Chennai Super Kings played the smarter cricket and deservingly won the IPL Cup by defeating fancied Mumbai Indians by 22 runs at the packed DY Patil Stadium.

Batting first after winning the toss, the Super Kings shrugged off a slow start as “Player of the Match” Suresh Raina (57 not out), dropped twice, led from the front to pile up 168 for five and then turned in some brilliant performance in the field to restrict Mumbai Indians to 146 for nine.

The much-heralded Mumbai batting line-up caved in under pressure despite a brave 48 by skipper Sachin Tendulkar and big-hitting by Kieron Pollard (27 off 10) even as the Super Kings took some brilliant catches with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni yet again spot-on with his field placements and bowling changes.

Apart from Raina, there were quite a few other heroes for the Super Kings. Spinners Muttiah Muralitharan (17 runs in four overs), Shadab Jakati (2 for 26 from three) and Ravichandran Ashwin (24 in four) and later, seamers Albie Morkel and Doug Bollinger, all chipped in at the right moment to author a historic victory for the Super Kings who had finished runners-up in 2008.

The other factor that tilted the scales in the Super Kings, who also won the Fair Play trophy, favour was the team composition, besides of course their superior fielding. The Chennai outfit kept their faith in their three specialist spinners and held their catches.

The Mumbai Indians went in with just one in Harbhajan Singh while opting for an overly pace attack that was not as effective on a pitch that grew progressively slower.

The home team, faced with a big target, never got into their stride despite a promising second wicket partnership between Tendulkar and Abhishek Nayar who put on 66 runs. But Nayar committed a blunder attempting a non-existing single and was run out. The rot well and truly set in at that point.

Later, despite Tendulkar farming the bowling, wickets fell at the other end. The spinners came into their own with Ashwin up front followed by Muralitharan and Jakati, who dismissed Tendulkar and the dangerous Saurabh Tiwary in one over, doing the bulk of damage.

The Mumbai Indians kept back the powerful Pollard and when he came into bat, the asking rate had climbed to over 15. He blasted some massive hits, but it was all too little too late and he eventually fell to a brilliant catch by Matthew Hayden who thus atoned for a dropped chance earlier in the evening.

The turning point of course was Jakati’s third and the 15th over of the innings when he removed Tendulkar and Tiwary. Thereafter, the rest of the batsmen, barring Pollard, were simply not up to the task and although Pollard took 22 off Bollinger in the 18th over, his exit signaled the end of the Mumbai Indians’ challenge.

Super Kings did well not to look the gift horse in the mouth when they batted. The going in the initial overs was rather painful and scratchy despite a few big hits by the two openers, Murali Vijay and Hayden who looked distinctly out of depth.

In fact, Hayden was lucky to survive a plumb leg-before decision early in his innings, but even otherwise, was unconvincing. At the other end, Vijay batted quite beautifully until he tried to break the shackles and departed in the eighth over.

Hayden followed his partner back into the dugout, miscuing a big hit. Subramaniam Badrinath did not stay long and with the runs all but dried up, he too fell trying to force the pace and the Super Kings were reduced to 67 for three in the 12th over.

In walked skipper Dhoni and almost immediately set about repairing the damage. Raina, meanwhile, lived a charmed life, being dropped when on 13 and 28 and the Mumbai Indians were to pay a heavy price for these lapses.

The pair went on at a good clip to add 72 runs for the fourth wicket before Dhoni fell in the 18th over trying to maintain the brisk pace.

At this stage, the Super Kings still did not have enough runs on the board, but Raina and Albie Morkel came up with some big hits to push the score along. However, just when the partnership appeared to be flourishing, Morkel was run out attempting a bye in the final over.

Lasith Malinga sent down two dot balls to Raina and off the third, the southpaw batsman attempted a suicidal bye that caught Morkel well short of the crease. Another dot ball followed to new man Anirudha Srikkanth and then five wides. Anirudha hit the fifth legal ball to the boundary and finished the innings with a two.

Thus, a total of 168 gave the Super Kings lots to play with after looking hopelessly out of the contest in the first 10 overs when they scored a mere 59 runs.

Source: Yahoo News

Everything changed in the last five overs of the Mumbai Indians’ innings. The game was in a dead-lock 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 changed dramatically from then on. Saurabh Tiwary hit an enterprising fifty and Kieron Pollard played a delightful cameo to charge Mumbai to a strong 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.

It was always going to be a difficult chase and things really got really tough for Bangalore in the tenth over with the fall of Robin Uthappa and Rahul Dravid in 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, when they suffered the twin blows that effectively killed the contest. Uthappa was in hot form, having just collected 18 runs from Harbhajan’s over with the help of two thumping sixes, when he dragged a slower one straight to deep midwicket.

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. And though Taylor hung around for a while, he couldn’t produce any minor 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. Mumbai had recovered after the early fall of Sachin Tendulkar, courtesy a impish knock from Ambati Rayudu who counterattacked initially before settling down, to reach 62 for 2 in seven overs, but were gradually choked by the onset of 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 when 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 a inside-edge. Mumbai had broken free and continued to indulge themselves in the end overs.

Ironically, Anil Kumble, who until then had combined well with Pietersen, who found spin and hence the respect from the batsmen, to restrict Mumbai, was to give 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 free hit 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.

Pollard joined in the fun right in the end, with his big lofted drives, to further push Mumbai on. 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 enter their first final in the three years of IPL.

Sriram Veera is a staff writer at Cricinfo

Kolkata Knight Riders registered a consolation nine-wicket victory against a second-string Mumbai Indians side in the last IPL 3 league match at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Monday.

Kolkata beat Mumbai in IPL for the first time ever by chasing down the low victory target of 134 runs with 15 balls to spare with Brendon McCullum hitting an unbeaten 57 off 56 balls with the help of 8 fours.

McCullum’s fifty came soon after Sourav Ganguly (42) was dismissed by Rajagopal Sathish breaking the 97-run stand between the two KKR openers.

Ganguly and McCullum gave KKR a good start to their run chase putting up a 50-run stand in 7 overs.

Earlier, Shane Bond and Murali Kartik took 2 wickets each as Kolkata restricted Mumbai to 133/8.

Mumbai reached 133 thanks to a 15-ball 27 by Ambati Rayudu but it could not prevent them from registering their lowest IPL total against Kolkata.

Kartik took his second wicket when he had Dwayne Bravo stumped by Wriddhiman Saha to reduce Mumbai to 89/5.

Jean-Paul Duminy and Saurabh Tiwary added 63 runs for the third wicket before they were dismissed in successive overs as Mumbai were reduced to 77/4.

Tiwary top scored for Mumbai hitting a six and 4 fours in his 37-ball 46 before Kartik had him caught by Brendon McCullum at mid-wicket.

Shane Bond dismissed Aditya Tare and Shikhar Dhawan in successive overs as Mumbai got off to a poor start.

Bond first struck on the fifth ball of the match when he had Tare caught by Murali Kartik in front of square by a short delivery.

In his next over, Bond had Dhawan caught behind by wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha by another short delivery to reduce Mumbai to 14/2.

This was after stand-in Mumbai Indians captain Bravo won the toss and elected to bat.

Mumbai have made quite a few changes to their side as Sachin Tendulkar, Kieron Pollard, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and Abhishek Nayar have been rested. Shikhar Dhawan, Dwayne Bravo, R Satish, Ali Murtaza and Stuart Binny are the replacements. Kolkata have made two changes to their team as Chris Gayle and Laxmi Ratan Shukla make way for David Hussey and Wriddhiman Saha.

Teams:

Mumbai Indians: Dwayne Bravo (Capt.), Aditya Tare, Ryan McLaren, Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Saurabh Tiwary, Jean-Paul Duminy, Rajagopal Sathish, Stuart Binny, Ali Murtaza, Dilhara Fernando.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Sourav Ganguly (Capt.), Brendon McCullum, Manoj Tiwary, David Hussey, Angelo Mathews, Cheteshwar Pujara, Wriddhiman Saha, Jaydev Unadkat, Murali Kartik, Ashok Dinda, Shane Bond.

Source: Times Of India

Kieron Pollard took three wickets as Mumbai Indians beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 57 runs in their IPL clash at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.

Chasing a stiff victory target of 192, Bangalore were never in the game losing wickets at regular intervals.

The hosts got off to a poor start as they lost openers Manish Pandey and Jacques Kallis in successive overs with 31 runs on the board.

Zaheer Khan took a good catch as Dilhara Fernando dismissed Manish Pandey to give Mumbai Indians the first breakthrough.

In the next over, Kallis edged a Ryan McLaren onto his stumps.

Harbhajan Singh then dismissed Rahul Dravid and Kevin Pietersen in successive overs to reduce Bangalore to 72/4.

Bangalore effectively lost the match when Pollard dismissed Robin Uthappa to pin down the hosts to 74/5.

Earlier, Mumbai Indians top order powered their team to an imposing 191/4.

Jean-Paul Duminy top scored for his team with an unbeaten 42 that came off 19 balls and was studded with 3 sixes and 3 fours.

Duminy’s swashbuckling knock came after Kieron Pollard and Ryan McLaren were dismissed in successive overs.

McLaren hit a 42-ball 40 before falling lbw to Kevin Pietersen in the over after Bangalore captain Anil Kumble trapped Pollard plumb in front of the wicket. Pollard hit 20 runs off 7 balls and smashed 3 consecutive sixes off Pankaj Singh.

Ambati Rayudu hit 4 sixes and 3 fours in his 27-ball 46 after the dismissal of his captain Sachin Tendulkar before being dismissed by Jacques Kallis.

Ross Taylor took a good catch at deep mid-wicket to give Kallis his first wicket in the form of Tendulkar.

Tendulkar’s dismissal came after Royal Challengers Bangalore bowled and fielded well to deny Mumbai Indians a brisk start.

Tendulkar hit 3 fours in his 18-ball 19 after Kumble won the toss and opted to bowl.

Teams:

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Anil Kumble (Capt.), Jacques Kallis, Manish Pandey, Kevin Pietersen, Robin Uthappa, Ross Taylor, Virat Kohli, Rahul Dravid, R Vinay Kumar, Pankaj Singh, Dale Steyn.

Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar (Capt.), Ryan McLaren, Aditya Tare, Saurabh Tiwary, Ambati Rayudu, Jean-Paul Duminy, Kieron Pollard, Abhishek Nayar, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Dilhara Fernando.

Kieron Pollard finally lived up to his bumper signing with a brutal innings that undermined what, for the most part, had been a spirited performance from Delhi’s bowlers and confirmed Mumbai’s place in the final four. His 13-ball 45, laced with five sixes, powered Mumbai to a challenging score to which Delhi, despite their power-paced line-up, simply failed to measure up. The 39-run defeat leaves Delhi tied on 12 points from 12 games with at least three other teams, leaving no margin for error hereafter in their aim to reach the semi-final.

On a track that was aiding movement, spin and bounce, Delhi, who had kept Mumbai on a leash for much of their innings, faltered badly at the death. And when David Warner and Virender Sehwag had blazed away in their chase, they squandered the early edge despite reprieves offered by Mumbai’s fielders.

In what proved to be the match-turning event, Gautam Gambhir bestowed medium-pacer Andrew McDonald with the responsibility of bowling the last over of Mumbai’s innings. Facing him was Pollard, who had looked adept against pace but lacked conviction against the spin of Sarabjit Ladda, whom he had edged and miscued in his previous over. Mumbai, despite their acceleration, could still have ended with a below-par total but McDonald doled out two full tosses and a short delivery that were dismissed for sixes in an over that fetched 25, and increased Mumbai’s tally in the last five to 75.

Warner had redressed the damage somewhat, by putting Delhi’s chase on course at the start. He targeted Zaheer Khan in the second over, taking his right foot out of the way and hammering two fours and six and followed up by smacking Dilhara Fernando for consecutive fours before being undone by his go-to ball, the split-finger slower delivery.

The same delivery almost accounted for Sehwag, who was dropped by Ali Murtaza, and when Gambhir was let off by Pollard in the sixth over, it appeared Mumbai would struggle to defend their target. The pair had begun the IPL on a high, playing crucial roles in enabling Delhi take an early lead in the tournament, but their performances had tapered off thereafter. The track had slowed down but had little to do with both their dismissals, which followed in quick succession. Gambhir spooned a catch back to Harbhajan Singh, and a misunderstanding, and the consequent run-out, ended Sehwag’s stay in the eighth over.

Delhi had raced to 69 at the end of the Powerplay, their highest this IPL, but lost five wickets for 22 runs in 31 balls to drift out of contention. Murtaza made up for his lapse in the field by snaring AB de Villiers and Dinesh Karthik with arm balls, and Pollard, who had helped run Sehwag out, added one more, getting rid of Paul Collingwood.

The capitulation did little justice to what had been, for the most part, a disciplined effort from Delhi’s bowlers. Tight lines and largely accurate lengths, backed up by some movement and bounce, ensured the big shots were kept at bay for most of the innings.

There were only two intended boundaries struck in the Powerplay, as Tendulkar opted for a game of steady building and leaving enough ammunition in store for the late surge. Tendulkar looked busy during his innings, driving Amit Mishra inside out and attempting to late-cut and paddle McDonald. Despite the steady progress, the boundaries were cut off, and he was caught at extra cover. Mumbai, at the halfway stage in their innings, had limped to 66 for 2, their slowest start in the tournament.

Ambati Rayudu and Saurabh Tiwary, Mumbai’s finds this tournament, showed more desperation, breaking a 28-ball boundary drought. Tiwary was the more aggressive, smoking two sixes and a four before being deceived by a slower delivery from Sangwan to be bowled.

But the much-needed release came in the 16th over, as JP Duminy scored three consecutive fours off Mishra, and Pollard mixed craftiness with power at the death, mistiming a ball for six and scooping Nehra over the ropes behind fine leg. Aiming for the blockhole, Delhi’s bowlers often erred, gifting full tosses that were treated aptly by Pollard, and his assault on McDonald more than compensated for Mumbai’s travails for much of the innings.

Siddhartha Talya is an editorial assistant at Cricinfo

Sachin Tendulkar shored up Mumbai Indians yet again, steering them into the semi-final with his fifth half-century of the IPL that took him to the top of the run-charts in the tournament. He overcame a strong start from Rajasthan Royals by building two crucial partnerships: the first with JP Duminy to lead Mumbai’s recovery after the loss of three early wickets, and the second with Kieron Pollard to accelerate at the end. That effort was backed up by a clinical performance from Mumbai’s bowlers which left Rajasthan at fourth place on the points table, and inflicted on them their first defeat in nine games in Jaipur.

While their chase seemed doomed to fail after four wickets in the first seven overs, Rajasthan will look back at two phases in the game where Mumbai could have been restricted. They grabbed three wickets in the Powerplay, but failed to keep up the pressure amid a determined rebuilding endeavour by Tendulkar and Duminy. And they performed poorly in the field, with Adam Voges missing an easy opportunity to run out Pollard off his first ball, and Aditya Dole dropping a sitter off Tendulkar when on 45. The lapses cost Rajasthan dearly, as the pair helped plunder 65 off the last five overs to lift Mumbai to a score that proved way out of Rajasthan’s reach.

Tendulkar faced just 12 deliveries in Mumbai’s Powerplay, but adapted superbly, restraining himself while ensuring a healthy rate after the early setbacks and taking off with ease at the death against Rajasthan’s seamers. Shane Watson removed Jayasuriya in his first over, and followed up by dismissing the finds for Mumbai this season, Ambati Rayudu and Saurabh Tiwary, using the bouncer, a weapon used with much success against local batsmen. But Duminy proved a suitable foil for Tendulkar, and the pair worked the field, picked the singles by calling well and accumulated 30 runs in five overs after the Powerplay by stroking just one boundary.

There was hardly anything for the Jaipur crowd to cheer thereafter, but franchise loyalties mattered little in a Shane Warne v Tendulkar contest that fans were deprived of in the previous encounter between the teams. Tendulkar came up trumps today, with three delightful boundaries in one over against his counterpart. Warne was the only Rajasthan spinner to rely on flight, and Tendulkar improvised twice by striking him inside-out through extra cover. And when Warne dropped one short, Tendulkar made room to cut him through point.

Rajasthan would have sensed a chance once they broke the 63-run stand between Duminy and Tendulkar in the 13th over, but mistakes in the field and some indisciplined bowling at the death cost them. The seamers often bowled too short and when varying their pace, pitched the ball on a length which Tendulkar and Pollard were able to feed off with ease. Pollard began the surge with a slapped four off Dole in the 16th over and clipping Watson through fine leg in the next. He singled out Dole for treatment, smashing him for a six and a four off consecutive deliveries before being bowled to end a 50-run stand.

Tendulkar’s acceleration was more calculated. He had picked out his spots in the field and it didn’t help Rajasthan that their bowlers gave him ample opportunity to find them. With a mid-on inside the circle in the penultimate over, Watson bowled short and was hammered over that fielder for two consecutive fours. When Siddharth Trivedi came on next, Tendulkar targeted the wide long-on region for two successive sixes and finished off with 20 in the final over. The only moment of promise in Rajasthan’s chase was when Michael Lumb struck Dhawal Kulkarni for two fours in the second over, before slashing one straight to point. Zaheer Khan was the best of the Mumbai bowlers, nipping the ball away from the batsmen and clocking in excess of 140 kph and earned his reward when opener Naman Ojha edged one to slip.

While Rajasthan were generous in the field, Mumbai didn’t waste their chances as Shane Watson and Faiz Fazal were run-out after responding late to calls from their partners. All hopes rested on Yusuf Pathan but there were no miracles this time, and when he was caught in the 14th over with the score on 85, Rajasthan’s fate was sealed.

After undermining Rajasthan’s early advantage in the match, and winning his own mini-battle with their captain Warne, Tendulkar’s domination was the defining feature of Mumbai’s comprehensive win.

Siddhartha Talya is an editorial assistant at Cricinfo

Kumar Sangakkara led from the front as tournament laggards Kings XI Punjab showed rare form to humble table-toppers Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an Indian Premier League match on Friday.

Already out of IPL’s semi-final race, the Punjab side effected as many as five changes in their squad and the intensity showed as they bowled with a purpose and batted sensibly to record only their third win in 11 outings.

For them, Piyush Chawla (3/24) silenced the Mumbai top guns, including Sachin Tendulkar, while Irfan Pathan (3/29) dented the middle order to restrict the visitors to a modest 154 for nine. Five of the visiting batsmen were bowled, most in an IPL match.

For Mumbai, JP Duminy (35), Ambati Rayudu (33) and Tendulkar (29) chipped in with useful cameos but the Kings XI bowlers never really allowed them to go ballistic.

And the Punjab side showed the same alacrity with the bat.

Mahela Jayawardene (31 of 18 balls) gave them a flying start and Adrian Barath (33) provided the solidity while skipper Kumar Sangakkara (56 of 42 balls) stayed put till the penultimate over as the home side cruised to 158 for four in 19.2 overs.

Yuvraj Singh’s struggle to wriggle out of a prolonged bad patch, however, continued with the left-hander getting out at a time when victory looked far from a certainty.

It was Jayawardene’s brisk knock which set the tone for Punjab’s chase.

Jayawardene opened his account with back-to-back fours off Ryan McLaren, a treatment he meted out to Zaheer Khan and Lasith Malinga before Malinga removed the right-hander.

Barath and Sangakkara, however, kept going. Barath hit Harbhajan Singh over long on ropes for a six before Duminy trapped him leg before and Yuvraj too left when his team needed him most.

Sangakkara, however, batted with characteristic nonchalance, helping himself to the occasional boundaries that kept coming.

Sangakkara hit Duminy over his head for a six and then hit Zaheer for a boundary to complete his half-century before Malinga removed him in the 19th over.

The match was heading for a close finish but Irfan Pathan (15 not out) maintained his calm to complete the formality with four balls to spare.

Earlier, Piyush Chawla and Irfan Pathan shared six wickets between them as a lowly Kings XI Punjab restricted formidable Mumbai Indians to a modest 154 for nine.

Opting to bat first, the Mumbai outfit showed rare batting frailty and lost wickets at regular intervals before useful cameos from JP Duminy (35), Ambati Rayudu (33) and skipper Sachin Tendulkar (29) guided them to a modest total.

Pathan removed Shikhar Dhawan (2) with his first delivery to rattle Mumbai but the 44-run stand between Tendulkar and Rayudu, who was the more aggressive of the duo, helped them tide over the early crisis.

Rayudu was harsh on Brett Lee and Pathan, hitting the left-arm seamer for three boundaries in the sixth over before Chawla castled him in the next.

In his next over, Chawla removed the dangerous Saurabh Tiwari (4) and he maintained the trend in his third over as well, castling Tendulkar with a straight delivery.

Pathan then chipped in to cut short R Sathish’s (20) stay and also removed Kieron Pollard (18) before the towering all-rounder could get dangerous.

Even though wickets kept tumbling at one end, Duminy in his IPL 3 debut played sensible cricket, staying put at one end.

The South African left-hander stepped across and flicked Brett Lee for a breathtaking six, having hit Ramesh Powar earlier in his innings.

The Mumbai Indians made a mess of the final over, losing three wickets, including that of Duminy who was run out in the final delivery, and managing just four runs.

Source: Times of India

Chennai Super Kings completed a sweep of their three-match home leg after the Mumbai Indians’ batting fell apart in a rash of poor strokes following Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement due to dehydration. On a track where 467 runs were plundered three days ago, boundaries were hard to come by and, despite being hampered by dew, Chennai easily defended their moderate total.

Tendulkar was on his haunches and breathing heavily as early as the fourth over of the chase. However, he and Shikhar Dhawan provided their customary solid start, hitting a four an over in the Powerplay to take Mumbai to 46 for 0. Dhawan chopped on Thilan Thushara’s first delivery, but Mumbai progressed smoothly, if slowly, to 62 after nine overs when Tendulkar decided to retire.

After looking in control of the match till then, Mumbai imploded, losing a wicket in each of the next six overs. Ambati Rayudu was the first to go, stumped after tearing out of the crease and missing when looking to loft a short ball from Suresh Raina. When Chennai celebrated, Rayudu practised the stroke that would have served him better, a cut.

The potentially explosive Trinidad pair of Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard have done little of note with the bat all tournament, and the trend continued at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Both looked to launch the ball into the crowds beyond the sightscreen but got more height than distance on their strokes, and a pair of well-held catches sent them on their way.

In between, the promising youngster Saurabh Tiwary who had looked the most assured of the Mumbai batsmen barring Tendulkar, also perished, slogging straight to deep midwicket off the impressive Shadab Jakati, whose solid tournament continued.

R Sathish and Ryan McLaren were involved in some nervy running before Sathish was caught out by a direct hit from S Badrinath at short cover. The only wicket the bowler can take credit for in the entire collapse was McLaren’s – offspinner R Ashwin trapping him lbw in front of offstump, so plumb that Chennai’s appeal was more a celebration than a question. Mumbai had lurched to 92 for 7 and even the return of Tendulkar couldn’t extend their winning run.

Their bowlers had done a better job earlier in the evening, shackling a powerful Chennai batting line-up. Opener M Vijay couldn’t complete a hat-trick of brutal innings in front of his home crowd, bottom-edging Harbhajan Singh onto the stumps early.

Matthew Hayden is supposed to be the bruiser at the top of the Chennai line-up, but yet again he couldn’t find the boundaries, dealing mainly in singles. After the lethargy in the Powerplays, Suresh Raina was just starting to catalyse the innings before failing in his attempt to clear midwicket off a short ball

Chennai were kept on their toes when Dhoni made a typical bustling start, and Hayden flicked and drove Bravo for ten runs in the next over. When Dhoni edged one past the keeper for four in the 12th over, 63 runs had come off the previous six. It was two overs later that the match swung. Pollard’s slow bouncer tricked Dhoni, and Hayden’s Mongoose bat wasn’t enough to clear long-on off the next delivery.

The home side slid to 119 for 4, after which boundaries again proved scarce, none coming in the next four overs. Michael Hussey and S Badrinath picked off the singles but struggled to hit top gear, before some innovative strokeplay from Badrinath lifted Chennai to 165, which ultimately proved enough for their third straight win.

Siddarth Ravindran is a sub-editor at Cricinfo…

Ambati Rayudu cracked an unbeaten 29-ball 55 as table-toppers Mumbai Indians put up a sterling all-round performance to virtually seal a semifinal berth beating holders Deccan Chargers by 63 runs in their Indian Premier League match here on Saturday.

Opting to bat, Mumbai Indians piled up a challenging 178 for five, thanks to Rayudu and youngster Saurabh Tiwary who made a 44 off 35 balls at the floodlit Brabourne Stadium.

The hosts then skittled out the Adam Gilchrist-led side for 115 in 18.2 overs, with left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan (2/10), Harbhajan Singh (2/16), Kieron Pollard (2/26) and Ryan McLaren (2/28) claiming two wickets apiece.

It was fifth straight defeat for the visiting team whose semifinal hopes receded further after this loss — their fifth in eight matches. The hosts, on the other hand, is almost through to the last-four with 14 points from eight games.

Chasing a challenging 179-run target, the defending champions simply caved in by losing wickets at regular intervals as the hosts registered their sixth straight win in the tournament.

Big overseas guns of Chargers — Gilchrist (19), Herschelle Gibbs (17) as well as Andrew Symonds (21) failed to fire once again while VVS Laxman (4) and Rohit Sharma (5) too flopped.

The home team bowlers stuck to their game plan and were backed up splendidly by their fielders.

Zaheer fired out Gilchrist and Gibbs, Laxman was run out, Symonds fell to McLaren, and Pollard accounted for Rohit and Monish Mishra in the successive overs.

Half the team was back in the dug-out by the end of the 12th over with the score reading 81 and the match was as good as over.

Later Harbhajan got two wickets in just three balls to hasten the end.

Chargers started their run-chase on a poor note by losing Gibbs, Gilchrist and Laxman with only 40 on the board.

Gibbs once again showed glimpses of his capability, striking Harbhajan for two fours in the first over and then cover-driving Lasith Malinga for his third boundary.

But he rushed out to Zaheer in his first over and tried an almighty heave to leg, got a leading edge which was pouched with glee by Sachin Tendulkar at extra cover.

Laxman, included in the eleven in place of Venugopal Rao, was unfortunate to be run-out due to a misunderstanding with Gilchrist’s runner Ryan Harris.

Then just past the power play the visiting team captain too fell, bowled comprehensively by Zaheer as he tried to hoist over mid-wicket to leave the Chargers at a difficult 40 for three in the beginning of seventh over.

Symonds and Rohit looked to be steering the floundering ship from troubled waters when a superb return catch by the tall Pollard sent back the latter.

Symonds followed suit, bowled by McLaren, 13 runs later and it was an uphill task from then on for the rest of the batsmen.

Earlier, Rayudu who joined Tiwary when the hosts had lost three wickets in a heap to be at 62 for three after nine overs, recovered Mumbai from a mini collapse and post a challenging 178 for five.

Tiwary, who cracked three sixes and one four, added 65 runs for the fourth-wicket partnership with Rayudu.

Rayudu and Kieron Pollard (21) then added a quick 51 in less than five overs for the sixth-wicket combo to help MI end on a high note.

Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha picked up three wickets for 26 runs but Deccan, after looking like restricting high-flying hosts for a modest total conceded a lot of runs to the end.

The visitors gave away 34 runs in the last two overs off Harris and Jaskaran Singh.

Their expensive overs spoilt Ojha’s effort who picked up opener Shikhar Dhawan (14) and Dwayne Bravo (2) in successive overs and then added Tiwary to his tally.

Rahul Sharma also chipped in with the prized wicket of captain Tendulkar (35).

The home team batsmen struggled on a sluggish wicket that offered turn to the spinners.

Mumbai were given a good start by the right-left combination of Tendulkar and Dhawan who put on 53 runs before three wickets fell in quick succession.

Deccan started bowling with Rohit the off-spinner could not control the new ball and started with two wides before Tendulkar on-drove him with a lofted shot for a four. Rohit conceded 12 runs in the first over.

But Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist soon stumped Dhawan off Ojha to give the hosts first blow and in the next over Sharma trapped in-form Tendulkar plumb. He made 35 off 25 balls with the help of five fours.

The hosts were rocked further when Ojha made a ball turn that went past the bat of West Indian Bravo to reduce them to 62 for three from 53 for no loss in 18 balls.

Tiwary and Rayudu then did the consolidation job.

Source: NDTV Cricket

Sachin Tendulkar and Shikar Dhawan hammered half-centuries as Mumbai secured a comfortable five-wicket home victory over Chennai.

Suresh Raina, freed of the captaincy burden with the return of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, smashed an unbeaten 83 and together with Subramaniam Badrinath (55 not out) added 142 in an unbeaten third-wicket stand for the third wicket to power Chennai to 180 for two.

But that total proved insufficient as Tendulkar hit 72 and Dhawan made 56 as Mumbai overhauled the target with a full over to spare.

Chennai were asked to take first strike and opener Matthew Hayden began on an ominous note, smashing Zaheer Khan for four consecutive boundaries.

But the left-hander’s stay was brief, the burly batsman falling victim to Harbhajan Singh who was pressed into service inside the powerplay.

Chennai then showed familiar weaknesses as other opener Parthiv Patel followed Hayden back to the pavilion, bizarrely bowled by Ryan McLaren for eight.

Those dismissals brought Raina and Badrinath together and the duo began the task of rebuilding.

Raina injected momentum by smashing Dwayne Bravo for a six and a four off consecutive deliveries and repeated the feat in the bowler’s third over.

The left-hander continued to find the boundaries regularly, raised his half-century off 32 deliveries and batted sensibly at the death.

Badrinath, not quite as fluent as Raina, played the supporting role well and reached his half-century off 41 deliveries, smashing six boundaries along the way.

That total looked defendable, but Dhawan stamped his authority in brutal fashion, smashing Joginder Sharma for three boundaries in the medium-pacer’s first over and then smashing Lakshmipathy Balaji for consecutive sixes.

He reached his half-century off 31 deliveries and had added 92 for the opening wicket with Tendulkar when left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati ended his stay.

Chennai then gave themselves a chance by removing Saurabh Tiwary and Rajagopal Sathish cheaply, but Tendulkar helped Mumbai regain control of the chase.

Mumbai skipper, who had contributed only 24 to the opening stand, quickly closed in on a half-century, a milestone he reached in 37 deliveries and continued the onslaught in the company of Kieron Pollard.

Sri Lankan all-rounder Thissara Perera, making his IPL debut, was introduced for the first time in the 16th over and was smacked for 19, Pollard and Tendulkar clobbering two boundaries apiece as Mumbai cantered to victory.

Source: ESPN Star