Did Rajasthan Royals gift the match to the Mumbai Indians. It seemed so, when the story started with this Bizarre dismissal. Pollock bowled a ball to Smith. Smith had walked into a drive to a length delivery on the leg stump and missed it completely. He was outside the crease as he had over balanced and just kept walking! He was not even looking behind. What was he thinking! is not known. The ball went to the 'keeper Takawale who fumbled it before picking the ball and breaking the stumps. Smit could have easily kept his bat and he had all the time for it.

Thus the day started for Mumbai Indians with luck. And luck was with Takawale the wicket keeper. Every one would have become wicked on him, but thanks to Smith.

Both S A Asnodkar and S R Watson were going on well maintaining a score rate of around 8.5 runs per over. It was Bravo who got the break-through by having Watson. Bravo bowled round-the-wickets. It was angling across Watson who went for a slog across the line and dragged it to his stumps.

The pitch wasn't conducive to stroke-play: balls stopped, kept low and batsmen didn't find their timing easily. The experienced trio of Shaun Pollock, Ashish Nehra and Dwayne Bravo were canny with their variations but it was impressive to see the unheralded duo of Dhaval Kulkarni and Rohan Raje break the back of Rajasthan's line-up.

It started in Rohan Raje 11th over. He gave just 3 runs in it and had the wicket of Kaif who sometimes looks dangerous. Just a ball before he could have had the other batsmen Asnodkar too if only the catch was taken by Jayasurya. Then comes Kulkarni in the 12th over he too gives only 3 runs and scalps the wicket of Jadeja.

The story then lasted for another two overs with Warne and Asnodkar taking along the scoreboard in a slow-pace, when in the 14th over Warne was out in the first ball of Kulkarni. In the very next 15th over Raje had Asnodkar. The tail enders opened-up. In the 16th Nehra comes and takes two wickets. Nehra has improved in his bowling. In the 17th over i.e., 16.2 overs the Rajasthan Royals innings comes to an end with the fall of S.K. Trivedi to Bravo's bowling. They were all out for 103. The lowest score in this ipltwenty20 Cricket tournament so far for the team batting first.

Sachin Tendulkar wasn't fit for today's game but he had the satisfaction of being on air almost every time the commentators cut to have a word with him. He was particularly thrilled with the performance of Kulkarni and Raje, young turks who utilised the conditions perfectly. Nehra finished as the most effective bowler, adding two tailenders to Yusuf Pathan's wicket early on to finish with 3 for 13; Bravo showed the power of the slower ball; and Pollock yet again proved the value of experience.

The fact that the Mumbai wicketkeeper Yogesh Takawale pouched three skiers, when top-edges ballooned off the bat, showed the slow nature of the surface. Even Mumbai's batsmen weren't fluent with their strokeplay but a few lucky breaks ensured a comfortable victory. Shane Watson struck twice - taking the wicket of Sanath Jayasuriya who pulled one to deep square leg - and Shane Warne struck with his very first ball, removing Takawale with a slider. However, Robin Uthappa's 34 was enough to take Mumbai past the finish line.

The match, though, was decided by the end of Rajasthan's innings. Pollock, whose decision to field first appeared to be a bold one, nipped out Graeme Smith early though even he would have been surprised at the manner of the dismissal. Smith backed away, took a stride out of his crease, missed an in-cutter from Pollock and kept walking. Had he looked back, he would have seen Takawale fumble the ball but the fact the he kept going allowed an easy stumping.

It was only the 53-run stand between Swapnil Asnodkar and Watson that made some sort of recovery for Rajasthan. Both batsmen put away loose balls and Watson even showed the value of hitting straight against the spin of Sanath Jayasuriya. It took an injudicious swipe from Watson to end the stand - Bravo working him out from around the wicket - and what followed was a forgettable collapse.

Raje forced Mohammad Kaif and Asnodkar to go for big shots and had them caught in the deep, while Kulkarni removed Ravindra Jadeja and Shane Warne with short balls. Jadeja top edged while going for the pull and was athletically caught by Takawale, while Warne's attempted slap through the off side ended in an easier skier for the wicketkeeper.

The tail didn't have much of a chance against the slower balls - indicated aptly by a tantalising one from Bravo that ended the innings. It was Rajasthan's first defeat in six games and they slipped to second place, behind the Kings XI Punjab, in the points table.

When Jayasurya left at the score of 41/0 and the run rate was around 5.8 runs and the Required Rate was only 4.8 runs per over. Thus it was easy for Takawale, Uttappa to tread along with Bravo and lastly Nayar finishing off the match.

All that the Mumumai Inidans needed was to play all the 20 overs to win the match which they did it easily

Match Played at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai, on 7 May 2008 - day/night (20-over match)

Result Mumbai Indians won by 7 wickets (with 29 balls remaining)

Rajasthan Royals innings (20 overs maximum)

SR GC Smith st wicketkeeperTakawale b Pollock 5 (9) SA Asnodkar c Uthappa b Raje 39 (36) YK Pathan b Nehra 1 (3) SR Watson b Bravo 32 (20) M Kaif c Nehra b Raje 4 (7) RA Jadeja c wicketkeeperTakawale b Kulkarni 0 (1) captain SK Warne c wicketkeeperTakawale b Kulkarni 7 (7) Sohail Tanvir b Nehra 6 (6) wicketkeeper M Rawat c wicketkeeperTakawale b Nehra 1 (5) SK Trivedi b Bravo 1 (3) MM Patel not out 0 (1) Extras (lb 2, w 5) 7 Total (all out; 16.2 overs) 103 (6.30 runs per over)

Fall of wickets1-12 (Smith, 2.2 ov), 2-21 (Pathan, 3.1 ov), 3-74 (Watson, 8.5 ov), 4-82 (Kaif, 10.5 ov), 5-82 (Jadeja, 11.1 ov), 6-94 (Warne, 13.1 ov), 7-95 (Asnodkar, 14.1 ov), 8-102 (Sohail Tanvir, 15.1 ov), 9-103 (Rawat, 15.5 ov), 10-103 (Trivedi, 16.2 ov)

Bowling : SM Pollock 3 0 19 1w 6.33 A Nehra 3 0 13 3w 4.33 DS Kulkarni 3 0 21 2 w 7.00 DJ Bravo 2.2 0 12 2w 5.14 (4w) ST Jayasuriya 2 0 17 0w 8.50 RR Raje 3 0 19 2w 6.33

Mumbai Indians innings (target: 104 runs from 20 overs)

SR wicketkeeper YV Takawale b Warne 27 (3) ST Jayasuriya c Pathan b Watson 18 (20) RV Uthappa not out 34 (21) DJ Bravo c Asnodkar b Watson 1 (5) Nayar not out 12 (13) 30 Extras (lb 2, w 10) 12 Total (3 wickets; 15.1 overs) 104 (6.85 runs per over)

Did not bat DJ Thornely, captainSM Pollock, SS Tiwary, RR Raje, A Nehra, DS Kulkarni

Fall of wickets1-41 (Jayasuriya, 7.3 ov), 2-64 (Takawale, 10.1 ov), 3-72 (Bravo, 11.3 ov)

Bowling O M R W Econ Sohail Tanvir 3.1 0 13 0 4.10 (4w) MM Patel 3 0 21 0 7.00 (1w) SK Trivedi 3 0 23 0 7.66 SR Watson 4 0 26 2 6.50 (1w) SK Warne 2 0 19 1 9.50 (2w)

Toss Mumbai Indians, who chose to field first Points Mumbai Indians 2, Rajasthan Royals 0

Player of the match A Nehra (Mumbai Indians)

Umpires DJ Harper (Australia) and RE Koertzen (South Africa) TV umpire BF Bowden (New Zealand) Match referee Talat Ali (Pakistan) Reserve umpire UL Dubey

Match notes

* Rajasthan Royals innings * Rajasthan Royals: 50 runs in 6.1 overs (38 balls), Extras 1 * 3rd Wicket: 50 runs in 34 balls (SA Asnodkar 15, SR Watson 31, Ex 4) * Rajasthan Royals: 100 runs in 14.4 overs (93 balls), Extras 7 * Innings Break: Rajasthan Royals - 103/10 in 16.2 overs (MM Patel 0)

* Mumbai Indians innings * Mumbai Indians: 50 runs in 8.4 overs (55 balls), Extras 5 * Mumbai Indians: 100 runs in 14.3 overs (93 balls), Extras 10

Mumbai Indians Vs Kolkatta Knight Riders

You put any best team that is playing in IPLt20 cricket tournament against Mumbai Indians. You give Mumbai Indian the Mumbai pitch and Jayasurya then Mumbai Indians will win.

You put Jayasurya into any weak team and give Mumbai Pitch the weak team in which Jayasurya is playing will win.

In any other pitch or ground it will not be the same.

So the two terrific wins the Mumbai Indians had in Tendulkar playing was because of Jayasurya and Jayasurya alone no one else.

All batsmen playing in either of the team have failed completely in this pitch. Having Jayasurya in the team, he made the other playing team as school boys. There was a class of difference in the batting in his own side. Tendulkar was out Uttappa was out all for scores within 10 but Jayasurya was scoring at a brisk rate of 3 runs per ball.

All other success and failures that happened on that particular day is of little consequence.

The team that plays semi-final with Mumbai as their opponents in this pitch will surely lose.

Sanath Jayasuriya Not Out 48(17)

Sachin Tendulkar (C)c Prasanta Saha b Shoaib Akhtar 0 (3)

Robin Uthappac Sourav Ganguly b Ishant Sharma 9 (8)

Dominic Thornely Not Out 1 (6)

Dwayne Bravo, Abhishek Nayar, Shaun Pollock, Rajesh Pawar, Yogesh Vijay Takawale (W), Rohan Raje and Ashish Nehra did not bat

Extras: 10(NB-1, WB-4, LB-5, Byes - 0, Penalty-0)Run Rate:12.36

Target: 68 runs from 20 overs Total Score: 68/2 (5.3)

Shaun Pollock getting the Man-of-the-match could be termed as injustice done to this great batsman Jayasurya. You could have found more Pollock's in Kolkatta team itself if Jayasurya was not there!!!

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.

Mumbai Indians Vs Rajasthan Royals

With Graeme Smith not playing being asked to excuse himself with a hamstring injury and may be the other players too tested, it should be an easy win for Mumbai Indians.

As of now though it seems that Delhi Daredevils and Dhoni's North Indian team will enter the semi-final, it may not be so when suddenly with Dhoni's foolhardy captaincy he may loose his last encounter with Deccan chargers as he did with them in their last encounter and also as he did with Royal Challengers Bangalore. This eventually will pave way for Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians a semi-final berth with Mumbai winning their last encounter with Bangalore team.

So all Tendulkar lovers can rejoice seeing the batting mastero at semi-finals and finals.

27th May 2008

Someone like Muttaiah Muralidharan at the wicket would have enjoyed running out batsman, but there was a nervous breakdown in Sanath Jayasurya, his body and hand did not move to easily run out the batsman.

Then this Fernando did not know that if you bowl away from the legside it will called as a wide and a run will be added.

Then this Nehra in his penultimate over completely forgot that he had been previously bowling round the wicket since in his usual run-up bowling he was giving away runs.

Tendulkar too failed to notice this. Guidence miss!!!

Mumbai fielding lapse and giving away one run in the last ball of the penultimate over too was a cause for defeat.

When Tendulkar took the catch and had Watson at mid-wicket he hit his head to the ground and to ward off the pain he shouted like a WWE hero keeping his body stiff and his hands straight by the side of his body. But the people thought that he was excited for having dismissed Watson.

Bad luck once again shined Mumbai Indians team. But bad luck once again may shine to Chennai Super Kings team too and so Mumbai after winning their last encounter can still go to the semi-final.

By the loss of Mumbai Indians it paved way for Delhi Daredevils to an easy backdoor entry to the semi-finals. They now stick to the fourth place irrespective of the results of Chennai and Mumbai team. It is now either the CSK or the MI who wil be out.

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