Right that’s all from me. The Daredevils won – and in doing so ended a nine-match losing streak at home – largely thanks to that outstanding partnership between Iyer and Duminy. Thanks to the spinners, and Tahir with 3-22 in particular, it became a thrashing. They move up to fourth in the table and look to be hitting form at just the right time.
Thanks for reading. Do join me again tomorrow for the regal affair of the Rajasthan Royals v RCB. Night!
Daredevils win by 37 runs
20th over: Indians 153-9 (Malinga 6, Bumrah 0) target 191 So with 43 needed off one over, the required run-rate is up to 43.00. Mathews will have to be tight. Malinga hammers a short one just over mid-wicket for four, then chips a yorker back down the ground for one. A wide yorker beats the batsman, before Bhaji goes. The last two balls are dots.
Updated
Wicket! Harbhajan c sub (Yadav) b Mathews 9
The catching today has been exemplary and the sub Yadav joins in as he dives forward to take a low catch at mid-wicket.
19th over: Indians 148-8 (Malinga 1, Harbhajan 9) target 191 Tahir, with 3-18 from his three outstanding overs so far, will look to finish it off here in his last. A big wide is followed by a single to Harbhajan, which puts Malinga on strike. He walks past one, having a big waft, but it spits up and Jadhav can’t gather to make the stumping. Another wide, then a hoick to square leg for one. Interestingly the Indians have hit the most sixes in this tournament, but they’re still only off the bottom on net run rate.
18th over: Indians 144-8 (Malinga 0, Harbhajan 8) target 191 No let-up form Coulter-Nile as he beats Harbhajan with a sharp lifter. A slower ball gets cut to point for a single, then Malinga wears one and deflects it over the keeper for a leg-bye. Bhaji then picks a length ball and whacks it into the stands at mid-wicket. Poor ball that. The batsman then misses out on a waist-high full-toss as Coulter-Nile misses his yorker length, then the final ball is a slower one that’s cut away for one.
17th over: Indians 135-8 (Malinga 0, Harbhajan 0) target 191 Pandya goes so quickly that he was out before I knew who had come in. Harby comes to the crease, at the non-striker’s end. Rayudu squirts an unconvincing four through backward point but then holes out. This time the batsmen don’t cross and McCl... oh OK. Malinga is the man to face the hat-trick ball, but he blocks it out. Still, three in four balls for Tahir and four in five for the Daredevils. The last ball is a googly that beats Malinga all ends up.
Wicket! McClenaghan c Jadhav b Tahir 0
First ball he goes for a reverse sweep and bottom edges into his boot, whence it loops up to the keeper. Three in the over for Tahir and he’s on a hat-trick.
Wicket! Rayudu c Coulter-Nile b Tahir 30
See below. This time it’s slightly wider, I guess, at long-off, but other than that it was identical.
Wicket! Pandya c Coulter-Nile b Tahir 0
Straight down the ground, Pandya hasn’t got enough on this and is comfortably taken by Coulter-Nile.
16th over: Indians 131-5 (Rayudu 26) target 191 Rayudu isn’t going to give up just yet and he agriculturally slogs Coulter-Nile for back-to-back fours either side of the wicket. A good comeback from the bowler though, who beats Rayudu with one that keeps very low. Sharma then looks to drive high over mid-off and Duminy, back-pedalling, can’t cling on to a second wonder catch. Not to matter though as Sharma looks to ride his luck and sees it run out rather quickly.
Wicket! R Sharma c Nadeem b Coulter-Nile 30
Sharma looks to go huge over square leg from a back-of-a-length ball, but doesn’t connect properly and Nadeem keeps his cool.
15th over: Indians 120-4 (Rayudu 17, Sharma 28) target 191 The shiny gold patches make the Indians kit look like something out of Galaxy Quest.
In what looks to be a safety measure, Tahir comes back on to try and squeeze this partnership. A misfield at long-on gives away a run that shouldn’t be, but four from the over is more than good enough. 14-plus/over needed now.
Updated
14th over: Indians 115-4 (Rayudu 13, Sharma 27) target 191 Sharma is warmed up now, but I’d wager it’s too late and that he’s too low at four. Anyway, another hard hit for six down the ground off Nadeem, then a big one from Rayudu over long-on.
13th over: Indians 100-4 (Rayudu 5, Sharma 20) target 191 Amit Mishra to bowl through then. He’s been brilliant tonight and he very nearly has Rayudu stumped as Jadhav rushes removing the bails – he tried to swipe the ball on to the stumps one handed, when he had time to gather it and complete the job. A pair of twos to mid-on, then Rohit Sharma slams it down the ground for six. 2-32, Mishra finishes with. Well bowled.
12th over: Indians 89-4 (Rayudu 3, Sharma 12) target 191 Nadeem again. This is a formality now. Five runs from an over that’s not interesting enough to warrant further description.
11th over: Indians 84-4 (Rayudu 1, Sharma 9) target 191 So at the halfway stage, 11 an over needed. If these two can stay together it’s doable... oh that is some timing. No sooner have I typed it than Pollard departs for 10 from seven balls. Three runs and a wicket from the over represents a more-than-decent return from Mishra’s over.
Wicket! Pollard c Nadeem b Mishra 10
A wild, out of control shot and Pollard hits meekly up and out, Nadeem holding on to a (relatively) straightforward catch at cover.
10th over: Indians 81-3 (Pollard 10, Sharma 7) target 191 Death by spin is the order of the day as Tahir makes his bow. A full delivery is in the slot and Pollard does the one thing he’s good at doing, swinging through the line and putting it into the stands at long-on. Only nine off the over, despite that, though and Mumbai slip further behind the rate.
Incidentally, in Granada, England are collapsing.
9th over: Indians 72-3 (Pollard 3, Sharma 5) target 191 Lovely work from Chand as he picks Mishra’s googly and runs it down to the third man boundary. Yuvraj runs after it and looks to reel it in, but flaps at the ball and it spins back into the rope. That’s to be his last success of the night though, as Mishra outfoxes him. Pollard comes in at five. He too is outfoxed, by the wrong-un, but this one’s sliding down leg and the LBW appeal is rightly turned down.
Wicket! Chand st Jadhav b Mishra 14
It’s all falling apart here. Chand steps down the track, looks to flay it and gets nowhere near the ball. Jadhav whips the bails off. It was a lovely slower, wider ball from the bowler.
8th over: Indians 64-2 (Chand 10, Sharma 4) target 191 Nadeem from the other end. I won’t lie to you, I’ve never heard of this guy before. He looks to be as orthodox as they come, one of these non-spinning left-arm spinners. They’re struggling to get him away, but he’s pretty profligate in sending down two leg-side wides on the, er, spin. Just five from the over mind.
7th over: Indians 59-2 (Chand 8, Sharma 3) target 191 With the powerplay done, it’s time for some leg-spin, with Amit Mishra first up. He completely outfoxes Chand, getting the batsman in a tangle and in a pile on the floor. Unfortunately it beats the keeper too, going all the way through for four. Oddly it’s given as runs, although I can’t see anything on it.
6th over: Indians 48-2 (Chand 2, Sharma 0) target 191 Another change of bowling and Angelo Mathews is on. Patel, incidentally, has his highest score of the season. There’s a real danger here that the required rate is going to have spiralled out of reach before Rohit Sharma, Pollard and Rayudu make it to the crease. Patel hammers an ugly hoick back past the bowler for a powerful four. Then much nicer, as he hits cleanly through the line for a straight six, but that’s all he’s getting as he goes next ball. Rohit is the new man, after a Bullshit (TM) Time Out.
Wicket! Another great catch! Patel c Tahir b Mathews 28
Patel goes for the big slog sweep, it takes the top edge and Tahir at deep mid-wicket misjudges where it’s coming down. No matter has he dives forward and clings on at full stretch.
5th over: Indians 38-1 (Chand 2, Patel 18) target 191 That over has got Mumbai more or less in line with the required rate. Joseph is continuing and he has Simmons, although that was all about Duminy, who did brilliantly to take a very high catch, running back, with the ball coming out of the lights. Unmukt Chand is the new man and he gets off the mark with a swivel pull square for two.
Wicket! What a catch! Simmons c Duminy b Joseph 15
This is brilliant work from JP Duminy, who can do anything it seems. A checked straight drive goes miles and miles and miles up in the air – Garryowen would have been proud of that – and the captain runs back and takes a wonderful tumbling catch with the ball dropping over his shoulder.
Updated
4th over: Indians 35-0 (Simmons 15, Patel 17) target 191 Here we go again. I’m not quite sure why Duminy feels the need to bowl himself here. Four more as Patel slaps a cut through cover for another boundary. After thumping one into the pads, but way outside off, Duminy sees his next ball slapped out to mid-on for one. Simmons gets stuck in himself, slapping another four through extra cover, before missing out on a juicy full-toss.
3.1 overs: Indians 25-0 (Simmons 10, Patel 12) target 191 Cap’n Duminy brings himself on and Patel slashes him up and over extra cover for an easy four. Duminy looked to hurt himself a touch, making that stop in the second over [see second over, obviously] and after one ball he’s down having treatment.
3rd over: Indians 21-0 (Simmons 10, Patel 8) target 191 The required rate now is exactly 10 and 10 is exactly what they get from the over. Coulter-Nile is unlucky to be called wide on the first ball of this over as he follows Simmons, who had backed miles away to leg. A fairer wide next though, down the leg-side. A dot, then too much width and Simmons backs away and cuts behind point for four. Twice then the bowler beats the bat and the second time does bring the obligatory appeal. Short and pulled through mid-wicket for an ugly four off the bottom of the bat.
Dot ball, through to the keeper and he doesn't appeal!
This isn’t the done thing in the IPL, is it?
2nd over: Indians 11-0 (Simmons 2, Patel 8) target 191 It’ll be Dominic Joseph from the other end, round the wicket to Parthiv. The keeper-opener has a big wild slog and connects with naught but air – he’s got a top score of just 16 this year, apparently and is tied down here, unable to get anything from the first four. An ugly slap out to mid-on brings three as Duminy reels it in from the boundary after an excellent chase. One from the last ball.
1st over: Indians 7-0 (Simmons 1, Patel 5) target 191 Right, we’re back. Coulter-Nile to begin and his first ball is a peach, jagging away off the seam past Simmons’ outside edge. The West Indian is off the mark third ball with a dab to backward point for one. Patel takes one ball to get his eye in, then drives nicely, on the up and off the back foot back past the bowler for four to long-off. A wide, then a single to third man to finish.
65 from the first 10 overs. 125 in the next 10. #DD finish with 190/4, their highest score in #IPL8. #IPL #DDvMI
— Ravi Chiku (@chiku_ravi) April 23, 2015
End of innings Daredevils 190-4
Some excellent bowling at the death, combined with some good stuff at the top of the innings too, means that the middle-over carnage might not prove terminal. I fancy the Daredevils to win it from here. What a talent they have in Shreyas Iyer, too. Magnificent innings of 83 from 56 for him, and a damn fine one too from JP Duminy, who made 78 from 50.
20th over: Daredevils 190-4 (Duminy 78, Jadhav 1) With the rather less magnificent figures of 0-45 from three overs, Bumrah returns to bowl the final over. He begins with a low full-toss, which Duminy lifts back down the ground for six. That’s the 50 up for the bowler. A single brings Yuvraj on strike, but he once again fails to contribute anything, falling for two from four. The batsmen crossed, so Duminy is on strike, but he can only get a single. This is a decent comeback from Bumrah. “I don’t think they’re going to get to 200,” says the commentator, with the score at 189-4 from 19.5 overs. The last two balls are just singles.
Updated
Wicket! Yuvraj c Pollard b Bumrah 2
Another nothing shot, as he lifts a pitching wedge straight down the throat of the man at long-on. Easy catch for Pollard.
19th over: Daredevils 180-3 (Duminy 69, Yuvraj 2) As far as innings of 17 go, that was a pretty decent one from Mathews. Malinga and his collection of yorkers again and he could be the difference between a target of 185 and 200+ for his team. Dot, one, dot makes for an excellent start to the over, then a no-ball as Malinga knocks the bails off, Steve Finn style. Still, he’s offering up nothing in terms of balls to hit and just five singles plus the no-ball from the over. Malinga finishes with 1-23.
18th over: Daredevils 174-3 (Duminy 66, Yuvraj 0) McClenaghan, with 1-25 from his three so far, is in for his last over and Mathews carves his first ball between gully and backward point and away for four. Excellent running brings two to mid-on, then McClenaghan goes miles down the leg-side. Wide. Mathews flicks one off his pads and round to fine-leg, but the man at fine-leg pulls off an excellent stop to save two. No saving anything next ball though as Mathews rocks back on to his tip-toes and guides the ball with stunning timing through point for four. The last ball brings the wicket and with it, Yuvraj.
Wicket! Mathews c Patel b McClenaghan 17
Mathews goes, rocking back and looking to cut hard through point, he gets a thick top edge that Patel does well to take, low and going forward to his right.
Updated
17th over: Daredevils 161-2 (Duminy 66, Mathews 5) Malinga is back on and this is some catastrophic running, but the throwing is very poor and two run-out opportunities go awry! Malinga is using all his experience here, keeping it tight with some excellent yorkers and he’s broken Iyer’s stump with that yorker. Great innings though from Iyer, his 83 coming from 56 balls. Mathews is the new man and he laces his first ball from his Sri Lanka teammate through extra-cover for four, then thumps his second back down the ground for one.
Updated
Wicket! Iyer b Malinga 83
Booo! Iyer goes down on one knee looking to shovel Malinga into the stands at fine leg, misses it and the stumps splatter.
16th over: Daredevils 152-1 (Duminy 66, Iyer 80) Bumrah, with his strange action – he holds his right arm dead straight, pointing downward but at around a 15 degree angle to the ground, holding the ball as he comes in – comes back in and Iyer carves him away for two. A single, then Duminy goes down the ground where a nice bit of relay fielding saves three runs. One more to Iyer, then a lovely lofted cover drive brings four more for Duminy. Six more over mid-wicket as Bumrah drops short and this is the highest partnership for any wicket this season.
15th over: Daredevils 137-1 (Duminy 55, Iyer 76) This is probably obvious by now, but Mumbai need to end this partnership or it could get nasty. A pair of singles and Iyer’s score is now the highest for the Daredevils in this season’s IPL. Ooh hello, Hardik Pandya gets one to keep very low – this pitch isn’t a road by any means. Iyer then goes for the big slog and misses it completely; Patel removes the bail, but the replays show that the batsman got his back foot down in time. A great first five balls are spoiled somewhat when Duminy picks up the sixth and crashes it through mid-on for four.
14th over: Daredevils 130-1 (Duminy 50, Iyer 74) Remarkably, the Guardian coffee machine is quick enough to do me a latte before the time-out is over. Harbhajan is back into the attack and, after Duminy takes a single, Iyer slogs consecutive balls sweetly over long-on for identikit sixes. It’s brave bowling, tossing it up, but really good hitting from Iyer. The young opener has impressed me from what I’ve seen so far in this tournament. A single apiece, then Duminy top-edges a slog-sweep straight up, but there’s no fielder near it and they run two to give the captain his 50.
13th over: Daredevils 112-1 (Duminy 45, Iyer 61) With the wheels threatening to come off, Raina calls back his strike bowler McClenaghan. He comes round the wicket to the right-handed Iyer and it looks to be a good move as the batsman doesn’t have room to swing his arms. Iyer has a big swing, gets nowhere near it and up goes Patel behind the stumps, with the bowler belatedly joining in. Ridiculous appeal. One from the first four balls of the over, then another short one is pulled high by Iyer, over the short square-leg boundary for six, then a thick top edge flies over the keeper’s head for four more to finish the over.
Time-out time.
12th over: Daredevils 101-1 (Duminy 44, Iyer 51) Pollard’s first over was pretty decent, going for just five, but he starts this one inauspiciously with a wide and then a full-toss that Duminy batters back over his head for four. Worse is to come, as he serves up a juicy leg-stump half-volley that Duminy lifts over square-leg for another huge six. Ugh, a high full-toss to follow goes to exactly the same spot. 19 from the first five balls, then a swivel-pull for one makes it an even 20 for the over.
If you refresh the page, it will complete the entry below, that I launched too early.
11th over: Daredevils 81-1 (Duminy 26, Iyer 50) Back into the attack comes Boomra after getting hammered for back-to-back sixes in his first over. After Iyer takes a single, Duminy turns him round the corner and Simmons makes a good sliding stop to keep it to one. Try sliding for the next one though, as Iyer dumps it back over the bowler’s head for six runs. He follows that up by hammering a full one through extra-cover for four, then chops one down to third man to bring up a half-century.
Updated
10th over: Daredevils 65-1 (Duminy 25, Iyer 35) Professional bat swinger Kieron Pollard comes on for a bowl and Iyer crunches him in the air over mid-on for just the one. The last 18 balls have gone 104011011101110011. All five from that over came from indistinct singles.
9th over: Daredevils 60-1 (Duminy 23, Iyer 32) Duminy walks down the pitch to Harbhajan but can’t get bat on ball. Then, with the bat twisting in his hands, he mistimes an attempted drive and it loops into the on-side for one.
8th over: Daredevils 56-1 (Duminy 21, Iyer 30) After just sinx singles in the last two overs, Duminy dabs down to third man for the Daredevils’ 50th run of the match. Then blessed relief in the form of a boundary, as Iyer rocks back and takes the partnership to 50 with a hammered cut through point. Three singles from the other five balls though and this is a bit of a slog to sit through.
7th over: Daredevils 49-1 (Duminy 19, Iyer 25) Here we go again. Harby carries on. He very nearly gets one to spit back off the bat, into the ground and into the stumps. Not a lot else to report from that over.
6th over: Daredevils 45-1 (Duminy 17, Iyer 23) Malinga is back and Duminy squeezes out a good yorker for one. Another very quick single and, as Iyer comes through, he goes right over the top of Malinga’s ankle. Ouch. Shout for LBW from the final ball but it;s going down leg. That’s time-out time.
5th over: Daredevils 43-1 (Duminy 16, Iyer 22) Something you don’t get every day: some love for Harbhajan Singh, courtesy of Ian Burch
“I have much love for Harbhajan Singh who also had a spell at Surrey a decade or so ago. I remember him briefly enlivening a grey, drizzly and deserted Rose Bowl while having a quick slog at the end of County Championship innings. He managed to get under the skin of the then Hampshire skipper Shane Warne in no time and Chris Tremlett sent down a number of bouncers in anger. The only other thing I remember about the day was watching Jimmy Ormond puff his way thru a packet of fags on the players balcony during a break for bad light. Such are the joys of County Cricket at times.”
Speaking of Harby, here is into the attack. Iyer pokes his second ball away for one and the bowler comes round the wicket to the left-handed Duminy. JP walks down the track and bunts a single to mid-on. Iyer then gets a thick outside edge, through the dead-end wasteland that is the slip region, and away for four.
4th over: Daredevils 35-1 (Duminy 14, Iyer 16) A change of bowling, with the 21-year-old, right-arm medium pacer Jasprit Bumrah replacing Malinga. A two gets Duminy off the mark, before the South African whips a high, steepling shot over backward square-leg for six. Short next, outside leg-stump and Duminy hooks it miles back for another. This is pretty poor bowling, with the arm coming over at a strange angle and no pace at all.
3rd over: Daredevils 21-1 (Duminy 0, Iyer 16) Iyer, much like his opening partner, mistimes a pull but this time gets a bottom edge down into the ground. Sharp stuff this, from McLenaghan and he opens the over with three dots to Iyer. The fourth though is a slower one, picked and Iyer clears his front leg out the way before launching it over to cow-corner for a one-bounce four. Short next and carved miles over backward point for six.
2nd over: Daredevils 11-1 (Duminy 0, Iyer 6) A big cheer goes up as the camera focusses on Sachin, who turns 42 tomorrow. Malinga from the other end and he offers up a leg-stump half-volley that Iyer caresses sexily through mid-on for four. Ugh, then the bowler follows that up with a filthy high full-toss down the leg-side as he gets a slower ball all wrong. He gets it right a couple of balls later and Iyer’s leading edge drops safely, short of mid-on. What looks to be a good bouncer to me is called wide, then Iyer knocks one just in front of square on the leg-side for a single. Now Duminy gets the leading edge, again falling short of mid-on.
1st over: Daredevils 4-1 (Duminy 0, Iyer 1) Agarwal is off the mark straight away with a very sharp single to cover. He had his foot in the air when he reached the non-striker’s end did Agarwal and a direct hit would have sent him through the door marked “Do one” – rather brainlesssly, he skipped up over the incoming ball. Never mind, as, after Iyer took a single to third man, Agarwal surrenders his wicket rather limply. Cap’n Duminy the new man. Huge appeal first ball for a strangle down the leg-side; not given but there was a noise. I think that’s off the thigh-pad. Two balls later a bouncer is called wide, then an outswinger is too.
Watching the replay of the wicket it wasn’t a slower ball, just badly mistimed by Agarwal. A comfortable catch for Rayudu above his head, too.
Wicket! Agarwal c Rayudu b McClenaghan 1
It looked like the slower bouncer to me and Agarwal misjudged it completely, pulling limply to short mid-wicket.
Here we go. Agarwal and Iyer out in the middle, surrounded by 11 Mumbai players. It looks like McClenaghan will take the new ball.
Kumar Sangakkara is in the studio. First he signs for Surrey, now an IPL punditry stint. You’re better than this, Kumar. It’s like seeing Christoph Waltz do a betting advert or something.
Some advice:
@DanLucas86 Not acceptable to go *tonight* because non-loners will be there. I'd recommend a daytime showing when the heat dies down.
— Tucky (@ex_tu) April 23, 2015
Also my girlfriend might not be too happy if I go and see it without her. She doesn’t really like cricket, so with any luck isn’t reading this.
On a more pressing note, is it acceptable for me to go to the cinema alone tonight to watch the new Avengers movie?
So for those of you keeping track, Mumbai are unchanged while the Daredevils bring in Nadeem, the left-arm spinner, for Tiwary.
Aaaaand the teams...
Delhi Daredevils: MA Agarwal, SS Iyer, JP Duminy*, Yuvraj Singh, AD Mathews, KM Jadhav†, NM Coulter-Nile, A Mishra, S Nadeem, Imran Tahir, DJ Muthuswami
Mumbai Indians: LMP Simmons, PA Patel†, UBT Chand, RG Sharma*, KA Pollard, AT Rayudu, Harbhajan Singh, HH Pandya, JJ Bumrah, MJ McClenaghan, SL Malinga
The toss
Rohit Sharma calls tails, tails it is and Mumbai are going to field first.
“It never rains but it pours.” That patently isn’t true, but more bad news for the Indians as Mohammed Shami is also out of this match.
Sky Sports are showing a documentary on Seve Ballesteros, with Danny Dyer as a talking head. Sadly not as a Talking Head, but it’s pretty weird nonetheless.
In further bad news for the Mumbai Indians, Corey Anderson has been ruled out of this match as well as all the other matches in this tournament. He’s fractured a finger and will go home to get better before heading to England with New Zealand in May.
Preamble
Afternoon folks. Did the Batman v s Superman trailer get you excited? The prospect of watching two iconic superheroes slugging it out in dark and moody heavyweight battle to determine once and for all which set of fanboy nerds will get the eternal bragging rights?
No, me neither. For one thing it’s too close to Nolan’s outstanding Batman trilogy, Man of Steel was boring and it’s directed by Zack Snyder, who is pretty bad.
Anyway, today’s/tonight’s match is not the equivalent of that. In fact, it’s more akin to a 1997 football match to determine once and for all which is the greatest nation on earth: Mexico or Portugal.
The Delhi Daredevils v the Mumbai Indians (honest to god I’ve only just realised the superhero connection there, but that’s pretty neat, eh?) is a strictly mid-to-lower-table affair. Delhi all-too reliant on their spinners to contain the opposition, and JP Duminy has ploughed a lone furrow with the bat. That, I guess, is what you get for blowing your budget on a man who was last good at the same time as Weezer were.
Mumbai on the other hand don’t even have the comfort of a decent attack. Their most economical bowler is Vinay Kumar and even he’s gone at 7.84 an over, with just the one wicket to show for it. Everyone else is north of eight, in terms of economy. Their batting finally came to life, for the first time this season, in the win over RCB, but even then they conceded 191 while nervily defending that big total, after Chris Gayle had played one of the worst innings you’ll ever see in T20 cricket at that.
So, like a Premier League match between Newcastle and QPR, there’s not a whole lot of quality on show today (despite the whole damn point of the IPL being that it’s loads of amazing players). But, as the old* maxim goes, being crap is the great leveller. We could get a genuinely thrilling contest, we could get hilarious ineptitude. Like The Grand Budapest Hotel, this could be a magnificent farce and thriller all rolled into one.
Play starts at 2.30pm BST, or 8pm local time. Toss and team news, as ever, when I have it. In the meantime, try and convince yourself there’s ever been anything more exciting ever than the final shot of this.
*Just made up, by me.
Dan will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s a recap of yesterday’s dramatic match, in which Kings XI Punjab ended Rajasthan Royals’ winning run with a victory in the super over.
A spectacular performance from Kings XI Punjab somehow relieved Rajasthan Royals of their 100% record, in the best game of the IPL so far. Set 192 to win, determined and enterprising batting from Mitchell Marsh and David Miller delivered the rarity of a high-scoring thriller, eventually earning a super over in which Marsh excelled once again; he scored 14 of his side’s 15 runs, after which two wickets in four balls secured a memorable win.
Just a short while earlier, things had looked very different. Ajinkya Rahane, whose 74 was his third consecutive half-century, and Shane Watson, who bludgeoned 45 from 35 deliveries, gave Rajasthan the ideal base from which to post a huge total. Their opening partnership was worth 95 in 11.3 overs, and when Deepak Hooda – promoted to No3 – added 19 from only nine balls, a score of above 200 looked possible.
But, though Rajasthan maintained their pace, they could not increase it as expected. Steve Smith and James Faulkner contributed only one between them, so it was left to Karun Nair and Stuart Binny to whack the late boundaries that took the game out of Punjab’s reach.
Read more here.
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