Mumbai Indians keep their records at home intact by thrashing MS Dhoni's side by 60 runs
Mumbai Indians dropped four catches, out of which three were in the first over, but still ended up beating Chennai Super Kings by 60 runs in the Pepsi Indian Premier League at the Wankhede Stadium yesterday. Chasing MI’s 139-5, on-a-roll Chennai Super Kings were rolled out for only 79 runs in 15.2 overs.
CSK not only slumped to their lowest total ever, but also lost by the biggest margin (60 runs) in all the editions. MS Dhoni’s men also failed to break their jinx of beating Mumbai at Wankhede.
ADVERTISEMENT
Chennai conquered: Mumbai Indians celebrate their win over Chennai Super Kings yesterday. Pic/Suresh KK
Mumbai, on the other hand, maintained their 100 per cent win record at home winning all their five games here
this season.
Mitchell Johnson looked in high spirits even after Mike Hussey was dropped thrice in the first over. The bizarre thing was that all of those catches were directed at the same fielder — Kieron Pollard — at point.
Bizarre
“It was a bit surprising and bizarre. The first one was tough. The two after that... well… it happens in the game. He’s taken some unbelievable catches in the past. We all stuck behind him and won the game,” said man of the match Johnson. The first catch was a sharp chance as the West Indian managed to palm it, but couldn’t stop it from going to the boundary. The second one was a bit wide to which Pollard had to bend.
Nose injury
The last one was the easiest after Hussey cut it straight to Pollard, which he failed to hold on to. In fact, it hurt his nose and he had to go off the field.
However, in his next over, Johnson dismissed Murali Vijay (2), Suresh Raina (0) and S Badrinath (0) and CSK never recovered from those jolts. Pollard made up for his mistakes by taking a diving catch on the front to remove Raina. Once the dangerous Dhoni was dismissed by Pragyan Ojha, who claimed three wickets for 11 in 2.2 overs, it was all over for the two-time champions.
“Chennai can bat deep. The wicket here was a bit different from what it has always been. It was more sticky and the ball was gripping the wicket a
little bit.
“We had a great game plan and weren’t worried about what score we had or what batsmen they had. We just wanted to play good, hard cricket. We stuck to our game plans.
“To be able to win against Chennai who have been dominant, gives us a lot of confidence going into the next stage of the tournament,” said Johnson.
Earlier, Chennai bowlers hardly gave away anything for MI batters as the first boundary was scored after 22 balls.
Unusual tactic
Dhoni resorted to an unusual tactic — opening the bowling with Ravindra Jadeja, who claimed the wickets of Tendulkar, Dinesh Karthik (23) and Pollard (1) while keeping his trusted weapons Dwayne Bravo and R Ashwin for the death overs. However, a late surge from skipper Rohit Sharma (39 not out off 30) and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh’s 11-ball 25 helped Mumbai post a fighting total.u00a0
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
