Yusuf Pathan. That was the only name on people’s lips at the Brabourne Stadium after the Rajasthan Royals batsman’s belligerent knock, which saw him score the tournament’s fastest hundred (off just 37 balls).
The day may have been sunny for most, but the Mumbai Indians team and their fans must be drenched after the Yusuf Pathan thunderstorm hit them hard. Later, a tense last over saw them sweating it out before winning by a hair’s breadth.
The match between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals was all that IPL is about. Huge totals, a nail-biting finish, youngsters shining through, a belligerent batsman in the form of Yusuf Pathan and a bowler keeping his nerve to win the match for his team.
The Royals needed 12 off the last over and Malinga was handed the ball. Malinga was the hero of the day for Mumbai Indians as he managed to keep his nerve and help Mumbai Indians win by 4 runs. He affected a run-out of Dogra off the first ball and then took the wicket of Amit Uniyal. Six were needed off the last ball and a great yorker by Mascarenhas conceded just a single.
The Royals stumbled at the beginning of their innings losing wickets at regular intervals and only started to look as if they had a chance when Yusuf Pathan came to the crease. Rajasthan Royals were all but out of the game when they were 66 for 4 after 9.2 overs.
Yusuf Pathan doesn’t believe in following the script and surrendering meekly. Though his side was in trouble when he came in, he was his usual cavalier self hitting sixes and fours in a belligerent fashion. It was Yusuf all the way for a while for the Rajasthan Royals with the older Pathan hitting an unbelievable eight sixes and nine boundaries during his hundred, which came from just 37 balls.
In Paras Dogra, Shane Warne has also found an unlikely star. He mentioned the youngster during the toss and the Himachal Pradesh lad proved his captain right with a great cameo but couldn’t unfortunately carry his bat through to seal a victory for his team.
Earlier, Sachin Tendulkar’s decision to bat first was spot on with the Mumbai Indians putting up a huge total for Rajasthan Royals to chase. Shane Warne experimented by opening the bowling with Dmitri Mascarenhas. But Mascarenhas’ gentle medium pace allowed Sanath Jayasuriya to get off to a great start with the Sri Lankan opener smashing three fours in the very first over. Jayasuriya, along with his skipper Sachin Tendulkar, got the team off to a flier scoring 70 off just 6.3 overs.
But the team suffered a minor collapse before Ambati Rayudu (55: 33b, 6x4, 2x6) joined forces with the youngster from Jharkhand Saurabh Tiwary (53: 33b, 4x4, 2x6) to rescue Mumbai Indians. The duo took the Mumbai team to their highest total in the tournament, adding 110 runs from 63 balls. The youngsters never looked in pressure despite having lost the team’s batting stalwarts: Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar. There was some curiosity about the under-utilisation of Kamran Khan, but overall the young Mumbai Indians did a good job.
Australian paceman Shaun Tait couldn’t deliver on this day going for 46 runs from his four overs. Despite being hit in his first over, Mascarenhas had the last laugh taking the wickets of Tendulkar and Aditya Tare.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment