 | « Back to article | Print this article |
Mumbai Indians thrashed Rajasthan Royals by 37 runs in their Indian Premier League match at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur on Sunday and guaranteed themselves a place in the semi-finals.
Chasing a formidable 175 to win, the home team managed just 137 for eight in their stipulated 20 overs.
The win, their eighth in 11 matches, made Mumbai Indians the first team to qualify for the semi-finals - the first instance in the IPL that the team from Mumbai will feature in the last four.
MI also became only the third team - in nine matches - to win after batting first on this ground.
It was the Sachin Tendulkar-led side's first win after successive losses - against Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab - and improved their overall record against Rajasthan to three wins in five matches - including win in both the encounters in this edition after their four-run win earlier in the tournament at Brabourne.
The win also maintained Mumbai's impeccable record of having won all the five matches this season where their captain had scored a fifty - indicating their reliance on their leader.
As regards Rajasthan, it was their first defeat in nine matches at Sawai Mansingh Stadium - the Royals had won all their eight previous matches at the venue.
The Shane Warne-led side, champions in the inaugural edition, remained at the fourth spot following their sixth defeat in 12 matches and their hopes of a berth in the last four remained delicately balanced - the heavy defeat affecting their nett run rate to a considerable extent.
It was their first defeat in three matches - after successive wins against Deccan Chargers and Kings XI Punjab - but third in their last five.
Coming to the match per se, the Mumbai total proved to be a mountain to climb for Rajasthan.
And the latter didn't help their cause either by losing wickets in a canter, three to unnecessary run outs.
Zaheer Khan was the pick of MI bowlers with figures of two for 17 while Aditya Dole was the top scorer for the home side with an 18-ball 30.
The Rajasthan innings started on a disastrous note.
Michael Lumb (8) survived two run out attempts in the opening over, helped himself to a couple of boundaries of square (off Dhaval Kulkarni) and then perished to a brilliant catch at backward point by JP Duminy.
Three balls later, Zaheer Khan induced a thick outside edge off Naman Ojha's (0) blade and Tendulkar made no mistake at first slip.
The dangerous Shane Watson (1) was run out three balls later to leave the home side reeling at 11 for three.
Faiz Fazal (10) was also found short of his ground a few overs later.
Going into the first strategic time out (after nine overs), Rajasthan was tottering at 51 for four.
And there was no end to their woes after resumption either.
Abhishek Jhunjhunwala scored a run-a-ball 22 before he too ran himself out.
Warne took the second timeout early - after the 13th over with Rajasthan at 74 for fivr - in a bid to accelerate the scoring rate.
Yusuf Pathan (10) smashed the first ball he faced after resumption (off Pollard) over the square leg for a maximum.
However, the bowler had his revenge in the next ball having Yusuf caught by Harbhajan at short third man.
Four balls later, Zaheer had Adam Voges (28) caught behind to all but end Rajasthan's hopes - at 87 for seven in the 15th over.
Abhishek Raut and Aditya Dole hit a few lusty blows - sharing a 50-run partnership for the eighth wicket - but in the end it was too titlle, too late.
Earlier, a masterful 89 not out by Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar helped Mumbai Indians to a formidable total.
The visitors made 174 for five in their stipulated 20 overs.
Tendulkar, dropped by Aditya Dole (off Siddharth Trivedi) at 45, went on to score his fifth half-century of the tournament and help his team recover from an early slump.
Tendulkar's 59-ball knock, inclusive of 10 hits to the fence and two over it, was his highest ever score in the tournament and helped him take over the Orange Cap - as the tournament's highest scorer with 514 runs - from Jacques Kallis.
Shane Watson struck thrice in his first two overs to give Rajasthan Royals a great start.
Sachin Tenndulkar had ensured Mumbai a good start, hitting two boundaries off three balls in Yusuf Pathan's first over.
However, Watson struck in his third ball, Sanath Jayasuriya (1) hitting straight to Abhishek Jhunjhunwala at extra cover.
Three balls later, Watson banged in a bouncer and Ambati Rayudu, going for a hook, only gloved it to Naman Ojha.
Saurabh Tiwary (15) hit three boundaries before Watson struck again, getting the former caught by Dole at fine leg.
The visitors had been reduced to 30 for three by the fourth over.
In came JP Duminy (31), and he hit a slew of boundaries to ease the pressure.
MI had come back well at 68 for three when the first strategic timeout - after nine overs - was taken.
Soon after resumption Tendulkar brought on the 50-run partnership in style, chipping down the track and hitting inside out over extra cover for a boundary.
The shot also made him only the seventh player to reach the 1000-run mark in the IPL.
And the 36-year-old celebrated the occasion doing an encore and three balls later, found the fence again, this time at the backward point.
But Siddharth Trivedi struck in the next over, having Duminy caught by Michael Lumb at short square leg.
The fourth-wicket partnership yielded Mumbai 63 runs in 52 balls.
Kieron Pollard (25) survived a run out attempt soon after he came in and Tendulkar was put down by Dole off Trivedi in the 15th over.
The Master Blaster soon completed his fifth fifty in this edition with a single off Dole.
Going into the second strategic timeout - taken after the 16th over - Mumbai had come back to 115 for four.
Watson's third over, the innings' 17th, cost Rajasthan 15 runs, with Tendulkar finding his way to the fence twice.
And Pollard, who also helped himself to the fence once in that over, went ballistic in the next over, smashing Dole first for a boundary and then for a maximum over long-on.
But Dole did have the final word, rattling the batsman's stumps. The fifth-wicket stand had yielded MI 50 runs.
Tendulkar started the penultimate over (bowled by Watson) with successive boundaries between the mid-on and the midwicket.
And in the final over by Trivedi, he helped himself to 20 runs, including a couple of maximums and a boundary off the last ball.
MI scored 68 runs in their last five overs, courtesy their captain.
Earlier, Rajasthan Royals' captain Shane Warne won the toss and opted to field first.
"I think the wicket looks pretty good to last 40 overs and we can chase down any score," reasoned Warne, adding, "We will try to restrict them to around 170."
His opposite number, Sachin Tendulkar, remained unperturbed though.
"It really doesn't matter as we would have batted in any case," he said, adding, "The conditions are different and so we have to analyse them early on."
And the MI captain appeared to have made a perfect analysis.
Teams:
Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar (captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Saurabh Tiwary, JP Duminy, R Sathish, Kieron Pollard, Ambati Rayudu, Harbhajan Singh, Dhaval Kulkarni, Zaheer Khan, Lasith Malinga.
Rajasthan Royals: Shane Warne (captain), Naman Ojha, Michael Lumb, Shane Watson, Faiz Fazal, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Yusuf Pathan, Adam Voges, Abhishek Raut, Aditya Dole, Siddharth Trivedi.