Manish Pandey and Yusuf Pathan rebuild the tattered Kolkata Knight Riders innings and won the match against Delhi Daredevils in New Delhi. In the end the Daredevils found that scoring 168-7 and snapping up three Kolkata Knight Riders batsmen by the third over was not sufficient to win the match for them.
Pandey looked at ease even as the potent Daredevils attack hung in there as the pressure swivelled back on KKR by the last over of the match. But Pandey wasn't going to give in with nine runs remaining off the final six balls and eventually finished it off with a ball and four wickets to spare. The innings of 69 off 49, in terms of strike-rate and entertainment, wasn't jaw-dropping. Yet, the approach and the assurance oozing from his stay at the crease had something special written over it. DD clearly missed the services of Shahbaz Nedeem and Corey Anderson - two lead performers in the last match which DD had won.
The chase was right out of the textbook. So much so that the riveting onslaught by Rishabh Pant -38 runs off 16 balls - earlier in the day was put in the shadow. Interestingly, Pandey's surge as a batsman has coincided with time spent at KKR over the past three seasons. The last over was testimony to the nerve and the confidence of the man. Eight to score off the last three balls, Pandey muscled Amit Mishra over the long-on boundary and then pinched a couple like he did right through the innings.
Five-run win for Hyderabad
Many teams have succumbed to their ability to defend low totals and it was the turn of Kings XI Punjab, when David Warner's unbeaten 70, Bhuvneshwar Kumar's crippling blows, upfront and at `death' during his five for 19, and the Afghan duo's brilliant comeback after expensive first overs, sealed a five- run win for Sunrisers Hyderabad.
It was their third win in IPL X at this venue and it couldn't have come at a better time to bolster their confidence after two away defeats to Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders. Sunrisers struggled for momentum on a wicket that aided slower bowlers and but for the 60-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Warner (54) and Naman Ojha (34) they wouldn't have posted 159 for six after being put in.
Mumbai Indians beat Gujarat by 6 wickets
Mumbai: The Mumbai Indians, it seems can do little wrong at the moment. Even when their bowling talisman Lasith Malinga goes for 51 in his four overs, the most he has ever conceded in his 101-match IPL career, they can find a way to win. His under-study, Jasprit Bumrah, another bowling star for MI over the years, conceded 45 in his four overs. Together, the pair of MI's go-to bowlers, went for 96 in their eight overs. It was a major factor in the Gujarat Lions getting to 176 for 4, which seemed above par on a dryish pitch after they were put in to bat in the 16th match of the IPL at the Wankhede on Easter Sunday. Yet, MI found a way to get past the Lions by six wickets and three balls to spare to win their fourth match on the trot to go past Kolkata Knight Riders and the top of the table with eight points from five games.
Pune back to winning ways
Bengaluru: Royal Challengers Bangalore faltered on home turf yet again, losing to Rising Pune Supergiant by 27 runs in their IPL match in Bengaluru on Sunday night. It was their second straight defeat at home and they are lunguishing at the bottom of the table. It was a much-needed victory for Pune who had lost their last three matches. Set to get 162, RCB never got going as Pune put up an impressive bowling performance and finished at 134-9. RCB's chase was undone primarily by the fact that both Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers could not stay at the wicket long enough to produce a substantial knock. Kohli was looking good when he was caught by Ajinkya Rahane off Ben Stokes at 28. De Villiers, who wasn't his fluent self, was gobbled up by Imran Tahir who got him stumped at 29.
Delhi live up to top billings
The top of the order innings played by Sam Billings ensured that Delhi Daredevils scored a 51-run win over Kings XI Punjab at the Ferozeshah Kotla.
The 40 ball 55 had not let the visitors to settle into a tempo in the first innings. The array of shots and maturity must have tickled the grey cells of national team skipper Eoin Morgan, on the other side on the night, as he plans for the Champions Trophy following the IPL. They say a good opening burst up sets up the foundation for a strong team performance. The Delhi supports staff has spent enough time in grooming and working on Billings the opening batsman and Zaheer Khan has spent enough time in the field of top-flight cricket to ease the nerves in the otherwise an inexperienced Daredevils dugout. Never mind the sweeps Billings played off an opening medium pacer Sandeep Sharma and the audacious walk-downs to the searing pace of Varun Aaron. Just when Corey Anderson and Pat Cummins walked out after an onslaught after electing bat first, the score of 188-6 had already thrown Glenn Maxwell's plans off.
Spinners star for Kolkata
The re-laid Eden Gardens track changed its character in the summer heat much to the delight of the Kolkata Knight Riders spinners who played a key role in securing a 17-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday. For Gautam Gambhir's team, it was their second successive win at home, while it was another heart-break for Hyderabad as they suffered their fifth defeat in as many matches at Eden Gardens. None of the Hyderabad batsmen could read the revolutions on the ball imparted by Kolkata's two unorthodox spinners Sunil Narine and Kuldeep Yadav and made a mess of what should have been a straightforward chase.
Gujarat have it easy against Pune
A brilliant five-wicket haul by seamer Andrew Tye (5-17), including a hat-trick, and then some characteristically quickfire batting by their batting heavyweights Brendon McCullum (49), Dwayne Smith (47), skipper Suresh Raina (35 not out) and Aaron Finch (33 not out), who finished the match with two sixes, helped Gujarat Lions thrash Rising Pune Supergiant by seven wickets and record their first win in IPL-10 on Friday night at the SCA Stadium in Pune.
Mumbai down Kohli's Bangalore
With 142 runs to defend against a team which bats deep, Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli wore a solemn look as he had a chat with the team. The pep talk may have been inspiring. Three overs into Mumbai Indians innings, hat-trick hero Samuel Badree (4-1-9-4) had flattened the Mumbai batting order with an awe-inspiring maiden third over which saw Parthiv Patel, Rohit Sharma and Mitchell McClenaghan return in quick time to leave Mumbai reeling at 7-4. But the leg-spinner's mate from Trinidad Kieron Pollard had other designs as he shrugged his rusty form to take Mumbai, who won the toss, to a four-wicket win in an exciting Good Friday contest at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru.
Kolkata crush Punjab by 8 wickets
Knight Riders sprang yet another opening surprise. After Chris Lynn (93*) bludgeoned the Gujarat Lions into submission in their first match while opening with skipper Gautam Gambhir, it was Sunil Narine who filled in injured Australian's shoes at the Eden Gardens. Kolkata think tank must have taken a cue from the Trinidadian's opening exploits for Melbourne Renegades in this year's Big Bash league, where he opened with Aaron Finch. The mystery spinner, who bowled splendidly earlier to finish with figures of 1-19, did not disappoint. His 18-ball 37 gave the hosts a roaring start as they chased down Kings XI Punjab's competitive tally of 170-9 with eight wickets and 21balls to spare.
Mumbai end Hyderabad run
If there are two venues in India where you would not want to lose the toss and defend a target in an IPL or T20 match, they're the Wankhede Stadium and Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. That holds true even if you possess a bowling line-up with as much variety and skill as defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) do. The former's reputation of being a graveyard for teams defending a score in cricket's bikini format came to the fore as Mumbai Indians (MI) beat SRH by four wickets and eight balls to spare in match 10 of IPL 2017 and end a run of five unbeaten matches (including three last year) for SRH.
Sanju Samson century downs Rising Pune Supergiant
Twenty-two year-old Sanju Samson (102 off 63) put his woeful domestic season behind him in some style, smashing the first century of IPL 2017 to lay down a strong foundation for Delhi Daredevils' resounding victory over Rising Pune Supergiant. Rishabh Pant (31 off 22) too chipped in with a vital cameo, while Chris Morris's carnage (38 off 9) truly put daylight between the sides competing for two crucial points. With Steve Smith absent due to illness, RPS were behind the eight-ball from the very start in a daunting chase of 206 and couldn't quite bridge the gap by the end. The result was a humbling 97-run defeat.
