Rajasthan Royals 191/6 (20/20 ov)
Kings XI Punjab 191/6 (20/20 ov)
Match tied (Kings XI Punjab won the one-over eliminator)
The man with the most runs for Kings XI Punjab had been on the bench for their first four games of the season. Brought in because regular captain George Bailey had a shoulder injury, Shaun Marsh played two crucial innings to give Kings XI their second win.
He first made 64 off 40, the highest score in a chase of 192, as Kings XI leveled the scores with Axar Patel's last-ball four. Marsh then watched David Miller depart off the first ball of the Super Over and went on to hit Chris Morris for three successive fours. Rajasthan Royals lost both their wickets halfway into Mitchell Johnson's over, which ended their five-match winning streak. Shane Watson was bowled first ball by a yorker, and James Faulkner, pondering a bye, was run out by Wriddhiman Saha.
The chase had been slipping away from Kings XI. They were reduced to 59 for 3 in the ninth over when Glenn Maxwell top-edged a slog off legspinner Rahul Tewatia. But Marsh and Miller kept their side alive as they put on 58 off 35. While Miller took his time to get going, Marsh kept the runs coming in his usual flowing manner, timing boundaries both sides of the wicket and straight down the ground.
Still, the asking-rate continued to climb steadily, and after Marsh top-edged a slog off Pravin Tambe, Kings XI needed 72 off the last five overs. Saha arrived and played a vital hand, swinging and pulling four fours in the eight balls he lasted.
Miller had found his range just before Marsh departed, and was now effortlessly launching sixes over deep midwicket. When he eventually failed to clear the off side boundary and fell for 54 off 30, 25 were required off 12.
Johnson and Axar brought it down to 14 from the final over, and ran four twos and a single off the first five balls from James Faulkner. Axar sliced the last one to the deep point rope to take it to the Super Over.
That they would be part of such a tight finish would not have been remotely on the Royals' players minds after the total they put up. Asked to bat by stand-in Kings XI captain Virender Sehwag, Ajinkya Rahane and Watson came within five runs of making it successive century opening partnerships.
Rahane was troubled initially by the swing the Kings XI bowlers generated, but he responded with some stinging shots through the covers. Watson took his time and was on 14 off 23 at one stage. He suddenly sprung into action, hitting his next six deliveries for four fours and two sixes to end on 45 off 35.
Steven Smith and Faulkner managed a run between them but Royals' young Indian batsmen contributed swift cameos. Stuart Binny ended the innings with a four and a six off Anureet Singh but Marsh's twin innings would overcome them.
Kolkata Knight Riders 147 for 4 (Gambhir 60, Yusuf 40*) beat Delhi Daredevils 146 for 8 (Umesh 2-18, Chawla 2-27) by six wickets
Kolkata Knight Riders' bowlers set up their third win in four games, restricting Delhi Daredevils to 146 for 8. Gautam Gambhir then made his third half-century in four innings to consign the hosts to their ninth successive defeat at Feroz Shah Kotla.
Neither captain was sure at the toss about how the pitch, dry and grassy, would behave. Both wanted to chase; Gambhir won the toss. The ball seemed to come on decently, especially at the start, although Duminy felt the pitch deteriorated as the game progressed.
The Daredevils batsmen fell to poor strokes, and many of them came just when a partnership was starting to build. Opener Shreyas Iyer played some superb shots off the back foot but having motored to 31 off 24, was bowled after missing a slog at Piyush Chawla. That ended a third-wicket partnership of 36 with Manoj Tiwary.
Tiwary and Yuvraj Singh added 37 for the fourth wicket, the highest partnership of the game for Daredevils, but on 32, the Bengal batsman dragged a wide one from Morne Morkel straight to midwicket in the 14th over.
Daredevils dealt themselves another blow in the next over when Yuvraj strolled out after missing a sweep off Chawla and was stumped for 21 off 19.
Angelo Mathews helped Daredevils take 43 off the last five overs, including 20 off Sunil Narine in the 19th. The offspinner had bowled a couple of tight overs before but was repeatedly slogged over midwicket at the death by Mathews and Kedar Jadhav. Umesh Yadav did not let Daredevils go past 150, giving away just three in the final over.
Gambhir and Robin Uthappa were in control of the chase when Domnic Joseph removed the latter and Manish Pandey in fifth over, both batsmen trying to force boundaries but failing to clear the fielders.
Suryakumar Yadav clubbed a few boundaries to add 48 with Gambhir, but it was the Knight Riders captain who piloted the chase. Putting away loose deliveries off his pads and finding gaps through the off side, Gambhir put Knight Riders on course. He is a difficult batsman to stop when he is able to dab singles behind point at will, which is what he did tonight.
Gambhir's fourth-wicket stand of 65 with Yusuf Pathan sealed it for Knight Riders. Yusuf did not look too comfortable at the start, but he lashed out at short balls, and stayed unbeaten on 40 off 26.
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