BANGALORE, India, (Reuters) – Sachin Tendulkar once again carried his bat through in the Indian Premier League (IPL) yesterday as the Mumbai Indians romped to their second win in a row while Rajasthan Royals also kept up their winning run.
Mumbai Indians captain Tendulkar followed up his unbeaten 46 against Delhi Daredevils last week with a 55 not out as Mumbai chased down the 140-4 posted by Royal Challengers Bangalore with nine wickets to spare. Ambati Rayudu smashed 63 not out.
Daniel Vettori-led Bangalore, who were asked to bat first, struggled to get momentum after losing early wickets and needed a 91-run third wicket stand between Tillakaratne Dishan (59 not out) and AB de Villiers (38) to bail them out.
But it proved too little in the end as Tendulkar and Rayudu matched each other in brilliant strokeplay and added 110 for the unbroken second wicket to reach the target with nine balls to spare.
Tendulkar was named the player of the match but he decided to split the award with the 25-year-old Rayudu, who hit nine boundaries in his 50-ball knock.
Rajasthan Royals, led by Australian Shane Warne, beat Delhi Daredevils by six wickets and with nine balls to spare while chasing a challenging 152-run target at home in Jaipur.
Daredevils, led by Virender Sehwag, were reduced to 36 for four after they opted to bat first, with Warne and his fellow Australian Shaun Tait sharing two wickets apiece.
David Warner (54) and Venugopal Rao (60) added 83 for the fifth wicket to take the total past 150 but it still did not help the Delhi side, who slumped to their second defeat in as many matches.
South African Johan Botha remained not out on 39 to add to his unbeaten 67 in the first match and knocked off the runs with an useful contribution from Rahul Dravid (38).