Getting a wicket on the first delivery was one thing that Tendulkar could expect maximum in a bid to defend a moderate total of 148. Malinga got that scalp by removing Patel and not only that he along with Bravo bowled to perfection pinning down Hayden all the way from scoring as he took almost two overs to fetch a run. The tightness of bowling is visible from the fact that the aggressive veteran had to wait for the 34th delivery he faced to touch the ropes. But the fighter never lost his calm and his determination to stay out there rather than hitting blind out of frustration proved to be right as at the end of the day he gifted Chennai a cool win over Mumbai Indians scoring a match winning 60 not out.

Apart from losing Patel, Chennai was shocked again with Bravo scalping Raina who was sparkling with 20 off 12. Badrinath and Hayden found it difficult to accelerate the score as the Chennai went with 56/2 at the break needing another 92. Badrinath fell in the next over after finding a six off Kulkarni. Dhoni and Hayden then succeeded in keeping the required run rate under 10 as Hayden started to show his colours, finding the fence frequently. Their 100 runs came in the 16th over and the match was won by Chennai with them fetching 51 runs off the last 28 balls. The difference was that Mumbai could manage only 17 off the last two overs they faced comparing to the 30, Chennai snatched off the same. Dhoni (23*) and Hayden put on an 87 runs stand featured with some exceptional piece of rapport among them in snatching singles.

Jayasuriya started to throttle the scoring with some early fire works in a must win match for Mumbai as he reached 30 off 17 balls laced with 3 fours and two sixes. His departure made some sort of pressure on Tendulkar and he could not last long scoring only 11 runs. Once again the most consistent batsman for them in IPL 2009, Duminy came to the rescue scoring smoothly. He along with A Nayyar marched ahead and the possibility of a huge total was looming over then.

Duminy scored another half century in just 40 balls but his attempt to accelerate the scoring got a set back with Balaji bowling a tight penultimate over. Adding to that, Duminy’s dismissal by way of a run out for 62 in the last over, defied Mumbai’s chances of building a challenging total before Chennai. They could manage only 147 at the end with A Nayyar making 33* off 27. The target was not enough to keep them alive in IPL 2009 even after a sporty bowling session as Hayden remained the ultimate winner with 5 balls to spare. With the win Chennai almost ensured their semi birth whereas Mumbai has almost packed their baggage.

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

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