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Steve Snell, who was released by Gloucestershire in 2010, hopes he can show counties what he’s got in the Champions League Twenty20

Andrew McGlashan20-Sep-2011It may not have been one of the marquee ties of the Champions League Twenty20, but there were still nine cricketers with international experience on display as Auckland took on Somerset. However, the match-winner was a player who doesn’t have a permanent first-class team and has had to consider a new career.Even Steve Snell called himself the “third-choice” keeper as he soaked up the occasion after a nerveless 34 off 24 balls which helped Somerset home by four wickets with Alfonso Thomas hitting the vital final run. Alongside James Hildreth, who until recently was pushing for an England place, he added 61 in eight overs in a match where most batsmen struggled.”We perhaps played a little more sensibly than the others,” Snell told ESPNcricinfo shortly after his innings. “I’d have been pretty disappointed if we didn’t win that after the partnership we had. We also knew that the pressure was really on Auckland because it was an absolute must-win for them.”Somerset only arrived in Hyderabad on September 19 having played the CB40 final at Lord’s on September 17, but Snell believes the whirlwind journey has helped. “It’s been non-stop; we didn’t have time for a training session when we arrived and just had a game of water polo this morning but it meant expectations were low from outside the team. However, the side themselves were always confident they could win.”Snell’s professional career has been on hold for a year since he was released by Gloucestershire at the end of the 2010 season having played for them since 2005. He spent most of the 2011 summer playing Minor Counties cricket for Hertfordshire . “I thought my one-day statistics were pretty good,” he said. “I felt pretty hard done by when I was let go [by Gloucestershire]; it was quite a shock. Hopefully this tournament gives me a chance to show counties what I’ve got.”The victory has put the county in with a good chance of qualifying for the lucrative main draw, but if Somerset do go through Snell has no guarantee of being there if Craig Kieswetter and Jos Buttler join up after England duty. “I’m not sure of the rules, and whether I’d be allowed to stay, but hopefully I’ve left them with some tough decisions,” he said.

Shane Watson, the Australia allrounder, has questioned whether his body will be able to handle the rigours of bowling regularly and opening the batting

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Oct-2011Shane Watson, the Australia allrounder, has questioned whether his body will be able to handle the rigours of bowling regularly and opening the batting, and suggested he may have to shift down the order to compensate. Watson has been surprisingly successful the top of the order for Australia over the last couple of years and had previously rejected the possibility of a return to the middle order, but is rethinking his options after the recent tour of Sri Lanka.”My role in the team has changed,” Watson told the . “I have additional bowling demands and I do have to consider whether my body will be able to handle it. I need to think about what will be the best for the team, and how to get the best out of myself, moving ahead.”I will continue to talk to [captain] Michael Clarke about it, but having just gone through the Sri Lanka series with that extra workload, this is the time I am thinking about it more.”Watson, newly promoted to vice-captain, bowled 75 overs in the three Tests in Sri Lanka, a substantial increase per game compared to the 76 overs he bowled across the five Ashes Tests last summer. His batting also appeared to suffer as a result. He made just 85 runs against Sri Lanka at an average of 17.40. In the Ashes series, he was Australia’s second leading run-scorer with 435 at 48.33.In order to protect him for international cricket – Australia play South Africa and India later this year – Cricket Australia has placed a bowling ban on him for the duration of the Champions League Twenty20, where Watson is playing for New South Wales.Watson is also set to release his autobiography, , in two days time, in which he reveals that CA told him to give up bowling in 2007 due to his constant injuries. His subsequent decision to seek an outside opinion was the reason he was able to get back to his best form and keep bowling, and “is the only reason I wrote the book”, Watson said.”I know from speaking to a number of athletes that the information they are getting is often not the best thing for them to get fit constantly. Sometimes you have to look outside to be able to find it. There would have been a number of people who found themselves in my situation and moved on to something else, but it is not always a dead-end.”It was former Australian Football League physio Victor Popov that Watson turned to for help, a move that ultimately paid off for Watson and Australia: “These guys [at CA] were doing their best to help me but when it came down to it, they were giving up on me … it doesn’t get much worse than being told by your team’s medical experts that maybe you might never bowl again.”In the end, I couldn’t handle it and I didn’t go out of my apartment for about three weeks, apart from seeing Victor … I cried quite a bit. I felt like I was just about at the end of it, especially as an all-rounder.”I was 26 and it felt like I was never going to realise my dreams … I knew that so many other people in the world have a life that’s 50,000 times harder than I’ve ever had. But I was in a spiral and, when you’re like that, the only thing that matters is what’s going on in your own life.”

England women claimed a series whitewash with a five wicket victory over South Africa at Senwes Park

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Oct-2011
Scorecard
England Women claimed a series whitewash with a five-wicket victory over South Africa at Senwes Park.Charlotte Edwards won the toss and inserted South Africa for the final match of the one-day international series. Jenny Gunn ensured the hosts could not settle in the middle as she trapped Shandre Fritz in front leaving South Africa on 39 for 1 in the eighth over.Tight spells from Danielle Hazell and Laura Marsh built the pressure in the middle and set things up for Arran Brindle (2 for 20) and Heather Knight (2 for 15) to force a middle order collapse. Brindle and Knight took four wickets in 24 balls as South Africa struggled to build the runs and were left on 103 for 6 after 28 overs.Having opened the attack, Georgia Elwiss returned in the final overs to claim her first international wicket as Sunette Loubser was caught behind by Tammy Beaumont. Four balls later the hosts were reduced to 144 for 8 through the quick hands of Beaumont. Sarah Taylor then claimed the run-out of Denisha Devnarain and with five balls remaining South Africa hung on to post a total of 181 for 9 from their 50 overs.As England set about the chase they suffered a setback losing both Edwards and Danielle Wyatt in the first five overs. Edwards was bowled round her legs and Wyatt was caught as she scooped to mid-off.Taylor attempted to rebuild with Lydia Greenway but was caught behind trying to glance to third man, then in the following over Brindle went leg before wicket, leaving England on 42 for 4.Fifteen overs in Knight joined Greenway to resurrect the innings and put on a solid 87-run partnership before Player-of-the-Series Greenway was caught trying to scoop over mid-off.Knight went on to knock off the runs with Gunn in an unbeaten partnership of 54 as England claimed a five-wicket victory with seven overs to spare.”It was a good win, great to finish the series three nil, another good team performance,” Knight said. “I enjoyed going into the new role of batting at No. 6 and it was good to get some runs. It was brilliant to bat out there with Jenny and Lydia and I was pleased to be able to finish the game off. It was a good feeling to get my first not out for England.”Arran and I established a good partnership in the middle, I think she bowled really well and I backed her up. It was pleasing to get a couple of wickets.””It’s great to win the series three nil, that’s what we came out here to do so I’m really pleased,” captain Edwards said. “It was our best bowling and fielding performance of the trip so far and I thought we stuck at it with the bat. Although we lost early wickets Heather Knight and Lydia put on a really good partnership.”People have stood up, especially the bowlers, who have got better and better throughout the trip which bodes well for the Twenty20 series. We’ll take momentum from this as we move into the Twenty20 series on Thursday, which I’m sure will be a high-scoring affair.”England play the first Twenty20 of the three-match series against South Africa on Thursday October 27.

At the end of his first full day of first-class cricket in three years, Ashish Nehra found himself pleased – and sore – at having survived 16 overs of bowling

Sharda Ugra19-Nov-2011At the end of his first full day of first-class cricket in three years, Ashish Nehra found himself pleased – and sore – at having survived 16 overs of bowling on the Feroz Shah Kotla’s eccentric wicket in Delhi’s Ranji Trophy match against Tamil Nadu.”I’ve been bowling in the nets and training for weeks now and thought that it would be better to play in a match and see how I can do,” Nehra told ESPNcricinfo. “If this match goes fine, I will be able to play in least three of Delhi’s six matches.”Nehra’s last four-day game for Delhi was against Hyderabad in early November 2008. His return at the Kotla, with its early morning assistance for swing and general low bounce for the rest of the day, had gone well. Nehra said that it was only in the short three-over burst at the end of the day, “that I began to get a bit tight.” After stumps, Nehra spent close to two-and-a-half hours cooling down and stretching.The advantage of an eight-day gap between the fixtures against Tamil Nadu and Baroda has encouraged Nehra to assess his fitness in the four-day game. “It’s not that I don’t want to play in the longer version of the game, to say that is not right, I would love to play it if I could,” he said. “I know my body cannot handle two four-day games with a gap of only three days between them. It’s not the bowling that is a problem, it’s the 90 overs in the field that in the past, have caused strains and injuries … It is no fun sitting at home and not playing, only training and bowling in the nets.”Delhi captain Mithun Manhas said Nehra’s advice helped the team’s two younger pacemen, Parvinder Awana and Pradeep Sangwan. “It is always good to have a player’s of Ashish’s experience around and it eggs the younger bowlers on.”Nehra’s last match for India was the World Cup semi-final against Pakistan during which he broke the fingers on his right hand while diving for the ball. It required surgery in five places and bone grafts from his wrist. At the Kotla on Friday, he dived on the field once more. “I did not feel under pressure at the start of the day, but I was thinking, ‘will I be okay, will everything go well?’ And so far it has. Now let’s see what happens.”Nehra made his comeback to the Indian team in September 2009 after a gap of four years. In the run-up to the World Cup, he became India’s highest wicket-taker in limited-overs in the previous two years, with 78 wickets in both ODIs and T20 and was part of World Cup-winning squad. After his post-World Cup return from injury, Nehra was disappointed to neither be picked for the two ODI series against England nor be among the BCCI’s list of centrally contracted players. Of the World Cup-winning team, only Nehra and Yusuf Pathan have not been awarded BCCI contracts.

The second day of the Sheffield Shield clash between Western Australia and South Australia in Perth was washed out without a ball being bowled

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Dec-2011
ScorecardThe second day of the Sheffield Shield clash between Western Australia and South Australia in Perth was washed out without a ball being bowled. The Warriors will resume on the third day with a lead of 90 after they skittled the Redbacks for 93 on the opening day.South Australia’s coach, Darren Berry, said his team had put in an embarrassing performance on the first day.”We lacked a bit of commitment with the bat and I think we played at too many balls which we could have left alone,” Berry told reporters in Perth. “There’s no excuses from us … it wasn’t about the wicket, we just batted badly. It’s one thing to get knocked over with the bat, but I think we were really poor with the ball as well.”

After the innings and 301-run defeat in the one-off Test against New Zealand, Zimbabwe are preparing skill-wise and mentally to compete in the limited-overs leg of the tour, Regis Chakabva has said

Firdose Moonda31-Jan-2012Zimbabwe’s innings and 301-run defeat in their one-off Test against New Zealand represents, in numerical terms, the massive gulf between them and the next tier of the Test playing world. In more literal ones, it symbolises a significant stride backward for a nation that made a respectable comeback to Test cricket last year.Having seemingly built up the ability to compete and even sometimes win, their progress was smashed to smithereens on a single day. But, take into account that it was their maiden voyage from home since their return to the Test fold and the hard edges of how badly they performed are somewhat softened. “For most of us, it’s our first tour in New Zealand but as professionals we are expected to adapt,” Regis Chakabva told ESPNcricinfo. “It would have been disappointing to lose like that, no matter what conditions we played in.”Chakabva is the only Zimbabwe batsmen who could walk away from the match claiming to understand New Zealand’s pitches. His 63 in the second innings was the highest score and most accomplished performance in an otherwise abysmal Zimbabwe showing. In his typically unassuming style, Chakabva has not read too much into the effort and given the result, he probably can’t.”All our batsmen are good players, it just didn’t happen for them on the day,” he said. “I didn’t do too much differently or make too many adjustments; I just tried to stick around as long as possible. Once the ball got older it was easier, it was a good batting pitch.”If there was an area Chakabva led the way in, it was mindset. Instead of panic, even though he walked in to bat with the score on 12 for 5, he showed rare grit, something Alan Butcher has tried to develop in his players since he took over as coach. Butcher has long lamented that Zimbabwe are quick to get spooked. Tell them the pitch will be difficult to bat on and they will struggle with shot selection, tell them someone is a good bowler and they will crumble at the sight of him, tell them they have to put in a respectable performance away from home and the pressure will cause them to melt.It seemed to be the case in Napier but Chakabva said the squad were not affected by outside influences. Even though they were aware of what was expected of them, they tried to create an environment of calm in the lead up to the match. “We weren’t under that much pressure to do well, we knew it wouldn’t be easy but we were aware of the situation and what we needed to,” he said, following it up with a simple enough explanation for what went wrong. “We just didn’t do well.”With Chris Martin doing most of the demolition job, it would appear that Zimbabwe were equally outdone by a quality fast bowler as they were by conditions that suited him. Chakabva said that was not the case.Four seamers, he said, were not the problem. “I wouldn’t say they have a fearsome attack, they are very good but not fearsome.” Neither was the strip. “The wicket had more grass than usual but we have a ground at Harare, the country club, which is also bowler friendly, with more bounce. We have seen pitches like this before.”Zimbabwe have had five days to prepare for the limited-overs leg of the series, instead of three, and Chakabva said they have worked on everything from “one-day cricketing skills” to “getting our minds ready”.Far from sulking, Chakabva said they are “enjoying” the trip. While taking in the sights and sounds of a place most of them have never been to before, they have also been reminded that they still have a job to do and Chakabva said they will do it properly. “We will be more competitive, we are working hard and we want to represent our country well. Like Brendan Taylor said, we want to show the world we can play.”

The ideal captain is a man who can compartmentalise and focus on his own game when necessary, but keep the big picture in the back of his mind. In that respect, Michael Clarke has been the perfect leader in the first ten Tests of his captaincy career

Brydon Coverdale in Perth12-Jan-2012Being handed the Test captaincy can weigh on the mind of a batsman when he’s at the crease. Was it a mistake to bat first? Should I rein in my game to set an example? What happens if I fail a few times? What will our bowlers do on this pitch? When should I declare? The ideal captain is a man who can compartmentalise and focus on his own game when necessary, but keep the big picture in the back of his mind.In that respect, Michael Clarke has been the perfect leader in the first ten Tests of his captaincy career. His unbeaten 329 at the SCG last week was a fine example: a well-paced innings full of determination that ended with a declaration that was designed only to give his team the best possible chance of victory. Personal milestones were ignored.It was also his fourth hundred in ten Tests as captain. As leader, he has averaged 59.18. Ricky Ponting didn’t manage a Test hundred as skipper until his tenth match in charge. Brian Lara took even longer. Sachin Tendulkar averaged 34.61 from his first ten Tests as captain. Not since Allan Border has Australia had a leader whose own game has thrived so much in the initial stages at the helm.Clarke brushes off the idea that he has lifted his batting as leader. The stats suggest he is being overly modest. But what he doesn’t deny is that it has been pleasing to prove that the captaincy has not been a burden on his own batting.”It’s nice to be getting some results now and it’s even more special being captain,” Clarke said. “There’s always that stigma that the extra responsibility can affect your batting, so I’m pleased that it hasn’t. But I don’t feel any different, to be honest.”I feel I’m doing the hard work and it’s nice to see some results but I know things change quickly. I could be sitting here in a couple of games time under pressure that I haven’t scored any runs. It’s about making sure that my work ethic off the field is my No.1 priority.”I think my game is continuing to improve. I hope it is. I think results have probably shown me that it is. I don’t feel I’ve changed much since becoming captain. I feel I’m still able to do the work [on my batting] that I need to do in the nets, to prepare and improve on my weaknesses. That’s what I’ve tried to do over the last two years.”After an innings of such strength and control as his tripled-hundred in Sydney, Clarke appears to be in the best form of his career. That it follows a captain’s century in trying conditions in Cape Town in November and another ton against New Zealand in Brisbane in the first Test of the summer, only adds to the idea. But Clarke himself is not convinced.”If I go and get a pair in this Test match, I’m then talking about my spot in the team, as I was two weeks ago,” he said. “One innings … it’s fantastic, don’t get me wrong, it’s great to have made some runs in Sydney to contribute to the success we’ve had in this series so far … but it’s irrelevant right now. It’s gone. It’s a completely different wicket, we’re in completely different conditions, and I’m on zero when I walk out to bat.”And that different pitch is very different indeed. Australia and India were greeted in the few days before the Test, which starts on Friday, by a WACA surface with plenty of grass on it. The curator, Cameron Sutherland, expects pace and bounce just like last summer, when Australia used the conditions to complete their only win of the Ashes campaign. Clarke is looking forward to playing on the Perth pitch.”I prefer the pace,” he said. “I think I’ve had my most success in Australia on wickets like the Gabba and here in Perth. I like the ball coming on. For smaller guys like myself, it means you don’t have to try and hit the ball too hard, you can use the pace to your advantage. And they’re probably the best conditions to face spin on, because the ball bounces a lot more and you can hit through the line.”But on wickets like this that do have pace and bounce it’s really hard to start your innings. You’ll see a lot of players through this Test match who will nick, it’ll find the edges of their bat. But I think once you get in, generally the faster, bouncier wickets are as good to bat on as anywhere in the world.”That won’t necessarily mean that he chooses to bat if he wins the toss. Nor will he second-guess his own decision once it is made. And when he’s at the crease, don’t expect anything but the battle between bat and ball to weigh on his mind.

Yuvraj Singh has shown a “slightly better than expected” response to his first cycle of chemotherapy

Sharda Ugra16-Feb-2012Yuvraj Singh has shown a “slightly better than expected” response to his first cycle of chemotherapy to counter a germ-cell tumour called mediastinal seminoma. His medical team in India and the USA will however arrive at a definitive conclusion after conducting a CT scan at the end of his nine weeks of treatment.Explaining Yuvraj’s progress, Dr Nitesh Rohatgi, a senior medical oncologist at Delhi’s Max Cancer Centre who is co-ordinating the treatment with doctors in the USA, told ESPNcricinfo that Yuvraj’s blood tests and X-rays were “positive and we know that the treatment is working”.Rohatgi was speaking after Yuvraj’s upbeat tweet [below] late on Wednesday night about his progress. “We can only be certain after the CT scan at the end of the treatment,” Rohatgi said. “We have to give him enough chemo to melt it [the tumour] all down and also to aim at preventing it from recurring.”
The “Dr Lawrence” Yuvraj was referring to in his tweet is Dr Lawrence Einhorn, who headed the treatment of cycling champion Lance Armstrong in 1996. Armstrong had been diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of testicular cancer and was given a 40% chance of survival. Einhorn is regarded as the pioneer of life-saving treatment for testicular cancer, increasing survival levels up to 90%, and an expert in the chemotherapy used to tackle seminoma. Though he largely focusses on research these days, he has taken on Yuvraj’s case. On Tuesday, Armstrong sent Yuvraj a personal message of support.The chemotherapy that Yuvraj will undergo involves nine weeks of a combination of three cancer drugs – bleomycin, ciplatin and etoposide – in three cycles. He has finished the first of the cycles that included a combination of the drugs every day for five days and then, after a week’s gap, two days of a different schedule of the drugs. A week’s gap follows, at which point the next cycle begins with five straight days of the drugs. His second cycle began on Wednesday.”The cycles work this way,” Rohatgi said, “because you want to maximise effect and minimise side-effects. This is the most commonly used and the most effective treatment, and this is going to keep him most physically fit.”Once the after-effects of his first cycle of chemotherapy began to wear off, Yuvraj tried light rounds of cardio-vascular exercises, like jogging and cycling, in the gym. He had spoken to Rohatgi at length on Thursday, to understand the interpretations of the results of the first round of his chemotherapy.

Ben Cutting, the Queensland fast bowler, has been ruled out of the Sheffield Shield final

Brydon Coverdale15-Mar-2012Ben Cutting, the Queensland fast bowler, has been ruled out of the Sheffield Shield final. Cutting missed Queensland’s last game due to a groin injury and was named in a 13-man squad for the final against Tasmania, which starts at the Gabba on Friday, but the Bulls confirmed on the eve of the match he would not play.Cutting bowled in the nets on Thursday and while he got through training, Queensland felt his lack of match bowling in the past fortnight was a concern, and that playing him in a five-day final could still be risky. The Bulls are expected to name Ryan Harris, Steve Magoffin, Alister McDermott and Cameron Boyce as their attack, although Luke Feldman is also in the squad and could be considered.Tasmania also have a decision to make regarding the make-up of their attack, with three men from their 14-man squad fighting for one spot. Jackson Bird, Luke Butterworth and James Faulkner will be included alongside the spinner Jason Krejza, but the assistant coach Ali de Winter said there was competition for one more place.”We think we’ve got an attack that can exploit the conditions up here whether it’s flat or has a bit of grass on it,” de Winter told ESPNcricinfo. “We’ve got good diversity. We’ve got a left-armer in Faulkner, we’ve got Krejza who’s bowling very well in the last couple of weeks, and then we’ve got an issue with who we pick for our fourth seaming spot, whether it’s Jeremy Smith or Brendan Drew or Matt Johnston.”The Gabba pitch has spent plenty of time under cover over the past few days due to rain in Brisbane and showers have been forecast for all five days of the match. However, given the likelihood that the pitch will favour the bowlers, de Winter does not expect a draw, which would deliver the title to Queensland after they finished on top of the table.”Given we get at least three or four days of cricket here one team or another will win,” he said. “There will certainly be a result in the game. Both teams are in good form and playing an attacking brand of cricket. It will be an exciting game if nothing else.”Tasmania are the defending champions and are aiming to win their third Shield title in six years, while the Bulls will be desperate to improve their conversion rate having won the title only once in the past nine years despite making the final six times. Chris Hartley and James Hopes are the only Queensland players to have played in a title-winning side, in 2005-06.It will also be an opportunity for Ricky Ponting to win a domestic title for the first time in a state career spanning 20 seasons. Ponting, the acting captain for Tasmania while George Bailey is with the ODI squad in the Caribbean, has not played in a Shield final since 1993-94, and enters this match in fine form, having scored 75 not out, 130 and 111 in his three domestic innings since being axed from Australia’s one-day international side.Queensland squad Wade Townsend, Alex Kemp, Andrew Robinson, Joe Burns, Chris Lynn, James Hopes (capt), Chris Hartley (wk), Ryan Harris, Steve Magoffin, Luke Feldman, Cameron Boyce, Alister McDermott.Tasmania squad Ed Cowan, Steve Cazzulino, Ricky Ponting (capt), Alex Doolan, Mark Cosgrove, Nick Kruger, Tom Triffitt (wk), Luke Butterworth, James Faulkner, Matt Johnston, Jason Krejza, Brendan Drew, Jackson Bird, Jeremy Smith.

Robin Peterson borrowed shots from his namesake, Kevin Pietersen, as he played a cameo punctuated with switch hits on his IPL debut to snatch victory for the Mumbai Indians

The Report by Firdose Moonda25-Apr-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details Rohit Sharma gave Mumbai hope with 50 off 30 balls•AFP

Robin Peterson borrowed shots from his namesake, Kevin Pietersen, as he played a cameo punctuated with switch hits on his IPL debut to snatch victory for the Mumbai Indians. Peterson scored 15 runs off four balls in the penultimate over and Ambati Rayudu smacked two sixes to cost Kings XI 27 runs. The pair took Mumbai from a position where victory seemed unlikely, with 32 runs needed of 12 balls, to where it became an obvious conclusion with only five runs to get in the last over.After allowing Kings XI Punjab to post their highest total in IPL 2012 with a bowling effort that was dominated by deliveries that were too short, Mumbai were favourites to win when Rohit Sharma was at the crease, marching to his half-century. Parvinder Awana swung the pendulum back towards Kings XI with a double strike in his final over – the 18th – in which he removed both Sharma and Harbhajan Singh. Peterson and Rayudu had the final say though, as they ravaged the 19th over and prevented Kings XI from completing the home and away double against Mumbai this season.In an innings which mirrored the Kings XI’s, Mumbai started solidly, were held up in the middle and blazed their way through to the end. Sachin Tendulkar and James Franklin, who was moved to open the batting in the previous match and stayed there, built a sturdy foundation. Tendulkar started by sweeping Bhargav Bhatt to long-leg, allowing his touches of finesse to shine through. Franklin clipped Praveen Kumar through midwicket and drove Parvinder Awana over the covers and the pair put on a fuss-free fifty-two run stand.Azhar Mahmood caused some jitters in the Mumbai camp when he had Franklin caught behind off a beautiful delivery that nipped away from him. In his next over, Mahmood accounted for Tendulkar, who got a thin inside edge through to Nitin Saini. Piyush Chawla had Dinesh Karthik caught at short fine leg and Mumbai were no longer in command.
It set the stage for Rohit, who had not performed to expectation so far, to step up and he did. He announced his intent by smashing Chawla for a flat six over long-off and helped himself to boundaries off full tosses offered by both Awana and Praveen when they missed their lines.Rohit was guiding Mumbai to victory when he slashed the ball to Mahmood at backward point and the advantage returned to Kings XI. Harbhajan made little contribution as he top-edged without moving his feet to be caught at long-off and Mumbai seemed to need a little miracle to dig themselves out of the hole Awana created.Peterson started the seemingly impossible, switch hitting Chawla twice for four and slog sweeping him for six before Rayudu launched the legspinner for back to back sixes. Mahmood made it tough for Mumbai to score the last five but they did so with a ball to spare to claim a memorable win.Kings XI would have thought they had enough runs at the halfway stage, having scored 88 runs off the last seven overs of their innings. David Hussey and David Miller starred in the last third of the Kings XI innings to give them a competitive total on a slow surface with a fourth-wicket stand that mixed defiance with aggression.Saini and Mandeep Singh built a sturdy foundation for Kings XI with an opening stand of 35 but Kings XI stagnated when Mandeep was dismissed. They scored just 12 runs in four overs after Mandeep returned to the dug out and crawled to the 10-over mark at 56 for 2. In a surprise move, Harbhajan brought Franklin on to bowl and he slowed Kings XI up further. He bowled four good balls upfront, which yielded only four runs, before Shaun Marsh attempted to slice a ball over the off-side but top-edged it to Harbhajan at cover, who took a swirling catch.Miller was the perfect for partner for Hussey and showed aggression from the get-go, when he pulled the second ball he faced, a short one from RP, through midwicket. Having seen short balls get punished, Kieron Pollard offered Hussey two more and was clubbed over midwicket and upper cut over third man.Munaf Patel searched for yorkers but missed his length and dished out full tosses. Miller swiped him over long-on and Hussey did the same, to bring up a well-earned half-century. Clint McKay copied Munaf and got the yorker right on occasion. Still, he did not survive the late assault from Hussey, who steered him third man and made room to hit him over his head for six. Munaf finished the innings having conceded back to back sixes off Miller, who ended unbeaten on 34 off 17 balls.