Mumbai Indians off to a winning start

Sachin Tendulkar

Mumbai Indians, who finished in the bottom half of the table last season have got off to a great start in the second edition of the Indian Premier League. They edged out last year’s runners-up Chennai Super Kings by 19 runs in the tournament opener.

Defending a challenging total of 165 runs, the Mumbai franchise bowled extremely well to stop their opponents from achieving the target. Sachin Tendulkar and Lasith Malinga were the star performers for the Mumbai Indians with the bat and ball respectively.

It was Chennai’s skipper Dhoni who won the toss and decided to put his opponents into batting first. Tendulkar and the other top-order batters started well with the scoreboard ticking very swiftly. Tendulkar brought up his maiden half century of the tournament and remained unbeaten on 59 runs. His calm and collective knock came of 49 deliveries with seven boundaries included.

The Mumbai Indians wouldn’t have reached the 160 plus total, if it hadn’t been for a dazzling innings from Abhishek Nayar. The flamboyant southpaw thumped 35 runs off just 14 balls to power his team into a competitive position.

Chennai’s reply got off to on a stuttering note as Parthiv Patel (0) and Raina (8) departed early. Hayden (44) and Flintoff (24) revived some hopes with a 52-run stand before the Mumbai spinners made inroads. Harbhajan and Jayasuriya bowled particularly well to bog down the Super Kings’ run-rate in the middle overs.

Skipper MS Dhoni (36) fought well in the death overs but it wasn’t enough as Malinga (3-15) and company bowled well to halt Chennai at 146-6 in 20 overs.

Master-Blaster Sachin Tendulkar was adjudged Man of the Match for his crucial knock. He said, “The first 7-8 overs were difficult but I thought Nayar played a brilliant innings. I thought 150-160 would be a good target. I don't want to take anything for granted but I'm glad we've started well.”

Dhoni and his boys won’t mind this loss as it was just the first game and there is a long way to go in the tournament. Whereas, Mumbai Indians will look to keep the winning momentum on as the competition will get tougher.

Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians 166 for 7 (Tendulkar 59*, Nayar 35) beat Chennai Super Kings 145 for 7 (Hayden 44, Malinga 3-15) by 19 runs.