An inspired Chennai Super Kings shrugged off the underdogs’ tag with a thoroughly comprehensive display to thrash Kings XI Punjab by nine wickets and join Rajasthan Royals in the IPL final. Punjab’s batting had been in superb form through most of the tournament, but they came completely unstuck in the face of some accurate and relentless seam bowling by Chennai’s three fast bowlers, folding for a paltry 112. Parthiv Patel and Suresh Raina then ensured that the run-chase was a canter, putting together 102 for the second wicket – both ended on unbeaten half-centuries as Chennai sailed home with 31 deliveries to spare.

Punjab’s two previous losses to Chennai, in the league games, had both come when they’d chased, and Yuvraj Singh did the team a huge favour by winning the toss and choosing to bat on a pitch which was expected to assist the spinners later in the evening. That, though, was the only thing that went right for Punjab, as Makhaya Ntini and Manpreet Gony struck twice each in their first spells, reduced Punjab to 40 for 5, and never released the pressure thereafter, as the Wankhede Stadium played host to the second one-sided semi-final in two days.

On a pitch offering generous bounce to the fast bowlers, Chennai’s pace attack of Ntini, Gony and Albie Morkel bowled in the perfect channel, denying the Punjab batsmen any room to execute strokes through the off side. Learning from Shane Watson’s spell on Friday, Ntini pitched it slightly short of a length, hit the bat hard, and hurried the batsmen in their shots, while Gony bowled a fuller length, and with the sort of control which would have made Glenn McGrath proud. Chennai were also superb in the field – Muttiah Muralitharan pulled off a splendid catch over his head to intercept a Yuvraj pull, Suresh Raina was equally spectacular in pulling off a diving catch to dismiss Wilkin Mota, while the ground fielding was without blemish.

There was little sign of such a dramatic collapse when Shaun Marsh stroked the first ball of the match – from Muralitharan, surprisingly – through the covers for four. Seven came off that over, but the wheels started coming off in the next over, when James Hopes slashed at a wide one from Ntini and edged to Parthiv.

That dismissal sparked off a procession of wickets, as three more fell in the next four overs. Kumar Sangakkara’s was the most bizarre, as he seemed to miss a drive off Gony, but walked off even though Parthiv didn’t appeal at all. Yuvraj was restless after playing out three successive dot balls and pulled to Murali at short midwicket, but the biggest blow was delivered in the next over, when Ntini hit back to dismiss Marsh immediately after being creamed for a perfect straight drive. Marsh had top-edged a pull for six earlier in the innings, but wasn’t as lucky in the sixth over, as the inside edge crashed into his stumps.

Clearly rattled by the early wickets, Punjab lost the plot with some terrible running between the wickets, which cost Irfan Pathan his wicket. Mahela Jayawardene stroked the ball to third man, ran two, started for the third and then changed his mind, leaving Pathan with too little time to gain his ground. When Jayawardene himself fell next over, steering to the wicketkeeper, Punjab had slumped to 45 for 6.

From there, it was only an exercise in damage control: Mota and Ramesh Powar – the two local Mumbai players – put together 35, easily the most productive partnership of the innings. Mota managed a useful 26-ball 25, while Powar smeared Morkel for a huge six over midwicket and then punished a listless L Balaji for three fours in the last over, but a target of 113 was hardly enough to test Chennai.

S Vidyut fell early, but Raina and Parthiv gave Punjab no further opportunity. Raina was in especially sublime touch – he started off with two delectable fours, adjusting to Powar’s turn and gliding a four to third man, and then cutting the next ball through point. As he grew in confidence, the ferocity of the strokes increased, and the high point was an incredible pull off Hopes – on a pitch where most batsmen struggled to ride the bounce and execute the stroke – which sailed onto the roof of the stadium. Pathan was similarly dismissed over square leg, while Chawla was slog-swept for six and then driven through extra cover in the last over as Raina brought up his fifty off a mere 32 balls.

Parthiv was slightly more subdued, but the paltry target gave him plenty of time to work with. He started slowly, but then a couple of superb straight hits off the fast bowlers, and powerful sweeps off the spinners. Pathan’s early swing with the new ball offered Punjab some hope, but once Chennai got past that threat, there was little the slower bowlers could do. Chennai lost both their league games against Rajasthan, but after such an emphatic win, that’ll hardly bother them.

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.

Shoaib Akhtar may claim to be a perfect team-man but former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shaharyar Khan says the maverick pacer has been nothing but a “problem” for captains and coaches who have worked with him in the past couple of years.

Khan feels the pacer, who is fighting a five-year ban imposed on him for disciplinary violations by the PCB, has only himself to blame for the problems that he is facing right now.

“In the last two years he was a problem for the coach, captain and the board and we could see he was more interested in playing for himself rather than the team and this attitude was having a bad effect on others,” Khan said.

Khan felt it was better not to have Akhtar in the team as it has always done well without him.

“When he didn’t play the team did well and won. I think the fame and pampering he got early on in his career got to his head and he couldn’t handle it maturely,” he stated.

The former PCB chief said the only way left to deal with Akhtar was involve his family in counseling him.

“The best way to handle him is to sit down and talk to him or ask his family members to talk sense into him and he would come around,” he told ‘Geo TV’.

Apart from the Akhtar, Khan said the PCB should also give some attention to the plight of cricketers banned by it for participating in the rebel Indian Cricket League.

Khan felt the PCB should lift the ban on these players and allow them to earn their living.

The first semi-final of the Indian Premier League will see an interesting clash between table-toppers Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils, which qualified by default, at the Wankhede Stadium here on Friday.

Rajasthan Royals would be looking to continue their dream sequence of wins, while Delhi Daredevils, which managed to grab the last spot in the knock-out stage, will be hoping to finally live up to their potential on the big stage.

The competition has built up nicely to the last four stage and a capacity crowd is expected to witness this slam bang action between the two teams that possess enough firepower to outperform each other.

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.

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.

Misbah Ul Haq bags the DLF Maximum Sixes award.

Delhi Daredevils beat Bangalore Royal Challengers by five wickets in their Indian Premier League match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Monday.

Scorecard

It was Delhi’s sixth win in 12 matches and kept alive their chances of reaching the last four. For Bangalore, who are already out of the race, it was their ninth defeat in 11 matches.

Chasing a target of 155, Delhi began aggressively with captain Virender Sehwag (47) and Gautam Gambhir (39) putting on 90 runs for the opening wicket in just seven overs.

Sehwag was in a belligerent mood as he smashed nine boundaries and a six in his 19-ball knock. He was particularly severe on Praveen Kumar.

The latter had the final word though, taking the prized scalp, thanks to a splendid catch by Bharat Chipli.

Two overs later and after the addition of 10 more runs, Gambhir, who had earlier become the first batsman in the tournament to surpass 500 runs, was run out by Cameron White.

And then there was a wobble.

Tillekeratne Dilshan (4), AB de Villiers (21) and Dinesh Karthik (6) were dismissed in a space of 11 runs (rather, 11 balls) as Anil Kumble (two for 18) and Dale Steyn (one for 26) did most of the damage.

However, the total was never going to be enough and Shikar Dhawan (unbeaten 16) and Ferveez Maharoof (13 not out) ensured Delhi reached their target without further damage and with 10 balls left.

Earlier, Shreevats Goswami’s debut half century (52) and Misbah-ul-Haq’s (47) late charge resurrected Bangalore Royal Challengers from a wobbly start to carry their team to a modest 154 for 7.

After Sehwag won the toss and asked the opposition to bat in their crucial match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, Delhi Daredevils kept the home team under a tight lease.

Except for Goswami taking the visiting bowlers head on and Misbah scoring a 25-ball 47 (2X4; 4X6) towards the close to take the score past 150, Rahul Dravid-led side were never dominating with Glenn McGrath (2/25 from 4 overs) and Farveez Maharoof (2/13 from 4) bowling with immaculate line and length, and wickets falling at regular intervals.

Goswami, who was part of India’s recent U-19 World Cup triumph, top-scored with 52 from 42 balls which he made with the help of seven fours and a huge six.

He hit a six and three fours off Pradeep Sangwan in the eighth over to collect 18 runs from that over to stand tall among ruins. He was out in the 16th over off Maharoof while trying to accelerate the innings only to hole out at point to Tillekaratne Dilshan.

McGrath began with his miserly self giving away just one run in the opening over and claiming the wicket of Bharat Chipli for two, caught by Rajat Bhatia in the fifth over.

The retired Australian gave away just three and five overs in his next two overs to tie down Bangalore Royal Challengers to 35 for one in the first five overs.

Sehwag, who got the flak for some of his questionable decisions in earlier matches, made some intelligent shuffling of his bowlers who got immediate success each time.

For the home team, it was the familiar top order wobble with struggling Jacques Kallis (25) edging a consistent Sri Lankan Maharoof delivery for wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik to make a brilliant catch diving to his right in the seventh over.

Kallis, promoted to open the innings, made his 25 from 21 balls with the help of three fours and a huge six off Sangwan in the second over.

Dravid himself could not carry forward his fine form of the last match and lost his timbers to Dilshan in the 11th over for nine while trying to accelerate the dipping run rate after his side could just gather 70 runs from 10 overs and 102 for after the end of 15th.

It was left to debutant Goswami who came one down to make a match out of it and the young wicketkeeper did a brilliant job before Misbah complemented him with a cameo which included two fours and four sixes.

A day after Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan was denied entry to his team’s dressing room, Indian Premier League authorities issued fresh guidelines, which cleared the deck for the presence of a franchise owner in the team dug-out during the Twenty20 tournament.

IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi announced that the organisers will issue an all-area accreditation badge to one member of each of the eight team franchisees, following the ejection of Shah Rukh from the dug-out by the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit officials of the International Cricket Council.
IPL: How the teams stand

While defending the ACSU officials’ decision to ask the film star to vacate the dug-out during the IPL match against Chennai Super Kings at the Eden Gardens on Sunday, Modi said suitable measures would be taken to avoid a repeat of the incident.

“There have been reports in the media about denial of a team owner access to the dug out and dressing room. The IPL is conducted as per the rules and regulations of the ICC, whose ACSU officials were just doing the job entrusted,” Modi said.

“They go strictly by the colour code. A red badge issued by the ACSU, on approval of the team manager, will help the person holding it access to all areas,” he said.

“This is what we intend to do by giving each of the team owners one such badge each. They do have the right to sit with the players in the dug outs and dressing rooms,” Modi told a media conference in Mumbai on Monday evening.
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Modi said since this is the first year of the IPL, they are still learning the ropes.

“If we make mistakes, we are willing to set them right. This is the first year of IPL.

“We had already provided such badges to Preity Zinta (owner of Punjab King’s XI) and Vijay Mallya (owner of Bangalore’s Royal Challengers) as we had received such a request from them in advance,” Modi explained.

“The team owners have the right to be with the team at all times. They are very much part of the team’s strategies,” he added.

Modi also said that each team, in addition, would get four visitor’s passes with the condition that the holder of that badge, one at a time, can sit with the team members during the match for a maximum of 15 minutes.

“After the usage (of the temporary badge) it must be returned to the manager who has issued it,” he said.

The IPL chairman also said that in future children of team members, including support staff, would not be allowed to enter the teams’ dug-outs or dressing rooms during a match.

Earlier, the ICC expressed surprise at Shah Rukh’s statement that he had been ejected by ACSU personnel.

The ICC said the IPL is a domestic tournament and the game’s governing body did not have any role in formulating the rules.

“The reported incident has nothing to do with the ICC as the IPL is a domestic tournament which is being held under the Rules and Regulations of the BCCI,” an ICC spokesman said from Dubai.

“Furthermore, the ICC Board in its meeting held in Dubai on 17-18 March had decided that IPL will introduce a code of conduct, an anti-corruption code and an anti-doping code that complies with ICC regulations,” he said.

Shah Rukh was visibly dejected after being denied an entry in the dressing room and the actor said, “I like to hang around with the boys. I am very energetic. I am very disappointed that the ICC has stopped me,” he said.

“I don’t know the ICC rules. I’ll tell only one thing. Nobody dare stop me from coming to Kolkata. I’ll be here whenever my team plays a match at the Eden,” Khan said.

Knight Riders CEO Joy Bhattacharya said ICC rules are meant to stop bookies entering the dressing room but they do not apply in a domestic tournament like IPL.

“When these rules were framed, the concept of franchisee owners’ domestic tournament didn’t even come, the law was not framed to stop people like Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Mukesh Ambani or Vijay Mallya from walking into the dressing room,” he said.

“According to even ICC regulations, there is a system of visitor’s pass, the manager and team management sign it. The person can be allowed in the dressing room as long as it is signed by. So there is no way to stop Shah Rukh from entering the dressing room,” Bhattacharya added.

BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah, meanwhile, asserted that Shah Rukh has to go by ICC rules, even though he felt nothing could really stop the actor from entering the dressing room.

“He should take permission from IPL’s anti-corruption officer before entering into the dressing room,” Shah said.