IPL 2013 Match 31 RCB v Pune Warriors

Chris Gayle 175* (66b), RCB 264 for 3

RCB 263/5 (20/20 ov)

Pune Warriors 133/9 (20.0/20 ov)

Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 130 runs

Chris Gayle can shatter dreams. Ask Ishwar Pandey, the highest wicket-taker in this year's Ranji Trophy who got smashed for 21 in his first over this IPL. Ask Mitchell Marsh, whose decent run with the ball this IPL was blown out of his memory with first over going for 28. Ask Aaron Finch, the third captain for Pune Warriors this season who bowled an over hoping to restrict Gayle but didn't bowl again after being blasted for 29. Ask Ali Murtaza, a specialist left-arm spinner thrown into the deep end in his first game this season to be hammered for 28 in his over.

The fastest hundred in T20 history was built on the misery of others, most notably a struggling franchise whose owners watched shell-shocked at their team's bowlers being taken apart with a ruthlessness only a game of Cricket '97 powered with cheat codes could have matched.

The destruction inflicted on the Warriors bowlers broke a series of records. Gayle matched the fastest half-century in the format, brought off 17 balls; made the highest individual T20 score (175 not out); struck the most sixes by a batsman in a T20 innings (17); helped Royal Challengers Bangalore hit the most sixes for a team in a T20 innings (21) and reach the highest total in T20 cricket (263). The helplessness of the Warriors players was writ large on their faces. Luke Wright smiled with trepidation when Virat Kohli took a single to give Gayle the strike off his bowling, Yuvraj just shook his head as he watched one ball after another sail over the boundary rope and pretended to snatch Gayle's bat at the end of the innings as he went over to congratulate him.
 

The only interruption to Gayle's effort was a 33-minute rain interval. He had warmed up before that with two boundaries off Pandey, and proceeded to smack him for three more in the same over after the rain relented. Unlike some of his innings this season where he was relatively restrained at the start, he came out prepared to attack from the outset today. It helped that Warriors bowled to him on a length, allowing him to hit through the line and straight, with minimum effort that masked the immense power behind his strokes that cleared the boundary with ease. At least two cleared the roof, the shot that brought up his century hit it and rebounded back into the lower tiers.

 

That Gayle was not going to hold himself back, having taken 29 off the fifth over from Marsh, was evident in his approach to spin when Murtaza was brought on in the seventh over. Gayle decided to target the spinner with the turn, slog-sweeping and then smashing him flat for two sixes, then making Finch regret the move to bring himself on, hammering him for four sixes, all on the on-side. A rare yorker outside off from Ashok Dinda that Gayle missed was perhaps the only moral victory he afforded Warriors before reaching his century, a landmark he celebrated with a punch of the gloves then kneeling down and raising his arms.

 

Murtaza may just have felt he could slip in a relatively quiet over when Gayle had mellowed down, somewhat, after reaching his ton, but Gayle drove an axe into the bowler's scars. He punished Murtuza for three more sixes in a 28-run over, as Royal Challengers began another phase of domination in their innings after a moment's breather - the last six overs produced 85 runs. 

 

Gayle's innings was supported ably by opener Tillakaratne Dilshan, who was part of a 167-run opening stand, an IPL record, during which he only made 33. He quickly ceded floor to Gayle and played some attractive, text-book shots through point and down the ground. Unlike Dilshan at the start, AB de Villiers was the dominant partner in Warriors' ruin at the death, thrashing 31 in just eight balls in a stand worth 44.

 

Each played their role in helping Gayle guide the innings, which he did with a big smile, good-hearted banter with the Warriors fielders during the carnage, an animated reaction when he reached his century - all a contrast to a man who made his first international appearance against India in Toronto in 1999, when it seemed hard to imagine a debutant as shy as him would one day become one of the most colourful characters on a cricket field.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Saurabh Tiwary, 6 KB Arun Karthik (wk), 7 Ravi Rampaul, 8 R Vinay Kumar, 9 Murali Kartik, 10 RP Singh, 11 Jaidev Unadkat.
 

Pune Warriors: 1 Robin Uthappa (wk), 2 Aaron Finch (capt), 3 Yuvraj Singh, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Luke Wright, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Mithun Manhas, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Ishwar Pandey, 10 Ali Murtaza, 11 Ashok Dinda.

IPL 2013 Match 30 RR v CSK

Chennai Super Kings 186 for 5 (Hussey 88, Raina 51, Faulkner 3-20) beat Rajasthan Royals 185 for 4 (Watson 101, Binny 36*, Ashwin 2-20) by five wickets
Chennai Super Kings have more match-turning batsmen than any other side in the tournament, and that was on display yet again as they hunted down 186 against Rajasthan Royals.

Michael Hussey, who made the slowest 40-plus score in the IPL in the previous match, showed off his versatility with a boundary-filled 88, the out-of-form Suresh Raina powered his way to a half-century, MS Dhoni narrowed the gap to the target though he couldn't close out the game this time, and it was left to Dwayne Bravo to pound a final-over six and deliver victory, before breaking out into a joyous chukka chukka dance.

The endless depth in Super Kings' batting meant that Shane Watson's typically power-packed century, the first hundred of the season, and James Faulkner's pinpoint death bowling was not enough for the perennial underdogs Rajasthan Royals to pull off another upset.

 

Royals have won all 15 matches in which they have had to defend more than 162, but once the Super Kings chase began, Royals never looked outright favourites. Ajit Chandila continued to have success with his seemingly harmless and variation-less offspin bowling, dismissing M Vijay cheaply, but Hussey began with a barrage of boundaries, including a six over midwicket to ensure Super Kings kept pace. It was a shot he used often and effectively as he shed his usual role of anchor, and turned into an aggressor.

 

Raina was no slouch either, playing two of his trademark strokes - the slog over midwicket and the inside-out lofted hit over extra cover - as the pair, helped by some erratic bowling, powered Super Kings past 100 in the 10th over.

 

Faulkner gave Royals some hope by getting Raina lbw, but with Cooper bowling too many wide deliveries that were easily guided by Hussey to behind backward point for four, and the finishing expert, Dhoni, in the middle, Super Kings were still ahead.

 

A spot-on direct-hit from Dravid to send back Hussey renewed Royals' fight, before Faulkner bowled two superb death overs, getting rid of Ravindra Jadeja for a duck, and then dismissing Dhoni caught at long-on. It was down to Bravo to score 11 off the final over, off Watson who has only recently re-started bowling. Watson missed the length on one and was drilled over sweeper cover for six to virtually kill off the contest.

 

It was a bittersweet match for Watson who had been in imperious touch earlier. The carnage started in earnest from the third over, as he coolly launched Mohit Sharma's first delivery over the bowler's head for six. Chris Morris was helped over deep backward square leg for six, the giant West Indian fast bowler Jason Holder proved ineffective on debut and by the end of the seventh, Royals had whooshed to 71.

 

The over which defined the innings was the 17th, bowled by Jadeja. The first ball was a hit-me full toss that was clobbered over long-on for six. Jadeja, already taken for 27 in his first two overs, was flustered by the big hitting, and sprayed the next ball miles outside off stump. It was followed up by another full toss that was deposited for six, and another shocking wide, several metres outside off.

 

Watson ended that over on 99, and brought up the first hundred of the season with a gentle nudge behind square leg in the next over. With Stuart Binny regularly scything the ball over the off side, Royals ran up what seemed a terrific total of 185. Not against Super Kings.

 

Chennai Super Kings: 1 M Vijay, 2 Michael Hussey, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 S Badrinath, 5 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Dwayne Bravo, 8 Chris Morris, 9 R Ashwin, 10 Jason Holder, 11 Mohit Sharma

 

Rajasthan Royals: 1 Shane Watson, 2 Ajinkya Rahane, 3 Rahul Dravid (capt), 4 Stuart Binny, 5 Brad Hodge, 6 Dishant Yagnik (wk), 7 James Faulkner, 8 Kevon Cooper, 9 Rahul Shukla, 10 Ajit Chandila, 11 Siddharth Trivedi

IPL 2013 Match 29 Kings XI Punjab v Pune Warriors

Kings XI Punjab 186 for 3 (Miller 80*, Mandeep 77*) beat Pune Warriors 185 for 4 (Finch 64) by 7 wickets

Luke Wright went from hero to villain in the space of 100 minutes. His cameo of 34 off 10 balls helped Pune Warriors post 185, but in the face of an assault from David Miller and sensible support from Mandeep Singh, Wright blinked and failed to defend 15 in the last over. Miller finished it off with two lethal sixes, but don't forget how Mandeep kept running back to the danger end to keep Miller on strike.
 

Both stayed unbeaten, Miller on 80 off 41 and Mandeep on 77 off 58. Mandeep's was the first fifty for any Kings XI batsman this IPL.

 

The fielding all around was poor, but the batting and bowling towards the end were high quality under pressure, in sharp contrast to some of the inexplicable thrillers earlier in the tournament. Despite a patchy appearance, this was a true surface where the ball came on, and it made for good stroke-play. Both Mandeep and Miller needed that in abundance after Kings XI Punjab had been 5 for 2 in the chase of 186, a result of shoddy fielding and bowling from Kings XI.

 

Adam Gilchrist dropped a sitter from Warriors' third captain of the season, Aaron Finch, and saw him add 63 more off 38. Misfields from Kings XI punctuated the rest of the innings, and they added length bowling in the end to their list of mistakes. First Yuvraj Singh, and then, sensationally, Wright took full toll of that. Wright hit the first six balls he faced for fours. Five of them were poorly pitched, and the sixth, a yorker, poorly fielded.

 

Gilchrist's horror day continued when he edged a cut in the first over. Ajantha Mendis, another one of Warriors' inclusions, worked immediately as he got an lbw verdict against Azhar Mahmood with the first ball he bowled. However, Mandeep and Manan Vohra, two of the Kings XI's young Indian batsmen, started brightly, and the way they timed the ball you knew it wasn't going to be a stroll for Warriors.

 

Yuvraj came on to break that partnership, and Miller walked in with close to 10 an over required for a duration of more than 13 overs. They did it the difficult way. No six sixes or six fours, but through a boundary every over, and some hard running between the wickets. Seven continuous overs starting with the 10th went for at least a boundary; only one of them went for two. The turnaround began with Miller hitting Yuvraj over long-on in the 10th over, and was at its most destructive when Miller hit Yuvraj's replacement, Mendis, for six and four in the 12th.

 

That boundary streak ended in the 17th over when Ashok Dinda nearly got six yorkers in. After only eight runs - that too thanks to the running - came off it, the asking rate finally crossed 12. With 37 required, Finch took the risk, and asked Bhuvneshwar Kumar to bowl his last over. Bhuvneshwar responded superbly. He did almost everything right, followed the batsman when he moved in the crease, got the yorkers in, kept it down to just four off the first five balls.

 

Then misfortune struck. Mandeep edged the last ball through third man for four. Still, the last two overs had swung the game in Warriors' favour, and 29 were required off the last two. Mandeep was tiring, and had lost all his timing. It was going to be down to Miller now. The pressure was high, and the bowling had been good. Just then, though, Dinda missed his yorker twice in a row, and Miller took that small widnow off opportunity and placed both the full tosses for fours.

 

Dinda came back well, but let himself down by not collecting a throw that would have run Miller out by a long distance. It was still Warriors' game to lose with 18 required off seven balls. And how they lost it.

 

Dinda finished his over off well, but a misfiled from Rahul Sharma at third man not only allowed Kings XI a bonus run, but kept Miller on strike for the start of the final over. All his cards played out, Finch had to go back to Wright, who got away with a short ball first up, and bowled a good yorker to follow. Fourteen off four.

 

The field was now set for the wide yorker, but Wright got it wrong. He bowled a full bunger in Miller' swinging range, and once again Miller took that opportunity with a six over long-off. Wright came back with a low full toss, which Miller couldn't get under. Single. Think again. Mandeep turned that certain one into two, and snatched away whatever little advantage the bowling side might have had.

 

With six required off two, Wright needed to get Miller off strike, but he bowled another full toss, which Miller send crashing over long-off again.

Toss: For Pune Warriors, change is the only constant. With original captain Angelo Mathews dropped and Ross Taylor still out, Aaron Finch became the third man this season to win the thorny crown, and lost the toss. It didn't make much difference because Warriors would have batted first anyway, and Adam Gilchrist also put them in.

Kings XI Punjab were a picture of stability in comparison with Warriors, making only two changes. Paul Valthaty and Dimitri Mascarenhas went out, making way for David Miller and Parvinder Awana.

 

Now on to Warriors' new-look XI. Apart from Mathews, Mitchell Marsh, Manish Pandey and T Suman were left out. Luke Wright and Ajantha Mednis were the two foreigners coming in, and Yuvraj Singh was fit to play at what is otherwise his home ground. Ranji veteran Mithun Manhas got a game too.

 

Kings XI Punjab 1 Mandeep Singh, 2 Adam Gilchrist (capt. & wk), 3 David Miller, 4 David Hussey, 5 Piyush Chawla, 6 Gurkeerat Singh, 7 Azhar Mahmood, 8 Manpreet Gony, 9 Manan Vohra, 10 Parvinder Awana, 11 Praveen Kumar

 

Pune Warriors 1 Robin Uthappa (wk), 2 Aaron Finch (capt.), 3 Yuvraj Singh, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Luke Wright, 6 Mithun Manhas, 7 Abhishek Nayar, 8 Ajantha Mendis, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Rahul Sharma, 11 Ashok Dinda

IPL 2013 Match 28 Delhi Daredevils v Mumbai Indians

Delhi Daredevils 165 for 1 (Sehwag 95*, Jayawardene 59) beat Mumbai Indians 161 for 4 (Rohit Sharma 73, Tendulkar 54) by 9 wickets On a hot Sunday afternoon, two bowling attacks got into a contest of who could get worse. Mumbai Indians outdid their Delhi Daredevils counterparts by a comfortable margin, and handed Daredevils their first win in seven attempts this season.    To give credit where it's due, Daredevils were ordinary for a much shorter duration. They only let things go after they had reduced Mumbai to 24 in six overs, giving Rohit Sharma full toss after full toss to deposit into the stands, and conceding 161 runs.   Mumbai's Jasprit Bumrah and Munaf Patel, though, were poor from the start, letting the hitherto struggling Virender Sehwag and Mahela Jayawardene run away with the chase after which the duo regained their touch too.   The match couldn't have started more differently. After Mumbai finally split the faltering box-office opening combination of Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting, Daredevils' left-arm bowlers stifled the top order on a slow pitch. Finally included, Roelof van der Merwe made the biggest difference, with the wicket of Dwayne Smith in the third over.   Everything was going in Daredevils' favour. They have got the danger man Dinesh Karthik with a deflection from Umesh Yadav in his follow-through, and Tendulkar was struggling to strike at a run a ball.   They somehow took Mumbai to 57 for 2 in 10 overs, but then the deluge started. Andre Russell, for some reason replacing Morne Morkel, began with a full toss for Rohit to hit a six. In the next over, Shahbaz Nadeem dropped Tendulkar.    In between the odd classy shot and heave, Roht kept getting his loose balls. In all he was given five full tosses, off which he scored 20 runs and was holed out on the last. These were not yorkers gone wrong, these were knee-high full bungers. Around more ordinary fielding, Mumbai kept prospering, but this was nothing compared to what was to follow.   Bumrah, of the strange action, might have been rescued by dodgy umpiring in the previous match he played, but his angle and his gentle pace and length bowling was fodder for the batsmen this time around. His first over finished, Bumrah went to short fine leg to drop Sehwag off Munaf Patel.    It shouldn't take away from how poor the delivery was: short, down the leg side, with the fine leg up in the circle.    Munaf didn't stop doing that in his first, two-over spell, and was consistently picked away on the leg side past the short fine leg. While Bumrah paid for that wide angle, Munaf was penalised for not bowling to his fields, and their next overs yielded 17 each. At 50 for 0 after five overs, these two had smelled blood, and you don't let Sehwag and Jayawardene smell blood. Why didn't I get such bowling when I was opening, David Warner would have thought in the dugout.   Matching each other shot for shot now, they carved through some of the better bowling, whipping Lasith Malinga, reverse-sweeping Harbhajan Singh, delighting the home crowd that has refused to stay away despite all the losses, becoming only the third combination in IPL to have registered two hundred-run opening stands. What chance did Dwayne Smith stand? In his second over, the 10th of the chase, Smith was carved away for four by Sehwag and paddled away for a six by Jayawardene.   And that six, coming as early as it did, brought the asking rate down to a run a ball. No collapse, fashionable as it might be, followed, and the remaining 53 were got in just 45 balls.   Toss Mumbai Indians chose to bat v Delhi Daredevils

The Delhi crowd went up in a huge cheer as soon as the opposition, Mumbai Indians, won the toss. The reason was obvious: on a hot day and on a flat pitch, there was no way the team winning the toss was going to field. Which meant a high chance that Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting would kick off the game.

 

There were changes aplenty in both sides who are coming off huge losses by 80-plus runs. Dwayne Smith, Munaf Patel and Jasprit Bumrah replaced Mitchell Johnson, Pragyan Ojha and Rishi Dhawan for Mumbai.

 

Delhi Daredevils finally gave Roelof van der Merwe a game, and it took an injury to Jeevan Mendis for it to happen. Venugopal Rao came in for the injured Manprit Juneja. They also left out Morne Morkel for Andre Russell.

 

Mumbai Indians 1 Sachin Tendulkar, 2 Ricky Ponting (capt.), 3 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 4 Rohit Sharma, 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Ambati Rayudu, 7 Dwayne Smith, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Jasprit Bumrah, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Munaf Patel

 

Delhi Daredevils 1 David Warner, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Venugopal Rao, 4 Mahela Jayawardene (capt.), 5 Roelof van der Merwe, 6 Kedar Jadhav (wk), 7 Andre Russell, 8 Irfan Pathan, 9 Ajit Agarkar, 10 Shahbaz Nadeem, 11 Umesh Yadav

T20 Kenya v Netherlands

Kenya 114 for 3 (R Patel 46*, Obanda 28) beat Netherlands 113 (Ngoche 4-34, Odhiambo 2-15) by seven wickets

Shem Ngoche's four-wicket haul set up Kenya's convincing seven-wicket win over Netherlands in the T20 Quadrangular series in Windhoek on Saturday. 
 

Kenya immediately reaped the rewards of putting Netherlands into bat, as Nehemiah Odhiambo struck with the first ball of the match, taking a return catch to dismiss Netherlands wicketkeeper Wesley Barresi. The batting side never recovered from that start, losing wickets at regular intervals, and were dismissed for 113 in the 19th over. Ngoche was the most successful bowler, though he was expensive, picking up four wickets for 34 runs off four overs.

 

In reply, Kenya needed just 74 balls to achieve the target, as Alex Obanda, Collins Obuya and Rakep Patel guided the chase with useful partnerships. Obuya and Patel put on an unbeaten 69-run stand for the fourth wicket, with Patel contributing 46 to the stand. His innings, which came off 20 balls, included five sixes and two fours.

1st Test Day 4 Zimbabwe v Bangladesh

Zimbabwe 389 (Taylor 171, Waller 55) and 227 for 7 dec (Taylor 102*, Robiul 6-71) beat Bangladesh 134 (Jahurul 43, Jarvis 4-40, S Masakadza 4-32) and 147 (Cremer 4-4, Jarvis 3-75) by 335 runs

Zimbabwe lifted themselves above Bangladesh's international stature with the whopping 335-run win in the first Test in Harare. Brendan Taylor's twin centuries and skillful swing and seam bowling finished off the game inside four days, as Zimbabwe took a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

The game ended when Kyle Jarvis took a magnificent catch at deep fine-leg to give Graeme Cremer his fourth wicket, that of Robiul Islam, to bowl out Bangladesh for just 147.

 

Earlier in the day, Zimbabwe declared their second innings on 227 for 7, setting Bangladesh an improbable 483.

 

Bangladesh, a long-time rival at the bottom of the world rankings, brings out the best in Zimbabwe, who came into this series on the back of five consecutive Test defeats. This time, Zimbabwe were far ahead mentally as they used their familiarity with the conditions in Harare to mighty effect. It was a crushing loss for the visitors who are at the backend of a much better season, and it will set them back a few steps as they head into the second Test in a must-win situation.

 

Taylor made 171 and 102 not out in a Test match that, till date, has been his most prolific. He was almost a one-man show, especially in the second innings when one wrong shot from him could have given Bangladesh a sniff. Zimbabwe were 84 for 6 in the second innings, but Taylor took Graeme Cremer under his wing as they staved off a rampant Robiul Islam.

 

He broke several records on the way too. He became the first Zimbabwe captain to have scored two hundreds in a Test and also has the highest score for a Zimbabwe captain. He also beat his previous best of 117 in the first innings, and added the highest score against Bangladesh under his belt.

 

With the ball, Zimbabwe were led by the impressive Jarvis. It was a complete domination of the Bangladesh batsmen as he, Shingirai Masakadza and Keegan Meth kept the ball up and used excellent lines. Jarvis finished with figures of 7 for 115 in the match, doing justice to the hype around him. Masakadza took five wickets in the game while Meth kept one end quiet as the other two went about knocking the batsmen over.

 

Cremer too played a useful hand with the bat, scoring 42 and 43. These were vital runs, as he added two big seventh-wicket partnerships with Taylor that frustrated Bangladesh greatly. He ended the game with four cheap wickets, capping off a fine all-round display. If Bangladesh's first-innings collapse of 9 for 32 was bad enough, their second-innings showing was equally poor. Shahriar Nafees' extra keenness at the start of Test innings cost him yet again. After scoring two consecutive boundaries, he created a big gap between bat and pad, played all over a full delivery from Jarvis and lost his off stump.

 

After the lunch break, Ashraful hardly got out of his self-induced shell as he looked to drag the game for as long as possible. Mahmudullah at the other end went after the bowling, and soon enough, perished. Whether he had seen substitute Sean Williams stationed at deep square-leg cannot be a valid point for a batsman at this level of cricket, but his innocuous pull shot said much about his muddled mindset. His dismissal again triggered a collapse as Shakib Al Hasan and captain Mushfiqur Rahim fell soon after. Similar to the first innings, Shakib was caught at gully but this time he wasn't fending. He has a unique way of playing a late cut which he guides past gully and point, but this time he couldn't keep the Jarvis delivery down.

 

Luck too wasn't on Bangladesh's side as two of the dismissals showed. Jahurul Islam was given out caught behind when the ball had appeared to flick his shirt on the way to the wicketkeeper Richmond Mutumbami. A prolonged appeal from the slips created enough pressure on the umpire Tony Hill.

Mushfiqur was brilliantly caught at second slip by Taylor, who jumped to his right and grabbed it one-handed. The Bangladesh captain's dismal Test was in far contrast to his opposite number.

Mohammad Ashraful's dim-witted run-out close to the tea break rounded off a forgettable session for the visitors. Cremer spun one past Ashraful's bat and wicketkeeper Mutumbami's gloves, but Taylor saved the ball at slip. Ashraful, thinking it had beaten Taylor, went off for a run and was duly run out amid loud laughter among the Zimbabweans, as he wasted another opportunity and the home side basked in the glory of a great performance.

IPL 2013 Match 27 RCB V RR

Royal Challengers Bangalore 123 for 3 (Gayle 49*) beat Rajasthan Royals 117 (Dravid 35, RP Singh 3-13, Vinay Kumar 3-18) by 7 wickets

On high-scoring grounds, Rajasthan Royals depend a lot on Shane Watson, and as he has been doing with Australia in their unfortunate run, Watson let Royals down too. From the moment Watson was caught superbly by Murali Kartik for six off 9, Royals limped through their innings for an inadequate 117. Royal Challengers Bangalore threatened the fashionable, inexplicable collapse, but a restrained Chris Gayle took them through with more than two overs to spare.

R Vinay Kumar operated intelligently against the middle order lacking in firepower, and his strikes kept pegging Royals back. The big wicket of Watson, though, went to Ravi Rampaul. Watson had begun with a four first ball, but was getting uneasy with his inability to find gaps at the top of the innings. In the third over, he tried to bludgeon one, but Murali Kartik took a smart overhead catch at mid-off.

 

Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane couldn't hit out, and Rahane was consumed by that pressure. Stuart Binny hit a few lusty ones, eventually took the run-rate past a run a ball, in the ninth over, but was bounced out by Karnataka team-mate Vinay in the next over. Dravid, given a rousing welcome by the "home" crowd, struggled so much that his strike-rate reached 100 only in the 14th over. He had faced 27 balls by then.

 

The pressure of all those dots was all consuming. Dravid holed out to long-on. Brad Hodge fell to Vinay trying to run one down. RP Singh then had a good time with the lower order, and picked up three for himself.

 

Unscarred Royal Challengers - with Gayle, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers their top four - would have blasted their way through this target and boosted their net run rate. This side, though, has been turning regulation matches into thrillers of late, and didn't eliminate drama despite a 53-run opening stand in 6.4 overs.

 

Watson, bowling for the first time in 2013, delayed the finish with the wickets of Dilshan and de Villiers. Kohli fell to James Faulkner in between. At 64 for 3 after nine overs, Gayle put his head down, and in the company of Saurabh Tiwary, who was playing his first match of the season, chose the middle path between a lightning chase and a dramatic one despite all the we-want-six chants from the crowd. He did give them what they wanted, but only after scores were level, raising his arms to seemingly tell the crowd he can hit them but chose not to. It was good enough to put their team joint-top on the table with a game in hand.

IPL 2013 Match 26 KKR v CSK

Chennai Super Kings 124 for 6 (Hussey 40, Jadeja 36*) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 119 for 9 (Jadeja 3-20, Ashwin 2-21) by four wickets
Make them Sir jokes all you want, Ravindra Jadeja is arising again and again this Indian home season. After he took three wickets - mostly poor batting from Kolkata Knight Riders - to reduce the hosts to 119, he came out to see his team-mates had messed the paltry chase so much that they now needed 40 off 27. Just like that, he smoked sixes down the ground, fours through cover, and on a sluggish track where almost every batsman apart from Gautam Gambhir struggled, Jadeja took Super Kings home with an unbeaten 36 off 14. There were five balls still to go.

In his recent column, Gambhir spoke of how the turbulence inside resulting from how his side snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in their previous match was much stronger than the choppy flight he had. His team went on to prove him wrong, showing turbulence much greater than Gambhir can imagine, chaos much greater than the honking cars in Kolkata can create. Kolkata Knight Riders were going swimmingly at 46 for 0 when Gambhir fell, and they all managed enough panic over the next 10 overs to throw their wickets away to be reduced to 91 for 8. They fought hard from there, but it wasn't enough.

 

Super Kings will claim, and not without reason, that the panic was initiated by their superb fielding, but it wouldn't justify the ordinariness of Knight Riders' batting and the diabolicalness of their running. First the superb fielding, though.

 

In this clash of the last year's finalists, Knight Riders went without the man who won them that final, Manvinder Bisla. The struggling Yusuf Pathan opened in Bisla's absence, and on a slow and low pitch he could put behind the nightmares of the bouncers from Mohali. The two cut and pulled well, but when Gambhir didn't bother keeping the cut in the sixth over down, Michael Hussey dived to his left at square third man boundary to pull off a special catch.

 

Two balls later, S Badrinath matched Hussey's effort. Yusuf had hit to the right of Badrinath at point, and Jacques Kallis called him through for a single. Badrinath swooped on it, fielded it one-handed, and threw off-balance to knock the only stump visible to him. Kallis gone without facing a ball. He has never scored a diamond duck in international cricket. Soon Eoin Morgan failed to read a Dwayne Bravio slower ball, and holed out.

 

That brought together the two men that lost Knight Riders their previous match: Yusuf and Manoj Tiwary. The association lasted two balls as Tiwary ran Yusuf out. Bravo could claim about as much credit as Tiwary. He bowled, saw the ball pushed towards deep midwicket, and hared two-thirds of the way to the boundary, slid and fumbled. That fumble meant Tiwary finally went for the second after he had left Yusuf stranded mid-pitch. Bravo recovered, and even when on his knees he let rip a bullet throw to Dhoni. Knight Riders 55 for 4 after eight overs.

 

After that it seemed there would be a run-out every second ball, but what followed was poor shots and in no time four more were back. Sunil Narine slogged two sixes, and gave himself and Sachithra Senanayake something to bowl at. They were helped by the failed Super Kings experiment of opening with R Ashwin. The visitors then found themselves in a rut they couldn't get out of. The slow pitch made it difficult to build momentum. Then came Jadeja.

 

He danced down to L Balaji and lofted him straight into the sightscreen. Hussey, who fought hard for his 40 off 49, fell, leaving 31 to get off 19. Jadeja proceeded to pull Balaji over short fine leg for another four. Knight Riders had an ace up their sleeve with one over from Narine to go, but Jadeja took his revenge and slogged him over long-on for six the first time he faced him today. If this blow wasn't what did it, Yusuf dropped Jadeja at backward square leg to finally lose it for Knight Riders. Jadeja finished it off with another high six off the first ball of the last over.

Only t20 Netherlands v Kenya

Netherlands 172/5 (20/20 ov)

Kenya 176/5 (19.0/20 ov)

Kenya won by 5 wickets (with 6 balls remaining)

 
An unbeaten 75 from Collins Obuya guided Kenya to a five-wicket win over Netherlands in the only T20I of Kenya's tour to Namibia.
 

Set a target of 173 to win, Kenya were on the backfoot at 18 for 2 after the loss of two quick wickets. However, a 54-run stand between opener Alex Obanda and Obuya brought their chase back on track. Once Obanda fell for 47, Obuya paired with Rakep Patel and the duo put on 83 runs off 44 balls to take Kenya to the brink of victory. Obuya then guided the side home with one over to spare. 

 

Earlier, the Netherlands openers got off to a blistering start after choosing to bat first.

 

 Stephan Myburgh and Michael Swart shared a 97-run opening stand that was broken by Ragheb Aba, who bowled Myburgh for 41. Swart then added 51 runs with Tom Cooper to take Netherlands to 148 for 1 in the 15th over, creating a solid platform for a big score. However, once Swart and Cooper fell, the other Netherlands batsmen struggled, managing only seven runs in the last two overs. Swart's innings of 89 came off 55 balls and included six fours and five sixes. Aga was the pick of the Kenyan bowlers, finishing with figures of 3 for 24 off his four overs.

	Netherlands innings (20 overs maximum)		R	B	4s	6s	SR
	SJ Myburgh	b Aga	41	32	4	1	128.12
	11.4 bowled 97/1
	MR Swart*	run out (Obuya)	89	55	6	5	161.81
	15.3 Odhiambo to Cooper, run out (Obuya) 148/2 15.4 from Odhiambo, run out (Obuya) 148/2
	TLW Cooper	c †Ouma b Aga	25	13	3	1	192.30
	17.3 caught †Ouma 164/3
	Mudassar Bukhari	b Aga	4	6	0	0	66.66
	17.5 bowled 165/4
	TN de Grooth	run out (Aga)	1	1	0	0	100.00
	17.6 Aga to Barresi, run out (Aga) 165/4
	W Barresi†	not out	3	6	0	0	50.00
	DLS van Bunge	not out	4	7	0	0	57.14
	Extras	(lb 1, w 4)	5
	Total	(5 wickets; 20 overs)	172	(8.60 rpo)

Did not bat TGJ Gruijters, PM Seelaar, MJ Rippon, MAA Jamil

Fall of wickets 1-97 (Myburgh, 11.4 ov), 2-148 (Swart, 15.4 ov), 3-164 (Cooper, 17.3 ov), 4-165 (Mudassar Bukhari, 17.5 ov), 5-165 (de Grooth, 17.6 ov) Kenya innings (target: 173 from 20 overs) R B 4s 6s SR AA Obanda c Gruijters b Jamil 47 40 7 1 117.50 10.3 caught Gruijters 72/3 T Mishra c Mudassar Bukhari b Gruijters 1 3 0 0 33.33 1.2 caught Mudassar Bukhari 6/1 MA Ouma† c Seelaar b Swart 3 9 0 0 33.33 4.2 caught Seelaar 18/2 CO Obuya* not out 76 37 7 4 205.40 RR Patel c Seelaar b Jamil 36 22 1 3 163.63 17.5 caught Seelaar 155/4 RG Aga c Rippon b Mudassar Bukhari 2 2 0 0 100.00 18.2 caught Rippon 163/5 NN Odhiambo not out 3 1 0 0 300.00 Extras (lb 8) 8 Total (5 wickets; 19 overs) 176 (9.26 rpo) Did not bat SO Ngoche, L Oluoch, HA Varaiya, JO Ngoche Fall of wickets 1-6 (Mishra, 1.2 ov), 2-18 (Ouma, 4.2 ov), 3-72 (Obanda, 10.3 ov), 4-155 (Patel, 17.5 ov), 5-163 (Aga, 18.2 ov) Bowling O M R W Econ Mudassar Bukhari 4 0 28 1 7.00 18.2 to Aga, caught Rippon 163/5 TGJ Gruijters 3 0 22 1 7.33 1.2 to Mishra, caught Mudassar Bukhari 6/1 MR Swart 4 0 39 1 9.75 4.2 to Ouma, caught Seelaar 18/2 PM Seelaar 2 0 19 0 9.50 MAA Jamil 4 0 44 2 11.00 10.3 to Obanda, caught Gruijters 72/3 17.5 to Patel, caught Seelaar 155/4 MJ Rippon 2 0 16 0 8.00