HIGHS----------

Bangalore: Mumbai Indians beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 57 runs at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here Saturday to retain their top position in the Indian Premier League (IPL) table.

Chasing a challenging target of 192, Royal Challengers were all out for 134 in the must-win match for the home team to stay in the race for a berth in the semi finals.

With seven wins and seven losses, though Challengers remained in the second position with a net run rate of 0.219, their prospects of getting into the semifinals depends on the outcome of the last league matches of the other contenders.

Greed and sleaze may taint IPL

Put to bat after losing the toss, Mumbai Indians scored 191 for the loss of 4 wickets, with the top and middle order batsmen putting up an impressive performance by hitting as many as 10 sixes and 14 fours.

Though Challengers started on a promising note to chase a tall order, the top order failed to sustain the momentum after openers Manish Pandey and Jacques Kallis exited by the sixth over with the score just 31.

Attempts by Kevin Peterson and Rahul Dravid to accelerate the score were scuttled by spin bowler Harbhajan Singh when both were caught by Saurabh Tiwary and Kieron Pollard in the ninth and 11th over respectively.

The quick departure of local hero and in-form middle order batsman Robin Uthappa after scoring only four singles in the 12th over and Ross Taylor for 9 in the 15th over dashed all hopes of the Challengers in winning their last league match.

A rearguard action by Virat Kohli with four 4s and one six was too late and too little though he was the top scorer with 37 runs for the Challengers.

For the Mumbai Indians, Pollard was the most successful bowler with three wickets for 28 runs, followed by Harbhajan and Dilhara Fernando with two wickets each for 24 and 28 runs respectively.

Earlier, Mumbai Indians made a breezy 191 with a run rate of 9.55 in an exciting match that started an hour behind schedule at 5 p.m. following two low-intensity blasts outside the stadium causing panic and a snag in one of the generators supplying power to the floodlights.

Scorecard

Ambati Rayudu was the top scorer for Mumbai Indians, hitting 46 in 27 balls, with four sixes and three fours, followed by JP Duminy at 42 in 19 balls with three 6s and three 4s, and Ryan McLaren at 40 with four 4s.

Jacques Kallis was the most successful bowler for the Challengers, with the prized wickets of Tendulkar and Pollard, while ace leggie Kumble and Peterson took one each.

The Challengers also gave away 15 precious extras.

LOWS------------------


Toss – Deccan Chargers won the toss and elected to BAT

Teams
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Jacques Kallis, Rahul Dravid, Kevin Pietersen, Robin Uthappa (W), Virat Kohli, Cameron White, Praveen Kumar, Balachandra Akhil, Nayan Doshi, Anil Kumble (C), Dale Steyn

Deccan Chargers: Adam Gilchrist (C) (W), Anirudh Singh, Rohit Sharma, Andrew Symonds, Venugopal Rao, Monish Mishra, Dwayne Smith, Ryan Harris, Harmeet Bansal, Pragyan Ojha, Rahul Sharma

Deccan Chargers Innings

•Nayan Doshi makes his T20 debut
•Andrew Symonds dropped on 1 in 5.5 overs by Dale Steyn
•Mandatory power play (1-6): Hyderabad 27/3
•Deccan Chargers 50/5 in 11.3 overs
•Deccan Chargers 50/5 in 11.3 overs is the slowest 50 in this tournament this year
•Deccan Chargers 82/10 in 18.3 overs is the lowest score by a team in this tournament this year
•Innings Break: Deccan Chargers 82/10 in 18.3 overs

I WANT TO SAY ABOUT PLAYER'S PERFORMANCE OF IPL 2010 IPL- 3 IS IN FINAL STAGE WITH MUMBAI , BANGALORE , DECCAN AND CHENNAI QUALIFIED FOR THE SEMI FINALS . MUMBAI WILL TAKE ON CHENNAI IN THE FINAL AND REST TWO WILL FIGHT FOR THE 3rd SPOT. THESE FOUR TEAMS , WHICH FAILED TO MAKE TO SEMI FINAL , PAID THE PRICE FOR THE LACK OF FORM OF THEIR KEY PLAYERS , NAMES WHICH PROMISED A LOT , BUT DELIVERD A LITTLE LET'S HAVE LOOK AT PERFORMANCE OF TOP PLAYERS FROM THESE FOUR TEAMS. YUVRAJ SING ( KINGS XI PUNJAB) MATCHES- 14 RUNS- 255 HIGHEST- 43 AVAREGE - 21.25 HE WAS IN NEWS FOR ALL OTHER REASONS EXCEPT HIS BATTING!! STRIPPED FROM CAPTAINCY , YUVRAJ DID NOT DO HIS REPUTATION ANY GOOD BY BEING ONE THE BIGGEST FLOP STORIES OF THIS CAMPAIGN . EVEN YUVRAJ DID COME OUT WITH HIS OWN STATEMENT SAYING THERE IS NO PROBLEM WITHIN THE SIDE . KUMAR SANGAKKARA ( KINGS XI PUNJAB ) MATCHES - 13 RUNS- 357 HIGHEST - 56 AVERAGE- 29.75 IF THE OUTGOINING TO FIND FROM THE INCUMBENT FARED ONLY MARGINALLY BETTER . KUMAR SANGAKKARA'S 42-BALL 56 AGAINST MUMBAI INDIAS WAS A MATCH-WINNING EFFORT.BUT MOST OF HIS OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS WERE FORGETTABLE MAY BE BECAUSE OF CAPTAINCY PRESSURE ON HIM. S SREESANTH ( KINGS XI PUNJAB) MATCHES- 6 WICKETS – 3 BEST BOWLING – 2-24 AVERAGE – 63.66 THE KERALA SPEEDSTER IS NEVER IN THE NEWS FOR HIS PERFOMANCES . IN THE INAUGURAL EDITION , WE REMEMBER HIM FOR CRYING IN PUBLIC AFTER THE ‘ SLAPGATE ’ INCIDENT . BUT THIS YEAR , WE WON’T REMEMEBER S SREESANTH AT ALL. LOOK AT THE FIGURES ABOVE AND YOU WILL KNOW WHAT WE MEAN . BESIDES , THERE WERE NO CONTROVERSIES ON THE OCCASION. BRETT LEE ( KINGS XI PUNJAB ) MATCHES- 4 WICKETS - 0 BEST BOWLLING- NIL AVERAGE - NIL IN THE FOUR MATCHES HE PLAYED , BRETT LEE WAS HIT ALL OVER THE PARK. AND CONSEDERING KINGS XI PUNJAB RESTED AN IN-FORM JUAN THERON TO ACCOMMODATE THE AUSTRALIAN , IT TURNED OUT TO BE AN EXCERSICE IN. VIRENDER SEHWAG ( DELHI DAREDEVILS ) MATCHES- 14 RUNS- 356 HIGHEST- 75 AVERAGE- 25.42 HE WAS INDEED ONE OF THE BIGGEST DISAPPOINMENTS OF THE THIRD EDITION . THE STATS ABOVE ARE AN INDICATOR OF HOW MUCH THE 30-YEAR OLD STRUGGLED TO ASSERT HIM IN THE TOURNAMENT. MORE IMPORTANTLY , THE ONE FACTOR THAT FANS ALWAYS EXPECT FROM SEHWAG’S BATTING IS FLAMBOYANCE. THAT WAS FOUND LACKING IN THE LAST FEW WEEKS. GAUTAM GAMBHIR ( DELHI DAREDEVILS) MATCHES – 11 RUNS ----- 277 HIGHEST- 72 AVERAGE- 30.77 HE MISSED THREE MATCHES OWING TO INJURY WHEREIN HE HEADED TO SRI LANKA TO HAVE AYURVEDIC TREATMENT. AND HE WASN’T AS CONVINCING AFTER HIS RETURN . MAYBE , IT WAS DUE TO THE PRESSURE OF CAPTAINCY , OR LACK OF FORM . BUT , FACT REMAINS, IF DELHI FAILED TO QUALIFY FOR THE LAST FOUR IT WAS PRIMARILY BECAUSE THEIR HIGHLY – RATED TOP THREE FAILED . DAVID WARNER ( DELHI DAREDEVILS ) MATCHES- 11 RUNS- 282 HIGHEST – 107 NOT OUT AVERAGE- 28.20 HE DIDN’T FEATURE IN DELHI’S FIRST THREE MATCHES , BUT PLAYED IN ALL THE 11 OUTINGS THEREAFTER . HE STARTED WITH JUST SIX RUNS IN HIS FIRST MATCH, AGAINST ‘CHENNAI SUPER KINGS’ BUT THE NEXT THREE CONTRIBUTIONS WERE SIGNIFICANT – 57 AGAINST DECCAN CHARGES , 33 vs ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE AND A MATCH – WININING 107 NOT OUT AGAINST KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS . THAT WAS JUST ABOUT IT ! SOURAV GANGULY ( KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS ) MATCHES- 14 RUNS - 493 HIGHEST – 88 AVERAGE – 37.92 HE SCORED TOO MANY AND TOOK A FEW SPECTACULAR CATHES AS WELL TO ASSERT HIS COMMITMENT TO THE GAME . BUT HIS ROLE AS A CAPTAIN FAILED. KKR IS THE ONLY TEAM NOT TO HAVE MADE IT TO THE LAST FOUR IN ANY OF THE THREE EDITIONS . MANY HARDCORE FANS WON’T AGREE WITH THIS , AND THERE MAYBE VARIOUS COUNTER ARGUMENTS REGARDING THE SAME . CHRIS GAYLE ( KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS ) MATCHES- 9 RUNS - 292 HIGHEST – 88 AVERAGE- 32.44 THE WEST INDIES CAPTAIN FAILED YET AGAIN , FOR THE THIRD YEAR ON THE TROT. MOST OF HIS SUBSEQUENT FORAYS TO THE CREASE WERE DISAPPOINTING . AND THE ONLY TIME HE PLAYED ACCORDING TO HIS REPUTATION WAS IN A SPECTACULAR 42- BALLS 88 AGAINST KINGS XI PUNJAB. ISHANT SHARMA ( KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS ) MATCHES- 7 WICKETS – 7 BEST BOWLING – 2-33 AVERAGE – 33.71 SEVEN MATCHES , SEVEN WICKETS , AND ECONOMY RATE OF ALMOST 10 RUNS PER OVER. THIS IS ENOUGH TO JUDGE HIS PERFORMANCE. YUSUF PATHAN ( RAJASTHAN ROYALS ) MATCHES- 14 RUNS- 333 HIGHEST- 100 AVERAGE – 27.75 HIS 100 OFF 37 BALLS IN RAJASTHAN ROYALS OPENING MATCH AGAINST MUMBAI INDIANS AT THE BRABOURNE WAS A SPECTACULAR KNOCK EVEN THROUGH RR COULDN’T WIN THE MATCH . HOWEVER, IN OTHER MATCHES THAT HE FEATURED IN , YUSUF PATHAN CONTRIBUTED NOTHING . RAJASTHAN ROYALS TOO MUCH DEPENDENCE ON YUSUF COST THEM. SHAUN TAIT ( RAJASTHAN ROYALS ) MATCHES- 8 WICKETS – 10 BEST BOWLING – 3-22 AVERAGE - 26.40 HE TOOK 10 WICKETS IN EIGHT MATCHES FOR RAJASTHAN ROYALS , INCLUDING SUPERLATIVE EFFORTS AGAINST DECCAN CHARGES (3-22) AND KINGS XI PUNJAB ( 3-22 ) . HOWEVER , HE WAS EXPENSIVE ON OCCASIONS , AND THAT COST THEM . CONSIDERING THEIR BATSMEN WERE STRUGGLING TO PUT RUNS ON BOARD .