21^st May 2008

Mumbai Indians Vs Kings XI Punjab

It was Yuvaraj all the way from bowling and fielding that he won the match for Dhoom Punjabi. VRV Singh would have got slapping from all his team members if they had lost their game. VRV Singh played such a poor cricket that frustration run all around.

Target was 190 runs, set by Dhoom Punjabi, which looked easily attainable considering that the pitch is the darling of Jayasurya.

As usual Jayasurya made a quickfire 21 runs before he was plumb LBW for a slow ball from Sreeshant. Thereafter it was Sachin who took his team to the winning post before he got run out foolishly. The score seemed so near getable that for once Sachin went by without taking any risks. There were five run outs in this match with three coming off in the last over. Batsmen to fall short of the crease were Dwayne Smith, Sachin Tendulkar, Ashish Nehra, Siddharth Chitnis and VS Yeligati.

Dwayne Smith (20) came after Jayasurya's departure and added 45 runs with Tendulkar but a throw from Yuvraj at mid-off saw him short off the crease.

Mumbai captain and opener Sachin Tendulkar then took control of the innings and hammered 65 runs. Abhishek Nayar also joined the party and made quick 27 runs before leg-spinner Piyush Chawla took his wicket.

After Tendulkar fell, Pollock and Uthappa followed him soon. Chitnis hit some big shots but failed to carry his side home.

Then came the real blunder committed by Yuvaraj when he handed the last over to VRV Singh. He started giving runs after runs and almost shut the door for Dhoom Punjabi. Pressure started building up since 19 runs had to be scored. After two run outs, Mumbai needed 4 runs off 2 balls. Yeligati and Fernando added two runs. They required two runs off the last ball. Yeligati ran, VRV Singh was near the wicket ready to receive the ball from Yuvaraj and hit the stumps but Yuvraj threw himself on the stumps, it was the right thing to do and rightly thought so.

Earlier, after put in to bat, Kings XI Punjab made 189 runs at the loss of four wickets with the help of the knocks from Shaun Marsh and Luke Pomersbach.

'Man of the Match' Shaun Marsh continued with his purple patch as he not only slammed a half-century but also built a 133-run partnership with Luke Pomersbach before Siddharth Chitnis removed him for 81 runs. Shaun Pollock caught him at the long on.

Luke Pomersbach who was playing a second fiddle to Marsh, took over after his fall and scored unbeaten 79 runs. Pomersbach struggled a bit in the end of his innings which put pressure on Sachin who was watching from the other end. This was one of the cause for his run-out.

Skipper Yuvraj Singh's poor run with the bat continued as he fell for just 7 runs. Chitnis picked him as his second victim after Marsh.

With this win, Kings XI Punjab become the second team to make it to the semi-finals after Rajasthan Royals.