I'm at a loss for words...

Predictably, KR lost again by 6 wickets to Bangalore (source). Why predictably? Because I could sense that the only team KR felt as if they had a fighting chance with, and could probably win against, in IPL 2 is Punjab. And that chance was loooooong gone.

Looking back at my previous posts, I think I have the makings of a bookie. Even without watching the game and knowing how the game works, I managed to predict that Chennai and Delhi are going to be the top two teams even while Deccan was having a good run on the playing XI at the time. It's a good thing that gambling is not allowed in my religion or I could have raked in some dirty money by now XD.

The one I didn't predict was Rajasthan, although I did think it's gonna be one of the contenders for the top four positions. But I still think it'll be Chennai and Delhi in the final. Hmmm, we'll see what happens at the semis.

Delhi Daredevils beat Bangalore Royal Challengers by 6 wickets

Source
Bangalore Royal Challengers innings (20 overs maximum)
Jacques Kallis b Nannes 0 (1 ball)
Robin Uthappa c Sangwan b Nehra 3 (8)
Kevin Pietersen b Vettori 37 (40)
Ross Taylor lbw b Mishra 31 (45)
Virat Kohli c Dilshan b Nehra 22 (46)
Mark Boucher c Mishra b Sangwan 36 (31)
B. Akhil not out 8 (6)
Vinay Kumar run out (de Villiers) 0 (1)
Pankaj Singh not out 1 (2)
Extras (lb-5, w-5, nb-1) 11
Total (for seven wickets in 20 overs) 149
Fall of wickets 1-0 (Kallis, 0.1 overs), 2-10 (Uthappa, 1.2), 3-72 (Pietersen, 9.3), 4-78 (Taylor, 10.6), 5-139 (Boucher, 18.6), 6-139 (Kohli, 19.1), 7-145 (Vinay Kumar, 19.3)
Bowling
Derek Nannes 4-0-24-1
Ashish Nehra 4-0-34-2
Pradeep Sangwan 4-0-32-1
Amit Mishra 4-0-19-1
Daniel Vettori 4-0-35-1

Delhi Daredevils innings (target: 150 runs from 20 overs)
Gautam Gambhir c Boucher b Pankaj Singh 16 (25 balls)
Virender Sehwag c Pietersen b Pankaj Singh 7 (7)
Tillakaratne Dilshan not out 67 (86)
A.B. de Villiers b Appanna 21 34 (23)
Dinesh Karthik c Kallis b Akhil 12 (13)
Mithun Manhas not out 23 (21)
Extras (w-4) 4
Total (for four wickets in 19.2 overss) 150
Fall of wickets1-11 (Sehwag, 1.4 ov), 2-42 (Gambhir, 5.4 ov), 3-84 (de Villiers, 13.1 ov), 4-106 (Karthik, 15.4 ov)
Bowling O M R W Econ
Vinay Kumar 3.2-0-28-0
Pankaj Singh 4-0-31-2
Jacques Kallis 3-0-37-0
Anil Kumble 4-0-22-0
P.Appanna 4-0-24-1
B.Akhil 1-0-8-1
Toss: Bangalore Royal Challengers chose to bat first
Points: Delhi Daredevils 2, Bangalore Royal Challengers 0
Man of the match: Tillekratane Dilshan (Delhi Daredevils)
Umpires: S. Asnani (India) and B.G. Jerling (South Africa)
TV umpire: Billy Doctrove (West Indies)
Match referee: Yashpal Sharma (India)

Delhi Daredevils beat Chennai Super Kings by 9 runs

Scoreboard (source)

Delhi Daredevils innings

Gautam Gambhir c Dhoni b Balaji 0
Virender Sehwag c Morkel b Gony 6
AB de Villiers not out 105
Tillekratne Dilshan c Raina b Morkel 50
Dinesh Karthik c Flintoff b Balaji 18
Manoj Tiwary c Flintoff b Balaji 9
Daniel Vettori not out 0
Extras (w-1) 1
Total (for five wickets in 20 overs) 189
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Gambhir, 0.1 overs), 2-8 (Sehwag, 1.6), 3-76 (Dilshan, 8.3), 4-114 (Karthik, 13.6), 5-188 (Tiwary, 19.5)
Bowling
Lakshmipathy Balaji 4-0-19-3
Manpreet Gony 4-0-45-1
Albie Morkel 4-0-41-1
Andrew Flintoff 4-0-50-0
Joginder Sharma 1-0-8-0
Muutiah Muralitharan 3-0-26-0

Chennai Super Kings innings (target: 190 runs from 20 overs)

Parthiv Patel c de Villiers b Sangwan 16
Matthew Hayden c Nannes b Sangwan 57
Suresh Raina c de Villiers b Sangwan 41
Mahendra Singh Dhoni c Karthik b Vettori 5
Andrew Flintoff c sub (Warner) b Nehra 16
Albie Morkel not out 13
Subramaniam Badrinath c sub (Warner) b Vettori 7
Manpreet Gony run out (Sehwag/Vettori) 6
Joginder Sharma run out (sub Warner) 4
Lakhsmipathy Balaji run out (Sangwan/Nannes) 0
Muttiah Muralitharan not out 0
Extras (lb-6, w-8, nb-1) 15
Total (for nine wickets in 20 overs) 180
Fall of wickets: 1-57 (Patel, 5.2 overs), 2-90 (Hayden, 7.6), 3-108 (Dhoni, 10.3), 4-139 (Raina, 14.1), 5-156 (Flintoff, 15.6), 6-168 (Badrinath, 18.3), 7-175 (Gony, 18.6), 8-179 (Joginder Sharma, 19.3), 9-179 (Balaji, 19.4)
Bowling
Derek Nannes 4-0-32-0
Ashish Nehra 4-0-33-1
Avishkar Salvi 3-0-41-0
Pradeep Sangwan 4-0-28-3
Daniel Vettori 4-0-29-2
Manoj Tiwary 1-0-11-0
Toss: Delhi Daredevils chose to bat first
Points: Delhi Daredevils 2, Chennai Super Kings 0
Player of the match: AB de Villiers (Delhi Daredevils)
Umpires: Billy Doctrove (West Indies) and Simon Taufel (Australia)
TV umpire: Shashank Ranade (India)
Match referee: Devdas Govindjee (South Africa)
Reserve umpire: Zed Ndamane (South Africa)

This week's progress...

Delhi Daredevils won by 10 wickets against King's XI Punjab

Source

April 19 (Reuters) - Scoreboard from the Indian Premier League (IPL) match between the Delhi Daredevils and the King's XI Punjab at Newlands, Cape Town on Sunday.

Rain reduced the match to 12 overs for each side.

King's XI Punjab innings R. Bopara lbw b Vettori 22 K. Goel c Vettori b Mahesh 38 Yuvraj Singh run out 16 K. Sangakkara c Nannes b Vettori 8 M. Jayawardene c Dilshan b Vettori 6 I. Pathan c Dilshan b Salvi 6 P. Chawla run out 0 T. Kohli not out 0 Extras (lb-4, w-4) 8 Total (seven wickets, 12 overs) 104 Fall of wickets: 1-67 2-67 3-77 4-98 5-98 6-98 7-104 Did not bat: V. Malik, V. Singh, Y. Abdullah.

Bowling: Nannes 3-0-24-0 (w-3), Salvi 2-0-17-1, Sangwan 2-0-19-0, Mahesh 2-0-25-1 (w-1), Vettori 3-0-15-3.

Delhi Daredevils innings G. Gambhir not out 15 V. Sehwag not out 38 Extras (b-1, lb-1, w-3) 5 Total (no wicket, 4.5 overs) 58

Bowling: Pathan 1-0-9-0 (w-1), Abdulla 1-0-19-0 (w-1), Malik 1-0-11-0, VRV Singh 1-0-5-0, Chawla 0.5-0-12-0 (w-1)

Did not bat: Tillekeratne Dilshan, AB de Villiers, Manoj Tiwary, Dinesh Karthik, Dirk Nannes, Daniel Vettori, Vijaykumar Mahesh, Aavishkar Salvi, Pradeep Sangwan.

Result: Daredevils won by 10 wickets

(Editing by Neil Maidment)