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IPL 8: Chennai Super Kings gave 'Super Show'

Smith, McCullum make mockery of 184-run target to condemn Mumbai to fourth straight loss

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CSK’s Dwayne Bravo (L) gives a send off to MI’s Kieron Pollard after dismissing him at the Wankhede on Friday
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Mumbai Indians showed their keenness to register their first points by coming in an hour and a half before the toss and warming up. On the other hand, the first sight of Chennai Super Kings players climbing down the stairs on to the field for their pre-match routine was only 57 minutes before the first ball.

Any amount of preparation seemed not to be enough for Rohit Sharma and his ‘Blue Brigade’ as they could not stop two-time champions CSK from racing away to a six-wicket win with 20 balls to spare. Any amount of runs on the night, and MI’s 183/7 was not a small measure, seemed not to be enough as Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum were as destructive as one can imagine.

For them, the ball was to be hit, no matter who bowled it and where it was pitched. For, they were not short of innovation, if it came to that.

And Smith was more dangerous of the two. He smashed the bowlers at will, particularly against the inexperienced Jagadeesha Suchith, who Rohit Sharma spoke of highly on the eve of the match. Smith taught Suchith a lesson or two about top-flight cricket and what bowling to international players was all about.

Suchith was brought into the attack in the third over, ahead of his Karnataka state captain R Vinay Kumar. After Smith picked him up for 11 runs in his first over, the West Indian amassed 22 in his second, including two sixes and two fours.

On the other hand, McCullum was consuming Lasith Malinga and Harbhajan Singh for supper, picking the gaps and going over the top in the fashion that we all have known him to do.

The runs were coming in a blazing fashion so much so that CSK raced to 100 in the seventh over — in double-quick time than MI, who got theirs in the 14th.

Harbhajan may have had the last laugh as he dismissed both the openers in one over, both going for aerial shots and not connecting them as well as they had done all along. But by then, at 115/2 in eight overs, the match was already in CSK’s bag.

Earlier, as MI’s top three realised that piercing the field was not as easy when you have the swift-footed McCullum and Faf du Plessis manning the inner circle, not to mention Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo, all diving for anything and stopping certain boundaries.

With just two runs on the board after two overs and already having lost Parthiv Patel for a first-ball duck, Corey Anderson and Lendl Simmons both began in a flash but fell in the same vein.

Simmons, coming in place of the injured Aaron Finch, failed to get going. He played a watchful first over, presenting CSK opening bowler Ishwar Pandey a maiden to begin with. Anderson, all along playing at No. 5 and scoring runs in that position, was sent in at No. 3, perhaps to keep the left-right combination going.

The move did not work as Anderson, after a flash to the third man boundary, fell to a brilliant catch at mid-off by du Plessis, who in the next over had an easy catch that Simmons offered.

At 12/3 by the fourth over, Mumbai Indians had a mountain to climb. Skipper Rohit Sharma, sticking to No. 4 for the second game in succession, was joined by Harbhajan Singh, who went in ahead of Kieron Pollard and Ambati Rayudu.

Sharma played a captain’s knock of 31-ball 50 and allowed Harbhajan to play his shots. Though Harbhajan did not last long, his even-ball 24 paved the way for the big-hitting Kieron Pollard.

Effortlessly picking up Ravindra Jadeja for a straight six first ball, Pollard entertained the near-full stadium in the manner that only he can. Even as Sharma was all grace and silken touch, Pollard was at his murderous best.
He took Jadeja to the cleaners, picking up 26 runs off his final over that included three sixes and a four after surviving a stumping chance. All of Pollard’s and Sharma’s efforts came to zilch as MI were swept away by the Smith-McCullum show.

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