Prior to the last league match of IPL 2012, the
Rajasthan Royals had never lost a match in which they scored 160 or more while batting first. The
Mumbai Indians shattered
that record by registering a thumping 10-wicket win at the Sawai
Mansingh Stadium. MI successfully chased the 163-run target with two
overs to spare.
The game had very little but pride at stake as MI
had already made it to the top four, while RR were already out of
playoff contention. The visitors looked to go into the playoffs with
momentum on their side and the hosts just wanted to end the season on a
high note. In the end, it was the stronger team that prevailed.
In
what came across as their attempt to use the most number of opening
pairs in a single tournament, the Mumbai Indians came up with yet
another opening combination –
Sachin Tendulkar and
Dwayne Smith.
The two ended up with the best opening partnership of IPL 2012 as they
piled on 163 runs. The Tendulkar-Smith duo lived an extremely charmed in
the middle. They kept playing wrong shots in the air and the ball kept
falling short of the fielders. To double up the frustration of RR
bowlers, the fielders leaked some runs on the ground as well.
When
Sidharth Trivedi finally got Smith caught in the deep, it turned out to
be a no-ball. Tendulkar smacked the next delivery, a free-hit, for a
six to bring up MI’s 100. As the two batsmen rode their luck to the
fullest, the hosts could do very little apart from grinning and bearing
it.
After playing some chancy shots in the beginning, both
batsmen settled down nicely and began to hit the ball well. Tendulkar
scored 58* off 51 balls with the help of six fours, while Smith finished
with 87* off 54 deliveries. He hit 10 fours and three sixes. MI got
home with 12 balls to spare and all 10 wickets in hand.
Earlier,
Rahul Dravid had called it right at the toss and elected to bat first. MI’s
Dhawal Kulkarni
was playing his first game of IPL 2012 and he accounted for the most
successful opening pair of the season. In his first over, he dismissed
Rahul Dravid (5) with a short and side delivery was edged to the
‘keeper. In his third over, he got rid of the in-form Ajinkya Rahane
(13) with another short ball.
MI’s captain, however, was not that
effective. Harbhajan Singh was smacked for 30 runs off his first two
overs. Stuart Binny was particularly harsh on the off-spinner, creaming
him for three fours and two sixes. Finally, Binny ran himself out for 30
(off 17 balls), thus ending his dangerous 53-run (36 balls) partnership
with Watson.
Watson carried on for a while, before Pollard got
him caught in the deep, inducing a mistimed pull shot. The Australian
departed for 45 off 36 balls with four fours and two hits over the
fence. Owais Shah and Ashok Menaria got sedate 20s to take RR to 162 for
six in their allotted 20 overs. Kulkarni finished with figures of
4-1-18-3, while Lasith Malinga and Kieron Pollard picked up a scalp
each.
The Mumbai Indians will now take on the Chennai Super Kings in the playoff eliminator in Bengaluru on May 23, 2012.
Man of the Match: Dwayne Smith for his 58-ball 87 (10x4; 3x6) that helped MI win by 10 wickets
1 The Rajasthan Royals suffered a defeat for the first time after making 160-plus runs in the first innings of the match.