Rajhasthan Royals VS Kings XI Punjab - Match 30 - Kingsmead, Durban

Rajasthan Royals won their fourth match of the season and in doing so scored the highest team total of the tournament thus far. Batting first the Royals scored 211/4. Graham Smith batted himself into form scoring 77 of 43 balls. He was well supported by new opening partner Ojha who scored an entertaining 68. In reply Punjab only managed 133/8.

Yuvraj Singhs decision to bowl Powar in the first over proved costly as he was hammered for two sixes and a four by Ojha. The openers put on 100 in the 11th over and just when they looked to be heading for a large total Graham Smith was caught on the boundary, a welcome relief for Punjab. In came Yusuf Pathan and he did not take long to get going, a six of the second ball he faced was followed by a four two balls later. But Pathans urge for big shots had him caught by Goel for 12 and Ojha soon followed. Jadeja showed his worth by blasting 34 if 12 balls, a crucial innings just when Rajhasthan were looking like loosing their way after the loss of three quick wickets. Sreesanth did not get a good start to his season. He went for 44 in his 4 overs, including 23 in his last over. His cause not helped by no-balls.

Punjabs innings started badly. Sohal was out caught off the first ball of the innings. In came Goel and he did not last long either, Punjab were left reeling at 2/2 after the first over. It who have been worse had Warne caught onto a sitter offered by Sangakarra in the second over. Katich and Sangakarra tried to get a move on, but were soon picked up by Trivedi and Y Pathan respectively. At 39/5 Punjab were left with no chance of winning the game. Captain Yuvraj singh scored a defiant 48, but it was not enough to avoid a heavy defeat. A Singh was the star with the ball for the Royals. He ended up with figures of 9/3 in 4 overs, including two wickets in the very first over of the innings.

The win has added twists to the points table. Rajasthan are in second spot and are back into contention for a semi-final spot and a second title; a week ago they were written off.


Toss
Punjab who elected to field first

Teams
Rajasthan Royals
N Ojha, G Smith, S Harwood, R Jadeja, Y Pathan, S Trivedi, S Warne, M Rawat,
M Patel, S Trivedi, A Singh.

Kings XI Punjab
S Sohal, S Sreesanth, K Goel, Yuvraj Singh, K Sangakarra, M Jayawardane , P Chawla, I Pathan, S Katich, R Powar, Y Abdulla

Brief Scores
Rajasthan Royals 211-4 in 20 overs (G Smith 77, N Ojha 68, R Jadeja 34, Chawla 30/2 )
Kings XI Punjab - 13 in 20 overs (Y Singh 48, A singh 9/3)

Result
Rajasthan Royals won by 78 runs

Deccan Chargers VS Chennai Super Kings - Match 29 - Buffalo Park, East London

Chennai Super Kings are on a roll, winning their third consecutive match, which propels them from seventh spot in the points table a week back to the first spot. Almost everything this match went Chennai's way - Dhoni won the toss, decided to bat and the openers backed his decision by providing a wonderful opening partnership. Hayden blasted 43 from 26 balls, while Vijay made a solid 31 from 33 balls. Once the wickets of openers fell, Raina and Dhoni took over and treated the crowd for their money with some excellent display of strokes. Raina provided the much needed momentum after the strategic time out scoring 32 of just 19 balls, while Dhoni came to form with a brilliant, unbeaten 58 from 37 balls. Some good bowling at the death by RP Singh restricted Chennai to 178 from a posistion where they were looking good for 200.

Chasing 179 for victory Deccan started catastrophically loosing three wickets for just one run on the board. Gilchrist was out leg before the very first ball of the innings from Albie Morkel. In the next over Sudeep Tyagi rattled the wood work of Gibbs and in the third over VVS Laxman flicked one straight to the fielder. With their top three gone for "DUCKS", the lucky Dwyane Smith who was dropped twice of consecutive balls counter - attacked with some mighty blows. Smith along with Sharma brought the scoreboard from 1/3 to 73/3, before Jataki made a double strike removing both Sharma and Smith in the same over. With the return of dangerous Smith to pavillion, the Chennai bowlers ran through the remaining batting line up and the Deccan Chargers ended up loosing all their wickets in 14.4 overs with just 100 runs on the board. Jakati once again bowled brilliantly and returned with the figures of 4/22. Murali will be on a hat-trick the next match and ended up with figures of 2/11. The only worrying factor for Chennai would be their catching. Chennai dropped loads of easy catches that too of consecutive deliveries. If only Chennai could have held on to these catches, the match would have been over much earlier!

TOSS

Chennai Super Kings won the toss and chose to bat

BRIEF SCORES

Chennai Super Kings - 178/3 in 20 overs(Dhoni - 58*, Hayden - 43, SM Shohaib - 1/14, T Suman - 1/29)

Deccan Chargers - 100 all out in 14.4 overs(D Smith - 49, R Sharma - 21, S Jataki - 4/22, M Muralitharan - 2/11)

RESULT

Chennai Super Kings won the match by 78 runs.

Banglore Royal Challengers vs Mumbai Indians - Match 28 - New Wanderer's Stadium, Johannesburg

Banglore Royal Challengers beat Mumbai Indians comphrehensively by 9 wickets at the New Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg. Chasing a total of 150, Banglore put in front a stunning batting performance led by Kallis(69 of 59 balls) and Uthappa(66 of 42 balls) and reached the target with 11 balls to spare. Earlier in the day, Mumbai Indians were kept on a tight leash by the Banglore bowlers before Bravo(50 of 40 balls) and A Nayar(29 of 20 balls) cut loose and helped Mumbai put up a competitive total of 149 on the board. Jayasuriya scored 52 of 43 balls which provided a solid foundation for the likes of Bravo and Nayar. du Preez made an impressive debut for Banglore Royal Challengers claiming the first three Mumbai Indians wickets which included the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and JP Duminy. Sure this kid has a bright future.

Toss
Mumbai Indians won the toss and chose to bat

Brief Scores
Mumbai Indians - 149/4 in 20 0vers(S Jayasuriya - 52, D Bravo - 50, du Preez - 3/32, van der Merwe - 1/27)
Banglore Royal Challengers - 150/1 in 18.1 overs(J Kallis - 69*, R Uthappa - 66*, Z Khan - 1/12)

Result
Banglore Royal Challengers won by 9 wickets

Kolkatta Knight Riders Vs Kings XI Punjab - Match 27 - St George's Park, Port Elizabeth

Bard Hodge's 70 could not help Kolkatta salvage a win, as they lost yet another match to Kings XI Punjab. Kings XI scrapped through with a last ball 6 wicket win, thanks mainly to a solid unbeaten 52 from jayawardane.

Toss
Kolkatta Knight Riders won the toss and Chose to bat first.

Brief Scores
Kolkatta Knight Riders - 153/3 in 20 overs(B Hodge - 70, S Ganguly - 22, P Chawla - 2/27, Y Abdulla - 1/33)
Kings XI Punjab - 154/4 in 20 overs(M Jayawardane - 52*, S Katich - 34, I Sharma - 2/27, B Hodge - 1/13)

Result
Kings XI Punjab won by 6 wickets

Chennai Super Kings Vs Delhi Daredevils - Match 26 - New Wanderes Stadium, Johannesburg - Bulletin

Little known Shadab Jakati spun Chennai Super Kings to a memorable victory on a batsman friendly Wanderers pitch. On a pitch which was predicted to produce the first 200+ innings score, Gauti won the toss and decided to field first,and Dhoni was banking on the Hayden - Raina factor to post a competitive score on board. Hayden did start off the Chennai innings with a zing scoring 30 of just 19 balls, but the wickets of Vijay and Hayden in quick succession bought together Badrinath and Raina. These two played brilliantly after the strategic time out and got the run rate near nine runs per over, before Raina was caught in the deep after making 32 of 21 balls. S Badrinath's blinder of an innings came to an end when he lost his sticks trying to improvise on Bhatia's bowling. Once the wicket of Badri was lost, Chennai kept loosing wickets regularly. Morkel and Dhoni, the most dreaded power hitters in the line up failed to live up to their reputation and Chennai lost all the wickets for 163 runs. On the bowling front, the left arm seamers Ashish Nehra and Dirk Nannes grabbed three wickets each giving away 27 runs.

With the likes of in-form deVillers and Dilshan, Delhi started off their chase on the batsmen friendly Wanders pitch as favourites. It needed some special effort and a few once in a life - time performance from Chennai to score some points in this game. Chennai got exactly what they prayed for, when Raina took a blinder of a catch to dismiss dangerous looking Gambhir and the next ball Sudeep Tyagi got one to nip back a bit and the in - form deVillers had his woodwork disturbed. Jakati was introduced into the attack and he bowled a brilliant delivery which got rid of Dilshan and reduced Delhi to 53/3. David Warner and Dinesh Karthik came to Delhi's rescue and with their brilliant counter - attack left Dhoni hoping for just another miracle. The miracle came when Warner tried to get down the track and score a maximum of Jakati, but the ball spun, beat him and Dhoni completed a neat stumping. David Warner was out for 51 and Chennai heaved a sigh of relief as the dreaded partnership was broken. Manhas tried to hoik Murali over the ropes only to find hear the sound of his sticks getting disturbed. Karthik fell after scoring a brilliant 42 of 31 balls and with this wicket Delhi had lost their chase. Delhi managed to score just 10 runs of the final over in which they required 28, thereby handing over a 18 run, much needed victory to Chennai. This win propels Chennai to the fourth place in the points table and throws the tournament wide open.

Toss:
Delhi Daredevils won the toss and elected to field

Teams:
Chennai Super Kings
M Vijay, M Hayden, S Raina, M S Dhoni, A Morkel, S Badrinath, S Jakati, J Oram, L Balaji, M Muralitharan, S Tyagi
Delhi Daredvils
G Gambhir, V Shewag, T Dilshan, AB de Villiers, M Manhas, D Karthik, D Nannes, D Vettori, A Nehra, A Mishra, P Sangwan

Brief Scores:
Chennai Super Kings - 163 all out in 20 overs(S Badrianth - 45, S Raina - 31, A Nehra - 3/27, D Nannes - 3/27)
Delhi Daredevils - 145/8 in 20 overs(D Karthik - 52, D Warner - 51, S Jakati - 4/24, S Tyagi - 2/18)

Result:
Chennai Super Kings won the match by 18 runs.

Rajasthan Royals Vs Deccan Chargers - Match 25 - St George's Park, Port Elizabeth - Bulletin

Rajasthan Royals have won their third game of this year’s IPL beating the Deccan Chargers by 3 wickets. The Royals have had many close finishes and this was no different. The tension lasted till the last over, with the Royals getting home with 2 balls to spare. Batting first Deccan chargers were off to a steady start but lost Gibbs and Balakhia in quick succession. But handy contributions by Gilchrist (39), Sharma (38) and Suman (41) ensured they reached a competitive total of 144/5.

In reply Rajasthan made a disastrous start losing both their openers for ducks in the first over. Thing got worse the following over when when Ojha was caught off RP Singh for a duck. Just as their hope seemed to fade away, Carseldine played an exciting counter attacking knock and at one stage looked like running away with the game. He and Jadeja (12) added 51 runs for the fourth wicket, before the pair was dismissed by Rao in the space of five balls. To every once surprise Warne promoted him to number 6 and started to weave some of this magic, this time with the bat. He hit two sixes in the 12th over but was caught soon after trying to increase the scoring rate.

Just when it seemed to be over in came Pathan. Four of the first ball he faced was followed by two consecutive sixes in the next over, then another pull for four brought the equation down to 17 runs from three overs. It was then down to singles and twos to get the job done, but Pathan as he usually does went for a big shot and was caught. The situation was tense in the last over after Harwood failed to score of the first two balls and then a missed run out opportunity while attempting to steal a single when the ball headed towards the keeper.

Among all this chaos, Raut composed 36 of 23 balls. An important innings played at the other end of all the drama .

Toss
Deccan Chargers won the toss and elected to Bat

Teams
Rajasthan Royals
G Smith, S Asnodkar, R Jadeja, Y Pathan, S Warne, N Ojha, M Patel, S Trivedi, S Hawood, A Raut, L Carseldine

Deccan Chargers
A Gilchrist, H Gibbs, R Sharma, D Smith, V Rao, A Bilakhia, P Ojha, RP Singh, SM Shoaib, F Edwards, T Suman

Brief Scores
Deccan Chargers - 141/5 in 20 overs (T Suman - 41, A Gilchrist - 39, S harwood - 2/25)
Rajasthan Royals - 142/7 in 19.4 overs(Carseldine - 38, Raut - 36*,Y Pathan - 24, RP Singh 2/18)

Result
Rajasthan Royals won by 3 wickets

THIS POST WAS POSTED BY RUDY

Banglore Royal Challengers Vs Kings XI Punjab - Match 24 - Kingsmead, Durban - Bulletin

A sesnsational hat - trick and a brilliant half century from Yuvaraj Singh didn't prove enough as Kings XI fell short by 8 runs against Banglore Royal Challengers. With Pieterson returning home for national duties, Kumble took over the mantle as Royal Challenger's captain and began on a good note winning the toss and electing to bat first. Jesse Ryder's terrible run in the IPL continued as he got out again with a single digit score. Yusuf Abdulla removed Bishnoi(18) and Goswami(10) and Banglore were reduced to 38/3. Kallis and Uthappa got a partnership going and when they looked dangerous, captain Yuvaraj Singh striked gold claiming a hat-trick. Uthappa and Kallis fell in the last two balls of the twelveth over and the dangerous Mark Boucher was dismissed the first ball of fourteenth over. With the scoreboard reading 84/6, Van der Merwe came to Banglore's rescue adding a valuble 35 runs of just 19 balls which powered Banglore to a moderate 145. Yusuf Abullah clinched the purple cap claiming 4 wickets and taking his wicket tally of this tournament to 13.

Kings XI started off their run chase brilliantly with Yuvaraj going great guns scoring 50 of 34 balls. He added 70 runs for the first wicket along with K Goel and got out just before commencement of strategic time out. The post strategic time out period proved to be disastrous for Kings XI as they kept loosing wickets regularly and looked lost in their run chase. The strong middle order containing the likes ot Katich, Sangakara and Jayawardane didn't click and eventually Punjab managed only 137 runs on the board. The Challengers bowling effort was lead by their captain Anil Kumble who returned with the figures of 2/25. He was ably supported by Kumar and Van der Merwe who also grabbed two wickets each.

Toss:
Banglore Royal Challenger won the toss and elected to bat

Teams:
Banglore Royal Challengers
J Kallis, S Goswami, J Ryder, M Boucher, Van der Merwe, V Kohli, R Uthappa, P Kumar, R Bishnoi, KP Appanna, A Kumble
Kings XI Punjab
Yuvaraj Singh, K Goel, M Jayawardane, K Sangakara, S Katich, I Pathan, P Chawla, R Powar, TM Srivatsava, VS Malik, Yusuf Abdulla

Brief Scores:
Banglore Royal Challengers - 145/9 in 19.5 overs(Van der Merwe - 35, J Kallis - 27, Y Abdulla - 4/36, Yuvaraj Singh - 3/22)
Kings XI Punjab - 137/7 in 20 overs(Yuvaraj Singh - 50, K Goel - 20, Van der Merwe - 2/22, A Kumble - 2/25)

Result:
Banglore Royal Challengers won the match by 8 runs