Shane Watson did the star turn as Rajasthan Royals stormed into the final of the Indian Premier League, beating Delhi Daredevils by 105 runs in the first semi-final at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on Friday night.

The Australia all-rounder first hit a breezy 52 as the Royals put up a challenging 192 for 9 in their allotted 20 overs and then destroyed the Delhi top order.

In a triple strike he had the top three Delhi batsmen — Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan — dismissed cheaply.

Reduced to 24 for 3, Delhi never recovered and lost wickets at regular intervals. Watson finished with figures of 3 for 10 in three overs as Delhi Daredevils were dismissed for a paltry 87 in 16.2 overs.

Munaf Patel, who was omitted from the ODI squads for Bangladesh and Pakistan tours, claimed 3 for 16 and Shane Warne 2 for 21 to hasten Rajasthan’s passage to the final.

Rajasthan Royals take on the winners of Saturday’s second semi-final between Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings.

Delhi began their run-chase on a poor note as Sehwag (3) pulled a ball wide of the stumps from Watson and was caught by Sohail Tanvir at deep mid-wicket in the second over.

Gambhir (11) and left-handed Dhawan (5), who both showed good form earlier in the tournament, perished in quick succession after enabling Delhi make a partial recovery.

Gambhir slashed Watson off backfoot and was caught at cover point while Dhawan pulled the Aussie straight to short mid-wicket to leave Delhi gasping at 24 for three.

Watson’s first three-over spell read a superb three for 10 and if Delhi had hopes of staging a fight-back they were thwarted by the dismissal of Manoj Tiwary (0), four runs later, off Munaf Patel.

It was a regular procession of batsmen thereafter.

Tillakratne Dilshan top-scored with 33 in 22 balls — inclusive of a six and five fours — before being seventh out at 76 in the 13th over.

Earlier, Yusuf Pathan celebrated his Team India inclusion with a whirlwind 45. The hard-hitting Pathan, named in the Indian 15 for next month’s tri-series in Bangladesh and Asia Cup in Pakistan earlier in the day, creamed the hapless Delhi attack, which included Glenn McGrath, hitting four sixes and three fours in his 21-ball knock.

The 25-year-old Baroda all-rounder took over the attacking reins from all-rounder Watson, who stroked his way to a fine half century in 29 balls, including four sixes and three fours, after openers Graeme Smith (25 in 21 balls) and Swapnil Asnodkar (39 in 21 balls) launched the innings on a sound note.

Watson and Pathan’s efforts helped Rajasthan Royals add 109 runs in the last 10 overs after Smith and the pint-sized Asnodkar put on 65 runs in 40 balls at the start.

Watson was involved in a breezy 52 runs partnership off 29 balls with Mohd Kaif (12) after Rajasthan Royals suddenly slipped to 76 for 3 from 65 without loss.

The innings started slowly as Smith was hampered by a pulled muscle while going for a run. But Asnodkar, who often took the aerial route and hit a six and six fours, boosted the run-rate.

The right-hander, after edging McGrath for his first four in the third over, struck Mohd Asif for three fours in the fourth over — a slash, a lofted off drive and a hook � to give the innings the much-needed push.

Smith then took over and slammed McGrath for three consecutive fours as the score raced to 43 for no loss in five overs.

Asnodkar had a lucky escape off the first ball of V Yo Mahesh’s spell when Farveez Maharoof dropped a sitter at long leg. He celebrated the escape by swinging the same bowler to the same area for a six to raise the 50 of the innings in only 33 balls.

Maharoof made amends by sending back both the Rajasthan openers with the last three balls of his first over.

Smith was caught flicking at deep square leg by a diving Shikhar Dhawan and then Asnodkar was dismissed at the same score of 65, caught at backward point off the Sri Lankan.

Maharoof also accounted for Sohail Tanvir, promoted up the order by his skipper, Shane Warne, as a pinch-hitter, when he miscued a swing to leg and the ball ballooned behind to stumper Dinesh Karthik.

From 65 for no loss, Rajasthan were reduced to 76 for three in the space of 14 balls. But the arrival of Watson brought about another run-spree as the Aussie slammed Yo Mahesh for a four and two sixes in his third over after change of ends to raise the 100 in 65 balls after the first ten overs had yielded 83 runs.

Watson then lofted leg spinner Amit Mishra for a six over long on to keep the scoring on a healthy note by adding 52 runs in 29 balls for the fourth wicket with Kaif to take the total past 125.

Kaif looked out of touch and was clean bowled when he tried a leg side heave off Mishra and missed the ball completely.

Pathan commenced his innings in whirlwind fashion by hoisting Mishra for successive sixes. Later he hit McGrath for a flat six over long on before being run out while going for the second run.

The track did not offer the pace bowlers the same sort of bounce and pace that was evident in previous matches held at the same stadium. Asif was carted around for 21 runs in his first two overs while McGrath gave away 22 in his first three.

Yo Mahesh proved very expensive and gave away 50 runs for two late wickets in his four overs.

Maharoof took three for 34 to emerge as the most successful bowler while Mishra claimed 2 for 37.

Rajasthan Royals may have ended the league stage on top, but it will be the Kings XI Punjab who head into the semi-finals full of confidence after triumphing by 41 runs in a dead-rubber top-of-the-table clash in Mohali.

Full Scorecard

Shane Warne rested himself for the game, and there was not much the Rajasthan Royals’ captain-cum-coach could do watching from the dugout as Punjab’s top order knocked them out of the contest. Shaun Marsh led the way with a 69-ball 115 and James Hopes’ 51 provided him support in a century stand before Yuvraj Singh finally found his rhythm with a blistering 49. Without Warne, Rajasthan looked insipid in the field, and a weakened attack without him and Sohail Tanvir, the tournament’s best bowler, leaked away too many short and wide deliveries.

Rajasthan, despite a stumbling start, made a spirited effort at hunting down an imposing 222. There was a fluent fifty from Niraj Patel and two blistering hands from Yusuf Pathan and Kamran Akmal, but the match had pretty much been sealed after Punjab’s batsmen provided a royal feast for the fans in their last home match.

Marsh, who has been the in-form batsmen for Punjab, was quick off the blocks. Shane Watson had taken over the captaincy, but Marsh started by spanking two wide deliveries off him for boundaries through the off side. The cut, pull and the lofted straight drive were seen aplenty as Marsh began his assault to go past Gautam Gambhir as the tournament’s leading run-getter.

At the other end, Hopes got the occasional boundary while letting his partner take most of the strike, and he had to take some evasive action as Marsh blasted one off Watson that went right under his legs. The Powerplay overs fetched 51, but there was no respite for Rajasthan as Pankaj Singh was taken for 17 in the seventh: Marsh clobbering one over midwicket, before lacing the next through extra cover.

Marsh took a single off Dinesh Salunkhe’s first ball to become the tournament’s leading run-scorer, and a rank bad ball was blasted through midwicket to bring up his fifty. At 88 for 0 after ten overs, the Mohali crowd were set for a treat from their batsmen, and Hopes shifted gears as Punjab looked to build an imposing score. He got three boundaries off Siddharth Trivedi in the 11th over, and Yusuf’s offspin was slog-swept into the stands en route to his fifty, which came 30 deliveries.

Next it was Marsh’s turn; Yusuf was flat-batted over long-on for four before the Western Australian stepped down the track for to send one sailing over long-on. Yusuf got a breakthrough as Hopes holed on to deep midwicket and the two quiet overs that followed were the brief lull before Yuvraj came out storming and landed the knockout blow.

By then Marsh was marching towards his hundred, and he struck a six over Pankaj’s head to move to 97, and a single later in the over - that cost 25 - brought up the sixth century of the IPL. The pressure was getting to Rajasthan, and Yuvraj cashed in: he swivelled around to pull one for six, before dispatching one through square leg.

Yuvraj was in the sort of mood that caught him when he smashed six sixes off Stuart Broad in the World Twenty20. He did hit five sixes off six consecutive deliveries - though it was spread across three overs this time - before he was run-out off the last ball of the innings, one short of what would have been the tournament’s fastest fifty. Marsh had fallen earlier in the over, but Punjab were way past the par score of 180 initially suggested by Warne.

Rajasthan surprisingly opened with Mohammad Kaif and Niraj. Kaif fell early, as did Younis Khan, but Niraj, who held his calm during the gripping run-chase that knocked out the Mumbai Indians, scored a sparkling fifty.

He cracked four fours in a Sreesanth over: he worked the ball square on the off side as the bowler gave him width, and launched a slower ball down the ground. VRV Singh tried to test him with shorter deliveries, but Niraj managed to find the boundary. Punjab’s bowlers had frittered away a winning position in their shock loss to the Kolkata Knight Riders, but today they were largely disciplined and were backed up by sharp fielding.

Though Niraj kept the score ticking, Rajasthan were struggling at 67 at the halfway mark. Piyush Chawla removed Niraj and Watson, but Rajasthan were given a glimmer of hopes as Yusuf Pathan and Kamran Akmal nonchalantly blasted sixes and scored 54 in three overs to bring it down to 90 off the final six.

Punjab had conceded 71 in the final five overs against Kolkata, but Chawla picked up his third wicket, removing Akmal, and even the hard-hitting Yusuf, who’s been a revelation in the tournament, couldn’t save Rajasthan. Warne had experimented with his line-up and Delhi Daredevils will be wary of a backlash come the semi-final in on Friday. As for the Chennai Super Kings, they will know they’re up against a juggernaut.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni lost the toss but everything else went right for his team, beginning with some tight bowling, as the Chennai Super Kings won the match against the Deccan Chargers and a spot in the semi-finals at the expense of the Mumbai Indians. Chennai will face Kings XI Punjab, whom they have defeated twice, in one semi-final, while Rajasthan Royals take on Delhi Daredevils in the other.

Chennai had conceded 211 against Rajasthan in their previous game but the bowlers were up to the task this time as Deccan’s final attempt to win at home win went awry. Chennai’s opening bowlers were on the mark from the start: Makhaya Ntini bowled with pace and got good bounce and carry, while Manpreet Gony, the team’s leading wicket-taker, stuck to an impeccable length on off-stump and bowled through his four overs for 21. And they reaped the rewards soon, as both Herschelle Gibbs and Adam Gilchrist found the fielder at third man - Gibbs with a slash, Gilchrist with a thick outside-edge.

Deccan’s early runs came mainly in singles and Scott Styris, who’s had a terrible tournament, looked to be getting into rhythm with boundaries in the arc between midwicket and mid-on till he was bowled by Muttiah Muralitharan while trying to hit one across. At 57 for 3 after 10.1 overs, Deccan needed a partnership and Venugopal Rao and Ravi Teja came up with a 76-run stand that lent respectability to the eventual total. Muralitharan was hard to get away but the two went after Balaji in the 14th over, which cost 14.

They managed to up the run-rate with a boundary every over, and Rao, often at the centre of Deccan’s rearguard actions, hit one to bring up the 100 in the 16th over. There was a flurry of runs, Teja slashing one high into the stands off Ntini in an over where he was taken for 15 runs. That he ended with figures of 1 for 24 off his four told the full story.

That burst was followed by a flurry of wickets, including three - one of them a run-out - in three balls in the 19th over. The crowd had chanted Shahid Afridi’s name but he lasted two balls as Deccan limped to 147.

Deccan, and Mumbai, needed a wicket early and RP Singh nearly got the breakthrough as Stephen Fleming fended at one that swung away, but both Gilchrist and Styris were late to react. Fleming and his fellow left-hand opener Parthiv Patel cashed in when the bowlers erred: short and wide deliveries were dispatched for fours. P Vijaykumar then decided to go round the wicket, and it worked, as Fleming got a thick outside-edge while trying to force a drive through the covers.

In came Suresh Raina and he soon found his rhythm, slapping one riskily in the air through the covers, before punching one through the same region. Afridi was brought into the attack as early as the fifth over, and he put a brake on the scoring. At the other end, Raina got consecutive boundaries in Sarvesh Kumar’s first over, but the pressure applied from Afridi worked as Parthiv played straight to cover in Sarvesh’s next, Afridi taking the catch.

Raina was joined by Dhoni, and the 55-run stand between the two put Chennai on course for victory. Dhoni started with two streaky boundaries - he hit one straight to Sarvesh first-up, who fluffed a chance, and a thick outside-edge flew to the third-man boundary. With left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha and Styris managing to curb the runs, Dhoni decided to take a few risks. He stepped out to deposit Ojha over long-on, and after a miscued pull nearly landed in Gibbs’ hands at midwicket, he cut Styris for four. Afridi came back with 52 needed off 42 balls, and Dhoni hit one dead-straight for four, before Raina powered a shorter delivery over midwicket for six.

Chennai were cruising towards the target, but had a brief wobble after Dhoni found Gibbs at long-on. That Ojha over, the 16th, went just for three, and when Styris conceded the same in the next, Chennai were left needing 28 off 18. Another tight over and Deccan could have still been in the hunt, but Raina found the gap at midwicket as Ojha bowled a full toss. He was dropped by RP in the 19th over, and hit the winning six - which brought up his fifty - as Chennai reached their target with four balls to spare.

While Dhoni and Co were relieved and celebrated the win, Gilchrist looked ahead after a disastrous first season, in which last-placed Deccan won just two of their 14 games. “I do not have any excuses. It depends which way you look it.,” he said. “It’s not end of the world. We should settle down, make a self-assessment and think over where we went wrong and plan for the future.”

The semi-final hopes of the Mumbai Indians suffered a jolt with the table-toppers Rajasthan Royals scoring a spectacular last ball win in their Indian Premier League match in Jaipur on Monday.

Scorecard | Points table

The home team, needing 15 to win in the final over, got two off the final delivery to cruise home by five wickets and also preserved their unbeaten record at home.

The win was Rajasthan 11th in 13 matches and moved their points tally to 22 while it was Mumbai’s seventh defeat in 13 matches, their third straight.

Chasing 146 for a win, the Rajasthan Royals were in dire straits at 77 for five after the 12th over.

Kamran Akmal (18), Swapnil Asnodkar (17), Shane Watson (18) and Mohammad Kaif (12) all failed to convert their starts as Mumbai looked on course to score yet another win over the Rajasthan team (Mumbai had beaten Rajasthan earlier).

But Ravindra Jadeja (23 not out) and Niraj Patel (40 not out) not only put on 69 runs in an unbeaten sixth wicket partnership but ensured their perfect home record was intact in a tense finish. It was Mumbai’s third straight defeat in a close match.

Earlier, Sohail Tanvir (4 for 14) and Sidddharth Trivedi (2 for 31) led a disciplined Rajasthan Royals bowling attack and shared the spoils to restrict Mumbai Indians to a modest 145 for 7.

Trivedi accounted for Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya to put the brakes on Mumbai Indians while Tanvir rocked the visiting middle and lower orders to deny their opponents, who badly need a win to stay afloat, a big total.

Electing to field first, the Rajasthan bowlers tied down the Mumbai openers Tendulkar and Jayasuriya on a slow Sawai Mansingh stadium pitch which was not easy for batsmen to play shots and odd balls keeping low.

It was an unusual sight of two of the best contemporary cricketers having against their names more number of balls than runs and failing to impose themselves on the bowlers in the format considered to be batsman-friendly.

The duo scored just 28 from the first five overs bowled by Sohail Tanvir, Shane Watson and Yusuf Pathan, and 60 at the end of 10th over.

However, thanks to wicketkeeper Yogesh Takawale, who came at number eight and scored an unbeaten eight-ball 24 runs, which included four 4s and a huge six, that the visitors added some more runs to the paltry total.

Jayasuriya opened up in the seventh over off Pankaj Singh by taking 13 runs from it which prompted Shane Warne [Images] to introduce himself in the 10th over to the eager anticipation of the huge crowd of a spin champion taking on his old nemesis Tendulkar.

Warne did not have much impact in his first over but the run glut forced the Mumbai opening duo to look for big shots and from one such effort in the 11th over Jayasuriya could not time properly a Siddharth Trivedi delivery to hole out to Pankaj Singh for 38 which the Sri Lankan made off 37 balls with the help of four fours.

Trivedi struck two overs later with Tendulkar offering a return catch to the young bowler and with that Mumbai were dealt a body blow.

The Mumbai captain struck only two fours in his 34-ball 30 and when he departed in the 13th over his side was scoring at a rate of just over six an over.

Two down Robin Uthappa perished for three while trying to accelerate the innings and missed completely a Warne turning ball while charging down and wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal did the rest to give his captain his only wicket of the match for 30 runs.

Miserly Sohail Tanvir then added salt to Mumbai injury by taking two wickets in consecutive balls when he trapped Abhishek Nayar LBW for 25 and dismissed Shaun Pollock for a duck in the 17th over.

Manish Pandey, however, denied Tanvir success from the Pakistani pacers hat-trick ball, his second in the tournament but the damage had already been done with Mumbai reduced to 107 for 5 at the end of 17th over.

A pumped up Tanvir, who has world best Twenty20 figures of 4-0-16-6 in his name in an IPL match at the same ground, had the satisfaction of cleaning up Pandey for 3 and then sending Dwayne Smith to the hut for eight in the penultimate over to restrict the vistors to less than 150.

Kolkata stuttered mid-way through the innings losing Laxmi Shukla almost immediately after Chawla removed Hussey. Saha and Ganguly tried stringing in a partnership, which included a brilliant display of strokeplay from the duo. Saha and Aakash Chopra, however left in a crucial time for Kolkata. Umar Gul and Ganguly, who raised his third IPL fifty, he opened up and Kolkata reduced a once impossible looking deficit into an achievable target. There were overs filled with an excess of 20 from Sreesanth and Chawla that minimised the total to 20 off 10 balls when Gul, trying to replicate his six-hitting act, holed out to Ramesh Powar at long-off. Ganguly, then struck an important boundary for Kolkata and brought down the deficit to 15 off 7 balls. Sourav slammed a huge six under pressure to take Kolkata within distance of the Mohali score. And then, with a single, he finished off the game.

In the next four overs, Kolkata were yet to recover from the setbacks forced upon them by Sreesanth. They stuttered along the way, with Hussey and Ganguly trying to get the rebuilding process underway. Hussey did manage to get a momentum about Kolkata’s innings when he slammed a 11-ball 12, but just as he tried to raise the tempo, Chawla removed the Victorian with a neat piece of glovework from Sangakkara with Kolkata in a slight bother at 71/3 after 9 overs.

ScoreCard

In reply to the challenging target of 175, the home team got off to a solid start with Sourav Ganguly and Salman Butt leading the way. Butt especially looked spirited in the partnership, with five beautifully struck boundaries from the Pakistani left-hander. Ganguly began cautiously, taking his time to settle down into his rhythm, but once he looked set, he did not look far behind his opening partner. He took a special liking to Ramesh Powar, who he hammered for a towering six and a boundary in his first over. Just as Kolkata were looking to get away, Sreesanth struck for Mohali, with Salman Butt trying to play a slog-sweep to the bowler. He played it in the air, failing to keep the ball down and Tanmay Srivastava at mid-wicket took a neat catch to send back Butt for 24. Sreesanth made it two in two for Mohali as he trapped young Debabrata Das for a nought first ball. Kolkata, 45/2 after 6.3.

Marsh and Sangakkara threatened to take the game away from Kolkata, but the home team struck at the right time, when Mendis had Marsh caught in the deep, trying to clear the fence. He departed for 40. Sangakkara then took the responsibility and reached his fourth IPL fifty. Just before his dismissal for 64, Sangakkara tonked Umar Gul for a huge six and before that a boundary. He was dismissed when his team was in a relatively formidable position at 133/3. Yuvraj Singh and Mahela Jayawardene then got into the act and the Mohali skipper looked a bit ragged initially but got on with it as soon as he got his feet moving. His blitz of 27 off 18 balls gave Mohali the impetus to progress towards the 180-run mark. He was run-out. Umar Gul then picked up two wickets in the last over off consecutive deliveries to restrict Mohali to 174/6 off 20 overs.

Sangakkara and Marsh then took their innings up a gear making the most of the loose bowling and slack fielding by the Kolkata team. Sangakkara, especially was severe on any loose deliveries from the bowlers. He used the sweep shot to good effect and made use of any errors in length or line from the Kolkata bowlers. Another amazing aspect of his innings was that he used pure cricketing shots, and it was not just a display of slam-bam power-cricket. In this period, Ganguly tried many options, including part-timers in David Hussey and all-rounder Laxmi Ratan Shukla to slow down the run-rate. Shaun Marsh, who also began the acceleration process, was relatively quiet as he saw his partner take off. Marsh got into the act himself, smashing a huge six off Shukla to take his score to 32 off 26 balls with Sangakkara on 41 off 30 balls. Mohali were 95/1 off 11 overs.

After Mohali won the toss and opted to bat first, Kolkata began well, with Umar Gul beginning proceedings for the home team. Gul, especially looked right on the money, conceding just five runs in his first over. Ishant Sharma, who has had a relatively quiet tournament so far, then shared the attack with Gul and leaked runs straightaway. His over was eventful to say the least, with the lanky paceman conceding two boundaries and five wides apart from singles and a dropped chance. His over leaking 16 runs. What began as a good start for Kolkata, went for a toss.

Ganguly, then resorted to his mystery bowler Ajantha Mendis from Sri Lanka to stem the rot and it worked for him as he kept a tight leash around the batsmen, conceding just three runs. Umar Gul, then came into the attack replacing Sharma and made an immediate impact, picking up the wicket of James Hopes, to which umpire Sivaram had no hesitations.

Shaun Marsh, who has been hitting a purple patch in the IPL so far, got off to a solid start, seeing through the opening overs from the bowlers. It wasn’t really a blazing start from the Western Australian left-hander as we saw in the earlier matches, but he and Sangakkara ensured that their team did not lose any further wickets after Hopes’ departure. Once they saw Gul through, the Mohali batsmen were blossoming into their own. Sangakkara led the boundary-hitting spree with boundaries off Sharma, two in an over and then subsequently Marsh followed his act, with one each off Mendis and Dinda. Mohali were 58/1 at the end of 7 overs.

Ajantha Mendis, the Sri Lankan off/leg-spinner makes his debut for the Kolkata team as Mohali win the toss and opt to bat first on a wicket that looks decent for batting. Aakash Chopra has been drafted into the Kolkata line-up to beef up their batting order. Luke Pomersbach has been rested for the Mohali team, with James Hopes coming into the side.

Kolkata : Salman Butt, Sourav Ganguly (capt), David Hussey, Debabrata Das, 5 Aakash Chopra, Laxmi Shukla, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ajantha Mendis, Umar Gul, Ishant Sharma, Ashok Dinda.

Mohali: James Hopes, Shaun Marsh, Yuvraj Singh (capt), Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Piyush Chawla, Tanmay Srivastava, Ramesh Powar, Irfan Pathan, VRV Singh, Sreesanth.

The home jinx for Deccan Chargers continued, as Bangalore Royal Challengers powered to a five-wicket win to register their fourth win of the IPL and assure themselves of seventh place. Set a modest target of 166, Bangalore started slowly, but cameos from Misbah-ul-Haq, Rahul Dravid, Cameron White and B Akhil ensured they got home with one over to spare.

Deccan began strongly, but had only themselves to blame for frittering away an outstanding start: Herschelle Gibbs and Adam Gilchrist added 101 in just 11.2 overs, but from there it went rapidly downhill, as they lost nine for 56 in eight overs to slump to 165, after threatening 200 at one stage.

Bangalore’s run-chase was hardly smooth, as wickets went down every time they seemed to be wresting the momentum. Kallis, Misbah and Dravid all contributed, but with five overs to go, they still needed 60. While Deccan had botched up with their batting towards the end, Bangalore turned it on, scoring an incredible 65 from the last four.

Dravid got it going in the 16th over with three sublime fours - a couple of drives through the covers and a paddle-sweep. Though he got out next ball, Virat Kohli slapped his first ball over cover as 17 came from that Sanjay Bangar over. White, who had motored to a run-a-ball 16, then attacked P Vijaykumar, creaming a four and a six on the on-side to add 14 more runs from the over. Twenty-nine were now needed from 18, which came down to 16 from 12 as Akhil cleverly paddled two fours to fine leg off Vaas, who ended up going for 36 in his four overs.

Akhil then decided to finish it off quickly off the hapless Chamara Silva - his second and third deliveries were lofted for straight sixes, and the last one disappeared over square leg as Akhil finished on an unbeaten 27 from seven deliveries, outstanding returns for a batsman who had scored just 14 in his previous five innings.

Through the first 15 overs, though, it seemed Bangalore would struggle with the bat again. Kallis played some excellent orthodox strokes through the off side despite being hampered by a hamstring injury sustained while bowling, but awful running between the wickets caused two early mishaps. There was little communication between Kallis, Wasim Jaffer, and Kohli, Kallis’ runner. Jaffer’s return to the IPL was cut short by a direct hit from mid-off, and soon after he was short of the crease for the second time, this time as the runner for Kallis.

Misbah was promoted to No. 3, and he seemed to be getting into groove, mixing deft glides and flicks with powerful pulls - Venugopal Rao was carted for 14 from three balls in the 11th over, but just as Bangalore seemed to be taking the initiative, Misbah cracked a long hop from Ravi Teja to long-off. Fortunately for Bangalore, they didn’t suffer too many setbacks thereafter.

If Bangalore built up momentum after an ordinary start, Deccan’s innings was shocking for the manner in which they failed to capitalise on the platform provided by the openers. After choosing to bat, Gilchrist and Gibbs started cautiously, scoring just 22 after four as Anil Kumble - who surprisingly bowled the first over - and Dale Steyn kept it on target. Once they were taken off the attack, the run-fest began. Gilchrist, who scored only six off his first 14 deliveries, changed gears by carving Kallis over mid-on and midwicket for fours, while Gibbs made his South African team-mate suffer in his next over, coming down the pitch and crashing him for a straight six.

Deccan then feasted on Akhil, who had neither the pace nor the accuracy to test the batsmen. Two leg-side deliveries were tucked for fours by Gibbs, while Gilchrist was even more severe in his next over: the first two balls disappeared over long-on and midwicket for sixes, while the fourth and sixth went for fours to round off an over which leaked 20.

The last stroke also brought up the century partnership - Deccan’s second hundred stand for the first wicket - and after 11 they were cruising at 101 without loss, but from there the innings lost its way completely. Gibbs was stumped, somewhat untidily, by Shreevats Goswami, Gilchrist fell in the next over, lofting to long-on, and the rest struggled.

Rohit Sharma was hampered by a blow to his right hand from a Vinay Kumar delivery which rose unexpectedly, and though Rao spoilt Kumble’s figures by creaming two sixes and a four off his last three deliveries, Deccan lost all momentum towards the end, scoring just 16 off the last three overs.

Halfway through the run-chase, it seemed Deccan might still get away with their sloppy batting, but that was before Akhil and White decided to turn it on.

A see-saw last over - which included a six, a four, a dropped catch and three run-outs - allowed Kings XI Punjab to end Mumbai Indians’ six-match winning streak and boost their hopes for a place in the semi-finals.

Shaun Marsh and Luke Pomersbach’s 134-run stand laid the platform but it was Punjab’s accurate bowling at the death under pressure that brought the game to a head in the final over.

The over, from VRV Singh, began with Mumbai needing 19, three wickets in hand and Siddharth Chitnis and Dilhara Fernando out in the middle. The first ball was a waist-high no-ball, which Chitnis hit it for six over third man. Twelve to get off six balls. The next delivery was full and wide and Chitnis lifted it over extra cover, where Tanmay Srivastava dropped a difficult catch and the ball ran over the line. Eight needed off five, and the advantage squarely with Mumbai.

Then it all went pear-shaped for the home team. The next delivery saw the ball hit to Srivastava, who threw it back to the keeper and Chitnis was run out trying to take a second run.

Seven off four, with two wickets in hand. New batsman Ashish Nehra sneaked a bye to get Dilhara Fernando on strike. Six off three and Fernando drove a fuller delivery through cover and it was Srivastava again who fielded the ball and ran out Nehra as the batsmen tried for a risky third run. Four runs off two balls with one wicket remaining - Vikrant Yeligati dropped the ball on the pitch and the batsmen ran two as Punjab’s fielders muffed up what would have been the fifth run-out of the innings.

With two needed off the final ball visions arose of the tournament’s first bowl-out. Yeligati drove to mid-off and set off but he picked the wrong fielder - the ball raced to Yuvraj Singh, who picked it up and ran towards the stumps to knock them down full stretch, Jonty Rhodes style, and Punjab had won by a run.

It was an incredible turnaround in a match where Mumbai looked like reaching Punjab’s formidable target while Sachin Tendulkar was still at the crease. Punjab’s bowlers nearly undid the efforts of Marsh and Pomersbach, starting with the first two overs.

Sreesanth started the innings with three wides - the second racing past the keeper to the boundary - and Irfan Pathan followed with over-pitched deliveries that Sanath Jayasuriya sent for two sixes over long-on and two fours in front of and behind the wicket. However, Sreesanth recovered in his next over to trap Jayasuriya lbw with a sublime legcutter. But Tendulkar chose the moment to strike form in this tournament, taking hold of the reins and punishing VRV Singh’s poor length with fours to fine leg and third man. He reached his fifty by cheekily lobbing a Yuvraj Singh delivery to third-man boundary.

Though the required run-rate was more than nine an over, Punjab’s bowlers did not apply much pressure and conceded a boundary in virtually every over. Also, other than Marsh, no Punjab fielder saved enough runs to make Mumbai’s task tougher. Pomersbach dropped Abhishek Nayar in the deep on nine off VRV and Nayar made use of the life to belt two sixes and a four off the bowler’s next over. But once Tendulkar was run out, when Rohin Uthappa sent him back, the Punjab bowlers smelt an opening. Yuvraj Singh, who had gone for 10 runs in his first over, got Shaun Pollock to edge the first ball he faced to Piyush Chawla at short third man. Uthappa, the only proper batsman left, felt the pressure to go after the runs and was caught in the same over trying to clear long-on.

Then Sreesanth came back for his final over to remove Pinal Shah and conceded only eight runs in the process. That

But it was really Marsh and Pomersbach’s partnership that gave Punjab the fuel to fight with. Marsh was the more orthodox of the two, playing the spinners by getting inside the line while cutting and pulling the faster bowlers. While both used their feet against the spinners, Marsh cashed in by lofting Yeligati inside-out for a six over long-off and Chitnis for one over long-on. Pomersbach, meanwhile, was in a hurry to score and repeatedly stepped out of the crease, mistiming more often than not. He failed to connect when trying to sweep the spinners and also swung his bat wildly at Fernando’s slower deliveries. But two brutal shots came off his bat in the third over against Nehra - he lifted a good length delivery for six over long-off before swivelling round to pull a four to midwicket.

However it was Marsh who directed the partnership. He hooked Fernando for a six to fine leg and flicked Chitnis to four to take Punjab past 50 in the seventh over. He got to his fifty in 35 balls. The two ran hard between the wickets and apart from Shaun Pollock, early in the innings, no other bowler looked threatening enough to dislodge them.

Eventually it was Punjab who held their nerve in the final minutes and that decided the match in their favour.

Shoaib Akhtar made a dramatic IPL debut taking four wickets in a blistering new-ball spell to condemn the Delhi Daredevils to their fourth straight defeat. In what could be a key match in the scramble for a spot in the semi-finals, the Kolkata Knight Riders batting fizzled and posted only 133 but Shoaib and an inspired fielding effort vindicated captain Sourav Ganguly’s decision to bat first and saw them through to a 23-run win, their third successive triumph.

Unable to break the shackles put by the Delhi Daredevils’ battery of medium-pacers, the Kolkata Knight Riders’ batsmen posted only 133 on a good batting pitch. Kolkata’s batting has been their weakness through the tournament and it failed again with only Salman Butt and David Hussey making more than 13.

In what could be a key match in the scramble for a spot in the semi-finals, Kolkata opted to bat first backing their formidable bowling line-up to defend the runs. Their attack was bolstered by Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, who made his IPL debut after his five-year ban was suspended for one month, coming in place of Umar Gul.

Glenn McGrath was typically miserly with the new ball and Pradeep Sangwan also didn’t offer too many loose balls as Kolkata struggled to inject momentum to their batting. Aakash Chopra’s troubles with the bat continued and he managed only 13, despite being reprieved early on by Gautam Gambhir at wide slip.

His dismissal was greeted with a roar by the Eden Gardens crowd as Kolkata’s captain Sourav Ganguly strode out. They had more to cheer as he imperiously slammed his second ball, a free hit, over the bowler’s head for six, but were silenced two deliveries later when he was bowled by Yo Mahesh after his attempted pull failed to make contact with the ball.

With Kolkata at 47 for 2 after seven, Salman Butt and David Hussey tried to rebuild and while they strung together a 40-run stand, they were unable to provide the acceleration the innings desperately needed. Besides Butt’s two powerful drives through cover off Mahesh, there weren’t too many boundaries and the runs came mainly in the form of singles. Just as they were giving Kolkata a platform from which they could take off, Butt perished for 48, slicing a Mahesh delivery to McGrath at mid-off.

Hussey then had to play his by-now-familiar role of trying to rescue Kolkata from the top order’s failings. He is the world’s leading six-hitter in Twenty20s but even he failed to provide the necessary fireworks; there were a couple of huge sixes on the leg side but he fell attempting another for a run-a-ball 31, lobbing a catch to midwicket.

Three of Delhi’s big wins have come chasing, and they will fancy their chances of getting their campaign back on track after three consecutive losses saw them slipping from first to fifth. The silver lining for Kolkata is that their total is above-par, given that the average batting first at the Eden Gardens so far is 125.

In an apparent bid to cut cost, the Kolkata Knight Riders team management “politely” asked five of the players, who are yet to feature in the side’s 14-member squad in any match, to leave the team hotel. The players are Ranadeb Bose, Cheteshwar Pujara, Sourasish Lahiri, Yashpal Singh and Hokkaido. One of the players said they were “politely given the option of either staying at the team hotel or going home”.

“It was clear what the team management wants. Apparently coach John Buchanan feels that he has found his set combination and had no need for the fringe players,” one of the players said.

Ranadeb Bose, one of the players spoke to TIMES NOW and said, “I did not expect this was coming. I was surprised when John said that we have to win more games and we have to concentrate on the first 11 or first 14. This is unfair on our part that we will not practice or play any game. So, it is better we go back and relax rather than staying with the side.”

However, team owner Shah Rukh Khan justified this eviction and said that no player has been dumped and all of them continue to play for Kolkata Knight Riders. He said, “John has been feeling that there is not much time for all the twenty-three players to practice. We have to concentrate on the core team because ours is more spread out. Which is why we have constricted the team to lesser amount of people so that they can concentrate on practicising effectively with whatever little time they have in their hands. This is purely a technical decision by John Buchanan.”

Justifying further SRK said, “All the five players are a part of our team and they remain contracted to the Kolkata Knight Riders. They will be with us and we have given them the same explanation of having less time for practice. The franchise is for life and all of them will get a chance to play for the team. There is nothing controversial about the same out here. This is just a technical move so that we can focus more on the upcoming matches and win them.”