County Championship Round 3 Day 4 (27/04/16)

COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION 1

Middlesex 389, Durham 305-4 - Match drawn

Durham and Middlesex had to settle for a draw at Chester-le-Street as only 14 balls were bowled before play was abandoned on the final day.

Rain in the morning meant there was no play until 13:40 BST and, after Durham had collected their third batting point, the covers were brought back on.

Umpires Ian Gould and Graham Lloyd called off play just after 15:00 BST.

Both sides have drawn their opening two Championship matches of 2016 and will go in search of a first win on Sunday.


Middlesex are away at Hampshire, while Durham are at The Oval to face Surrey.


Yorkshire 379 & 73-2d, Warwickshire 443-9d - Match drawn

Warwickshire and champions Yorkshire settled for a draw on day four of a rain-affected game at Edgbaston.

The hosts resumed on 205-2 and Varun Chopra added just six to his overnight score before being caught in the slips off Steven Patterson for 107.

Jonathan Trott (74) and Tim Ambrose (61 no) ensured the Bears, who declared on 443-9, picked up five batting points.

The visitors lost Adam Lyth and Alex Lees cheaply but Yorkshire reached 73-2 before the players shook hands.

Yorkshire have started the defence of their Division One title with two draws and face Nottinghamshire next in a match which begins on Sunday.


Three successive draws at the start of the season have been enough to take Warwickshire to the top of the table.


Somerset 353 & 122-4, Surrey 463 & 181-8d - Match drawn

Kumar Sangakkara continued his excellent form with an innings of 71 for Surrey, before Somerset held out to secure a draw at The Oval.

Sangakkara helped Surrey to 181-8 in their second innings before declaring.

Openers Marcus Trescothick and Tom Abell fell cheaply as Somerset were set 292 to win from 42 overs.

Zafar Ansari took three wickets to leave the visitors on 62-4, but James Hildreth's unbeaten 40 helped his side to 122-4 at stumps.

Sangakarra's innings saw him surpass 50 for the third time in four innings this season, having already scored 171 in the first innings.

Ansari, making his return from a dislocated thumb suffered at the end of last season, appeared to have given Surrey the chance of an unlikely victory when he removed Trescothick, Chris Rogers and Roelof van der Merwe.

Hildreth and Peter Trego (34 not out) steadied the innings, with the captains shaking hands on a draw with six scheduled overs remaining.


Surrey, last season's Division Two champions, are bottom of the top-flight table after two games, three points behind seventh-placed Somerset.



COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION 2

Worcestershire 411 & 210-4 v Gloucestershire 380 & 382-7d - Match drawn

England's Moeen Ali scored an unbeaten century on day four as Worcestershire drew with Gloucestershire at Bristol.

Resuming on 217-6, 186 runs ahead, the hosts declared on 382-7 after Chris Dent (138no) and Jack Taylor made tons.

Needing 352 to win from 63 overs, the visitors lost Brett D'Oliveira and Daryl Mitchell to Liam Norwell and were 49-3 when Josh Shaw bowled Joe Clarke.

But Moeen (136no) calmed any fears of defeat, leaving both sides still waiting for a first victory of 2016.

Moeen's day did not begin as well as it ended - with the ball, his first over of the final day was hit for 21 runs by Dent and Taylor, who was eventually out for 105 off 103 balls.


The 28-year-old all-rounder finished with figures of 0-49 from eight overs, but he made an impact with the bat to secure Worcestershire's second draw of the season.


Glamorgan 377 & 87-2, Derbyshire 345 - Match drawn

Derbyshire and Glamorgan played out a tame draw as bad weather disrupted play for the third afternoon in a row.

Glamorgan reached 87-2, 119 ahead, with captain Jacques Rudolph on 31 not out.

Earlier, Andy Carter extended his career-best score to 39 before falling to Michael Hogan (4-74) as Derbyshire were bowled out for 345.


A hailstorm hit the County Ground in mid-afternoon after snow, sleet, rain and bad light had all stopped play over the four days.


Essex 441-8 beat Northants 119 & 230 (f/o) by an innings and 92 runs

Jamie Porter's career-best first-class match figures of 8-91 helped Essex ease to an innings and 92-run victory over Northamptonshire at Chelmsford.

Seamer Porter dismissed Richard Levi in the third over of the final morning.

Ryan ten Doeschate (4-31) then took 3-17 from nine overs as Adam Rossington and Azharullah fell lbw and David Murphy was caught at mid-on.

Essex wrapped up victory after lunch as Graham Napier bowled Ben Sanderson as the visitors were all out for 230.

Rory Kleinveldt finished unbeaten on 35, having hit five boundaries, and Richard Gleeson made a career-best 13 but Northants folded against the hosts' pace bowlers.


Porter, who has now claimed 22 wickets at 17.18 from his first three Championship matches of 2016, also picked up a career best of 5-46 in the first innings to help Essex maintain their unbeaten start to the season.


Kent 264 & 85-2, Leicestershire 401-9d - Match drawn

Neil Dexter and Mark Cosgrove hit tons as Leicestershire earned maximum batting points in a draw with Kent.

Cosgrove, resuming on 99 not out, reached 122 before he was bowled by fellow Australian Mitchell Claydon.

Dexter made 131 in a 217-run third-wicket stand with Cosgrove to help Leicestershire declare on 401-9, leading by 137 runs.


Daniel Bell-Drummond and Joe Denly fell cheaply, but Sam Northeast and Sean Dickson saw Kent to 85-2 at stumps.

County Championship Round 3 Day 3 (26/04/16)

Division One:

Warwickshire 205-2 v Yorkshire 379

Ex-Warwickshire skipper Varun Chopra made his first century since giving up the captaincy to all but ensure the rain-hit County Championship meeting with Yorkshire will end as a draw.

The Bears have lost three straight home Championship games to the Tykes by an innings but the champions could make no impact on a weather-affected day three.

Yorkshire added just 11 runs to their overnight score to total 379 all out.

The Bears reached 205-2, Ian Bell's 59 being followed by Chopra's 101 not out.

Bell's predecessor as Warwickshire captain was still there with Jonathan Trott for company on 38 when, on a decidedly fresh day in the second city, rain ended play for the day at tea.

Having lost 88 overs to the weather on the first two days, they had to break early for lunch after a late-morning sleet shower before the loss of the whole evening session.

The match now appears doomed to a draw, with the Bears 174 runs behind and only one day left.

Earlier, Bell put on 132 with Chopra for the second wicket before edging to slip, following the early loss of the Bears' other former skipper Ian Westwood, who was bowled by Jack Brooks.

That was after Steven Patterson had added just one run to his overnight score to finish unbeaten on a new career-best 63.

Ryan Sidebottom was the last Yorkshireman to fall, edging to second slip to give England's Chris Woakes a fourth wicket.


But the 38-year-old former England left-armer then limped off the field with a sore ankle after bowling the third ball of his sixth over - and did not return.


Somerset 353 v Surrey 463

Marcus Trescothick hit a century as Somerset avoided the follow-on on a weather-affected third day at Surrey.

The 40-year-old made 127 before being bowled by Gareth Batty, while Craig Overton (44) and Lewis Gregory (47 not out) added 78 for the eighth wicket.

Ravi Rampaul (5-85) took five wickets to keep the hosts on top, as Somerset were all out for 353, trailing by 110.

Bad light and rain then brought about an early close of play to prevent Surrey from adding to their lead.

Trescothick's innings, which included 20 fours and one six, was his third century in his last six first-class innings.

The former England opener lost partners regularly during his 296-minute knock, with no other Somerset batsman able to surpass 50 runs.

West Indies seamer Rampaul was the pick of the bowlers, taking the key wickets of Chris Rogers and James Hildreth on his way to his second five-wicket haul since joining Surrey in March.


But Trescothick's resistance, coupled with further delays for snow during the second session, means a draw appears the most likely result on day four.


Durham 295-4 v Middlesex 389

Snow, rain and sleet meant there was no play on day three between Durham and Middlesex at Chester-Le-Street.

After a morning flurry, a midday inspection was called off as more sleet began to fall.

Umpires Ian Gould and Graham Lloyd conducted two inspections at 15:00 BST and 16:00 BST, with play abandoned after a second look at the outfield.


Durham will be hoping to claim all five batting points when they resume batting on Wednesday.


Division Two:

Leicestershire 174-2 v Kent 264

Mark Cosgrove hit an unbeaten 99 to put Leicestershire in control against Kent on day three at Grace Road.

Seamer Zak Chappell (2-44) dismissed Mitchell Claydon (24) and Calum Haggett (13) as the visitors were 264 all out.

The hosts fell to 17-2 as openers Angus Robson and Paul Horton were both caught behind by Adam Rouse.

But an unbeaten 159-run third-wicket stand between Cosgrove and Neil Dexter (57 not out) helped Leicestershire recover to close on 174-2.


Rain and snow meant play did not resume after, with only 45 overs bowled on the third day,


Gloucestershire 380 & 217-6 v Worcestershire 411

A late burst from Matt Henry gave Worcestershire the edge over Gloucestershire at Bristol, despite an unbeaten 81 from Chris Dent.

Resuming on 297-5, Liam Norwell claimed the crucial wickets of Oliver Cox (69) and Joe Clarke (135) as Worcestershire were bowled out for 411, a lead of 31.

Dent hit 10 fours to help the hosts reach 204-4 with six overs remaining.

But Henry bowled George Hawkins and Kieran Noema-Barnett as Gloucestershire closed on 217-6, a lead of 186 runs.

The Kiwi bowler enjoyed a fruitful day with the bat and ball as his 3-60 followed an entertaining 42 off 40 balls which gave Worcestershire their slender first-innings lead,


Northants 119 & 148-4 v Essex 441-8d

Jamie Porter's second five-wicket haul of the season has put Essex in charge over Northants.

Ravi Bopara was dismissed for 76 and James Foster made a 28-ball 36 as Essex added 90 to their overnight score, before declaring on 441-8.

Porter (5-46) and David Masters (3-27) tore through Northants as they slipped to 6-4 and 14-5, but Adam Rossington's 67 not out helped them to 119 all out.


Following on, Northants closed 174 behind on 148-4 as Ben Duckett made 58.


Derbyshire 331-9 v Glamorgan 377

Snow took out nearly a third of the day's play in Derby after Glamorgan's bowlers induced a mini-collapse.

Derbyshire's Wayne Madsen top-scored with 97 while Wes Durston hit 43 before the slump.

Spinner Andrew Salter was the day's most successful bowler (3-56) while Michael Hogan also claimed a third wicket of the innings.


Both teams managed to claim an extra bonus point in a short evening session as Derbyshire's tailenders hit out.

County Championship Round 3 Day 2 (25/04/16)

Division One:

Warwickshire v Yorkshire 368-9

Gary Ballance took his score to 68 and fellow England player Adil Rashid made 63 as four Yorkshire players passed fifty on a second weather-hit day against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.

Steve Patterson made a career-best 62 to add to Jack Leaning's 51 as the reigning county champions ended another truncated day on 368-9.

Chris Woakes (3-79) and Keith Barker (3-99) were the Bears' best bowlers.

Bears wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose, this year's beneficiary, held four catches.

His miss of Liam Plunkett off Barker first ball, before the England man went on to make 26 out of a 43-run seventh-wicket stand with Rashid, may yet prove costly on a day ended early by bad light.

Warwickshire may feel they have missed a chance having had Yorkshire 85-4 and then 209-6, but the visitors had already begun their recovery by reaching the close on 177-4 on day one, even before overnight and morning rain meant no play before lunch on day two.

Although Woakes quickly found Leaning's edge when they resumed to end a partnership of 102 in 32 overs with Ballance, the Tykes showed their battling qualities.

Given the weather forecast for days three and four, after the loss of almost an entire day's play spread over the first two days, a draw already looks the most likely result.


First on the agenda on day three, with 33 balls left before the 110-over cut-off mark, is whether Yorkshire's last pair of Patterson and Ryan Sidebottom can add the 32 runs needed to claim a fifth batting bonus point.


Surrey 463 v Somerset 99-1

Marcus Trescothick hit an unbeaten half-century as Somerset hit back on a weather-affected second day at Surrey.

The hosts resumed on 394-5 but were all out for 463 despite Zafar Ansari's 53, with Tim Groenewald (5-94) taking three wickets in the morning session.

Trescothick and Tom Abell put on 66 for the first wicket, before Abell was caught off the bowling of Mark Footitt.

Rain and bad light caused an early end, with Trescothick's 68 from 82 balls helping the visitors close on 99-1.

The 40-year-old former England opener hit 11 fours and one six, including three boundaries off one Footitt over to bring up his half-century, and became the second-highest run scorer in first-class cricket for Somerset.

Earlier, Groenewald had taken his first five-wicket haul since joining Somerset in 2014 to help limit the damage caused by Kumar Sangakkara's 171 for Surrey on the first day.

Ansari, playing in his first game since dislocating his thumb late last season, added 25 more runs to his overnight 28, but was also involved in two run-outs as the home side collapsed in the morning session at The Oval.


Abell's dismissal ensured Surrey remained in a strong position despite Trescothick's efforts, as the visitors were still 364 runs behind at stumps.


Durham 295-4 v Middlesex 389

Mark Stoneman's unbeaten century helped Durham fight back against Middlesex on day two at Chester-le-Street.

England all-rounder Ben Stokes (4-80) had Paul Stirling caught behind and bowled Steven Finn as Middlesex went from 358-7 overnight to 389 all out.

Durham's reply began quickly, racing to 71-0 from 12.4 overs before Finn (3-59) had Keaton Jennings (34) caught behind.

Stoneman reached his ton off 139 balls and ended on 139 not out as the hosts finished on 295-4, trailing by 94 runs.

The 28-year-old, who hit 12 fours on the way to his 15th first-class hundred, shared a 131-run third-wicket partnership with Jack Burnham (61) before the latter was trapped lbw by Finn.

Finn then had England team-mate Stokes caught at mid-wicket by Stirling for just nine but opener Stoneman remained untroubled.


Wicketkeeper Michael Richardson (31no) shared an unbroken 64-run fifth-wicket stand with Stoneman before snow brought play to a premature close.



Division Two:

Leicestershire v Kent 233-8

Only 39 balls were bowled by Leicestershire against Kent during a rain-affected second day at Grace Road.

Clint McKay grabbed his third wicket of the innings, Matt Coles edging him behind, as the hosts added just six runs to their overnight score.

Although the rain cleared during the afternoon, the players were forced off for bad light - with the floodlights not available for Championship matches.


Play was eventually called off for the day at 17:00 BST with Kent on 233-8.


Gloucestershire 380 v Worcestershire 297-5

Highly-rated Worcestershire teenager Joe Clarke made his third first-class century to keep his side in contention against Gloucestershire at Bristol.

After 74 from England's Moeen Ali, the 19-year-old England Lions batsman made 103 not out in an unbroken stand of 135 with wicketkeeper Ben Cox (59 not out).

Resuming on 336-5, the hosts reached 380 as Jack Shantry took four wickets, Hamish Marshall finishing on 135.

The visitors rallied after losing Daryl Mitchell first ball to post 297-5.

Worcestershire still trail by 83 runs with five wickets in hand, but they look a lot more comfortable than they did on 162-5 when, having lost captain Mitchell to the first ball of the innings, they were still 69 runs short of avoiding the follow-on.

World Twenty20 runner-up Moeen, in the first of three scheduled Championship games for his county, shared a stand of 120 for the second wicket with opener Brett D'Oliveira (40).

But, after hitting 14 fours and a six, he was caught at the wicket attempting to cut, beginning a mini-collapse of four wickets for 42 runs before Clarke, already tipped as a future England player, steadied the ship with Cox.


Earlier, Kieran Noema-Barnett had flicked Shantry's third delivery of the day to square leg to become the first of the morning's six victims, without adding to his overnight 84.


Essex 351-3 v Northants

Dan Lawrence reached his half-century for Essex in the 10 overs possible before rain ended the second day's play against Northants at Chelmsford.

Essex added 16 runs to their overnight 335-3, with Lawrence 51 not out and Ravi Bopara 66 not out at stumps.

There was enough time for Lawrence to become the fifth Essex player to reach a half-century, following Alastair Cook, Tom Westley and Nick Browne's efforts on the first day.


Play was called off at 17:10 BST.


Derbyshire 98-2 v Glamorgan 377

Derbyshire and Glamorgan were frustrated by rain and bad light in freezing conditions at Derby with the match evenly poised.

Michael Hogan claimed both Derbyshire wickets, with Ben Slater reaching 41 not out in the home side's 98-2.

Earlier Tony Palladino claimed a five-wicket haul as Glamorgan lost three wickets in the opening 20 minutes.


But Andrew Salter and Timm van der Gugten added 63 for the last wicket to take the visitors to a respectable 377.

County Championship Round 3 Day 1 (24/04/16)

Division One:

Warwickshire v Yorkshire 177-4

Half-centuries from Gary Ballance and Jack Leaning rescued Yorkshire on a rain interrupted first day against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.

Yorkshire to 85-4, as Alex Lees and Adam Lyth both fell for 19 before Andrew Gale was bowled by Keith Barker.

Jonny Bairstow, who hit a double ton against Hampshire last week, then chopped on off Chris Woakes for 20.

Ballance and Leaning's unbeaten 92-run fifth-wicket stand steadied Yorkshire's innings as they closed on 177-4.

The visitors top-order failed to fire once more, having collapsed in both innings in their first match of the season against Hampshire, as they went from 46-0 to 56-3.

Rikki Clarke bowled Lees, and Lyth was caught in the slips off Boyd Rankin as the openers struggled with Warwickshire's seamers.


Despite their innings being interrupted by rain and bad light, England hopeful Ballance, and Leaning, both hit seven fours to reach the close of play on 50 not out each, and leave Yorkshire in a healthier position.


Surrey 394-5 v Somerset

Kumar Sangakkara hit a superb 171 as Surrey's batsman dominated the opening day against Somerset at The Oval.

The Sri Lankan shared a second-wicket stand of 187 with opener Rory Burns (80) as Surrey reached 394-5 at stumps.

Sangakkara was dropped at first slip by Craig Overton on nine but went on to hit 24 fours and four sixes to register his 56th first-class century.

Jason Roy hit an attacking 85 before he was out lbw to seamer Lewis Gregory in the final over of the day.

Sangakkara passed 1,000 first-class runs for Surrey in just his 22nd innings before he was out caught at deep cover by Overton off Tim Groenewald.


Zafar Ansari, making his return from a dislocated thumb sustained against Lancashire late last season, struck five fours in an unbeaten 28 before play ended.


Durham v Middlesex 358-7

Half centuries from Nick Gubbins, Dawid Malan and Adam Voges put Middlesex on top against Durham on day one at Chester-Le-Street.

The visitors won the toss and England hopeful Sam Robson was bowled by Brydon Carse for a brisk 26.

Malan (74) and Voges' 90-run fourth-wicket stand followed a quickfire 60 from Gubbins as the hosts toiled.

England all-rounder Ben Stokes had Voges (50) caught in the slips but Middlesex closed on an imposing 358-7.

Despite starting brightly Durham struggled on a good wicket and Gubbins hit 10 fours before falling lbw to Graham Onions.

Nick Compton, who will be hoping to retain his place in the England line-up for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka in May, fell for 38 - dragging on off Ryan Pringle.

Durham struck in consecutive overs with Malan and Voges departing, after Malan edged Chris Rushworth to Michael Richardson behind the stumps and Voges was well held by Steve Borthwick.


Middlesex pushed pass 300 as Jack Simpson and Paul Stirling (41 not out) put on 71 for the sixth wicket, as the away side remained in the ascendency.


Division Two:

Leicestershire v Kent 227-7

Kent opener Daniel Bell-Drummond scored a fine century but Leicestershire took seven wickets to take control on the first day at the County Ground.

Opener Sean Dickson was out in bizarre fashion for a duck after handling the ball to stop it striking his wicket after he played a defensive shot.

After falling to 48-4, Bell-Drummond (124) and Adam Rouse (38) put on a century for the sixth wicket.


Wayne White (2-32) and Clint McKay (2-55) led the hosts bowling attack.


Gloucestershire 336-5 v Worcestershire

Hamish Marshall and Kieran Noema-Barnett shared an unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 179 to put Gloucestershire in a strong position on the first day against Worcestershire.

New Zealander Marshall made 123 and Noema-Barnett struck 84 as the hosts finished on 336-5 at Bristol.

Gloucestershire looked in trouble at 157-5 before their century partnership.


England's Moeen Ali (0-32), playing his first game for Worcestershire in 2016, failed to pick up a wicket.


Essex 335-3 v Northants

England captain Alastair Cook continued his fine start to the season with a half-century as Essex took control of the first day against Northamptonshire.

Cook (65) started strongly alongside opener Nick Browne (60) as the hosts passed a century for the first wicket.

Tom Westley hit a fluent 64 before he was bowled by Ben Sanderson (2-79), who earlier had dismissed Browne.

Ravi Bopora (57 not out) and Dan Lawrence (44 not out) saw Essex to 335-3 at stumps.


Northants also conceded 45 extras, including 28 no-balls.


Derbyshire v Glamorgan 308-6

Will Bragg hit a career-best 129 as Glamorgan reached 308-6 on a freezing day one at Derby after choosing to bat.

He shared a century stand with Chris Cooke (40) while Aneurin Donald made an attacking 45.

Two wickets in two balls from ex-Glamorgan loan paceman Andy Carter with the new ball helped keep Derbyshire in check.

Earlier seamer Tony Palladino had claimed the first three wickets to fall.

Bragg's patient knock took 217 balls and included 15 boundaries, before falling lbw to Wes Durston under the floodlights late in the day.

Glamorgan left out wicketkeeper Mark Wallace from a County Championship side through choice for the first time since 2001.


Derbyshire brought Palladino and spinner Matt Critchley into their side after their bowling struggles against Gloucestershire.

IPL 2016 Matches 1-15

1st match 

Rising Pune Supergiants 126 for 1 
Mumbai Indians 121 for 8 
Rising Pune Supergiants won by nine wickets

Rising Pune Supergiants made a sweet start to their life in the IPL, their seamers waylaying Mumbai Indians' top order to set up a breezy nine-wicket win over the defending champions. Chasing 122, they got there with 32 balls to spare, Ajinkya Rahane steering them home with a fluent unbeaten 66 off 42 balls.

The pitch had lost most of its early bite when Supergiants batted, and Rahane quickly got into the groove with a pair of straight-driven fours off Mitchell McClenaghan, in the first and third overs of the innings. Any residual chasing nerves Supergiants may have had dissipated in McClenaghan's third over - the fifth of the innings - when both Rahane and Faf du Plessis picked up sixes off mis-hits; they probably would not have carried all the way on a bigger ground.

Nonetheless, Supergiants were well on their way, and the openers put on 78 before du Plessis played on to Harbhajan. It left the rest of the batting a mere 44 to get from 62 balls, and Kevin Pietersen hastened their passage home with a couple of monster sixes off Harbhajan. The 15th over began with Supergiants needing eight to win, and Rahane finished the game with two sixes in four balls, clubbing Hardik Pandya over the long-on boundary and then ramping him over the third man boundary.

Mumbai made life easier for Supergiants, with Jos Buttler fluffing a chance to run du Plessis out after a dreadful mix-up between the openers, and Shreyas Gopal missing a caught-and-bowled off Rahane.

The season began on a Wankhede Stadium pitch dissimilar to the easy-paced, hit-through-the-line surfaces offered up during the World T20, and Mumbai, after surprisingly deciding to bat first, struggled against the seam movement and bounce. They only got as far as 121 because Harbhajan climbed into Pune's bowling towards the end of the innings, clubbing an unbeaten 45 off 30 balls and scoring the bulk of the 41 runs Mumbai made in the last three overs.

Till his intervention, they seemed to be struggling to even get to 100. Ishant Sharma, getting the ball to nip around and climb on the batsmen, and Mitchell Marsh, getting late swing away from the right-handers, reduced them to 30 for 4 by the end of the fifth over, and it became 40 for 5 when Rajat Bhatia trapped Kieron Pollard lbw with an offcutter in the eighth over.

Apart from helping the quicker bowlers, the pitch was also offering Bhatia grip, and Mumbai struggled for rhythm against his stump-to-stump mix of cutters and slower balls. He finished with figures of 1 for 10 from four overs. Shreyas Gopal, who made 2 off 16 balls, faced nine balls from Bhatia and failed to score off any of them.

Gopal's stay at the wicket came to an end when he holed out to long-off off the bowling of M Ashwin, the debutant legspinner. Nerves were evident in the number of short balls M Ashwin sent down - they gripped and turned too much for the Mumbai batsmen to do very much with them - but he also bowled a couple of ripping googlies that hinted at the potential Supergiants must have seen in him to shell out INR 4.5 crore for his services.


His more famous namesake R Ashwin, meanwhile, only bowled the one over, continuing a puzzling trend of being under-utilised by MS Dhoni. He struck with his first ball - just as Ishant, Marsh and Bhatia had also done - but that first ball came after a 15-over wait. Dhoni declined to use him after that, entrusting the final overs to RP Singh and Ishant. Though Harbhajan took heavy toll of those overs, Mumbai had made far too little before that for his runs to make too much of a difference.


2nd match 

Delhi Daredevils 98 (17.4/20 ov)
Kolkata Knight Riders 99/1 (14.1/20 ov)
Kolkata Knight Riders won by 9 wickets (with 35 balls remaining)


Kolkata Knight Riders responded with a 'horses for courses' approach on a greenish Eden Gardens surface. Shakib Al Hasan and Morne Morkel, central to their plans last season, were benched. Sunil Narine, who played a stellar role in their title-winning run in 2012 and 2014, was unavailable because of his father's demise. Did it hamper them? It didn't look like, as Andre Russell and Brad Hogg took three wickets apiece to skittle Delhi Daredevils for 98. Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir's 69-run opening then set the tone for a comfortable win with 35 balls to spare.

Russell and John Hastings, taking Morkel's place, ran in hard and hit the deck to extract unusual bounce. Quinton de Kock, who had pulled Umesh Yadav for back-to-back boundaries, was the first to go when he skewed a catch to mid-off. Four balls later, Shreyas Iyer was trapped lbw for a duck. Mayank Agarwal and Karun Nair also exited in successive overs as Hastings capped the Powerplay with a wicket maiden. By then, Daredevils were in a familiar spot at 35 for 4.

Gambhir multiplied the efficiency of his attack by deploying two slips for most parts of the innings. He even placed himself at short leg after Russell dismantled the top order.

Pawan Negi, who was promoted to No.6, swished and missed balls. He was finally put out of his misery when Hogg had him stumped for a 19-ball 11. IPL debutant Carlos Brathwaite, who had fired West Indies to their second World T20 title last week, momentarily broke the shackles with a biff over wide long-on, but was foxed by a skiddy googly from Piyush Chawla two balls later. Sanju Samson was the eighth Daredevils batsman to be dismissed before Hastings made a reappearance to wrap up the innings.

Daredevils had slumped to their seventh sub-100 score in IPL, which also happened to be the second-lowest score in the tournament's history at Eden Gardens.


The chase was a stroll for Knight Riders, and the onset of dew only made things worse. Zaheer Khan, playing his first competitive game since May 2015, floated flick-me balls in the lower 120kph range to Gambhir's pads and got picked away for three fours in the second over. Uthappa moved into his shot-making stride with a brace of straight-driven fours as the hosts raced past 50 in the eighth over. Although Uthappa holed out for 35 in the tenth over against the run of play, Gambhir and Manish Pandey ensured Knight Riders enjoyed a winning start.



3rd match 

Gujarat Lions 162/5
Kings XI Punjab 161/6 
Gujarat Lions won by 5 wickets (with 14 balls remaining)

Aaron Finch and Dwayne Bravo helped Gujarat Lions ease into the tournament with a thumping win against Kings XI Punjab in Mohali. Barring the first over, Lions were in total control in chase of 162; they won with 14 balls to spare on the back of Finch's 47-ball 74.

Brendon McCullum, fresh off a whirlwind ton in his final Test, was stumped by Wriddhiman Saha, who was standing up to the stumps, in the first over of the chase. Sandeep Sharma, who anticipated a forward shimmy, bowled a superb outswinger to leave McCullum stranded. Finch and Suresh Raina then took the attack to the pacers by capitalising on loose deliveries to drive the chase.

While Raina holed out to mid-on in the sixth over, Finch peppered the boundary with deft touch and exemplary placement, particularly behind square on the off side. He hit 12 boundaries.

It needed a moment of brilliance from the Pardeep Sahu, the legspinner, to dismiss him. Finch was drawn forward, but was beaten in the air and off the pitch as Saha completed his second stumping. The rest of the chase was a mere formality as Dinesh Karthik accrued his runs with sweeps and punchy strokes to finish 41 not out.

Earlier, Kings XI were given an ideal start by their openers - M Vijay and Manan Vohra - who saw off the swinging new ball before getting stuck into their work. A blend of crisp drives and flicks earned the pair a fifty-run stand within the Powerplay. The spread field did not impede Vohra, as he manufactured boundaries courtesy swift footwork off the spinners.

However, the momentum shifted rapidly when Ravindra Jadeja struck twice in consecutive overs to remove the openers. Dwayne Bravo undid Glenn Maxwell and David Miller in the space of three balls. The one that got Miller - the slow, dipping yorker - made Bravo the first bowler to pick up 300 T20 wickets.

Suddenly, debutant Marcus Stoinis and Wriddhiman Saha were left to rebuild a rollicking start. The pair were forced to use the large Mohali pockets to find their runs, but struggled. Much of that was down to the efficiency of the Lions bowlers, who executed their yorkers and slower balls well. Bravo took two more wickets off consecutive slower balls in the last over, and could have had his best T20 bowling figures had Sarabjit Ladda not spilled a skier off the last ball.


Just two boundaries and 36 runs were scored off the last five overs as Kings XI mustered 161. Lions then rode momentum to consign Kings XI to their ninth loss in 10 matches.


4th match 

RCB 227/4 (20/20 ov)
Sunrisers Hyderabad 182/6 (20/20 ov)
Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 45 runs

The sleeping giant that was IPL 2016 sprung to life in a high-scoring clash. Royal Challengers Bangalore blasted the first 200-plus score of the tournament in an emphatic 45-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. In doing so, they also bucked the season's early trend of chasing teams prevailing.

AB de Villiers (82) and Virat Kohli (75) provided a visual treat courtesy a fine cocktail of fineness and brute force in a 157-run second-wicket stand, before Shane Watson announced himself by muscling three successive sixes. The final flourish was lent by Sarfaraz Khan, who in his typically unorthodox fashion, paddled and reverse-paddled his way to an unbeaten 10-ball 35 as Royal Challengers finished with 227 for 4.

Deflated and dejected, Sunrisers went for broke, wiping out 83 for the loss of Shikhar Dhawan in eight overs. David Warner, who returned to open after a brief flirtation in the middle order with Australia at the World T20, showed why he's one of the most-feared white ball strikers, muscling three sixes and five fours in a 21-ball half-century before falling into the short-ball trap laid by Watson.

But the pressure of the required rate got to them. The chase went cold as Sunrisers lost Warner, Naman Ojha, Henriques and Deepak Hooda in the space of 17 deliveries; they eventually finished with 182 for 6, with Eoin Morgan and Karn Sharma finishing 22 and 26 not out respectively. Parvez Rasool was the pick of the lot, returning 1 for 31 in a crafty spell of offspin bowling, even as Watson and Yuzvendra Chahal, the legspiner, chipped away with two wickets.

Chris Gayle's dismissal for 1 in the second over of the match to Bhuvneshwar Kumar, when the ball brushed the thigh pad and deflected onto the leg stump, was a rare moment to cheer for a listless bowling attack that was further depleted when Ashish Nehra, their pace spearhead, hobbled off the field halfway through their bowling stint after just 2.1 overs. That resulted in a batting feast for two men in a murderous mood as Royal Challengers blasted 139 off the back ten.

The only semblance of respect from Kohli and de Villiers came early on when Mustafizur Rahman, making his IPL debut, troubled them with his cutters. Once the job of seeing off his initial burst - a two-over spell - was done, they treated for the batting connoisseurs. Sarfaraz's unbeaten 44-run stand off just 15 deliveries with Kedar Jadhav ensured Royal Challengers had momentum firmly by their side at the break.


Dhawan's early wicket to Rasool came as an early setback for Sunrisers, but Warner's muscle kept them in the hunt as Kohli rang in the changes in a bid to pull things back. Milne's second spell, in which he had Henriques mistime a pull to midwicket, opened the game up. Once Royal Challengers had one foot in the door, it was a simple matter of forcing it open, which they did quite easily. In the end, Ashish Reddy's big-hitting ability was merely a footnote for Sunrisers in what was otherwise a forgettable outing.



5th match

Kolkata Knight Riders 187/5 (20/20 ov)
Mumbai Indians 188/4 (19.1/20 ov)

Mumbai Indians won by 6 wickets (with 5 balls remaining)

It was entirely bewildering. Mitchell McClenaghan walked out at No. 4 for Mumbai Indians. It isn't like the side is short of hitters. They spent INR 3.8 crores acquiring a new one for this year but Jos Buttler caught fire only after the spark provided by McClenaghan's eight-ball 20. The events between the 11th and the 15th over of the chase decided the winner of the match - Mumbai, by six wickets.

McClenaghan's responsibility - under normal circumstances - was to slip into Lasith Malinga's shoes. Be the wicket-taker at the start and the enforcer at the end. Today, he was asked to disrupt the Kolkata Knight Riders' rhythm. And he was given the freedom to do so. Every single shot played by the New Zealand fast bowler was a slog. His second, third and fourth balls cleared the Eden Gardens. The eighth - a wide full toss that he tried to slog sweep - led to his downfall but by then Mumbai had regained lost momentum. And Buttler simply ran with it.

A straight drive against chinaman Brad Hogg was followed by a pulled six. The equation shrunk from 101 off 60 balls to 49 off 30. A scoop to the fine leg boundary - which established his finesse - and two lofted cover drives - which established his power - deflated Knight Riders. Gautam Gambhir, who had taken the record (27) for the most fifties in the IPL, watched the ball soar and the chances for his team sink with every minute Buttler was on strike.


And when he fell for 41 off 22 balls, the Mumbai captain, Rohit Sharma, back at his preferred opening position, provided more evidence of why he should be given as many overs as possible in a T20 game. He held the innings together and even finished it off with an array of beautiful shots - a straight six and a deft glide to third man - followed by an outrageous sweep taking an overpitched delivery coming at him with the express pace of Andre Russell from around the wicket and depositing it at the midwicket boundary.

Rohit averages 50.12 and strikes at 145.81 at Eden Gardens in T20 cricket. Mumbai, his team, have won eight out of 10 games at this venue, including the IPL title in 2013 and 2015.

Knight Riders' batting may not have been as eye-catching as Mumbai's but it was ever so efficient. Manish Pandey could find the boundary at will. He pulled his second ball to four, dominated the spin of Harbhajan Singh and J Suchith by virtue of his quick footwork and secured his fifty off only 26 balls. The standout shot though was a glide to third man off Jasprit Bumrah in the 13th over. The pitch was excellent for batting, but it was allowing the cutters some grip. Pandey saw the variation out of the bowler's hand, waited for it to arrive and simply led it fly off the face of his bat.

His captain Gambhir was a little less adept - at the end of the second over he was only 3 off 8 balls - but a lot more determined. He hared back and forth for twos - there were eight of them in his innings of 64 - and ensured he was at the crease for as much of the 20 overs as possible. Andre Russell bludgeoned 36 off 17 balls to give the Knight Riders a total they thought was more than par.


But their most trusted weapon - spin bowling - was dismantled by Rohit and company. Hogg, Kuldeep Yadav and Piyush Chawla cost 103 in 11.1 overs. There was no coming back from that.



6th match 

Rising Pune Supergiants 163/5 (20/20 ov)
Gujarat Lions 164/3 (18/20 ov)
Gujarat Lions won by 7 wickets (with 12 balls remaining)

Another one-sided encounter, another win for the chasing team. This season's IPL, it seems, is on repeat mode, after Gujarat Lions cruised to a seven-wicket win against Rising Pune Supergiants in Rajkot. After a strong start, Supergiants looked set for a score in excess of 180, but a late collapse quickly turned the contest in Lions' favour. Aaron Finch and Brendon McCullum then effectively killed the game after pillaging 62 in the Powerplay, during their chase of 164.

MS Dhoni had pulled back some momentum for Supergiants by contributing to a 20-run last over in the first innings, but his bowlers threw it all away. Loose deliveries stacked up, and the Lions openers duly dispatched them. Four fours and two sixes off the seamers meant Dhoni turned to M Ashwin in the last over of the Powerplay, but Finch took the legspinner for four fours in a 19-run over.

Finch then hit Rajat Bhatia for two sixes over long-on in the seventh over, but holed out to square leg for 50 - his second half-century of the season. By then, though, the damage had been done.

McCullum continued to latch on to wayward bowling, as the spinners failed to extract much from the patchy surface. Supergiants' day was summed up when Dhoni missed a routine stumping with McCullum well short of his crease after R Ashwin yorked the batsman.

After McCullum lobbed one to cover off Ishant Sharma, the captain Suresh Raina and Dwayne Bravo completed the formalities with cameos as Lions reached the target with two overs to spare.

Supergiants' batting was a tale of two halves. Faf du Plessis and Ajinkya Rahane continued from where they left off against Mumbai Indians, using exquisite timing to plunder five fours in the first 21 balls. After Pravin Tambe trapped Rahane lbw in the fourth over, Pietersen and du Plessis ensured a productive Powerplay with a host of boundaries.

The pair added 30 off 13 balls to end the Powerplay at 57 for 1, with du Plessis being particularly aggressive down the ground. Even as the fields spread, the boundary was found regularly and their stand stretched to 83.

But just when Supergiants looked to accelerate, Bravo brought out his slower balls to stall the charge. He bowled four of them in succession in the 14th over, the last of which forced Pietersen to drag on. Suddenly, one wicket brought three as the spinners found their lengths. Ravindra Jadeja, who has played most of his domestic cricket at this ground, varied his pace effectively to concede just four off the 17th and 19th overs to finish with figures of 2 for 18.


The situation may have been a lot worse had Dhoni not given Supergiants a late surge - he took Bravo for a six, two fours and three twos in the last over. In the end, Supergiants' 163 was nowhere near enough as they tasted their first defeat in the IPL.



7th match 

Kings XI Punjab 111/9 (20/20 ov)
Delhi Daredevils 113/2 (13.3/20 ov)

Delhi Daredevils won by 8 wickets (with 39 balls remaining)

A fine cocktail of experience and youth delivered Delhi Daredevils their first victory of the season. The old boys - legspinner Amit Mishra, featuring in his 100th IPL match, and captain Zaheer Khan - led the way with the ball, smothering Kings XI Punjab to 111 for 9. Then the youngsters took over as Quinton de Kock and Sanju Samson put on a 91-run partnership to seal Daredevils' first points of the season.

While Zaheer gave his team the early spark after choosing to bowl on what he called a "slow surface", Mishra pierced through Kings XI's top and middle order with dip, turn, and sometimes, even a lack of turn. Mishra had Shaun Marsh stumped off his first ball, then dismissed David Miller and Glenn Maxwell in his second over to break the opposition's spine. Three of Kings XI's heaviest scoring batsmen were dismissed in the space of 16 balls, leaving the score at 52 for 4 in the ninth over.

Mishra's bowling was envenomed by Zaheer, who placed a slip and at times, a short leg to capitalise on the nervous batsmen. Daredevils built on the double-strike and sent down six boundary-less overs between the ninth and 14th overs. It was during this phase that Mishra rattled Manan Vohra's leg stump with a wrong' un to claim his fourth wicket in three overs. Kings XI were reeling at 59 for 5 in the 11th, but Zaheer did not call on Mishra to bowl any further.

Kings XI's struggles were not restricted to spin though. Zaheer, who had conceded he had "tried too much" in the first match against Kolkata Knight Riders, found swing right away. His first delivery moved back in and had the extra bounce to rap M Vijay on the thigh pad. That meant the balls that went on with the angle across the right-hander became more effective. Zaheer teased the outside edge regularly in his first spell but he had to wait till his second for a reward. In the 18th over, bowling a mix of slower balls, Zaheer had Mohit Sharma caught at mid-off.

Chris Morris did his part as well, bowling some good yorkers in the slog overs and hustling the opposition with his pace. Offspinner Jayant Yadav strung four quiet overs together, benefited by the Kings XI lower order not knowing whether to attack or defend.

Kings XI made life easier for Daredevils in the chase. De Kock was reprieved twice - Vijay dropped him at deep square leg on 7 before Wriddhiman Saha botched a stumping chance on 22. De Kock, who was rather subdued in the Powerplay, hit rhythm when he cracked three fours off Axar Patel in the eighth over.


Samson came out at No. 3 when Shreyas Iyer was adjudged caught behind despite the Snicko picking up nothing. Samson took nine balls to get off the mark, via a risky pick-up shot off seamer Sandeep Sharma. He was 9 off 18 balls when he charged out to Pardeep Sahu's legspin and launched a full toss over the long-on boundary. Samson then welcomed Maxwell with successive fours while de Kock raised his half-century off 38 balls. Axar bowled Samson for 33 in the 13th over, but de Kock and Pawan Negi saw Daredevils home comfortably.


8th match 

Sunrisers 142/7 
KKR 146/2 
KKR won by 8 wickets (with 10 balls remaining)

With an attack comprising six international bowlers, Kolkata Knight Riders stamped their authority on Sunrisers Hyderabad to keep them to 142, and then hunted it down with eight wickets in hand. The game was set up by incisive spells from Morne Morkel and Umesh Yadav, who hit good lengths and used the cutters effectively to prise out the top three within the Powerplay. In the chase of 143, Gautam Gambhir struck his 28th IPL fifty, and his second in succession, to help Knight Riders to the target with 10 balls to spare.

Sunrisers' innings began in disastrous fashion after they chose to bat. David Warner, who averaged 63.10 at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium before this match, miscued a pull to square leg off Morkel, who was playing his first T20 game since August 2015. However, Warner was reprieved as replays showed Morkel overstepped. The luck did not last long, though as Knight Riders chipped away at the top order.

The situation got worse when Deepak Hooda holed out to long-on in the 10th over with the score at 50. Gambhir saw a chance and used Sunil Narine, bowling with a remodeled action, in a way he rarely has. Narine bowled four overs in a spell in the middle overs, but did not extract much purchase.

Eoin Morgan and Naman Ojha nudged him around, but ensured they laid onto any scoring opportunity. Six boundaries, including two lofted fours over cover from Morgan off Narine, between overs 11 and 15 helped yield 42 in those five overs, setting the platform for a competitive total. As his innings progressed, Morgan transitioned from deft touch to muscular strokes in front of the wicket as he accrued 51, his fourth IPL fifty.

It required a moment of athletic brilliance from Andre Russell to remove Ojha. Running around from long-on, Russell held onto a one-handed stunner and parried the ball to Piyush Chawla as his momentum carried him over the boundary. Sunrisers mustered 142, and their bowlers needed a special performance to get close.

They did not get it as the Knight Riders openers, Gambhir and Robin Uthappa, made a solid start. In the first ten overs, the pair found a boundary in every over, save two, and hunted down 72 - more than half the target - in that period. Then, Gambhir used swift footwork against Karn Sharma's legspin for three successive fours in the 11th over to bring the equation down to a run a ball.

Sunrisers saw a ray of hope when they took two wickets in the space of eight balls. First, Uthappa was trapped in front by Ashish Reddy and then Russell, promoted to no. 3, was undone by an inch-perfect yorker from Mustafizur Rahman that uprooted the middle and leg stumps.


Thereafter, Gambhir struck seven boundaries in a 49-run, third-wicket stand with Manish Pandey to take Knight Riders home in another one-sided encounter in this season.


9th match 

Mumbai Indians 143/8 (20/20 ov)
Gujarat Lions 147/7 (20/20 ov)

Gujarat Lions won by 3 wickets (with 0 balls remaining)

It took one week for IPL 2016 to finally deliver a blockbuster. Gujarat Lions controlled the game for the better part of 35 overs before slipping in the next four to bring the equation down to 11 off the final over. Aaron Finch, who overcame bouts of cramps and a twitch to his hamstring, was running on empty by then. Fortunately for them, Dhawal Kulkarni, who returned to the venue he has grown up playing on, channelised his batting potential to smack Jasprit Bumrah over extra cover for four, before Finch biffed a boundary when they needed one off the final ball, and Lions sneaked home by three wickets to consolidate their position at the top of the standings.

Kulkarni and Pravin Tambe, who know what it took to bowl on the Wankhede track having played for Mumbai in domestic cricket, were central to Lions' bowling plans. The pair returned combined figures of 6-1-31-4 to rip the heart out of Mumbai Indians' celebrated batting line-up. Finch then showed different shades of his batting in a composed unbeaten 67 to steer Lions through a chase of 144 and extend their winning streak to three matches.

What appeared to be a straightforward chase hit a roadblock as Lions slipped from 65 for 1 to 83 for 4. Suresh Raina's dismissal to a Mitchell McClenaghan bouncer triggered the slide. Further life was injected into the contest when Dinesh Karthik's sweep found a leaping Harbhajan Singh at deep backward square leg to give Krunal Pandya his first IPL wicket.

Dwayne Bravo was then given out caught behind off Mitchell McClenaghan in controversial circumstances - replays suggested there was no deflection.

An asking rate that had hovered around seven an over now touched nine. Lions needed 54 off the last six overs. Akshdeep Nath walked in on IPL debut and Mumbai smelt an opportunity to get in two quiet overs. But Finch was unperturbed, bringing out the big hit - a slog over cow corner off Harbhajan - to bring the equation down to 35 off the last four overs.

After Nath fell to an ungainly heave, James Faulkner's tactful strike rotation eased the pressure on Finch. But just when Lions were cruising home with 13 to get from the last 12 balls, McClenaghan produced another twist, sending down a dramatic 19th over that saw James Faulkner and Praveen Kumar fall to outstanding catches by Parthiv Patel behind the stumps. Mumbai sensed an opening, but Finch and Kulkarni kept their calm to shut the door in their faces.

Two overs into the contest, it was evident that Raina had won a crucial toss. This wasn't a Wankhede deck where batsmen could kill the ball like they did at the World T20. Instead, there was swing, bounce and zip off the deck. By resisting the temptation to pick Martin Guptill, Mumbai showed faith in the same batting group that had made light work of Kolkata Knight Riders. But this time they played too many shots and left Mumbai in a hole at 77 for 5. Parthiv's 29-ball 34 at the top of the order and Ambati Rayudu's 19-ball 20 at No. 6 were the only significant contributions in the top order.

Mumbai got to 143 thanks to a late assault from Tim Southee and Krunal Pandya, who made 25 and 20 not out respectively, that helped them blast 61 off the last five overs.

Mumbai's momentum stretched into the early part of the Lions innings, when Bumrah saw off Brendon McCullum in the second over. Raina scrapped his way through a short-ball challenge to make 27 before falling to his bogey ball. By then, Finch, coming off 50 and 74 in his first two outings, was in his element. He repeatedly opened up the off side by giving himself width to clear the infield against the spinners in the middle overs.


The groundwork done in the first eight overs helped Lions overcome a real wobble at the end, and dig into their reserves to eke out a memorable win.


10th match 

Rising Pune Supergiants 152/7 (20/20 ov)
Kings XI Punjab 153/4 (18.4/20 ov)

Kings XI Punjab won by 6 wickets (with 8 balls remaining)

Half-centuries from openers M Vijay and Manan Vohra gave Kings XI Punjab their first win of the IPL season after their bowlers had kept Rising Pune Supergiants to 152 in good batting conditions. There were a few hiccups towards the end, when the legspinner M Ashwin dismissed Shaun Marsh, Vijay and David Miller in the space of eight balls, but Glenn Maxwell calmed Kings XI's nerves with an unbeaten 14-ball 32 and took them home with eight balls remaining.

In a clash between two good batting sides with suspect bowling attacks, the difference came down to small things. Kings XI's bowlers made the batsmen work harder than their Supergiants counterparts did, with Ishant Sharma and Thisara Perera particularly prone to sending down freebies.

The toss was important, though not in the way MS Dhoni might have expected when he chose to bat first. He wanted his bowlers and fielders to escape the worst of the afternoon heat, but that left his top order braving temperatures in the mid-30s.

It told on Faf du Plessis, who tired visibly as his innings wore on. He began brightly, but struggled to find the boundary when the fields spread, with the Kings XI bowlers making a concerted effort to make him hit towards the long square boundary on one side of the pitch. Having hit six fours off the first 20 balls of his innings, he only hit two more off the last 33 to finish with 67 off 53 balls.

Du Plessis' innings ended in the final over of the Supergiants innings, when he miscued a Mohit Sharma slower ball, hitting it high in the air for the bowler to complete a well-judged return catch. Mohit's slower ball had also removed Supergiants' second-highest scorer, Steven Smith, in the 18th over. There was a bit of grip available on a Mohali surface that was drier than it looked, and bounce too, and Mohit exploited both expertly with his back-of-the-hand release, causing the two well-set batsmen to hit the ball earlier than desired, and off the high part of the bat. Mohit finished with figures of 3 for 23, and gave away only 11 runs off his two overs in the slog.

Kings XI's other seam-bowling Sharma, Sandeep, was also effective, bowling stump-to-stump and getting a bit of movement, usually into the right-hander, to finish with figures of 2 for 23.

The two Sharmas were primarily responsible, in the end, for keeping Supergiants down to 152. It was at least 10 runs short of the total they may have expected when they were 76 for 2 at the halfway stage.

Vijay gave Kings XI the early impetus their chase needed, stepping out of his crease to hit Ankit Sharma's left-arm spin over the top for two fours in the second over. He did the same to Ishant Sharma in the next over, giving himself room and launching him over extra cover for the first six of the match. Supergiants' total of 152, incidentally, was the highest among IPL innings that did not include a six.

Vohra joined the boundary-hitting spree with three successive fours off Ishant in the fifth over. He would hit three successive fours off Perera too, in the 11th over, and the bulk of these six fours came off bad balls - short, wide, or both. There was only one other boundary in Vohra's 33-ball 51.

The openers put on 97 before Vohra fell, missing the sweep off a straight ball from Ankit. M Ashwin then caused a bit of a wobble, as Marsh and Miller perished to uncertain strokes against his legspin and Vijay top-edged him, trying to cut one that wasn't short enough for the stroke.

Maxwell quickly settled Kings XI's nerves, taking 10 off successive balls from M Ashwin, and repeating the dose against R Ashwin in the next over. He had come into the match with scores of 2 and 0 in his last two innings; this was a welcome return to form.


11th match 

RCB 191/5 (20/20 ov)
Delhi Daredevils 192/3 (19.1/20 ov)

Delhi Daredevils won by 7 wickets (with 5 balls remaining)

It was a run-fest of the highest quality. Virat Kohli, a machine going by his current form, delivered again. His 48-ball 79 powered Royal Challengers Bangalore to 191 for 5, and AB de Villiers and Shane Watson chipped in with 55 and 33. But their efforts were put to shade by Quinton de Kock, who made a bruising 51-ball 108, the first hundred in IPL 2016, to power Delhi Daredevils to a seven-wicket win at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. It was Daredevils' first win over Royal Challengers since 2010.

While De Kock starred in the lead role, Karun Nair, who hails from Bangalore, played the supporting role in 134-run third-wicket stand that came off 76 balls.

Zaheer Khan, the Daredevils captain, was clear that the Kohli factor influenced his decision to bowl first. What he didn't account for was a Chinnaswamy deck that looked biscuit brown and was ripe for a run-fest. On his part, Kohli showed he can be equally dangerous when setting targets. The groundwork was laid during the course of his second-wicket stand of 107 with de Villiers before Daredevils hit back with a tremendous exhibition of late-overs bowling courtesy the returning Mohammed Shami and Chris Morris, who conceded only 27 off the last four overs.

Daredevils were dealt an early blow when Shreyas Iyer was dismissed by Shane Watson and David Wiese, whose tag-team effort resulted in a stunning catch at long-on. But the early loss had little effect on de Kock as he pierced a packed off-side field for three fours off the offspinner Parvez Rasool in the second over.

De Kock was particularly punishing through the off side, a majority of his runs coming behind square. Once he was set, the other elements to his game surfaced. A nonchalant flick off Harshal Patel in the ninth over soared over deep square leg, and once he was into the 90s he used the pace to scoop the ball over short fine leg. The end result was a wagon wheel with spokes all around the wicket.

De Kock's sparkling form helped Daredevils ride a trough when Sanju Samson struggled to play his shots, but his dismissal in the sixth over turned their fortunes. Nair and de Kock got stuck in against Yuzvendra Chahal, Harshal Patel and David Wiese, whose combined tally at one point was 78 conceded off seven overs. Their predictability put immense pressure on Watson to deliver with the ball as the equation came down to 56 off the last six overs.

By then, Nair was in his element. Not a shot was played in desperation or anger, and his sparkling form took the pressure off a tiring de Kock, who brought up his century off his 48th ball. Once into the home stretch, there was a sense of inevitability to the game. After De Kock walked off to a round of applause from Watson, who had him caught behind, Duminy struck the winning runs, Chahal fielding his straight punch but giving away an overthrow with an underarm flick to try and catch Nair out of his crease.

Chris Gayle's dismissal in the first over to Zaheer silenced the crowd, but De Villiers and Kohli were least affected by the early loss, and carried on from where they had left off in the opening game. Ten fours and a six came in the first six overs as Royal Challengers moved to 63 for 1.

The spinners, Pawan Negi and Amit Mishra, fared only marginally better than the quicks in the face of the De Villiers-Kohli onslaught. It needed Carlos Brathwaite, the World T20 hero, to dismiss De Villiers in his first over to rejuvenate Daredevils. But within the bat of an eyelid, they were back under the cosh as Kohli and Watson took over.


With 21 coming off the 16th over, bowled by Zaheer, Royal Challengers were 164 for 2 and looked well set for a second successive 200-plus score. But the wickets of Watson and Sarfaraz Khan in the space of three balls set them back and denied the flourish they were looking for.


12th match 

Mumbai Indians 142/6 (20/20 ov)
Sunrisers Hyderabad 145/3 (17.3/20 ov)

Sunrisers Hyderabad won by 7 wickets (with 15 balls remaining)

Win the toss, restrict your opposition to a manageable total, and bat through the chase to win it for your team. Everything went to plan for David Warner, whose unbeaten 59-ball 90 steered Sunrisers Hyderabad to their first win of the season after their bowlers had kept Mumbai Indians to 142 in conditions that led to a well-matched contest between bat and ball.

It had rained in Hyderabad on the eve of the match, and the residual humidity made the new ball swing appreciably. Both the Sunrisers' opening bowlers exploited this, but Mumbai's seamers, apart from Tim Southee, did not. They bowled too short and suffered the consequences on a deck that was otherwise excellent to bat on, and against a batsman, Warner, who loves to cut, slash and pull. All of Warner's boundaries against the quicks, apart from a big six down the ground off Jasprit Bumrah, came against the short ball.

Southee kept Mumbai in the game with three well-timed wickets, starting with a late-swinging yorker to Shikhar Dhawan, but Mumbai kept feeding Warner a steady supply of release balls, which he put away merrily. He ended the game with two sixes in three balls, flat-batting Mitchell McClenaghan over mid-off and pulling him over deep square leg, and Sunrisers were home with 15 balls remaining. Mumbai's defeat was their third in four matches.

Warner had hoped, while opting to bowl, that his seamers could exploit the initial freshness on a green-tinged surface. It only took four balls for Bhuvneshwar Kumar to strike, though it was swing rather than seam that did the damage. With Kieron Pollard out due to food poisoning, Mumbai had brought in Martin Guptill, and his debut innings in the IPL was terminated by a perfectly pitched outswinger that kissed his edge through to the wicketkeeper.

Guptill's inclusion meant Mumbai had to rejig their batting order, and Rohit Sharma demoted himself, rather than Parthiv Patel, to accommodate the New Zealand opener. Parthiv looked distinctly uncomfortable against the swinging ball, playing and missing repeatedly before he was bowled by a back-of-the-hand slower ball from Barinder Sran that jagged in like a left-arm wristspinner's googly. Then came a self-inflicted wound - Rohit, who came in at No. 4, running himself out while looking for a suicidal single. When Jos Buttler, surprised by extra pace from Sran, gloved an attempted pull in the 11th over, they were 60 for 4 and going nowhere.

At the crease now were Ambati Rayudu, who had been promoted to No. 3, and Krunal Pandya, who had been promoted to No. 6 ahead of his brother Hardik, who had batted at No. 3 in all of Mumbai's previous matches. All the meddling with the batting order indicated a muddled think-tank, but Rayudu and Krunal made the most of their opportunities.

They had to bide their time initially, with Moises Henriques and the left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma varying their pace cleverly in the middle overs. But Bipul, who had gone for only 14 off his first three overs, hadn't bowled much to a left-hander. Only three balls. The next four yielded 18 runs as Krunal swung him away for three successive sixes in the 14th over. Rayudu stepped out and hit one himself, and Bipul finished with figures of 0 for 40.


The momentum seemed to be with Mumbai, with six overs to go, but Sran, Bhuvneshwar and Mustafizur Rahman proved too difficult to get away, changing their pace astutely and executing the yorker perfectly. The three quicks shared the last three overs, and gave away only 19 runs while picking up two wickets.


13th match 

Kings XI Punjab 138/8 (20/20 ov)
Kolkata Knight Riders 141/4 (17.1/20 ov)

Kolkata Knight Riders won by 6 wickets (with 17 balls remaining)

Another dominant bowling performance followed by another effortless chase led Kolkata Knight Riders to their third win of the season, thrashing Kings XI Punjab by six wickets in Mohali to go on top of the table. Knight Riders' bowling depth was perceptible as their spinners ripped through Kings XI, in a sub-par batting performance, to keep them to 138 for 8. In the chase, Robin Uthappa's quickfire fifty effectively sealed the game. In 13 games this season, 12 have been won by the chasing team.

Put in to bat, Kings XI lost Manan Vohra early when he flicked Morne Morkel to deep square leg but M Vijay looked in rhythm, scything drives and cuts before failing to pick a googly from Piyush Chawla. A slow start was made slower by the questionable promotion of Wriddhiman Saha to No. 4, who struggled in his 14-ball 8. Shaun Marsh, though, held one end up despite struggling for fluency.

The stage was set for either of David Miller or Glenn Maxwell to fire their side back into the contest, but Knight Riders' experienced bowling attack strangled their strong middle order. With two left-handers batting - Marsh and Miller - Gautam Gambhir turned to Yusuf Pathan for the first time this season. The move reaped rewards instantly when Miller edged Yusuf's first ball and Uthappa took a sharp catch. Maxwell soon resorted to a switch-hit off Sunil Narine, but Kings XI's season was summed up when he hammered it to extra cover. Narine's remodeled action returned two wickets in a frugal spell with an economy rate of 5.50.

In a format where teams target implausible numbers during the second half of an innings, Knight Riders' spinners ensured Kings XI could only rebuild after leaving them at 94 for 5 in the 15th over.

In between, Marsh used swift footwork to accumulate runs and was particularly effective square of the wicket, on both sides. He got to his fifty in the last over with a sweetly-timed lofted drive over long-on. Along with Kyle Abbott, he took Andre Russell's first over - the last of the innings - for 18 to lift Kings XI to 138.

With that total, Kings XI needed a miraculous start to have any hope, but Uthappa and Gambhir pushed Knight Riders closer to the target with nine boundaries in a 65-run Powerplay, the most productive in this season.

The seamers, Sandeep Sharma and Abbott, were inconsistent but when they found their lengths, Uthappa cleared the infield with lofted strokes on the up, on a pitch offering even bounce and carry.

Uthappa eased himself to his first fifty of the season off just 24 balls but his premeditated sweep resulted in his dismissal, as he played around a full delivery from Pardeep Sahu. Gambhir looked set for another fifty before a leading edge was acrobatically taken by Glenn Maxwell, running in from deep midwicket.


Axar Patel removed Manish Pandey and Shakib Al Hasan, but Suryakumar Yadav and Yusuf took Knight Riders home with 17 balls to spare.



14th match 

RCB 170/7 (20/20 ov)
Mumbai Indians 171/4 (18/20 ov)

Mumbai Indians won by 6 wickets (with 12 balls remaining)

Rohit Sharma returned to a familiar batting position that has brought him considerable success to thwart Royal Challengers Bangalore's designs on a flat Wankhede deck as Mumbai Indians reinvigorated their campaign with a six-wicket win. Promoting himself to open, Rohit made a 44-ball 62 as Mumbai overhauled Royal Challengers' 170 for 7 with 12 balls to spare.

The manner in which he slid back into the crease to direct the ball with his wrists behind point, used his powerful forearms to flick, danced down the track to pull the ball into the stands at long-on and deep midwicket with minimum effort pointed to ominous signs. His batting was in fluid motion as he took charge of the chase along with Ambati Rayudu, anything but elegant, yet equally effective in his 31.

The second-wicket stand of 76 in 55 balls laid the groundwork of the chase, before qbal Abdulla gave Royal Challengers a new lease of life by dismisisng Rayudu and Rohit, both to slogs. Mumbai were at 109 for 3, needing 62 off eight overs. But by then, the chase was well into the home stretch as dew took effect. Jos Buttler and Kieron Pollard, returning from food poisoning, flexed their muscle by hitting five sixes between them Mumbai recorded their second win in five matches.

Halfway into the first innings, Mumbai, who opted to bowl, were staring at a 200-plus target as Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers feasted on some friendly bowling during the course of a 59-run stand, before the unheralded players, in what was billed as a battle of two heavyweight teams, rose to the occasion.

Krunal Pandya's twin strikes of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers in the space of five deliveries stunned Royal Challengers. Then Travis Head, on IPL debut, and Sarfaraz Khan lifted Royal Challengers from 99 for 4 to 170 for 7.

Frenetic action highlighted the first 20 minutes. KL Rahul, after being hit on the helmet, was put through a short-ball test in a hostile burst by Mitchell McClenaghan. After the early jitters, he ramped and slapped his way to 23 before being caught in the slips. Kohli and de Villiers then counterpunched with a typically aggressive 59-run stand before three wickets in the space of eight runs resulted in a complete breakdown in momentum.

Head took his time to settle in, the nervousness clearly showing as he pushed and prodded his way for nine deliveries before exhibiting his ball-striking power to swat Hardik Pandya for six over deep square leg in the 15th over to revive Royal Challengers' innings. Sarfaraz showed there is more to his game than just the scoops and paddles as he milked the spinners, before clubbing Jasprit Bumrah for two successive sixes in the final over.


Mumbai lost Parthiv Patel in the second over, but Varun Aaron's third over, which went for 19, brought the chase back on track. Once the uncapped Indian bowlers were summoned, a game that was only marginally tilted in Mumbai's favour turned decisively in their direction. Abdullah's three wickets injected artificial excitement, but any possibility of a close finish was firmly put on the backburner courtesy Pollard's charge.


15th match 


Gujarat Lions 135/8 (20/20 ov)
Sunrisers Hyderabad 137/0 (14.5/20 ov)

Sunrisers Hyderabad won by 10 wickets (with 31 balls remaining)

David Warner's third half-century of the season paved the way for Sunrisers Hyderabad's ten-wicket win over Gujarat Lions in Rajkot. Warner, who slammed 74 off 48 balls, combined with Shikhar Dhawan, who struck a fifty of his own, for an unbroken 137-run opening partnership after his bowlers, led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar's 4 for 29, kept Lions to 135 for 8.

Warner began the chase with two fours off Dale Steyn, who was playing his first match of the IPL, and kicked into high gear with three fours off Praveen Kumar in the fourth over. Spin didn't stem the run-flow either as Warner cut and pulled Suresh Raina to the boundary. The Sunrisers captain brought up his half-century in 29 balls, by which time his team needed less than run-a-ball for victory.

Dhawan, at the other end, took the opportunity to bide his time and recover some of his form. He wasn't always fluent, but a paddle sweep off Dwayne Bravo in the 12th over changed that. At one point 25 off 24, Dhawan completed his half-century in 40 balls and though he didn't indulge in much celebration, he had to a couple of balls later. Warner had sealed a victory with six overs to spare and time was ripe for a twirl of the 'tache.

That Lions were tied down, despite Raina's 75 off 51, was down to Bhuvneshwar. He swung the new ball handsomely, as Aaron Finch found out in the first over when his stumps were splayed by an indipper, and when he couldn't get movement through the air, his mixture of slower balls were difficult to line-up. Bhuvneshwar took three wickets in the final over of the Lions' innings, including Raina's, to cap Sunrisers' strong comeback.

Mustafizur Rahman lent a hand to the Lions' slowdown as well. He was saved for the final six overs again and still gave away only one boundary - when Warner misfielded at long-on. The Bangladesh seamer finished with 1 for 19, the mystery of his cutters was no closer to being solved. Sunrisers also benefited from part-time offspinner Deepak Hooda and left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma rushing through five overs and picking up two wickets.

Lions, who had raced to 50 for 1 in the Powerplay, would have been disappointed that they could scrounge up a mere 85 runs in the remaining 14 overs.


Raina eased his way back to form, scoring his first T20 fifty in 31 innings. On display were his typical shots: lofted drives with the bent knee, firm pushes through cover and wristy flicks off the pads. But the other Lions batsmen struggled for timing. McCullum mis-hit a slog sweep to deep midwicket and fell for 18 off 17 balls, Dinesh Karthik directed a leg-stump full toss to long leg and Dwayne Bravo picked out deep square leg after being deceived by a slower ball. Bhuvneshwar's triple-strike in the final over meant Lions lost their last seven wickets for only 79 runs, and slipped to their first defeat in the IPL.