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Mumbai - In a thrilling contest that may yet be the match of the tournament, the Mumbai Indians just about held off the Rajasthan Royals to win by four runs on Saturday.
Yusuf Pathan’s incredible 100 off 37 balls fell agonizingly short of stealing the unlikeliest of upsets, as a miserly final over by Lasith Malinga secured the spoils for Mumbai.
The Indians had won the toss and batted, with fine half-centuries from Saurab Tiwary (53 off 33) and Ambati Rayudu (55 off 33) seeing them to their highest ever total of 212 for 6.
Having set the Royals a mammoth 213 to win, the Indians seemed to be cruising to victory when the Royals fell to 43 for 3 after seven overs.
Graeme Smith had started streakily, as he found the edge instead of the middle, but he looked like he was just getting into his stride when he was smartly snaffled by Rajagopal Sathish for 26.
But just when the Mumbai home crowd thought that it was all over, in walked Yusuf Pathan to play one of the great Twenty20 knocks.
Striking the ball cleanly, Pathan was handed a life when Proteas’ all-rounder Ryan McLaren caught him on the long-off boundary, but then clipped the rope with his left foot to give Pathan a six to go to 50 off just 21 balls.
From there, the Indian star went into overdrive, as he bludgeoned his maiden IPL century off 37 balls – the fastest in IPL history.
At the other end, Paras Dogra was content to hand the strike to his devastating partner.
But just as Pathan looked set to single-handedly win the contest, he was run out at the non-striker’s end by some smart fielding by Sathish.
Dogra responded to that blow by clubbing 21 off the next five balls, as the Royals refused to give up the ghost.
Going into the last two overs, they needed 19 to win – scarcely believable after they had been 1 for 1 after the first over.
Zaheer Khan conceded just seven off the crucial, penultimate over, paving the way for Malinga’s toe-crushers to seal the deal.
Despite losing two wickets off the first two balls, the Royals still had a chance to snatch the game with six off the final ball.
But Malinga snuck in another fine delivery to seal the most thrilling of wins by four runs.
Teams:
Mumbai Indians:
ST Jayasuriya, SR Tendulkar (capt), AT Rayudu, SS Tiwary, R McLaren, AP Tare (wk), R Sathish, SL Malinga, Harbhajan Singh, AG Murtaza, Z Khan
Rajasthan Royals:
GC Smith, NV Ojha (wk), YK Pathan, SA Asnodkar, P Dogra, AD Mascarenhas, AA Jhunjhunwala, SK Warne (capt), Kamran Khan, SW Tait, A Uniyal
Yusuf Pathan’s incredible 100 off 37 balls fell agonizingly short of stealing the unlikeliest of upsets, as a miserly final over by Lasith Malinga secured the spoils for Mumbai.
The Indians had won the toss and batted, with fine half-centuries from Saurab Tiwary (53 off 33) and Ambati Rayudu (55 off 33) seeing them to their highest ever total of 212 for 6.
Having set the Royals a mammoth 213 to win, the Indians seemed to be cruising to victory when the Royals fell to 43 for 3 after seven overs.
Graeme Smith had started streakily, as he found the edge instead of the middle, but he looked like he was just getting into his stride when he was smartly snaffled by Rajagopal Sathish for 26.
But just when the Mumbai home crowd thought that it was all over, in walked Yusuf Pathan to play one of the great Twenty20 knocks.
Striking the ball cleanly, Pathan was handed a life when Proteas’ all-rounder Ryan McLaren caught him on the long-off boundary, but then clipped the rope with his left foot to give Pathan a six to go to 50 off just 21 balls.
From there, the Indian star went into overdrive, as he bludgeoned his maiden IPL century off 37 balls – the fastest in IPL history.
At the other end, Paras Dogra was content to hand the strike to his devastating partner.
But just as Pathan looked set to single-handedly win the contest, he was run out at the non-striker’s end by some smart fielding by Sathish.
Dogra responded to that blow by clubbing 21 off the next five balls, as the Royals refused to give up the ghost.
Going into the last two overs, they needed 19 to win – scarcely believable after they had been 1 for 1 after the first over.
Zaheer Khan conceded just seven off the crucial, penultimate over, paving the way for Malinga’s toe-crushers to seal the deal.
Despite losing two wickets off the first two balls, the Royals still had a chance to snatch the game with six off the final ball.
But Malinga snuck in another fine delivery to seal the most thrilling of wins by four runs.
Teams:
Mumbai Indians:
ST Jayasuriya, SR Tendulkar (capt), AT Rayudu, SS Tiwary, R McLaren, AP Tare (wk), R Sathish, SL Malinga, Harbhajan Singh, AG Murtaza, Z Khan
Rajasthan Royals:
GC Smith, NV Ojha (wk), YK Pathan, SA Asnodkar, P Dogra, AD Mascarenhas, AA Jhunjhunwala, SK Warne (capt), Kamran Khan, SW Tait, A Uniyal
