IPL 5: Gayle ton guides RCB to easy win vs DD

Riding on Chris Gayle’s unbeaten knock of 128 off 62 balls and then a brilliant bowling performance helped Royal Challengers Bangalore to beat Delhi Daredevils by 21 runs to keep their playoff hopes alive on Thursday.

The Feroz Shah Kotla crowd got the worth of their money by some blazing batting by both sides. Ross Taylor and Andre Russell’s late surge gave Delhi a chance for a win, but Bangalore well led by Virat Kohli managed to pick up wickets at regular intervals to leave them at 194 for 9. For Bangalore, Zaheer Khan took 3 for 38, Prasanth Parameswaran claimed 3 for 30 and Vinay Kumar chipped in with 2 for 35.

Chasing a huge total of 216, Delhi’s hope rested on David Warner (15), who started with two successive boundaries off Tillakaratne Dilshan, but in the second over Zaheer had the better of him. Warner trying to pull one short delivery off Zaheer loses his bat while playing the shot and the ball balloons to mid-off.

After that youngster Unmukt Chand (18) showed some spark by hitting two fours and a six, but then perished in the fifth over to Vinay Kumar. However, Bangalore continued to take wickets at regular intervals to keep Delhi on the back foot in their chase.

Coming on to bowl his first over, left-arm pace bowler Parameswaran induces an edge off Jayawardene (9) and AB de Villiers does the rest. When Taylor arrived at the crease he got into action straightaway and with Venugopal Rao tried to repair the innings. But Rao (36) couldn’t resist a tossed up ball from Muttiah Muralitharan and played straight down the throat of Harshal Patel at long-off.

With Taylor going ballistic in the middle overs that definitely gave Bangalore some scare, who made a quick-fire 55 off 25 balls which included seven fours and two sixes. Until Taylor was out there in the middle, Delhi sensed an outside chance of sneaking in a win but the fall of Taylor in the 17th over ended all hopes.

Earlier, Mahela Jayawardene made the mistake by asking Bangalore to bat and from then it was all Gayle show. The big West Indian batsman was in different mood at Kotla as he slammed an unbeaten 128 of 62 balls which was studded with 13 sixes and seven fours to take the visiting team to a mammoth 215 for 1.

Jayawardene who was in charge of Delhi in the absence of Virender Sehwag was at his wit’s end how to control Gayle. At the start, Gayle took some time to settle down and played 17 balls for his first 10 runs, but after that he got 90 in just 35 balls.

With Kohli (73 not out), Gayle put up a 204-run stand to go into the record books as the highest partnership in this season of IPL. Kohli looked in great touch and his unbeaten knock included 10 fours and one six.

All the Delhi bowlers went for runs and they surely missed the services of Morne Morkel, who was rested. Varun Aaron was the only successful bowler for Delhi, who claimed the lone wicket of Tillakaratne Dilshan (10) caught at mid-on by Irfan Pathan.

Delhi failed to put on brakes on Gayle whirlwind, as the left-handed batsman scored three sixes off Pathan and Pawan Negi, as Bangalore plundered 78 runs in the last five overs.

IPL 5: Punjab dismiss Chennai by 6 wickets to stay afloat

Returning after a long lay-off, Adam Gilchrist led from the front to take Kings XI Punjab to a comfortable six-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings at the HPCA Stadium on Thursday. Punjab’s eighth victory in 15 matches kept alive their hopes of making the IPL play-offs this season, while Chennai, having played all their matches and finished on 17 points, stay fourth in the standings but will now have to depend on other results going their way to make it through.

A hamstring injury had kept out Gilchrist for the most part of this tournament, but he showed no signs of rustiness in his unbeaten 64 as Punjab chased 121 with 21 balls to spare. Together with Mandeep Singh, the Australian got the hosts off to a brisk start, with fifty runs up in the seventh over itself. Though Mandeep was then bowled by Albie Morkel for 24 and Dwayne Bravo – the only Chennai batsman to make a substantial contribution earlier – got Nitin Saini and David Hussey out cheaply soon after, the total was too little to allow any pressure to build on Punjab.

The 40-year-old Gilchrist, meanwhile, rolled back the years and Yo Mahesh in particular suffered, going for 22 runs in the 15th over. He thrashed Mahesh for two sixes over square leg and two more fours – over fine leg and then over mid-off – and from then on, the game as a contest was over, Azhar Mahmood finishing things off with a boundary off Morkel to also improve his side’s run-rate somewhat.

Earlier, Punjab’s pacers repaid the faith put in them by Gilchrist, who sent in Chennai to bat on a green pitch in overcast conditions in Dharamsala. Praveen Kumar made full use of the swing on offer, and dismissed both openers – Murali Vijay (10) and Michael Hussey (7) – in consecutive overs, both edging simple catches behind to the wicketkeeper. He could have had a third one as well, but Piyush Chawla put down a simple catch at slip off Suresh Raina with Chennai struggling at 25 for 2 at the end of the Powerplay overs, and Kumar finished with still impressive figures of 2 for 18.

Briefly, it looked as if Punjab might have to pay a high price for the dropped catch, with Raina launching two sixes off Mahmood soon after. However, he was gone two deliveries later, Gilchrist taking another easy catch after Raina needlessly chased a wide delivery and only managed a thick outside edge. And when captain MS Dhoni was caught at third man by Saini off Parvinder Awana, Chennai were left in dire straits at 46 for 4 at the end of the 11th over.

Bravo, however, fought back with a gritty 43-ball 48, picking Chawla for 12 runs off his only over, and his 32-run partnership with Ravindra Jadeja (13) and then a 34-run partnership with Morkel (14) – the biggest of the innings – ensured Chennai reached a total that at least gave their bowlers something to defend. Although David Hussey was smashed for two consecutive sixes by Bravo and Mahmood gave away a four and a six to Morkel in the 18th, Awana (2 for 12) and Ryan Harris (1 for 24) did well to keep Chennai to 120 for 7, a total their batsmen eventually chased without much fuss.

IPL 5: KKR close in on playoffs with win over MI

Kolkata Knight Riders put one foot in IPL 5 playoffs with a 32-run win over Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday. It was their ninth win in 15 matches and took them to the second spot in the table ahead of Mumbai, who despite the loss can advance to the next stage if they win their last game against Rajasthan Royals on May 20.

Chasing 141 to win, Mumbai openers Herschelle Gibbs and Sachin Tendulkar got off to a very slow start before the former was sent back by Iqbal Abdulla for 13 in the sixth over with only 26 runs on the board. Karthik joined Tendulkar but the scoring rate remained a concern with both scoffing a lot of balls.

Tendulkar however played a few delightful strokes during his innings of 27 off 24 balls, one upper cut in particular that sailed over the wicketkeeper’s head for a six. Just when he was getting ready to cut loose, West Indian spinner Sunil Narine cleaned him up in the 11th over with an unplayable off-break. Karthik (21 off 26 balls) followed suit two overs later with just 66 runs on the board. Last-match hero Ambati Rayudu took on an aggressive approach straight away with the required run-rate creeping up but he could not contribute much and fell for 11.

Jacques Kallis turned the match absolutely in Kolkata’s favour with back-to-back wickets of the dangerous Kieron Pollard (8) and Dwayne Smith (0) in the 17th over - the visitors still needing 44 to win. Narine soon disposed of Harbhajan Singh and Rohit Sharma to put them out of the contest. Last year's runners-up folded for 108 in the 20th over with Narine returning with figures of 4 for 15.

Earlier, after being put into bat, KKR started their innings on the wrong foot with Brendon McCullum (1) and Kallis (0) back in the hut inside two overs. RP Singh accounted for both batsmen on back-to-back deliveries in the second over of the innings. The Kiwi was trapped lbw, while the South African allrounder was bowled neck and crop. Gambhir (27) kept on playing some good shots at the other end but was out before long, with Pollard getting through his defences with only 44 runs on the board.

Manoj Tiwary and Bangladesh allrounder Shakib Al Hasan then began the repair work and added 45 runs for the fourth wicket to bring some semblance of normalcy to the Kolkata innings. Tiwary did the bulk of the scoring in the partnership, but the visitors gained the upper hand again with the departure of both batsmen in the space of five balls. Smith cleaned up Shakib for 13, while Tiwary holed out to Lasith Malinga off the bowling of Munaf Patel after scoring 41.

Next batsman Debabrata Das did his team no good as he ran himself out for 2. Yusuf Pathan remained unbeaten on 21 and with his 29-run stand with Rajat Bhatia (12), he ensured the hosts got to a fighting 140 for 7 on a pitch conducive to spinners.

IPL 5: Delhi beat Punjab to seal playoff berth

Mahela Jayawardene's scored a match-winning 56 to help Delhi Daredevils beat Kings XI Punjab in the 64th match of the Indian Premier League at the Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi. Delhi managed to reach the target with an over to spare as they consolidated their position at the top of the table with 20 points and become the first team to seal the playoff berth.

Parvinder Awana (3 for 22) was exceptional with the ball for visitors, especially early on, when they had slumped to 37 for 4, but Naman Ojha (34 off 29) and Irfan Pathan (19 off 10) provided enough support to help Jayawardene confirm Delhi's place in the last four.

This was after the DD top-order failed once again as both Virender Sehwag (9) and David Warner (14) promised a lot of fireworks as 21 runs came off the first two overs but Praveen Kumar gave Punjab early breakthrough in the third over when he dismissed David Warner (14). But Praveen Kumar gave Punjab breakthrough in the third over when he dismissed David Warner.

Soon Awana also struck with the very first ball to dismiss Sehwag in the fourth over as the hosts were reduced to 28 for 2. Then Awana struck twice in the sixth over to dismiss Ross Taylor (0) and Venugopal Rao (7). Awana's effort rocked Delhi run chase. But the gritty Sri Lankan batsman consolidated Delhi's innings as he added 58 runs for the fifth wicket with Naman Ojha (34).

Piyush Chawla dismissed Naman Ojha in the the fourteenth over to reduce Delhi to 95 for 5. But Jayawardene and Pathan added 45 runs for the sixth wicket to help the home team clinch a superb victory.

Earlier, Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron produced a fantastic bowling effort for Delhi as they restricted Punjab to a modest 138 for 8. Yadav (3 for 21) and Aaron (2 for 19) shared five wickets between them, while the fielders took some sharp catches as well as inflicting two run-outs.

Punjab's skipper David Hussey top-scored for the visitors with an unbeaten 40 off 35 balls, but he lacked any real support from his teammates. There were no significant partnership as Hussey was the only batsmen trying to take the attack back to the opposition.

Opting to bat first, Punjab were dealt an early blow after Shaun Marsh fell in the fourth over for 13. He tried to flick Aaron on the leg side and instead sent a fine edge to wicketkeeper Naman Ojha. Mandeep Singh (21) hit a few streaky boundaries but he soon fell to Aaron as he was smartly caught by Sehwag.

Punjab were then dealt another blow as Nitin Saini (15) took a long walk back to the pavilion as he edged a ball that moved away from Yadav to Sehwag at first slip. Punjab were struggling at 54 for 3 at this stage. David Miller (4) was then run out by a Pawan Negi direct hit to leave Punjab on 63 for 4 at the halfway stage.

Hussey and Azhar Mahmood (9) tried to do a repair job, but all went in vain as Umesh send back Mahmood courtesy of a stunning catch at wide long-off by Irfan Pathan. Last match's hero Gurkeerat Singh Ahluwalia (8) hit two boundaries but then a classical left-arm spinner's delivery from Negi got better of him. Piyush Chawla (10) helped the Kings past 100 in a 29-run stand with Hussey, but after he fell, the visitors battled and eventually set 139 for victory.

IPL 5: Bravo's last-ball six pulls CSK through

Dwayne Bravo struck a six from the final delivery as the Chennai Super Kings kept alive their play-off hopes in the Indian Premier League with a tense five-wicket win over the Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Monday. The West Indian allrounder struck Rajat Bhatia over the long-on fence. Chasing a modest score of 159, openers got Chennai off to a flying start as Michael Hussey and Murali Vijay stitched 97-run opening stand.

Mystery spinner Sunil Narine then struck twice in the tenth over to end the Hussey-Vijay partnership. Narine double-strike helped Kolkata reduce Chennai to 97 for 2 in 9.4 overs. Soon a terrible mix-up saw Suresh Raina perish for eight. Faf du Plessis and MS Dhoni then got down to the task of guiding Chennai to victory. Dhoni (28 off 21) set up the match nicely, taking 18 runs from the penultimate over bowled by Marchant de Lange

But the captain fell off the second ball in the last over, with just three coming from the next four, before Bravo's last-ball maximum stunned the home crowd into silence.

Earlier, Chennai bowlers put on a inspired show to restrict Kolkata for 158 for 6. Put into bat, Gautam Gambhir struck an aggressive half-century but then watched his team falter thanks to some brilliant bowling by Chennai bowlers. Gambhir blasted 62 off just 43 deliveries and put on a 99 run opening partnership with Brendon McCullum (37 off 29).

From 99 for no loss in the 12th over, the KKR were reduced to 128 for 5 in the 18th over as Jacques Kallis (4), Manoj Tiwary (12) and Yusuf Pathan (11) failed to make any impact. McCullum was the first to go courtesy of a needless run out. Then in the very next over Shahdab Jakati got one to slip one through Gambhir's defence to have his stumps castled.

Kallis (4) fell attempting to reverse-sweep to Jakati, while Pathan started explosively for a huge six over long-on but his run of woeful form continued as he mistimed a delivery in the very next over as he fell to R Ashwin. Soon Tiwary was caught in the deep off the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja. The hosts were struggling at 128 for 5 at that stage.

In the end, late charge by Debabrata Das (19 not out off 10 balls) make sure that the hosts set a competitive target for the defending champions. Das hit a six and two fours in his late blast.

IPL 5: Rayudu, Pollard snatch victory from RCB

In a nail-biting finish, Mumbai Indians beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore by five wickets at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Despite losing half the side for just 51, Ambati Rayudu and Kieron Pollard held their nerve to chase down 172-run target and snatch a sensational victory in the last over.

Chasing 172 to win, Mumbai were off to a disastrous start as as Zaheer Khan dismissed Sachin Tendulkar for a duck in the first over. In the second over, Gibbs was sent back following a brilliant piece of fielding by KP Appanna with scoreboard reading 4 for 2. Rohit was then dismissed for five in the fourth over and Mumbai were tottering at 19 for 3. Mumbai

wicketkeeper batsman Dinesh Karthik showed early signs of aggression but Muttiah Muralitharan had him caught at the fine-leg boundary for 16. Harshal Patel gave Mumbai fifth blow in the form of Dwayne Smith just after the visitors crossed 50-mark.

Rayudu and Pollard started constructing a fighting partnership and revived hopes of a Mumbai victory. The duo went berserk in the middle and started hitting the bowlers all around the park. Mumbai needed 57 for a win from the last four over. Zaheer bowled went for 16 in the 17th over as the Mumbai duo started to up the ante. In the next over of Vinay Kumar, Rayudu smashed two sixes and a boundary to turn the equation in favour of Mumbai.

The duo hit nine runs in the penultimate over off Zaheer, leaving Mumbai to score 14 in last over. Pollard then smashed Gayle for a six and two fours to seal the match for Mumbai.

Earlier, Mayank Agarwal's 64 off 30 balls powered the Royal Challengers Bangalore to 171 for 6. Rain delayed the start of play by 50 minutes and left the pitch a touch sluggish, but Agarwal rose to the occasion to strike his highest Twenty20 score.

Put into bat, Bangalore's hopes of a good start were jolted when Chris Gayle was bowled by Munaf Patel in the third over for six runs. Virat Kohli soon followed Gayle as he was run out after being involved in a mix-up with Tillakaratne Dilshan. At that stage Bangalore were 11 for 2. Saurabh Tiwary then Bangalore recover from a poor start before being dismissed for 21.

Suddenly, the hosts were in trouble at 47 for 3 by the seventh over. Dilshan and AB de Villiers had a brief partnership until the South African was dismissed by Kieron Pollard in the 12th over with the scoreboard reading 87 for 4. Agarwal's arrival at the crease up the ante for RCB and shared a crucial stand with Dilshan. The crucial stand of 46 ended when RP Singh bowled Dilshan for 47 in the 18th over.

Agarwal then took Malinga to the cleaners, collecting 13 runs in the penultimate over. He then went berserk as he took Munaf Patel to the cleaners in the 20th over. Agarwal stroked two sixes and two fours in a calculated assault in the last over as RCB picked up 24 runs in the last over.

IPL 5: Rajasthan thump Punjab to stay alive

Rajasthan Royals produced an all-round show as they thumped Kings XI Punjab by 43 runs to end their four-match losing streak in the Indian Premier League here on Saturday. Chasing 178 for a win, KXIP were in the game only for a brief while when opener Shaun Marsh (34) was going great guns with some lusty hits but once he was out in the ninth over it was all over for the home side as they lost wickets at regular intervals.

Chasing a competitive 178, Punjab got off to shaky start losing opener Mandeep Singh in the second over to Shane Watson. Marsh then up the ante with some big shots but soon Punjab lost their skipper David Hussey and Punjab were reduced to 55 for 3 in eight overs. But just when Marsh looked settled, Johan Botha unleashed a peach of a delivery to clean bowled the left-hander. 

Azhar Mahmood and Gurkeerat Singh tried to stabilise the innings but with the run-rate rising with every passing over, Punjab's defeat looked inevitable and the home team managed 134 for 8 in their allotted overs.

Earlier, the Rajasthan Royals compiled a challenging 177 for 6 in their IPL encounter with the Punjab. Skipper Rahul Dravid crafted a classy 46 and was ably complimented by Shane Watson, Ashok Menaria and Brad Hodge. Having won the toss and elected to bat first, Dravid lost his opening partner Ajinkya Rahane (5) in the second over, as he was caught behind off Ryan Harris' second ball.

Dravid and the powerful Shane Watson then shared a 71-run stand, with Watson scoring 36 off just 17 balls, including two massive sixes. But the legspinner scalped him, as he was caught in the deep by Harris. Dravid then follwed back to the pavilion in the fourteenth over. Dravid hit eight four in his 39-ball innings. He had added 41 with Menaria (34) for the third wicket before he took long walk back. Maneria carried on the tempo with some lusty hits. He was though lucky as he was dropped near the boundary by Mandeep Singh. He was eventually in the 16th over and became Chawla's second victim.

Brad Hodge then played a cameo of 36 off 23 balls, with a pair of sixes and fours. Johan Botha chipped in with a couple of fours himself, as Rajasthan set a testing target. Harris, however, had the last laugh as he claimed Hodge's wicket in the final over. For Punjab, Ryan Harris and Piyush Chawla picked up two wickets apiece. Praveen Kumar once again remained wicketless and went for 32 runs. Awana gave away 34 runs and Mahmood proved expensive giving away 37 in the four overs he bowled.

IPL 5: Mumbai hurt Pune with a one-run win

Pune: The Mumbai Indians skipper Harbhajan Singh and Lasith Malinga bowled an inspired spell to script an amazing one-run win over Pune Warriors India in an Indian Premier League match in Pune on Thursday.

After winning the toss and batting first, Mumbai were restricted to just 120 for 9 in their 20 overs. However, they made a terrific comeback to win the contest on the last ball of the match, with Harbhajan taking 2 for 18 and Malinga 2 for 25.

Robin Uthappa (18) gave Pune a rousing start, hitting a four through extra cover off Lasith Malinga and a straight six off Munaf Patel. But Munaf had the last laugh when he trapped the opener right in front. But like Mumbai, who lost five wickets in the back end of their innings, Pune too were found guilty of losing their top-order batsmen – Jesse Ryder (9), Michael Clarke (14) and Steven Smith (2) – within just seven runs.

While Ryder holed out in the deep to Harbhajan, Clarke seemingly fell to an umpiring error. Umpire Sudhir Asnani raised his finger when a Harbhajan delivery hit the top of Clarke’s pad and could have easily gone over the stumps as the batsman was struck well outside of his crease. Skipper Sourav Ganguly (16) and Mithun Manhas (42) tried to rescue Pune’s sinking ship by sharing 47 for the fifth wicket. But Ganguly’s stay at the wicket was cut short by Malinga who bowled the Pune skipper off a slower delivery in the 17th over.

But Manhas kept Pune in the game by taking 11 runs in the 18th over bowled by Pragyan Ojha. But Malinga negated that with a terrific penultimate over, in which he took Wayne Parnell’s wicket and gave away just four runs. And though Manhas and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (10) scored 10 off the 12 required runs in Munaf’s last over, the hosts still fell short by one run.

Mumbai were provided a solid start by Sachin Tendulkar and James Franklin as they shared 50 runs in 46 deliveries. But the wicket of Franklin changed the course of the visitors’ innings. The left-hander became the first victim of Kumar, who also took the wicket of the in-form Ambati Rayudu (1) later in the innings. Franklin was caught by Manhas when the New Zealander tried to up the Mumbai scoring rate. Pune made full use of the opening Franklin’s wicket provided, striking at regular intervals thereafter.

Just six runs later, Rohit Sharma (3) was involved in a big mix-up with Tendulkar, which resulted in the run-out of the former. After getting hit for 16 runs in the first over, Ashish Nehra’s fortunes changed when he got the big wicket of Tendulkar, who scored 34 before nicking behind to the wicketkeeper Uthappa. Including Tendulkar’s wicket, Mumbai lost the wickets of Robin Peterson (13), Rayudu, Thisara Perera (0) and Harbhajan Singh (0) in the space of just 12 runs.

Though Dinesh Karthik (18) and Malinga (14) stayed at the wicket for a little longer, their partnership of 26 could only take Mumbai to 120. Both Malinga and Ojha (1) were also run-out in the last over of the Mumbai innings. Kumar returned with figures of 2 for 9 in his three overs, while Nehra finished with 2 for 19 in his four overs.

IPL 5: Nervous Punjab hold on to beat Bangalore

Kings XI Punjab kept their nerves towards the end of their chase to register a four-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in an Indian Premier League (IPL) nail-biter at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday. Chasing 159 to win, the visitors were on their way to an easy win at one time with just 13 runs needed to close out the match, but a flurry of wickets, especially three run-outs, took the match into the last over.

With five runs required in the last over to win, Piyush Chawla smashed Vinay Kumar for a six off the fifth ball to see his team home.

Nitin Saini (50), David Hussey (45) and Mandeep Singh (43) played crucial hands in the chase. This was Punjab’s second successive win and now they lie fourth in the standings with five wins in 10 matches, while Bangalore lost their second successive match to be 6th.

Punjab got off to a good start with Mandeep and Shaun Marsh adding 38 off 28 balls. Mandeep did the bulk of the scoring in a 38-run partnership that was ended by Andrew McDonald, who cleaned up Marsh for 8. Mandeep was impressive during his innings before being trapped in front of the stumps by K Appanna. His wicket gave Punjab some hope but Saini and captain Hussey were determined to take the team over the line, especially Saini who showed a lot of nous during his stay. He and Hussey added 73 to take the visitors within 13 runs of victory. But those 13 runs took a lot of getting with Saini falling to Zaheer Khan and the run-outs of Abhishek Nayar, Hussey and Azhar Mahmood.

Earlier, after being put into bat, Bangalore lost Mayank Agarwal early as Aussie Ryan Harris – playing his first match this season - sent his off-stump cartwheeling with only seven runs on the board. Virat Kohli joined Chris Gayle and began a partnership that at one time threatened to take the game away from the visitors. Parvinder Awana and Chawla in particular were at the receiving end as Gayle played some mutilating shots. Both added 119 runs off 83 balls as the team headed for a big total but Punjab’s Pakistani import Mahmood came back to end the West Indian’s innings with a well-aimed bouncer in the 16th over.

Gayle scored 71 off 42 balls with six boundaries and four sixes to take his IPL tally to 407 runs in nine matches this season. One of his sixes travelled 111 metres, an IPL 5 record. Chawla then got in on the act and accounted for Kohli in the next over. The India batsman made 45 off 42 balls and played a perfect foil to Gayle. The twin blow reined in the hosts’ innings. The Mahmood-led Punjab bowling came up trumps yielding just 36 runs in the last five overs. Mahmood, who also has the citizenship of England, sent back McDonald and AB de Villiers in the last over to restrict Bangalore to 158 for 5, which was at least 20 runs fewer.

IPL 5: Clinical KKR cruise to easy win over Punjab

Gautam Gambhir scored an unbeaten 66 while Jacques Kallis remained not out on 30 as clinical Kolkata Knight Riders thrashed Kings XI Punjab by eight wickets in an IPL 5 match at the PCA Stadium in Mohali on Wednesday. A disciplined bowling and fielding performance helped Kolkata restrict Punjab to just 124 for 7 and then skipper Gambhir led from the front to make sure Kolkata reached the target with 3.3 overs to spare.

Gambhir's match-winning innings included seven fours and one six. Brendon McCullum looked dangerous early on but failed to capitalise on the good start as he fell cheaply to Chawla scoring 15. Chawla also picked up his second wicket four overs later when Manvinder Bisla (11) dragged a delivery on to his stumps.

Soon, Kallis joined the captain in the middle to finish off things and did it in style with a huge six. He stayed unbeaten by scoring 30 off 23 balls. The duo shared an unbeaten 53-run stand as KKR cruised to an easy win.

Earlier, Punjab won the toss and elected to bat, but the home team lost Paul Valthaty in the third over, as Brett Lee made early inroads for Kolkata. Shaun Marsh (33) then joined Adam Gilchrist in the middle, but the latter was forced to leave the field due to a hamstring pull when he was on 28.

After six overs, Punjab were well placed at 45 for 1 with Marsh and Mandeep Singh (6) in the middle. After Gilchrist's exit Punjab struggled to score freely and Mandeep was the second man to fall as he gave away his wicket to Laxmipathy Balaji who had him caught at the third man. Soon he was joined by Marsh in the middle when Lee struck to get him caught behind. Though, Marsh's dismissal in the 14th over, however, turned out to be a little controversial.

Punjab then lost David Hussey (10) immediately in the next over for a poor judgement of a run and to leave the team reeling at 87 for 4 in the 15th over. Punjab failed to get a substantial partnership after that as Dimitri Mascarenhas (9) and Paras Dogra (6) departed in quick succession. Gilchirst returned in the 19th over to try and add some late runs, but by then the Kolkata bowlers had already done the damage. The Punjab skipper clubbed a six in the final over to take his team to 124 and remained unbeaten on 40.

For Kolkata, wily West Indian offspinner Sunil Narine (2 for 24) and Brett Lee (2 for 26) starred with the ball. Laxmipathy Balaji and Rajat Bhatia also picked up a wicket each for the visitors.

IPL 5: Bowlers hand Delhi Daredevils easy win

The last time Delhi Daredevils visited the Wankhede Stadium, they were bowled out for 147 as Mumbai Indians picked up an easy victory. This time around, the Virender Sehwag-led side handed out a seven-wicket defeat to Mumbai Indians, one that took them to top of the IPL 5 table. Mumbai's chance to reach No. 1 on the standings was dashed spectacularly, and they looked out of depth as they were bowled out for 92 – the season's lowest total – and conceded the win inside 15 overs.

This was a victory fashioned by Delhi's bowlers on a lively surface, with each of the five men employed picking up at least one wicket. Delhi lost two wickets owing to the pacy nature of the pitch but, with the help of handy knocks from Sehwag and Mahela Jayawardene, the target was crossed with 5.1 overs to spare.

Mumbai had sought to reinforce their top-order batting with another overseas player in Davy Jacobs, but it failed to prevent another sloppy performance. Delhi's new-ball pair handcuffed the top order, with Irfan Pathan starting off with a maiden and Shahbaz Nadeem's left-arm spin extracting the openers early. Nadeem struck with his fifth ball, when Jacobs was bowled for a 10-ball 0 slogging across the line, and on his seventh Richard Levi was also bowled playing a loose shot.

At 7 for 2 after four overs, Rohit Sharma tried to break free with a series of edged boundaries that helped Mumbai to 23 for 2 – the lowest Powerplay score of IPL 5. Ambati Rayudu failed to cash in on a drop on 0, however, run out for 4 on the first ball bowled by Ajit Agarkar. In walked Kieron Pollard, but he lasted just three balls; without even sizing up Umesh Yadav, the West Indian played a crude slog to his first ball bowled and gave Ross Taylor an easy catch in the deep.

It got worse. Sehwag put two men back on the leg side and Rohit promptly top-edged a short ball from Agarkar out to Taylor, who held his second catch. Yadav got Dinesh Karthik next, pulling a short delivery tamely to mid-on. Mumbai were hurting, with the scoreboard showing five batsmen with single-digit scores – including Jacobs' blob – next to their names.

Harbhajan Singh opted for belligerence and smacked Agarkar for six, four and four in three balls to get Mumbai's total past 50. A couple of edged boundaries gave the home crowd something to cheer about, but the strategy break did Mumbai no good. Clint McKay – on IPL debut - fell five balls after the re-start, lofting Morne Morkel to long-off, and in the next over Yadav went straight through RP Singh making his first appearance of the season. Morkel got Harbhajan next, nicking a wide delivery outside off stump for 33, and Agarkar wrapped up the innings in the 20th over.

A target of 93 was never going to be too big a challenge, especially as Mumbai were without Lasith Malinga. However, even Delhi's batsmen weren't fluent on a surface that had some bounce in it for the quick men. Sehwag sliced his first delivery over two fielders in the point region for a flat six but once Mumbai's three-pronged pace attack pulled back its lengths, the freebies dried up. The extra lift did for Naman Ojha, who lobbed to short midwicket, and Kevin Pietersen was also cramped on the pull to give RP two wickets in his unbroken four-over spell.

Sehwag should have been out on 16, but Levi spilled a catch at third man. Delhi's captain took his team to within 19 runs of victory before trying to hit a six, and Jayawardene's patient 17 sealed victory.

MI beat defending champions CSK in IPL opener

Chennai: An allround display by Mumbai Indians (MI) saw them post a comprehensive eight-wicket win over the defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the opening match of Indian Premier League's (IPL) season five here at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Wednesday.

Chasing a modest 113 to win, Mumbai achieved the target with 3.1 overs to spare, riding on Richard Levi's fifty on IPL debut and his 69-run opening stand with Sachin Tendulkar, who retired hurt with a hand injury after scoring 16. Doug Bollinger and Dwayne Bravo were the two wicket-takers for Chennai.

Levi and Rohit Sharma (0) fell in quick succession to give Chennai some hope in the middle. However, Ambati Rayudu (18 not out) and James Franklin (25 not out) made sure there were no major hiccups towards the end of Mumbai's chase.

CSK – who were unbeaten at home in the last season – were never in the game after Mumbai reduced them to 85 for 5 following skipper Harbhajan Singh's decision to bowl first. Despite a 26-ball 36 by Suresh Raina, Chennai could never recover and were eventually bowled out for a meagre 112 in 19.5 overs. Lasith Malinga, Pragyan Ojha and the West Indian allrounder Kieron Pollard finished with two wickets apiece.

IPL 5 opening ceremony ends with Perry magic

Chennai: The opening ceremony of the Indian Premier League season five concluded with a magical performance from American singer Katy Perry at the YMCA Ground here on Tuesday evening. Bollywood and Hollywood joined hands together to entertain a packed venue. Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra were the main attractions.

Big B opened the event reciting a poem written by the renowned lyricist Prasoon Joshi. He also led all the captains in signing a pledge of playing the game with integrity and dignity. Kareena and Priyanka drew the biggest cheer for their dance performances but the renowned dancer Prabhudeva was not far behind, sending the audience into a frenzy with his moves. Colonial Cousins and 1st Project were other notable performers on the night.

Meanwhile, BCCI president N Srinivasan announced that the proceedings from the play-offs will be distributed among former India and domestic cricketers as a reward for their services. "I would like to say that from the proceeds of the play-off games of the IPL, the BCCI will give a one-time benefit to those who have graced Indian cricket - international as well as those who have played domestic cricket for a long time," Srinivasan said.

"Over 185 players will benefit from this (scheme). This is a small thank you to those who have done yeoman service to Indian cricket."

He also said that the BCCI had utilised the money earned from the T20 tournament up to the hilt for improvement purposes. "The BCCI has made good use of the success of IPL. The BCCI has distributed funds to all associations so that infrastructure, training facilities and academies are developed so that young cricketers have ample opportunities to become good players and knock on the national selection doors."

The nine-team tournament kicks off on Wednesday with defending champions Chennai Super Kings taking on Mumbai Indians at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here.

IPL 5 set for a gala opening

Chennai: A galaxy of stars, including Amitabh Bachchan and American pop star Katy Perry, will set the ball rolling for the fifth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) with a glittering opening ceremony that promises to enthral the audience here on Tuesday. High-octane Twenty20 cricket will get underway on April 4, promising excitement and entertainment for the audience in the next 54 days when nine teams featuring international stars and unheralded players will be competing.

Having proved its success in the past four editions with growing popularity, the Indian cricket board's money-spinning event will formally be launched with the IPL Opening Nite. The dazzling show will be graced by Bachchan and other Bollywood stars, including Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor and Salman Khan.

The gala ceremony at the YMCA College of Physical Education would also feature all the nine team captains taking the MCC Spirit of Cricket pledge. Although very little information has been shared on the opening ceremony, whose tickets start from Rs. 1,500, the evening is expected to provide a sumptuous feast of dance and music for the fans with Perry set to perform for the first time in India during the show, which will also have India's dancing sensation Prabhudeva.

The tournament proper will kick off on April 4 with the holders Chennai Super Kings taking on the last year Champions League Twenty20 winners Mumbai Indians in the inaugural match at the MA Chidambaram stadium. Mumbai captain Sachin Tendulkar will play for the first time before home fans after achieving the feat of 100 international centuries in the Asia Cup.

A total of 76 matches will be played at 12 venues across the country in the run-up to the finals on May 27 here. The league stage will comprise 72 ties with each team playing the other eight in a home-and-away format. The play-offs would be hosted by Bangalore and Chennai, the finalists from the previous edition.

The edition has been reduced to a nine-team affair after last-year entrants Kochi Tuskers Kerala were terminated by the BCCI in September last for a breach of terms of agreement. Expectedly, not many are daring to hazard a guess on the favourites to win the coveted trophy, though the MS Dhoni-led Chennai and Mumbai are in the forefront.