Mumbai Indians' first  batting collapse of the  tournament gave  Rajasthan Royals a small  target of 95  to chase on a dry and cracked pitch in  Jaipur. Although the  home team had to fight  hard for their victory, it  ended up being a  comprehensive one. Sachin Tendulkar  expected conditions to be difficult for batting but  he probably didn't expect  that none of his batsmen would score more than  17.  Mumbai started  confidently with  Tendulkar driving the  second ball through point and Davy Jacobs  punching the ball over  long-on for the first six  of the innings. Jacobs  went three balls after  that shot when he played across the line to an  Amit Singh delivery that  uprooted middle stump. In the next over,  Tendulkar was stumped  off the bowling of Ashok  Menaria to give the left- arm spinner his first  wicket in Twenty20  cricket and deny the  spectators the possibility  of a Tendulkar versus  Shane Warne special.  Menaria showed  confidence in flighting  the ball and reading the  batsmen's intentions. He  was rewarded for a  second time when he  bowled a short delivery  to Ambati Rayudu, who  charged down the pitch  and offered Menaria a  simple return catch. Shane Warne brought  himself on and had  success in his second  over, inviting Rohit  Sharma to drive in the  air to Johan Botha on the long-off rope. Kieron  Pollard scored his first  run of this year's IPL  with a flick through  square leg and together  with Andrew Symonds  had to set about  rebuilding the innings. The pair lasted 33  balls  before Johan Botha  trapped Pollard lbw, as  he completely missed the offbreak. Botha struck  twice in his next over,  bowling Symonds with a  ball that kept low and  enticing R Sathish to  charge down the pitch  and get stumped. The  procession continued  when Lasith Malinga was dismissed for one by Amit Singh. Mumbai avoided the  ignominy of being bowled out within the 20  overs  as Harbhajan Singh  swatted at four deliveries in the final over before  finally connecting for a  six. But, they finished on their lowest total in IPL  history. It was always going to be  difficult to defend 95  but  with an aggressive  bowling attack, Mumbai  may have had some hope. Lasith Malinga started in his usual toe-crushing  fashion while Munaf  Patel was also accurate.  He got an early  breakthrough with a  slower ball that Rahul  Dravid scooped to  Tendulkar at midwicket. Ali Murtaza, who was  brought in in place of  Abu Nechim, was bowling a difficult line and length and with the pitch  keeping low he was  almost impossible to get  away. Watson and Botha  saw off his first two overs and although the  required-rate was never  going to trouble them,  they picked the balls to  hit well. Botha slog-swept  Harbhajan for six while  Watson hit Pollard for a  straight six over his  head. They handled  Murtaza with greater  ease in his second spell  and the chase was  turning into a stroll.  Tendulkar brought  Malinga back into the  attack, and after three  full balls, he banged one  in short to Watson who  was caught behind off an edge. Ross Taylor joined Johan  Botha and the pair  concentrated on rotating  the strike, which was all  they needed to do. Two  fuller deliveries were  punished with Taylor  stroking a ball through  the covers for four and  Botha lofting one over  midwicket. Botha took  Rajasthan to the brink  and was bowled with just five runs left to get for  the win. Rajasthan have  now won 14  out of 18  home games in IPLs, with 11  of those wins coming  in Jaipur.
 
 
No comments:
Post a Comment
Dear, visitor ! Your comments are precious for us . So, please comment for the improvement of this blog , Thanks.