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Chennai Super Kings defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by 21 runs at Chepauk today. Chennai captain Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat. Michael Hussey (83 runs off 56 balls) who joined the CSK squad today played a gem of an innings and he was supported by Murali Vijay (31 off 21), Suresh Raina (29 off 16) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (22 off 16) as they reached 183/5 in 20 overs. Bangalore lost early wickets in reply and a valiant effort by AB De Villiers (65 runs off 44 balls) could not secure them a win as they finished 21 runs short at 164/7 in their 20 overs. Michael Hussey was awarded the Man of the Match for his excellent knock.

Mumbai Indians defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by 9 wickets today. Sachin Tendulkar won the toss and put Royal Challengers Bangalore to bat. Royal Challengers struggled to get any decent run rate through the first half of their innings and they could only reach a score of 140/4 in their 20 overs as Dilshan and AB De Villiers scored 59 runs and 38 runs respectively. Malinga and Pollard took two wickets each for the Mumbai Indians. Mumbai in return cruised along and reached 143/1 in 18.3 overs as Sachin Tendulkar (55 runs off 46 balls), Ambati Rayadu (63 runs off 50 balls) and Davy Jacobs (22 runs off 16 balls) scored at brisk pace. Sachin Tendulkar was awarded the Man of the Match.

If anyone watched the third match of IPL T20 Season 4 between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kochi Tuskers Kerala then you might have noticed that a player unheard of even in Indian domestic cricket made it to the star studded Royal Challengers Bangalore lineup. I am not saying about U-19 sensation Mayank Agarwal as he is already quite famous as a junior player but I am referring to Asad Pathan who hardly played four domestic matches and made it directly to the Royal Challengers Bangalore squad. He was noticed a bit in the first innings for his short spell of 2 overs for 19 runs where he got some good turn but that was hardly impressive. But then he got the first chance with the bat in the penultimate over of the second innings. AB De Villiers had already shifted the match in favor of Royal Challengers Bangalore but then Asad Pathan fearlessly hit 3 fours in the 4 balls he faced as the got all the winning runs with a few strikes. He was also hit on the helmet once but that did not deter him and he continued with his consecutive fours. His short innings reminded the brute hitting of the Pathan brothers who have made their reputation through the last three IPL seasons as well as their international appearances for the Indian team. On a quick background search it seems that he is also from Gujarat like the Pathan brothers. According to a TOI article, People watching him play, says that he is the new ‘Yusuf Pathan’ on the horizon. As per reports, RCB people saw Asad in the Aurangabad Premier League at DY Patil Stadium last year where in four 15-over matches he scored two hundreds. They followed Asad to the Anand Premier League where he won the man of the series award in a field where many top cricketers from the three cricket associations of Gujarat-Saurashtra Cricket Association, Gujarat Cricket Association and Baroda Cricket Association-took part. Asad Pathan started playing cricket in the dusty alleys of Ankleshwar then went to South Africa to play in the Limpopo province for one and half years. Asad had a highest score of 157 in the 50 over matches and scored two hundreds (146 and 120) in the T20s. Asad was even offered a contract by the Nashua Titans franchise, one of five South African associate teams of which the Limpopo cricket team is a part of, but he decided to come back to India to pursue his dream playing big time cricket.

It is too early to comment if he can emulate the Pathan brothers in their hitting abilities but he is surely a lot more skinny and can handle the short ball a lot better than the Pathan brothers. Le us wait and see if he can become the next IPL sensations like the Pathan brothers. Maybe his one and half year stint in South Africa has enabled him to handle the short ball better but it remain to be seen if he can hit sixes as effortlessly as Yusuf and in some cases even Irfan does. He seems to have a lot of centuries in the shortest formats of the game but it would be need to be seen if he can repeat that in a lot bigger stage like the IPL.