IPL 20-20 Cricket

On a dark Wednesday night, the Wankhede Stadium of Mumbai dazzled with fireworks from Sanath Jayasuriya, who was on a rampage and steered Mumbai Indians to a nine-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings.

When Jayasuriya, who had not really play a big innings in the tournament so far, came out to open with Sachin Tendulkar, spectators expected some magical show but they did not anticipate that it would be something incredible. No matter what was thrown on to him, he pulled it out of the ground. Dhoni could do nothing to stop the run riot and was left helpless and hapless.

Jayasuriya looked threatening from the very beginning and dealt with Chennai bowlers in boundaries. Interestingly, he hit more sixes than the fours. In his unbeaten knock of 114 runs off 48 balls, he hit 11 sixes and 9 fours. Unquestionably, he was adjudged the 'Man of the Match'.

Sachin Tendulkar made a successful IPL debut. Though, he failed to shine with the bat and made just 12 runs, he was quite impressive as captain. He kept changing his bowlers and never let his opposition dominate the game.

Electing to bowl first, the Sachin Tendulkar led-Mumbai Indians struck early and took four wickets. Shaun Pollock removed in-form S Viduyt (16) as Rohan Raje caught him at the mid-off.

Sachin Tendulkar quickly introduced Dwayne Bravo into the attack. Bravo, not disappointing his skipper, tricked Suresh Raina (1) who misjudged the bounce and edged it behind. Wicketkeeper Yogesh Takawale made no mistake and safely gloved it.

Dhawal Kulkarni, then, took two wickets in his same over and sent Stephen Fleming (26) and C Kapugedera (0) back.

Mumbai bowlers tightened the noose around the Super Kings batsmen but MS Dhoni and S Badrinath repaired the innings after a dreadful start in their second encounter with the hosts in the DLF IPL tournament and set a target of 157 for Tendulkar and Co.

The two players took Chennai from 46 for 4 to 141 for 5 and added 95 crucial runs. Dhoni remained unbeaten with 43 runs. The Super Kings made 156 runs at the loss of six wickets.

S Badrinath went on to smash his second half-century of the tournament. But Dwayne Bravo made a comeback after being hit for two sixes in his over and took a brilliant return catch to dismiss Badrinath (53).

This win, however, does not make any change in the standings as Mumbai Indians continue to be at sixth place while Chennai Super Kings hold on to their third position. The net run rate has definitely improved for Mumbai unlike Chennai.