Match 21 MI vs CSK

Sachin Tendulkar was the rudder, Shikhar Dhawanprovided propulsion, and they combined for a 92-run opening partnership which charted Mumbai Indians' course for success at the Brabourne Stadium. The victory helped the hosts steam past Royal Challengers Bangalore and take top spot in the league with a game in hand. The absence of major setbacks during the pursuit of a formidable target, on a day their usually efficient bowling attack failed, emphasised Mumbai's status as one of the tournament favourites.

Chennai Super Kings also had several things going for them as they sought to nip their budding losing streak: MS Dhoni had returned, Matthew Hayden bludgeoned Zaheer Khan to seize the initiative, andSuresh Raina and S Badrinath forged a partnership of 142, the second-best of all IPLs. However, their bowling attack is perhaps the competition's weakest and Dhoni had too many chinks to find cover for against a ruthless batting line-up. Muttiah Muralitharan apart, none of the others caused a flutter, and Mumbai cruised home with an over to spare. The defeat was Chennai's third in a row and their fourth in six games.

Mumbai's start wasn't fluent. There were few boundaries in the early overs, and a healthy helping of extras were needed to stay abreast of the asking-rate. Tendulkar's timing wasn't there, though that had little to do against the bowling of Albie Morkel and L Balaji. Then Dhoni gave the fifth over to Joginder Sharma, who did not play the previous game, and Dhawan cut loose, peppering the leg-side boundary with two pulls and a flick. The 50 was up in the fifth over and Dhawan accelerated further in the next by pulling Balaji for consecutive sixes.

Dhoni tried left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati after the fielding restrictions were lifted, but Dhawan greeted him with a reverse-swat to the boundary. In Jakati's second over, Dhawan charged and lofted him straight to reach a 31-ball fifty with a six. He holed out three balls later, but had already caused serious damage. Morkel had been satisfactory but the rest, especially the unthreatening medium-pace of Balaji and Joginder, had leaked runs.

Murali, who had come on in the eighth over, trapped Saurabh Tiwary lbw in the tenth during the only phase when Chennai reined Mumbai in. They scored 94 off nine overs and only 12 off the next three. Mumbai needed 75 off 48 balls and it was now that Tendulkar decided to hit his first six of the season, stepping out to Murali and lofting him over long-on. He didn't demolish the bowling during this half-century, brought up off 40 balls, but stayed in long enough to ensure there would be no hiccups during the chase.

The introduction of Thissara Perera sealed Chennai's fate. The debutant started with a full toss - on offer aplenty from Balaji and Joginder too - that Tendulkar put away to fine leg for four. He then bowled two more, and Tendulkar glanced them both off his pads effortlessly. While Tendulkar was being steady, Pollard muscled 20 off 9 balls to hack away at the asking-rate, and Dwayne Bravo ended it with typical Caribbean flair, flicking Balaji for four before getting the winning run.

Mumbai's batsmen rose to the challenge on a day their bowlers under-performed. Only Ryan McLaren, who took the new ball for the first time, and Harbhajan Singh exerted control over Chennai's scoring-rate, while Zaheer, Bravo and Lasith Malinga, who was first used only in the 11th, went for over ten an over.

Hayden wielded his bat like a club from the start. He missed the first ball, a wide from Zaheer, and hit the second to mid-on. The next four, all length deliveries with width, disappeared to different parts of the off-side boundary, each placed straighter than the previous one and dispatched with immense power off the front foot. Those hits were with a regular bat but Hayden called for the little one when Harbhajan came on in the third over. He lasted two balls before a slider caught him in front, leaving Chennai on 32 for 1.

Parthiv Patel followed soon after, bowled off his pads by a McLaren yorker, which brought together Raina and Badrinath. Raina was severe on Bravo, hitting his first two balls for a six and a four, chipping him over the slips before dealing him another six and four a few deliveries later. He brought up his half-century off 32 balls, Badrinath lofted Zaheer over his head to reach 50 off 41. They added 142, but towards the end were unable to find the fifth gear. Chennai had plenty of wickets in hand and looked set for 200-plus, but Malinga returned and conceded only seven off the final over to keep them to well below that. In the end, 180 wasn't enough

MATCH20 - IPL 2010 - RCB v DD

David Warner exploded at the top and Kedar Jadhavprovided a fiery finish to charge Delhi Daredevils to a strong 183, which they defended with relative ease. It was Delhi's first win after three losses and also marked Royal Challengers Bangalore's first loss at home.

The pitch was drier than the previous tracks at the Chinnaswamy Stadium and Bangalore had to do much of the damage against the new ball if they were to hunt down the strong total. However, Jacques Kallis and Manish Pandey were kept relatively quiet by tight spells from Dirk Nannes and Umesh Yadav. Nannes hit the deck hard and moved the ball enough to upset batsmen's timing and Yadav, the fastest Indian bowler currently going around in the circuit, with speeds consistently ticking over 140 kmph, surprised the batsmen with his line, length and bounce. And it wasn't all brawn from the youngster; he kept it relatively full to Kallis but hurled a few short deliveries at Pandey to keep him on a leash.

Bangalore's second opportunity to break free came in the eight over with the introduction of Andrew McDonald and Amit Mishra. It was the make or break moment, with Bangalore needing 129 from 13 overs, but Mishra slipped in fine spell to turn the game decisively in Delhi's favour. Mishra removed Kallis with a googly and induced Robin Uthappa to edge the reverse-sweep to inflict a double-strike from which Bangalore couldn't' recover. McDonald went for 18 runs in his first seven deliveries - Uthappa producing the shot of the day with a nonchalantly-hit six over the straight boundary - but bounced back in his second over by taking out Pandey, and when Rahul Dravid ran himself out in the same over the chase had derailed.

There was just one other moment of thrilling drama and it was provided by AB de Villiers, who jumped back at long-on to take an amazing one-handed catch, even as the ball appeared to have passed him, to get rid of Praveen Kumar.

The Delhi bowlers produced a disciplined performance, but it was their batsmen who set up the game. There were three phases of play in Delhi's innings - an explosive start by Warner, a serene partnership in the middle-overs between AB de Villiers and Dinesh Karthik, and a fiery finish provided by Jadhav.

It was Jadhav who gave Delhi the perfect finish, but for the majority of the innings they rode on the momentum provided by Warner. It was as though he was playing stick cricket - see the ball and give it a mighty thump. The shot that stood out was a crunchy pulled-six off Dale Steyn but what caught his impish mindset was actually a mishit against the same bowler. It was just about back of length outside off and Warner went for an ambitious pull, but the ball screamed towards the cover boundary. It was Twenty20 cricket at its best (or worst, depending on your point of view) and both the bowler and the batsman smiled.

There were no smiles from any bowler for the rest of the time when Warner flat-batted length deliveries over in-field and launched mighty sixes over long-on, but the entertainment ended when he fell, unable to clear long-off with yet another of his lofted hits.

When he departed in the fourth over, the score read 44 for 1 and it soon turned to 58 for 2 with Sehwag falling to Vinay Kumar, who is gaining a reputation for taking big wickets. The game changed in character from there on. de Villiers and Karthik preferred to deal in singles as they nudged and drove their way around. The period wasn't without its shares of thrills, with de Villiers pulling and Karthik sweeping Kumble for boundaries but it was definitely a lot quieter than at the start.

It threatened to get grimmer for Delhi when Karthik and de Villiers got run out - Karthik backed up too far at the non-striker's end and de Villiers was caught short by a direct hit from Eoin Morgan at backward point - but Jadhav, an unknown commodity for many of the Bangalore bowlers, connected with a few big hits to push Delhi towards a strong total. The shot of his stay was an audacious flat-batted six over long-on to a short delivery from Jacques Kallis, and he moved around the crease and also threw in a few deft shots - a late cut against Kumble being the highlight. The bowlers, caught off-guard, didn't know whether to bounce at him or bowl full, and Jadhav exploited that to the fullest to push Delhi to a very competitive total.