For the second night, the Indian Premier League witnessed a desert storm, an astounding display of batting brilliance and heart-stopping moments in plenty on Monday. With 90 needed off 30 balls, Mumbai Indians rode on the brilliance of Ishan Kishan (99) and Kieron Pollard (60). Pollard almost crossed the finish line. But with 19 needed off the last over, RCB’s Sri Lankan left-arm pacer Isara Udana put the breaks on the MI innings to bring about a Super Over, with the match tied at 201each.
After Navdeep Saini bowled brilliantly to restrict Mumbai to seven runs in the Super Over, AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli saw Royal Challengers Bangalore through to a thrilling win, with the seemingly out-of-form Kohli finishing with an assured boundary off Jasprit Bumrah.
Earlier, RCB opener Aaron Finch (52) weighed in with his experience while his rookie partner Devdutt Padikkal (54) checked into the crease with maturity and calmness. The result was a solid platform for De Villiers (55) to showcase his flair and flamboyance. Finch and Padikkal did well to counter the new-ball pair of Trent Boult (2/34) and James Pattison as RCB raced to 59 in the Powerplay.
Rajasthan's record chase
Last match heroes, Steve Smith and Sanju Samson, and Rahul Tewetia produced another match-winning performance to help Rajasthan Royals thump Kings XI Punjab by four wickets in a high-scoring IPL match at Sharjah on Sunday. After the 81-run partnership between Smith and Samson was broken by Jimmy Neesham in the ninth over, the Kerala batsman took it upon himself and outdid every opposition bowler with a blazing 85 off 42 balls. Later, all-rounder Tewetia (53 off 31) took the Royals home.
Captain Smith, in the company of Jos Buttler (4 off 7) opened for the Royals yet again, only to part ways in the third over. But the early jolt did not derail the Royals’ run chase as first Smith and Samson and Tewatia later helped Royals script the highest run chase in IPL’s history.
Earlier, facing an innocuous Royals’ bowling, Mayank Agarwal brought up his first century of the tournament, a power-packed 106 off 50 balls that was laced with seven sixes and 10 fours. His captain KL Rahul, who smashed 132 not out in the match against Royal Challenger Bangalore, was on Sunday happy to play second fiddle a fine 69 off 54 balls to help the team post a mammoth target of 224/3.
Knight Riders beat Sunrisers
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) dished out a quality performance to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 7 wickets in their IPL-13 match at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. After the bowlers restricted Sunrisers to 142/4 in 20 overs, young Shubman Gill played a classy knock along with the experienced Eoin Morgan to get KKR back to winnings ways.
The win will bring a lot of relief for the Knights, who lost their opener against Mumbai Indians by 49 runs. KKR got off to a bad start losing Sunil Narine to pacer Khaleel Ahmed, who replaced Sandeep Sharma in the team, early on. But Gill (70 off 62) showed resilience and maturity to remain unbeaten.
Laced with five fours and two sixes, he paced his innings beautifully reaching 50 off 42. Morgan unbeaten on 42 was more than happy to play the second fiddle.
Two wins for Delhi Capitals
Prithvi Shaw’s elegant strokeplay (64 off 43 balls) and a disciplined all-round bowling performance helped Delhi Capitals make it two wins out of two in IPL-13. Having scored 175/3 from their 20 overs riding Shaw’s effort, Delhi restricted Chennai Super Kings to 131/7 and notched up a comfortable 44-run win in Dubai on Friday.
For the second time in succession, CSK left themselves with too much to do in the run chase. MS Dhoni walked in to bat in the 16th over when 78 were needed off 26 balls. He was dismissed for 15 off 12 balls in the final over. Clearly, CSK need Dhoni to do more with the bat in the coming games. Unlike the CSK spinners who disappointed once again, the DC tweakers – Axar Patel and Amit Mishra – stood up to the occasion and stifled the opposition batsmen. In eight overs between them, they conceded only 41 runs for one wicket.
Rahul's century
KL Rahul blasted a masterclass century to help Kings XI Punjab bounce back from the opening setback and hand a 97-run thrashing to an unpredictable Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
RCB made a mess of the stiff chase, and barring a 49-run fourth wicket stand between AB de Villiers (28 off 18b) and Aaron Finch (20 off 21b), they hardly offered any resistance. They were off to a forgettable start, losing the trio of Devdutt Padikkal (1), Josh Philippe (0) and captain Virat Kohli (1) in the first three overs, and later, the lower order also succumbed under the pressure of the mounting asking rate.
Rohit's 80 helps MI's first win
The much-talked about Kolkata Knight Riders batting unit came a cropper as they lost their opening encounter to Mumbai Indians in IPL-13 by 49 runs on Wednesday. This was MI’s first win in the United Arab Emirates after six defeats since the 2014 IPL edition. There’s something about Kolkata that seems to charge up Rohit Sharma. Be it the Eden Gardens in Kolkata or the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, the MI skipper’s love affair with KKR continued as his majestic 80 (54b, 3x4, 6x6) helped his side put up a formidable 195 for five.
None of the KKR batsmen could get going and their only hope faded when Jasprit Bumrah clean bowled Andre Russell for 11 only. The pacer made a great comeback after going for 43 runs in the last match, finishing with two for 32. On the contrary, KKR’s most experienced bowler Pat Cummins’ giving away 49 runs in his three overs made a big difference to the final outcome.
