RR v RCB: RCB won by 46 runs

AB de Villiers blazed his way to the second fastest fifty in this edition of the Indian Premier League before KP Appanna did a star turn with the ball to help Royal Challengers Bangalore post a convincing 46-run win over Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur on Monday.

After the undefeated 122-run fourth-wicket stand between de Villiers (59 off 23 Balls, 3x4’s, 5x6’s) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (76 off 58 balls, 10x4’s, 1x6’s) propelled Bangalore to 189 for three, Appanna mystified the Rajasthan batsman with his slow left-arm bowling, which saw him return figures of 4-19, at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.

Scorecard:

Royal Challengers Bangalore : 189/3 in 20 overs

Tillakaratne Dilshan - 76*
AB de Villiers - 59*

Brad Hogg - 2/39

Rajasthan Royals : 143/7 in 20 overs

Rahul Dravid - 58

KP Appanna - 4/19

Man of the Match : AB de Villiers


Munaf Patel fined 50 per cent of his match fee for offensive gestures

Mumbai Indians pacer Munaf Patel was fined 50 per cent of his match fee for making offensive gestures to opposition players in his side's Indian Premier League 28th match against Kings XI Punjab.

In the 3rd over of the KXIP innings, Munaf was seen to be resorting to verbal volleys at Punjab opener Nitin Saini after the batsman hit him for two fours and that needed involvement from the umpires and Mumbai skipper Harbhajan Singh.

"Munaf Patel of the Mumbai Indians has been fined 50 per cent of his match fee for the Level 1 offences - making offensive gestures (Article 2.1.4) and conduct bringing the game into disrepute (Article 2.1.8) in today's match at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai against King's XI Punjab," an IPL release said.

"Munaf Patel admitted the offences and accepted the sanction. In accordance with the IPL Code of Conduct and being Level 1 breaches, the Match Referee's decision is final and binding," the release said.

MI vs KXIP: Punjab won by 6 wkts

Match Summary:

Mumbai Indians won the toss and Elected to bat.
Kings XI Punjab won by 6 wkts

Scorecard:

Mumbai Indians : 163/6 in 20 ovs

James Franklin - 79
Dinesh Karthik - 35

Parvinder Awana - 2/23
Praveen Kumar - 2/36

Kings XI Punjab : 164/4 in 19.3 ovs

Shaun Marsh - 68

Kieron Pollard - 2/14

Man of the Match : Shaun Marsh

Ganguly stars in Pune win by 20 runs over Delhi

A terrific knock by Jesse Ryder and an all-round show from Captain Sourav Ganguly helped Pune Warriors register a comfortable 20-run win over Delhi Daredevils.

Delhi Daredevils won the toss and elected to field, Pune scored 192/3 - courtesy 86 from Ryder, 41 from Ganguly and a cameo of 34* from Steven Smith.

Pune then successfully defended the total, restricted the Daredevils to 172/7 in 20 overs. Credit should be given to Sourav Ganguly who bowled at a critical stage and ended with notable figures of 2/27, including the wicket of dangerman Kevin Pietersen and another one Irfan Pathan.

Seamer Alfonso Thomas, playing his first match, did a fine job with figures of three for 22. This was Pune's fourth win from seven games.

Delhi captain Virender Sehwag hit 57 from only 32 balls but once he was out, the chances of victory were as good as gone. The 18th over in the Pune innings bowled by Shahbaz Nadeem that yielded 23 runs turned out to be the game-changing over.

Scorecard:

Pune Warriors : 192/3 in 20 overs

Jesse Ryder – 86
Sourav Ganguly – 41

Morne Morkel – 3/50

Delhi Daredevils : 172/7 in 20 overs

Virender Sehwag – 57
Kevin Pietersen – 32

Alfonso Thomas – 3/22
Sourav Ganguly – 2/27

Man of the Match: Sourav Ganguly

CSK v RR: CSK won by 7 Wickets at Chennai

Match Summary:

Rajasthan Royals won ths toss Elected to bat.

Scorecard:

Rajasthan Royals : 146/4 in 20 overs


Owais Shah - 52
Ashok Menaria - 36

Nuwan Kulasekara - 1/17

Chennai Super Kings : 147/3 in 20 overs

Faf du Plessis - 73

Kevon Cooper - 2/23

Man of the Match : Faf du Plessis 

RCB v KXIP - RCB won by 5 Wickets

Match Summary

Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss Elected to field.

Scorecard:

Kings XI Punjab : 163/6 in 20 overs

David Hussey - 41
Azhar Mahmood - 33

Zaheer Khan - 2/25
Andrew McDonald - 2/25

Royal Challengers Bangalore : 166/5 in 19.3 overs

Chris Gayle - 87
AB de Villiers - 52

Parvinder Awana - 4/34

Man of the Match : Chris Gayle

Chennai Super Kings hold nerve in tight game over Pune Warriors

Dhoni's Chennai have defeated Ganguly's Pune by 13 runs

Chennai Super Kings registered their successive win in MA Chidambaram stadium riding on their smashing bowling line up. The situation did not seem to be rosy for the last year's IPL champion team after three defeats in five matches in Indian Premier League 5. Everyone would admit that Chennai Super kings performed enough inconsistently in this season.

Pune Warriors on the other hand had their own set of problems as their lead pacer Ashok Dinda suffered from a side strain. However, it was quite expected that the contest in MA Chidambaram stadium would be a very exciting one. Pune's captain Ganguly won the toss and decide to field first.

Chennai's Fat du Plessis and Subramaniam Badrinath's 48-balls 58 (4x4's, 2x6's) and 48-balls 57 (4x4's) innings respectively made the host team to set a target of 165 runs for Pune Warriors India. CSK captain Dhoni's 12-balls 28 runs quick innings was also helpful.

Scorecard:

Chennai Super Kings : 164/5 in 20 over

Faf du Plessiss - 58
S Badrinath - 57

Marlon Samuels - 3/39

Pune Warriors : 151/7 in 20 overs

Angelo Mathews - 27
Marlon Samuels - 26
Sourav Ganguly - 24

Nuwan Kulasekara - 2/10

Man of the Match : Nuwan Kulasekara

KP blistering unbeaten 103 to destroys Deccan

Kevin Pietersen produced a blistering unbeaten 103 to almost single-handedly guide Delhi Daredevils to a 5-wicket win over Deccan Chargers in an Indian Premier league 5 on Thursday.

Pietersen allow to runs free an array of breathtaking shots as he took the responsibility after his team was struggling at 23/3 to overhaul the target of 158 with five balls to spare at the Feroz Shah Kotla.

During his sustained onslaught that saw him record his first century and highest score in Twenty20 format, Pietersen slammed a staggering nine sixes and six fours in his 64--ball knock.

This was the Daredevils' 4th win from 5 matches in even as Deccan suffered their 4th defeat on the trot.

Pietersen finished the match in style, smashing Ankit Sharma over his head for six, which also brought up his century, the second of this edition of IPL.

Earlier, Parthiv Patel (45) and Dhawan (45) chipped in with useful contributions as the Chargers managed to post a fighting 157 for eight. The two put on 71 runs for the second wicket in little under seven overs to put the Deccan Chargers back on track after the early loss of captain Kumar Sangakkara.

Scorecard:

Deccan Chargers : 157/8 in 20 overs

Parthiv Patel - 45
Shikhar Dhawan - 44

Shahbaz Nadeem - 3/16
Morne Morkel - 3/23

Delhi Daredevils : 162/5 in 19.1 ovs

Kevin Pietersen - 103*

Dale Steyn - 2/19

Man of the Match: Kevin Pietersen

Gambhir shines as KKR thrashed Kings XI Punjab

Gautam Gambhir slammed an unbeaten 66 to power Kolkata Knight Riders to an emphatic 8-wicket win over Kings XI Punjab at the PCA stadium on Wednesday.

Riding on a disciplined bowling and fielding display, KKR first restricted Kings XI to 124/7 after sent into bowl, and then captain Gautam Gambhir led from the front with a fine unbeaten half century to overwhelm the target with 3.3 overs in hand.

Gambhir scored an unbeaten 66 off 44 balls (7x4, 1x6) to hold the chase together and see his side home.

Gambhir was ably supported by Jacques Kallis, who scored an unbetaen 30 off 23 balls. The duo stitched unconquered 53 runs for the 3rd-wicket as KKR scored 127/2 in 16.3 overs.

Earlier, Kings XI batsmen lost wickets at regular intervals to be restricted to the modest total after opting to bat at the PCA stadium.

Skipper Adam Gilchrist, who retired hurt in the sixth over with a right hamstring problem only to return later to drag his side out of trouble, top-scored with an unbeaten 40, while Shaun Marsh made a 30-ball 33 with the help of four boundaries.

Kings XI batsmen struggled from the onset against a determined KKR bowling line up and it could be gauged from the fact that only three of their batters could manage double figures.

Wily West Indian off-spinner Sunil Narine (2/24) and Brett Lee (2/26) starred with the ball for KKR, sharing four wickets between them. Laxmipathy Balaji (1/20) and Rajat Bhatia (1/23) also picked up a wicket each for the visitors.

Scorecard:

Kings XI Punjab : 124/7 in 20 overs

Adam Gilchrist - 40*
Shaun Marsh - 33

Sunil Narine - 2/24
Brett Lee - 2/26

Kolkata Knight Riders : 127/2 in 16.3 overs

Gautam Gambhir - 66*
Jacques Kallis - 30*

Piyush Chawla - 2/19

Man of the Match : Gautam Gambhir

Gayle, de Villiers helps RCB to awesome win

Amazing hitting by Chris Gayle and brilliant batting at the end by AB de Villiers and Saurabh Tiwary capped an unbelievable chase by Royal Challengers Bangalore as they beat Pune Warriors by 6 wickets.

Chasing a target of 183, RCB's Saurabh Tiwary (36*, 23 balls, 1x4, 2x6) smashed Ashish Nehra for a big straight six while they needed three to win off the last ball. Not to forget AB de Villiers (33*, 14 balls, 2x4, 3x6) who smashed Nehra for two ground-breaking sixes -- a reverse sweep and a scoop over deep fine leg as the RCB needed 21 runs off the last over.

The chasing was however started by Chris Gayle who hit eight lofty sixes en route his 48-ball 81.

Nehra, who gave away 54 runs in four overs, the Indian discarded finest bowler at the death, seemed to have lost the magic as he completely loosen the good work done by Ashok Dinda who gave away only six runs in 19th over.

At the end of ten overs, RCB were 63/2 with Gayle at the crease. Although Gayle hit couple of huge sixes off Ashish Nehra, he wasn't at his dangerous best as he failed to find the gaps. Kohli too was taking time to get into the groove. Credit should be given to Bhuveneshwar Kumar who bowled three tight overs during the front 10.

It was only after Kohli was dismissed by Angelo Mathews that Gayle decided to play his signature game. Leg-spinner Rahul Sharma bore the brunt as Gayle launched into him, hitting five consecutive sixes, as 31 runs came off the 13th over and RCB seemed to be back on track.

Gayle raced to 81 off 47 balls as he hit Ashish Nehra to notch up his eighth six but the veteran seamer bowled a perfect delivery in the blockhole that cleaned up Gayle. The Jamaican had scored 81 off 48 balls with four boundaries and eight sixes.

Earlier, Robin Uthappa's aggressive knock of 69 along with useful contributions from Jesse Ryder and Marlon Samuels helped Pune Warriors India post a commendable 182 for six after opting to bat first on a flat Chinnaswamy deck.

Scorecard:

Pune Warriors : 182/6 in 20 overs

Robin Uthappa - 69

Vinay Kumar 2/34

Royal Challengers Bangalore : 186/4 in 20 overs

Chris Gayle - 81

Man of the Match: Chris Gayle

Nerveless Hodge seals RR a thriller win against DC

Rajasthan Royals’ previous four matches against Deccan Chargers had ended in victory, and a rather one-sided rivalry was extended in Jaipur where the home team pulled off a remarkable chase of 197 with five wickets and two balls remaining.

Set their stiffest target of the season, Rajasthan Royals were given a strong start from Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane but three wickets to Amit Mishra left them struggling for air. That’s when Brad Hodge proved his versatility; he smashed Dale Steyn for four consecutive fours en route to a nerveless 21-ball 48, and the IPL debutant Dishant Yagnik carved Steyn for successive fours to clinch a thriller. The win kept Rajasthan a top the IPL 5 table, and their reputation as the team to beat in 2012.

Scorecard:

Deccan Chargers : 196/2 in 20 ovs

Jean-Paul Duminy - 58
Shikhar Dhawan - 52
Kumar Sangakkara - 44

Rajasthan Royals : 197/5 in 19.4 ovs

Brad Hodge - 48
Ajinkya Rahane - 44
Rahul Dravid - 42

Amit Mishra - 3/32

Man of the Match : Brad Hodge

Delhi crushing 7-wickets win over Mumbai

Delhi Daredevils' bowling line-up fired in unison to fashion team's crushing seven-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in an Indian Premier League match, on Monday.

Virender SehwagEverything fell in place perfectly for Delhi Daredevils, right from winning the toss, as they bundled out the hosts for a paltry 92, the lowest team total of the current edition, and then overhauled the target by losing just three wickets with 5.1 overs to spare.

Chasing a meagre total, Captain Virender Sehwag top scored for Delhi with a patient 32 off 36 balls while Mahela Jayawardene remained unbeaten on 17 in company of Kiwi batsman Ross Taylor (11).

Taking full advantage of the MI batsmen's rash display with the bat, the Delhi bowlers attacked from the first over to reduce the hosts to a sorry-reading 44 for six by the 12th over to make it a virtual no-contest at Wankhede Stadium track, offering good bounce.
Mumbai Indians Captain Harbhajan Singh made a counter-attacking 33 off 22 balls, with five fours and a six, after Rohit Sharma prospered a bit while making a chancy 29 off 27 balls with five fours, but the rest of the batsmen self-destructed.

The below-par score was MI's second-lowest aggregate in five seasons of IPL, slightly better than the 87 they made against Kings XI Punjab last year, and the first sub-100 score by any team this season.

Scorecard:

Mumbai Indians : 92/10 in 19.2 ovs

Harbhajan Singh - 33

Umesh Yadav - 2/11
Shahbaz Nadeem - 2/16

Delhi Daredevils : 93/3 in 14.5 ovs

Virender Sehwag - 32

RP Singh - 2/24

Man of the Match : Shahbaz Nadeem

CSK an incredible win against RCB

Chennai and Bangalore - traditional rivals in the domestic circuit - often carry on their rivalry into the Indian Premier League and come up with nail-biting thrillers. But to call what happened today at the MA Chidambaram stadium a thriller would be a gross understatement. After 240 balls of high voltage action, it was the defending champions who edged out the visitors in a high scoring game.

At the half way stage, when Bangalore posted a mammoth 205, it was a complete team effort by the Chennai batsmen which helped them achieve the target. Their strategy while chasing big scores is evident for all to see - preserve wickets at the start and go for the target later - and they did exactly that. It was not an easy ride though - at most points in the chase, the hosts needed more than 12 an over. It turned from tough to impossible at one stage; when MS Dhoni departed, CSK needed a daunting 43 from the last 2 overs. In came the game-changer Albie Morkel, and this is what happened in the next 12 balls : 4 6 4 6 2 6 | 1 W 4nb 6 . 1 4.

It was a nerve-wracking end to the game; Bangalore were short of bowling options as all the senior bowlers had finished their quota by then. Only Vinay Kumar, Raju Bhatkal and Virat Kohli had overs remaining. Vettori chose Kohli, who had conceded 8 from his first over, ahead of Bhatkal, who was smashed for 35 from his 2. It was possibly a tactical error from the captain that changed things around - the choice to bowl Kohli was straightforward, but to give him the all important 19th over ahead of Vinay Kumar turned out to be too costly for the visitors.

Albie Morkel walked in and absolutely stunned Kohli, smashing 28 runs in an over filled with boundaries. The equation came down to 15 from the last over, but the drama was yet to end. Morkel holed out to sweeper cover in the second ball, swinging the game Bangalore's way once again. But more drama awaited as Bravo pulled a no ball for four and backed it up with a six through the off side, reducing the equation to 3 from 3. A single, a dot ball, a mid pitch conference among the bowlers, and an edge through third man later, it was the hosts who ran away with an incredible win.

Scorecard:

Royal Challengers Bangalore : 205/8 in 20 ovs

Chris Gayle - 68
Virat Kohli - 57

Doug Bollinger - 3/24

Chennai Super Kings : 208/5 in 20 ovs

Faf du Plessis - 71

Muttiah Muralitharan - 3/21

Man of the Match: Faf du Plessis

Pollard helps MI overcome spirited Rajasthan

Kieron Pollard struck a blistering 64 (6x4s, 4x6s) before taking a 4 wicket haul as Mumbai Indians notched up a 27-run win over Rajasthan Royals in the high-scoring Indian Premier League T20 cricket match on Wednesday.

Pollard put on a whirlwind partnership of 96 runs off just 52 balls with Ambati Rayudu (47) to power the hosts to a season-high 197 for six in front of a packed Wankhede Stadium. Pollard snapped up four wickets to add to his half-century and also took a catch which won him the man of the match award.

Chasing a daunting 198 to win, Rajasthan Royals put up a spirited fight but lacked the firepower to cross the finish line. Owais Shah struck a brilliant 76 off just 42 balls with five fours and as many sixes and Ajinkya Rahane contributed 40 runs under pressure but that only helped Rajsthan muster 170 in 19.4 overs.

Shah and opener Rahane forged a stand of 82 runs in 57 balls to pull Royals from a sorry-reading seven for two to 89. After Rahane's exit, Shah got an able partner in Ashok Meneria (20) and the two kept the Royals firmly in the hunt with a quick-fire partnership of 45 in 18 balls before Malinga snapped up Shah and next man Johan Botha in four balls to arrest the visitors' progress.

Despite the best efforts of Meneria and the rest, the Royals were fighting a losing battle. Munaf Patel, who had taken the wickets of rival skipper Rahul Dravid and Shreevats Goswami off successive balls in his first spell, came back to pick up two more and ended up with fine figures of four for 28 while Malinga secured two for 13.

The victory, their third in four ties and the first at home this season, enabled MI log on six points and go two points clear of the rest of the field.

Scorecard:

Mumbai Indians : 197/6 in 20 ovs

Kieron Pollard - 64

Rajasthan Royals : 170/10 in 19.4 ovs

Owais Shah - 76
Munaf Patel 4/28

Man of the match : Kieron Pollard

Delhi Daredevils thrashed CSK by eight wickets

Delhi Daredevils put up a clinical performance as they thrashed defending champions Chennai Super Kings by 8 wickets in the Indian Premier League 2012.

Delhi skipper Sehwag won the toss and rightfully elected to field first as the wicket had a bit of juice and there was enough for the home side bowlers to exploit the windy conditions.

After the Delhi bowlers kept Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men under wraps restricting them to a modest 110/8, the home batsmen made short work of the target knocking off the runs in only 13.2 overs to register their second win of the tournament.

Virender Sehwag was in blazing form as he set the tone with a typically aggressive 21-ball 33(4x4, 1x6).

Kevin Pietersen took over from where Sehwag left as he smashed an unbeaten 43 off 26 balls (3x4, 2x6) adding 61 runs with Mahela Jayawardene (20 no) to finish off the proceedings with 40 balls remaining.

With as many as four CSK batsmen being victims of horrible misunderstandings, Virender Sehwag's bowlers also responded well by keeping the batsmen under tight leash.

While Morne Morkel returned with best figures of 2/19 from fours overs, it was spin twins Roloef van der Merwe (4-0-15-0) and young Shahbaz Nadeem (3-0-9-0) who gave away only 24 runs in their seven overs to set the match up for Delhi Daredevils.

Scorecard:

Chennai Super Kings : 110/8 in 20 ovs

Dwayne Bravo - 22
Morne Morkel - 2/19

Delhi Daredevils : 111/2 in 13.2 ovs

Kevin Pietersen - 43
Virender Sehwag - 33

Man of the Match : Morne Morkel

KKR won by 42 runs against RCB

Kolkata Knight Riders brought their campaign back on track with a 42-run victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Chinnaswamy stadium on Tuesday.

The RCB captain Daniel Vettori won the toss and put Kolkata into bat on a batting beauty. Sent into bat, the KKR posted a challenging 165/8 in 20 overs, thanks to some brilliant batting by KKR captain Gautam Gambhir, who struck a strokeful 64 in just 39 balls which included nine fours and one six.

Manvinder Bisla, the surprising choice at number 3 took the mantle of the attacker from Gambhir. He launched into the spinners and at one point of time, after 12 overs, had played more deliveries than his skipper. Both put on a 65 run stand in 43 balls and Kolkata were looking at a target well in excess of 180-200 at that point of time. But unfortunately it was not to be. KKR finally ended their 20 overs at 165/8, about 25 runs less than what they would have asked for.

The Royals Challengers Bangalore had a disastrous start to their run chase, losing four of their top batsman for just 25 runs with pacers Kallis and Balaji claiming two wickets each.

Kallis started the proceeding in the second over, sending back opener Cheteshwar Pujara (6) who was caught at slip and later, the South African all-rounder scalped the prized wicket of Chris Gayle in his next over. The burly Jamaican fell for just 2 when he tried to pull a short delivery from Kallis over midwicket, ending up top-edging the ball to Laxmi Shukla at mid-on.

Balaji then got ino the act and dismissed Virat Kohli (6) in the sixth over to leave the hosts tottering at 20 for three. Kohli miscued a short and ended up giving a catch to Manoj Tiwari at point.

Nine balls later, the Tamil Nadu pacer cleaned up AB de Villiers (10) and then dismissed Mayank Agarwal (5) in his next over as RCB were looked down the barrel at 33 for five.

Skipper Daniel Vettori (20) then joined Saurabh Tiwary (18) but the New Zealander also couldn't stay longer and was sent packing by Balaji in the 12th over.

Balaji disturbed Vettori's off-stump with a slow length delivery to claim his fourth victim. When Ryan ten Doeschate, the Dutch all rounder claimed the wicket of Saurabh Tiwary in the 15th over, RCB were already staring at defeat with the score on 78/7. R Vinay Kumar (25*), HV Patel (10) and Zaheer Khan (11*) tried to salvage some pride, but it was too much for them.

Scorecard:

Kolkata Knight Riders : 165/8 in 20 ovs

Gautam Gambhir - 64
Vinay Kumar - 2/18

Royal Challengers Bangalore : 123/9 in 20 ovs

Vinay Kumar - 25
Lakshmipathy Balaji - 4/18

Man of the Match: Lakshmipathy Balaji

Rohit Sharma seals last ball thriller for MI

With 3 needed of the last ball, Rohit Sharma hit a six off Dan Christian to give Mumbai an outstanding win in a low-scoring thriller. Even before the last ball, Rohit Sharma was left with an uphill task to take his team to a superb win, with Mumbai needing 18 runs off the last over. Rohit smashed 2 sixes and survived a close run-out call in the eventful last over as Mumbai just about crossed the finishing line.

Rohit SharmaHe ended with 73 of 50 balls but endured his knock was not bereft of any drama as he saved his best for the last over smashing 2 sixes to take his side home.

Dale Steyn also came up huge for the Deccan Chargers as the team from Hyderabad fought hard after posting only a modest score. The South African pacer, often hailed as the best bowler in the world, showed precisely why he is called that as he returned with unbelievable figures of 12/3 before Rohit smashed 18 runs off the last over to put Steyn's efforts in vain.

Earlier, a brilliant bowling performance from Mumbai saw the Deccan Chargers being restricted to a sub par 138. After a nervy start, during which they lost Parthiv Patel and Bharat Chipli cheaply, Deccan's innings was back on track thanks to Shikar Dhawan and Dan Christian. Dhawan was in a league of his own, scoring 41 off the 46 runs DC scored before he was out to Lasith Malinga.

Skipper Kumar Sangakkara, playing his first game in this IPL, too did not bother the scorers that much but Cameron White stuck around to ensure his bowlers had something to bowl at. Both White and Christian scored in excess of 30 but still could not lift Deccan to a score in excess of 140.

Chasing a modest score, Mumbai Indians lost their way early as they had openers, Tirumalasetti Suman and Richard Levi back in the hut before long. Rohit, Ambati Rayudu attempted to restore parity but they ended up consuming many dot balls in the process. Mumbai had only scored 58 off 68 balls when Rayudu was dismissed. Kieron Pollard lit up the game with some lusty shots, but Christian had the last laugh as he had Pollard hole out in the deep.

Dinesh Karthik did not have much of an impact and was soon out while James Franklin had little to do expect hit an important boundary off the last over before Rohit stole the show with a last ball six to give Mumbai their 2nd win.

Scorecard:

Deccan Chargers : 138/9 in 20 overs

Shikhar Dhawan 41
Munaf Patel 4/20

Mumbai Indians : 142/5 in 20 ovs

Rohit Sharma 73*
Dale Steyn 3/12

Man of the Match: Rohit Sharma


Orange Cap Winners and Purple Cap Winners in IPL

Orange Cap and Purple Cap are given to the best batsman and the best bowler of the Indian Premier League respectively. From the very first season of IPL, every year IPL governing body announces this award to the highest run scorer and highest wicket taker of the tournament.


Orange Cap Winners – IPL
Player NameTeamYearRuns
Michael HusseyCSK2013733
Chris GayleRCB2012733
Chris GayleRCB2011608
SR TendulkarMI2010618
ML HaydenCSK2009572
Shaun MarshKXIP2008616

Purple Cap Winners – IPL
Player NameTeamYearWickets
Dwayne BravoCSK201332
Morne MorkelDD201225
SL MalingaMI201128
PP OjhaDC201021
RP SinghDC200923
Sohail TanvirRR200822

Rahane, Cooper stars in RR's big win over KXIP

Rajasthan Royals came up with a clinical performance in their opening match against Kings XI Punjab to start their IPL 5 campaign on a winning note. Two players were key to Rajasthan's success with Ajinkya Rahane notching up a sublime 98 while debutant Kevon Cooper claimed 4/26. Rahane showed T20 cricket is not just about big hitting as he played the text-book cricketing shots to help Rajasthan post a formidable 191/4 on board before Cooper and his fellow bowlers restricted Punjab to 160/9.

Socrecard:

Rajasthan Royals : 191/4 in 20 ovs

Ajinkya Rahane - 98

Kings XI Punjab : 160/9 in 20 ovs

Mandeep Singh - 34
Kevon Cooper - 4/26

Man of the Match : Ajinkya Rahane

Pune Warriors started off their campaign in great fashion

Pune Warriors started off their campaign in great fashion, pulling off an upset against the Mumbai Indians with an easy 28 run win. Ashok Dinda starred with a superb bowling effort, taking 4 wickets but the star of the game was Steven Smith who hit a vital 39 to give the Pune score some respectability.

Mumbai produced a wonderful bowling effort to restrict the Pune Warriors to just 129 after winning the toss and electing to field. Lasith Malinga was at his best, mixing yorkers and slower bouncers well to leave the Pune batsmen mesmerized. They also found great support from the rest of the bowling order with only Kieron Pollard and James Franklin going over 7 per over. Munaf Patel, Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha were all on the top of their game to ensure Pune never recovered from the early stutter.

Pune lost their openers Manish Pandey and Sourav Ganguly with just 15 runs on the board. When Wayne Parnell and later Callum Ferguson too departed without making much of an impact the Ganguly-led team were reeling at 47/4 in the 9th over. Pune finally got their first fruitful partnership underway, thanks to Robin Uthappa and Steve Smith. The pair put on 44 runs to take the Pune Warriors close to the hundred run mark but tragedy struck the embattled team again.

Pollard struck to send back Uthappa and Mumbai made sure they never loosened their grip on the game thereafter. Marlon Samuels fell to a superb yorker from Malinga while Bhuvneshwar Kumar had no answer to an Ojha stunner. With time running out, Steven Smith played a vital hand to help Pune put in excess of 125. The Australian leg-spinner hit 39 off 32, before he was out in the final over, and with the help of Murali Kartik played his part in helping give the Pune bowlers something to bowl at.

Smith's effort was not futile as Ganguly managed to inspire his bowlers to have a real go at the Mumbai line-up. Ashok Dinda produced a fine performance, taking 4 wickets for just 18 runs as Harbhajan's side were restricted to 101/9 handing Pune a comfortable 28 run win. Murali Karthik too turned in a performance of the highest quality as he picked up 2 important wickets to rattle the Mumbai top-order.

Pune had the Mumbai top 3 back in the hut at the end of the 2nd over. Kartik had sent back big-hitting Richard Levi off the 2nd ball of the innings while Dinda went one better and picked up the wickets of Ambati Rayudu and Rohit Sharma to leave the Champions League winners reeling at 5/3. Dinesh Karthik and James Franklin tried to put things back on track with a patient stand to take the score past 50 without further setbacks. Karthik also took with him the bulk of Mumbai's hopes when he feel for 32 and when Suryakumar Yadav and Kieron Pollard fell cheaply, Pune were outright favourites to take 2 points from the game.

Scoreboard:

Pune Warriors : 129/9 in 20 ovs

Steven Smith - 39
Lasith Malinga - 2/16

Mumbai Indians : 101/9 in 20 ovs

Dinesh Karthik - 32
Ashok Dinda - 4/18

Man of the Match : Steven Smith

Morkel, Irfan stars in Delhi’s big win over KKR

Morne Morkel, with three wickets, and Irfan Pathan, with an unbeaten 42, were the chief architects of Delhi's comfortable victory over Kolkata. After being put in to bat Kolkata managed only 97/9 in their 12 overs in a rain curtailed game.

The game started after a two and a half hour delay but burst into action immediately after Virender Sehwag chose to bowl. Kolkata opened with two of their foreign players, Brendon McCullum and Jacques Kallis. KKR continued to lose wickets at regular intervals and almost suffered the ignominy of being bowled out in just 12 overs!

Chasing a low target of 97, Delhi never seemed to be in any trouble at all. Aaron Finch and Virender Sehwag began in exactly the manner that was expected. The opening stand of 49 at nearly eight an over was the final nail on the coffin for KKR. Both openers fell in the span of an over but Irfan Pathan who came in at one drop scored freely including some lovely clean hits to ensure that there were no hiccups for Delhi in the chase. A look at the scorecard could be quite misleading. Delhi got to the target only in the last over but it does not tell the ease with which they won.

Kolkata will be devastated with the result and will have to pick themselves up quickly to get going. Delhi on the other hand could not have asked for a better start and will be aiming to carry the momentum forward.

Scoreboard:

KKR 97/9 (12 ovs)
Laxmi Shukla 26
Morne Morkel 3/18

DD 100/2 (11.1 ovs)
Irfan Pathan 42*(20)

Man of the Match : Irfan Pathan

Clinical Mumbai start in perfect fashion

Mumbai put in performance befitting champions as they opened their account in the 5th edition of the IPL with a clinical win. Inspired by a terrific bowling performance that saw the power-packed Chennai batting line up fold for a paltry 112, the batsmen, led by Richard Levi, slammed home the required runs in less than 17 overs to get their season underway in terrific style.

Sachin Tendulkar and Levi ensured the Mumbai side were not made to endure any early setbacks as they mixed caution with aggression perfectly to set things rolling. Levi showed glimpses of why he was so highly rated as he slammed huge sixes to flatten the CSK bowlers. The start meant that even when the Mumbai side lost 3 players in quick succession the task at hand was fairly simple leaving James Franklin and Ambati Rayudu to knock off the runs with ease.

Earlier, an all-round bowling and fielding performance by the Champions League winners saw them bowl out the defending IPL Champions for a low score. Suresh Raina was the only batsman to cross the 20 run mark but he too fell when the team would've expected him to carry on.

Faf du Plessis' IPL debut didn't even see the end of the first over as he was run out by Ambati Rayudu. Murali Vijay struggled to find the middle of his bat and was soon trotting back to the pavilion. Dwayne Bravo and Raina gave the innings some direction but Pragyan Ojha accounted for both in consecutive overs to leave CSK in trouble.

Kieron Pollard too got into the act as he had Albie Morkel and S Badrinath fall in quick succession and suddenly Chennai looked in deep trouble. The wickets had pumped up Harbhajan's side and the energy in the middle was clear to see. The players were keen to get to the ball early and that resulted in the run outs of MS Dhoni and R Ashwin. The rest was just a formality as Mumbai wiped out the tail within the stipulated 20 overs for just 112.

Chasing a sub par total was not that much of a hard task once Sachin and Levi had put on in excess of 65 in the 8th over. Levi was beginning to unleash his full repertoire of shots on the hapless CSK attack but had to make his way back soon after he got to his fifty. Rohit Sharma lasted only 3 balls while Sachin too made his way back after injuring his finger but the wickets had barely any impact on the final result. Franklin and Rayudu had ample time with them as they guided their team to an easy win to get their tournament underway in brilliant fashion.

Scoreboard:

Chennai Super Kings : 112/10 in 19.5 ovs

Mumbai Indians : 115/2 in 16.5 ovs

Richard Levi 50

Man of the Match : Richard Levi

IPL Twenty20 Cricket Tickets 2012

The much speculated Fifth Edition of IPL 2012 is just about to shoot off this year in India from April 4 to May 27, 2012. The IPL 5 has always been a super glam affair drawing masses from all over which is increasing more and more with each passing year. Needless to say there would be maddening craze for the IPL 5 tickets which is one of the mega events in the country now. The article here is all set to discuss on the various ways to obtain the tickets of IPL 5.

IPL 5 tickets are available from online too so that you don't have to waste your time and energy standing behind the long ticket queues and you can easily get it from your home itself. There are some websites online which are the official ticket partners of IPL through which you can reserve your match tickets. However, it’s to be said that there are no common site for reserving the tickets of all IPL teams and hence here are separate links for each team through which you can book the tickets of your desired team.

IPL 5 Tickets Booking Online
Royal Challengers Bangalore Tickets
Mumbai Indians Tickets
Rajasthan Royals Tickets
Chennai Super Kings Tickets
Pune Warriors Tickets
Deccan Chargers Tickets
Delhi Daredevils Tickets
Kolkata Knight Riders Tickets
Kings XI Punjab Tickets

IPL T20 Records: Top 10 Leading Wicket Taker

PlayerMWktsBBFAvgEcon
RP Singh56644/2224.597.75
L Malinga42615/1316.906.38
A Mishra45615/1718.906.84
P Ojha54603/2122.137.13
I Pathan56583/2426.037.72
P Chawla55574/1724.567.69
S Warne55574/2125.387.27
A Morkel54564/3227.038.38
M Patel45555/2120.677.23
Harbhajan Singh46485/1822.606.76

IPL T20 Records: Top 10 Leading Run Scorer

PlayerMRunsHSAvgSR
SK Raina6218139836.26140.32
S Tendulkar511723100*40.06120.15
A Gilchrist601603109*27.16142.74
J Kallis57155689*32.41112.18
R Sharma6115428731.46129.90
G Gambhir5514758632.06123.84
MS Dhoni59142570*39.58138.61
V Sehwag50138411929.44169.60
K Sangakkara5013679430.37127.51
Y Pathan58129410026.95156.28

IPL 2012 Ceremony: MS Dhoni & Bolinger Dance

IPL 2012 Ceremony: Salman Khan Performance

IPL 2012 Ceremony: Prabhu Deva's Perfomance

IPL 2012 Ceremony: Katy Perry Performance

IPL T20 Cricket 2012: Rajasthan Royals Team & Schedule

Rajasthan Royals

Captain: Rahul Dravid

Indian Players: Aakash Chopra, Abhishek Raut, Aditya Dole, Ajinkya Rahane, Ajit Chandila, Amit Paunikar, Amit Singh, Ankeet Chavan, Ashok Menaria, Deepak Chahar, Dishant Yagnik, Faiz Fazal, Gajendra Singh, Pankaj Singh, S. Sreesanth, Samad Fallah, Siddharth Trivedi, Stuart Binny, Sumit Narwal, Shreevats Goswami

International Players: Johan Botha, Paul Collingwood, Shane Watson, Shaun Tait, Bradley Hodge, Dinesh Chandimal, Brad Hogg, Kevon Cooper, Owais Shah

Coach: Michael Bevan

DateMatch DetailsTimePlace
Apr 06Rajasthan Royals v Kings XI Punjab
RR won by 31 runs
20:00Jaipur
Apr 08Rajasthan Royals v Kolkata Knight Riders
RR won by 22 runs
16:00Jaipur
Apr 11Rajasthan Royals v Mumbai Indians
MI won by 27 runs
20:00Mumbai
Apr 13Rajasthan Royals v Kolkata Knight Riders
KKR won by 5 wkts
20:00Kolkata
Apr 15Rajasthan Royals v Royal Challengers Ban.
RR won by 59 runs
20:00Bengaluru
Apr 17Rajasthan Royals v Deccan Chargers
RR won by 5 wkts
16:00Jaipur
Apr 21Rajasthan Royals v Chennai Super Kings
CSK won by 7 wkts
16:00Chennai
Apr 23Rajasthan Royals v Royal Challengers Ban.
RCB won by 46 runs
20:00Jaipur
Apr 29Rajasthan Royals v Delhi Daredevils
DD won by 1 runs
16:00Delhi
May 01Rajasthan Royals v Delhi Daredevils
DD won by 6 wkts
20:00Jaipur
May 05Rajasthan Royals v Kings XI Punjab
RR won by 43 runs
20:00Chandigarh
May 08Rajasthan Royals v Pune Warriors
RR won by 7 wkts
16:00Pune
May 10Rajasthan Royals v Chennai Super Kings
CSK won by 4 wkts
20:00Jaipur
May 13Rajasthan Royals v Pune Warriors
RR won by 45 runs
16:00Jaipur
May 18Rajasthan Royals v Deccan Chargers
DC won by 5 wkts
20:00Hyderabad
May 20Rajasthan Royals v Mumbai Indians
MI won by 10 wkts
20:00Jaipur
May 22DD v KKR, Q 1 (1st v 2nd)
KKR won by 18 runs
20:00Bengaluru
May 23MI v CSK, Eli (3rd v 4th)
CSK won by 38 runs
20:00Bengaluru
May 25DD v CSK, Q 2(L.o.Q1 v W.o.Eli.)
CSK won by 86 runs
20:00Chennai
May 27KKR v CSK, Final
KKR won by 5 wkts
20:00Chennai

IPL T20 Cricket 2012: Kings XI Punjab Team & Schedule

Kings XI Punjab

Captain: Adam Gilchrist

Indian Players: Abhishek Nayar, Amit Yadav, Bhargav Bhatt, Bipul Sharma, Gurkeerat Mann Singh, Harmeet Singh Bansal, Mandeep Singh, Nitin Saini, Paras Dogra, Parvinder Awana, Paul Valthaty, Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar, R Sathish, Shalabh Srivastava, Siddharth Chitnis, Sunny Singh, Vikramjeet Malik, Ramesh Powar

International Players: David Hussey, David Miller, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Nathan Rimmington, Ryan Harris, Shaun Marsh, Stuart Broad, James Faulkner, Azhar Mahmood

Coach: Michael Bevan

DateMatch DetailsTimePlace
Apr 06Kings XI Punjab v Rajasthan Royals
RR won by 31 runs
20:00Jaipur
Apr 08Kings XI Punjab v Pune Warriors
PW won by 22 runs
20:00Pune
Apr 12Kings XI Punjab v Pune Warriors
KXIP won by 7 wkts
20:00Chandigarh
Apr 15Kings XI Punjab v Kolkata Knight Riders
KXIP won by 2 runs
16:00Kolkata
Apr 18Kings XI Punjab v Kolkata Knight Riders
KKR won by 8 wkts
20:00Chandigarh
Apr 20Kings XI Punjab v Royal Challengers Ban.
RCB won by 5 wkts
20:00Chandigarh
Apr 22Kings XI Punjab v Mumbai Indians
KXIP won by 6 wkts
16:00Mumbai
Apr 25Kings XI Punjab v Mumbai Indians
MI won by 4 wkts
16:00Chandigarh
Apr 28Kings XI Punjab v Chennai Super Kings
KXIP won by 7 runs
16:00Chennai
May 02Kings XI Punjab v Royal Challengers Ban
KXIP won by 4 wkts
20:00Bengaluru
May 05Kings XI Punjab v Rajasthan Royals
RR won by 43 runs
20:00Chandigarh
May 08Kings XI Punjab v Deccan Chargers
KXIP won by 25 runs
20:00Hyderabad
May 13Kings XI Punjab v Deccan Chargers
KXIP won 4 wkts
20:00Chandigarh
May 15Kings XI Punjab v Delhi Daredevils
DD won by 5 wkts
20:00Delhi
May 17Kings XI Punjab v Chennai Super Kings
KXIP won by 6 wkts
16:00Dharamsala
May 19Kings XI Punjab v Delhi Daredevils
DD won by 6 wkts
16:00Dharamsala
May 22DD v KKR, Q 1 (1st v 2nd)
KKR won by 18 runs
20:00Bengaluru
May 23MI v CSK, Eli (3rd v 4th)
CSK won by 38 runs
20:00Bengaluru
May 25DD v CSK, Q 2(L.o.Q1 v W.o.Eli.)
CSK won by 86 runs
20:00Chennai
May 27KKR v CSK, Final
KKR won by 5 wkts
20:00Chennai

IPL T20 Cricket 2012: Pune Warriors Team & Schedule

Pune Warriors India

Captain: Sourav Ganguly

Indian Players: Ali Murtaza, Anustup Majumdar, Ashish Nehra, Ashoke Dinda, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Dheeraj Jadhav, Eklavya Dwivedi, Harshad Khadiwale, Harpreet Singh, Kamran Khan, Krishnakant Upadhyay, Mahesh Rawat, Manish Pandey, Mithun Manhas, Mohnish Mishra, Murali Kartik, Raiphi Gomez, Rahul Sharma, Robin Uthappa, Sachin Rana, Shrikant Wagh

International Players: Alfonso Thomas, Angelo Mathews, Callum Ferguson, Graeme Smith, Jesse Ryder, Luke Wright, Marlon Samuels, Wayne Parnell, Steven Smith, Micheal Clarke, Tamim Iqbal

Coach: Geoff Marsh

DateMatch DetailsTimePlace
Apr 06Pune Warriors v Mumbai Indians
PW won by 28 runs
16:00Mumbai
Apr 08Pune Warriors v Kings XI Punjab
PW won by 22 runs
20:00Pune
Apr 12Pune Warriors v Kings XI Punjab
KXIP won by 7 wkts
20:00Chandigarh
Apr 14Pune Warriors v Chennai Super Kings
PW won by 7 wkts
20:00Pune
Apr 17Pune Warriors v Royal Challengers Ban.
RCB won by 6 wkts
20:00Bengaluru
Apr 19Pune Warriors v Chennai Super Kings
CSK won by 13 runs
20:00Chennai
Apr 21Pune Warriors v Delhi Daredevils
PW won by 20 runs
20:00Delhi
Apr 24Pune Warriors v Delhi Daredevils
DD won by 8 wkts
16:00Pune
Apr 26Pune Warriors v Deccan Chargers
DC won by 18 runs
20:00Pune
May 01Pune Warriors v Deccan Chargers
DC won by 13 runs
16:00Hyderabad
May 03Pune Warriors v Mumbai Indians
MI won by 1 runs
20:00Pune
May 05Pune Warriors v Kolkata Knight Riders
KKR won by 7 runs
16:00Kolkata
May 08Pune Warriors v Rajasthan Royals
RR won by 7 wkts
16:00Pune
May 11Pune Warriors v Royal Challengers Ban
RCB won by 35 runs
20:00Pune
May 13Pune Warriors v Rajasthan Royals
RR won by 45 runs
16:00Jaipur
May 19Pune Warriors v Kolkata Knight Riders
KKR won by 34 runs
20:00Pune
May 22DD v KKR, Q 1 (1st v 2nd)
KKR won by 18 runs
20:00Bengaluru
May 23MI v CSK, Eli (3rd v 4th)
CSK won by 38 runs
20:00Bengaluru
May 25DD v CSK, Q 2(L.o.Q1 v W.o.Eli.)
CSK won by 86 runs
20:00Chennai
May 27KKR v CSK, Final
KKR won by 5 wkts
20:00Chennai