Pollard trumps Dhoni in close clash

 

Mumbai Indians 148 for 6 (Pollard 57*) beat Chennai Super Kings 139 for 9 (Dhoni 51) by nine runs

 

Kieron Pollard rebuilt the innings with the bat, and then took a game-clinching catch in the final over

Not many sides win a Twenty20 game from 83 for 6 in the first innings. Not many sides have Kieron Pollard, who once again showed how much damage he can cause if he gets some time in the middle. On a pitch where both line-ups crumbled, barring both No. 6 batsmen, Pollard was the difference, although MS Dhoni almost stole the match from Mumbai Indians’ grasp with an ever more outrageous counter-attack. Fittingly, with Chennai Super Kings needing 12 off six, Pollard intercepted what looked set to be another Dhoni six on the deep midwicket boundary, sealing the game for his side with an acrobatic catch.

Pollard had breathed life into a stalled Mumbai Indians innings, which had gone nowhere after Sachin Tendulkar had fallen leg-before to Dirk Nannes in the opening over for a golden duck. Ricky Ponting and Rohit Sharma soon followed Tendulkar. Although Dinesh Karthik looked in fine touch, when he departed for 37, Mumbai Indians were 59 for 4 in the ninth over and the Super Kings seamers were on top.

Pollard batted quite sensibly, willing to go without scoring for several deliveries, knowing that when he wanted, he could always collect six with his power and reach. Half of the 38 deliveries he faced were dots, but he also buffed five sixes. Even when he went for the big strikes, he wasn’t taking risk. He would just lean forward to length or full deliveries and lift them over long-on.

From 83 for 6, to add 65 in eight overs, with Harbhajan Singh for company, was quite an achievement. Harbhajan’s contribution, a run a ball 21, was crucial. Carefree swiping was put away and the strike was turned over. When it wasn’t, to Pollard’s disappointment in the last over, Harbhajan himself found the boundary. Pollard cracked Dwayne Bravo‘s final ball of the innings over long-on to make sure there would at least be a contest in the game.

There almost wasn’t one, though, as the Super Kings batsmen played a series of poor shots to leave their side gasping at 66 for 5. M Vijay walked too far across to be bowled, Michael Hussey missed a slog to be bowled, Bravo drove loosely, and S Badrinath went too far back when he should have been forward.

Dhoni walked in, and the match started to turn. An upper cut appeared, a whiplash drive, a calm pull. Soon the long-on and deep midwicket boundary was being peppered with monster sixes, even as batsmen kept arriving and departing at the other end. Pollard took the most punishment, five of Dhoni’s eight boundaries coming off him.

Forty needed off 18. Dhoni lashed 17 off a Pollard over. 23 needed off 12. Dhoni found the stands at deep midwicket again, this time off Mitchell Johnson, to zoom to 50 off 24. Both Pollard and Johnson sprayed a couple of wides each, such was the effect Dhoni’s assault had.

First ball of Munaf Patel’s last over, Dhoni went for six more, targetting deep midwicket again, but this time, the towering figure of Pollard stood in the way, and made one last, decisive impact.

Bumrah revels on big stage

 

Jasprit Bumrah had a debut to remember

Mumbai Indians‘ Jasprit Bumrah, a almost unknown teenager from Gujarat, had a memorable IPL debut on Thursday, taking 3 for 32 against Royal Challengers Bangalore. He didn’t have the best of starts, though, being taken for three fours in his first four deliveries by Virat Kohli.

He then had Kohli lbw off his fifth ball, and celebrated exuberantly. “He had hit me for three boundaries in that over and so I was angry,” Bumrah told the IPL website. “I am always like this on the field.”

Bumrah was picked for the match ahead of more experienced contenders like Dhawal Kulkarni and Abu Nechim, but wasn’t fazed by the occasion. “It was the first time that I played in front of such huge crowd but I wasn’t paying any attention to the crowd. The more you focus on the inside, the better it is.”

Mumbai have a line-up including some of the biggest names in cricket, including Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting, players any youngster would dream of meeting. “I did feel a little overawed by all the big players in the team initially. But they were so welcoming and friendly, they made me feel at ease.”

He hit the headlines with a Man-of-the-Match performance in the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament, and he impressed Mumbai’s coach John Wright earlier in the tournament with his bowling in the league stage in Ahmedabad. “John Wright had come to watch one of our T20 matches and he watched me bowl in two games,” Bumrah said. “He didn’t talk to me or hint anything. After he went, I got a call asking if I was interested in signing a contract with the Mumbai Indians.”

One of the things that make Bumrah difficult to deal with initially is his unusual action, with stiff hands and bowling well wide of the crease. It looks ungainly but his coach Kishore Trivedi, father of Rajasthan Royals and Gujarat medium-pacer Siddharth, doesn’t want him to alter the action. “There were many who felt that we should change his action but I was reluctant,” Trivedi told Indian Express. ” He is a natural and there was no point in making drastic changes. It would’ve led him nowhere.”

Chennai brimming with in-form players

Match facts

Start time 20:00 local (14:30 GMT)

Mumbai fell short by two runs in their opening game

Big Picture

Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings flagged off IPL 2012 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Two strong sides played out a tepid match, with Mumbai trouncing the hosts. Mumbai’s opening game of this edition didn’t quite go to plan, losing narrowly to Royal Challengers Bangalore in a game that see-sawed in the last stages. With the asking rate climbing during Mumbai’s chase, Royal Challengers appeared to have the match in control, but Dinesh Karthik’s three consecutive sixes eased the equation considerably. Though Karthik failed to see the side through, Mumbai would have been better served if Karthik had more support.

Not for the first time, Kieron Pollard walked in later than he should have (he got to face only two deliveries). For the past few seasons, fans have pushed for a promotion in the batting order and never understood Mumbai’s conservative approach to Pollard. Perhaps there is a good reason for that strategy, but it is hard to fathom. Had he been set, the result could have been different. Despite the defeat, Mumbai needn’t tinker with their line-up. Lasith Malinga missed the game due to injury, but he will be forced to sit out the second match, fit or not, since the game’s in Chennai.

Super Kings haven’t always been the strongest starters. Given the form of their protagonists from the Australia Tests – MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin and M Vijay – it’s hard to imagine the side stuttering. The ban on Sri Lanka players affects them the least, given they have only two such players in their line-up, who aren’t automatic picks. Chennai are without Faf du Plessis for at least the first month due to injury, while two other South Africans, Albie Morkel and Chris Morris join the team after the South African domestic T20 competition ends on April 7. .

 

Players to watch

After being smacked for three fours off his first four balls, Jasprit Bumrah’s choice was starting to look farcical for Mumbai Indians. Bumrah scripted a remarkable turnaround, picking up three wickets on IPL debut. His unusual high-arm action makes him worth watching, and his performance should guarantee at least another game. He bowls from wide of the crease and generates a sharp angle into the right-handers, which fetched him two of his three wickets.

Ravindra Jadeja has in recent times been the butt of jokes on social media networks for failing to prove his two-million-dollar price tag. While Jadeja may have underachieved as a batsman for India, respect for him should have grown after the Australia Tests where he picked up 24 wickets, second behind Ashwin (29).

 

2012 head-to-head

Mumbai won the opening game by eight wickets, chasing down a paltry 113. The second match, at Wankhede Stadium, was a nailbiter, with Dwayne Smith playing a blinder for Mumbai with 16 needed off the last over. Smith smashed three boundaries off the last three balls to steal a two-wicket win for Mumbai. Super Kings hit back in the Elimination final, winning by 38 runs in Bangalore.

 

      Stats and trivia

• Mumbai lead the head-to-head with seven wins against Super Kings, out of 13 games.
• Suresh Raina was the leading run-scorer for Super Kings last season with 441 runs in 19 games.
• Sachin Tendulkar is the top-scorer in matches between the two sides, with 353 runs at an average of 44.12 from 10 innings. 

Quotes

“The focus is on a few star players, both Indian and foreign, but there are others too who have contributed immensely. Take Badrinath for instance. He might not be a big hitter but has come up with several important performances for the team.”
MS Dhoni, the Super Kings captain

“It was the first time that I played in front of such huge crowd but I wasn’t paying any attention to the crowd. The more you focus on the inside, the better it is.”
Jasprit Bumrah on his first taste of the IPL.

Gayle, Vinay star in last-over thriller

Royal Challengers Bangalore v Mumbai Indians, IPL 2013,Bangalore

 

Royal Challengers Bangalore 156 for 5 (Gayle 92*, Bumrah 3-32) beat Mumbai Indians 154 for 5 (Karthik 60, Vinay 3-27) by two runs

 

Another day in the office for Chris Gayle who powered an unbeaten 92

A nerveless last over from Vinay Kumar saw Royal Challengers Bangalore earn a dramatic two-run victory over Mumbai Indians at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, in the second match of IPL 2013. Mumbai arrived in the 20th over only three wickets down, and needing 10 runs for victory, but a double-strike from Vinay, early in the over, brought two new batsmen to the crease, and mounted real pressure on the visitors. Kieron Pollard got on strike for the first time, with eight runs needed and only two balls remaining and though he struck his first ball for a four, which would have been a six, but for one inch, he could only dig out the perfect yorker Vinay delivered on the last ball as far as long-on.

Royal Challengers’ victory had been set up earlier in the match by a Chris Gayle IPL classic. His unbeaten 92 from 58 balls helped his side overcome a pedestrian start, and launched them to 156 for 5. After Gayle, the next highest Royal Challengers score was 24, from Virat Kohli.

Gayle’s lone hand began with uncharacteristic reticence, as the Mumbai seam bowlers, led by Mitchell Johnson, found bounce and movement on the grassy Chinnaswamy Stadium surface that had compelled Ricky Ponting to bowl first. The six Powerplay overs saw the fall of two batsmen and yielded only 31 runs, with Gayle having made four of those, from 10 deliveries. In fact it was not until the ninth over that Gayle showed any aggressive intent, when he clipped Jasprit Bumrah through the leg side, before clearing his leg and drilling a full delivery into the sightscreen, next ball.

He rarely eased up then though, hitting 11 fours and five sixes in his innings, as his teammates continued to flounder around him. Pollard came in for conspicuous punishment in the 11th over, disappearing for 15, never to see the bowling crease again, while Munaf Patel‘s final over went for 16.

Mumbai’s reply was promising at the outset, as Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting – opening together for the first time – hit 50 runs together in just over seven overs. But despite that solid foundation, Mumbai’s top order was unable to lower the asking rate for much of their innings. Mumbai had Pollard padded up in the dugout, and while Dinesh Karthik, Rohit Sharma and Ambati Rayudu allowed the pressure to escalate through a meandering approach during the middle overs, Pollard was not promoted up the order to induce the dash Mumbai required to win the match.

Karthik finally hit out in the 17th over, hitting three consecutive sixes and a four, to plunder 24 runs off Daniel Christian. Although that mini-surge and the ten-run over that followed tipped the match in favour of the visitors, who needed 17 from 12 balls, a terrific next to the last over from Jaydev Unadkat conceded only seven runs, yielding the floor to a thrilling finish.

I insisted RCB buy a lot of bowlers – Kohli

 

Virat Kohli: ” Last year we were not to our 100% because of injuries to bowlers – we had to persist with a set of bowlers that did not probably work for us”

At the IPL auction in February, Royal Challengers Bangalore picked up three of the five Indian seam bowlers on offer in RP Singh, Jaydev Unadkat and Pankaj Singh, apart from West Indies pacer Ravi Rampaul. Strengthening the pace attack, new captainVirat Kohli has said, was something he “insisted on”.

“In Bangalore, if the wicket’s nice and fresh, the ball does seam around. Last year we were not to our 100% because of injuries to bowlers – we had to persist with a set of bowlers that did not probably work for us. So, this year, I insisted that we pick a lot of bowling options,” Kohli said on the eve of Royal Challengers’ game against Mumbai Indians.

“With Indian bowlers, if you don’t have the regular guys doing well, then you always have six or seven fresh options who can come into the side and are confident.”

Kohli, who will be the full-time captain of a senior side for the first time on Thursday night, said that decision demonstrated his faith in his team’s batsmen: “Our batting has been doing well for the last three years consistently. I was showing confidence in the batsmen.”

Royal Challengers had a disappointing IPL 5, failing to make it to the playoffs. Over the last couple of years, Kohli had lead the team when regular captain Daniel Vettori had fitness issues. He admitted he had made a few mistakes, but said he hoped to learn from all that: “I’ve always enjoyed captaincy, last year and the year before that too. There were a few off moments, like in 2011 we played Kings XI Punjab in Dharamsala and I got the bowling combination wrong, and we ended up giving 220 runs on a green wicket. I was not too good with the field placements either but, yes, all that was a good learning curve.”

Apart from missing out on the experience of the injured Zaheer Khan in the Mumbai game – recovering from a side strain, Zaheer is “70-80%” fit – Royal Challengers will also not have Anil Kumble to lean on. Kumble, for the first time, will be part of the opposition camp at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, having joined Mumbai Indians as chief mentor after stepping down from a similar role with the Bangalore franchise. Kohli said he learnt a lot by observing Kumble’s working style: “He was always someone who would help the players in any way we wanted. Whether it was any sort of issues or about cricket.

“One thing he liked was always giving his 100% on the field, and he expected the other players to be the same. He kept pushing the players to perform but if he thought the players were down, he would then pull the load off the team all by himself. So that was something that was very striking in his captaincy and it’s something I would like to implement in our team as well.”

 

Mumbai, too, will take the field with a new captain and minus their pace spearhead – Lasith Malinga is recovering from a sore back and will only join the team on April 5. Ricky Ponting takes charge for them, and he said he was looking forward to the challenge after a “refreshing” Australian domestic season. “I knew my time was up as far as captaincy in Australian cricket is concerned, so finishing the season with Tasmania and being just a regular player in the side was quite refreshing for me.

“But I’ve known about the captaincy of Mumbai Indians for a couple of months now and I’ve been excited about that. With the squad of players we’ve got to work with, why won’t you be excited?”

Unlike Royal Challengers, Mumbai’s main concern is the batting. Last season they fielded 24 players in all, and tried several opening combinations without much success. This is something he is looking to address, Ponting said: “Over the last couple of seasons we’ve swapped and changed and had different combinations opening. Guys have gone in and out of the side quite regularly. That tends to happen when you’re not winning games.

“What we want to do this year is get off to a good start, and try and keep a pretty settled group of players together through the tournament. Barring injuries, hopefully we’ll be able to do that.”

Much talk in the lead-up to the tournament has centred around Ponting having to share a dressing room with Harbhajan Singh and Sachin Tendulkar, both of whom played central roles in the 2008 Sydney Test’s controversy. Ponting said the trio was getting along fine. “I’ve really enjoyed their company over the last couple of days. Just having those experienced minds around will hold the team in good stead through the tournament.”

Star-studded teams step into fray

Match facts

Thursday, April 4, 2013
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)

Lasith Malinga will miss the opening game for Mumbai Indians

 

Big Picture

How loyalties and allegiances change in the IPL. Anil Kumble‘s association with Royal Challengers Bangalore was long and high-profile, as a player, captain, and mentor. He is known to have played a critical role in team strategy, selections, auction picks, all for a team representing his hometown. He is in the opposing camp now, hired by Mumbai Indians as their team mentor, and will have to plot against a side he helped strengthen over five seasons on his home ground.

An immediate problem to discuss for Kumble’s team is the absence of Lasith Malinga from the opening game due to injury. A prized asset of the Mumbai side, Malinga is still recovering from a sore back he suffered during the home series against Bangladesh. His replacement apart, Mumbai can compensate for that loss with runs from a power-packed batting line-up, though it’ll be interesting to see if Sachin Tendulkar and his opening partner [there were as many as eight last season] are able to keep their combination for a good part of the season.

The Royal Challengers are among the most passionately followed teams in the IPL and, for a tournament centred on the concept of city loyalties, Bangalore has lapped up its team like no other. But the title has proved elusive, despite twice having made the final. Led by Virat Kohli this season, Royal Challengers have as many as 15 seamers in their squad – though one of them, Zaheer Khan, is ruled out of the opening match with a side strain. It could be said that Kumble’s inputs may have made their job easier had he not switched over, but how they manage their staff is one of several potential challenges this season could throw up.

 

 

Players to watch

Is Glenn Maxwell worth a million dollars? He was the only million-dollar buy at the 2013 auction, then had a lacklustre Test series in India, and didn’t have a great World Twenty20 before he was bought. His purchase is a gamble, and it remains to be seen to what extent his all-round skills are able to prove, or undermine, the team’s decision.

From doing the moonwalk to gangnam style, classy celebrations to banter with opposition players, Chris Gayle has loosened up much since we first saw him in 1999 when he took on India in Toronto. His demeanour on the field aside, he has been a pivotal player for Royal Challengers with his explosive batting at the top, and has endeared himself to his fans, not just by treating them to airshows at the Chinnaswamy Stadium but winning their admiration despite giving them a bloody nose, literally, and landing them in hospital.

 

 

2012 head-to-head

Gayle was the architect of a big win over Mumbai last season at the Wankhede Stadium, as Royal Challengers eased home by nine wickets. Mumbai then won a close game at the Chinnaswamy Stadium less than a week later, with Ambati Rayudu and Kieron Pollard guiding them to victory in a tight chase.

 

      Stats and trivia

• Malinga is among the few bowlers to have kept Gayle quiet in the IPL. R Ashwin is another. Malinga has bowled 39 balls to Gayle in the IPL, conceding 36 runs that included five fours. Against Ashwin, Gayle has scored at a run a ball in the IPL – 33 off 33.
• At the very least, Gayle could become the second-highest run-getter in all T20 cricket. He is now on 4804 runs, just 17 behind David Hussey. Brad Hodge leads the list with 5274.

 

 

Quotes

“We do have a lot of options to pick from, with as many as 11 specialist pacers and four seaming all-rounders. Of course there are a few players who are coming off injuries, like Daniel Vettori (ankle injury).”
Venkatesh Prasad, the Royal Challengers bowling coach

“We are all friends for the next few months. That’s one thing I have made very clear to the guys already. We are one. The Mumbai Indians are one.”
Ricky Ponting, the new Mumbai Indians captain, says the ‘Sydneygate’ incident is a thing of the past.

 

Big spenders still searching for returns

 

Big Picture

	Anil Kumble and Ricky Ponting are mentor and captain of Mumbai Indians for the season

 

 

If willingness to put millions behind wish was a guarantee of success, Mumbai Indians should have been IPL winners multiple times by now. Year after year, auction after auction, they have poured in the big bucks and signed the biggest names, but the prize has always eluded them. The IPL is only five seasons old, and there are more franchises that haven’t won it than those that have, but the tag of free-spending underachievers has belonged to Mumbai. Three successive seasons of making the IPL knockouts and a Champions League title haven’t quite been able to shake off that label. That’s the price you pay for assembling so many overseas and Indian stars.

This season is no different. John Wright and Anil Kumble are the latest additions to the Mumbai management. Ricky Ponting is the newest captain. These are not merely big names. These are institutions, men whose achievements will resonate for generations to come. They have probably the biggest crowd-puller the game has ever seen, Sachin Tendulkar, whose presence guarantees sellouts at Wankhede Stadium weeks before the season begins. There is Kieron Pollard, to whom Twenty20 comes as naturally as cricket did to Garry Sobers.

Why is such a collection of superstars still without an IPL title? It is as much a reflection on the fickleness of the format as on Mumbai’s inability to handle the pressure in knockout clashes. It is difficult to imagine a similar line-up going without success for so long in Tests or ODIs, although South Africa will readily dispute that when it comes to world tournaments.

For what it’s worth, the South African flavour of the squad last season has given way to one that is overwhelmingly Australian, with four of the five buys in the 2013 auction coming from Ponting’s country, including the million-dollar Glenn Maxwell. The Indian contingent, especially the first-choice players, is perhaps the strongest in the IPL.

When you have so much to play with, you are prone to tinker too much too soon if the results don’t come – Mumbai tried 24 players, the most, last season and as many as eight opening combinations. Stability is one thing Ponting will have to strive for. The results could follow. Or then again, the knockouts could prove to be the stumbling point. Regardless, the Wankhede stands will be packed and shrieking.

 

Key Players

Mumbai were the only bidders for Ricky Ponting in the auction. They bought him at base price and made him captain. This was probably the only way for Ponting to return to the IPL. Most other franchises have settled leadership. Ponting is making the most of what is left of his playing days after the end of a great international career in December. After the IPL, he will play in England and the West Indies. No love is lost between the former Australia captain and Indian fans, and now he is leading a franchise which has Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh and Kumble.

Ponting’s record suggests he isn’t a bad Twenty20 batsman at all. He has been in fine nick; more than 900 runs in the Sheffield Shield and a decent run in the Big Bash. He was one of the longest-serving captains in international cricket, and has an overflowing trophy cabinet to back his credentials. On the face of it, it seems to be a bargain buy for a splurging franchise that has had to do with reluctant and hot-headed captains in the past.

Pollard was Mumbai’s second highest wicket-taker last season, behind Lasith Malinga. Harbhajan had six wickets from 17 matches; RP Singh 10 from 11 at nearly eight runs an over. Barring Munaf Patel to an extent, there was little strike support for Malinga from the other frontline bowlers. Malinga has only four overs in a T20 game, and the others will have to do better than their 2012 showing.

Davy Jacobs, James Franklin, R Sathish, Aiden Blizzard, T Suman, Richard Levi, Herschelle Gibbs, Dwayne Smith … that is not some random wishlist for a Mumbai Indians XI, but the list of opening partners for Sachin Tendulkar over the previous two seasons. Only the pairing with Smith had some success. Phillip Hughes is the newest contender to open with Tendulkar, whose T20 strike-rate has also suffered along with his overall decline. Unless Tendulkar can script yet another revival in his batting, the onus will be on his partner to give firepower at the top. Who will it be, or rather, how many more combinations will we see?

 

Big players in

Undoubtedly Ponting, although paying a million dollars for Maxwell also makes him a big signing. However, with Ponting, Pollard and Malinga likely to take three of the four overseas players’ slots, it is to be seen how many games Maxwell gets. Many have pointed to his lacklustre debut Test series in India to scoff at the price Mumbai paid for him, but if reverse logic was to be applied, Pollard should have been hailed as a potential Test great by now.

 

Big players out

Thisara Perera, the hard-hitting Sri Lanka allrounder, was released by the franchise and bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for $675,000 in the 2013 auction.

 

Under the radar

First-class batting and bowling averages of 42.03 and 25.47 suggest that Rishi Dhawan, the 23-year old from Himachal Pradesh, has the makings of a genuine allrounder. Another allrounder, Madhya Pradesh’s Jalaj Saxena has been around for a while, and his batting has prospered in recent times, although the same cannot be said about his offbreaks.

 

Availability

If, and that is a big if, Franklin is picked in New Zealand’s Test squad to tour England, he could end up missing a substantial chunk of the tournament in May.