Indian Premier League.

[Donny]

Tonight.

Mumbai Indians v. Kolkata Knight Riders

12:00 AM.

[Pies4shaw]

Young Starc ruined a tense game by bowling Mumbai out - just when Tim David looked to have got them in with a chance of winning - taking 3 wickets in the next 4 balls. Kolkata are now second, with 7 wins. I believe they haven't won in Mumbai in 12 years before that.

From cricinfo:

[Pies4shaw]

Bengalaru chased down the Gujurat total with plenty of balls to spare, despite a reasonably hopeless middle order collapse. Faf had them 0/92 in the 6th over, chasing just 148 for victory before they lost 6/25 (including Faf, Kohli. Maxwell and Green). They hung on to finish on 6/152, the target run down in 13.4 overs.

[Pies4shaw]

Hyderabad did too little with the bat to challenge Mumbai. Head (48 from 30, opening) and Cummins (35* from 17) lifted an otherwise shabby batting effort to 8/173 but after some early wickets (Cummins 1/35 from 4) that saw them slump to 3/31, Suryakumar Yadav's 102* from 51 balls for Mumbai ended the contest. Tilak Varma made 37* in support. Poor result for the Sunrisers, given that they are top 4 (presently) and Mumbai is second last and out of contention.

Tonight, Delhi host Rajasthan. Delhi must win to keep thier finals chances alive but the Royals are looking to reclaim top spot (they are second but have a game in hand over Kolkata).

[Pies4shaw]

Delhi's 4th over:
4
4
4
6
4
6

0/59. Jake is 50* from 19 balls.

[Pies4shaw]

Delhi set 221 and restricted Rajasthan to 8/201. Delhi are 5th, now.

JFMcG has 309 runs this season from his 7 innings at the ridiculous strike rate of 235.87 - the highest in the IPL for any player with 30 runs or more this season.

[Pies4shaw]

Hyderabad restricted Lucknow to 4/165. The chase started quietly - 0/8 from 1.2 overs. Then Abishek (75* from 28 balls) and Head (89* from 30 balls) turned it on, knocking off the target inside 10 overs at a runrate of 17.27 per over. 0/167 from 9.4 overs. Head POTM.

Hyderabad move into 3rd spot with 7 wins. Lucknow drop to 6th, behind Delhi on NRR after that flogging.

Travis Head has been the outstanding batsman of the tournament. He has 533 runs at 53.3, in third place for total runs, just behind Kohli (542) and Gaikwad (541) - but Head's scoring rate (201.89) has been head and shoulders above the other two. He and Abishek are the leading opening pair - Abishek has 401 runs at the average of 36.45 (strike rate 205.64).

[Pies4shaw]

A Maxwell-less (so, really, who cares?) Bengaluru thrashed the hapless Punbjab Kings last night, to just about keep their hopes of reaching the finals alive and to just about put the lights out in the Punjab.

Tonight, the last-placed Gujarat need to do everyone a favour and beat CSK, otherwise Chennai is going to be difficult to dislodge from 4th spot. Won't happen, though. Chennai to win by about 400 runs.

[Pies4shaw]

Gujurat drank at the LastChance Saloon and somehow set Chennai a target of 232, with their 3/231 (on the back of a 210 opening stand by Gill and Sudharsan, both of whom made centuries). Chennai fell short at 8/196. That's good for the competition (but bad for Chennai), since it keeps open the genuine prospect (ie, more than "mathematically possible") that one of the teams outside the 4 could make it.

Reaslistically, it looks like Rajasthan and Kolkata will finish 1 and 2 (we may not know in whagt order until they play each other in the final round). Hyderabad could slip out of 3rd - but the wheels would have to fall off, since they have 2 easier opponents to go. There are then 3 teams on 12 points (Chennai, Delhi and Lucknow). Bengaluru and Gujurat are on 5 wins and have an outsiode chance. Bengaluru may be the better-placed ofn those 2 to make it, since they play Delhi and Chennai in their last 2 games.

On balance, it would be great if Delhi took the last spot because, on the season so far, Jake Fraser-McGurk is the one player who can ruin any game and he would likely make Delhi a genuine threat in any match against any opposition on any pitch. It's probably asking too much but I'd love to see a Hyderabad-Delhi Final, with Travis Head and Jake facing off against each other. If we don't ghet that, we might yet get Mitchell Starc (Kolkata) and Pat Cummins (Hyderabad) going head to head.

Tonight, we have Kolkata and Mumbai.

[Donny]

Kolkata and Mumbai.

Rain delay.

[Pies4shaw]

So, Kolkata beat Mumbai and then last night Chennai beat Rajasthan. Then, in the big one, Bengaluru set a target of 188 and finally found a way to get Jake cheaply - get him up the non-striker's end and bowl a straight-driveable half-volley and get your bowler to misfield it onto the stumps as he backs up. 21 from 8 (2 4s and 2 6s) and he looked like he might ruin another good game. Alas, once he went, the game was done. Delhi made just 140. That poor showing by the rest of his team jiust about ended Delhi's season.

[Pies4shaw]

Rajasthan have suffered their 4th loss in a row - this time to the more or less useless Punjab - and after being top of the comp throughout have gifted top spot to Kolkata. Meanwhile, Delhi cannot make the Finals. Hyderabad has 2 games left and could still get ahead of Rajasthan and finish second (as could Chennai). I think if Travis Head's team makes second spot, they will be very hard to stop.

[Pies4shaw]

Hyderabad's game was washed out. The point keeps Hyderabad just clear of Chennai but is a bit of a disaster because they can now only finish top 2 if Rajasthan lose their remaining game. Still, Kolkata, Rajasthan and Hyderabad have now each definitely clinched a Finals spot.

[Pies4shaw]

And Bengaluru has sneaked into 4th, with a victory over Chennai. Therre are just 2 more "home amd away" games to be played. Kolkata will finish on top - they are a game and half clear of Rajasthan. The two play each other and the other game is Hyderabad v Punjab. If Hyderabad win and Rajasthan lose, Hyderabad will finish second, otherwise the 4 will be Kolkata, Rajasthan Hyderabad and Bengaluru. Those 2 games are both tonight, our time. Hyderabad plays at 8 pm, Kolkata at midnight.