A thrilling high scoring fixture between Kings XI Punjab and Deccan Chargers at Mohali went right down to the wire with the hosts scoring 19 off the final over to stay in contention for the IPL play-offs. Chasing a mammoth 191, Punjab were rocked early, however, despite the tame surrender of their top order, Azhar Mahood and David Hussey put Punjab back on track via a 44 run stand in 5 overs. The masterclass tactician, David Hussey led from the front scoring an undefeated 65 at a splendid strike rate of 185 to push the game to the death. The ice-cool Gurkeerat Singh (29*) stole the limelight from his illustrious skipper, closing out the game with a flurry of fours to fashion Kings XI's first home victory of the season. Gurkeerat hooked the last ball for a boundary and before he knew it he was being mobbed deliriously by his happy team-mates. Earlier in the evening, the Chargers posted a formidable total on the back of fifties from their perennial saviors, Shikhar Dhawan (71) and Cameron White (67).

The Kings XI Punjab fresh from a 4 day break greeted the sorry Deccan Chargers to the Punjab Cricket Association stadium in Mohali for the 61st match of the IPL. Whilst the Deccan Chargers had nothing but pride to play for, the Kings XI Punjab, still in the race for a play offs berth had high stakes going into this clash. Punjab, needing to win their remaining four games to stay afloat in the league started as favorites against the whipping boys of the tournament, the Chargers. The luck of the toss sided with Deccan and Kumar Sangakkara elected to make first use of a pitch that promised to facilitate an even contest between the bat and ball. Both teams rang in a few changes changes.

The Rajasthan Royals produced a near perfect performance to thump the visiting Pune Warriors by 45 runs in Game 60 of the Indian Premier League in Jaipur on Sunday. Half-centuries from Shane Watson (58) and Ajinkya Rahane (61) helped Rajasthan post a commanding 170/4 in their 20 overs. Pune's response was rocked early on by a hat-trick from rookie spinner Ajit Chandila, the first of this season. The Warriors never really recovered and capitulated to 125/9 in their 20 overs with man of the match Chandila eventually ending with four wickets. The win keeps Rajasthan's slender hopes of making it to the knock-out rounds alive, while condemning the Pune Warriors to their eighth successive  defeat.

Needing three wins from their last three games to stay in contention for a play-off spot, the Rajasthan Royals could not have hoped for better guests than the Pune Warriors, who had lost 7 in a row coming into Sunday afternoon's fixture. The big news out in the middle was that Sourav Ganguly had returned to the side after having 'rested' in the last fixture. The spin of the coin though went his old friend's way with Rahul Dravid winning the toss and opting to make first use of what looked like a belter of a pitch.

The MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk once a fortress for the Chennai Super Kings has been under serious seige all summer. In an effort to rectify that anomaly the Chennai Super Kings decided to field first on winning the toss against the table topping Delhi Daredevils. The decision paid off handsomely as the Super Kings routed the Delhi top order, reducing them to 24/4 inside 6 overs with Ben Hilfenhaus picking up 3 quick wickets. Delhi never really recovered from the early debacle, and posted a paltry 114/5 in their 20 overs. Chennai made quick work of the target, getting to it in just 15.2 overs courtesy some handy contributions from Murali Vijay (48), Michael Hussey (38) and Suresh Raina (28). The win keeps Chennai in the race for 4th place, while Delhi continue to be top of the table courtesy of Kolkata's loss earlier in the day.

Chennai made just one change to the side that stunned the Rajasthan Royals in their last game, bringing back Shadab Jakati for the impressive Yo Mahesh. The Delhi Daredevils also made a few changes, the most notable being giving Roleof van der Merwe a rare game on a surface that was likely to offer him some support.

A super century from Mumbai's Rohit Sharma was the difference between the two sides as the Indians crushed the Kolkata Knight Riders by 27 runs at the Eden Gardens on Saturday evening. Batting first, Mumbai recovered from losing Sachin Tendulkar early to post a daunting 182/1 courtesy of 167 run unbeaten partnership between Sharma (109*) and Herschelle Gibbs (66). The Knight Riders also lost early wickets, including the crucial one of Gautam Gambhir, and despite Jacques Kallis posting a useful 79, his two partnerships with Manoj Tiwary (27) and Yusuf Pathan (40*) failed to do enough to alter the outcome. The result moves Mumbai back into third place with 16 points, a point and a place behind Kolkata. With the top two sides in the table going into a qualifier and third and fourth into an eliminator round, there is a massive incentive for both teams to try and finish above each other and take full toll of the three remaining games.

A typical Eden Gardens wicket greeted the travelling Mumbai Indians as Hrabhajan Singh and his merry men made their way over to Kolkata for this top of the table clash. The spin of the coin went Mumbai's way and as expected they opted to make first use of the pitch. Both teams made two changes each with Herschelle Gibbs getting his first knock of the tournament having recovered from his finger injury, coming in for James Franklin, while Munaf Patel returning for RP Singh on a deck unlikely to aid swing bowlers. Kolkata meanwhile were forced to drop Brendon McCullum just when he  had started to find some form due to injury, with Manvinder Bisla coming in to don the gloves while Shakib Al Hasan got a rare game.

A red-hot Kolkata Knight Riders face a struggling Mumbai Indians outfit at Kolkata in the early start on Saturday, the 12th of May. It is a crucial encounter for both teams, with Kolkata looking to reclaim top spot with a win while Mumbai are looking to bounce back after a smarting they received at the hands of Bangalore in their home game two days ago.

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A win should pull Mumbai away from the mad scramble going on for the 4th spot, while a victory for Gautam Gambhir's team will all but ensure their place in the top four.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore catapulted themselves up to third in the Indian Premier League points table with a convincing 35 run victory over a poor Pune Warriors side on Friday night. The Warriors, who were already out of the reckoning for the play-offs this season lost their seventh game on the trot and should this run continue they may well find themselves in a final day battle to avoid picking up the wooden spoon. The match itself was a completely one-sided contest with half-centuries from Chris Gayle (57) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (53) helping RCB post a challenging total of 173. That proved to be 35 too many for the Pune Warriors who struggled to 138/9 at the end of their 20 overs. Two wickets in the first over from Zaheer Khan instantly derailed their chase, and with wickets continuing to fall at regular intervals the Warriors were never really in the contest.

There had been calls for former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly to hang up his pads at the end of the season after a poor campaign with the bat, and the Pune owners expressed in midweek that they were keen to give some of the squad's fringe players an opportunity to impress. That manifested in Steve Smith being appointed interim captain with Ganguly 'rested' for this game. Mohnish Mishra replaced Sourav at the top of the order, while Rahul Sharma and Alfonso Thomas returned to bolster the bowling unit.

A low-scoring thriller at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium was the perfect Thursday night fare as the Chennai Super Kings came, saw and conquered Fortress Jaipur to land a massive blow to Rajasthan's play-off chances. Rain and damp conditions made the toss absolutely crucial, and the game appeared to be half won when Chennai Skipper MS Dhoni called right and put the Royals in. Rajasthan battled their way to 126/6 with Brad Hodge (33) and Stuart Binny (27) the only two real contributors after man of the match Ben Hilfenhaus had rocked the Rajasthan top order early by removing bigwigs Rahul Dravid and Shane Watson. Chennai proceeded to make a mess of their chase, sliding to 84/6 in 16.2 overs to leave them needing an unlikely 43 to win from 22 balls. However, some belligerent hitting from Albie Morkel and Anirudha Srikkanth saw the visitors cruise home with exactly half of those deliveries to spare. The win propels Chennai back into the top 4, and while the Royals will take heart from the fact that they did not play poorly, it is the wins and not how they come which really count at this stage of the season.

There were changes to the starting eleven for both sides with illness relegating the Chennai duo of Faf du Plessis and Subramaniam Badrinath to the bench and giving an opportunity to Michael Hussey and Anirudha Srikkanth in their stead. Shadab Jakati, who has had an indifferent tournament this season also made way for Yo Mahesh. Rajasthan also made a couple of changes with a seamer in Pankaj Singh coming in for Ankeet Chavan, while Brad Hodge returned from injury to take the place of Owais Shah.

A 189 run second wicket partnership between centurion David Warner (109) and Naman Ojha (64) powered the Delhi Daredevils to an emphatic 9 wicket win against the Deccan Chargers with 20 balls to spare. The Deccan bowling shorn of all its international stars had no answer to the Warner assault as the Australian opener made a complete mockery of a very competitive 188 run target made possible by an excellent effort with the bat from Shikhar Dhawan (84) and Cameron White (65). The win takes Delhi back to the top of the IPL points table and all but assures them of a play-off spot with 4 games to spare.

The Delhi Daredevils made the trip to Hyderabad today hoping to regain top spot in the Indian Premier League points table when they took on the favourites for the wooden spoon, the Deccan Chargers. Despite their place at the bottom of the League, the Chargers have seldom been blown away by other teams in the competition and would have been hoping to give a good account of themselves when the Dardevils came calling. Delhi made a couple of forced changes with injuries to Ross Taylor and Umesh Yadav giving a rare opportunity to West Indian allrounder Andre Russell and Venugopal Rao. Deccan also fiddled with the line-up with JP Duminy, Ankit Sharma, Manpreet Gony and TP Sudhindra all coming back into the side with Juan Theron the most notable absentee.