Professional MI deal body blow to DD's semi-final ambitions

The Mumbai Indians dealt a body blow on Delhi’s semi final ambitions by dishing out a 39-run drubbing to the visitors. The star of the match for Sachin Tendulkar’s Indians was Kieron Pollard. After a blazing unbeaten 45 off 13 deliveries with the bat, the big man from Caribbean returned an economical figure of 0 for 15 in his four overs and affected two brilliant run-outs.

Chasing 183, David Warner (31) and Virender Sehwag (20) got Delhi off to a flier scoring 39 in 3.3 overs. Warner did all the damage in his 15-ball 31, charging through covers, going over long-on and driving through mid-off. In the third over, Warner carted Zaheer Khan for two fours and a six with a fine flick, a heave straight down the ground and a well controlled pull. But the party ended when the Aussie opener holed out to Murtaza off a smart slower-one by Dilhara Fernando.

Fernando almost got Sehwag out with another slower-one after a couple of balls but this time Murtaza grassed a dolly. But the young left-arm spinner made amends very soon by getting rid of Delhi skipper Gautam Gambhir (17). Sehwag soon followed him in the pavilion, running himself out in the same over. Murtaza produced a fine quicker delivery in his next over to send AB de Villiers (4) back into the hut.

Delhi’s cause was dealt another big blow when Paul Collingwood (2) ran himself out going for an inexplicable run. After a brilliant effort to send Sehwag back, this time Pollard demonstrated brilliant field-work off his own bowling. After a blistering 69 for 1 in the first six overs, the Daredevils slipped to 94 for 6 after 12 overs, from where it proved impossible to recover.

While all the bowlers contributed their bit, the bowling hero for Mumbai Indians was young spinner Ali Murtaza, who bowled with a lot of guile and confidence. He mixed up his deliveries well to keep the batsmen guessing and hardly gave any width to hit big shots. Murtaza’s four-over spell yielded only 18 runs for the important scalps of de Villiers and Dinesh Karthik (11). Dilhara Fernando too was impressive picking two wickets in his spell for 32 runs. Such was the discipline in Mumbai’s bowling that after the sixth over, they conceded a boundary in the last over.

Earlier, after being restricted to 133 for 4 in 17 overs, Kieron Pollard’s 13-ball blitzkriegs of 45 runs took Mumbai Indians to a highly competitive 183 for 4 at the end of 20 overs. Pollard’s fiery knock was studded with two boundaries and five mammoth sixes.

Ashish Nehra and Pradeep Sangwan bowled a fine opening spell, pitching the ball in all right areas. But luck deserted the two Delhi pacers as on various occasions the ball raced to the fence taking an edge of the bat. Both Chandan Madan (15) and Sachin Tendulkar (30) got the rub of the green going their way. Amit Mishra cramped the batsmen with his tight bowling and McDonald took advantage of it by dismissing Madan with a short ball in his first over.

Tendulkar, on the other hand, looked like a man with intent. Despite the superb bowling, he played some lovely flicks and sweeps in the initial overs. Thanks to his fluency, Mumbai could muster 44 runs in the powerplay. Sangwan finally got rewarded for his persistently impressive bowling when he got the prized wicket of the master blaster. It was a rather soft dismissal as Tendulkar sliced a simple catch to mid-off in his attempt to score a much needed boundary.

Tendulkar’s wicket brought Mumbai’s two young superstars, Saurabh Tiwary (38) and Ambati Rayudu (24) together, with a huge responsibility of reviving the innings. The two batted sensibly, playing their respective roles to perfection. While Tiwary paced up the innings with some lusty blows, Rayudu played the perfect anchor. The long-haired Samson-like power hitter from Jharkhand slog-swept Collingwood for a massive heave over midwicket before smashing a four and a six in Sangwan’s next over. But the 19-year-old bowler had the last laugh when he deceived Tiwary with a slower one which rattled his stumps.

JP Duminy (21) cut loose by whacking Mishra for three boundaries in the 16th over with a flick, a thumping drive and a lucky edge. Rayudu decided to take charge on Nehra in the next over by lofting him over long-on but holed out to de Villiers. But Kieron Pollard stepped on the gas to fetch 50 runs in the last three overs. He started his six-hitting spree with a thwack over long-off and scooped over the keeper’s head.

The big man from Caribbean then cornered McDonald in the last over to cream him for 25 runs. He set two balls scorching in the stands beyond the midwicket fence, thumped one straight down the ground and clobbered the last delivery over square-leg.