Right things happening at the right time for Mumbai.....it's their first home match of the season after the two tough clashes outside..... they sweated out the first match to lose with real cricketing spirits to RCB and the second match they did put an all-hands effort to beat Chennai in their unbeatable home ground! and now with all the confidence they have beaten gloriously their innocent guests who playd as if driving a Delhi registration car in the roads of Mumbai without GPS or google maps!
The MI skipper had no hesitation to choose batting first in the track that was inviting with an unlimited offer of runs! The big-brand opening duo "PONDULKAR" posted an another unsuccessful show from the middle... it was a maiden first over and a wicket to Irfan Pathan and his man was Ponting.... Ricky never had his foot right in the kick-starter and was getting slipped constantly with the new ball for the first five deliveries, the veteran allegedly losing his patience gave an easy catch to the opposite captain Mahela Jayawardane who celebrated the wicket joyously without knowing that it was his last laugh of the day! Just like the team Delhi something's really going wrong with Sachin as well....as we haven't quite seen Tendulkar making the exit facing only one ball consecutively in two innings! Again the master lost his wicket to a terrible run-call which he himself made and cancelled eventually giving the wicket away to a superb throw from Warner!
That was all the brief sorrow of the Mumbai Indians yesterday and the glory began when Rohit Sharma joined Dinesh Karthick in the mission of lifting the run rate! It was a pleasure to watch Dinesh yet again glittering with splendid form! The bowling attack during the initial overs by the Delhi seamers was really intact yet Dinesh managed to beat them all by driving his way to the fence at least once in an over!
Rohit from the other end gave a perfect partnership whose shots, yesterday, was in the closest proximity to the ones described in the text books! Right from the variation of the foot work to the rotation of the strike everything was in place for the Dinesh-Rohit pair and Delhi bowlers catalyzed the scoring rate of Mumbai with their own share of lose deliveries.....! Rohit's batting was cleanly crafted with measured lines and calculated executions and his scoring chart was a cricketing art while Dinesh was just scribbling his wagon wheel with his power hits.... All praise to the orange cap holder for his quick execution of the shots to keep scoring simple!
Though it was sad to see Dinesh missing a well deserved ton to his name, he was done completely with his contribution to victory when he marched back to pavilion with the standing ovation from all the stands with a cruising strike rate of 179+
The projected score when Dinesh's departure from the middle was 180+ and the positive outlook of the team of that stature was surely to post a over two hundred score on the board! The attacking mission this time headed by Rohit Sharma who with the big hitters of the side Pollard and Rayudu had all correct to register what they wanted in the score board.... the final overs had lots of fireworks in the sky as the team leaped with ease to a mammoth 209 for 5 in the allotted 20 overs!
Malinga replacing Munaf displayed the Mumbai Indian bowling attack looking too good to the guests!
Ponting was clever to introduce Bhajji in the opening over who gave surprise to himself by taking Unmukt Chand's wicket out first ball! What a catch by Ponting!!! Well..... I remember Ponting said, when he was in India for the worldcup 2011, "Hope I'll be in the wheel chair by then if I make it!" while the reporter asked him about his possibility to make it to the next world cup! O... Ricky nobody would accept what you told having seen the catch you had taken yesterday it was literally the sight of the Ricky Ponting who was dynamic under Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh! Ageless effort by the fitness guru on the field to inspire the young blood of his new side in blue!
I just feel it's honesty not to forget to mention the batting of Warner and the in-form Manpreet Juneja in this almost one-sided article (so as the match was too!) No wonder to see David Warner's "Last Samurai" effort by his own manly daredevil big hits as he's always the man to do that stuff.... but it was the young Juneja who caught the attention of the cricketing crowd yesterday from the eventual minnow side! It was a brave fight back by the youngster , consistency of this kind can even promise him to take home to the national side!
Excellent batting by the young Indian alongside the world class veteran!
Please don't ask me anything more about Delhi's batting as I dont want to add fuel to their fire of despair...
Mumbai's bowling line has started to threaten as Lasith Malinga has joined Mitchell Johnson to bowl from the other end.... Ojha is looking good to pick his wickets and the team's bowling will surely earn the class if Bhajji could retain his 'not so bad' form sort of which he showed yesterday! Kieron Pollard has to bowl full of his allotment which could be a concern as he's vulnerable to be hit easily to the stands by a Dhoni kind of a batsman!
When Dinesh playing a big innings why not let Rayudu save DK's energy by exchanging the keeper's glove!
Yesterday Dinesh's wicket keeping was hit by the weary of his long stand with the batting pads-on in the first innings..... not everyone could do a Dhoni who's also the captain in addition!
Overall.... I would say Mumbai is the first team of the season to get in shape.... still more matches to come and more and more to see...... we'll just let our mind to ask for more..... yeh dil maange more!
Cheers Mumbai.....
Luv,
Prabu M
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