CSK medium-pacer’s 4/14 puts to shade MI captain Rohit’s 50, McCullum (71*) sees Dhoni’s men home comfortably
It was a brilliant piece of bowling at the death by Haryana medium-pacer Mohit Sharma to remove the big-hitting Kieron Pollard. Bowling from the back of his hand, the 25-year-old Mohit deceived Pollard with a slower one as the Trinidadian went for a huge swing, only to miss and lose his off stump.
That was wicket number two in the Mumbai Indians’ 19th over. Mohit had produced another beauty of a slower delivery in the first ball of the over to remove Ambati Rayudu. Another wicket with his stock delivery off the last ball to remove Harbhajan Singh gave Mohit three wickets in an over and complete with mind-boggling figures of 4/14 in his four overs.
Mohit was clearly Chennai Super Kings’ hero as the two-time champions restricted holders Mumbai Indians to 141/7.
The target was easily attained, courtesy Brendon McCullum’s punishing half-century. If the West Indian Dwayne Smith doesn’t get cracking, McCullum will, and vice-versa. Or so seems to be CSK’s mantra. The two gave CSK a blazing start, racing to 57 in 6.2 overs. After Smith fell for 29, McCullum did not return to the pavilion without completing the task, staying unbeaten on 71 (53b, 8x4, 2x6).
It was a tale of two Sharmas in the Mumbai Indians’ innings after captain Rohit won the toss and chose to bat. Playing his 100th IPL game, the same as rival skipper MS Dhoni in the same match, Rohit became the fourth player in this league to score 20 or more 50-plus scores.
Rohit held the Mumbai Indians innings together along with left-handed New Zealander Corey Anderson. While Rohit made 50 off 41 balls with three fours and two maximums, Anderson scored 39 off 31 balls. The two shared 84 for the third wicket after they lost their openers Mike Hussey and Aditya Tare for just 25 runs inside five overs.
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