When a team is down and out in a high-pressure tournament, it takes one magical moment to lift sagging spirits. Mumbai Indians found their moment at Bengaluru when they beat Royal Challengers Bangalore. It took five games in the IPL for Mumbai to come to the party and to put smiles on everyone’s faces.
The batsmen fire on all cylinders
This time around it was the turn of Mumbai’s top batting to stand up and be counted. Opener Lendl Simmons started the calypso, batting with gay abandon to set the Chinnaswamy stadium on fire. The Trinidadian inspired young Unmukt Chand to play the kind of innings he has been wanting to play for a long time.
There has been a lot expected from Chand after he won the Under-19 World Cup for India, and his 58 runs off 37 balls must have given the Delhi lad a lot of confidence. Mumbai’s think-tank must be happy that the team did not have to depend only on the old faithfuls – skipper Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard to help them post a big score.
Sharma took his team to a crescendo bashing the bowling and, at one point, it looked like Mumbai would cross the 225 runs mark till David Wiese decided to play spoilsport with a last minute burst. The South African’s show will certainly encourage the Challengers whose bowling attack continues to look lifeless.
But while Mumbai has the capability of notching up challenging scores, they have had bowling worries, as admitted by coach Ricky Ponting, who did not seem confident even after his team scored 209 runs.
Bowlers rise to the occasion
Mitchell McClenaghan, who made his debut in the IPL, and Lasith Malinga bowled cleverly to contain Chris Gayle and stop the runs from leaking. Gayle, who loves batting on the lifeless pitch at Bangalore, looked completely lost, did not capitalise on two dropped catches and surrendered for a listless 10 runs off 24 deliveries. His departure, followed by that of Manvinder Bisla, put more pressure on the Challengers batsmen who just could not get off to the kind of a start they needed while chasing a stiff target.
With the target getting higher and harder, Harbhajan Singh bowled a dream spell, which is destined to go down as one of his best in this format of the game. He was all loop, flight and played the deception game with the ease of a veteran. His performances in his last two outings are indicators that he has not given up the hope of making a comeback into the Indian team.
Two decisions taken by Challengers skipper Virat Kohli will be at the back of his mind before he steps out to play the next game. Putting Mumbai in to bat on a belter of a pitch, with a weak bowling attack, would be a point for him to ponder over. The second was the perplexing choice to promote Dinesh Karthik ahead of A.B. de Villiers, arguably the best batsman in the world, when Challengers were in desperate need of quick runs.
The South African exploded, by coring 41 runs off 11 balls to get his team back in the game when all seemed lost. Effectively, de Villiers was used as a guest artist when he should have been playing the lead role.
Has the team turned the corner finally?
With their bowling looking much more settled and the batsmen in good form, Mumbai know they have a lot of catching up to do as the tournament progresses. Fielding well under pressure is be an area they will be working on before their next game against the Delhi Daredevils.
With Malinga slowly but surely coming into his own, and Harbhajan finding his rhythm, Mumbai’s confidence will be high as they take on another team that seems to have found its feet at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi.
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The batsmen fire on all cylinders
This time around it was the turn of Mumbai’s top batting to stand up and be counted. Opener Lendl Simmons started the calypso, batting with gay abandon to set the Chinnaswamy stadium on fire. The Trinidadian inspired young Unmukt Chand to play the kind of innings he has been wanting to play for a long time.
There has been a lot expected from Chand after he won the Under-19 World Cup for India, and his 58 runs off 37 balls must have given the Delhi lad a lot of confidence. Mumbai’s think-tank must be happy that the team did not have to depend only on the old faithfuls – skipper Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard to help them post a big score.
Sharma took his team to a crescendo bashing the bowling and, at one point, it looked like Mumbai would cross the 225 runs mark till David Wiese decided to play spoilsport with a last minute burst. The South African’s show will certainly encourage the Challengers whose bowling attack continues to look lifeless.
But while Mumbai has the capability of notching up challenging scores, they have had bowling worries, as admitted by coach Ricky Ponting, who did not seem confident even after his team scored 209 runs.
Bowlers rise to the occasion
Mitchell McClenaghan, who made his debut in the IPL, and Lasith Malinga bowled cleverly to contain Chris Gayle and stop the runs from leaking. Gayle, who loves batting on the lifeless pitch at Bangalore, looked completely lost, did not capitalise on two dropped catches and surrendered for a listless 10 runs off 24 deliveries. His departure, followed by that of Manvinder Bisla, put more pressure on the Challengers batsmen who just could not get off to the kind of a start they needed while chasing a stiff target.
With the target getting higher and harder, Harbhajan Singh bowled a dream spell, which is destined to go down as one of his best in this format of the game. He was all loop, flight and played the deception game with the ease of a veteran. His performances in his last two outings are indicators that he has not given up the hope of making a comeback into the Indian team.
Two decisions taken by Challengers skipper Virat Kohli will be at the back of his mind before he steps out to play the next game. Putting Mumbai in to bat on a belter of a pitch, with a weak bowling attack, would be a point for him to ponder over. The second was the perplexing choice to promote Dinesh Karthik ahead of A.B. de Villiers, arguably the best batsman in the world, when Challengers were in desperate need of quick runs.
The South African exploded, by coring 41 runs off 11 balls to get his team back in the game when all seemed lost. Effectively, de Villiers was used as a guest artist when he should have been playing the lead role.
Has the team turned the corner finally?
With their bowling looking much more settled and the batsmen in good form, Mumbai know they have a lot of catching up to do as the tournament progresses. Fielding well under pressure is be an area they will be working on before their next game against the Delhi Daredevils.
With Malinga slowly but surely coming into his own, and Harbhajan finding his rhythm, Mumbai’s confidence will be high as they take on another team that seems to have found its feet at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi.