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IPL: Mumbai Indians beat Chennai Super Kings | Cooper last-over seals victory for Royals

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Pollard trips Dhoni, MI trip CSK

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NEW DELHI: Defending a 149-run target,Mumbai Indians beat the Chennai Super Kingsby 9 runs in their IPL match at Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday.

Chennai Super Kings lost their top order cheaply in their IPL match against Mumbai Indians at Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

The Super Kings suffered an early blow when Munaf Patel scalped Vijay (5), who while attempting a leg glance, missed the ball completely and was bowled.

Then, Mitchell Johnson got the all-important wicket of Suresh Raina(10) when the southpaw was caught at point by Mumbai Indians skipper Ricky Ponting.

Soon after, Harbhajan Singh joined the party when his slower delivery found the better of Michael Hussey’s stumps, thereby ending the Australian’s 23-ball 20 knock.

Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha then picked up the wickets of Dwayne Bravo (10) andSubramaniam Badrinath (16) in quick succession to rattle the Chennai run chase.

Bravo, who had a decent time with the ball for Chennai, knicked a flighted delivery that was caught by wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik.

Badrinath, on the other hand, was caught plumb by Ojha after the Chennai batsman put up a fighting effort to compensate the Super Kings’ early wickets falling fiasco.

Ravindra Jadeja was next in line to be dismissed when Munaf got the southpaw to get a mean inside edge that ended up on his stumps. Jadeja (16) put up an important 31-run partnership with skipper MS Dhoni for the sixth wicket.

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Earlier, Kieron Pollard (57) hit a timely unbeaten half-century to lead Mumbai Indians to a respectable 148 for six.

Mumbai were struggling at 59 for four in the ninth over when Pollard came to the crease and the West Indian bailed his side out of troubled waters with his 38-ball knock.

Pollard’s innings was studded with nine boundaries including five sixes and he single-handedly brought his side back in the match even as Karthik contributed 37 runs.

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Mumbai scored 52 runs in the last five overs as Pollard and Harbhajan Singh shared an unbeaten 65-run stand for the seventh wicket. Harbhajan scored a run-a-ball 21.

Dwayne Bravo (2/44) scalped two batsman while four other Chennai bowlers took a wicket each.

Mumbai lost both the openers inside the first 20 balls with Sachin Tendulkar getting a first ball duck in the fifth ball of the first over and skipper Ricky Ponting becoming victim of IPL debutantAnkit Rajpoot.

Dirk Nannes gave Mumbai a big jolt when he trapped Tendulkar, who played across the line and was caught plumb.

Ponting was a bit early into his pull shot and the leading edge was taken by R Ashwin at first slip. It was a big wicket for the 19-year-old UP paceman Rajpoot to start off.

Mumbai survived more damage when Rajpoot grassed Rohit Sharma (8) off Nannes but the batsman finally walked when M S Dhoni held a thin edge, induced by Dwayne Bravo.

In between Suresh Raina failed to hold on to powerful cut shot by Dinesh Karthik, who responded with a six off Rajpoot the next ball and kept hitting boundaries to ensure that his side keeps a decent run rate.

It was important for Mumbai that Karthik (37) stays and play a good knock but Barvo returned for his second over and trapped the diminutive batsman.

In came Pollard and he smashed Bravo to two consecutive boundaries. Despite losing wickets intermittently, Mumbai were managing a decent run-rate of seven.

Cooper last-over seals victory for Royals

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Rajasthan Royals 165 for 7 (Dravid 65, Binny 40, Yadav 4-24) beat Delhi Daredevils 160 for 6 (Warner 77, Cooper 3-30) by 5 runs

An electric late rally in the field, completed by a stoic over of pinpoint yorkers from Kevon Cooper, saw Rajasthan Royals begin their IPL campaign with a thrilling five-run win over Delhi Daredevils at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Daredevils were hurtling towards their target after 17 overs, with only 22 runs to get, and a flourishing David Warner at the crease. But Cooper ignited his side with a five-run over in the 18th that ended with a wicket, before a direct hit from acting captain Brad Hodge at cover dismissed Warner in the penultimate over, to give his side hope of a still-unlikely victory.

Nine runs were required off Cooper’s final over, but the bowler delivered six yorkers, two of which dismissed panicking Daredevils batsmen, and provided the IPL’s first week with its second nail-biting result. Johan Botha was out lbw, attempting a reverse paddle with seven required from four, before Andre Russell also fell trying to hit the ball fine with six needed from two, only this time Cooper cleaned him up. New man Naman Ojha had to hit a six off the last ball for Daredevils to salvage victory, but could not connect with a wide yorker, sparking ecstatic celebrations from Royals.

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Daredevils’ death-over meltdown almost mirrored Royals’ returns from the same period of their innings, after the visitors had managed just six runs from their last two overs, and lost four wickets. Royals had arrived in the 18th over at 159 for 3, and were eyeing a 180-plus total that seemed par on a good batting surface. They however lost four batsmen in six balls, including Rahul Dravid, whose immaculately paced 65 off 51 held the team’s innings together.

Dravid had arrived at Kusal Perera’s demise in the third over, and aside from a controlled edge to the third man fence first ball, was largely content to collect singles to begin with, despite the fielding restrictions. When the bowlers erred, as Andre Russell did when he served up a wide delivery in the sixth over, Dravid’s placement and timing ensured the desired boundary was achieved.

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He was dropped twice in the 12th over, when he began to introduce more aggression to his innings, but he was undeterred, and having made only 22 from his first 26 deliveries, he quickly achieved a more laudable strike rate through the middle overs.

For Daredevils, Warner was also relatively reticent to begin with, allowing opening partner Unmukt Chand to provide the early innings impetus, and striking at no better than a run a ball until the tenth over of the innings. When he eventually exploded in earnest, with two fours off Rahul Shukla in the 13th over, Daredevils appeared to be executing a measured chase.

Warner was dropped early in his innings, and had one more reprieve just after hitting fifty, as he continued to maul some indifferent Royals bowling through the middle overs. Just before Daredevils hit their wall, Warner launched Siddharth Trivedi in the 17th over for 13. After Warner’s demise however, none of the Daredevils batsmen seemed capable of finding the boundary, and Royals achieved revenge for the mighty close defeat they had suffered last year, in the same fixture.

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