Cricket Spy

There was a joke about the Indian cricket team in the ’90s. It goes like this,”What is the difference between the Indian & the Australian teams?”, the answer to which was “The Australian team can snatch away victory from the very jaws of defeat while the Indian team can snatch defeat from the jaws of a sure victory”. The latter half was exactly what the Mumbai Indians did yesterday in their crunch match against Rajasthan Royals. In one sense, they have lived up to their name of “Indians”. After seeing their performance in the last three matches which were singlehandedly gifted to the opposition, one gets the feeling that they just don’t deserve to be in the semi-finals.

With the Royals at 102/5 in 17 overs and needing 44 to win from 3 overs, Mumbai had Rajasthan on the mat and a victory seemed to be sureshot for them. Two inexperienced batsmen, Neeraj Patel and Ravindra Jadeja were at the crease. From there on, the Mumbai bowlers and fielders handed over the match to the Royals. Poor line by bowlers, a couple of sloppy fieldings, overthrows, a wide in a crucial delivery and finally a fumble by Jayasuriya did the Mumbai Indians in. Of course, this doesn’t take away any credit from the two young batsmen who saw their team through. The duo displayed inhuman calm after seniors like Mohammed Kaif and Shane Watson had lost their cool in the face of the ever-rising asking rate, taking the issue down to the very last ball with Jadeja and Patel lifting a six apiece as the balls counted down.

Needing to defend 15 runs in his last over, and three from the very last, Dilhara Fernando bowled a wide and followed up with a misfield as Patel hit the last ball back straight at him.

The batsman crossed to tie the score and with Dwayne Smith hanging back, they went for broke.

A runout was still possible but Smith’s throw was wide. Jayasuriya who collected the ball fumbled and could not uproot the stumps. That one error all but ended the Indians’ campaign in the IPL. It was Patel and Jadeja’s 49-ball 69-run stand that was the difference between the two sides in the end. The sequence in the last over, 1, 3, 6, 1, 1, wide and 2.

And by the way, this result also sent the Delhi Daredevils into the semi-finals with their 15 points. The Indians remain on 12 and have one game to go, against the Bangalore Royal Challengers.

For Indians’ skipper Sachin Tendulkar, it was yet another opportunity to have the last laugh over his old opponent, but this time it was Warne’s turn as the Royals squeezed home by five wickets off the very last ball of this pulsating encounter.

Tendulkar’s side came into this game well aware that defeat here would put them in the twilight zone ahead of the semis. They faltered with the bat and only a desperate final over from Shane Watson that gave away 25 runs to Yogesh Takawale lifted their total towards respectability on a deceptively slow pitch.

The Indians made good use of the Powerplay overs, seeing off Kamran Akmal (18) and pinch-hitter Yusuf Pathan (2). And when Dilhara Fernando removed the struggling Swapnil Asnodkar (17) first ball, it was good enough to give the Indians a sniff of a chance. But all that was to end in nothing as Fernando’s last over saw the Royals edge home.

Earlier, the Royals tied Indians down after Warne opted to field. Even Tendulkar (30, 34b, 2×4) and Sanath Jayasuriya (38, 37b, 4×4) were pegged back to 71 in the 11 overs they were together before the latter was taken in the deep by Pankaj Singh off Siddharth Trivedi.

Warne used Man of the match SohailTanvir in two spells that virtually destroyed the Indians. The Pakistani left-arm seamer struck twice more to finish with 4/14. By virtue of his haul, he earned the purple cap for the maximum wicket taker in the tournament so far.

It was time for farewells at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium here on Monday night. A goodbye from a resilient city to their brave team. And what a send-off Shane Warne’s men received from a Jaipur that turned out to fill the stands to bid the Rajasthan Royals god-speed for the semi-finals in faraway Mumbai.

Scorecard:

Rajasthan Royals Batting

Mumbai Indians Bowling

Mumbai Indians Batting

Rajasthan Royals Bowling

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