It’s the Aussie magician’s night to party as the Master blaster fell to his guile and so did Mumbai Indians to hand a dramatic 2-run win to Rajasthan with just a ball to spare.

Good innings by opener Rob Quiney (51, 40 balls, 5x4, 2x6) and later down in order by Ravindra Jadeja (42, 32 balls, 4x4, 1x6) helped Mumbai Indians to come closer to moderate looking winning target of 146 runs.

Royals captain Shane Warne done the maximum damage when he sent three Mumbai top players back to pavilion. A. Rahane (3), Sanath Jayasuriya (16) and Mumbai captain Sachin Tendulkar (40) fell victims to some fine leg spin bowling by once world’s best leg spinner Shane Warne.

Harbhajan Singh (7 n.o.) and Abhishek Nayar (35, 18 balls, 4x4, 1x6) had taken their side to 140 for six with eight balls still to go but the dismissal of the latter in the penultimate over set up a frantic finish. Mumbai Indians needed only four off the last over with three wickets in hand, but Munaf Patel bowled a fine over and Tendulkar’s boys lost their heads to get all out.

Earlier Rajasthan Royals have won toss and opted to bat against Mumbai Indians but Mumbai restricted them to 145 for 6. Rajasthan opener Graeme Smith was dropped early in the innings. But the South African captain and Quiney put on 43 before the loss of Smith for 19.

Yusuf Pathan came in and tried to play his usual attacking game. He succeeded initially, slamming Lasith Malinga for two fours in the eighth over, but the introduction of Chetanya Nanda spelt the end of the all-rounder, who holed out to Malinga at deep square leg with an attempted sweep on 17.

Quiney and Ravindra Jadeja looked in good touch when they came together, with the former raising his fifty in 37 deliveries. The pair put on 61 in six overs but Malinga came back to put on the brakes when he bowled the Australian in the 16th over with the score on 126. Thereafter, only 19 runs came in the last four overs as the batting side ended on 145 for seven.

It was one of the best matches in the competition. Mumbai started terribly, losing three early wickets and struggled to score quickly before the strategy break. Tendulkar then cut loose to bring the asking rate down before Nayar took Mumbai to the brink of victory. Nayar was dismissed at a crucial time. A great win for Royals. Rajasthan climbed up to No. 3 spot on the points table, and Mumbai slipped to sixth.

Comments

Add New RSS

3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

Newer news items:

Older news items: