WALDRON GRAIN & FUEL

05/10 15:13 CDT Bengaluru beats Mumbai in last-ball finish in IPL, Patel hits 13-ball 50 for Chennai Bengaluru beats Mumbai in last-ball finish in IPL, Patel hits 13-ball 50 for Chennai RAIPUR, India (AP) --- Krunal Pandya overcame cramps to hit 73 runs off 46 balls as Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Mumbai Indians by two wickets in a tense last-ball finish on Sunday in the Indian Premier League. Pandya took Bengaluru from 39-3 to 149-7 on a day when bowlers dominated in Raipur. Mumbai lost its nerve in the final over and was knocked out of contention from this season. Tilak Varma's 57 had helped Mumbai reach 166-7 in 20 overs after losing the toss and being asked to bat first. Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked up 4-23 in four overs. In reply, Deepak Chahar's 2-33 and Corbin Bosch's 4-26 had Bengaluru in trouble but, helped by Pandya, it reached 167-8 in 20 overs. With 15 needed off six balls, Raj Bawa's eventful last over included four wides, a no ball, a six, and the wicket of Romario Shepherd. Rasikh Salam grabbed two runs off the last ball, just making it back to the crease. The win takes defending champions Bengaluru to the top of the points' table -- 14 points from 11 games, rebounding from two successive losses. Mumbai is ninth with eight defeats from 11 games and can't advance.

Patel's record In the day's other game at Chennai, Urvil Patel hit a record-equaling 13-ball 50 and Shivam Dube smashed two sixes in the final over of the match as Chennai Super Kings beat Lucknow Super Giants by five wickets. Patel was out for 65 runs off 23 deliveries, including eight sixes, in a high-scoring game where both teams topped 200. Patel scored his first IPL half-century as Chennai finished with 208-5 in 19.2 overs in reply to Lucknow's 203-8. Yashasvi Jaiswal hit a 13-ball IPL 50 for Rajasthan Royals against Kolkata Knight Riders in 2023.

Battle of pacers in Raipur Raipur, where Bengaluru is playing two home games this season, provided ample support for pacers. Kumar struck three times in the powerplay -- twice in the third over -- to have Mumbai reeling at 28-3. In-form Ryan Rickelton was out caught for two. Rohit Sharma made 22 off 10 balls before he was caught behind. Skipper Suryakumar Yadav was caught at slip for a golden duck. Dhir and Verma then added 82 off 57 balls to rescue Mumbai's innings, which saw 53-3 from the powerplay. Verma scored 50 off 37 balls to anchor the innings. Overall, he hit three fours and two sixes. Dhir scored 47 off 32 balls with two sixes, and he was bowled in the 13th over. Mumbai's innings didn't gather any momentum at the end with Will Jacks (10), Bawa (16) and Corbin Bosch (5 not out) failing to get going. Chahar responded to Kumar's opening spell with double blows in the powerplay -- Virat Kohli was caught for a golden duck, while impact sub Devdutt Padikkal made 12. Bengaluru was 24-2 in three overs and got only 47-3 from the powerplay. Bosch claimed skipper Rajat Patidar (8) in the sixth over. Krunal Pandya, at number five, then added 55 off 42 balls with Jacob Bethell (27), and revived the innings. Bosch broke this partnership as well with Bethell caught in the 13th over. But Bengaluru's innings had sped up thanks to Pandya -- he hit 50 off 32 balls with four fours and two sixes. Jitesh Sharma's cameo (18) helped out with 37 off 22 balls. Pandya suffered cramps and that affected his footwork, so he decided to hit out. He hit three more sixes, and survived a dropped chance at the boundary, before being caught at the boundary in the 18th over. It left 18 off 12 balls with Bumrah giving away only three runs to set up a thrilling finish.

Lucknow posts challenging target Impact player Prashant Veer survived two dropped catches, hitting 17 not out off 12 balls with two sixes, while Dube held his nerve in the final over when Chennai needed 10 off six balls. Earlier, Jamie Overton took 3-36 in four overs. Josh Inglis hit 85 off 33 to wage a lone top-order battle, while Shahbaz Ahmed helped Lucknow post a challenging target. It was a sixth win for five-time champion Chennai in 11 games -- and third straight -- as it rose to fifth in the points' table. For Lucknow, it was an eighth loss in 11 games and it stayed bottom of the table. Put into bat, Lucknow started well despite losing Mitchell Marsh (10) early. Inglis hit a first half-century for his new team -- off only 17 balls. It was Inglis' fastest half-century in his T20 career, and overall he hit six sixes and 10 fours as Lucknow scored 91-1 in the powerplay.

Chennai's chase Sanju Samson hit 28 off 14 with two sixes and three fours to start off the chase as Chennai scored 97-1 in the powerplay. Patel and skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad (42) added 81 off 34 balls for the second wicket. Patel raced to his half-century, hitting seven sixes, as Chennai looked to win in a hurry. Ahmed struck back with the ball too, dismissing both set batters in the space of three overs as Chennai slipped to 149-3 in 12.5 overs. It was still ahead of the asking rate, and the middle order kept pushing for runs but Kartik Sharma (20) and Dewald Brevis (10) couldn't convert their starts. Wrist spinner Digvesh Rathi took 2-45 but dropped two catches, while Pooran dropped one. Veer was dropped twice in the penultimate over bowled by Avesh Khan. With 30 needed off the last three overs, Veer and Dube saw Chennai home. It was Chennai's first successful 200-plus chase since 2018. ___ AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket