Rayudu comes good again

Ambati Rayudu, along with Saurabh Tiwary, once again outshone a glittering batting line-up to give Mumbai Indians a big total, which their bowlers defended smartly and comprehensively. The two added 65 in 7.4 overs for the fourth wicket to resurrect an innings that threatened to come undone, Rayudu went on to register his second fifty of the tournament and provide Mumbai a big finish.

In three overs, Pragyan Ojha and Rahul Sharma had brought Mumbai down from 53 for 0 to 62 for 3, removing Sachin Tendulkar, Shikhar Dhawan and Dwayne Bravo, and it seemed that finally Kieron Pollard, yet to announce himself in the IPL, would have to bat in a pressure situation. Tiwary and Rayudu, though, had other ideas. They started off consolidating, and Rayudu's placement meant they didn't stagnate, recovering to 90 in 13 overs.

As Deccan went about dropping Tiwary twice, Rayudu was in enough to go for the big hits, seeing Andrew Symonds off with a slogged six off the last ball of his spell, moving to 25 off 17, and taking Mumbai to 125 in 16 overs.

The next four overs were to be vital: Deccan, the worst of the teams at the death, needed a good finish to keep the match interesting. If Ojha tilted the endplay Deccan's way by removing Tiwary, Rayudu responded by hitting immediate back-to-back boundaries to restore balance. It would all go downhill for Deccan.

Ryan Harris managed to keep them quiet with a nine-run 18th over, but in the 19th Rayudu punished Jaskaran Singh. A full toss and a length delivery were dismissed for fours before the shot of the innings, an inside-out six that brought up his fifty. Twenty came off that over, and Pollard hustled through for three couples and two boundaries in Harris' last over.