Delhi crush lethargic Chennai

Delhi Daredevils 111 for 2 (Pietersen 43*, Sehwag 33) beat Chennai Super Kings 110 for 8 (M Morkel 2-19) by eight wickets

Chennai Super Kings were disappointing with the bat for the second time in three games and their confused running allowed Delhi Daredevils to restrict them to their second-lowest total in the IPL for a comprehensive win. Three of the first four Super Kings batsmen ran themselves out as neither Daredevils' bowlers nor their fielders let up on the pressure.

Off the first ball of the game, M Vijay responded too eagerly to a call for a single from Faf du Plessis only for the latter to stop after taking a few steps. Vijay was almost at the other end and had no chance of making it back. Such chaos was to be a feature of the innings. Suresh Raina went too far down the pitch in search of a tight single but could not make it back in time; S Badrinath was to meet a similar fate a couple of overs later.

It did not help Super Kings that after hitting three boundaries and looking in fine touch, du Plessis found extra cover off Morne Morkel with another drive. It allowed Daredevils to come back from Irfan Pathan's second over, the third of the innings, which went for 14. Raina slogged a couple of sixes over the on side before contriving to dismiss himself. The last thing Super Kings wanted was for Daredevils wicketkeeper Naman Ojha to pull off a stunning diving catch off Ravindra Jadeja's outside edge.

With Super Kings struggling on 66 for 5, Daredevils were able to exert even more pressure through their left-arm spinners Roelof van der Merwe and Shahbaz Nadeem. The duo conceded just 24 runs off seven overs between them. Super Kings' final hope was the pair of Dwayne Bravo and MS Dhoni but they failed to push on after adding 23 in 41 balls. Super Kings' crawl was summed up by Bravo playing out seven consecutive dot balls against the spinners.

After plodding along to 11 off 18, Dhoni could not clear long-on off Morne Morkel as he tried to break free in the 18th over. Bravo followed in the 19th, and Super Kings signed off their innings with one more run-out in the last over.
the visitors slumped to their biggest defeat in terms of balls remaining.

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IPL 5: DC-MI tie witnesses drama after umpiring error

Controversy erupted in the IPL match between Deccan Chargers and Mumbai Indians here Monday with the latter team's captain Harbhajan Singh having a heated and prolonged argument with the field umpires who committed a mistake in not giving a home side batsman out. The incident happened in the 13th over of Deccan Chargers' innings after they opted to bat first. Their captain Kumar Sangakkara was clearly out off the bowling of Munaf Patel though the field umpires thought it otherwise initially before referring the decision to the third umpire.

The third ball of Munaf Patel's third over and 13th of Deccan Chargers' innings saw Sangakkara dragging the ball onto the off-stump with the bails dislodged and the ball hit the wickets for the second time after ricocheting from Mumbai wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik. Field Umpires AK Chowdhury of India and JD Cloete of South Africa consulted each other but thought that the ball came off Karthik's pads and ruled Sangakkara not out. That led to the drama with an angry-looking Harbhajan rushing towards the umpires and apparently asking Cloete why he did not go upstairs for a third umpire decision. 

A heated argument followed between Harbhajan and the field umpires with Munaf joining in and play stopped for more than five minutes. Deccan captain Sangakkara also had a word with the umpires who finally referred the decision to the third umpire. The third umpire gave Sangakkara out as was expected and play resumed.

 

Innings	Dot balls	4s	6s	Powerplay (0-6)	16-20 overs	NB/Wides
Deccan Chargers	39	6	8	45-2	29-5	0/4
Mumbai Indians	44	8	8	29-2	48-2	0/0

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IPL 5: Nerveless Rohit steers MI to last-ball win

Mumbai Indians 142 for 5 (Rohit 73*, Steyn 3-12) beat Deccan Chargers 138 for 9 (Dhawan 41, Christian 39, Munaf 4-20) by five wickets

The fifth edition of the IPL, which began in tepid fashion, finally had a nail-biter as Rohit Sharma hit the last ball of the match for six to seal a thrilling finish for Mumbai Indians against Deccan Chargers, who fought tooth and nail while defending 139. Daniel Christian, not the wisest choice for the final over, as very recent history tells us, dished out two full tosses to Rohit. One of them was off the final ball, which was dispatched over long-on to spark wild celebrations.

The Chargers were still favourites with 18 to defend off the last over. Kumar Sangakkara had bowled out his best bowler, Dale Steyn, leaving the final task with Christian. The first ball was smashed by James Franklin past long-off for four; the second down the same region; the batsmen sneaked a bye off the third; the fourth was a high full toss slammed by Rohit Sharma over deep backward point. With five needed off two, the penultimate ball was forced to long-off and Rohit Sharma timed his dive just in time to survive a run-out appeal. Christian couldn't come up with anything special, gifting Rohit Sharma the most hittable delivery of the over, breaking the hearts of the home fans who saw their side slip to a second straight defeat.

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Yuvraj back in India after completion of cancer treatment

Yuvraj Singh, the India allrounder, is back in the country after two and a half months in the USA, where he had received treatment for cancer. Yuvraj arrived in Delhi on Monday morning, and was received by his mother and several fans.

Yuvraj was diagnosed with a type of cancer called "mediastinal seminoma", a germ-cell tumour located between his two lungs, in February. He underwent three sessions of chemotherapy in Indianapolis, at the IU Simon Cancer Centre at the Indiana University Medical Centre, under Lawrence H Einhorn, who headed the treatment of cycling champion Lance Armstrong in 1996. He finished the last cycle of chemo in mid-march, and his response it had left his medical team "fairly confident" that he would not suffer a relapse. He had spent a few days in London while recuperating from the side effects of the treatment.

He arrived on a Jet Airways flight, sporting a red sports cap - he has suffered hair loss, a common side effect of chemo - and flashing a victory sign to the waiting crowds. A friend who was with Yuvraj in London said the cancer is "completely out of his system", PTI reported. Yuvraj had tweeted about his homecoming on Sunday.

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