Ruthless Mumbai march into final
Everything changed in the last five overs of the Mumbai Indians’
innings. The game was in a deadlock at the end of 15 overs with Mumbai
on 107 for 4 - some might have even felt that Royal Challengers
Bangalore held the edge - but things took a dramatic turn from there on.
Saurabh Tiwary hit an enterprising half-century and Kieron Pollard
played a delightful cameo to charge Mumbai to 184 for 5 at the DY Patil
Stadium. It was a bridge too far even for the batting-heavy Bangalore
and they never really threatened to get anywhere close to the target.
The 35-run win took Mumbai to the final, and sealed their
qualification for the Champions League Twenty20 to be held in September.
It was always going to be a difficult chase and things got really
tough for Bangalore in the tenth over with the fall of Robin Uthappa and
Rahul Dravid off successive deliveries.
Bangalore had reached 80 for 2 from nine overs and had already lost
Kevin Pietersen to a smart leg-side stumping by Ambati Rayudu off
Harbhajan Singh; they then suffered the twin blows that effectively
killed the contest. Uthappa was in hot form, collecting 18 runs from
Harbhajan’s over with the help of two thumping sixes, but he dragged a
slower one from Pollard straight to deep midwicket.
Fluent knock
Before Bangalore could recover from that asphyxiating blow, they lost
Dravid, who had played a fluent knock, to a run-out resulting from a
misunderstanding with Ross Taylor. Pollard removed both Virat Kohli and
Manish Pandey and though Taylor hung around for a while, he couldn’t
produce any miracle tonight. Bangalore were left to rue their ordinary
effort in the field in the last five overs where they lost the game.
The game actually changed in character twice during Mumbai’s innings:
first after the first time-out was taken at the end of seven overs, and
second from the 15th over onwards.
Early fall
Mumbai had recovered after the early fall of Sachin Tendulkar,
courtesy an impish knock from Rayudu who counter-attacked initially
before settling down, to reach 62 for 2 in seven overs, but were
gradually choked by the slower bowlers. In the next six overs, before
the second time-out was taken, only 31 runs came with the addition of
two wickets.
Things looked desperate for Mumbai but Tiwary looted 17 runs from the
16th over bowled by Jacques Kallis to turn things around.
The first delivery, a slower one, was swung over the midwicket
boundary; the fourth was bludgeoned to midwicket for a four; and the
fifth ran away to fine-leg boundary via an inside-edge. Mumbai had
broken free and continued to indulge themselves in the end overs. Anil
Kumble, who, before then, had combined well with Pietersen, handed back
the initiative as he conceded 17 runs in the 17th over. It was Tiwary,
again, who did the damage. He made use of a freehit to collect a
boundary to backward square-leg before flat-batting a six to the
straight boundary, as Kumble’s visage grew angrier. It was the image of
the night.
Further boost
Pollard joined in the fun right in the end, with his big lofted
drives, to further boost Mumbai. Pollard pinged the long-off boundary
with two sixes against Vinay Kumar and slugged Dale Steyn over long-on
for another six as Mumbai finished off in style. And so, after 41 days
of non-stop action, Mumbai entered their first final in the three years
of IPL.
Mumbai Indians: 184 for 5 (s Tiwary 52 n.o., A Rayudu 40, Pollard 33
n.o., D Steyn 4 0 43 2 ).
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 149 for 9 (R Taylor 31 n.o., K Pollard
3-17, Lasith Malinga 2-24).
- Cricinfo |