IPL-4 (20th May): Watson masterclass decimates Mumbai
By Team Bellevision
Bellevision Media Network
Mumbai, 20 May 2011: The capacity crowd supporting the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede were left in stunned silence as Shane Watson hammered home the points with a 10-wicket win for Rajasthan Royals. The opener made sure that every Mumbai bowler got a piece of the action with his willow. in the IPL-4 match here on Friday. Sharma, who came to the crease when the home team had slumped to 17 for 2 after 4 overs, slammed five fours and a six in his 47-ball 58-run innings before being dismissed by Australian spin legend Shane Warne, who is playing his swansong match.
Sharma was involved in two fruitful stands - 48 runs with captain Sachin Tendulkar who made an unimpressive 31 in 35 balls and 53 runs in 39 balls for the fourth wicket with Kieron Pollard (20) - that upped the scoring rate. Shane Watson emerged as the pick of the bowlers for the Royals, who are already out of contention for a berth in the play-offs, with a haul of three for 19. Left arm spinner Ankit Chavan bowled very well and was not fortunate to gain the wicket of Tendulkar in his four overs.
Mumbai’s performance was an improvement over their pathetic 94 for 8 at Jaipur in their first leg clash last month which they had lost, but the total was still well below their own expectations. The home team struggled to get going after opting to bat first. Royals opened with left arm spinner Chavan and Watson and kept the duo on right through the power play overs at the end of which the hosts were a poor 26 for two.
Chavan, in fact, was unlucky as he rapped Tendulkar on the pads twice but on both occasions umpire Paul Reiffel shot down his appeals for leg before. TV replays suggested that the home team skipper was out. He was rapped on the pad off the first ball he faced from Chavan and then again in the seventh over and was lucky to be given not out on both occasions. The left-arm spinner impressed with the turn he got off the track in his four-over stint for 17 runs without success.
Tendulkar had Tirumalasetti Suman as his fifth opening partner in the tournament with a view to provide the team with a meaningful start but the move failed to click. Suman, after hitting Watson over the covers audaciously for a four, flicked the next ball straight to short mid-wicket fielder Ashok Meneria. Watson then sent back man-in-form Ambati Rayudu, caught by Ross Taylor running behind at short extra cover off a leading edge, to reduce Mumbai Indians to 17 for 2 at the end of four overs.
Tendulkar hit his first boundary by sweeping Chavan who was troubling him and the advent of the positive stroke-maker Rohit Sharma upped the run-rate considerably once Watson went off the attack after his three-over spell in which he grabbed 2 for 12. Sharma pulled Chavan in his fourth over and then drove Shane Warne to the extra cover fence when the leg spin ace came on to bowl his first over in his last competitive game after eight overs to raise the 50 in 54 balls. At the halfway stage of the innings, Mumbai had progressed to 61 for two.
Tendulkar fell in the 12th over when he tried to increase the sagging run-rate by taking on Amit Singh. After improvising brilliantly to send the ball to the fine leg fence, the champion departed slashing the bowler off the next ball to Watson at third man. Tendulkar hit three fours in his 35 ball knock and added 48 runs in 45 balls with Sharma for the third wicket. Sharma then struck Amit Singh for a four and a superb pulled six in the 14th over to up the rate and completed his half-cenutury in 36 balls two overs later with a single.
But despite his best efforts he could not collar Warne who was as wily as he had been right through his glittering career. Sharma finally fell in the last over while giving the charge to Warne who deceived him with a huge leg break and had him stumped, thus taking a wicket in his final over. James Franklin used the long handle to make 11 not out with two fours and helped improve the final tally.
Match Summary
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| Batting: Mumbai Indians Innings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Fall Of Wickets | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1/7 (Tirumalsetti Suman, 1.3 ov.), 2/17 (Ambati Rayudu, 3.6 ov.), 3/65 (Sachin Tendulkar, 11.3 ov.), 4/118 (Kieron Pollard, 17.6 ov.), 5/131 (Rohit Sharma, 19.4 ov.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling: Rajasthan Royals | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Batting: Rajasthan Royals Innings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Bowling: Mumbai Indians | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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