MUMBAI, April 9, 2013

Dinesh Karthik, Rohit carve out big scores; Daredevils keep losing

The changeable and volatile nature of a Twenty20 contest once again impressively presented itself at a full-house Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday.

Local hero Sachin Tendulkar ran himself out for the second time in three matches soon after his captain Ricky Ponting had left the scene, outwitted by a superb first over by left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan.

Both were gone by the ninth ball of a mellow evening’s first session, but the jolted Mumbai Indians quickly recovered ground.

It pummelled the Delhi Daredevils attack to post the season’s highest total of 209 and eventually scored a runaway 44-run victory.

Great catch

David Warner swung his bat around to make an aggressive half-century, but a third consecutive defeat was on the cards for Daredevils once Ponting came up with an acrobatic catch to send back Unmukt Chand off the first ball from Harbhajan Singh and then left-arm seamer Mitchell Johnson dismissed Mahela Jayawardene.

Fearless batting

Fearless in his approach, the in-form Dinesh Karthik thumped the ball from the meat of his bat and was the chief architect of the home team’s buoyant recovery phase.

Rohit Sharma got over some early nervous moments with mighty hits for sixes and maximised his and his team’s potential with an undefeated 74.

Ambati Rayudu seemed ruthless in his execution of an eight-ball 24, while Kieron Pollard brought more cheer with a soaring six into the first tier stand behind long-on.

It was a batting exhibition of the highest order and almost all the Daredevils bowlers suffered under the onslaught after skipper Jayawardene had played a big part in the dismissals of Ponting and Tendulkar.

Ponting, Tendulkar flop

The former Sri Lankan skipper held a comfortable catch at mid-off to end Ponting’s misery against an accurate and clever Pathan.

Then he showed remarkable alacrity to make Tendulkar’s tenure a one-ball affair.

Thereafter Karthik — who made 60 against Royal Challengers Bangalore and 37 against Chennai Super Kings — seized another opportunity to show his mettle in circumstances that were adverse and forged a partnership of 132 with Rohit.

Mumbai Indians touched a modest 38 for two in the Power Play overs that saw the Daredevils’ four-pronged seam attack in Irfan Pathan, Ashish Nehra, Morne Morkel and Umesh Yadav in operation.

But once Nehra drifted from a restrictive line and conceded 16 runs in the sixth over, the home team picked up momentum and smashed at over 12 runs per over from thereon.

Karthik departed after making a splendid 86, which helped him become the highest scorer and earned him the Orange Cap.

Scoreboard

Mumbai Indians: Ricky Ponting c Jayawardene b Irfan 0 (6b), Sachin Tendulkar (run out) 1 (1b), Dinesh Karthik c Mendis b Morkel 86 (48b, 14 x4, 2×6), Rohit Sharma (not out) 74 (50b, 4×4, 5×6), Kieron Pollard c Nadeem b Nehra 13 (7b, 1×4, 1×6), Ambati Rayudu c & b Nehra 24 (8b, 2×4, 2×6), Harbhajan Singh (not out) 1 (1b); Extras (lb-6, nb-1, w-3): 10; Total (for five wkts. in 20 overs): 209.

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Ponting), 2-1 (Tendulkar), 3-133 (Karthik), 4-163 (Pollard), 5-189 (Rayudu).

Delhi Daredevils bowling: Irfan Pathan 4-1-37-1, Ashish Nehra 4-0-49-2, Morne Morkel 4-0-43-1, Umesh Yadav 3-0-28-0, Shahbaz Nadeem 3-0-26-0, Jeevan Mendis 2-0-20-0.

Delhi Daredevils: Unmukt Chand c Ponting b Harbhajan 0 (1b), David Warner c Rayudu b Johnson 61 (37b, 5×4, 4×6), Mahela Jayawardene c Karthik b Johnson 3 (6b), Manpreet Juneja (run out) 49 (40b, 6×4), Jeevan Mendis c & b Pollard 0 (1b), Irfan Pathan c Johnson b Ojha 10 (12b), Kedar Jadhav c & b Malinga 1 (2b), Shahbaz Nadeem c Dhawan b Ojha 2 (3b), Morne Morkel (not out) 23 (9b, 3×4, 1×6), Ashish Nehra c Ojha b Pollard 1 (5b), Umesh Yadav (not out) 5 (4b, 1×4); Extras (b-1, lb-1, w-8): 10; Total (for nine wkts. in 20 overs): 165.

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Unmukt), 2-13 (Jayawardene), 3-95 (Warner), 4-97 (Mendis), 5-118 (Irfan), 6-127 (Jadhav), 7-137 (Nadeem), 8-140 (Juneja), 9-154 (Nehra).

Mumbai Indians bowling: Harbhajan Singh 4-0-25-1, Lasith Malinga 4-0-20-1, Mitchell Johnson 4-0-49-2, Pragyan Ojha 4-0-34-2, Kieron Pollard 4-0-35-2.

Man-of-the-match: Dinesh Karthik.

Kohli’s onslaught puts Sunrisers in the shade

BANGALORE, April 9, 2013

Perera and White play a good hand for the Hyderabad side

Deserted by regular batting allies like Chris Gayle and A.B. de Villiers, Virat Kohli still found his inner fires to quell Sunrisers Hyderabad in a Pepsi IPL match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Tuesday.

Gayle and de Villiers may have flattered to deceive but there was no stopping the Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper’s onslaught (93 n.o., 47b, 11×4, 4×6), that gave his team a seven-wicket win much to the delight of his teammates, sore as they were with the Super Over loss to the same rival at Hyderabad on Sunday. Pursuing Sunrisers’ 161 for six, RCB cantered home in 17.4 overs.

Ploy backfires

Sunrisers’ captain Kumar Sangakkara again employed Hanuma Vihari for the first over but the ploy that worked in Hyderabad did not yield the desired result as Gayle, from the non-striker’s end, watched Mayank Agarwal lash 11 runs. During his cameo, Mayank also pounded Ishant Sharma before Thisara Perera, bolstered by his earlier batting stint, scalped the RCB youngster.

The showdown between Gayle and Dale Steyn also did not provide the desired thrills and with Ishant luring a tame prod from RCB’s talisman, the rescue-act hinged entirely on Kohli and de Villiers, who replaced Tillakaratne Dilshan in the playing eleven.

Kohli was power and placement personified as he punched Perera for four and then hoisted a six each off the seamer and Cameron White.

In the interim, de Villiers, after clouting Ashish Reddy, pulled White straight to the fielder on the mid-wicket boundary.

Kohli remained unflustered and ushered his men towards a victory that seemed as inevitable as his sixes against Amit Mishra in an over that cost Sunrisers 21 runs.

Soon, Kohli flung his arms skywards and embraced Moises Henriques, with whom he shared a match-winning unbeaten 66-run partnership for the fourth wicket.

Calm before the storm

Earlier, the Sunrisers’ batting stint was divided into two parts. A turgid 15-over phase at a steady run-rate of 6.53 was literally the calm before the storm. A teaser trailer of what was in store being revealed through Perera’s six off Murali Kartik.

That big blow in the last delivery of the 13th over resonated in the last five overs as Perera and partner White unleashed their runs at break-neck speed.

The duo lofted six more sixes as a Henriques over went for 18 runs and the next delivered by Vinay Kumar was scattered for 19.

R.P. Singh, making his debut for RCB, grabbed a wicket and conceded just six runs in the last over but Sunrisers had found some belated lustre thanks to Perera and White’s 80-run fourth-wicket partnership off a mere 45 deliveries that covered the cracks in the Sunrisers’ top-order.

Scoreboard

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Akshath Reddy c Vinay b R.P. Singh 12 (11b, 2×4), Parthiv Patel b Muralitharan 20 (19b, 2×4), Kumar Sangakkara c Kohli b Kartik 23 (24b, 2×4), Cameron White c de Villiers b Vinay 52 (34b, 3×4, 3×6), Thisara Perera b R.P. Singh 40 (24b, 1×4, 4×6), Ashish Reddy b R.P. Singh 3 (4b), Hanuma Vihari (not out) 4 (3b), Biplab Samantray (not out) 2 (2b); Extras (nb-1, w-4): 5; Total (for six wkts. in 20 overs): 161.

Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Akshath), 2-50 (Parthiv), 3-62 (Sangakkara), 4-142 (Perera), 5-155 (White), 6-155 (Ashish).

Royal Challengers Bangalore bowling: R.P. Singh 4-0-27-3, Vinay 4-0-43-1, Unadkat 4-0-29-0, Muralitharan 4-0-23-1, Kartik 3-0-21-1, Henriques 1-0-18-0.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Mayank Agarwal c Sangakkara b Perera 29 (20b, 3×4, 2×6), Chris Gayle c Parthiv b Ishant 13 (15b, 2×4), Virat Kohli (not out) 93 (47b, 11×4, 4×6), A.B. de Villiers c Vihari b White 15 (15b, 1×6), Moises Henriques (not out) 7 (9b, 1×4); Extras (lb-1, w-4): 5; Total (for three wkts. in 17.4 overs): 162.

Fall of wickets: 1-39 (Mayank), 2-47 (Gayle), 3-96 (de Villiers).

Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling: Vihari 1-0-12-0, Steyn 4-0-16-0, Ishant 3.4-0-30-1, Perera 3-0-35-1, Mishra 4-0-42-0, Ashish 1-0-12-0, White 1-0-14-1.

Man-of-the-match: Kohli.