCB but showed his worth today as he bowled wicket to wicket whilst varying his length and pace intelligently, forcing a mistake as Marsh tried to chop away a delivery that crashed into the top of off, finishing with figures of 4-0-25-2. Hussey played well to reach 41 from 34 but his wicket to the last ball of the 15th over looked to put RCB in total control with new men at the crease for the death overs. This is a period that KXIP have struggled with throughout IPL 5 but on debut Mahmood (33* from 14)transformed their innings, seemingly meandering to around 140, with some big hitting as they were propelled to 163/6. He is a player capable of clearing boundaries and this is precisely what KXIP have lacked towards the end of their innings, a welcome return after visa issues. Zaheer Khan was the other star with the ball, such a clever ball in the powerplay overs, often one step ahead of the batsman, as he took 2-25 to leave the match in the balance at the break.

However, Punjab made a brilliant start as Awana took 3 early wickets to put his side in the driving seat. He bowled with impressive pace, hitting 140kph at times, and accuracy, sending back Agarwal and Kohli, whose struggles this year continue, in his first over. RCB's 2 best players were brought together at 25/3 and whilst Punjab were on top, they would have known that this was the crucial partnership would determine the match and it did just this. Gayle (87 from 56 and another MoM!) and AB de Villiers (52 from 39) put on a masterclass in chasing a total in 20/20, they were outrageously calm at times, seemingly oblivious to the climbing required rate. It was a measure of both men's self confidence that they knocked the ball round, hitting the odd bad ball, and just let the rate rise above 10 in the knowledge that there good enough to change gears at a moments notice. Their partnership of 131 came from 12 and a half overs, which I could barely believe as I checked the scorecard afterwards, barring some late acceleration to finish the game at a canter they just never seemed to take any risks or panic into big hits. One of the best partnerships you'll see in this format, no wonder they're 2 of the most highly rated players in 20/20 cricket. Chawla was impressive again (4-0-21-1), I've already mentioned I'm a big fan of his and its great to see that he's having a successful IPL, but he was the only threat for RCB to counter in those middle overs. KXIP still don't have a threatening paceman to come back to break a partnership, maybe Awana (4-34) could do that job but Hussey rightly used up most of his overs at the top, and they will be counting down the days before Harris returns. Gayle and de Villers were far too good for an intelligent but not particularly threatening Punjab bowling outfit as McDonald and Vettori were able to finish the game in the last over with ease. One moment that is definitely work YouTube-ing would be Dave Hussey's one handed catch to dismiss Gayle, how he got there, let alone caught it, I do not know!

Punjab did well to reach 163, thanks mainly to Hussey and Mahmood, and then were right in the match thanks to Awana's brilliant burst in the powerplay overs. However, an effortless, chanceless and matchi winning partnership from Gayle and de Villiers was simply too good, and a treat to watch as they launched their late strike having positioned themselves so well, Gayle smashing the ball down the ground and de Villiers playing his clever scoop shots. Its a still a very open IPL points table, RCB with 6 points from 6 and KXIP with 4 from 6 and Bangalore in particular will know that they can continue to reel in those above them. 

24: CSK vs PWI

It was the job of Chennai and Pune to try to follow on from KP's earlier fireworks and CSK will be extremely happy with their efforts in securing an important win that goes some way to making up for their mixed start. On the other hand, Pune came close but in truth were 2nd best throughout as the experience of Chennai eventually told.

It was billed as the King taking on the Prince, with Ganguly winning the first battle at the toss and decided to have a bowl on an un-Chennai like pitch that looked much greener than usual, as opposed to the spinners' paradise we've come to know. Pune started nicely in keeping the scoring rate down, as both Karthik and Nehra gave away little to Badrinath and du Plessis. Runs were hard to come by and they were clearly anxious to get a move on, Badrinath in particular was guilty of trying to over hit the ball as well as nervy running between the wickets. However, they both rode their luck to put together what was a strange partnership to watch. The scoring rate was upped from 17/0 after 4 overs to around the 7 an over mark for the majority of their partnership. The longer it went on the more obvious it became that they needed to accelerate, especially with the big hitting middle order itching to build on the good start made. Timing was hard to come by and attempted slogs continued to fall in gaps, just evading the reach of fielders and Uthappa missed the odd stumping too. It seems ridiculous to think that an opening partnership of 116 (Badrinath - 57 from 48 & du Plessis 58 from 48) could be seen as a hindrance, it was far from that, but it gave the rest of the batsmen just 5 overs to tee off at the end. Consequently, it looked as if Pune were set to restrict CSK to around 150, following a miserly 16th over from Samuels (4-0-37-3) that cost just one run and sent back both openers to catches from Mathews in the deep. However, Dhoni led a late charge as the last 3 overs were hit for 37, proving to be decisive in the end. Samuels, who had bowled so well up till that point, was hit for 18 from the last over including an enormous 104m straight 6 from Dhoni as the ball cleared the roof! Pune would have pleased with restricting CSK to anything below 150, especially after having struggled to pick up wickets, but the late onslaught was pivotal. Dhoni managed to clear the fence on a wicket that others had struggled on whilst trying to do the same and this ultimately made the difference as 164/5 was to be just out of reach for Pune, as Nehra came back well from his last over nightmare to take 4-0-23-2.

Pune would need to maximise the powerplay overs if they were to get near CSK's total and whilst the positive intent shown was good, I think the decision making was slightly awry at times. Uthappa, arguably PWI's best player on slow pitches, had just lifted Kulasekera's first ball over mid-off for a stylish boundary, prompting Dhoni to come up to the stumps. Next ball, the bowler dragged the length back and Uthappa attempted the same shot from his crease and was caught by a diving Ashwin at mid-off, the wrong option to take and falling straight into Dhoni's trap. Equally, Ryder fell into the trap set up for him as Kulasekera dug a short ball in that was clubbed out to Bravo at deep-midwicket who took another great catch. The pull is one of Ryder's best shots but on a pitch that had proved difficult to go over the top on, taking on the fielder was ill advised. Unfortunately Pandey was the next man to get himself out. The 6th over had just gone for 18, with Ganguly finding the middle of the bat to get Pune back level with the required rate. Pandey then inexplicably went for a maximum as Bravo sent down the first ball of the 7th over, it really was unnecessary at a point when he needed to take responsibility at number 4 and knuckle down with his skipper. Ganguly went a few overs later, at a point when boundaries really were needed, to bring about a good partnership between Samuels (26 from 24) and Smith (23 from 21), that gave Pune an outside chance. They ran well and waited for poor balls, taking the odd calculated risk and showed the way for the rest before them.

Unfortunately, it wasn't to be for PWI as the pitch had got slower all game and by the end of the PWI innings all the batsmen were struggling to time their big hits. Mathews, and a poor 16th over from Ashwin, gave Chennai a late scare with 41 needed from the last 4 but it proved to be too much without the wickets in hand that CSK had, as Pune came up 11 short at 151/7. Bravo (4-0-28-2) was good in the middle overs and at the death and Jadeja proved exceptionally tough to score off (4-0-21-0). Kulasekera was a strange choice for MoM, despite bowling his 2 overs well to take 2-10, and I'd have given it to Bravo for his all round performance (12 from 8 balls, 2-28 and lively fielding). However, it was not their bowling that stopped Pune's charge from materialising but instead their impeccable performance in the field, the best showing of this IPL. The Pune top 6 all fell to terrific catches, silly shots or not, and they must have saved at least 10-15 runs in the outfield that was crucial in the outcome. Pune's comparative inexperience was evident and Chennai were stunningly clinical throughout the run chase to secure a win that takes the 2 sides level with 3 wins from 6 each as CSK showed why they're the defending champions.

From a Pune point of view, it was another so near yet so far performance. They failed to learn from watching Faf and Badrinath's partnership, going over the top was difficult and that a big platform was needed to give the necessary wickets in hand for late runs to be scored.The Samuels/Smith partnership was proof that the pitch was possible to score in, so long as a sensible rather than cavalier approach to hitting boundaries was taken. Hopefully they'll learn from it, especially with a tough game against in form Delhi next up, and get back to winning ways, potentially with the instrumental Dinda returning form injury.

23: DD vs DC

The 23rd game of IPL 2012 was another exciting affair, and the Delhi fans will have left on a high thanks a great deal to the awesome performance of new acquisition Kevin Pietersen. Yet again, Deccan put themselves in a position to win the match and will rue mistakes in the field, the daredevils shot up to the top of the table whereas Deccan remain firmly rooted to the bottom.

The toss was strangely a non-affair, with Sangakarra looking to bat and Sehwag keen to continue their preference to chase down a total. With this, the Chargers kicked things off and their skipper fell early in the midst of a quiet start, to a misjudged pull from purple cap holder Morkel, that went up miles up in the air and settled safely in the hands of Nagar. this brought together the best partnership of the match, between Dhawan and Parthiv Patel, who rarely looked in any sort of trouble. Delhi probably bowled too short, Agarkar the main culprit, and Parthiv in particular capitalised and was smashing the ball to the boundary whenever he got the chance. It was great to watch a couple of elegant left handers playing attractive strokes, and at 81/1 after 9 overs they'd put their side into the perfect position for a late assault. Shahbaz, who has impressed so far, turned the game in Delhi's favour with his haul of 4-0-16-3 which gave away little to nothing. It was poor decision making from Dhawan (44 from 29), who'd done so well playing conventional shots, as he looked to reverse sweep Nadeem's first ball and was struck in front LBW to allow Delhi back into the game. Patel (45 from 27) was caught well on the long leg boundary by Jayawardene in Nadeem's next over and all of a sudden DD were on top with 2 new players at the crease. Nadeem, who later got Duminy, and Morkel were instrumental in preventing Deccan from getting away in the latter overs, the last 6 overs went for 43/5 as regular wickets halted the scoring. Morkel was near unplayable yet again, consistently hitting a good length and was able to find some life in a otherwise slow pitch, taking 4-0-23-3 and the purple cap in the process. Deccan will know that they could have posted a more challenging total and simply lost their way, Dhawan will regret that ill advised reverse sweep when he had looked so at ease. However, 157/8 looked around par on a slow pitch and had given their bowlers a chance.

Deccan made a fantastic start with the ball, making the necessary early in roads against a batting line-up like that of the DDs. Debutant Pratap Singh started well alongside the more experienced Steyn and Christian. Ojha fell in Singh's first over and Sehwag was the next to fall, guiding a rising delivery from Steyn into the hands of the lone slip. By the time Jayawardene had fallen to Christian, attempting to clear the off side the score was 23/3 in the fifth over with Deccan well on top. Pietersen had already been dropped by Chipli, a simple catch to short midwicket that was to prove crucial, and in partnership with Taylor set about rebuilding the innings. Whenever pressure was building KP was able to find the boundaries, one over from Mishra was treated brutally, with a remarkable six over cover on the back foot. Taylor was run out brilliantly by Dhawan in the pivotal middle overs and it looked as if KP would run out of partners, with Irfan Pathan the next man in and little else to come with 90 odd runs still needed at a stiff rate. He completely took charge in the middle to late overs, hitting a total of 9 sixes and some of them truly massive. Yogesh Nagar's late cameo (23* from 15) should not be overlooked, coming in at a crucial moment with 44 still need from 32 balls, but Pietersen (MoM) was undoubtedly the star of the show. He picked his bowlers, happy to play out the excellent Steyn (2-19) and picking on the spinners and Mishra and Duminy who were carted for 6 sixes in total. His 103* from 64 balls was his first 20/20 hundred and almost single handedly got his side over the line, hitting a six in the last over to win the game and bring up the milestone. That said, he should have been gone for 6, Deccan's fielding once again costing them the match and they'll be gutted to have once again missed out when in control, the 3rd time in succession.

Delhi go marching on and have all the momentum at the moment, very much the form side of this year's IPL. There are so many match winners in that batting line-up and you only need one of them to come off to get the victory, as today proved. Meanwhile, Deccan got themselves into position nicely, both with the bat and ball but continue to struggle with finishing the game, the sign of a team low on confidence. You can't afford to a player like KP a chance and he punished them today with a quite terrific effort.

22: KXIP vs KKR

Wednesday's only match of the day saw a comprehensive victory for Kolkata, beating the Punjab side that they'll have been been itching to meet again after missing out on the win last time they. Comfortable victories have been rare this in this edition and it highlighted the gulf in class between the two sides, on their day KKR truly are one of the top sides in the tournament and will be hoping to pick up some momentum from here on in.

It was a different Mohali pitch from the green, moist track that saw the KXIP bowlers on top of the Pune batters and Gilchrist decided to have first use of it in an attempt to put on a good total. Unfortunately for his side, KKR were on their game today as their strong bowling attack were all over Punjab. Lee started really nicely and was one the one to put an end to the opening partnership as Valthaty edged a pacy ball behind to a smart catch from Bisla. Gilchrist and Marsh, Punjab's go to partnership, set about rebuilding and KXIP will have right to feel aggrieved with the dismissals of both men. Gilchrist had reached his top score of the season, having played nicely to reach 28* when he pulled a hamstring coming through for a quick single. He was unable to continue, later returning for some brief hitting out at the end to reach 40* from 30, and this handed Kolkata the initiative, which they would not give up, when the match had been in the balance. Marsh, who has been such an important player for Punjab in the last 5 years, was looking comfortable when he edged Lee behind to a tumbling take from Bisla who immediately claimed the catch. Marsh (33) took his word for it and walked off, despite replays indicating the ball may have bounced. Punjab never got going from there, Bhatia was exceptional in containing at the end, now going 2 games without conceding a boundary with 4-0-23-1. KKR's other stars were Brett Lee (4-0-26-2) who was good at the start and came back impressively with the crucial wicket of Marsh, I thought he deserved MoM, particularly with the energy he brought in the field as well. Narine's box of tricks was was too much for KXIP again as he grabbed himself 4-0-24-2 as Punjab looked cautious and unsure when facing up to him. It was a brilliant performance from KKR having lost the toss, and they must have saved a good 15-20 runs, McCullum's remarkable effort on the boundary stood out as his momentum was taking him over the rope mid-leap before flicking it back in to save a certain 6, all in one motion too! It was a great team effort from KKR to keep Punjab down to 124/7 on a batting pitch and put them well in control.

McCullum returned to the KKR line up, to open up alongside Gambhir as they started strongly to effectively put the game beyond doubt. As is his way McCullum was sauntering up the wicket and swinging Kumar and Mascarenhas around, he really is a tough man to bowl to, as Gambhir was pure class and barely played a shot in anger and just picked any ball just marginally off target to hit to the fence. Chawla bowled well again for Punjab, a rare star in an otherwise poor display from KXIP, to dismiss both McCullum and later Bisla to take 2-19 but Gambhir was ever present to seal the match, finished in style with a huge straight six from Kallis (30* from 23). Gambhir (MoM) played a terrific knock, he barely took a single risk and somehow finished with 66* at a strike rate of 150, with one glorious pick up off his legs from Harmeet Singh for 6 early on. Punjab were lacking a quick, strike bowler today and the chase was all too easy as a result. Kumar is a great opening bowler, both Mascarenhas and Singh have shown very impressive changes of pace to fool batsman and Chawla is a top leggie. However, they lack that bowler who can come on and bowl one over of real pace to knock over a partnership, a Malinga/Morkel/Steyn/Lee type figure for the captain to thrown the ball to and this was very evident today as it looked all to easy for KKR's world class players. Stuart Broad could have been that man and they'll be disappointed to see him out of the tournament injured, a big loss.

All in all, a top performance from a Kolkata side under plenty of pressure, as they proved why they are up there with the other favourites to win the title. They have no fill in bowlers and thus can send down 20 quality overs and with a batting line-up like theirs, KKR have the potential to beat any side. Punjab, on the other hand will wish they'd scored the runs that the pitch was offering. Their batting line-up is not the deepest and you always get the feeling that their big players at the top, Gilchrist, Marsh and Hussey, are playing within themselves so as not to lose to expose their lesser experienced players, not want you need in a 20/20 game. Perhaps they need to reproduce that bowlers pitch that seemed to suit them so well against Pune. KKR were a treat to watch today, the perfect display and one they'll hope will lead to a few more wins to lift up the table further.