No respite for KXIP

As we had mentioned earlier, nothing is going right for KXIP this season. This was yet again evident last night when they played against the Mumbai Indians. They started quite well, built an excellent platform, and just when they would have started to launch into the final assault, Lasit Malinga destroyed the platform with a near Hattrick, that is, a ball between the second and third wicket prevented him from that well deserved hattrick. He removed Irfan Pathan, Shaun Marsh and Karan Goel in the 4th and 5th deliveries of the 16th over and the 2nd delivey of the 18th over, to leave KXIP reeling at 133 for 8. The fact that they reached 163, was thanks to some lusty hitting by Piyush Chawala (22 of 13 balls). Their best batsman for the day was Marsh who scored a brilliant 57 before losing his stumps to a Malinga yorker. Malinga finished with 4 for 22 in his alloted 4 overs, which, especially in this format is a supreme effort.

Yuvraj Singh, the star, remained a star on paper. He failed to get going yet again. Sangakkara sat out and another out of touch player Mahela led the side. He did an admirable job for the most part.

His innovative bowling changes and field placing were looking really good, which had given KXIP a chance to seal the match. But a blunder in the 19th over, when 18 runs were required from 12 balls, turned the table in favor of the Mumbai Indians, and they completed the formalities in the final over. Mahela threw the ball to Ravi Bopara, to bowl the penultimate over. He had bowled quite well till that point allright, but a non-regular bowler with his pace, was always going to be taken for runs at that stage, especially when Tiwary and Sathish were still there on the wicket. Ravi was hit for a six in his previous over as well, before accounting for Dwyane Bravo, which underlines the fact that he is hittable. Still Mahela took that gamble and Ravi went for 3 boundaries, to leave MI with 6 runs to get from the final over. This was even worse considering Irfan Pathan was still left with another over.

Mumbai Indians are looking red hot at this moment, it's been the best season for them in the IPL.