Cricket Live : May 2016

46th match

Kings XI Punjab 179/4 (20/20 ov)
Sunrisers Hyderabad 180/3 (19.4/20 ov)

Sunrisers Hyderabad won by 7 wickets (with 2 balls remaining)

Yuvraj Singh and Ben Cutting unleashed some brutal end-overs hitting to nail a chase of 180 in Mohali and all but seal Sunrisers Hyderabad's berth in the playoffs of IPL 2016. For their part, Kings XI Punjab became the second team after Rising Pune Supergiants to crash out of the tournament, despite a 56-ball 96 by Hashim Amla.

Yuvraj showcased his clean striking, with three fours and three massive sixes, in an unbeaten 42 off 24, while Ben Cutting - playing his first game for Sunrisers - chipped in with crucial monster hits of his own. Both batsmen ruthlessly tore into seamer Mohit Sharma in the 18th over, plundering 19 runs to bring the equation down to 20 required off the last two overs. Kings XI were clinging on as Sandeep Sharma conceded only three off the first three balls of the 19th, but Cutting slammed the fourth over the straight boundary to puncture the tension in the Sunrisers dugout. The chase was completed with seven wickets in hand and two balls to spare.

The early stages of the chase were anchored by David Warner's sixth fifty of the season. Warner and Shikhar Dhawan put on a 68-run opening stand, and after Dhawan was run out, Warner and Deepak Hooda looked set to take control of the innings. Just as they seemed to have settled in, however, Warner got out softly against the run of play. Looking to tuck the ball onto the leg side, he stepped deep into his crease and trod onto his stumps.

Warner's dismissal - Sunrisers' third hit-wicket in four matches - left the game open again. They still required 83 off 47 balls - a stern test for a shaky middle order - but Yuvraj and Hooda hit Axar Patel for a four and a six later in the same over. The next three overs yielded roughly ten runs apiece, courtesy Hooda's lusty hacks and Yuvraj's well-timed blows.

Hooda's dismissal off the last ball of the 16th was followed by Axar's stingy 17th over, which left Sunrisers with 39 to get off the last three overs. But Yuvraj and Cutting laid into Mohit Sharma and never looked back.

After Kings XI had opted to bat on a hot Mohali afternoon, Amla set a brisk pace by square-cutting the second ball for four. That shot seemed to bring back the classy, free-flowing Amla, who can unpick the best of attacks with timing and calculated belligerence. An assortment of cuts and drives was accompanied by some rather adventurous scoops.

Amla was helped by the fact that Sunrisers' new-ball bowlers were not at their best. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was tidy but not threatening, while Ashish Nehra offered too many boundary balls in his first two overs. Despite the early loss of M Vijay - who spooned a well-disguised slower ball from Mustafizur Rahman to mid-off - the Kings XI innings soon gathered momentum.

Amla stroked 14 fours and two sixes en route to his 96, receiving support from Wriddhiman Saha, Gurkeerat Singh and David Miller, in increasing order of explosiveness. Miller's unbeaten nine-ball 20 towards the end of the innings was a timely boost to Kings XI, as Amla was beginning to run out of steam.

In an increasingly desperate attempt to stem the run flow, Sunrisers used seven bowlers, none of whom proved particularly effective. They even lost Nehra to a leg injury in his third over. However, it was their batsmen who ultimately took them to their eighth win of the season and within sniffing distance of a berth in the playoffs.

47th match

Mumbai Indians 206/4 (20/20 ov)
Delhi Daredevils 126 (19.1/20 ov)

Mumbai Indians won by 80 runs

After Shahbaz Nadeem, bowling the first over of the game, got his first two balls to grip and turn, Delhi Daredevils captain Zaheer Khan may have been proud of the move to play an extra spinner. That quickly changed as Mumbai Indians' Krunal Pandya pummeled 13 boundaries in a 37-ball exhibition of power-hitting against spin. His career-best score of 86 set up Mumbai's total of 206 and their subsequent 80-run win in Visakhapatnam. As a result, they climbed to third spot on the points table, and Daredevils dropped from fourth to fifth.

Rohit Sharma laid into Nadeem in the first over to set the tone for Mumbai's innings. A sweep and a lofted cover drive off consecutive balls meant Mumbai had already equalled their Powerplay boundary count from their previous game. However, Martin Guptill struggled to find timing in his second IPL game despite a forehand swat he sent for six over point in the fourth over.

Daredevils' bowlers forced many chips and bunts through wily changes in pace. Rohit, though, peppered the midwicket region with exquisitely-timed heaves, primarily off the front foot. Just when it looked like Rohit was settling into the anchor role, he skewed a cut to point.

With two legspinners and a left-arm spinner, Krunal, batting at No. 3, utilised his hitting arc through midwicket. Even googlies from Amit Mishra and Imran Tahir were heaved across the line. Krunal's brisk stand with Guptill resulted in a strong platform where Mumbai could launch from towards the end.

It was the 13th over that gave them the extra push. Tahir was walloped for consecutive sixes as he floated deliveries in Guptill's half. And Pandya finished the over with two more boundaries as 23 runs were leaked. Pandya didn't look back from there.

He struck eight boundaries in the following four overs to ensure Mumbai never stalled after Guptill holed out to long-off. Krunal got to a 22-ball fifty with a muscular biff over long-on and celebrated it with an imitation of his brother Hardik's stance. "I knew there were two legspinners and one left-arm spinner. I was picking the googlies and going with the flow," Krunal said at the post-match presentation.

In the 18th over, Chris Morris used variations in pace and length to remove Krunal and Kieron Pollard in the space of four balls. A 16-run penultimate over meant Tahir finished with figures of 0 for 59, the worst returns by a spinner in the IPL. Twelve more runs in the last over gave Mumbai their fifth-highest IPL total.

Daredevils were never in the hunt after losing regular wickets in the chase. Quinton de Kock's impressive pick-up strokes kept Daredevils hoping briefly. But those slim chances were ended when he was adjudged caught behind in the 10th over. De Kock went back in his crease to execute a late dab, but so deep he went that his bat flicked Jos Buttler's gloves as he missed the ball, the second successive time he was wrongly given out.

By then, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair and Sanju Samson, had fallen for single-digit scores. With Harbhajan Singh ripping his offbreaks, Mumbai's challenging score seemed out of reach as the required rate climbed steeply. JP Duminy and Rishabh Pant fell off Jasprit Bumrah's consecutive balls in the search of quick runs.

Bumrah used his offcutters on a slow pitch effectively to finish with 3 for 13 from four overs. Daredevils folded for 126 as Mumbai recorded their third-biggest win. It was fitting that Krunal finished the game with an offbreak that turned past Zaheer's outside edge to hit the off stump.

48th match

Kolkata Knight Riders 183/5 (20/20 ov)
RCB 186/1 (18.4/20 ov)

Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 9 wickets (with 8 balls remaining)

Thirty-two runs, 43 balls, and less than an hour spent at the crease while batting in a total of eight innings. Those are Chris Gayle's numbers during his lean run since his hundred in West Indies' World T20 opener against England exactly two months ago. On a humid night at the Eden Gardens, he struck form against his former franchise to help Royal Challengers Bangalore stay alive in their hunt for the playoffs, with a nine-wicket win against Kolkata Knight Riders.

Royal Challengers' top order made light work of the 184 target as Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers carried their stellar show from Bangalore to Kolkata, after Gayle's 31-ball 49.

Virat Kohli and Andre Russell picked up injuries during Royal Challengers' nine-wicket win in Kolkata. In the 17th over of Knight Riders' innings, Kohli split his webbing on his left hand when he ran in from deep cover to take a catch offered by Russell. He was off the field for an over before returning. "It's a big split, my hand is starting to pain now, looks like I'll get seven or eight stitches. I don't mind even 10 stitches as long as we keep winning," he said after the match.

Russell's injury looked more serious and occurred towards the end of the match. Russell was bowling the 19th over when he tumbled for the third time in his follow through and had to be helped off the field after he injured his knee, according to the TV commentators.

Gayle trudged to 1 off seven balls before unleashing the big hits. He started with a swipe over mid-on for four in the second over, and treated the short balls thereafter with disdain. The upper cut, slaps the inside-out drive and even the fierce sweeps off Sunil Narine, something he's not always known for, followed as he raced to 35 off 21. Amidst the carnage, Kohli exhibited one classical inside-out drive for six that showed that the Royal Challengers party was on at both ends, and only 11 people at the packed ground were not dancing to it.

Gayle was trapped lbw by Narine after he struck two more sixes, but that brought together Kohli and de Villiers. They were watchful at times but picked boundaries regularly. While de Villiers targeted Ankit Rajpoot and Shakib Al Hasan, who was repeatedly swept into the stands at deep square leg, Kohli picked runs against Andre Russell and Piyush Chawla.

Kohli, on 32, offered a rare chance off Shakib but Gautam Gambhir put it down at backward point in the 11th over, with Royal Challengers needing 90 off 56. But after two boundary-less overs against Shakib and Chawla, Kohli and de Villiers put their seat belts on. Kohli picked the wrong'uns, de Villiers used the crease against the three spinners, and sixes were struck on demand. Soon the equation read 40 from 24. End even though Gambhir changed his bowlers, the result remained unaffected.

Kohli sauntered to his eighth fifty-plus score of the tournament and de Villiers, more attacking of the two, registered his 28-ball half-century as the duo whittled down the target with eight balls to spare. Their unbeaten stand read 115 runs from 11.1 overs at a scoring rate of 10.29. Along the way, Kohli surpassed the Chris Gayle and Michael Hussey's tally of 733 runs to become the highest run-scorer in an IPL season.

Knight Riders' journey to 183 had been a bumpy ride, led first by the top order and then the lower order. Iqbal Abdulla, who replaced Varun Aaron, took a one-handed catch to dismiss Robin Uthappa in the third over. Gambhir and Pandey didn't look perturbed though. While the captain relied more on nudges, Pandey's big swings towards the midwicket region kept the fielders busy, as Knight Riders crossed fifty at the end of the Powerplay.

Just when they were hitting the pedal harder, Royal Challengers pulled things back with three wickets in 10 balls. Gambhir and Pandey fell just after crossing their fifties to allow Abdulla and Chahal to slow things down further. Yusuf Pathan, who made an unbeaten 29-ball 60 in a match-winning effort when the sides last met in Bangalore, was deceived in flight and was stumped for 6, while Suryakumar Yadav holed out to long-off. Knight Riders stumbled to 125 for 5.

The momentum switched sides again when Russell and Shakib got together. Shakib used more of leg-side swipes and Russell unfurled his commanding swings from deep in the crease to collect boundaries at will. Even though Shakib raced to 12 off his first four deliveries, he later took singles to give the strike to Russell, who targeted the quicks more to clear the ropes and scored a quickfire 39 off 19.

49th match

Delhi Daredevils 121/6 (20/20 ov)
Rising Pune Supergiants 76/1 (11/11 ov, target 58)

Rising Pune Supergiants won by 19 runs (D/L method)

Fast bowler Ashok Dinda knocked over the Delhi Daredevils openers within five overs, before R Ashwin and Adam Zampa found sharp turn to smother Daredevils to 121 for 6. Karun Nair, who showed considerable application to top score with 41, later said that his team was 25-30 runs short. Rain gave Daredevils two reprieves in their defence, before the game was called off by midnight. Ajinkya Rahane's patient 42 steered Supergiants ahead in the chase and dented Daredevils' chances of making the playoffs. Supergiants' 19-run win via D/L method meant that they dragged themselves off the bottom of the table.

Daredevils can still qualify for the playoffs with 14 or 16 points, but their current net rate of -0.125 means they may need to win by a substantial margin in their remaining two games.

The pitch on Tuesday was the same one used for the last two matches in Visakhapatnam. The conditions - both overhead and underfoot - and Supergiants' improved fielding offered no breathing room for Daredevils until Morris blazed away. He struck the first six of the match in the final over of Daredevils' innings and capped an otherwise sluggish innings with another muscled six over midwicket. But the game was Supergiants' after they kept Daredevils to 28 for 2, their third sub-30 score, in the Powerplay this season.

Dinda got his first ball to swing prodigiously as he rapped Quinton de Kock's pad with an inducker. This was heading down leg, but Dinda had the South Africa opener lbw for 8 off 10, with a similar ball in his second over. Dinda then prolonged the lean patch of the returning Shreyas Iyer. In his next over, Dinda bounced Iyer out for his fifth single-digit score in six games this season.

Nair began fluently with drives and pulls against the seamers before the advent of spin restored Supergiants' ascendancy. Zampa worked Samson over, stumping him with a perfect legbreak, following a brace of skiddy, quicker balls. He went on to remove Rishabh Pant and Nair in his next two overs. Daredevils were reduced to 70 for 5 in 14.3 overs.

R Ashwin, who was introduced in the 12th over, sent down a spell that read: 4-0-23-0. JP Duminy hung on for a run-a-ball 14 before he scooped Dinda to short fine leg.

Morris mowed six boundaries, including two sixes and two fours off the last four balls of the innings, to finish with an unbeaten 38 off 20 balls.

Usman Khawaja threw away another bright start when he sliced Morris to backward point, but Ajinkya Rahane gave the chase substance with three off-driven fours and an upper cut off a Coulter-Nile bouncer. A top-edge off another sharp bouncer from the Australia fast bowler detached George Bailey's helmet before rain forced a delay of nearly an hour. Supergiants needed 65 off 70 balls when play resumed at 11.30 and Bailey shook off the blow by getting on top of another lifting ball and whipping past midwicket.

Sixteen balls after the first interruption, rain made another appearance. This one brought an end to the game.

50th match

RCB 211/3 (15/15 ov)
Kings XI Punjab 120/9 (14/14 ov, target 203)

Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 82 runs (D/L method)

Virat Kohli has been vaulting the standard of T20 batting this IPL. He was twitchy after heavy rain delayed the start of Royal Challengers Bangalore's final league fixture at home against Kings XI Punjab by nearly two hours. Not even the apprehensions of having to bat with nine stitches on his left hand because of a split webbing could stop him from scoring his fourth century in nine innings. He also topped the IPL run charts during the course of his 50-ball 113 that powered Royal Challengers to an 82-run win via the Duckworth-Lewis method. A seventh win delivered in the most emphatic fashion helped them jump from fifth to second on the points table.

Chris Gayle was in his groove too, bashing 73 in a 147-run opening stand that floored Kings XI, who conceded 211 for 3 after opting to bowl in a 15-over shootout. Kohli was the first to reach his half-century off 28 balls when he whipped Axar Patel to long-on. Four legitimate balls later, Gayle swiped the left-arm spinner over midwicket for six and raced to his half-century off 29 balls. The two then got together to unfurl the champion jig.

Kings XI could have snapped that had Axar effected a direct hit from backward point to run Kohli out on 10. Kohli utilised the lifeline to drive the innings by middling everything: whether it was lofting a full ball inside-out over cover or carving a wide yorker in the gap between backward point and short third man. He reached his hundred off 47 balls when he whiplashed Sandeep Sharma for four between deep midwicket and long-on.

Kohli celebrated the landmark by pointing to his injured left hand repeatedly before pumping his fists. The only occasion he showed apparent discomfort was when he ran in from long-off and caught Axar for 13 in the eighth over of Kings XI's chase.

Kohli set the tone with slapped fours of Sandeep before Gayle went 6,6,4 against Kyle Abbott in the fourth over. KC Cariappa, who replaced Anureet Singh, struggled to grip the ball, and his assortment of legbreaks, offbreaks, sliders and even a seam-up that clocked 134kph, was clouted for 55 in his three overs to leave M Vijay searching for answers.

Axar wasn't spared either, Gayle taking him for three leg-side sixes in four balls before holing out to the same bowler at the end of the 11th over. Four balls later, Abbott had AB de Villiers dragging on for a duck. KL Rahul lent the finishing touches with a cameo laced with a de Villiers-like reverse flick after Kohli's dismissal in the penultimate over.

S Aravind removed Kings XI's openers early and then legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal, made light work of the middle order with career-best T20 figures of 4 for 25. Kings XI limped past 100 in the 12th over before rain returned at the end of the 14th to force an end to a lop-sided contest.

Royal Challengers are one of the three teams in the playoffs race to have a positive net rate (+0.93), and a win in their final match against Delhi Daredevils in Raipur on Sunday could confirm their place in the final four.

51st match

Kolkata Knight Riders 124/8 (20/20 ov)
Gujarat Lions 125/4 (13.3/20 ov)

Gujarat Lions won by 6 wickets (with 39 balls remaining)

Dwayne Smith ably used a green Kanpur pitch as his ally to return figures of 4 for 8, setting up Gujarat Lions' six-wicket win against Kolkata Knight Riders. Lions' bowlers constricted Knight Riders to 124, and then hunted the target down with 39 balls to spare. Lions climbed to second place on the points table and improved their net run-rate from -0.747 to -0.479, intensifying the race for playoffs spots.

After being inserted, Knight Riders' openers got a solid start before Gautam Gambhir was involved in another run-out. With Gambhir and Robin Uthappa stranded mid-pitch, Shadab Jakati fired an accurate throw at the striker's end after an acrobatic stop at midwicket.

Smith then extracted just enough bounce and lateral movement to have Knight Riders' batsmen poking outside off stump. Uthappa and Manish Pandey steered catches behind the wicket. Piyush Chawla was hustled by a skiddy delivery that crept past his tentative waft. A short delivery was helped along to third man by Shakib as Smith claimed his best T20 figures. Knight Riders were left reeling at 61 for 5 in the 12th over.

Yusuf Pathan and Suryakumar Yadav were left to consolidate a faltering innings through singles. In an eight-over period after the Powerplay, Knight Riders scored 20 runs. Even the spinners asserted impressive control till Yusuf laid into Ravindra Jadeja to resuscitate Knight Riders' innings with consecutive boundaries.

Thereafter, boundary-scoring became gradually easier as seam movement ceased. Four overs leaked 47 runs as Knight Riders set the platform they desperately needed to stand a chance. Dhawal Kulkarni and Dwayne Bravo conceded four each of their final overs to peg back any hopes Knight Riders had for a 140-plus score.

Lions approached the chase, it seemed, with an intent to improve their net run-rate to boost their playoffs chances. As a result, their exuberant strokes on a tricky surface provided Knight Riders with an opening. Off the first ball of the chase, Smith got an under-edge to a delivery that wasn't short enough to pull. Brendon McCullum wasn't deterred. He danced down to swat a length delivery over midwicket off his first delivery. Gambhir's hand was forced. He turned to Sunil Narine in the second over, the first time this season he has opened the bowling. An inswinging floater wasn't wide enough to cut and McCullum was trapped in front.

Dinesh Karthik chose attritional strokes with a straight bat but was bowled by a seaming delivery from Morne Morkel that sneaked between bat and pad to clatter into the stumps. Suddenly, Lions were reduced to 38 for 3.

Suresh Raina, returning from a short paternity leave, ensured Lions were in the hunt through his inside-out drives and flicks to steer the chase forward. He crossed 4000 IPL runs with a lofted cover drive off a good-length delivery from Morkel. Raina and Aaron Finch added 59 to put the game beyond Knight Riders' reach.

Their 36-ball stand was ended by a run-out when they collided into each other in the search for a third run to briefly lend some artificial excitement. With 28 required off 61 balls, Ravindra Jadeja helped Raina end the chase in a canter to ease Lions' race for a playoffs berth.

52nd match

Sunrisers Hyderabad 158/7 (20/20 ov)
Delhi Daredevils 161/4 (20/20 ov)

Delhi Daredevils won by 6 wickets (with 0 balls remaining)

Karun Nair showed there was place for finesse and street-smart cricket amidst the big hitting in T20s. His unbeaten 59-ball 83 single-handedly helped Delhi Daredevils beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by five wickets in a last-ball thriller in Raipur to keep their playoff ambitions burning bright.

Nair, who walked in to bat at No. 3, muscled two successive boundaries off Bhuvneshwar Kumar, with Daredevils needing six off two deliveries, to pull off a win that may have not been possible had Sunrisers field a tad better than they did. Nair, who was sedate initially, was lucky to survive a caught behind appeal on 23 with Daredevils needing 105 off 69. David Warner then put down a sitter with Nair on 51. As it turned out, those two moments had a big bearing on the outcome as Sunrisers, with 16 points, may yet have to win their final league game against Mumbai Indians in Kanpur to control their fate.

While Rishabh Pant was the aggressor in the 73-run second-wicket stand, Nair was happy to farm strike and play himself in before a stroke of luck with Daredevils needing 105 off 69 brought about a change in mindset. By the time Pant was run-out courtesy Bhuvneshwar's direct hit from deep cover for 32, Nair had switched gears to help Daredevils pull through. It meant Warner's wonderfully crafted 56-ball 73 was consigned to being second best.

The game started off as a battle of wits. Sunrisers were watchful upfront against Zaheer Khan after being sent in to bat, but the pressure built up at one end was released by Jayant Yadav, the offspinner, and Nathan Coulter-Nile as they motored to 42 without loss in five overs, before the brakes were applied courtesy two run-outs.

Shikhar Dhawan, far from his fluent best, was the first to go when Carlos Brathwaite, replacing the injured Chris Morris, stopped a drive by diving to his left and then hurling a throw back at the striker's end with the batsmen well short of the crease. Three balls late, Amit Mishra's half-stop off his own bowling resulted in confusion in the running between the wickets as Hooda was run-out courtesy a direct hit at the bowler's end. At 48 for 2, the need of the hour was consolidation.

Yuvraj Singh hung around for 10 deliveries, one of which was sent screaming behind point off a fierce cut, before Coulter-Nile had him chop one onto the stumps, the two-paced nature of the pitch surfacing as the ball kept low to take the inside edge. Even as wickets tumbled, Warner was a picture of supreme confidence as he flayed the pacers with flat-batted pulls and slaps through the off side.

His technique against the spin twins - Mishra and Yadav - was equally effective as he used the depth of the crease to make room and bring his bottom hand into play. Once the off side field was opened up, he kept carving boundaries to make batting look ridiculously easy to bring up his 32nd fifty, the most in IPL history.

He found able support from Moises Henriques, who milked the singles, before Sunrisers cut loose in the 12th over, which went for 13, to bring about a momentum switch. But an attempt to hit with JP Duminy's spin towards deep midwicket shortly after resulted in Henriques' wicket, which may have been six at most venues. A sprightly 32-run stand was broken as Sunrisers were pegged back again.

When Eoin Morgan, out of sorts after a prolonged break, miscued a short-arm jab to long-on, Sunrisers had lost whatever momentum they gathered. It needed Naman Ojha Bhuvneshwar Kumar's enterprise - the pair scored 34 off the last three overs - to take Sunrisers close to the 160-mark.

Daredevils lost Quinton de Kock early, but Nair and Pant kept the asking rate within the realms of possibility with tactful strike rotation peppered with the odd boundaries. Apart from swatting away full tosses he received from time to time, Nair's use of the sweep shots to negate Karn Sharma's legspin was impressive. Nair had a second reprieve on 51 when Warner put down a sitter at long-on; the pressure was firmly on Sunrisers.

Two potential Mustafizur Rahman overs with Daredevils needing 52 off 30 meant they had a ray of hope. When Duminy, put down on 17 by Bhuvneshwar, holed out to Warner off the next delivery, the game was wide open. But Nair muscled two sixes in the same over off Barinder Sran to allay fears of a meltdown. Mustafizur's tight final over that went for just five left Daredevils needing 11 off the final over, but Nair wasn't to be denied as his third half-century in a winning cause kept Daredevils alive.

53rd match

Kings XI Punjab 172/7 (20/20 ov)
Rising Pune Supergiants 173/6 (20/20 ov)

Rising Pune Supergiants won by 4 wickets (with 0 balls remaining)

This wasn't the deadest of dead rubbers. Two knocked-out teams - Rising Pune Supergiants and Kings XI Punjab - were desperate not to finish at the bottom of the pile. It ultimately boiled down to 12 off the last two balls. MS Dhoni, the fading star, v Axar Patel, the rising star. Dhoni unleashed his attacking avatar that brought back memories. His back-to-back sixes over midwicket delivered a sensational four-wicket win that helped Supergiants end their campaign just like they had begun, in Visakhapatnam.

The final over began with Supergiants needing 23. M Vijay's key men at the end overs - Mohit Sharma and Sandeep Sharma - had bowled out. Axar was in the hot seat. Dhoni had been struggling for timing and power all season, yet it wasn't a task beyond him. The first ball - a short fizzer - was mis-hit to deep midwicket, and Dhoni flatly refused a run. The second ball from Axar was a wide bouncer down the leg side and Wriddhiman Saha did well to move to his left to collect the ball.

The third legitimate ball was fired too full and Dhoni's response was a mighty club over long-on. It seemed like the mojo was back. The next one was darted short and wide outside off as Dhoni slapped it to sweeper cover. Hashim Amla dived full-length to his left and prevented the ball from reaching the boundary. Dhoni, in anticipation of a boundary, was unmoved and Supergiants missed out on two precious runs. It was clear he trusted himself to finish it off.

Axar then sent another shorter ball and offered room which Dhoni flat-batted over cover for a one-bounce four to bring the equation down to 12 off two. He then sealed it with twin sixes and said it was the "kind of the game you wanted to win to get into the knockouts."

Dhoni had joined Thisara Perera in the 14th over after Supergiants were reduced to 86 for 5 in a chase of 173. Perera was the first to tee off with three boundaries off fast bowler Kyle Abbott in the 16th over. Then, when Sandeep missed his yorker by an inch of two, Dhoni smeared two off-side fours in the 18th over to bring the equation down to 29 off 12 balls.

A ball later, Thisara swung wildly only to nick Mohit Sharma behind for 23 off 14 balls. Dhoni carved the third ball away for four, but Mohit hit back to give away just one run off the next three balls with a cutter and two pinpoint yorkers. The Sharmas' efforts, however, weren't enough to help Kings XI stave off the wooden spoon.

Kings XI were left heartbroken, having been in control for 39 overs of the game. The seamers stuck to disciplined lines and lengths and subdued Ajinkya Rahane and Usman Khawaja. Gurkeerat Singh then struck twice to dismiss Saurabh Tiwary and Khawaja in the 12th over.

Earlier, half-centuries from captain M Vijay and Gurkeerat led Kings XI to 172. Vijay bided his time on a sluggish track before unfurling his full range. It was Hashim Amla who did the early running with three whipped fours, including two in the first over of Irfan Pathan. Vijay shifted gears when he slammed seamer Deepak Chahar for successive boundaries in the fifth over.

Amla then brought up Kings XI's first fifty-plus opening stand in the last seven matches with a lofted cover drive for six. The subsequent introduction of spin, however, applied the brakes on the innings. Dhoni turned to R Ashwin after the Powerplay and the offspinner struck with his third ball, having Amla chip a catch to short midwicket for 30 off 27 balls.

Adam Zampa, the legspinner, also struck with his third ball when he had Wriddhiman Saha nicking to slip for 3. Vijay then threw Zampa off track with a four and six and soon reached his fourth half-century in eight games as captain.

But an across-the-line response to a straighter one from Ashwin left Vijay's stumps splayed. Ashwin proceeded to finish with his best figures of the season - 4 for 34 in four overs - despite Gurkeerat's late blows. The allrounder's fifty off 29 balls and two wickers offered infinitesimal consolation in a second-straight dismal season for Kings XI.

54th match

Mumbai Indians 172/8 (20/20 ov)
Gujarat Lions 173/4 (17.5/20 ov)

Gujarat Lions won by 6 wickets (with 13 balls remaining)

Gujarat Lions guaranteed themselves a top-two finish on the IPL league table, and earned themselves two shots at a place in the final, after a 96-run partnership between Brendon McCullum and Suresh Raina set them up for an six-wicket win over Mumbai Indians. Lions ended the league stage on 18 points while Mumbai finished on 14. To make the playoffs, Mumbai will need to hope Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils - who also have 14 points each - lose their matches on Sunday, and lose by big enough margins for their net run rates to dip below Mumbai's -0.146.

Rohit Sharma noted, after Raina chose to bowl, that the Green Park pitch wasn't as green as it had been on Thursday when Lions had restricted Knight Riders to 124. It wasn't just less green. It was even-paced, with the ball coming nicely on to the bat, and Mumbai's total of 172 proved well short of challenging as Lions, given a strong platform by Raina and McCullum, and a sure finish by Dwayne Smith - who swapped places in the batting order with Aaron Finch - cruised home with 13 balls remaining.

Mumbai got off to an excellent start with the bat, with Rohit enjoying the batting-friendly conditions to move to 30 off 16 balls, with four fours and two sixes, before pulling Dhawal Kulkarni straight to deep square leg in the fourth over. Nitish Rana walked in and pulled his first ball for four.

Dwayne Smith had picked up four wickets on Thursday, and Raina tossed him the ball at the start of the fifth over even though the conditions were rather different this time. Martin Guptill, invisible till then, glanced his second ball for four, and should have put away his third one as well. It was shortish, and offered plenty of swinging room for Guptill to flat-bat it anywhere he pleased; he ended up dragging it to mid-on.

With Smith's deceptively quick bouncer consuming Krunal Pandya in the same over, Mumbai were forced into rebuilding mode. Rana and Jos Buttler only scored 27 runs in the first 30 balls of their partnership, and Mumbai were 72 for 3 at the halfway point of their innings.

Fifteen came off the 11th, as Rana slogged Ravindra Jadeja over long-on and Buttler chopped him to the backward point boundary. Rana began the 12th over with a four and a six off Smith, and Mumbai were back on track.

Rana favoured the pull and the slog-sweep, and those strengths, and his left-handedness, was probably the reason Raina only used Jadeja for one over. Rana hit Shadab Jakati, Lions' other left-arm spinner, for a six in the 13th over and three fours - two in the midwicket region - in the 15th.

Fourteen came off that over, and with Rana past the half-century mark, Mumbai were nicely placed going into the last five. They had lost Buttler to a reflex caught-and-bowled from Dwayne Bravo, but at the crease was Kieron Pollard, in the kind of situation he enjoys batting in.

Rana clubbed another leg-side six off Dhawal Kulkarni in the 16th, going deep in his crease to shorten the length of the ball, but he miscued to deep square leg when he tried the same shot off Dwayne Bravo in the next over. Pollard cleared long-on with a top-edge in the 18th before swatting a full-toss from Kulkarni straight down long-off's throat. Suddenly Mumbai had two new batsmen at the crease with only two overs to go.

They would only get 12 from the last two, as Bravo and Praveen Kumar, both going around the wicket, either speared it too full for Hardik Pandya and Harbhajan Singh to get under, or dangled it too slow to line up perfectly. Both batsmen fell in the final over as Mumbai finished on 172 for 8. They had only scored 27 in the last four overs.

Finch fell in the first over of Lions' innings, victim to his tendency to get stuck on the crease early in his innings, but McCullum and Raina quickly got the chase into gear. Bowlers tend to attack Raina's ribcage early in his innings, but Mitchell McClenaghan overused the short ball in the third over, and the batsman pulled, slapped and uppercut three fours, having already picked up a boundary when Hardik Pandya let a drive slip between his legs at cover point.

McCullum hit Krunal Pandya for two fours and a pulled six in the fifth over, and Lions were already past 50. With the field still in, Raina's chancy slogs off Jasprit Bumrah's slower balls proved more than productive in the sixth over - one went to the third man boundary off the top edge, and the other, not quite middled, sailed over deep midwicket. Rattled, Bumrah fed McCullum on his pads and then gave him width; 19 came off that over and Lions' required rate was now only 7.35.

With the spinners, Krunal and Harbhajan Singh, routinely dropping short, Lions were racing home. This being the IPL, there was a small wobble, as McCullum, Dinesh Karthik and Raina fell in the space of 19 balls to leave 51 needed from 46. Smith, though, conveyed cold authority right from the time he flat-batted the second ball he faced back over Bumrah's head, and he steered Lions home with a calm, unbeaten 37 off 23.

55th match

Kolkata Knight Riders 171/6 (20/20 ov)
Sunrisers Hyderabad 149/8 (20/20 ov)

Kolkata Knight Riders won by 22 runs

Home advantage counts. But only if you are well-equipped to use it. With four spin options to call upon on a parched Eden Gardens pitch, Kolkata Knight Riders strangled Sunrisers Hyderabad to defend 171 and pull off a 22-run victory. The win helped them secure a playoff berth, while ending Mumbai Indians' journey in the tournament.

Sunil Narine delivered his most incisive bowling spell of the tournament, with figures of 3 for 26 in four overs. His partner in crime was Kuldeep Yadav, the 21-year-old chinaman bowler who had replaced Piyush Chawla in the Knight Riders XI. Kuldeep showed a willingness to flight the ball and repeatedly beat the batsmen with his sharp turn and canny googlies. Figures of 2 for 28, impressive as they are, do not do justice to the skill with which he bowled or the impact he made. As Sunrisers fell further and further behind, the match moved towards a tame finish.

Manish Pandey and Yusuf Pathan set the match up after Knight Riders slipped to 57 for 3 in the eighth over. The pair added 87 off just 49 balls, with Pandey doing most of the running early on. He slog-swept Karn Sharma, the legspinner, for consecutive sixes over midwicket in the ninth over to trigger a surge in boundaries.

As the partnership progressed and Yusuf joined the run-fest, the two batsmen set Knight Riders up for a 180 plus total. But Pandey's dismissal for a 30-ball 48 - he carved a wide full toss from Bhuvneshwar Kumar straight to Kane Williamson at backward point, in the 16th over - sapped momentum out of Knight Riders' innings.

Mustafizur Rahman brought out his usual display of well-disguised cutters to tie the batsmen down in the 17th and 19th overs. Barinder Sran, who bowled the 18th over, and Bhuvneshwar, who bowled the 20th, executed their slower variations with exquisite control. The lower-order batsmen found it hard to adjust to the slow pace of the wicket and even Yusuf lost his timing as the ball got older. Knight Riders managed just 27 off 26 after Pandey's dismissal, finishing with 171 for 6.

In hindsight, Knight Riders' struggles in the final few overs was an ominous sign for Sunrisers. On a slow, disintegrating wicket, Knight Riders opened the bowling with Yusuf and liberally drew upon their spin reserves throughout the innings.

When Narine was introduced in the fourth over, David Warner was determined not to let him settle. But that effort lasted just three balls. After an unsuccessful attempt at a reverse-sweep and a swat over wide mid-on for six, Warner was beaten by a fuller, flighted off-break that pitched just outside leg and turned sharply to cannon into leg stump.

For a while thereafter, Shikhar Dhawan kept Sunrisers' alive with a 30-ball 51 that included four fours and three sixes. While he was the beneficiary of a number of half-volleys on the pads, Dhawan showed glimpses of the sweet timing that comes so easily when he is at his best. But when a slog sweep off Kuldeep in the 12th over found Colin Munro at deep mid-wicket, the Sunrisers innings went off the rails.

Incoming batsmen found the spinners difficult to get away and perished in search of big shots. Seven wickets fell for 58 runs between the 12th over and the 20th, as Sunrisers lost their way in an anti-climactic denouement.

Knight Riders' clutch victory came despite the absence of Andre Russell due to a leg injury. That is an indicator of the depth in their squad and will be a source of confidence in the playoffs.

56th match

Delhi Daredevils 138/8 (20/20 ov)
RCB 139/4 (18.1/20 ov)

Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 6 wickets (with 11 balls remaining)

It seemed a little like grandstanding when Virat Kohli said he "loved" that Royal Challengers Bangalore had to win four out of four matches to quality for the playoffs. That was two weeks ago, when his team were placed sixth and he had recorded his first single-digit score of the season. Since then the lowest Kohli has been dismissed for is 109 and Royal Challengers have racked up the back-to-back wins they needed. Their six-wicket dismantling of Delhi Daredevils on Sunday took them up to second place on the points table, a qualifier at home and a second shot at a place in the IPL final.

Raipur provided the toughest batting conditions for the Royal Challengers yet this season. The pitch offered extra bounce, and the boundaries were long enough to ensure top edges and mis-hits didn't simply skip away. Their bowlers had made use of both and strangled Daredevils to 138 for 8. That Quinton de Kock contributed 60 of those runs exemplifies the lack of application from the rest of the Daredevils batsmen.

Kohli understood hitting through the line wasn't prudent. When he had tried to do so in the sixth over, a good length ball from Chris Morris had straightened, kissed the edge of the bat but fell short of Karun Nair at first slip. Royal Challengers had already lost Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers. Losing the man who has averaged nearly 100 in T20 cricket in 2016 too could have been catastrophic.

Kohli, though, refused to give his wicket away. He concentrated on the singles and twos and barring a pristine on-drive that totally disrespected a good length ball on middle stump and an inside edge to fine leg, the rest of his five fours came off deliveries that were short, down leg or overpitched. He struck the winning runs with 11 balls to spare and his unbeaten 45-ball 54 propelled his average above 100 in 2016.

The most pleasing aspect of the Royal Challengers' victory, however, lay in the efficiency of their bowlers. Left-arm seamer S Aravind made the first blow immediately after a catch was dropped off his bowling. Yuzvendra Chahal did not spin the ball drastically, but he was able to make the ball kick up considerably. That aspect accounted for two of his wickets - Sanju Samson was caught behind attempting a late cut and de Kock holed out to long-off.

On both occasion the batsman had seemed rather unhappy. Samson felt he did not nick it, but replays suggested the ball had run off the face of his bat and into wicketkeeper KL Rahul's gloves. De Kock was stopped before he left the ground so the umpires could check the no-ball. Replays in this case indicated Chahal had overstepped, but the third umpire Virender Sharma disagreed.

Bad luck, however, was a distant second in the list of reasons why Daredevils, having won five out of seven matches at the start of the season, crashed out. Tweaks in selection - some forced by injury and others strategic - didn't give them continuity. On Sunday, they dropped JP Duminy, who was out of form but had the experience to come good in a crunch match, for Sam Billings, who hadn't played since May 7.

The other change, Morris, worked a little better. He was held back until No. 8 - another questionable move - and struck and unbeaten 27 off 13 balls. His height and hit-the-deck style of bowling had Gayle bowled off the inside edge in the second over. Daredevils built on that in the next over when a Zaheer Khan delivery got big on de Villiers and had him spooning a catch to cover point. At 17 for 2, Royal Challengers needed a partnership. They got one as Rahul lent a hand to Kohli and the 66 runs they added took the team within striking distance of victory.

The Daredevils innings had cried out for two batsmen to take responsibility like that. De Kock, brought up on the fast and bouncy tracks in Johannesburg, did well to keep one end ticking along. His six down the ground off Aravind was simple and brutal and a four to fine leg off a ball that had been outside off showcased his inventiveness. But his partners were less adept at coping with the pitch and the nagging bowling.

Rishabh Pant nicked off for 1. Karun Nair was caught brilliantly on the boundary by Kohli, who had tracked the ball down from mid-off. Samson played an excellent slog sweep by smothering Chahal's legspin but fell the next ball. Billings could not get on top of a Chris Jordan delivery and was caught by a diving Gayle at point. Pawan Negi, elevated to No. 6, to hit the legspinner and left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdullah off their line was dismissed for 6 off 12 and Carlos Brathwaite guided his second ball to point. Daredevils lost five wickets for 36 runs and lurched from 71 for 2 in the 10th over to 107 for 7 in the 17th. A recovery from there was just too much of an ask.

Qualifier 1 - Gujarat Lions v RCB

Gujarat Lions 158 (20/20 ov)
RCB 159/6 (18.2/20 ov)
Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 4 wickets (with 10 balls remaining)

Tumbling wickets. A high but not out-of-reach asking rate. One specialist batsman at the crease, with only the lower order for company. An atypically dry and grippy pitch provided the conditions for such a situation - usually more common in 50-overs cricket than in T20 - to arise in the first Qualifier of IPL 2016. AB de Villiers was the specialist batsman, and when Iqbal Abdulla joined him in the 10th over of Royal Challengers Bangalore's chase of 159, they needed 91 to win off 62 balls with four wickets in hand.

The Chinnaswamy surface - still good to bat on, but slower than usual - had torn up the script that the match had been expected to follow. There was no uncontrollable torrent of run scoring from either set of top-order batsmen. Gujarat Lions were 9 for 3 after being sent in. Then in the chase, Royal Challengers lost Virat Kohli for a duck and slipped to 29 for 5. Then, when Ravindra Jadeja had Stuart Binny lbw sweeping - though replays showed ball hitting pad marginally outside off stump - they were 68 for 6.

It began drizzling soon after Abdulla's entrance, with Royal Challengers needing 63 from 36 balls. De Villiers was at the non-striker's end. Abdulla, on 8 off 14, slashed at a gentle, back-of-a-length ball from Dwayne Smith, and missed. Kohli - who had struggled to contain his temper right through the game - gestured angrily from the dugout, telling Abdulla to take a single and give de Villiers the strike.

Abdulla steered the next ball to deep point. De Villiers, on 47, faced Smith now. He stepped down the pitch, Smith shortened his length, and a tennis-style flat-bat hit flew to the straight boundary. The next ball was fuller, and de Villiers miscued his lofted hit, skewing it high, with the outside half of his bat. It was a rare mis-hit in an innings of surface-defying fluency. It may have been caught at long-off in a bigger ground, but it cleared the leaping Aaron Finch in Bangalore.

It seemed like a sign. This would be de Villiers' day. On strike to the first ball of the next over, he shuffled across to off stump even before Shadab Jakati released his left-arm dart. Having covered the line, he quickly sunk to one knee and swung the ball away over the square leg boundary. When Abdulla swatted a mis-hit six of his own later in the over, Royal Challengers had the final in their sights, needing only 35 off 25. They got home with 10 balls left to play, with de Villiers having just enough time to unfurl a couple more spectacular shots, the pick of them a reverse-sweep off a Praveen Kumar delivery pitching outside leg stump.

Abdulla played a key role with the ball too, dismissing Brendon McCullum and Aaron Finch in the second over of Lions' innings after Kohli had sent them in. Kohli may have used his left-arm spinner that early simply because two right-handers were opening for Lions, and two left-handers were waiting in the middle order, but he may also have observed that the pitch was unusually dry.

Whatever the case, he had extra cover on the rope and mid-off in the circle for McCullum, and the charging New Zealander failed to reach the pitch of the ball, and sharp turn forced him to slice wider than intended, into the hands of the fielder on the boundary. Finch closed his bat-face too early three balls later, and the ball popped up to slip. When Shane Watson bounced Raina out in the fourth over, Lions were 9 for 3, sinking even before the contest had really begun.

Dwayne Smith had swapped batting slots with Finch in Lions' last game against Mumbai Indians, and had looked in fluent touch while making a calm, unbeaten 37 to steer them home in a chase of 173. He struck the ball just as well here, in a more difficult situation, picking up a pair of boundaries off Abdulla early in his innings, sitting back and pouncing when he dropped marginally short, and following up with a hooked six off Chris Jordan.

But the effect of a poor Powerplay - Gujarat only made 23 in that period - rippled through the rest of their innings. Lions' run rate remained under six an over even after Smith and Dinesh Karthik plundered 16 off the 10th, bowled by Yuzvendra Chahal. It was still under seven when they tonked Abdulla for 17 in the 13thover. Karthik fell in the 14th, middling an attempted fine-leg scoop onto his leg stump, Ravindra Jadeja followed in the 16th, and Smith - having hit two more leg-side sixes in that time - holed out in the 18th.

The runs still kept coming, Watson conceding 21 and picking up two wickets in an incident-packed 19th, and Lions scored 100 in their last 10 overs.

A total of 158 still looked inadequate given Royal Challengers' batting strength, but Dhawal Kulkarni had run a battering ram through their top order within four overs of the chase. First, Kohli played on for a duck, trying to cut without moving his feet. Then Gayle, pushed back with a series of short balls, swung across the line of a slower ball and missed. Then came an all-format jaffa that swerved away from just short of a good length and induced KL Rahul to edge to slip.

Jadeja then got in the act, getting the ball to stop on Watson, who swatted across the line too soon. And when Sachin Baby slapped Kulkarni straight to short cover, Royal Challengers were gasping for air, the Powerplay not yet done. But they still had de Villiers.

Eliminator

Sunrisers Hyderabad 162/8 (20/20 ov)
Kolkata Knight Riders 140/8 (20/20 ov)
Sunrisers Hyderabad won by 22 runs

Three teams had defended successfully in five games on slow Feroz Shah Kotla surfaces this season. There was no reason why Sunrisers Hyderabad, with one of the best bowling attacks in the competition despite Ashish Nehra's absence, couldn't defend 163 in a knockout game. Kolkata Knight Riders, meanwhile, had won six out of their eight games chasing. This was therefore an even contest on a surface of the kind Knight Riders have thrived on back home in Kolkata. But the loss of early wickets on the face of some disciplined bowling and outstanding fielding by Surisers derailed the two-time champions. Sunrisers, by virtue of a 22-run win, setup a clash with Gujarat Lions in Qualifier-2 at the same venue on Friday.

It wasn't a night of manic six-hitting or breathtaking batting by any stretch, but Yuvraj Singh's 30-ball 44 had all the elements that made him a feared limited-overs batsman once upon a time. Yet the effort that underlined his importance on Wednesday was a direct hit from backward point to send back Colin Munro early in Knight Riders' chase to induce a hint of panic. An effort of that kind automatically lifted a unit that applied pressure courtesy David Warner's tactful bowling changes to escalate the asking rate. Bhuvneshwar Kumar then pulled off a stunner at deep midwicket to dismiss the in-form Yusuf Pathan to further dent Knight Riders. At 69 for 4 in the 11th over, they were firmly behind in the game.

A no-holds-barred contest then came alive as Manish Pandey and Suryakumar Yadav counter-punched, their 46-run stand, laced with unorthodoxy, caused a few flutters in the Sunrisers camp, but there was always the danger of them perishing in the quest for one big hit too many. Suryakumar, who was reprieved in the 15th over by Mustafizur Rahman at third man, couldn't kick on, and miscued a slog to Shikhar Dhawan in the next over to leave Knight Riders needing 47 off 24.

Warner immediately summoned his trump card Mustafizur for the first of his two remaining overs, and he responded by conceding just eight. With no option but to go for hell or high water, Pandey kept swinging, one of which found Deepak Hooda at long-on. His dismissal on 36 brought about an air of inevitability to the chase as Bhuvneshwar, who finished with 3 for 19, followed the dismissal by spearing in yorkers and full-length deliveries which the batsmen couldn't get underneath. It was reduced to a game of hit and miss from there on, much like it was in the first half when Yusuf Pathan an Morne Morkel had Sunrisers, who were sent in, struggling for early momentum.

Dhawan's early dismissal forced Warner to tread cautiously. He scored his first boundary off his 10th delivery, but his methods deviated from the usual. The muscular hits were replaced with drives and dabs behind the wicket. He was reprieved on 10 when Yusuf put down a difficult chance off his own bowling in the fifth over, but he would only go on to add 18 more.

By squeezing out three bonus overs from Yusuf in the Powerplay, Gambhir ensured there was enough bowling arsenal to quell Sunrisers in the middle overs. They also limited Warner's off-side strokeplay by sticking to tight lines. The first six was hit by Henriques, when he pulled Yusuf towards deep midwicket to signal Sunrisers' move; the first six overs, four of which were bowled by the spinners, produced 43.

Kuldeep Yadav introduced in the eighth over was hard to pick. As well as they did to rotate strike, the pair found boundary scoring difficult, as a three-over period after the first six brought just one boundary. The pressure started to tell, and Kuldeep reaped the rewards as his double strike stunted Sunrisers in the 10th over. After taking a skier off his own bowling to send back Henriques, who attempted an across-the-line swipe, he clean bowled Warner with a wrong'un that beat his powerful sweep. At 71 for 3 at the halfway mark, Sunrisers had to start afresh.

Yuvraj walked out to a slip and silly point, and was put through an examination against Narine's wily variations. Intent on attacking the bowlers, he took apart Kuldeep with two lofted hits - one of which made clean connection as the swagger that has made brief appearances in recent times, was back to give Sunrisers hope. He raced to 18 off 12. When he starts off in that fashion, especially on a ground with short boundaries, it points to ominous signs.

Hooda was unfazed by the fuss at the other end; deep midwicket being his preferred area of attack as he slogged two superbly-timed sixes, but his run-out after a mix-up with Yuvraj in the 16th over - Kuldeep effected a direct hit at the bowler's end from mid-off - stalled Sunrisers' upswing yet again.

By then, Yuvraj was in a belligerent mood as he picked three leg-side boundaries before a premeditated move against Jason Holder resulted in his middle stump being flattened. Bipul Sharma's two muscular hits for six gave them momentum going into the break, which they rode to derail the chasing monsters to ensure IPL 2016 will have a new champion.

Qualifier 2

Gujarat Lions 162/7 (20/20 ov)
Sunrisers Hyderabad 163/6 (19.2/20 ov)

Sunrisers Hyderabad won by 4 wickets (with 4 balls remaining)

An unbeaten 58-ball 93 from David Warner, his eighth half-century of the season, steered Sunrisers Hyderabad through a tense chase against Gujarat Lions and into their maiden IPL final. Warner batted through a chase of 163 even as Lions chipped away at the wickets, and found a calm lower-order ally in Bipul Sharma at a critical juncture when Sunrisers needed 46 from 25 balls, with four wickets in hand.

Bipul has excellent first-class numbers for an allrounder - a batting average of 43.45, a bowling average of 28.98 - and is perhaps more of a batsman than a bowler at that level: he has six hundreds and nine half-centuries in 38 matches, but only 76 wickets and two five-fors. He has had more opportunity to bowl his left-arm spin rather than bat in his IPL career, though he showed his ball-striking ability in the Eliminator, hitting two clean sixes off Morne Morkel in the final over of Sunrisers' innings.

Warner wasn't in a good mood when Bipul came to the crease. He had addressed angry words to Tom Moody, the Sunrisers coach, who had come out with drinks and instructions at the fall of the sixth wicket. Warner was ostensibly displeased with the way Naman Ojha had got out, taking on Dwayne Bravo and picking out the fielder at deep midwicket.

Bipul quickly gave Warner reason to trust him, taking the safe but clever option against Bhuvneshwar Kumar's yorker, shuffling across to clip into the deep-set leg side field, picking up two twos in three balls in this manner. In between, Bhuvneshwar bowled a half-volley, and Bipul lofted it for a straight six. Dhawal Kulkarni began the next over with four wide yorkers, conceding only one run from them. But then, with Sunrisers needing 32 from 14, Bipul walked across his stumps, and scooped a full-toss over the square leg boundary.

Bravo began his final over with figures of 3-0-13-2. He and the left-arm wristspinner Shivil Kaushik had been responsible for a mid-innings slump that had seen Sunrisers go from 61 for 2 in eight overs to 91 for 5 in 13. But now the momentum was with Sunrisers, and Warner confirmed it in the classic T20 manner - an attempted extra-cover loft that ended up streaking to the third man boundary. Another four from Warner - a surgically placed slap past point that was better representative of his innings - and another big six from Bipul down the ground left Sunrisers needing only five to win off the last over. Warner only needed two balls.

Lions probably knew even before the match that Warner would be their biggest obstacle, and he reinforced that feeling with a boundary off the very first ball of the chase, a sweetly timed clip to the square leg boundary off Praveen Kumar. But Lions soon discovered they didn't necessarily have to go through Warner to win; they could go around him. The first two wickets were gifts - Shikhar Dhawan went for a silly run in the second over and paid the price; Moises Henriques slapped a short, wide ball straight to cover. Yuvraj Singh tried to hit his way out of the pressure of seven dots in 12 balls, and holed out to long-off.

Bravo, mixing up his pace expertly, and Kaushik, not turning the ball all that much but turning it both ways from a length just beyond the reach of a safe front-foot hit, intensified the pressure on Sunrisers, consuming Deepak Hooda and Ben Cutting in the process. When Ojha came to the crease, Sunrisers needed 79 from 45.

Warner kept Sunrisers in the hunt, swinging the last ball of Kaushik's spell for a leg-side six and taking heavy toll of the 15th over, bowled by Dwayne Smith, flat-batting a short ball for a six over long-off and squeezing a wide yorker past point for four. Ojha joined in with a pulled six off the last ball, taking the tally from that over to 19, and bringing the equation down to 47 from 30. A sensational 16th over from Bravo, conceding only two and picking up Ojha's wicket, seemed to swing it back Lions' way, but Warner and Bipul had the final word.

Sunrisers suffered a blow even before a ball had been bowled, with Mustafizur Rahman ruled out with a hamstring injury. Trent Boult came into the side and made an immediate impact, catching Eklavya Dwivedi at third man to leave Lions 7 for 1 at the end of the first over. Changing Brendon McCullum's opening partner had not made any difference to Lions, whose last four opening partnerships had yielded 9, 0, 0 and 2.

Boult then dismissed Suresh Raina in the fourth over, lbw playing across the line, and Lions were 19 for 2. There was little in the pitch to really bother the batsmen, but Lions' progress was slow, with McCullum playing a strange innings, with a few fierce boundary hits, a number of dots arising from shots hit straight to fielders in the ring, and a general struggle for rhythm. Dinesh Karthik looked in good touch, piercing the gap between extra cover and mid-off with a sweet drive off Boult and shuffling across to sweep an off-stump ball from Bipul wide of short fine leg. But he was run out immediately after hitting Bipul for six in the ninth over, a Boult direct hit finding him short after a mix-up with McCullum.

When McCullum picked out sweeper cover in the 12th over and fell for a 29-ball 32, Lions were 81 for 4. It became 83 for 5 when Smith slapped Ben Cutting straight to deep point in the next over. Lions were tottering.

But Aaron Finch, demoted to No. 5, was already flowing, having hit Barinder Sran for a four and a massive six over long-off. He plundered two sixes and a four off Moises Henriques in the 14th over to take Lions to 100, and uppercut and drove Boult for successive fours in the 15th. He fell in the 18th, for 50 off 32, but Bravo carried the momentum forward, beating deep point - first to his right and then to his left - off successive Boult deliveries in the 19th. Lions finished on 162. Sunrisers had defended the same total, on the same ground, in their Eliminator. Lions couldn't quite give them a taste of their own medicine.

Final

Sunrisers Hyderabad 208/7 (20/20 ov)
RCB 200/7 (20/20 ov)

Sunrisers Hyderabad won by 8 runs

Before this season, Sunrisers Hyderabad had made it to the playoffs only once in IPL history, in 2013. On the biggest stage, they sent out a statement of intent by opting to bat against Royal Challengers Bangalore at a venue where tall scores have been chased down nonchalantly. David Warner, their talismanic leader, walked the talk and top-scored with a 38-ball 69, before Ben Cutting lent the finishing touches with an unbeaten 15-ball 39 to help them post 208 for 7, which proved to be out of reach for Royal Challengers. Sunrisers clinched their maiden title with an eight-run win over the hosts at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium

The hosts had breached the 200-mark three times previously at home this season and there was no reason why they could not do so again on Sunday, except the pressure of chasing in a final. Not for Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli, though, as the opening pair wiped 114 in 10.3 overs. Gayle alone contributed 76, with four fours and eight sixes. The tournament's best bowling attack was under pressure, but they clinically applied the brakes after Gayle's wicket.

With or without Royal Challengers' famous top three, 47 off 24 balls was still within the realms of possibility. Shane Watson, Stuart Binny and Sachin Baby are capable of striking big, but they had to contend with two threats. Mustafizur Rahman's off-cutters, delivered with unfailing accuracy after a rough second over in which he was taken apart by Kohli, marked his significance in a team that has empowered its bowlers. The reward for his persistence was the wicket of Watson, who miscued a slog to cover. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the captain's go-to bowler, then delivered four successive yorkers in the 18th over to snuff out the game, leaving the hosts a target of 30 off the last two overs. Then, with 18 to defend off the final over, he once again held his composure to deliver the knockout blow.

Shane Watson's rare off day with the ball cost Royal Challengers big. He fed the batsmen an assortment of hittable deliveries - short, wide and full - to concede 61 off four wicketless overs, the last of which was also the final over of the innings, which went for 24.

But Royal Challengers had their big guns. Gayle announced proudly that he was capable of taking the match away single-handedly, even before Kohli and AB de Villiers could take off. With only one fifty in nine innings prior to the final, there were question marks over his efficiency in the shortest format. Seemingly unperturbed by all the talk, he launched a savage attack.

Gayle's gung-ho approach allowed Kohli to overcome a patchy start where he showed signs of desperation. After facing 18 balls for one four, which came off a thick outside edge, he launched himself with an inside-out hit over the infield that nearly carried to a diving Warner at long-off. Gayle then finished that over with two sixes and a four raised Royal Challengers' 100 in nine overs. With the asking rate under ten runs an over for the first time in the chase, there was a hint of panic in the Sunrisers ranks.

In a bid to stop the run flow, Warner reintroduced his trump card, the returning Mustafizur Rahman for his second over. But the cutters that had yielded considerable success until that point, were first squeezed past cover for four, and followed by a lofted stroke over long-off for six. Well ahead of the rate, Gayle then let his experience speak by tactful rotation of strike to give Royal Challengers one foot in the door. The hosts were cruising high and happy, until there was turbulence.

Gayle, Kohli and de Villiers fell in the space of 20 deliveries as Royal Challengers slipped to 148 for 3. They needed 61 off 37. They were on a freefall and needed Watson to cover up for his lapses with the ball. There were early signs when he swatted Moises Henriques for six over long-on, but his dismissal in the 17th over, immediately after KL Rahul's wicket to Cutting, led to a capitulation the hosts could not recover from, as Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mustafizur continued with their excellent control in the end overs.

The platform for the win was set by Warner, who unfailingly delivered like a machine yet again. With Kohli employing a deep point to block the cuts, the Sunrisers captain brought out the straight lofted hits. When the ball was not in his half, he was happy to back away to open up the off side or carve the ball behind square. The result was eight fours and three sixes for his ninth fifty of the tournament, and he ended as the second-highest run-scorer.

But the wicket did little to stem the run flow. The impact of Warner's strokeplay meant Yuzvendra Chahal tried to bowl more floaters than legspinners, which skidded to give the batsmen enough hitting room. Warner then brought out the cut shots, raising his fifty off just 24 balls to make it the joint-fastest half-century in an IPL final. As his innings progressed, he was not afraid to walk across the stumps; the manner in which he used the depth of the crease to get underneath the full deliveries was a mark of how he calculated his sustained attack.

He benefitted by Yuvraj Singh's enterprise at the other end. After starting off with a punchy off drive, Yuvraj quickly brought out the disdainful flick for six behind square. The swagger, the free flow and the bat swing was back, and it pointed to ominous signs for Royal Challengers. With four fours and two sixes, he had raced to 38, and looked set to make up for Warner's dismissal, until he was out to Chris Jordan to bring a brief lull to proceedings, before Cutting teed off. As bowler after bowler missed his mark, Cutting stayed deep in the crease to clobber the low full-tosses and half-volleys alike. It proved to be a match-turning over in hindsight for Royal Challengers, who were pipped at the post for the third time in the final.

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