Harbhajan takes Mumbai to the title
by Ken Borland 09 October 2011, 18:16
Brilliant spin bowling by Harbhajan Singh and Yuzvendra Chahal carried the Mumbai Indians to a 31-run victory over the Bangalore Royal Challengers in the Nokia Champions League final at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday.
Full Scoring
Mumbai were defending just 140 and it took a fine all-round effort by their bowlers and fielders to limit the Challengers to 108 all out, but Bangalore will be rueing a rash of wild strokes that saw him hitting the ball in the air, against the spin or across the line, even when the required run-rate was down to as little as seven-per-over.
Tillekeratne Dilshan (27 off 20) gave the Challengers a quick start as they reached 38 without loss after four overs. But the Sri Lankan captain played the first of the rash strokes as he ambitiously tried to whip an off-stump yorker from fast bowler Lasith Malinga to fine leg and was predictably bowled.
Mumbai captain Harbhajan then introduced himself into the attack and made a rapid impact by trapping key man Chris Gayle lbw for five with the last ball of his first over. The lanky West Indian will be pointing out, however, that a big stride had taken him a good three metres down the wicket and the ball was turning.
MARVELLOUS SPELL
Young leg-spinner Chahal then produced a marvellous spell of two for nine in three overs as Bangalore showed some astonishingly poor shot selection. Both Mayank Agarwal (14) and Arun Karthik (0) fell to ill-judged lofted shots against the turn when keeping the ball on the ground would have served them much better.
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Harbhajan showed his hand again with the important wicket of Virat Kohli (11), also caught on the boundary, and Bangalore discovered the grim reality of how hard chasing a target is at Chennai, especially when the end nears.
Mohammad Kaif and Daniel Vettori had a mountain to climb and Kaif (3) mis-hit Kieron Pollard into the covers, before Harbhajan deceived Vettori in the flight and had him stumped by Ambati Rayadu for a single.
The Challengers were down and out on 92 for seven in the 17th over and Abu Nechim and Malinga closed out the innings in excellent fashion as Mumbai recorded an extraordinary victory.
Harbhajan (three for 20), Chahal (two for nine), Malinga (two for 23) and Pollard (4-0-21-1) all finished with exceptional figures.
THREE RUN-OUTS MAR INNINGS
The Mumbai Indians had earlier scraped together just 139 all out. After they had won the toss and chosen to bat first, their innings was tarnished by three run outs, which they could ill-afford against an unforgiving Challengers attack that was well-supported in the field.
Medium-pacer Rajat Bhatkal led the way for the IPL finalists with an exceptional return of three for 21. Captain Vettori, with two for 30, and left-arm paceman Dirk Nannes, who conceded just 14 runs in his four overs and took a wicket, were also in excellent form.
The Mumbai innings started in extremely disappointing fashion as aggressive Australian Aiden Blizzard was run out for three in the second over. He will be livid with opening partner Sarul Kanwar, who wasn't interested as Blizzard raced through to the non-striker's end for a quick single wide of deep mid-off.
Nannes gained reward for a fine new-ball spell when he fired a fast, full delivery into the stumps of Kanwar (13) at the end of the fourth over.
QUICKEST SCORING
Bhatkal's marvellous time in the field began with the wicket of Rayadu, who made room for himself but then battled to reach the ball, slapping a catch to extra cover after scoring 22.
Suryakumar Yadav (24 off 17) and James Franklin (41 off 29) provided the quickest scoring of the Mumbai innings as they added 40 in 4.3 overs, but both were run out in the space of four deliveries.
Yadav will be kicking himself for backing up too far and allowing Vettori to run him out as the former New Zealand captain collected a straight drive from Franklin.
The left-handed Franklin was run out after Pollard clipped Nannes to deep midwicket and the Kiwi decided to take the scenic route on both the first and second runs, and was beaten by Agarwal's throw and some good work by the bowler at the stumps.
Vettori bowled the 16th over and tore into the Mumbai lower-order with the wickets of Pollard, caught at long-off for just two, and Harbhajan, trapped lbw for a duck.
Nannes may have sprayed the ball around in previous matches, but he completed a sensational spell by conceding just three runs in the 17th over and it was left to Bhatkal and Sreenath Aravind to wrap up the innings.
Rajagopal Sathish (9) and Malinga (16) hit three sixes between them, but it was Bhatkal who had the last laugh, dismissing both in the penultimate over.
Aravind then removed Chahal (2) in the final over to leave Bangalore with a target of 140, which should have been like an afternoon stroll for an explosive top-order. But their exceptional previous displays in chasing down targets of 204 and 215 in their last two matches and, just for extra measure, scored 206 for six in the match before that, were all on a totally different pitch in Bengaluru!
Teams:
Mumbai Indians: AC Blizzard, S Kanwar, SA Yadav, AT Rayudu (wk), JEC Franklin, KA Pollard, R Sathish, Harbhajan Singh (capt), SL Malinga, AN Ahmed, YS Chahal
Royal Challengers Bangalore: CH Gayle, TM Dilshan, V Kohli, SS Tiwary, M Kaif, MA Agarwal, RR Bhatkal, KB Arun Karthik (wk), DL Vettori (capt), DP Nannes, S Aravind