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Mumbai Indians thrashed Delhi Daredevils as they won by 8 wickets with 3.1 overs to spare. Delhi Darevils skipper Virender Sehwag won the toss and decided to bat. But they lost wickets at regular intervals and were bundled out for 95 runs in 19.5 overs aided by brilliant bowling by Lasith Malinga as he scalped 5 wickets for 13 runs in 3.4 overs. Sehwag, Naman Ojha and Venugopal Rao top scored for DD with scores of 19, 29 and 26 respectively while Harbhajan chipped in with a couple of wickets. Mumbai Indians played steadily in reply though they lost two early wickets due to a brilliant initial pace attack by Delhi bowlers. But Sachin Tendulkar (46 runs off 50 balls) and Rohit Sharma (27 runs off 30 balls) steadied the chase and they finished off the target in 16.5 overs as they scored 99/2. Lastith Malinga was adjudged the Man of the Match for his brilliant spell.

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.

Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated debutant IPL team Kochi Tuskers Kerala on their home ground by 6 wickets with 8 balls to spare in a high scoring game. Kochi Tuskers Kerala skipper Mahela Jayawardena won the toss and decided to bat. Royal Challengers Bangalore were headed by their new captain Daniel Vettori at the toss. Brendon McCullum (45 runs off 32 balls) and VVS Laxman (36 runs off 29 balls) provided a blazing start as they scored 80 runs in merely 9 overs for the opening stand before VVS departed. They then lost the momentum and Jayawardena (18 runs off 18 balls), Brad Hodge (27 runs off 21 balls) and Ravindra Jadeja (23 not out off 16 balls) contributed as they scored 161/5 in 20 overs. In reply, Royal Challengers Bangalore managed to keep the required run rate under control though they lost wickets at regular intervals. India’s recent U-19 sensation Mayank Agarwal scored a brisk 33 runs off 24 balls including a first ball 6 off Muralitharan while Virat Kohli and Saurabh Tiwary scored 23 runs off 18 balls and 26 runs off 24 balls respectively. But it was AB de Villiers who steadied the innings and scored a match winning 54 runs off 40 balls though debutant Asad Pathan also came to the party too as he scored 3 fours in his short innings of 4 balls as he hit the winning runs. AB De Villiers was adjudged the Man of the Match for his brilliant.

Deccan Chargers have never won a match at their home ground Hyderabad and the jinx seemed to continue. Rajasthan Royals seasoned skipper Shane Warne won the toss and opted to field. Shikhar Dhawan and Ishank Jaggi opened the batting for Deccan Chargers and scored 24 and 25 runs respectively. But they kept losing wickets at regular intervals though some last minute efforts by Daniel Christian and Ravi Teja with scores of 26 (19 balls) and 28 (20 balls) helped them to reach 137/8 in their 20 overs. Siddharth Trivedi and Amit Singh scalped 3 wikcets each for the Royals while Warne himself chipped in with a couple of wickets. In reply, Rajasthan Royals made a very stable start with Amit Paunikar (20 runs off 19 balls) and Rahul Dravid (28 runs for 35 balls) followed by some hitting from Johan Botha (67 runs off 47 balls) and Ross Taylor (21 runs from 14 balls) as they chased the target with 7 balls to spare. Siddharth Trivedi was adjudged the Man of the Match for his spell of 3/15 in his 4 overs.