The early fall of Sachin Tendulkar, on whom Mumbai Indians tend to depend far too much, ended up in a thrilling nail-biter that concluded in the last over at the Brabourne Stadium. It took Harbhajan Singh and Rajagopal Satish (17 off nine balls) finally to seal the match in favour of the Mumbai Indians with three balls to spare. It was Mumbai Indians’ fourth successive win and sixth overall to firmly stay at the top with 12 points while Kings XI Punjab suffered their sixth defeat from seven matches to lay at the bottom of the table.

Tendulkar, who needed only seven runs to overtake Jacques Kallis, became the highest scorer of the tournament by taking two fours off left-arm seamer Shalab Srivastava in the fourth over. There was a stunned silence when he was out for 11 (15 balls). He was held at long-on of leg spinner Piyush Chawla. It was a very important wicket for Kings XI Punjab, as Tendulkar had failed for the first time after three successive half-centuries. Tendulkar has 314 runs from seven matches to win the Orange Cap for the first time in the three year history of the Indian Premier League.
 
It was yet another 13-ball 20 (2x4, 1x6) by Kieron Pollard, who perished next in the 10th over. The big-hitting Pollard, promoted to number three, was caught by Bopara at long-on off Irfan Pathan.  By then Mumbai Indians reached 82/2. The dismissal of Shikar Dhawan, who batted excellently for his 40-ball 50 (6x4, 1x6), Ambati Rayudu (9) and Dwayne Bravo (8) added to the twist in the tale, as it put Kings XI Punjab in driver’s seat. But Saurabh Tiwary (31 off 23 balls) and Satish took the match away from Kings XI Punjab, scoring 25 runs in two overs.
 
Earlier, Lasith Malinga (4/22) and Zaheer Khan (3/34) had helped restrict the Kings XI Punjab to 163. Zaheer Khan struck with his second ball, trapping opener Ravi Bopara (1) in front. Sling bowler Lasith Malinga, too, tasted success in his first over as he had Manvinder Bisla (11) caught at mid-on. Mumbai Indians got two wickets in the first five overs and Kings XI Punjab were 40/2  in 4.4 overs.

The spotlight was now firmly on the Australian playing in his first match in IPL 2010, Shaun Marsh who looked in good touch, as he hit two lovely fours off Ryan McLaren. Together, with stand-in skipper Mahela Jayawardene, the two went about steadying the ship for the Kings XI Punjab with a 49-run stand in six overs before Jayawardene was run out for 20. Yuvraj Singh’s poor form continued, as he was out to a poor shot to be caught at short third man for 2 off Bravo. Kings XI Punjab were reduced to 92/4 in 11.2 overs.

Marsh went on to cruise to his 50 in style, square driving Bravo. Harbhajan Singh brought off a splendid running catch at mid wicket to dismiss Irfan Pathan. In the next ball, Kings XI Punjab lost their sixth wicket when Malinga bowled Marsh (57 off 47 balls, 6x4, 1x6) with a yorker. Zaheer Khan had his second wicket by sending back Brett Lee. Malinga went on to capture one more wicket that of Karan Goel (bowled) to finish his fine spell of 4-0-22-4. Left-hander Piyush Chawla hit a 13-ball 22 to boost the Kings XI Punjab total.
 
Australian left-hander Shaun Marsh was inducted into the playing XI for the Kings XI Punjab, with his team captain Kumar Sangakkara facing a one-match ban, which led to Manvinder Bisla keeping wickets. Mumbai Indians retained the same team with Ambati Rayudu continuing to don the gloves for the men in blue and gold.

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