It was as if the Chennai Super Kings batsmen wanted to beat the crowds in the evening commuter trains in Mumbai. So, rather than run the below normal 140 in a hurry, they kept throwing their wickets away, bending to the lowest total this IPL and lost by 60 runs to end their seven-game winning streak.
No matter how much credit you give the bowling Mumbai Indians – one of the most watchable acts of the IPL – it was a surreal case of poor manufacturing excitement in the first reports of the hunt. In the first course of the hunt, Mitchell Johnson kept bowling short and wide, Michael Hussey kept the cutting point Kieron Pollard and Pollard continues to decline. The third successive nose cut those Pollard, and he left the field even though the Wankhede Stadium rubbed its collective eyes.
You could argue Johnson returned with a superb second more, but started with a bang loose M Vijay, who dragged a ball length to width. Suresh Raina has played through and got a leading edge to the point of Pollard. This time Pollard dived forward and himself half redeemed. As is the rule with Super Kings, they sent S Badrinath cope with the crisis, and he almost slightly balloon hat-trick. Soon, Johnson broke his other side with an outswinger bowlers left arm, and was denied a unique triple wicket maiden by Dwayne Congratulations.
Wankhede and was still rubbing his eyes to finish. In the next over, Bravo led a shortish delivery Pawan Suyal right off the back foot to cover. At 18 for 4, MS Dhoni himself and Ravindra Jadeja held back and sent to R Ashwin, who soon fell to offspinner veteran, he usurped, Harbhajan Singh. Dhoni came in with the asking rate past eight years and only five wickets in hand.
Hussey resumed its orange cap, but his sleeves has never been common. Lasith Malinga is over for him is striking that the bouncers Hussey with both slow and rhythm. Under immense pressure, Hussey looked to the release time Pragyan Ojha came on the bowl, and lofted straight to deep midwicket to make it 40 for 6 to 9.1 overs.
Dhoni too was left to do, and he finished the hole too wide Ojha. Malinga ran through the rest, Mumbai and stood in the top four at the end of the league approaching. There would not have been so easy if after they have succeeded on 50 less than the average score early rounds of Mumbai bat this season. Once again, they were off to a slow start, and five of their first six failed to score more than a run a ball.
The two who did, Captain Rohit Sharma and Harbhajan, went to bat till the end. When they took it in the end, they got one last loose relay Ben Laughlin and took 19 points on it. It does not seem the case, then, but the dynamic had changed.
