Sambit gains more ground, Chappell's trumps flop

The battle at the top heats up. Sambit Bal has managed to cut Ian Chappell's lead down to just 169 points.

It was a a bad day at the office for Ian, whose trump choices in both of Sunday's games went drastically wrong. His trump for the Mumbai Indians v Royal Challengers Bangalore game was Sachin Tendulkar, who got out for 0 (-20) and took one catch (+30), which meant that Ian earned only 10 points from him. The second game, between Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders, proved to be even more of a letdown - Ian's trump, Virender Sehwag, didn't play.

"So far it looks like I avoided swine flu but I've caught a bad dose of Sambit-disease. It's also known as Trump-slumpitis," Ian says. "I went for the kill yesterday and the gamble with Tendulkar and Sehwag failed miserably. However, I still believe attack is the best policy, so I'm going to continue being aggressive in the hope of putting some distance between myself and Sambit."

Sambit, on the other hand, went with Sanath Jayasuriya for the first game and benefited with 78 points. His trump for the second game was AB de Villiers, who fetched him a handy 130 points. Sambit had said on Sunday that it was important to get his trump picks right if he was to seriously challenge Ian. Looks like he's started off on the right foot.