From the iSport Cricket Paddock: iSporter Rajas Joshi reviews the MI vs. CSK match at the Chidambaram stadium yesterday. He says although MI lost and have nothing to worry about at this stage; they surely need a wake up call!
Mumbai Indians were playing their first game in front of an away crowd after a gap of six matches and the crowd at the MA Chidambaram stadium did more than just letting MI know who they were rooting for.
MI lost the toss and was put in to field by the Chennai Super Kings. After an indifferent start MI let Chennai get away and at the end of ten overs CSK were 85-2. MI had got the important wicket of Murali Vijay, who has been in tremendous form of late, and Suresh Raina. Sachin Tendulkar adopted a slightly different strategy by making Harbhajan and Malinga bowl three and two overs respectively within the first six overs. In the past we have seen him get one over out of each of them (sometimes two from Harbhajan) and save them for later.
At this stage it looked ominous for MI as the two of the most destructive batsmen were at the crease – Hayden and Dhoni. In the fourteenth over big Pollard took care of both of them in consecutive balls and the rest who came in could not get going soon enough as CSK crawled to 165, a total that definitely seemed around 15-20 runs short.
The bowlers did a decent job but this time the fielding was definitely a put off. The thing that could be improved upon is the number of extras that were conceded.
MI once again got off to a great start scoring 46 runs without losing a wicket in the power play. Dhawan perished in the seventh over when he played-on a length delivery from left arm pacer Thilan Thushara. Just as we thought that Tendulkar will have to stay till the end to chase down this total on a slow wicket along with the wet outfield, he went back to the pavilion ‘retired-ill’ after nine overs suffering from dehydration due to the sapping heat of Chennai.
What transpired in the next thirty minutes was something the Indian team of the 90’s was used to doing when Tendulkar got out. MI lost six wickets in just over five overs and a “drained out” Tendulkar had to come back to the centre. He could not provide the firepower that was required at that stage and was out after adding seven runs after coming back. He was the highest scorer in the innings with 45. Harbhajan (33 off 23 balls) provided some late fireworks smashing three big sixes, but it was a little too late as MI lost by 24 runs.
There is absolutely no need to panic as this loss came at the perfect time as with five matches to go MI are almost certain to play the Semi-Final. It is like a wake-up call to a team that had been in cruise-control mode throughout the tournament. There are a lot of things to learn from this loss, the most important being that even in T20 cricket there are times when one needs to build an innings. This is especially applicable to MI as they have big hitters almost through the batting line-up, who just need to read the wicket and get used to its pace before going for the big ones. Another aspect is the dependence on their captain Tendulkar. Apart from the two West Indians, Bravo and Pollard, the batting line-up does not have any big names and though the local talent has been performing brilliantly, the batting still tends to depend and revolve around the Master.
Lets hope that Tendulkar is fit in the next match against KXIP and the mistakes that were made in this game will not be repeated.
MI lost the toss and was put in to field by the Chennai Super Kings. After an indifferent start MI let Chennai get away and at the end of ten overs CSK were 85-2. MI had got the important wicket of Murali Vijay, who has been in tremendous form of late, and Suresh Raina. Sachin Tendulkar adopted a slightly different strategy by making Harbhajan and Malinga bowl three and two overs respectively within the first six overs. In the past we have seen him get one over out of each of them (sometimes two from Harbhajan) and save them for later.
At this stage it looked ominous for MI as the two of the most destructive batsmen were at the crease – Hayden and Dhoni. In the fourteenth over big Pollard took care of both of them in consecutive balls and the rest who came in could not get going soon enough as CSK crawled to 165, a total that definitely seemed around 15-20 runs short.
The bowlers did a decent job but this time the fielding was definitely a put off. The thing that could be improved upon is the number of extras that were conceded.
MI once again got off to a great start scoring 46 runs without losing a wicket in the power play. Dhawan perished in the seventh over when he played-on a length delivery from left arm pacer Thilan Thushara. Just as we thought that Tendulkar will have to stay till the end to chase down this total on a slow wicket along with the wet outfield, he went back to the pavilion ‘retired-ill’ after nine overs suffering from dehydration due to the sapping heat of Chennai.
What transpired in the next thirty minutes was something the Indian team of the 90’s was used to doing when Tendulkar got out. MI lost six wickets in just over five overs and a “drained out” Tendulkar had to come back to the centre. He could not provide the firepower that was required at that stage and was out after adding seven runs after coming back. He was the highest scorer in the innings with 45. Harbhajan (33 off 23 balls) provided some late fireworks smashing three big sixes, but it was a little too late as MI lost by 24 runs.
There is absolutely no need to panic as this loss came at the perfect time as with five matches to go MI are almost certain to play the Semi-Final. It is like a wake-up call to a team that had been in cruise-control mode throughout the tournament. There are a lot of things to learn from this loss, the most important being that even in T20 cricket there are times when one needs to build an innings. This is especially applicable to MI as they have big hitters almost through the batting line-up, who just need to read the wicket and get used to its pace before going for the big ones. Another aspect is the dependence on their captain Tendulkar. Apart from the two West Indians, Bravo and Pollard, the batting line-up does not have any big names and though the local talent has been performing brilliantly, the batting still tends to depend and revolve around the Master.
Lets hope that Tendulkar is fit in the next match against KXIP and the mistakes that were made in this game will not be repeated.
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