Kieron Pollard powers Mumbai to first win
Kieron
Pollard (second right) smashed five sixes and four boundaries in his
38-ball knock and put on 65 off 48 balls for the unbroken seventh wicket
with Harbhajan Singh.
CHENNAI:
When three top line bowlers strike in their opening over, and two
others in their second in this blink-and-you-miss format, one can safely
assume that the combined effort, more often than not, will hand their
team the winning advantage.
It certainly appeared so for two-time champion Chennai in their opening match at Chepauk on Saturday, until West Indian Kieron Pollard turned it around for Mumbai with a breathtaking 57 not out (38 balls; 4x4, 5x6) to lift his team to a fighting 148-6.
Batting-heavy Chennai struggled early on with their chase as they managed just 36 for the loss of two wickets in the Powerplay period of the first six overs, and were never quite in the hunt until MS Dhoni turned the contest on its head with a stunning 26-ball 51 (5x4, 3x6).
Chennai needed 12 from the final over by pacer Munaf Patel when off the first ball when Pollard got into the act again, pulling off a mind-boggling catch on the midwicket fence to dismiss Dhoni as Chennai lost by nine runs after finishing at 139-9.
Chennai must have felt the absence of South Africa allrounder Albie Morkel , but the new ball pair of Dirk Nannes and Ankit Rajpoot couldn't have got off to a better start on their debut for Chennai after sending back Sachin Tendulkar (0) and Ricky Ponting (6) in their for first and second overs respectively.
Dwayne Bravo then struck in successive overs to dismiss Rohit Sharma (8) and the in-form Dinesh Karthik (37) to derail star-studded Mumbai, which had lost a cliffhanger to Bangalore on Thursday.
Australian pacer Ben Laughlin had Ambati Rayudu caught at third man to leave Mumbai struggling at 75-5, and it appeared to be curtains when India spinner Ashwin had Dwayne Smith caught by Bravo in his first over.
Only, it is never quite over as long as Pollard is around, as the big-hitting West Indian smashed five sixes and four boundaries in his 38-ball knock and put on 65 off 48 balls for the unbroken seventh wicket with Harbhajan Singh.
India spinner Ravindra Jadeja let go off a difficult caught and bowled opportunity that Pollard offered on 18 and the effortless striker that Pollard is, hit Ashwin and Bravo for two sixes each and one off Jadeja as he helped Mumbai add 52 runs in the last five overs without losing a wicket.
Mumbai were without their pace ace Lasith Malinga, but pacers Mitch Johnson and Munaf Patel struck early blows before off-spinner Harbhajan Singh clean bowled Hussey for 20.
Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha struck in quick succession to dismiss Bravo and Badrinath.
It certainly appeared so for two-time champion Chennai in their opening match at Chepauk on Saturday, until West Indian Kieron Pollard turned it around for Mumbai with a breathtaking 57 not out (38 balls; 4x4, 5x6) to lift his team to a fighting 148-6.
Batting-heavy Chennai struggled early on with their chase as they managed just 36 for the loss of two wickets in the Powerplay period of the first six overs, and were never quite in the hunt until MS Dhoni turned the contest on its head with a stunning 26-ball 51 (5x4, 3x6).
Chennai needed 12 from the final over by pacer Munaf Patel when off the first ball when Pollard got into the act again, pulling off a mind-boggling catch on the midwicket fence to dismiss Dhoni as Chennai lost by nine runs after finishing at 139-9.
Chennai must have felt the absence of South Africa allrounder Albie Morkel , but the new ball pair of Dirk Nannes and Ankit Rajpoot couldn't have got off to a better start on their debut for Chennai after sending back Sachin Tendulkar (0) and Ricky Ponting (6) in their for first and second overs respectively.
Dwayne Bravo then struck in successive overs to dismiss Rohit Sharma (8) and the in-form Dinesh Karthik (37) to derail star-studded Mumbai, which had lost a cliffhanger to Bangalore on Thursday.
Australian pacer Ben Laughlin had Ambati Rayudu caught at third man to leave Mumbai struggling at 75-5, and it appeared to be curtains when India spinner Ashwin had Dwayne Smith caught by Bravo in his first over.
Only, it is never quite over as long as Pollard is around, as the big-hitting West Indian smashed five sixes and four boundaries in his 38-ball knock and put on 65 off 48 balls for the unbroken seventh wicket with Harbhajan Singh.
India spinner Ravindra Jadeja let go off a difficult caught and bowled opportunity that Pollard offered on 18 and the effortless striker that Pollard is, hit Ashwin and Bravo for two sixes each and one off Jadeja as he helped Mumbai add 52 runs in the last five overs without losing a wicket.
Mumbai were without their pace ace Lasith Malinga, but pacers Mitch Johnson and Munaf Patel struck early blows before off-spinner Harbhajan Singh clean bowled Hussey for 20.
Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha struck in quick succession to dismiss Bravo and Badrinath.
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