IPL T20- Indian Premier League

Rajasthan Royals, playing their first match in Pepsi IPL 2013, held their nerves to post a 5-run win over the home side, Delhi Daredevils. Dravid led from the front, scoring 65 runs to enable RR post a healthy 165, before some heroics from the Royals bowling at the death caught DD short. David Warner's calm innings of 77 went in vain for Delhi. 

Chasing 166, Unmukt Chand (19) got DD off to a brisk start before Sreesanth made a mess of his stumps. Warner, who had dropped Rahul Dravid on 43 earlier, was returned the favor as the RR captain put him down on 2. Warner and Mahela Jayawardene (19) approached the chase cautiously putting together 43 runs before Ajinkya Rahane pulled off a blinder at point to send back the Daredevils captain. 

Warner then found a suitable ally in Manprit Juneja (20) and the duo immediately lifted the run rate, taking the team to the threshold of victory. But the wickets of Juneja and Warner, run out in penultimate over, brought RR back in the match. Kevon Cooper bowled an accurate last over to take his team to victory.

Earlier RR won the toss and elected to bat. Kushal Perera (14) making his IPL debut got going with a boundary. He was given a reprieve on 5, but two boundaries later, he fell to Umesh Yadav. Dravid and Rahane (28) steadied the ship and laid the foundation adding 65 runs for the second wicket. The partnership was broken by Shahbaz Nadeem when he accepted a simple return catch from Rahane.

DD fielding was unusually substandard and Dravid made the most of it going onto score a brilliant 65. Stuart Binny played an aggressive cameo scoring 40 runs of just 20 balls. He dismissed Botha's first three balls for 14 runs before depositing Ashish Nehra for a six and a four. The next over Yadav sent him back, before he wrecked more havoc and in his final over he struck twice sending back Dravid and Hodge (5). With a flurry of wickets falling at the end, RR finished at 165 runs for 7 from their 20 overs.

Man-of-the-Match: Rahul Dravid

Brief Scores: Rajasthan Royals 165-7 (Rahul Dravid 65, Stuart Binny 40, Umesh Yadav 4-24) beat Delhi Daredevils 160-6 (David Warner 77, Kevon Cooper 3-30) by 5 runs.

Royal Challengers Bangalore defended 156 in a thrilling fashion to start their season with a 2-run win. The match went down to the last ball, but Vinay Kumar's calm temperament and match awareness denied the visitors, Mumbai Indians a win, with Chris Gayle earlier starring with the bat helping RCB post 156. 

Needing 157 for victory, Sachin Tendulkar (23) and Ricky Ponting (28) laid the foundation putting on 52 runs for the first wicket before Tendulkar was run out by a sharp bit of fielding by Jaydev Unadkat. Ponting departed soon after when he was stumped by KB Arun Karthik off the bowling of Murali Kartik.

MI then began to struggle to get the ball away as the RCB bowlers stepped up the pressure. Rohit Sharma (11) went for a wild slog and lost his stump to Vinay Kumar. The game seemed to be slipping away from MI but Dinesh Karthik struck three consecutive sixes off Daniel Christian's 17th over to turn the match on its head and revive MI's hopes.

With 10 runs required in the last over, Vinay Kumar struck twice removing Karthik (who made a well composed 60) and Ambati Raydu (18) brining his team back into the game. Kieron Pollard struck a boundary of the penultimate delivery leaving himself to score four runs off the final delivery, but could manage only one, handing RCB a victory by one of the smallest of margins.

Earlier in the evening MI won the toss and put RCB in on a track that offered plenty of swing and bounce for the fast bowlers. RCB survived a few anxious moments before Mitchell Johnson got one through Dilshan (0) knocking back his off-stump. Debutant Jasprit Bumrah was given a rude welcome as Virat Kohli (23) drilled him for three boundaries through the off-side. But Bumrah came back well picking up the wickets of Kohli and Mayank Agarwal (1) in quick succession, to leave RCB reeling at 31 for 3.

Harbhajan Singh then had Christian caught and Bumrah followed it up with the dismissal of Karan Nair. Chris Gayle, as he has done so often in the past, once again played the savior innings for RCB; after a slow start, he finished with an unbeaten 92 off 58 balls, scoring 11 boundaries and 5 sixes during his stay out there.

Gayle found a suitable companion in Arun Karthik (19*) and they made 76 runs for the sixth wicket to help RCB post a more than respectable 156 for 5 in their 20 overs.

Man of the Match: Chris Gayle

Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 156-5 [Chris Gayle 92*, Jasprit Bumrah 3-32] beat Mumbai Indians 154-5 [Dinesh Karthik 60, R Vinay Kumar 3-27] by 2 runs.

Sunrisers Hyderabad, playing their first game in the IPL, put up a brave fight and successfully defended a small total, they posted on the board, to start off the 2013 season on a winning note. The home team, which posted 126 batting first, defeated Pune Warriors India by 22 runs thanks to Dale Steyn and Amit Mishra, who shared 6 wickets between them. 

PWI, needing 127 runs to score their first points in the tournament, started circumspectly. Robin Uthappa (24) struck back to back boundaries before falling to Thisara Perera, giving the home team their first wicket. Perera struck again in his next over, removing Marlon Samuels (5) who edged it straight to Cameron White at first slip. 

Mishra then dismissed Yuvraj Singh (2) stumped down the leg side when PWI required 79 runs to win in 10.1 overs. Mishra then had Manish Pandey (15) playing a wild slog to further mount the pressure. 

Urgency from Ross Taylor (19) and Abhishek Nayar (19) helped PWI rebuild but Mishra struck again sending back Nayar to bag his third. PWI were given a double blow as Taylor and Mitchell Marsh (7) fell in quick succession. Steyn then wrapped it all up with three wickets in four balls as PWI fell 22 runs short. 

Earlier, PWI won the toss and opted to field. The Sunrisers openers were kept quiet by disciplined bowling, giving away just 21 runs in the first four overs before Ashok Dinda castled Parthiv Patel (19) bringing captain Kumar Sangakara (15) to the middle. Sangakkara and Akshath Reddy (27) got on with the task of laying a foundation, but just as Sangakara started to get going, Rahul Sharma pegged his middle stump, providing PWI their second breakthrough.

PWI spinners strangled the Sunrisers’ run flow and the home side struggled to find any sort of momentum. Yuvraj Singh then got rid of Reddy to further sink the home team. Perera (30) tried to add new life into the Sunrisers' innings with two gorgeous drives off Sharma, but wickets continued to fall as Samuels got Cameron White (10) caught on the fence. Perera showed his hard hitting abilities taking 14 of Samuel's 17th over before he too fell to become Dinda's second scalp. Sunrisers eventually finished at 126 for 6 from their 20 overs.