END OF OVER:
20 | 8 Runs 1 Wkt | RR: 152/7 (15 runs required, RR: 7.60)

  • Kevon Cooper7 (4b)
  • Stuart Binny37 (29b)
  • Lasith Malinga4-0-35-1
  • Dhawal Kulkarni4-0-21-2

That's it then from me, been a long day and one that was tinged with a couple of controversial moments in both the games. Will be back for tomorrow's game between the Kings XI Punjab and the Delhi Daredevils from the beautiful stadium at Dharamsala. Have a very good night ahead till then, ciao!

--------------------

Game, set and match Mumbai Indians, to go to the top of the points table. Rajasthan fought hard but fell behind the eight-ball after the fall of a couple of early wickets, after having done extremely well to restrict Mumbai to 166 after more than 180 looked possible at one stage.

The Mumbai Indians are on a lap of honour at the Wankhede Stadium. Last game this here.

moligemahender: "8 out of 8 at home ground.." Indeed.

Vasan: "With that many full deliveries in the last two overs of Malinga, I am surprised that no batsman improvised to guide his yorker fine. Especially with fine leg in the circel..."

Jey: "@ Vasan, Don't say no batsman.. I have seen Virat do it humpty no of times in Intrl Circuit."

stig mistro: "Even though MI won Malinga turned out to be expensive. Everyone says he is a main bowler for MI. See in this game how batsmen played him."

Prathab: "Previous times when teams won all their home matches they went on to win the trophy (RR, CSK). But this year we have 2 teams already. Is there a chance of sharing of cup... ALL STATS"

Saurabh: "Rajasthan missed the trick here. Hodge is a very good player and deserves to come much early. Why is everyone so hard on him. CAB dropped him after 6 test matches while his average was impressive 55. He scored heavily in First class cricket for Victoria . Yet , he was made to bat very low in the order. Do we really need to doubt in his abilities."

Presentation

Dravid: I thought we fought hard both, with the ball and the bat. Great effort by Binny and Hodge. Would have taken the target, credit to Mumbai for the way they bowled in the last four overs. We fight quite hard and while we have had tough games, we have been competitive. On his dismissal, happens, sometimes you get away with some, sometimes they don't go your way.

Rohit: Everything went pretty well, thought we were 10 short with the bat and bowled well. We know the conditions well at Mumbai, there were certain plans we decided on and executed them well. Credit to Tare, the way he was working throughout the season. All the coaches have been working with him hard. Looking forward to the playoffs, have one more league game first.

Tare is the man of the match for his half-century: Was a difficult time, sitting on the bench, watching all the time. Wanted to improve my game, Ranji Trophy season helped my game. Was a bit nervous at the start but grateful to my teammates, Rohit, Wright had a lot of good things to say. My game's improved since 2010, fortunate to be training with so many greats and thank Kiran More for my wicket-keeping skills.

19.6
0
Malinga to Cooper, no run, slower one and outside the off stump, was looking to tonk it away but beats him
19.5
1lb
Malinga to Binny, 1 leg bye, full-toss, swinging into the batsman who looks to slog it away, but it's too quick for him, hits the pads and runs away for a leg-bye
19.4
1
Malinga to Cooper, 1 run, and again tries to drill it away but he suddenly seems to have found those yorkers right and he can only tap it away for a single
19.3
6
Malinga to Cooper, SIX, wow, that's been deposited into the crowd! it was an another yorker attempted and it's been struck well enough to go overlong-off for a maximum!

Sandeep: "waist high or not - How would we know?? we are sitting here depending on your commentary. please tell us." Still waiting for the replays

19.2
0
Malinga to Cooper, no run, goes to swing at it and is beaten, yorker length yet again and no touch on that one through to the keeper

Santosh Raju: "I think the Royals got it completely wrong here. You save the best batsmen for late and you save them few balls to play. If hodge had come to the crease 3-4 overs earlier, the game could have been different now."

Mohit: "I dont think Yagnik has done enough to be in the team. May be give Maneria another chance before the playoffs?" I was surprised with his exclusion too after the initial game.

19.1
W
Malinga to Hodge, OUT, gone, yorker length and given out lbw! it was a full-toss in the end and Hodge was looking to swing it across the line, that was his best option there and he misses, the yorker dipped on him and beats him, the umpire has no doubt giving him out there

BJ Hodge lbw b Malinga 39 (27b 7x4 0x6) SR: 144.44

Malinga with the last. 23 needed

OrugantiV: "@Shubham Agarwal..if you like the aggression and the display of emotions..sure answer is not cricket may be soccer or rugby"

Swarooph: "Golf, a gentleman's game? You probably did not see Sergio Garcia and Tiger Woods go at it last week. :). The only gentleman's game believe me is Cricket. But that is only when they don the whites."

END OF OVER:
19 | 10 Runs | RR: 144/6 (23 runs required from 6 balls, RR: 7.57, RRR: 23.00)

  • Brad Hodge39 (26b)
  • Stuart Binny37 (28b)
  • Dhawal Kulkarni4-0-21-2
  • Lasith Malinga3-0-28-0
18.6
1
Kulkarni to Hodge, 1 run, poor ball that, full-toss and that should have been smacked through fine-leg for a four, instead it's hit straight to the fielder, was that over the waist?
18.5
2
Kulkarni to Hodge, 2 runs, smashed it down the ground for a couple of runs, looked to have been hit off the middle of the bat but Harbhajan does well to get around from long-off and restrict them to two
18.4
4
Kulkarni to Hodge, FOUR, finally a four! this was full-toss, outside the off stump and gets it over the point to find the fence
18.3
2
Kulkarni to Hodge, 2 runs, up and over but not hit strongly enough to beat the man at deep extra-cover, the fielder runs over to the right and restricts them to a couple
18.2
0
Kulkarni to Hodge, no run, wow, that's a good ball, it was a yorker-length ball that sneaks through the legs and beats him
18.1
1
Kulkarni to Binny, 1 run, drilled away over point for a single, it's Rayadu at deep point and Binny wanted a second but Hodge sends him back

Malinga has a long chat with Kulkarni, a few tips.

END OF OVER:
18 | 5 Runs | RR: 134/6 (33 runs required from 12 balls, RR: 7.44, RRR: 16.50)

  • Brad Hodge30 (21b)
  • Stuart Binny36 (27b)
  • Lasith Malinga3-0-28-0
  • Mitchell Johnson4-0-23-2
17.6
0
Malinga to Hodge, no run, wants to swing it away and all he can do is to get some inside edge on it, rolls back to the keeper who has a shy at the stumps again, misses

Shubham Agarwal: "Call me crude but i like the aggression and the display of emotions. Makes the game feel more real to the armchair viewer like me. If you want to see a real gentleman's game, golf is your answer. :)"

17.5
1
Malinga to Binny, 1 run, another yorker and he's left with no option but to get some bat on it and rush off for a single
17.4
1
Malinga to Hodge, 1 run, slapped well to one that's pushed up to the bat but it goes on the bounce to Pollard at long-off
17.3
2
Malinga to Hodge, 2 runs, well bowled yorker length ball and it needs a lot of skills from the batsman to drill it through to wide long-off for a couple of runs
17.2
1
Malinga to Binny, 1 run, full-toss, was looking to swing it away, gets to Rayadu at square-leg who misfields and they are away for a run
17.1
0
Malinga to Binny, no run, that's quick, 138.7 km/hr and yorker-length, beats the batsman who then tries to go for a bye, Karthik is alert and sends down the throw at the striker's end, misses

Praise for both captains.

Jey: "Clever captaincy from Rohit Sharma, Preserving Slinga the Malinga for 18 & 20th Over. Who does he bowl next over is the key. Kulkarni ??"

Siddharth: "This seems to be a good move by dravid, sending Hodge at No 8. Johnson has been excellent int he first few overs and faulkner was expected to just see him off. Hodge at No 8 might just pay off here!"

END OF OVER:
17 | 7 Runs | RR: 129/6 (38 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 7.58, RRR: 12.66)

  • Brad Hodge27 (18b)
  • Stuart Binny34 (24b)
  • Mitchell Johnson4-0-23-2
  • Pragyan Ojha4-0-36-1
16.6
0
Johnson to Hodge, no run, shorter in length, slower in pace and this time he fails to make contact on that one as he looks to guide it to third-man
16.5
4
Johnson to Hodge, FOUR, inside edged and for a four, he was looking to give himself room but all he manages to do is get an inside edge, the good news for RR? it beats the keeper and rolls over to the fence!
16.4
1lb
Johnson to Binny, 1 leg bye, looks to walk across to the off side and loop it over the short fine-leg fielder, hits his pads and rolls over to the leg side for a single

jayaram: "don't know if T20 is killing test cricket or help advertise it..all this bad umpiring , unwanted aggression and load of crappy matches is actually having a reverse influence on me....may be this is the way to bring back people like me back to test cricket...."

16.3
0
Johnson to Binny, no run, and that's another shorter one, was looking to pull it away but gets no bat on it
16.2
2
Johnson to Binny, 2 runs, wants to go down the track, it's a slower one and he can only get it high on his bat while trying to attempt that pull, the ball's mis-hit which helps them come back for a well-run second
16.1
0
Johnson to Binny, no run, slower one from MJ and he was looking to cut it away, beats the outside edge of the bat

This is quite possible, 45 from four overs. Johnson has the ball.

RR 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st5R DravidAM Rahane
2nd17JP FaulknerAM Rahane
3rd4AM RahaneSV Samson
4th2SR WatsonAM Rahane
5th30SR WatsonSTR Binny
6th30DH YagnikSTR Binny
7th56BJ HodgeSTR Binny
8th8STR BinnyKK Cooper