After the match between the Mumbai Indians (MI) and the Rajasthan Royals (RR), everyone seemed to be gushing the same words over and over again!
The toss for match number 45 was won by the RR, and they elected to bat first. Graeme Smith and Rob Quiney were the openers for the RR, while Dhawal Kulkari bowled the first over. Seven runs were made off the first over, with one boundary (four).
The batsmen of the RR played at a steady run rate till the seventh over, when the first wicket, that of Smith, fell. The bowler responsible was Harbhajan Singh (Bhajji), and the fielder, J. P. Duminy. Smith had made 19 runs off 19 balls before his dismissal. Yusuf Pathan came in after him.
The Strategic Time Out, which is given to the teams to strategise, and which batsmen hope to see through, was a distant dream for the Pathan sibling as he got out just before it on a ball by Chetanya Nanda and was caught by Lasith Malinga after he had made 17 runs off 14 balls. Ravindra Jadeja came in next.
Quiney, who was playing a very good game of cricket, finally succumbed under the expert bowling of ‘slinger’ Malinga, who bowled him out after he made 51 runs, just after his half century. Siddharth Chitnis came in after Quiney, but was sent back to the bench by Dwayne Bravo (catch Abhishek Nayar) after making only six runs off eight balls. Naman Ojha came in after Chitnis. It was then time for Jadeja to depart on a ball by Jayasuriya (catch Bravo) after he made a valuable 42 runs for his team off just 32 balls. Johan Botha came in after him.
Ojha, who had just come to the field, quickly left after making only one run (ball Jayasuriya, catch Ajinkya Rahane). The RR skipper Shane Warne was the next man in. By this time, the innings was already in the last over, and on the last ball, Warne lost his wicket, and thus, the RR ended at 145-7.
The batting order of the MI had undergone a change, and Yogesh Takawale, along with Bravo, opened the batting, while Yusuf Pathan opened bowling. Eight runs were made in the first over, and in the second over, the first wicket of the MI fell. The man to be dismissed was Bravo, and he had made merely one run (ball and catch Munaf Patel).
In Bravo’s place came Rahane. But with two newcomers on the field, the pressure became too much, and Rahane got out on a ball by Warne (catch Abhishek Raut) after making only three runs. Jayasuriya came in next. After Rahane, it was the other newcomer, Takawale, who lose his wicket, and he departed after having made 18 runs off 22 balls. Tendulkar came in next. With two stalwarts on the field, it was expected that this time round, there would be some good display of batting, and to a certain extent, that did happen, as Sachin hit a few fours and even got a Free Hit, but no runs came off it. At the end of 10 overs the MI were at 54-3.
After the Strategic break, Jayasuriya’s wicket fell on a ball by Warne (catch Pathan) after he had made 16 runs. Duminy came in next, and the MI fans expected him to play well, as he has been in excellent form this season. However, that was not to be, and Duminy was bowled out by youngster Siddharth Trivedi after he had made only four runs. Nayar came in next.
Tendulkar, who had been going great guns so far, looked capable of leading the MI to victory, but these hopes, too, were dashed after the Little Master got out on a LBW by Warne. Thus, captain dismissed captain! However, Tendulkar had, by then, put up a decent total of 40 runs off 30 balls for himself. Bhajji came in after Tendulkar, and suddenly, it started raining fours and sixes! Nayar and Bhajji were doing a good job of salvaging the game by hitting a few fours and sixes between them, but then Nayar’s wicket fell, after he had made a fantastic 35 off just 18 (run out Naman Ojha, wicketkeeper).
After Nayar came Kulkarni, and by this time, the match was in the 19th over. It was a very crucial point, but Kulkarni couldn’t stay at the crease for too long. He just made one run, and got out. He was followed by Nanda, who was also dismissed, and Malinga was the last man in.
All the tail-enders were trying to give Bhajji the strike, because all that the MI needed to win was four runs! However, as the players at the striker’s end kept getting out one by one, Bhajji didn’t get a chance to bat, and with three balls remaining, Malinga tried to take one run, just as had Nanda before him, and, just like Nanda, Malinga, too, was run out! The MI lost the match by a hair’s breadth, and got all out at 143, just three runs short of victory (two short of a tie, which would have led to a Super Over). In the dug out, Tendulkar couldn’t believe himself, while an ecstatic Shilpa Shetty, and an even more ecstatic Warne, couldn’t contain their excitement.
The DLF Maximum award was given to Quiney, and the Man of the Match award was given to Shane Warne for his unbelievable three wickets. At the end of the day, spectators must have just managed to survive severe cardiac arrest, such was the match! This match catapulted the RR to number three position on the rank table, while bringing down the MI to number six.
In order to reach the semi finals, the MI will now not only have to win both their remaining matches, but also hope that the other teams (between positions five and seven) don’t play too well!
Well, it sure did look like the match between the Mumbai Indians (MI) and the King’s XI Punjab (KXIP) would be a repeat of the time when the two teams faced each other earlier. How? Read on to find out!
The KXIP won the toss, and elected to bat first. Their openers were Sunny Sohal and Simon Katich, while the opening bowler was Lasith Malinga. As has become routine in this year’s IPL, the first wicket fell soon (in the second over). The player to be dismissed was Katich, who went out after he was caught by Harbhajan Singh (Bhajji) on a ball by Dhawal Kulkarni. Katich went out for a duck.
Irfan Pathan came in at one down, many places up the order than his usual spot. But this change did no wonders for the KXIP, and Pathan got out on a run out (ball and run out by Dwayne Bravo). He, too, had made no runs.
Kumar Sangakarra (Sanga) came in next. Sohal, who had earlier been dropped by Sanath Jayasurya when he was batting on 42, got out after he had made only one more run, i.e., he got out on 43 after he was run out by Sachin Tendulkar.
When skipper Yuvraj Singh (Yuvi) walked in, everyone thought that he and Sanga would build a good partnership. But alas, Sanga was bowled out in the 10th over by Bhajji. Wilkin Mota came in next. The score of the KXIP – 70-4.
Mota, who had come in near the time of the Strategic Time Out, didn’t stay much longer after it, as he got out on a ball by J. P. Duminy and was caught by Bhajji after making only eight runs.
While Luke Pomersbach walked in after Sanga, Yuvi went out after making only 12 runs. He was dismissed, once again, by Duminy. Karan Goel came in next, but was soon bowled out by Ajinkya Rahane. Brett Lee and Piyush Chawla, too, came and went very quickly. Thus, the KXIP were nine down, and last man in was S. Sreesanth. The score at this point was 112-9.
After the ninth wicket fell in the 18th over, it was expected that the 10th wicket would also be taken, thus leading to an ‘all out’ situation, (the first in the series), but the KXIP hung on till the end. And at the end of 20 overs, with Goel and Sreesanth stretching out the innings, the KXIP ended at 119-9.
The MI had to make 120 in 20 overs, at exactly six runs an over. Sounds familiar? Yes, this was the exact same situation in the first match between the two teams!
Just as the batting order of the KXIP had changed, so had that of the MI. Bravo and Jayasurya opened the innings. Brett Lee bowled the first over, the first ball of which was a wide.
The third over, which was also bowled by Lee, saw the fall of the first wicket, (catch Mota), that of Jayasurya, who got out after making four runs off seven balls.
Ajinkya Rahane came in at one down, but was dismissed by Chawla (LBW) after making only one run. Tendulkar came in next. The bowlers of the KXIP had been very restrictive, and the runs were coming very slowly for the MI. However, after Tendulkar’s entry, he and Bravo, who had been playing a fabulous innings, started hitting the ball with all their might. Mostly Bravo did the hitting, while the skipper stayed to give support. Thus, after 16.2 overs, the MI were a very happy team, as they had achieved the target, and that too with balls remaining! At the end of the innings, Bravo had made 70 / 59, not out! Tendulkar, too, had made a very good 41 / 29.
While the bowlers of the MI did a great job in taking wickets, they gave away 18 extras! But, they had won, and that was all that mattered. The DLF Maximum award was given jointly to Bravo and Goel, while the Man of the Match was given to Bhajji, for taking 2 important catches and one wicket at a fantastic economy rate! All in all, it was one great victory for the MI, one which propelled them to the fourth spot on the rank table, from down below on the seventh!
In this case, it was back to team one. In match number 38 between the Mumbai Indians (MI) and the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), the MI reverted to their original team, bringing back Sanath Jayasurya and disposing off Luke Ronchi.
MI won the toss and elected to bat first, and Jayasurya, after a gap of one match, opened the batting along with Sachin Tendulkar, while the bowling attack was opened by Jacques Kallis. As has become the norm in most matches, the first ball of the innings was a wide. The second over was bowled by newcomer R. Vinay Kumar, who struck gold when he dismissed Tendulkar before the latter had even made a single run, thus getting out on a duck as Mark Boucher (wicketkeeper) made no mistakes in catching the ball.
After Tendulkar, Ajinkya Rahane came in. In the third over, there was a spot of misfielding as Virat Kohli threw the ball at the stumps, but there was nobody to catch it, resulting in an overthrow, and, what was worse, the ball went for a four!! While everyone was expecting Jayasurya to stay in the field and play well, he disappointed the MI supporters yet again and got out on an LBW by Roelof vd Merwe after making 29 runs off 27 balls.
J. P. Duminy came in at two down. At the end of 10 overs, Duminy and Rahane were on the field and the MI score stood at 67-2. The duo made the highest third wicket partnership for the MI, and, after a few more runs together, also recorded the highest third wicket partnership at the St. George’s stadium. Rahane completed his half century in only 44 balls, and, owing to the partnership between him and Duminy, after 20 overs, the MI had made a decent total of 157-2. Rahane made a splendid 62 not out, while Duminy scored an equally impressive 59 and remained not out.
The batting order of the RCB had also changed, as Virat Kohli and Kallis opened the batting for them. However, this change couldn’t do much for the team as Kallis got out after making only 12 runs off 10 balls on a ball by Dwayne Bravo, caught by Dhawal Kulkarni.Robin Uthappa came in at one down, but didn’t last long either. He got out after making only four runs off five balls. This time, the bowler was Kulkarni, and the fielder, Tendulkar.
While Ross Taylor came in next, Kohli, of whom expectations were high, failed to deliver, and got out on a ball by newcomer Chetanya Nanda (catch Duminy) after making 20 runs off 22 balls.
Next man in was Rahul Dravid, but ‘the wall’ soon crumbled, and was run out by Malinga after making only 10 runs off 12 balls. Malinga also bolwed out Ross Taylor while the latter was batting at 16 runs.At the crease now were Boucher and Merwe. While the former stayed till the end of the innings, making 48 not out, the latter got out after making only three runs.After Merwe’s dismissal, R. Vinay Kumar came in, but didn’t last long and was sent back to the bench after making only seven runs. The next – and last – man in was Anil Kumble, the skipper himself. The last partnership was between him and Boucher.
Try as they might, it was too late for the duo to salvage the game, and although Boucher tried till the last over to get the total, he failed, and the RCB ended at 141-7. Thus, the MI won by 16 runs. The Man of the Match award was given to Ajinkya Rahane for his excellent contribution towards a win for the MI.
This sure was the case in the match between the Mumbai Indians (MI) and the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Sunday, May 3, 2009.
In what was thought to be a match whose result was known to all, (that the MI would win), the MI won the toss and decided to bat first. The captain of the RCB was, once again, Anil Kumble.
The bowling attack was opened by Praveen Kumar for the RCB, who bowled a fantastic first over – a maiden. Sanath Jayasurya, however, made up for it in the second over, when he made eight runs off Jacques Kallis’s bowling, and at the end of two overs, the MI scoreboard stood at 12 runs.
While in the third over Sachin Tendulkar hit two fours in a row, in the fourth over, which was bowled by Dillon Du Preez (who was playing his debut match), Tendulkar got out on the third ball after making only 11 runs off 11 balls (catch Rahul Dravid). Next man in was Ajinkya Rahane. He faced the next ball, and before anyone knew what was happening, he was out, (catch Uthappa) too! Thus, Du Preez was on a hat trick, which he didn’t manage to complete. However, his making it to the point of hat trick, as well as bowling a maiden over, that too in his very first match, put tremendous pressure on the MI. Talk about beginners’ luck! (Or maybe it wasn’t luck, after all!)
J.P. Duminy came in next, and he too couldn’t last long in front of Du Preez, who made sure that the man, who generally plays so well, was sent packing to the pavilion (catch Boucher) after making only one run!
Dwayne Bravo came in at three down. In the 8th over, which Du Preez bowled once again, the MI made 14 runs. The biggest blow to the MI came when Jayasurya’s wicket fell on a ball by Merve. He had made 52 runs. Next, Abhishek Nayar came in.
Kallis got injured in the 19th over while fielding, and a substitute, Manish Pandey, took his place. The 19th and 20th overs proved very good for the MI, in which two sixes and two fours were hit, respectively. Bravo made 50 runs off only 40 balls. The last ball (supposedly) of the innings, was a result of the pressure on the RCB, thanks to the boundaries being hit by the MI, and, instead of a direct hit, Du Preez not only missed the stumps, but the umpire also indicated a No Ball, and Nayar got a Free Hit, off which he scored 2 runs. Thus, at the end of 20 overs, the MI made 149 – 4.
Compared to the maiden over bowled by Praveen Kumar, the RCB made nine runs in the first over. This continued, until finally, Lasith Malinga bowled a maiden sixth over.
The RCB lost an early wicket of Wasim Jaffer – playing his first match of this season – who made only seven runs and got out. Thereafter, however, they did not lose even a single wicket, till the innings got over.
After Jaffer’s wicket, Kallis and Uthappa formed a fabulous partnership which they kept going till the end, and it resulted in both, Kallis, as well as Uthappa, scoring half centuries each. In the 13th over, Zaheer got injured (while fielding) and left the field, and Jude was brought in as a substitute.
At the end of 10 overs, the RCB had made 74 runs at the loss of only one wicket. The bowlers of the MI could do nothing to stop the terrible duo from hitting fours and sixes. (The biggest recorded six of the season till now was hit in this match, by Robin Uthappa). Thanks to their fantastic strokes, the RCB won the match, (with a few balls remaining), and at the end of the innings, Kallis had made 69 runs, while Uthappa had made an equally impressive 66. The Man of the Match award was given to Kallis for his brilliant innings, while the ‘DLF Maximum’ prize was shared by Dwayne Bravo of the MI, as well as Kallis and Uthappa.
One can not but wonder whether these wins, coming the way of the RCB, are because of Anil Kumble’s captaincy.
This can be said of the match that was played between the Mumbai Indians (MI) and the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Friday, May 1, 2009.
The MI won the toss and elected to bat first. The openers for the MI were, as always, Sanath Jayasurya and Sachin Tendulkar. People had high expectations of these two players, but, keeping up his non-form from the last match, Jayasurya failed to stay on the field for long and fell victim to Ashok Dinda’s ball (catch Morne Van Wyk) after making six runs off eight balls, and the MI scoreboard stood at 19 – 1.
Harbhajan Singh was brought in at one down to weave magic with his bat as he had done against the very same team during the last time that they played against each other, but he failed to do so this time, and got out on a ball by Murali Karthik (catch Dinda) after making six runs off seven balls.
Master blaster Tendulkar hit the first six of the innings in as late as the sixth over. After Bhajji’s wicket fell, Abhishek Nayar came in. Not too long after the second wicket, the next big blow was struck to the MI, when Tendulkar got out after making 34 runs off 30 balls (ball Ajit Agarkar, catch Brendon McCullum) in an innings consisting of two sixes and one four.
Less than 20 runs after Tendulkar got out, Abhishek Nayar also got out, after making 10 runs off 13 balls. Nayar got out after being bowled by Brad Hodge. Next man in was Graham Napier, and his was also the fifth wicket, as he got out – on a ball by Chris Gayle which was caught by McCullum – after making 15 runs off 16 balls.
Rahane came in at five down. While none of the players made any significant contributions to the batting side – except for Tendulkar who made 34 runs – one man who stood out, was J. P. Duminy, who made a half century. At the end of the first innings, thanks to Duminy’s half century, the score of the MI stood at 148 – 6.
There were some changes in the batting line-up of the KKR, as Chris Gayle and Saurav Ganguly opened the batting instead of Gayle and McCullum. This step was probably taken keeping in mind the fact that the skipper has not been in great form this season. However, as Zaheer Khan opened the bowling attack for the MI, the changes in the opposite team didn’t make a difference, because they lost a wicket after only one run just the same, in the form of Ganguly, (0 runs, one ball), who was bowled out by Zaheer. Brad Hodge, who was to turn the match around for the KKR, came in after Ganguly’s dismissal.
The second wicket of the KKR was that of their other opener, Gayle, who went down the same way, and on a ball by the same bowler who got Ganguly out; he was bowled by Zaheer after making seven runs off seven balls. Van Wyk came in next.
There was some drama on the field when Bhajji called for an out after stumping, but it turned out it was his hand that had tumbled the wicket, and not the ball. In the seventh over, Hodge went for a huge six, and since the ball landed on the roof of one of the stands, a new ball had to be used.
Although the MI have been appreciated for their excellent improvement in fielding, thanks to their fielding coach Jonty Rhodes, Nayar dropped Hodge (while he was bowling) in the eighth over, and this proved expensive for the MI later on in the match.
The best third wicket partnership was recorded in the IPL between Hodge and Van Wyk, but Wyk fell on a ball by Napier which was caught by Duminy, after he made 32 runs off 35 balls. Hodge, who had been playing a fabulous innings, hit two fours in a row to complete his 50.
After Wyk’s wicket fell, Laxmi Shukla came in and he got out in much the same way as did Ganguly and Gayle, and also by the same bowler. Yes, he too was bowled by Zaheer Khan! The next wicket was that of Hodge, who finally got run out (after causing much damage to the MI) by Duminy. He had managed to make 73 runs off just 60 balls by then.
Then, McCullum, who had come in at four down, got out after making only five runs off seven balls, once again not playing well. In the end, it was down to Wriddhiman S. and Agarkar, but they couldn’t save the KKR, and they ended at 139 – 6 after 20 overs, having lost the match by 9 runs.
The MI, who must have been upset after their loss against the King’s XI Punjab in the last match, must have been happy with themselves after this match. The Man of the Match was J. P. Duminy of the MI for his fabulous half century.
