Rahul Sharma's dream season continues

Rahul Sharma picked up his second Man of the Match award in a row and set up Pune Warrior's first win in eight matches. Even before this game, he had earned high praise, with Ravi Shastri suggesting just before the toss that it was time for Rahul to be given a national call-up, at least in Twenty20s.

He is the most economical bowler of the season, even better than the headline-grabbing Lasith Malinga. In his previous match, he had the eye-popping figures of 4-0-7-2, and while he gave away a few more runs today, he provided two vital breakthroughs at the start of the innings. First, he extended Adam Gilchrist's poor run by getting him to hole out to deep midwicket for 3. Then, he got rid of another journeyman who have become famous this season, Paul Valthaty, who had begun confidently with a series of carves through cover. Valthaty looked to cut a delivery outside off, but the extra bounce accounted for him, top edging it to backward point.

Rahul isn't an extravagant turner of the ball but that hasn't stopped him from being effective. He prefers to fire the ball in, operating at the speeds above 90kph, and doesn't flight the ball either. It is more about accuracy, and not giving the batsmen too much room to free the arms. The stock delivery is one which pitches short of a length and kicks up, something which batsmen have found hard to counter all season.