Mumbai humbled by the other Shane

Shane Watson was all over Mumbai Indians

The prospect of a final face-off between Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne had dominated the build-up to this clash, but on the field it was overshadowed by an imposing performance from Shane Watson. Not only did he deliver a fitting farewell for his captain from competitive cricket, he also left Mumbai Indians under serious pressure to keep their qualification chances alive following a third straight defeat. For someone who had struggled to capitalise on starts through this tournament, Watson compensated with a splendid all-round effort, with each of his crushing blows serving Mumbai a painful reminder of what they should have achieved on a good pitch.

The Tendulkar-Warne contest should have been a non-event as left-arm spinner Ankeet Chavan trapped Tendulkar twice in front, only for umpire Paul Reiffel to think otherwise. Backed up by his disciplined bowling at one end, Watson dismissed T Suman and Ambati Rayudu in successive overs from the other, depriving the hosts of the attacking start they would have hoped for after choosing to bat. And just as Kieron Pollard had warmed up at the death after muscling a couple of boundaries, Watson cleaned him up to restrict Mumbai to a below-par total, one that was given some respectability by a classy half-century from Rohit Sharma.

It didn't take long for Watson to set about punishing Mumbai, as he smote Harbhajan Singh for two massive sixes over midwicket in the second over of the chase. He followed that up by drilling Lasith Malinga past mid-off in an over that perhaps produced his only moment of discomfort. Malinga responded venomously, knocking back Watson's chin with a bouncer - it escaped the grill, there would have been some pain but Watson didn't flinch. His own response? A memorable counterattack, pulling Malinga each time he dropped short, his next seven balls producing three fours, a flat six and a stunned crowd not used to seeing their star-studded home team being overwhelmed in that manner.

Match Meter RR Watson strikes early: He dismisses T Suman and Ambati Rayudu in successive overs. Mumbai are 17 for 2 MIRR Rohit, Pollard step up: Rohit goes after Amit while Pollard muscles a couple of boundaries to boost Mumbai's hopes of a good score RR Warne ends on a high: Rohit is stumped off Warne in the final over, and Mumbai are restricted to a below-par 133 RR Unstoppable Watson: Harbhajan Singh is struck for two huge sixes in the second over of the chase, and Watson doesn't look back  Advantage Honours even

A sense of resignation was felt in the crowd, if not among the players, when Watson smacked Harbhajan for three consecutive fours in his comeback over, while Rahul Dravid, happy to play the supporting role, showed his own class with some delightful boundaries off Pollard and Munaf Patel. The pair remained unbeaten, Rajasthan cantered home, marking a satisfactory end after their turmoil-filled build-up to the tournament.

Rohit had won praise from Warne as one of the most exciting talents in Indian cricket, and he undoubtedly would have impressed his opposing captain with his performance today. He quickly took the lead in the stand with Tendulkar, his stand-out shot being an imposing drive against Warne through extra cover, matched by a delightful punch in the same region off Johan Botha who couldn't restrain Rohit despite chasing him as he made room.

Rohit used his feet well to spin, and stepped up in the late overs after Tendulkar perished to an upper cut off Amit Singh. Warne though, wasn't finishing his spell without a cheer. His final victory with the ball was the stumping of Rohit, stunned by the turn and losing his bat to square leg with a wild swing gone bad. At the end of the game, Warne was still smiling while Mumbai stayed baffled.

Warne v Tendulkar one last time

Match facts

Friday, May 20, Mumbai Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)

	Shane Warne's final hurrah coming up

Big Picture

Four years ago, Shane Warne's glittering international career came to an end after he helped Australia whip England 5-0 to regain the Ashes, and he contentedly signed off noting that his team owned every major trophy on offer. The finale of his IPL career has been diametrically opposite, with his inconsistent side, Rajasthan Royals, eliminated early and Warne himself has been in the news over the past week for off-field altercations rather than on-field wizardry.

There have been glimpses of the old bewitching loop and cricketing nous but that hasn't been enough to inspire his team to reach the play-offs. Rajasthan have little at stake in Friday's match against Mumbai Indians and the highlight for cricket aficionados will be the last chance to see the celebrated Warne v Tendulkar rivalry.

Mumbai have been off the boil in the past couple of matches and have lost their seemingly nailed-on spot at the top of the table, slipping down to third. There is still an outside chance that Mumbai may not make the play-offs, a possibility they will look to eliminate on Friday.

Form guide (most recent first)

Mumbai Indians LLWWW (fourth in points table)
Rajasthan Royals LLLLW (seventh in points table)

Team talk

The bowling hasn't been much of a worry for Mumbai, and it is the batting packed with headliners that has struggled over the past week. It's likely they will re-jig the order instead of making too many personnel changes.

With Rajasthan out of the tournament, it is hard to predict what strategy they will follow. In their previous game, they made an unprecedented six changes, leaving out usual starters Ross Taylor and Johan Botha.

In the spotlight

Andrew Symonds has had a poor IPL so far, and one of the reasons he remains in the XI is the lack of proven overseas alternatives in the Mumbai squad. His combination of talent and temperament is exactly the spark Mumbai need to right their recent failures.

Prime numbers

• Shane Warne has the unwanted record of most ducks in the IPL - seven
• Sachin Tendulkar has nearly a 1000 IPL runs more than any other Mumbai batsman, batting for Mumbai - a majority of Rohit Sharma and Andrew Symonds' IPL runs have come for Deccan Chargers
  The chatter
  
  "We didn't play well. We didn't bat well. We played way below our potential. We are quite aware of that. It's quite an important game for us and we need to win it."
  Robin Singh, the Mumbai Indians coach, sums it up

Spinners, Gambhir help Kolkata breeze past Pune

Sourav Ganguly managed just 18 against his former team

It was billed as Sourav Ganguly's payback game against Kolkata Knight Riders. Instead, it proved to be a stern examination on a turner for the Pune Warriors batsmen, and called in to question the home side's decision to play only one specialist spinner as Shakib Al Hasan, Iqbal Abdulla and Yusuf Pathan exploited the generous spin available to tie Pune down. Kolkata, anchored by Gautam Gambhir, and under no pressure with an asking rate of below six, motored to victory, taking a big step towards making the play-offs.

Unless they lose badly to Mumbai Indians in their last league game, and Kings XI Punjab manage another big win in their last match, Kolkata should be through to the knock-outs.

The comfortable victory was set up by the Kolkata spin trio, who picked up five wickets for 51 runs in 11 overs, but more than that, preyed on the minds of the Pune batsmen, who struggled to score on a pitch that would have been a good test of batsmen's skills in a Test match against quality spin, but looked out of place in a Twenty20 game.

Right from the first ball that Abdulla bowled, it was clear that the batsmen were in for a hard grind. It was flighted, drew Manish Pandey forward, and spun sharply across as he missed the ball by a long way. The third was the typical left-arm spinner's sucker ball, making Pandey push forward outside the line for the turn and going straight on to strike him in front. This was after Jesse Ryder had targeted the second ball of spin in the game, trying to smash Yusuf Pathan for six but only finding mid-off. It was the beginning of Pune's problems.

Callum Ferguson came in ahead of Ganguly, and the relative ease with which he played during his short innings made one wonder again what he had been doing in the Pune dugout for most of the season. It was the spinners' night though, and Ferguson was left clueless as he skipped out to Shakib, only for the ball to turn a long way past his bat for Shreevats Goswami to do the rest.

Match Meter KKR Pune openers fall to spinners: Manish Pandey and Jesse Ryder fall as soon as Gautam Gambhir introduces Yusuf Pathan and Iqbal Abdulla. 17 for 2 KKR Pune middle order struggles: Pune's batsmen can't find runs against spin. Shakib Al Hasan removes Callum Ferguson and Sourav Ganguly; Yusuf gets Robin Uthappa KKR Yuvraj can't get going too: Yuvraj Singh top-scores with a patient 24 but Pune manage only 118 for 7 KKR Gambhir leads the way: Gautam Gambhir, along with Yusuf and Manoj Tiwary, chugs smoothly towards the target as Kolkata win by seven wickets  Advantage Honours even

There was a time when left-arm spin from both ends would never be tried against Ganguly, but that time is long gone. Ganguly led a charmed life today, almost edging the ball on to the stumps and also escaping a stumping chance. He showed one glimpse of the batsman he once was, lofting Abdulla for a very straight six, but clearly, sustained big hitting on a difficult pitch was too much to expect. He departed on another failed attempt to break free, sweeping Shakib to Yusuf at backward square leg.

It was not until the 13th over that Pune's most explosive batsmen, Robin Uthappa and Yuvraj Singh, got together. A run-rate that had remained stuck below six after the opening over forced Uthappa to go hard at Yusuf in the next over, but he swung it to deep midwicket where Lee took a sharp catch. Yuvraj was left playing the tragic hero yet again, but even he could not do much, ultimately top-edging a pull off L Balaji, who came on to bowl for the first time in the last over.

Alfonso Thomas got Pune the breakthrough in the first over, getting Goswami caught behind with one that took off. That was as close as Pune came to entertaining hopes of an upset, and Kolkata's line-up proved to be too powerful, not even requiring the services of Jacques Kallis, who had injured his finger in the field.

Gambhir, as always, showed how to tackle a turning pitch, repeatedly using his feet against Pune's spinners, Rahul Sharma and Yuvraj. He also played two delightful extra cover drives off successive deliveries against Thomas. Yusuf wasn't far behind, making room to cut Rahul's skiddy deliveries from off stump through short third man.

That it wasn't to be Pune's day was evident when consecutive throws from Ferguson ran to the boundary, the latter after hitting the stumps. Not that it mattered in the end, as Kolkata were simply the superior side by a long margin.

Ganguly goes up against Kolkata

Match facts

Thursday, May 19, Navi Mumbai
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)

	This time, he will be up against men wearing this jersey

Big Picture

Kolkata Knight Riders need to win one of their two remaining games to be guaranteed a place in the play-offs, mathematical miracles notwithstanding. Sourav Ganguly - the biggest player to emerge from their city and a name that was synonymous with their franchise until the most recent player auction - has a chance to stop them. It happens only in the IPL.

Yet, both Ganguly and his team-mates at Pune Warriors will know that they go in as rank outsiders. Kolkata have been consistent through the season, with their big-ticket players pulling their weight at different stages. The domestic Indian players have played their part too, especially Iqbal Abdulla and Manoj Tiwary. Pune, on the other hand, are out of contention after suffering an early-season slump that spanned seven successive losses. Ganguly looked like a batsman who hadn't held a bat in 12 months in his first outing, and fell for a duck in his second. Does Pune's campaign have a sting in its tail? Kings XI Punjab will be hoping it does, since a Kolkata defeat will keep their chances alive.

Form guide (most recent first)

Kolkata: LWLWW (fourth in points table)
Pune: LWWLL (ninth in points table)

Team talk

Kolkata have seemed keen to open with Eoin Morgan, though the move has had little success. Given the lack of muscle in the middle order - excluding Yusuf Pathan - Gautam Gambhir might consider moving himself up the order.

Pune will mull over the option of replacing Bhuvneshwar Kumar with Shrikant Wagh, who was impressive at the DY Patil in the initial part of the season. Will Ganguly continue to play at No. 3?

In the spotlight

Time is running out for Robin Uthappa to deliver returns on the tremendous investment Pune made on him. He has scored 252 runs in 12 innings, but has not produced a single half-century. He has paraded all his shots this season, without displaying the right kind of shot-selection.

Brett Lee has set up a few sparkling mini-battles with Uthappa in the past - a league match in the 2007 CB series, and a 2010 IPL fixture being the most notable. There's something irresistible about a contest between a fast bowler who likes to bowl straight, and a batsman who likes to hit it back, just as straight. Who will triumph when they clash on Thursday?

Prime numbers

• Kolkata haven't hit enough sixes this year. Tiwary, with 12, is their leading six-hitter but he is only 14th on the overall list. Yusuf has only managed 11.
  
• Rahul Sharma is the third-highest wicket-taker this season, with 16 wickets. He has also been the most economical bowler (5.33 per over) among those who have at least six wickets.

The chatter

"We need one win from two games and that's all I will be telling the team. I'm not obsessed with the points table. Our priority right now is to get the two points on Thursday."
Can Pune deny Gautam Gambhir the two points he seeks?

Determined Chennai surge to top spot

Wriddhiman Saha was an unlikely top-scorer for Chennai Super Kings

The MA Chidambaram Stadium continued to be a fortress that couldn't be breached, as Chennai sealed a seventh straight win at home to end Kochi Tuskers Kerala's maiden IPL campaign on a disappointing note. The win for the hosts was the only constant on an otherwise unusual day in Chennai. To begin with, it was not oppressively hot on a summer's day; the pitch played slow and low and Kochi bowled with discipline to limit a power-packed batting line-up to a gettable total. The home side found an unlikely hero in Wriddhiman Saha, who seized on a promotion and an early let-off to play a decisive cameo. Lapses by Parthiv Patel, the replacement captain, with the gloves, and Kochi's struggles to step it up in the chase, meant Chennai's score of 152 was more than adequate.

For those who witnessed Adam Gilchrist's ruthless onslaught against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Tuesday, this was a slightly laborious affair. The Kochi bowlers varied their lengths well and did not offer too many scoring opportunities; the seamers refrained from doling out length deliveries, while Muttiah Muralitharan prompted caution. Each time the hosts tried to improvise and go on the attack, they were pegged back by a wicket, earned by Kochi rather than handed out.

Match Meter CSKKTK Runs and wickets: Kochi hit back after bursts from Vijay and Raina to make it 41 for 2 at the end of the sixth over CSKKTK Chennai kept in check: Hyssey departs with the score on 96 in the 15th over, but there is ammunition down the order CSK Finishing on a high: Saha's late surge, including 14 off the final over, takes Chennai past 150 on a tricky pitch CSKKTK A similar pattern: Gnaneswara Rao falls in the seventh over with the score on 45, but that brings together McCullum and Hodge CSK Hosts get ahead: When McCullum falls in the 14th over with the score on 85, and there are no fours or sixes in the next three overs, the game is pretty much decided  Advantage Honours even

M Vijay smashed RP Singh for three boundaries in the third over, but was cleaned up by a perfectly-aimed yorker off the final ball. Suresh Raina was dropped by Parthiv first ball, and Sreesanth, the frustrated party, was made to rue that lapse with two huge sixes over long-on. But the bowler hit back in the same over, when Raina miscued a full toss. S Badrinath smashed a six over midwicket, but was caught brilliantly off the next ball when RP dived full length in the deep to pluck a catch inches from the ground. Saha, though, bucked the trend.

In a contrast to his senior partner Michael Hussey, who was tied down by the steady fall of wickets and his own struggle to push on, Saha infused some urgency in the Chennai innings after surviving a missed stumping by Parthiv. In a clear sign of intent following the second time-out at the end of the 13th over - the scoring rate was fractionally over six at that stage - Saha swept Ravindra Jadeja for six over square leg. In addition to aggressive running between the wickets and an adeptness in rotating the strike, Saha, picked for the Indian tour of West Indies, also indulged in some powerplay. He charged out to Muralitharan to loft him out of the ground and pulled RP into the stands behind deep midwicket to end the Chennai innings on a high.

Kochi needed a big win to keep themselves mathematically alive in this competition, but even the usually dominating Brendon McCullum was forced to exercise restraint against some determined bowling. R Ashwin kept one end locked up with his variations in turn, flight and pace, and sent back Parthiv in his second over. McCullum and Gnaneswara Rao picked up a couple of boundaries each but the innings appeared to stagnate soon after Rao's dismissal. McCullum and Brad Hodge could do little during their stand to get on par with the climbing required-rate. Chennai didn't concede a single boundary in the three overs that followed McCullum's exit at 85 in the 14th over.

Kochi did manage a belated surge with Jadeja and Hodge trying to salvage what they could out of an impending defeat, reducing the margin of the loss to 11 runs - incidentally, the difference in Parthiv's expected target at the toss.