Mumbai Indians 187 for 5 (Rayudu 53*, Simmons 38, Kulkarni 2-26) beat Rajasthan Royals 179 for 7 (Samson 76, McClenaghan 3-31) by eight runs
It came down, in the end, to one stat: Mumbai Indians scored 61 in their last four overs. Their innings till that point had never looked like getting out of third gear, but a late blitz from Ambati Rayudu and Kieron Pollard left Rajasthan Royals chasing 188.
At various points, particularly when Sanju Samson was at the crease, Royals looked in control of the chase. But Mumbai's bowlers, unlike Royals', found their lengths at the death. Together, Mitchell McClenaghan and Lasith Malinga conceded only 14 runs in the 18th and 19th overs, and picked up three wickets. It left Royals 20 to get from the final over, and even though Vinay Kumar made things interesting with a couple of high full-tosses - one of which was a no-ball that produced both a catch in the deep and a run-out - it was too much of a hurdle to cross. Having made a storming start to the season, Royals went winless for the fifth match in a row.
It all came down to that one stat: 61 runs in four overs. In the early part of the season - when Royals won five out of five - Chris Morris and James Faulkner invariably bowled the last four overs. Neither was playing this game; instead, Juan Theron, Shane Watson and Tim Southee sent down a tasty assortment of length balls, short balls and full-tosses that Rayudu and Pollard gobbled up for six fours and three sixes.
Royals' chase got off to a frenetic start. An edgy Ajinkya Rahane played three awful swipes, of which one went to the boundary off the inside-edge, one hit the top edge and fell to the floor via a terrible drop from J Suchith, and the other fell safely into Rayudu's palms after another miscue. Watson timed and muscled his way to 28 before he was bowled trying to cut a skiddy quicker one from Suchith.
The required rate was always daunting but Samson - restored to his No.3 slot after moving from opening to batting in the lower middle order - kept Royals in the hunt with his effortless power and inventiveness. He played cat-and-mouse with Harbhajan Singh, moving around his crease, forcing him to bowl quicker, and using that pace to pick up two deftly dabbed fours through the fine third man region. He jumped in the air and pivoted violently through the hips to muscle a slower bouncer from Vinay into the gap between deep midwicket and long-on. He pulled Malinga over the leg-side boundary and lofted McClenaghan sweetly over long-off, but when he tried to repeat the stroke and failed to get the required elevation, he left Royals 27 to get from 14 balls.
That provoked the turnaround. Karun Nair fell next ball, slashing outside off and nicking McClenaghan to the keeper. Deepak Hooda flicked Malinga in the air, into the hands of deep midwicket. In four balls, Royals had lost their three young and exciting domestic talents, and with it the match.
For the first 16 overs of Mumbai's innings, it had seemed as if they would set a target of 165 at the most. Their openers made a bright start on a true pitch, but Parthiv Patel - typically - failed to convert a breezy start, and Unmukt Chand struggled his way to 13 off 14. Still, with Lendl Simmons scoring a 31-ball 38 at the top, Mumbai were going along at over eight an over for the first ten. It was decent going, but their batsmen kept getting out just when they were getting in.
Rohit Sharma provided another example of that, moving smoothly to 27 from 20 - with a couple of authoritative pulls in the mix - before picking out short fine leg off Dhawal Kulkarni. When he fell, Mumbai were 120 for 4 in the 15th over, and a tight 16th from Ankit Sharma, who mixed his pace well while not deriving too much turn, left them 126 for 4 after 16.
That was when Royals' new-look death bowling floundered, and in Rayudu and Pollard Mumbai had just the right pair at the crease to take heavy toll. Rayudu hadn't had the greatest of starts to his season, and hadn't even played all of Mumbai's matches, but he looked in top form here, striking the ball cleanly and picking up four fours and three sixes. One of them, not much more than a pick-up shot off Theron, soared high over wide long-on and landed in the second tier.
Delhi Daredevils 119 for 1 (Iyer 54, Agarwal 52*) beat Kings XI Punjab 118 for 8 (Miller 42, Coulter-Nile 4-20, Zaheer 2-17) by nine wickets
Delhi Daredevils have not given the Feroz Shah Kotla a lot to crow about in 2015, but in their final home match at this ground in the IPL group stage, they gutted Kings XI Punjab's top order, then blew past the opposition's 118 for 8 by nine wickets. Zaheer Khan claimed a wicket in each of his first two overs to kick Daredevil's most dominant performance of the season into gear, while JP Duminy and Nathan Coulter-Nile chipped in with scalps of their own. After 3.3 overs, Kings XI were 10 for 4 - their chance of rising above last place already on the rocks.
Coulter-Nile returned to terrorise the middle-order later on, finishing with figures of 4 for 20. Daredevils' openers Mayank Agarwal and Shreyas Iyer struck casual half-centuries in the reply, and the hosts raced home inside 14 overs.
Zaheer had not played competitive cricket in almost a year, following the strain sustained in his back at last year's IPL, but his impact at the Kotla was nearly immediate. Virender Sehwag was coming back to the Kings XI side himself, after a one-match layoff, but could find no end to his poor stretch of form against his former India team-mate. Sehwag aimed to push his second ball from Zaheer through the covers, but as the ball seamed away a touch, could only get a thick outside edge to it. Mathews took the catch at a close-in point.
Duminy opened the bowling from the other end, and hit Shaun Marsh in front of the stumps with a slider first ball. Manan Vohra tried to blast Kings XI out of the mire, but a Zaheer short ball next over put paid to those ambitions, catching the advancing batsman's outside edge en route to the keeper. Coulter-Nile bowled sharp outswing in his first spell. His reward was the wicket of Wriddhiman Saha, who drove loosely at one of those balls, and presented another catch to the keeper.
David Miller and George Bailey threatened a recovery, before Bailey was out missing a sweep off Amit Mishra in the eighth over, to embed Kings XI in misery at 37 for 5. It wasn't until Miller and Akshar Patel were joined at the crease that some semblance of a partnership materialised for the visitors. Those two shelved the more aggressive tenets of their game in the 59-run stand that gave Kings XI something to bowl at. Coulter-Nile had them both caught in the deep in the 19th over.
From the second over, Delhi's chase seemed a cakewalk. Shardul Thakur was wayward in his first IPL over, feeding Iyer two short wide balls to be cut over third man off successive deliveries. When he attempted to correct his line, he went too far the other way, first delivering a leg-side wide, then being clipped to the fence off the pads. There were quiet overs, and a tight spell from Sandeep Sharma, but the batsmen were largely untroubled in pursuit of such a meagre score. Iyer slammed the wayward Thisara Perera to the square-leg fence to reach his half-century in 38 balls, but he was caught at deep midwicket next over. Agarwal remained unbeaten with 52 from 40.
Kolkata Knight Riders 169 for 3 (Uthappa 80*, Russell 55*) beat Chennai Super Kings 165 for 9 (McCullum 32, Hogg 4-29) by seven wickets
Brad Hogg was looping the ball up, spinning it both ways and smothering the batsman in his own uncertainty. The result was 14 dot balls, four wickets, and only 29 runs given away. Chennai Super Kings' spinners, despite 165 to defend, were flat - both with their lengths and their intent. Their six overs cost 48 runs and a catch off a long hop and the reason for such figures were Robin Uthappa and Andre Russell, who helped themselves to unbeaten half-centuries and a seven-wicket victory.
That the winning runs were scored with only a ball remaining should not take anything away from Knight Riders' dominance. Batting had not been easy on a slow Eden Gardens pitch that was almost nepotistic towards spin. Given those conditions, and a required rate above eight, Uthappa, with 80 off 58, and Russell, with 55 off 32, were excellent.
Poking around against the turning ball was not an option. Riding it out wasn't one either considering Dhoni's prowess in squeezing a side with his slower bowlers. The best way forward was to deflect the pressure back. The 41 singles that Russell and Uthappa took played into that plan as much as the 15 boundaries they struck.
It was apparent that Knight Riders were fueled by the Chennai defeat and did not want a repeat. Gautam Gambhir had admitted too many batsmen had got stuck two days ago when they could not chase down 134. On Thursday, Russell was pushed up to No.5 to beat the spinners off their lengths and it worked like a charm.
Not that there weren't any chances created. Pawan Negi made a sound first appearance of the season - 1 for 23 and could have had another had Dhoni been able to convert a stumping when Uthappa was on 28. As much of a problem was Ravindra Jadeja at the other end, tricked into bowling quicker and flatter than necessary and leaked 25 off his two overs.
Ideally, Knight Riders would have preferred a smaller target. But Super Kings' ample batting resources allowed them to play like a car without brakes careening downhill. Nine fours, three sixes and 64 runs were found in the first five overs. And then came a Hogg-shaped speed bump. Brendon McCullum, who had bashed his way to 32 off 12, was thrown out of the driver's seat, Faf du Plessis had barely settled in when he was hoodwinked by a googly and Dhoni walked out with the score on 69 for 4 to a slip, silly point, short leg and leg slip.
Hogg was liberal with his googly, often packing three in an over, with the Super Kings batsmen failing to pick them. Dwayne Bravo and Jadeja were among them. But they persevered to add 57 runs off 58 balls to fan hopes of a competitive total. The Kolkata crowd's nerves were stretched further when Negi hammered four fours and a six in a 13-ball 27. But Hogg was around again to restore parity, with a second double-strike in the 19th over.
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