Mumbai finish fifth

29th May 2008

The penultimate match of the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) saw two teams who had already crashed out of the tournament take on each other. Mumbai Indians needed Chennai Super Kings to lose yesterday's match to Deccan Chargers to have any hopes of making this a worthwhile contest, whereas the Bangalore Royal Challengers were out of the tournament some time back. To add to all the woes of the two teams, rains greeted the players from the time they began their practice and an on-time start never looked a possibility.

The rain reduced the match to only eighteen overs a side. Sachin Tendulkar called it right at the toss, and decided to field first. He had made a change to his team, getting Dhawal Kulkarni in place of Rohan Raje, whereas his opposite number, Rahul Dravid dropped the out-of-form Jacques Kallis and Wasim Jaffer who were replaced by Mark Boucher and Praveen Kumar.

The Bangalore Royal Challengers had two new batsmen at the top, both the wicketkeepers, Mark Boucher and Shreevats Goswami. Shaun Pollock began proceedings for the Mumbai Indians and the two South Africans - the batsman and the bowler - immediately went after each other. Ashish Nehra shared the new ball, and the batsmen tried to go after him. The outfield was a bit damp and so some of their shots did not really reach the boundary, yet the openers kept the scoreboard ticking. However, in between some of these shots came excellent deliveries which the batsmen were left fending and ended the Power Play, after five overs due to the rains, at 34/0.

It was the introduction of Dilhara Fernando that changed all that, as first Mark Boucher fell trying to smash the bowler over the top, caught by Robin Uthappa, followed by Misbah-ul-Haq giving catching practice to Tendulkar in the slips. If this was not enough Goswami tried to hit Fernando over the top and spooned a catch to Nehra at mid-on. All of a sudden, Bangalore were struggling at 39/3 in the 8th.

This brought Cameron White and Rahul Dravid onto the crease and the duo waited for the weaker bowlers to come on to bowl. Dwayne Smith went for 11, but it was Dhawal Kulkarni who was punctured by Cameron White, getting hit for eighteen. Smith finally broke through, frustrating White with three successive dot balls and then forcing him to lift him into the long-on's hand. Ashish Nehra came back and immediately got Virat Kohli - first ball - caught behind, and then Dwayne Smith got two more in his next, and the innings' 14th over, as the Challengers limped to 84/7 in 14 overs.

At this stage, even 100 looked a distant total, but a very wayward couple of overs first by Smith and then Kulkarni, ended up conceding 23 runs. Fernando was then smashed for another six by Vinay Kumar. However, the Sri Lankan had his revenge getting him caught, and the last ball of the innings saw Praveen Kumar run out, as the Challengers ended with 122/9 in the 18 overs. Fernando finished with the figures of 4/18 in his four and Dwayne Smith had three. The target did not look threatening at all!

Rahul Dravid opened with the strategy of getting his state-mate, Anil Kumble, to open the bowling for the team; but with the rain and the humidity around, he was immediately taken off and replaced by Praveen Kumar. His first five balls went for a single, but the last one was smashed to the long-off boundary for a six. At the other end, Dale Steyn, conceded only six in his first two overs, as Mumbai reached 22/0 in four overs. The run-rate was not out of the ordinary, but then they had not even lost any wickets.

It was Praveen Kumar's second over - and the innings' fifth - that went for aplenty, fourteen to be precise. But Vinay Kumar and B Akhil managed to keep the duo quiet, despite not picking up any wickets. It was only in the eighth over that Jayasuriya actually cut loose, scorching the city of Bangalore with two sixes and a four in the same over. Kumble came back on and gave 11 runs away, and then was thrashed for 16 off his next, as the Mumbai Indians reached 95/0 in 11 overs.

Dale Steyn finally saw the back of Sanath Jayasuriya, caught at the sweeper cover boundary, trying to play his famous cut shot, but by then the match was far and truly over. Needing 27 in the last six overs, Robin Uthappa walked in to bat, and duly knocked off the remaining runs with consummate ease in the 16th over. Tendulkar ended with an unbeaten forty, whereas Uthappa scored 19.

The win got Mumbai to the fifth spot, and Bangalore ended at the seventh position. The Player of the Match award was given to Dilhara Fernando, for his excellent spell of bowling that turned the match in Mumbai's favour.