Mumbai Indians lost their last eight wickets for 33 runs, and were bowled out with three balls left to play. As Rohit Sharma watched his team collapse, the expression on his face went from incredulous to annoyed to angry. This, after all, was a must-win game for Mumbai if they wanted to retain any chance of qualifying for the playoffs.
Eight wickets for 33 runs. And yet, Mumbai won, and comfortably at that. They did just about enough either side of the collapse to keep their hopes alive.
Michael Hussey got them off to a flier with a 33-ball 56, and Mumbai had been looking at 200 before their innings came crashing down. Chasing 174, Delhi Daredevils never got any real momentum going. JP Duminy and Manoj Tiwary kept them alive with an 85-run fourth-wicket partnership, but 32 from the last two overs proved beyond their reach. Marchant de Lange and Jasprit Bumhah bowled two excellent overs to close out a 15-run win for Mumbai.
Sent in to bat, Mumbai profited from some ordinary bowling at the start to run away to 65 for no loss at the end of the Powerplay and 100 for 1 after 10 overs. Siddarth Kaul and Jaydev Unadkat kept drifting down leg to Hussey, and he kept playing pick-up shots and pulls into the gaps on the leg-side boundary.
Imran Tahir's introduction did nothing to slow Mumbai down. On the contrary, it brought Lendl Simmons into the game. He took three fours off the over, two with his favourite square cut - off back foot and then front foot - to capitalise on the width offered by the legspinner.
The dismissal of Simmons brought Rohit Sharma in, and he was soon capitalising on some width of his own - this time offered by JP Duminy, who bowled short and wide despite having only deep cover on the off-side boundary. Mumbai were going at close to 10 an over, and even the first few wickets didn't slow them down. Kieron Pollard hit the first ball he faced for six. Aditya Tare caressed the first two balls he faced to the off-side boundary.
The slide really began when Ambati Rayudu picked out long-off off Shahbaz Nadeem, and soon batsmen were holing out and running themselves out all over the place. Mumbai didn't even play out their full 20 overs. On this pitch, a target of 174 didn't look like all that much.
But Daredevils, as they have so often done this season, batted pretty well without ever giving their opponents a real scare. They got off the blocks quickly enough, with Kevin Pietersen striking three fours off de Lange in the second over of the chase, and were 43 for no loss after five overs. The next five overs, however, brought them only 19 runs and cost them three wickets.
Shreyas Gopal had M Vijay stumped with an enticingly loopy legbreak that the batsman flailed at and missed, but the bowlers didn't have to do too much to earn the next two wickets. Pietersen was bowled trying to switch-hit Harbhajan; Dinesh Karthik was bowled trying to scoop a full, straight ball from de Lange.
Daredevils were left needing 112 from their last 10 overs. They stayed in the hunt, with Duminy clinical in targeting the midwicket area, and Tiwary getting into good positions against the spinners to slog-sweep or hit inside out.
When de Lange started the penultimate over by giving away two free runs with a chest-high full toss to Duminy, it looked like Mumbai could come to regret their batting meltdown.
But de Lange quickly recalibrated his radar, and found the blockhole three times in the next six balls. He also dismissed Duminy, and 30 off 12 balls became 25 off six. There was still an outside chance, but Jasprit Bumrah quickly snuffed that out with some yorkers of his own.
Mumbai hadn't been at their best, and had put themselves in some extremely sticky spots, but they were still breathing, just about, at the end of it.
Kings XI Punjab 179 for 4 (Marsh 40) beat Rajasthan Royals 163 for 8 (Faulkner 35*, Karanveer 2-16, Dhawan 2-25) by 16 runs
Kings XI Punjab ensured they would finish top of the table with their tenth win of the season, handing a comprehensive defeat to Rajasthan Royals. The result kept the final playoff spot open, with Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad's hopes alive, along with Royals', going into the final round of matches.
All of the Kings XI top six, without the rested Glenn Maxwell, contributed to push them to 179 for 4 after they were asked to bat. Virender Sehwag and Manan Vohra provided the initial boost, Shaun Marsh and Wriddhiman Saha kept them going in the middle stages, and David Miller and George Bailey powered away to a big finish.
Barring a shortlived starting surge from Karun Nair, Royals were never allowed to get ahead in the chase. Ajinkya Rahane and Sanju Samson were tied down, before Rishi Dhawan broke through with the wickets of Rahane and Shane Watson off successive deliveries.
Legspinner Karanveer Singh, on IPL debut, struck twice in successive overs as Royals slid to 83 for 5 at the start of the 14th over, a position from which there was no coming back.
Kings XI pulled ahead early when Sehwag started with three successive boundaries in the first over off seamer Vikramjeet Malik, who was playing his first match of the season.
Sehwag fell soon for 18 off 8, and Manan Vohra took over. Vohra was in superb touch again, a smooth pick-up off Watson ending up way over the deep midwicket boundary. But Vohra ran himself out in careless fashion after Kings XI had built a solid base of 53 for 1 in six overs.
There was little let-up in the scoring though as Wriddhiman Saha pulled and paddled Pravin Tambe for consecutive fours. Saha and Marsh kept finding at least a boundary an over against the legspinners Tambe and Tewatia. Even as Kings XI motored past 100, Marsh fell against the run of play, lofting Malik to long-on, before there was a short delay due to a drizzle.
Only 20 runs came in four overs after the break, and Kings XI also lost Saha to a well-judged take on the straight boundary from Rahane off Tewatia. At 133 for 4 after 17 overs, Kings XI were still in need of a final assault, and Miller and Bailey provided it. James Faulkner was taken for 23 in the penultimate over as 46 came off the last three.
Rahane struggled to score freely and though Samson began with a couple of boundaries, the partnership was always facing a climbing asking-rate. Dhawan's double-strike in the ninth over hurt Royals, and Karanveer slowed them down further with aggressive, accurate legspin.
Again, Brad Hodge and Faulkner came in with too much to do and too little time available. They tried their best, hitting frenetic thirties. It was credit to them that they brought down the margin of defeat significantly when 77 were needed off the last four.
Faulkner kept slamming sixes till the very end, and it was a pity he could face only 13 deliveries.
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