Rising Pune Supergiant ended Mumbai Indians six-match winning streak with a three-run victory in the Indian Premier League (IPL) at Wankhede stadium, Mumbai. Needing 24 off the last 12 balls, Ben Stokes bowled an economical penultimate over and conceded just seven runs, leaving Rohit Sharma's team with an onerous task of scoring 17 runs off the final six balls. Bowling the last over, Jaydev Unadkat dismissed Hardik Pandya with his first delivery, but Rohit smashed the bowler for a six to bring the equation down to 11 from four balls. The left-arm seamer, though, had the last laugh as he had Rohit caught and bowled for a brilliant 39-ball 58. Harbhajan Singh struck the last ball for a six, but that was not enough for the home team. Unadkat and Stokes returned two wickets each. Earlier, sent into bat, RPS scored 160 for six.
Amla fashions Punjab turnaround
Hashim Amla, the former South African captain, is turning out to be Kings XI Punjab's saviour. After his maiden T20 hundred couldn't prevent a defeat in the previous game against the Mumbai Indians, the classy batsman slammed a 65 to help halt his team's unwanted run of four losses with a 26-run victory over the Gujarat Lions at the SCA Stadium in Rajkot. Asked to bat first, the Kings scored an imposing 188 for seven. The Lions looked to be in it as long as skipper Suresh Raina (32) was out there in the middle, before a brilliant catch at the mid-wicket boundary by Maxwell sealed the fate of the match. Dinesh Karthik was the top scorer for Gujarat with an unbeaten 58, but the asking rate just kept climbing and they could not surmount it.
Kolkata pacers thrash Bangalore
Kolkata: The Kolkata Knight Riders were bowled out for 131 runs in 19.3 overs after Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and asked them to bat at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. But the hosts staged a remarkable fightback to beat Bangalore by 82 runs by wrapping up the Bangalore innings for 49 runs only, the lowest total in IPL history, in a mere 9.4 overs. Few expected a batting-heavy side like Bangalore to cave in so meekly although Kolkata bowlers deserve full credit for bowling their hearts out. It was superb captaincy by Gautam Gambhir too who put the Bangalore batsmen under pressure right from the word go by starting with two slips.
Mumbai shoot down Delhi in battle of quicks
Backing their decision to field first on what eventually turned out to be a low-scoring game at the Wankhede Stadium, Delhi Daredevils came up with a brilliant show with the ball to restrict the high-flying Mumbai Indians to a mere 142-8. Just as one thought they would look to finish the game early, the top-half of the Daredevils batting line-up fell like a pack of cards to a miserable 24-6 by the 39th ball of their innings. A 91-run seventh-wicket partnership off just 73 balls between the South African duo of Kagiso Rabada (44), who made an impactful debut, and allrounder Chris Morris (52), provided the visitors with a late rally . However, they eventually managed only 128-7 to go down by 14 runs. It was the hosts' sixth successive win in seven games, and the effort puts them within sniffing distance of a spot in the playoffs.
Dhoni regains finishing touch
MS Dhoni (61) reprised his finishing touch, helped Pune get 19 runs off Bhuvneshwar Kumar's 19th over, and then kept his cool in the last over off Siddharth Kaul to ensure Rising Pune Supergiant won a thrilling contest against Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets. As Dhoni helped Pune score their third win this season, the game posed many questions for Hyderabad captain David Warner - his tactical acumen, star leg-spinner Rashid Khan's catching skills and Kaul, who bowled the last over, all came under the scanner. Hyderabad fought gamely but came up short. Chasing 176 after winning the toss, Pune needed 30 runs in the last two overs with six wickets in hand, an ideal platform for Dhoni to rise to the occasion. He did it splendidly with a sequence of 4, 4, 6 against Bhuvneshwar and kept his cool to get two and four off the last two balls fromn Kaul. Only two runs were needed off the last ball. Kaul continued to bowl around the wicket to the former India captain, who hit the winning four to the right of extra cover, beating the long-off fielder.
Raina lords it over Kolkata
Suresh Raina played a captain's knock to help Gujarat Lions upset Kolkata Knight Riders recording a four-wicket victory at the Eden Gardens. In spite of Sunil Narine giving Kolkata another flying start after walking out with Gautam Gambhir to open the innings on being asked to bat first by Raina, the middle order failed to up the tempo and finished some 20 runs short ending at 187 for six. For Gujarat, Brendon McCullum and Aaron Finch cut loose early to set up a good plat form. But a half-an-hour rain interruption disturbed their momentum as Gujarat lost McCullum (33), caught at deep cover by Manish Pandey off Chris Woakes eight balls after play resumed. It looked all over for the visitors when in-form Dinesh Karthik was caught brilliantly by Gambhir at cover off Nathan Coulter-Nile in the very next over. But it was Raina who stood tall. The left-hander, played his shots all around the park and by the time he departed for a well-made 46-ball 84, Gujarat was at touching distance of their second victory in this IPL.
Amla's ton in vain
Mumbai Indians rode on destructive half centuries from Englishman Jos Buttler and young Nitish Rana to thrash Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) by eight wickets. Buttler's 37-ball 77, laced with seven fours and five sixes and Rana's unbeaten 31-ball 54, comprising seven sixes, outshone South African star Hashim Amla's maiden T20 century for Kings XI, as the visitors overhauled the massive target of 199, with more than four overs to spare. Chasing a mammoth 199, the opening duo of Parthiv Patel (37) and Buttler dealt mostly in boundaries to raise Mumbai's highest first wicket stand of all IPL seasons of 81 runs, as the Punjab bowlers had little to counter the left-right pair.
Memorable one for Kane Williamson
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson made his appearance in IPL X a memorable one for Sunrisers Hyderabad as they added Delhi Daredevils to the list of teams that succumbed to the hosts' never-say-die attitude. In doing a David Warner, Williamson showed that he's a consummate professional and his 89 was sheer class. The Sunrisers' skipper had a rare off day after winning the toss and batting first against Delhi on the same wicket where they had walloped Royal Challengers Bangalore in the opener. An express delivery from Chris Morris got rid of Warner, but that was the only success Delhi had for the next 14 overs as man of the match Williamson, one of the two changes Sunrisers made to the team that defeated Kings XI Punjab, assumed charge.
Gayle's big bash
When IPL-10 began, Chris Gayle was just 67 runs short of becoming the first batsman to score 10,000 runs in T20 cricket. After he put together scores of 32, 6 and 22 in three out of the five games that the Royal Challengers Bangalore played this season, the `Universe Boss' needed only three to reach the landmark, but the big Jamaican wasn't even sure of a place in the XI when his team took on the Gujarat Lions at the SCA Stadium. When AB de Villiers was ruled out, Gayle had the chance to cross the milestone. He got to the 10,000-run mark in singles, and then exploding like only he can, the 37-year-old smoked seven sixes and five fours while blasting 77 of 38 balls to show how he's still the blaster. RCB devoured the Lions in their own den and raced away to 213 for two- the highest score in IPL 2017 so far, after being put in. Fired by a brilliant, fighting 72 from Kiwi great Brendon McCullum, Gujarat were later provided a faint hope by talented youngster Ishan Kishan, who came up with some lusty blows towards the end, but the hosts eventually fell short by 21 runs to finish at 192 for seven in a high-scoring game.
