It's a tight Saturday prime-time IPL match involving the two highest
profile franchises in the tournament. Guess who delivers when it's a big
game? MS Dhoni
is perhaps the best finisher in the limited-overs game, and when
Chennai Super Kings needed a big hit in the final over, he duly obliged,
as he has so many times in the past. It came down to 11 off the last
over, and Dhoni responded by calmly whacking a six over deep midwicket
before wrapping up the victory with three balls to spare.
The last time Mumbai Indians lost an IPL game at the Wankhede Stadium was back in 2012,
so long ago that their openers were Sachin Tendulkar and Herschelle
Gibbs. The 10-game winning streak at home was built on muscular batting
and depth in the bowling, neither of which were in evidence today.
After the peerless Lasith Malinga had produced another superb Twenty20
burst to drag them back into the game, Mumbai had to turn to Kieron
Pollard for the final over. #BreachTheFortress Super Kings had been
tweeteing all day, and when the fortress had to be defended from Dhoni
in the final over by amiable medium-pace, there was only going to be one
winner.
Mumbai didn't help their cause by again keeping their biggest guns in
the holster too long - Rohit Sharma came in towards the end of the 12th
over, Kieron Pollard got a look-in only in the 18th, and Corey Anderson
even later. When Rohit walked in, the run-rate was still hovering around
six. The inclusion of Lendl Simmons worked better than the ill-fated
experiment with Ben Dunk, but they will still expect quicker innings
than a run-a-ball 38 from their specialist overseas batsman.
On a surface where Super Kings brought in an extra spinner in Samuel
Badree, and on which R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja got plenty of
assistance, Mumbai's spin department featured only Harbhajan Singh.
Though chances of qualification for the play-offs are becoming remote,
there were a couple of heartening things for Mumbai fans - Praveen
Kumar showed he can be venomous with the new ball, and Ambati Rayudu shrugged off a run of lean scores with a half-century that anchored the innings.
Super Kings looked to be in control for much of the chase, helped along by a stop-start Dwayne Smith
half-century, though they were rocked by a couple of woeful umpiring
decisions. Brendon McCullum was sent on his way though the ball was
clearly headed down the leg side, and the third umpire decided Suresh
Raina was stumped though the replays suggested otherwise. They were also
helped by the umpiring in the 17th over, just as the nerves were
beginning to jangle: Jadeja was dead plumb to a full slower ball from
Malinga, but the umpire somehow thought the ball would miss the stumps.
He wasn't misled by Jadeja waving the bat as if to suggest he hit the
ball, and the call of leg-byes only made the decision even more
inexplicable.
Before the late drama, perhaps the highlight of the match was the
astonishing range of boundary catches and drops - Mithun Manhas put down
a sitter at long-on, Harbhajan Singh misjudged the line and could only
get one hand on a midwicket six at a crucial juncture of the chase,
Samuel Badree judged the ball perfectly at third man but could only push
the ball over for six early on, Jadeja caught the ball at deep
midwicket but failed to let the ball go before crossing the line,
Simmons juggled three times before pocketing the ball at long-on, Raina
took a couple of difficult tumbling efforts at midwicket, and the
biggest wow-moment was Faf du Plessis flying across to catch a brutal
hit at long-on before releasing the ball mid-air as he headed for the
rope.
While the packed house roared on all that athleticism, they had come to
see a Mumbai win. They got the second best thing - seeing the biggest
name in Indian cricket do what he does best.
Siddarth Ravindran is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
Feeds: Siddarth Ravindran
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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