CHENNAI: He has been the butt of thousands of jokes on the Internet but on Saturday it was ‘Sir’ Ravindra Jadeja (38 not out off 20 balls) who had the last laugh as he took Chennai Super Kings to a four-wicket victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore off the last ball of the match.
It was a bizarre ending to an interesting game, with both sides thinking they had won. Chasing 166 for victory, CSK needed two off the last ball off RP Singh. Jadeja edged the rising delivery and was caught by Ravi Rampaul at third man but RCB’s celebrations were cut short when a sea of yellow erupted after umpire Anil Chaudhary called no ball!
By then non-striker Chris Morris had crossed over to hand another thrilling victory to CSK, who needed 16 off the last over. Jadeja set the stage for the grandstand finish with a four and a six off the first two balls. He then took a single before Morris brought it down to two off one.
CSK openers M Vijay and Michael Hussey, who were the standout performers when CSK beat Kings XI Punjab by 10 wickets earlier in the week, departed early as the hosts made a very shaky start which left them at 10/2 in 4 overs. It was then up to Suresh Raina and S Badrinath to get CSK back on track. After them followed Jadeja and Dhoni, who put on 49 in 4.5 overs to leave CSK needing 29 off the last two.
Earlier, South African AB de Villiers was at his inventive best, scoring a counter-attacking 64 off just 32 balls at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Saturday. De Villiers and RCB skipper Virat Kohli (58) put on 82 in just eight overs for the third wicket to set the Bangalore side on course to a competitive score.
If there was one man CSK wanted to get rid of early, it was opener Chris Gayle and they got their wish in the second over as the in-form batsman departed for just four. Seamer Chris Morris got the big Jamaican to chase a wide one outside off-stump only to nick it to MS Dhoni behind the stumps.
The hosts made just one change to the side that beat the Kings XI by 10 wickets on Wednesday, with seamer Mohit Sharma replacing Ankit Rajpoot.
The visitors on the other hand made as many as four changes to the side that beat KKR with Jaydev Unadkat, Muthiah Muralitharan, Moises Henriques and KL Rahul making way for Murali Kartik and Syed Mohammed, Daniel Christian and Rampaul.
Mumbai Indians outclass Pune Warriors
MUMBAI: A belligerent batting display by Rohit Sharma and Mitchell Johnson’s fiery three-wicket haul helped Mumbai Indians keep their superior record intact when they defeated Maharashtra rivals Pune Warriors India by 41 runs at the Wankhede on Saturday.
This was Mumbai’s second biggest triumph this year after they thumped Delhi Daredevils by 44 runs on Tuesday.
Rohit’s quickfire 62 (32b, 3x4s, 5x6s) and stellar performances from Sachin Tendulkar (44: 29b, 7x4s, 1×6) and Orange Cap holder Dinesh Karthik (41: 29b, 4x4s, 1×6) ensured Mumbai post 183-3 in 20 overs, their second highest total of the season, before restricting Pune to 142-8.
Pune bowlers too seemed to assist the hosts giving away 68 runs in the last five overs to effectively hand over the match.
Mumbai’s western rivals never seemed good enough for the chase when Johnson sent an inswinging ripper to pluck dangerman Aaron Finch’s wicket on the very first ball of Pune’s innings. New Zealander Ross Taylor (4) too left without contributing much when he tried to steal an improbable single only to be run out by left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha.
Johnson doubled his scalps by dismissing another opener Robin Uthappa cheaply in his very next over to leave Pune tottering at 13-3. All-rounder Yuvraj Singh (24) and T Suman (23) tried to salvage the situation but couldn’t do much. Mitchell Marsh (38) did provide some fireworks before the bucket-handed Dhawan took the second of two good catches to end Pune’s chances of a decent finish.
Earlier, the misfiring opening pair of Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting (14: 17b, 2x4s), together called ‘Pon-dulkar’, put up a 54-run stand, their highest in the tournament so far, to help Mumbai get to a flying start.
Tendulkar was super aggressive on Saturday and hit Ashoke Dinda for four consecutive boundaries. He even got a life when Yuvraj dropped him off Rahul Sharma at mid-on. As if to rub salt on Sharma’s wounds, the batsman hit him for a huge six over long-on.
As their partnership threatened to grow bigger, Yuvraj broke the stand with his very first ball forcing Ponting to drive it into the hands of a diving Abhishek Nayar at deep backward point. The batsman stood his ground believing that the catch was off a half volley, but the third umpire sent him on his way.
Tendulkar departed in the very next over. Rohit then stitched a 55-run third wicket stand with Karthik and added another 68 runs for the fourth wicket with Pollard to take Mumbai to their eventual total.
