Ken Borland

Ambati Rayudu further pressed his claims for international recognition as he steered the Mumbai Indians to a dramatic five-wicket victory over the Royal Challengers Bangalore in their Indian Premier League match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Monday.

 – http://www.supersport.com/cricket/indian-premier-league/news/120514/Rayudu_Pollard_snatch_victory_for_Mumbai

Chasing 172, it was Code Red for Mumbai as they slumped to 51 for five in the ninth over. But Rayudu stroked a wonderful 81 not out off 54 balls and, with strong support from Kieron Pollard, who bashed 52 not out off 31 deliveries, Mumbai snuck home with two balls to spare.

Pollard issued a strong warning that Mumbai weren’t giving up the chase as he hammered left-arm spinner KP Appanna for two sixes to end the 11th over. But the momentum was broken by a 12-minute delay after one of the four banks of floodlights failed – with the visitors facing defeat on the Duckworth/Lewis method if they couldn’t be restarted timeously.

Once play resumed, Rayudu and Pollard ensured that the result was in their hands and not left to any calculations as they extended their marvellous unbeaten partnership to 122 off 65 balls.

Their fiery approach saw off-spinner Chris Gayle’s darts being belted for 25 runs in two overs, while 16 runs came off Zaheer Khan’s 17th over that was really disappointing given the left-arm paceman’s wealth of experience.

But the 18th over was where Bangalore really lost the match. With Mumbai still needing 41 runs off 18 balls, Vinay Kumar bowled just where Rayudu likes it – outside off stump – and the 26-year-old blasted two sixes and a four.

That left 23 runs needed off the last two overs and Zaheer conceded nine off the penultimate over. Gayle then returned to defend 14 runs off the final over and could only cuss as Pollard smashed two fours and a six as Mumbai gatecrashed the party and stole an amazing victory.

Mumbai were in disarray at the start as the “infallible” Sachin Tendulkar was out first ball, dismissed by Zaheer thanks to captain Virat Kohli’s systematic field placing and his own sharp catch above his head at a short cover-point.

Three balls later, Herschelle Gibbs (2) was run out as he failed to focus on his running and was caught unawares by KP Appanna’s strong arm from the boundary.

Bangalore were especially pleased to remove Rohit Sharma, the scorer of a brilliant century in his last match, for just five in the fourth over as the batsman presented Vinay with an easy return catch.

Rayudu then joined Dinesh Karthik and the pair added 25 for the fourth wicket off 4.1 overs before Karthik (16) failed to make full contact on a sweep off Muttiah Muralitharan, Harshal Patel running around the backward square-leg boundary to take the catch.

The Royal Challengers were firmly in control when the impressive Harshal had Dwayne Smith caught at backward point for six, but the other West Indian in the Mumbai Indians team, big bad Pollard, then stepped up to the plate.

The skill of Rayudu and the power of Pollard combined perfectly as Mumbai snatched victory in the death overs.

The best bowlers for the Royal Challengers were the ones who bowled in the middle overs – Harshal (4-0-25-1) and Muralitharan (4-0-16-1).

Agarwal had earlier lifted the Bangalore Royal Challengers to 171 for six after they had been sent in to bat.

Overcast weather, a tinge of green on the pitch and plenty of moisture about after a 50-minute rain delay were the causes of Mumbai captain Harbhajan Singh’s decision, which paid off as the home side crashed to 47 for three.

The king of T20 batsmen, Gayle, was out of character and feeling for the ball, eventually dragging a Munaf Patel delivery back into his stumps to be bowled for six.

Kohli (3) will feel let down by opener Tillakaratne Dilshan after a mix-up saw the captain run out, but it was mostly thanks to a brilliant piece of fielding by South African Gibbs, who recalled his heyday by diving full-length at backward point to intercept a Dilshan cut and then showed great awareness to throw to bowler Munaf to complete the dismissal.

A rash of extras from Munaf – he bowled three no-balls and a wide in his third over- helped a little partnership develop between Dilshan and Saurabh Tiwary (21), the pair adding 36 before being separated by a dismissal you don’t see very often.

Tiwary went back to off-spinner Harbhajan, playing the ball into the leg side, but he then took another step backwards and trod on his middle stump, being dismissed hit wicket.

AB de Villiers for once didn’t come off, but his innings of 14 was important in stabilising the innings as he and Dilshan added 40 off 30 balls for the fourth wicket before Lasith Malinga took a sharp catch at deep extra cover after the South African had been duped by a Pollard slower ball.

Dilshan was not entirely convincing as he scored 47 off 50 balls before the innings came alive at the death thanks to Agarwal’s brisk intervention.

Dilshan’s dismissal, bowled by a Rudra Pratap Singh full toss, left the Challengers on a mediocre 133 for five in the 18th over, but Agarwal then took over.

The exciting 21-year-old prospect was up to the challenge posed by the great Malinga, hitting him for a four and a six as 13 runs came off the 19th over.

Agarwal then upped the ante in the final over as he rocketed Bangalore to a challenging total.

The dismal Munaf’s first ball was a full toss which was dispatched over long-off for six; a superb square-drive for four off the second delivery brought up Agarwal’s maiden IPL half-century off just 26 balls. The third ball was another full toss which was hit to long-off for four, before Agarwal hit another six over midwicket to finish with a haul of 24 runs off the final over.

Agarwal hit six fours and four sixes in all to mark himself as one of India’s brightest batting talents, taking Bangalore to a competitive total.

The hapless Munaf, whose third over was the longest in IPL history, was plundered for 44 runs in his last two overs and was also poor in the field.

The left-armer, Rudra, was the best of the Mumbai bowlers with one for 23 in his four overs, while the seam of Malinga (4-0-29-0), Pollard (3-0-20-1) and Smith (2-0-10-0) was also effective in keeping the run-rate down.

Robin Peterson and Ambati Rayudu saw the Mumbai Indians home as they snatched a thrilling four-wicket victory over the Kings XI at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali on Wednesday.

 – http://www.supersport.com/cricket/indian-premier-league/news/120425/Peterson_Rayudu_see_Mumbai_home

The South African came to the crease with Mumbai needing 34 runs off just 14 balls and Peterson plundered 16 not out off seven balls, with two fours and a six off successive deliveries.

Questions will be asked as to Peterson’s treatment by captain Harbhajan Singh, who bowled him for just one over, while he conceded 29 runs in three overs, and then batted before the left-hander but made a two-ball duck.

Rayudu blasted 34 not out off 17 balls, with a pair of fours and sixes, and hit the winning boundary as Mumbai won with a ball to spare.

The visitors needed 32 off the last two overs and Punjab will be ruing leg-spinner Piyush Chawla’s penultimate over of the innings, which cost an astonishing 27 runs.

Peterson, a clever cricketer who will always find a way to score, used a reverse-sweep and a switch-hit to hit the first two balls for four and then launched a slog-sweep for six.

Rayudu then hit the last two balls of the over for six, leaving Mumbai with just five runs to get off Azhar Mahmood’s final over and they did it in singles before the 26-year-old Indian prospect finished the match with a crunching cover drive.

The Kings XI probably thought they had the game in the bag after Mahmood and seamer Parvinder Awana had reduced Mumbai, chasing 169, to 135 for six in the 18th over.

Mumbai will be concerned that they collapsed after a good start, James Franklin (22) and Sachin Tendulkar (34) putting on 52 for the first wicket, before Rohit Sharma added a quickfire 50 off just 30 balls, with three sixes.

But the introduction of Pakistani paceman Mahmood brought a flurry of quick wickets as he had both openers caught behind by Nitin Saini.

The next over saw Chawla claim his one wicket as Dinesh Karthik (3) picked out Mahmood at short fine leg with a scoop shot.

Awana claimed the key wicket of Kieron Pollard for just three when the elevation of the West Indian’s flick over midwicket was just not enough and he was caught by Mandeep Singh.

Rohit then obviously became the key man as he played probably his best innings of the tournament before he slashed the nagging medium-pace of Awana to the sharp Mahmood at backward point.

The wicket of Harbhajan fell two balls later, but the skills of Peterson and Rayudu were enough to complete the victory.

The experienced Mahmood, who finished with two for 23, and Praveen Kumar, who conceded just 25 runs in his four overs, were the best of the Punjab bowlers.

David Hussey had earlier put his younger teammates to shame as he almost single-handedly steered the Kings XI to 168 for three.

Captain Hussey, the younger brother of Australian star Michael, slammed 68 not out off 40 balls to lift the home team to a competitive total on a pitch that was tough to score on when the ball got soft or the pace was taken off.

The 34-year-old made twice as many runs as any of his teammates, with South African David Miller’s 34 not out being the next highest score.

The multi-faceted Mumbai attack – seven bowlers were used – was initially pretty effective in stifling the run-rate and left-armer RP Singh was excellent up front, taking one for 27 in four overs.

Run-scoring was a little easier against the new ball and openers Saini and Mandeep put on 35 in the first five overs before Mandeep was caught behind off Singh for 22.

With Saini leaving the crease for 17 two overs later, his skied hook shot off paceman Clint McKay going to fine leg, the two Australians and Punjab’s most experienced batsmen – Shaun Marsh and Hussey – were brought together.

Marsh struggled to 17 off 26 balls before medium-pacer Franklin had him caught in an outstanding 13th over that cost just five runs, but Hussey batted through to the close.

Generally playing with a straight bat, Hussey punched his way to four fours and four sixes and was a cut above the other Kings XI batsmen.

But Miller served up a blistering cameo in the closing overs, lashing his 34 not out off just 17 balls, with two of his sixes coming off the last two balls of the innings, bowled by Munaf Patel, who the left-hander had also hit for six in his previous over.

Munaf had bowled his first two overs for just nine runs, including a maiden, but fell apart at the death as Hussey and Miller plundered 32 runs off his last 12 deliveries.

It said little for Harbhajan’s captaincy that spinner Peterson, who bowled the first over of the innings and conceded just three runs, was not used again, with the captain coming in for punishment as his three overs cost 29 runs.

Franklin also just bowled the single over.