Rayudu and Pollard Stunning Mumbai Fantastic Win

BANGALORE: Ambati Rayudu 81runs not out. And Kieron Pollard 52 runs not out. Pulled off an amazing chase on Monday evening as Mumbai Indians overcome an early implosion to gun down the 172 target they were set by Royal Challengers Bangalore.

After Mayank Agarwal firework lifted Bangalore to 171 in the rain-delayed 1st innings, Mumbai looked down for the count in their chase. They were 51-5 in the 9th over – with Sachin Tendulkar duck out. Herschelle Gibbs, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik and Dwayne Smith back in the pavilion – when Rayudu and Pollard got jointly, and refused to get out.

The pair added 122 in fewer than 12 overs for the 6th wicket, garnering their team a thrilling succeed that took the CLT20 Champions to 2nd place on the points table. Rayudu and Pollard began carefully, but augmented their approach as things hurtled towards a frenetic end. Pollard initiates the carnage by hammering succeeding sixes off left-arm spinner K.P. Appanna in the 11th over.

Still, 57 were needed from the final 4 overs when Zaheer Khan came on for his 3rd and was unceremoniously carted for 16. In the next, Rayudu tore into Vinay Kumar, a sequence of 6, 4, and 6 restructuring the equation somewhat in the favour of the chaser. Zaheer return for his last over – the penultimate of the match – and restricted the rampage duo to just nine runs, leaving 14 as the last-over target.

Gayle was entrusting with the blame of turning his arm over. Rayudu ran a single upfront, leaving the stage to Pollard, who flicked a wristy six, benefited from a chancy 4 and then pulled another 4to the mid-wicket fence to hand Mumbai a 5-wicket win, with two balls to spare. Earlier, Bangalore surmounts the cheap loss of its stars, Gayle and A.B. de Villiers, to post a healthy 171. The home team was struggling on 87-4 in the 12th over, before fantastic hitting by Mayank Agarwal pulled them up to a spirited total.

Agarwal whipped up a anger in his 30-ball 64 – his 1st IPL fifty – and provided the last flourish by massacre Munaf Patel for 24 in the last over of the innings The match was delayed by an hour due to rain, and soon after start Gayle played on to Munaf. More trouble followed for Bangalore when Gibbs, all of 38 years, engineered the run-out of Virat Kohli, who fell as greatly to the South African’s agility as to a mix-up and a slip on the turf.

The home team was 13 for 2 after 4, when Munaf single-handedly turned things just about by conceding a spate of free hits in a protracted over that leaked 21. But just as Tillakaratne Dilshan and Saurabh Tiwary were steadying the ship, the latter was hit-wicket as he trod on his stumps.Dilshan struggle to find the boundary and scored a sedate 47, and when de Villiers hit Pollard straight to Malinga, Bangalore were gone without anybody to give them a decisive push.

Or so we thought, until Agarwal unleash a deluge of big hits, taking his team from 134-6 to 171-6 in the space of 12 balls. Not even Malinga was spared as Agarwal crashed a 4 and 6 off the Sri Lanka paceman, and then waded into Munaf in the final over as Bangalore ended with a high, only to come crashing down when the Rayudu-Pollard combine outdid them in the middle.

Man of the match

Ambati Rayudu

Gayle Stunning Royal Challengers beat Mumbai

MUMBAI: Chris Gayle exploded once again as Royal Challengers Bangalore beaten Mumbai Indians by 9 wickets at the Wankhede sports ground on Wednesday night. The succeed take Bangalore to 4th place on the points table, but this tent match-up was not as one-sided as the margin of victory suggests.

It could have gone either way when Chris Gayle decided to exert his influence on the match. Bangalore was suffering from the same lethargy that had afflicted Mumbai in the 1st innings, as they chased an ambiguous 141 on a wicket with some help for bowlers. Tillakaratne Dilshan was back in the pavilion, Virat Kohli was struggling to get going, and Gayle, dropped on 21 (by Devon Smith), had also survive a run-out chance. The going was certainly not easy for the visiting team when the West Indian took strike on the 2nd ball of Pragyan Ojha’s 2nd over.

Ojha had claimed Dilshan and approved just 3 in his opening over, and as he ambled in to bowl to the hulking southpaw Bangalore needed 88 from about ten overs - an situation at the best of times, slightly trickier considering the nature of the wicket.Gayle played out dots on the first 2 balls, following which he ran a brace. And then he did what he has come to be known for – he incinerated the bowler.

2 sixes off 2 unpardonable full-tosses, of which the second was an unforgivable no-ball and Bangalore, were favorites. The free-hit too ended in the stands, not only strengthening the Challengers’ place, but also getting Gayle his sixth fifty of the season. In the process, Gayle regained the Orange Cap from Virender Sehwag.

Such unafraid hitting appeared to spark Kohli into action, and the Indian super star deposited Kieron Pollard in the stands, before pulling Malinga to the boundary. It was  Virat Kohli who ended the match in style, carting Rohit Sharma for 6 over the bowler’s head, as Bangalore romped home with 2 overs to spare.

Earlier, Virat Kohli elected to field and on a pitch supporting seamers Bangalore made Mumbai struggle for runs. Zaheer Khan and Vinay Kumar started out with splendid opening over, and Muttiah Muralitharan vindicated his selection over Vettori with a double strike in the 16th over.

Zaheer khan & Vinay (playing after missing the previous game) reduced the home team to five for 2 after four overs as most batsmen struggled to make decent contact with the ball. James Franklin was the 1st to go, upper-cutting a Vinay short ball to third man. In the same over, Vinay trapped Rohit Sharma in front.Sachin Tendulkar survive a confident shout for leg-before against Vinay Kumar and Mumbai’s distress would have been further compounded if Kohli's throw from backward point had found the stumps, as Tendulkar was struggling to make his ground. The maestro hung in there, and hammered a succession of boundaries to get Mumbai on track.

But just as things were on an upswing, Sachin Tendulkar top-edged a Harshal Patel effort ball that came on to him faster than he had anticipated. Then began a phase of resurrection as Ambati Rayudu and Dinesh Karthik combined for 44 fast runs, before the former holed out to Harshal and was taken in the deep.

Muralitharan had been hard to get, and in the space of 2 balls – one of which was the famed doosraa – the Sri Lankan wizard dismissed both Karthik and Devon Smith, the man who had won Mumbai their last match. Kieron Pollard and Harbhajan Singh struck a few meaty blows, and the West Indian quick 18 runs from the 20th over, bowled by Vinay, as Mumbai Indians finished with 141. However, it was another West Indian who had the final say.

Man of the match:

Chris Gayle

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