An instant rebuke for Yusuf

Few IPL innings go by without a sitter being put down. When Mumbai Indians were batting today, it was Yusuf Pathan's turn to be butter-fingered. Mumbai Indians were struggling for runs on a tricky surface where the ball kept low at times, and when Rohit Sharma was 11 off 23, he swung hard. The ball soared a mile up, but didn't get far enough and Yusuf settled under it, preparing to take it Australian reverse-cup style. Not only did the ball slip through his fingers, it also hit him on the chin - an instant rebuke to his shoddy fielding.

With two decent scores in his past two innings, Lendl Simmons was promising to be the opener Mumbai had been searching for all season. There was not another substantial score today, though, as Simmons was undone by a Shakib Al Hasan arm ball that refused to rise above shin height. Simmons was down the track looking for a big hit, but the ball scooted well under his cross-batted effort to knock over legstump.

Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa had just posted their fourth consecutive half-century partnership, putting Knight Riders on course for a victory. Harbhajan Singh started the seventh over, and got the first delivery to rip a long way outside off. Gambhir smiled ruefully seeing that the umpire hadn't called it a wide. Perhaps expecting the next delivery to fizz away as well, Gambhir went for the cut, but this time the ball didn't turn much and a cramped Gambhir could only inside-edge onto the stumps.

Morne Morkel was closing in on the 150kmph mark in the early overs. One of the rare chances the batsmen got to swing at the ball was when there was a free-hit in the third over. Morkel responded with a quick bouncer, but the umpire deemed it too high and ruled it a wide. Morkel's answer this time was the perfect yorker, which Ambati Rayudu could only tuck away for a single.