Ireland vs India, 1st T20I - Commentary

Ireland vs India, 1st T20I - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

IND 208/5 (20.0 Ovs)

IRE 132/9 (20.0 Ovs)

India won by 76 runs

PLAYER OF THE MATCH
Kuldeep Yadav

Hitman and Gabbar killed the match in the first passage of play and then Kuldeep and Chahal portrayed their sorcery to complete the inevitable for Ireland. Hopefully, Ireland will be more competitive in the next match. See you on Friday. Until then, this is Varun Dixit signing off on behalf of Rishi Roy, Sagar Chawla, Ramakrishnan and Mukesh. Good bye and take good care of yourselves.

Eshan says: "Team India did not need services of KL and DK." - Virat has clarified in the post-match presentation that they will get a go in the 2nd T20I.

Virat Kohli: I can't complain about anything today. Opening combination was excellent. The last over bowled by Ireland was terrific. Great effort by Rohit and Shikhar to put us in a good position. And good strikes from MS, Raina and Pandya in the end. Bowlers did a clinical job too. We have already announced that apart from the opening combination we are going to do a lot of experiments in the middle order. We are going to be flexible in the next few T20s. We will look to throw in guys when the situation requires them to come in and try to surprise the opposition. It presents the opportunity for the batsmen who couldn't get the opportunity to bat. The guys who couldn't get a chance today will get an opportunity in the next match. The guys had a great time in IPL but they need to get time in the middle here too. The team management decided to give a go to everyone in the squad. The guys are fine with this decision. We are looking to give everyone game-time and want them to portray the qualities they possess because many guys go on tour and never get an opportunity to play.

Kuldeep Yadav, Man of the match: This is my first trip to the UK and it has started well. I think the wicket was good to bat on and it was turning a little bit but wristspinners exploit even that little bit of turn in the wicket. We bowled variations and tried to bowl in the right areas. We talk a lot during the games when we bowl. First Chahal bowled and he told me that pitch is little slow. England are playing good cricket but if we use variations nicely it will be difficult for England too.

Gary Wilson: They are a world-class side and their lads at the top played beautifully. I expected it to be a good wicket, I did not expect it to spin as it did in the second innings. We could have bowled spinners in the powerplay. You can always do things differently when things don't go your way. Simi had a very good tour of Netherland so we pushed him up the order. We are going to have a chat to tackle their spinners. Shannon had a good match so that is one positive we can take from this match.

19:14 Local Time, 18:14 GMT, 23:44 IST: The chase was never really on once India ran away to a total of 208. Ireland opener James Shannon rode his luck for his maiden T20I fifty, off 29 balls, but the hosts never kept up with the required rate which climbed to a daunting 14rpo as early as the halfway mark. And once the Indian wristspinners took control, the hosts had no answers. With the batsmen needing to go after them, Kuldeep and Chahal slipped in their variations to wreck havoc through the middle. It was India's opening partnership with the bat of course which knocked the stuffing out of Ireland. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan's massive 160-run stand put any semblance of a contest out of the window. It will take some doing for Ireland to bounce back from this pasting. Time for the presentation.

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders, 29th Match

RCB 175/4 (20.0 Ovs)

KKR 176/4 (19.1 Ovs)

Kolkata Knight Riders won by 6 wkts

PLAYER OF THE MATCH
Chris Lynn

If you were looking for answers to RCB's bowling troubles, they're not here yet. Kohli was brilliant, their batsmen put up a reasonable score, but reasonable's not good enough for them right now. Maybe next time. That's all from the double-header today. It's a goodnight from Sagar Chawla, Pradeep Krishnamurthy, Vineet Anantharaman, Srivathsa, Sriram and our scorer Vinod.

Third successive win for KKR against RCB at Chinnaswamy
2016: By five wkts
2017: By six wkts
2018: By six wkts

Chris Lynn, MoM: Sort of been that type of season for me. Hasn't been freeflowing. Not easy on those kind of wickets. Had to find a way, and bit of luck on my side tonight. Too hard to hit down the ground, those boys had it on a string there. Sweeping was the method which I found to work for me. Got to play every situation. Kolkata doesn't turn as much, gets through quicker. Might be easier to score boundaries there. Whatever the team needs, I'll do the job. Body is getting there. Support staff have been very good. Schedule's tight, but I'm keeping the body intact. Got to keep the moustache now. Was going to get rid of it yesterday. Now we've got to get it trending in Kolkata. It's all about having fun here in the IPL.

Karthik, KKR captain: There's nothing special, nothing too bad about it, we're right in the middle. Important we use some momentum that we got here Thought it was a par score. With AB not being there, we knew Virat was the big wicket. But he's Virat, he came out all guns blazing. I'm somebody who believes in trusting the eleven players, not making too many changes. I have a lot of time for them in life (U-19 players). They're great kids. They're learning. After winning a World Cup you generally have a bit of a chip on the shoulder, but not these guys. Credit to Rahul Dravid too. They always have to say good things about him. When somebody like that is a coach at the U-19 level, it's going to help you. Always trying to make sure to win the game. It's always the path I'm trying to take when I go into bat.

Sunil Narine: The lesser the wickets we lose at the top the better it is for us. We set a platform for the rest in the middle-order to come and finish it off. We just try to keep calm and win cricket games. Once the guys come out and give them their all we can win any game; hope we continue from strength to strength.

Virat Kohli, RCB captain: The pitch is bringing out surprises everytime we bat. Looked better than it played. 175 was a really good score I felt. If we field like that, we don't deserve to win. We need to be hard on ourselves and be more brave with the ball and in the field, we need to correct those things going forward. We didn't deserve to win with the way we fielded. We weren't just good enough tonight. I can't pin-point anything at this point. We got to win 6 out of 7 to qualify from here. We need to be in that mindset to take every match as a virtual semi-final from here and there's no room for complacency. Need guys stepping up their game at the right time. Hopefully, they understand that moving forward.

00:07 Local Time, 18:37 GMT, 00:07 IST: RCB fail to defend yet another score. A score which was at least par if not above par, on a Chinnaswamy pitch which was taking significant turn. There was much frustration for them at the start of the chase, with Narine professionally scooping the ball in gaps and then Murugan Ashwin dropping a sitter from Lynn. The rain break wouldn't have helped either. But there's no running away from the fact that their bowlers came up short again. Saying that, it wasn't a straightforward chase from KKR. Things did get tight on a couple of occasions, but the sublime cameos from Robin Uthappa and Dinesh Karthik, along with Lynn's well-swept fifty helped them wade through it.

Tejas says: "RCB have no one to blame but themselves if they go on to lose like this. Poor fielding and dropped chances are like haunting ghosts."

Rajasthan Royals vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, 28th Match

SRH 151/7 (20.0 Ovs)

RR 140/6 (20.0 Ovs)

Sunrisers Hyderabad won by 11 runs

PLAYER OF THE MATCH
Kane Williamson

Quick hop then. Switch tabs as we switch databases to Bangalore to get the second game ready for you. I wasVineet Anantharaman bringing you all the action along with Sriram, Hariprasad, Kumar Abhisekh Das, Pradeep Krishnamurthy and our scorer Vinod. Ta ta!!

Kane Williamson | Winning skipper | MoM: I think the contribution from the batting order on that surface to get 150, which was a par total, and then to squeeze well without bowling like we have in the last couple of games was incredible. They did get off to a good start, put us under pressure but it was nice for us to bounce back in the second half. The surface was definitely on the slower side, with slow turn and not a lot of bounce. They used the hard length ball well with the big boundaries, which was something we wanted to incorporate as well in our innings. I thought in the first part we were very good and were able to restrict them to a decent total. Yusuf's wicket was fortunate, probably not his best delivery, but was nice to get that wicket at that stage because he (Stokes) is such a dangerous player. The way the guys went out today, we didn't get that 10-15 more on another challenging surface but we did see an improvement, which we look to carry forward. T20 is pretty fickle in nature and it is nice to get a few wins on the board; but each game is a tough game. We need to adapt to conditions, not get ahead of ourselves, which have varied a lot and that's what we aim to build on and do going forward as well. Alex (Hales) is world class in this format; it was nice for him to get us off to a good start and it was great for him to have that opportunity

.19:27 local: They're making a habit of this. Nothing's small enough, no situation is lost-worthy enough for these guys to give up. And Hyderabad are pulling out new formulas of defence. With Rahane having anchored the chase, held up one end and cruising along with the asking rate well under control, Rajasthan had no business losing this. But Rashid continued his web, the seamers let out knuckle balls at will, and watched yet another side crumble against the asking run-rate. Rahane by no means is a hitter, and he surely wasn't helped by the English imports scratching around for form at this stage. And before they knew, it slipped. But in the end, it was that life Williamson got with some generous bit of fielding that would come back to haunt them hard. Stick around, the presentations coming up.

Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians, 27th Match

CSK 169/5 (20 Ovs)

MI 170/2 (19.4 Ovs)

Mumbai Indians won by 8 wkts

PLAYER OF THE MATCH
Rohit Sharma

Beware of that comeback. Mumbai Indians can never be written off lightly, and after today, they certainly won't. A strong performance against a very strong CSK outfit, can it get their campaign back on track? We'll see. That's it from us here. This is Sagar Chawla signing off along with Srivathsa, Abhinand Raghavendran, Kumar Abhisekh Das, Raju Peethala and our scorer Vinod. Goodnight!

Rohit, MI captain and MoM: Very much alive. Wanted this win desperately. In desperation, we didn't want to take decisions that won't go well. Wanted to stay calm. We've played good cricket. But that finishing touch wasn't happening. Today we batted well, bowled well, fielded well. If I look back at it, except the Sunrisers game where we batted poorly. Rest of the games we put on 190-plus. It was just about going in with calm heads. This game will give us confidence going forward. That was very critical (the bowlers' comeback). For me as a captain it was important to understand what will be the right combination. We still have a positive atmosphere going forward. Tough leaving out Pollard. He's done so many good things for us. He took it upon him. Going forward, don't want to dismiss him completely. He'll still be our match winner. Not dismissing any players going forward. Will be surprises going forward as well. It was the match situation (promotion to No.3). Wanted to get that right-left combination going. They've got an off-spinner, left-arm spinner and leg-spinner so we wanted to keep them guessing.

Suryakumar Yadav: It (a good start) was very important on this wicket. It was a good wicket to bat on, so the start was very important. It's one of those days, he (Lewis) missed it. I know he's a brilliant player. I just tried to find the gaps, hit the boundaries and collect singles and couples. I enjoyed the new role (opening). We had only eight games left, and it was important to win this game. Beating one of the best teams in the tournament, coming here and taking the momentum - it's going to help us in the coming games. We needed him (Rohit). It's important for him as well. The way he batted was brilliant.

MS Dhoni: I think it is important to realize what went wrong. And in the league stage, you will lose. A lot of times we have seen individuals winning it for us. This was one game where we were short by 10-15 runs. Mumbai Indians bowled really well in the middle overs.The wicket had some balls coming on to you very quickly. Playing the cross batted shots was not easy. Choice of deliveries can improve from our bowlers. Overall, we would have liked to add 20-25 runs more. A loss makes you humble. It tests the other batsmen and bowlers. Also, if you keep winning you don't know what area you need to work on. It was a good game for us. We have won quite a few games. We now have time to analyze what needs to be done. Overall, it was a tight game and ended in the last over. You should not lose in the 14th or the 15th over, because that will affect the run-rate.

CSK will rue the final ten overs of their innings, where they could muster only 78 after a powerful start. That's where the match was set up for Mumbai and they have Mitchell McClenaghan in particular to thank for it who got rid of Dhoni and Bravo in one over.

11.45pm local: A pressure chase for MI with so much hanging on it, and their captain steps up in style. What a knock from Rohit Sharma. His team needed big changes to revive their floundering campaign. He made the tough call of dropping Pollard. Promoted himself to No.3 when the situation was getting tense, and sealed it off with a match-winning fifty. Suryakumar Yadav was good again at the top, Lewis just about salvaged a painstaking knock with a few lusty blows to take the pressure off and then the class of the skipper took centrestage.

Delhi Daredevils vs Kolkata Knight Riders, 26th Match

DD 219/4 (20 Ovs)

KKR 164/9 (20 Ovs)

Delhi Daredevils won by 55 runs

PLAYER OF THE MATCH
Shreyas Iyer

So, DD back on track. Four points in their kitty now. The Double Dynamites - Shaw and Iyer exploded at the top and that propelled DD to a winning score on a wicket that was slightly sluggish. KKR never really were in the chase and it all ended in a 55-run loss for them. The dropped catches in the first innings from KKR also would also be a concern for them. Lots of ponder over for KKR but Delhi after a lot of thinking have finally got it right. This is Kumar Abhisekh Das signing off on behalf of Raju Peethala, Pradeep Krishnamurthy, Hariprasad Sadanandan, Varun Dikshit and Vinod. You peeps put on your thinking cap as CSK take on MI tomorrow.

STAT: Biggest wins for DD in IPL (by runs):
97 v RPs, Pune, 2017
67 v RR, Delhi, 2010
55 v KKR, Delhi, 2018
51 v KXIP, Delhi, 2017

Shreyas Iyer, Man of the Match and winning skipper: Obviously a great feeling getting on the winning side. It is an amazing feeling winning my first game as a skipper. All of us contributed for this win. We wanted to bowl first. So, a nice toss to lose. It gave the batsman the freedom to express themselves. He (Prithvi) has been really batting well since the start of the season. Even in the practice games before the IPL. It is always important how he is starting off. Colin Munro at the top with him added 50 runs and that benefitted for the team. Liam Plunkett is our goto guy. He came up to me and told me he wants to bowl the 16th or 17th over, whichever over he bowled. And I really like it when my bowlers come up to me and talk. It is really good.

Trent Boult (purple cap) - Runs on the board, credit to the new captain who added many partnerships and got a big score. We bowled according to the plan and it was job well done. The wicket was a lot quicker today, we didn't plan to bowl those many short balls. We were not too predictable to a guy like Russell. He (Iyer) batted tremendously well, some good communication with the experienced guys and he will be very stoked with what happened in the middle.

Dinesh Karthik - "220 is a big task, if the dew had come in, it would have made it easy for us but today was that sort of a day where there was no dew. I thought they really batted much better than us. If Russell starts hitting, he gives us hope but he is also a human being. We need to put our hands up and say we didn't play good cricket. Three spinners doesn't generally go for a lot of runs. I am comfortable in bowling them in the powerplay. I think we really need to wake up in the fielding department. We need to improve our fielding standard and that should turn around the things for us".

And when KKR came out to bat, Maxwell picked up Lynn in the second over of the innings. That was followed by a plan to bowl short. The speedsters - Boult, Avesh Khan and Plunkett put the plan into place and picked up wickets in the middle overs. Kolkata were always behind the 8-ball and it was only Russell's little cameo which ignited a few hopes but they were quashed out soon. In the end, a huge win for Delhi by 55 runs. Stay tuned for the presentations.

The Delhi camp is up and happy. Little smiles come up on the faces of Delhi players as well. They know the importance of this win. A loss here and it would have been a dead end in the journey of IPL 2018 but DD are still alive. They scored 219 batting first and that I guess set the game for them. First Prithvi Shaw, then Shreyas Iyer ensured that DD put it across the KKR side. 29 runs of the last over by Iyer off Mavi was the telling blow. It just put it beyond KKR it seemed.

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Chennai Super Kings, 24th Match

RCB 205/8 (20 Ovs)

CSK 207/5 (19.4 Ovs)

Chennai Super Kings won by 5 wkts

PLAYER OF THE MATCH
MS Dhoni

Kohli will get a lot of flack for bowling out his key bowlers very early and the team selection of course, but come on, whatever your name is, you got to back yourself to defend 45 off 18 balls. Kohli wants his bowlers to learn, hopefully they do quickly. He was gutted in the interview post-match, but took it with a smile. By the way, Dhoni gave away some gems as to what the ideal role of a finisher is. Scroll down for a good read. On that note, we bid goodbye and enjoyed bringing this riveting contest to you. We'll back in a matter of hours with SRH v KXIP of course. Goodnight!

Phew! Why does this CSK team like to test our hearts everytime they go out to play? Five of their six games were decided in the final over. You definitely got to feel for RCB. 205 on the board, CSK literally down and out. Just a matter of getting Rayudu/Dhoni with about 100 runs needed in 7 overs, but Dhoni was just sooooo cool in the Garden city that was cooled by the rain in the evening. And hey, rain gods, thanks a lot for just watching the cricket from up above. You were kind!

Highest ratio of sixes to fours in an IPL match:
1.83 CSK v RCB, Bengaluru, 2018 (33:18)
1.55 CSK v KKR, Chennai, 2018 (31:20)
1.29 DD v GL, Delhi, 2017 (31:24)
1.18 KXIP v RCB, Indore, 2017 (20:17)

Highest successful chases by CSK in IPL:
206 v RCB, Bengaluru, 2018*
206 v RCB, Chennai, 2012
203 v KKR, Chennai, 2018
193 v KXIP, Dharamsala, 2010
188 v DD, Delhi, 2008

Dhoni (2/2): "Shardul will get better. The more he is under the pump, the better he will get as the tournament progresses. It's important to know the overs that are left and who will bowl the death overs, who is their best bowler on that particular wicket and who you can take on. You may win or lose, but it's about getting the process right.Not everybody knows what kind of a game is theirs and what really is their strength. You will score runs with the experience you have got, but if you can help the other batsman with what to play, run quicker between the wickets, tell what the bowler could do with his batting style etc. All these things really matter, and that's what I feel is the job of the finisher. It's not just about me batting at the death. Sharing the experience with the youngsters or whoever is batting and helping them getting the score is key, because tomorrow I may not be batting with him or I may get out, he needs to do the job. Rayudu's batting is very important for us, he keeps the scoreboard moving."

MS "Cool" Dhoni is the Man of the Match: (1/2) "I thought when we had the innings break this was difficult to chase because when I was keeping, I felt AB batted well to get them to 200 runs and it was tough to score. I thought it was 15-20 beyond par score. The key for us was the two left-handers but we lost them early. Just had to hang around there. This is a small ground, ball travels and there was just a bit of dew and it worked in our favour. Rayudu batted really well. Got a very good partnership and then Bravo striking at the end, overall it went perfectly according to the script. Not exactly as we had planned, but still the script was good. This was a slightly slowish wicket and that's why AB's knock was special. It wasn't an easy wicket, it was not a wicket where you could bat like that, credit to him. Happy that people are chipping in for us and we are chasing down big totals and at the same time it is a good exposure for some of our death bowlers."

Kohli (2/2): "Pitch has played really well, we are happy with that. Spin came as a massive factor, both for us and for them. But quality batting from both sides getting 200-plus. Great game for people to see but as a team, we are disappointed to not get across the line. (On Rayudu being another of the young batting talents) He is not young, has been around 15 years, been around forever (smiles). Quality player and we all know that. Has done well in the IPL and domestic, also has done well for India too. You never know who gets the opportunities. Deserves the applause. I am happy for him. (On MSD) Great to see him strike a few, not against us though. We wouldn't have liked that. He's hitting the ball really well this IPL. He is in a happy space, batting higher up and expressing himself. Seems to be enjoying it. Credit to him as well."

Virat Kohli (1/2): "(On the loss) Many things that we can look at. The way we bowled is just not acceptable. Just not good enough on the day, 72/4 and giving away runs like that for just 1 wicket is criminal. Something that we need to address going forward because we haven't bowled well. If we cannot defend even 200, it's a problem somewhere. It hurts at the moment, very tough for us to swallow but great game for Chennai. (Whether RCB has better bench strength) You have to back the guys who are on the park and need to give them confidence to execute what they have to. They need to be clear in their plans and execute well. We weren't brave enough with the ball, somewhere there was that hesitation of the opposition overcoming them."

Rayudu - Orange Cap holder: "Unbelievable. Lost a few wickets early. We were constructing the innings. We had the belief, but this ground made it really possible. I am hitting the ball well, so the batting position doesn't really matter to me. We were calculating how many overs each guy had and we wanted to play out Chahal because he was looking the most threatening there. Really happy that we won."

Post-winning scenes: Dhoni with his coolness and swagger was lifted by Harbhajan - must be said for the offie, that is a routine thing as far as IPL is concerned. Watson, Billings, Wood, Faf and Willey were up and shouting their lungs off as the ball left MS's bat. They were all sitting in a group.

After tonight's loss one has to wonder whether it is a mental thing with RCB losing to CSK. So many close games and every single time, they have come out on the losing end. It can't be skill or any other factor. Similar to South Africa in ICC events. There's something that the human brain can't comprehend! We'll leave it there and let you decide!

It was not all about Dhoni though. Rayudu played his part with a massive innings and he fed off MS's self-belief not to play the rash shot and gift his wicket away when his side were in trouble after losing four wickets. The asking rate was touching 14, 15, 16 at various points, but nothing flustered the duo. Maybe Kohli made a mistake by bowling out Umesh and Chahal but you can turn that around and say what if he was trying to get MS and Rayudu out. That would've sealed the game right there. Kohli was outstanding as captain but he met a bigger match in MS and that's where the game was won and lost.

23:52 Local Time, 18:22 GMT, 23:52 IST: MS Dhoni is the GOAT! As a finisher! GOAT in terms of being cool. In all sport! Just the swagger after he saw the ball go over wide long-on. A mischievous I know it I can win from anywhere smirk dotted his face. Unbelievable. Really. And he keeps doing it all the time. Never doubt the man. The way he took it to the end knowing his ability to finish it off against the likes of Siraj, Negi and Anderson at the end speaks volumes about the man's innate self-belief. Never doubted himself - not one second - when he was nudging, nurdling, dabbing, pushing and eking out singles, seeing out Umesh and Chahal in the middle overs is stuff of legend.

Mumbai Indians vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, 23rd Match

SRH 118/10 (18.4 Ovs)

MI 87/10 (18.5 Ovs)

Sunrisers Hyderabad won by 31 runs

PLAYER OF THE MATCH
Rashid Khan

8 overs, one maiden, 34 runs, 5 wickets - combined bowling figures of Sid Kaul and Rashid Khan. There's the game. Out and sealed right there. There's no stopping Rashid Khan's achievements. He keeps impressing with each passing game and continues to win hearts. His spectacular bowling show, however, might have just ripped out the heart of MI's campaign this year. Their NRR will take a serious belting too. Just as we discussed before the game, MI's expiry date for their most favourite term 'comeback' is reaching its end. Takes some doing to qualify for the playoffs from here. That's for later though. Tomorrow, we have RCB taking on CSK in Bengaluru. It's raining quite heavily in the Garden city as I type this. Let's hope it stays fine for tomorrow's clash. RED or YELLOW, remember to tune in early. On behalf of Srivathsa, Pradeep Krishnamurthy, Nikhil Jadhav, Abhinand Raghavendran and our scorer Shashikant Singh, this is Raju Peethala waving goodbye from the comm. box. Cheers!!

Rashid Khan [4-1-11-2] Man of the Match: Thanks to the almighty. It feels quite good to comeback well and win the match especially after a couple of losses. We get to learn a lot of things from the coaching staff. We chat a lot to them [Moody, Murali and VVS]. They keep motivating me. If you're going well or not you have to stay relaxed and that's what Murali sir tells me. The more you enjoy out in the middle, the better you perform. I try to stay relaxed all the time and that's what brings the best out of me. Whatever you do, you have to do your basics right. We win or lose, the management has always kept us in good positive space.

KW, SRH captain: Clearly a tough surface. Without a doubt, we were expecting a lot more from our batsmen. Perhaps we could have gotten to 140 mark, but turns out 120 looked good enough on this track. It is good fun. T20 obviously so much is happening so quickly, but the guys were oustanding today. A fantastic second half for us, but we are still to put a collective performance together. There is depth in our squad which is important and we saw that today. Number of injuries and number of changes, a different balance. We held our heads high and at the same time the best part is how well the guys performed in the second half of the game.

Siddarth Kaul: It's a great feeling when you perform for your team, specially when it's pressure time. I think the domestic season went really well. I got into the India A team and then I was selected for the Indian team. Feels great when you reach the higher level. You have to just keep doing the right work. I was keeping the basics right and it works every time. Bhuvi is there, Ashish Nehra was here before. They have played awesomely at the international level. I kept learning from them and it has helped me in the pressure situations.

Rohit Sharma (MI - captain): We have got ourselves to blame. We should chase down 118 on any wicket, we didn't show character, the Sunrisers did. Very happy with the way we bowled, they did a brilliant job, but the batsmen let us down once again. There are so many points that I can talk about, but don't want to pinpoint faults now. We needed to show some intent, which we failed today. We knew it was a tough chase, shot making wasn't easy, we wanted to have intent at the start. They bowled at the right areas, kept us guessing and we couldn't recover. Few of us played some bad shots, including myself.

Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2018:
Beat KKR for the first time in Kolkata after losing five previous games
Lost to KXIP the first time in Mohali after winning four previous games
Beat MI for the first time at Wankhede after losing three previous games

Lowest totals successfully defended in IPL:
116 CSK v KXIP, Durban, 2009
118 SRH v MI, Mumbai, 2018 *
119 KXIP v MI, Durban, 2009
119 SRH v PWI, Pune, 2013

Lowest all out totals of MI:
87 v KXIP, Mohali, 2011
87 v SRH, Mumbai WS, 2018 *
92 v DD, Mumbai WS, 2012
92 v RR, Jaipur, 2013
92 v SRH, Hyderabad, 2016

Both teams bowled out in an IPL match:
DC v RR, Nagpur, 2010
KKR v RCB, Kolkata, 2017
MI v SRH, Mumbai WS, 2018 *

23:47 Local Time, 18:17 GMT, 23:47 IST: Having lost the toss and having had to bat first for the first time this season, Sunrisers laboured their way to 118 and the total never looked out of reach at the halfway mark. But, but...Mumbai Indians once again allowed the pressure to consume them as they kept falling behind the eight ball with lack of strike rotation and constant gifting of wickets. They scored 26 and lost 3 wickets in the first 7 overs, but then changed gears to squeeze 24 off the next two. That perhaps was the only phase where MI grabbed the momentum, and unfortunately they left a little too much for the lower middle order to do. Just one word about Sunrisers bowling: supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Chennai Super Kings, 20th Match

CSK 182/3 (20 Ovs)

SRH 178/6 (20 Ovs)

Chennai Super Kings won by 4 runs

PLAYER OF THE MATCH
Ambati Rayudu

That's it from this one. The second match is almost underway. Join us there. This is Sagar Chawla signing off with Akshay Maanay, Nikhil Jadhav, Pradeep Krishnamurthy, Vineet Anantharaman and our scorer Shashikant Singh.

Ambati Rayudu is Man of the Match

Dhoni, CSK captain: Won't say what we were talking about (chat with Bravo before the last ball), wanted him to change his plan. At times even the best - Bravo - need a bit of advice. That's what they're paid for. What's important is you make mistakes and learn. In league stages you can afford to do that. Where we are at this point, a few mistakes won't dent us. Bowlers will learn out of it. Wickets have gone better. If you compare it to the first few editions of the IPL, these wickets are very good batting surfaces. Need to give credit to the batsmen. They're getting stronger. They're making plans as to which bowler bowls what. As we get into the knockout stages, we'll see the bowlers coming up with new plans and it won't be easy for the batsmen to score the kind of runs they're scoring so far. What's important is to give them - the younger bowlers - as many games as possible. Deepak swings the ball and lends balance with his batting down the order. Shardul had a few bad games. Last international series wasn't good for him. But he has the right attitude and also the variations. Rayudu was fantastic. One thing was where to make him play. Had to make space for him because I've always rated him highly. I've seen him bat up the order, he looks confident. Whenever he hits the big shots, he maintains the shape. He's somebody who can bat at different numbers. But I prefer him opening the batting.

Stat this: 182 is the lowest total successfully defended this season (full 20 overs games)

19:37 Local Time, 14:07 GMT, 19:37 IST: Some more dance moves from Bravo. The CSK supporters - and there are plenty of them today - are jumping in the stands. This was close. No idea how it got close, but geez it got close. SRH looked to be out of it up until the 14th over mark. But 6 sixes in the space of 14 balls and all of a sudden the pressure was on the Super Kings. However, when the situation demanded it, CSK - led by Bravo - stepped up their yorker game towards the end to reign things back, hanging on by the skin of their teeth at the finish. Williamson can be very proud of his own self though. That was some knock. Pathan was brutal too, but they ran out of gas a little too prematurely.

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Delhi Daredevils, 19th Match

DD 174/5 (20.0 Ovs)

RCB 176/4 (18.0 Ovs)

Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 6 wkts

PLAYER OF THE MATCH
AB de Villiers

So that customary AB special at Chinnaswamy hits us. And a familiar script plays itself out at Bangalore all over again - the bowlers concede, the batsmen steal more. It's all we have for you from this heady night. I was Vineet Anantharaman helping you chew your nails off in the company of Sagar Chawla, Akshay Maanay, Nikhil Jadhav,Pradeep Krishnamurthy and our scorer Naga. To a couple more tomorrow, ta ta!!

AB de Villiers | MoM: It's one of those nights when you see the ball well. The last two innings I wasn't hitting it too well, but today I felt it coming off the middle, watched it nice and early, bought myself that extra split second to make decisions and that's when I need to cash in. When you do get on top of the bowler, you have to take him down. This is the best crowd in the world; I love playing here. They keep backing us every game but I must say, whenever you get into that zone that crowd is only a buzz. And most of it today was a buzz. [On the 'genius' on his bat] I didn't give myself that name, MRF did it (smiles). It's a privilege playing with these bats, it's some good stuff.

Virat Kohli | Winning skipper: I think the 30 runs tonight is much better than the 90 I got in the last game. Two points are very crucial for us at this stage. We really thought about how to go about it, and we still have a few areas. The guy (AB) in our team gives us plenty of reasons to smile. We understand situations, understand each other's games well. He started off in a great way, my job then became to stick it out, string in a 65-70 run partnership. And then the opposition know they have to protect the game, rather than going for a win. It was a pity I couldn't stay till the end, but Corey and Mandy did really well to support him. They kept taking singles with positive intent and that is great to see. But AB just keeps taking the game away and that's why there's no doubt why he's the best player in the world. [On Boult's catch] It's one of those things you see regularly in the IPL. It's good for the fans as well and when you look back you don't really feel bad getting out to a catch like that, full credit to Trent. Till the 15-over mark we were really good with the ball and with the bat even after we lost early wickets we strung in small partnerships. Plenty of positives but plenty of areas where we can improve as well. The crowd has always supported us in huge numbers; if the team believes, the crowd believes in us as well. We need the energy of the crowd and the players and we'll keep doing it for them, giving it our everything and keep pushing forward for them.

Rishabh Pant: This is how T20 games go on, I played well, but AB was the difference between the two teams. The wicket wasn't so easy, we (myself and Iyer) thought we will have a partnership. It worked well, but we didn't get a winning score. No excuses about the dew, but it was a factor. I am just trying to learn from AB and Virat, how easy they score runs. That scoop shot today was a new innovation.

Gautam Gambhir | Losing skipper: I thought AB took the game away from us, the way he batted. We were very much in the game after scoring 175. At one point getting to 150-155 looked difficult. It was a bit tacky in the first six overs. Shreyas was unbelievable, Pant was unbelievable too. Our spinners could have bowled better against AB in the first six overs. When the spinners were bowling the ball was gripping as the ball was new, the seam was new, one wicket there and it was our game. AB took on the spinners and got away with it. (On Boult's catch)It's the best catch I've ever seen. It was unbelievable because he's a left hander and he grabbed it in his right hand. It's never easy. Things are getting desperate for us and hopefully we can turn things around when we go back home. We are professional cricketers and there can't be excuses. Hopefully we can win a few and get the momentum in our favor. If you see the points table most of the teams are close to each other. So we need to reach the mid of the table first and then maybe in the top four.

23:27 local: It's been a show. It's been a carnage. And it's been the usual suspect murdering yet another attack, yet another match. Oh what would this side do without AB .. he's churned out yet another special, chasing, alone. So Delhi started well, running mixups helped them too, so did Boult's special at the boundary. But then the tornado hit, with sixes being smashed into every single pocket possible, breaking a few jaws on the way. Sheer audacity. Delhi would rue their missed powerplay when they were batting, for the wicket only kept getting truer with the dew setting in. And their bowlers missing their lengths just didn't help. Read into the interviews lined up.

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kings XI Punjab, 18th Match

KKR 191/7 (20.0 Ovs)

KXIP 126/1 (11.1 Ovs)

Kings XI Punjab won by 9 wkts (DLS method)

PLAYER OF THE MATCH
Lokesh Rahul

It's been a mixed bag for KKR. They have won three and lost three. DK and Co. need to do some serious thinking. Lynn getting back among the runs was a positive and the bowling figures of Mavi don't suggest how well he bowled. KKR would hope Russell's injury isn't big. So that's that from the Eden Gardens run fest. It's not quite a run feast in Bengaluru. Hop tabs for the action between DD and RCB. See you there!

Rahul (Man of the Match): "I don't want to stop whatever I am doing. I am in a good space and want to win games. The approach is going to be aggressive and to take the bowlers down within my limitations with whatever I am gifted with. It's working for me. The simpler you keep it, the more clearer you will be as a batsman. I don't want to complicate my batting, just see the ball and hit the ball. I bank a lot on cricketing shots. My feet are moving and I am hitting the ball well. I got to make sure that I should make it big and stay there till the end. Me and Chris want to back our games. If Chris is going it doesn't mean I slow down. If he fancies a bowler, then I let him strike. But it hasn't been that way. We've spoken something else outside, but once we are out there, we just continue what we are doing and not thinking too much."

Ashwin: "Lot happier than the previous one (win). I thought we were under the pump with the ball. During the second time-out I pulled the boys and told them if we can keep them to 190, it will be a great favour to the batsmen. Very pleased with the way we batted. KL looked like a millon dollars and you never ask with Chris, he's gone fifty after fifty. Our bowlers got hit, so we wanted to have shorter targets for them to try and make sure they achieved that. You don't really plan with someone like Chris. We are a team that wants to embrace winning the powerplay with the ball and the bat - that's half the job completed. If we can get some points in the next week, even if we get four out 2 games - being a bit greedy, then we go into a small break. So it will be helpful for us."

Chris Gayle, Orange cap holder: I am accustomed to it (about getting the Orange cap). To be honest, I am not worried about the Orange cap. I think Rahul deserves it, he's been batting really well. I have been striking well and when you are in the zone, you try to keep the momentum going. I have been doing lot of stretches (about his fitness) and I am enjoying it. It's really good to contribute to the team. Hope to continue this form.

Dinesh Karthik, KKR captain: I think they took us on in the Powerplay and played really good shots. There seems to be a trend where we tend to miss out on the last couple of overs with the bat. It's important that we finish the innings well. We didn't execute plans and a player like Gayle will always hit you if you miss your lengths. The crowds have been great, proud to be playing in front of them and they are big fans of KKR.

Look at that confident walk back to the dressing from Gayle. He's in a good space folks and is looking hungry. 192 was a good target set by KKR, but Rahul and Gayle just smashed the bowlers to all corners to make a mockery of the total. The rain came down heavy, but the KXIP openers ensured that the side was well and truly in front. The revised target of 125 in 13 overs was swallowed easily. Gayle made 62 at a strike-rate of 163 dots, but to me Rahul's 27-ball 60 was special primarily because of the ease with which he hit the bowlers. Hardly played a rash shot. Making a serious case for an opening slot for India in T20s. Rohit plays No. 4 maybe!