A Butcher with a knife would have looked more civilized than Yusuf Pathan with a piece of wood. It was onslaught at its best as powerhouse Pathan brought up the first ton of IPL-3 in ridiculously 37 deliveries, second fastest in the history of T20 format, yet his team was not able to pull of the victory against Mumbai Indians.
SQUAD
Mumbai Indians: After finishing in the bottom 4 on previous editions of IPL , MI
Rajasthan Royals: Warne opted for Speedster Shaun Tait, Mascarenhas and Graeme Smith, as he rested Munaf and Siddharth Trivedi for debutant Amit Uniyal and Imran Khan.
Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to bat first
DETONATIVE START
Jayasurya started the proceedings with an array of boundaries with the very first over milking Mascarenhas for 13 runs. Tait bowled the second over with conviction Sachin greeted him with disdain. Amit Uniyal’s very first IPL over yielded him with the wicket of Jayasurya, a clever slower one, jayasurya out LBW. Tait bowled off radar conceding 5 wides in a single over, not an ominous start for the Royals as Sachin leg glanced and cover drived Uniyal for two exquisite boundaries before Aditya Tare launched one over the boundary line, Mumbai Indians to a stellar of a start.
YOUNG BRIGADE TAKE CHARGE
Mascarenhas returned strongly to pick up Sachin and Tare in the same over, bringing Amabati Rayadu and young Saurabh Tiwary to the crease. Rayadu started of well flicking Mascarenhas for 4 before dancing down the track flicking Warne to mid wicket, class written all over it. Tiwary joins the party with powerful drives and back foot jabs as both the lads accumulate runs maintaining the 10 runs per over rate, for most part of the innings scoring their maiden half centuries in the process. A 19 runs 14th over bowled by Abhishek Jhunjhunwala assures Indians a score par 200. Mumbai Indians end up with their highest total of 212/6, but a Shuan Tait full toss hits Harbhajan on the knee roll, the turbanator has to retire hurt.
ROYALS DISINTEGRATE
Fantasitc opening spell by Zaheer Khan and Ryan McLaren backed up by superb fielding puts royals to the wall; by the end of 7th over royals were 43/3 with asking rate over 15.MI were definitely on top as Malinga castled one more in the 10th over. The first half surely belonged to the Indians.
PATHAN PANDEMONIUM
The firework instigates; Yusuf Pathan blasts three consecutive sixes, one over long on, another over mid wicket and third past long off. The 11th over reads 1, 6, 4, 4, 6, 1wd, 4
Sachin gives the bowl to Ryan Mclaren, and after a lengthy deliberation the long on is brought inside the ring, clearly hinting full length deliveries. But there is nothing to stop this powerhouse; he digs out Yorker length deliveries to 4.Indians looked perplexed. In a matter of 2 overs, the current run rate and required rate becomes equal, and Rajasthan royals sense something marvelous. A tight Malinga and Zaheer over puts the pressure back on the batsmen, but Pathan continues his rampage with 2 sixes and a 4 of one Jayasurya over. Pathan gets his hundred of just 37 deliveries which includes 9 boundaries and 8 maximums. Satish is back into the attack after a total drubbing by Yusuf, first ball to Pathan’s silent partner Dogra, he hits the ball straight back to the bowler, and Satish whips of the bail, third umpire rules the decision in favor of the bowler , and Mumbai Indians suddenly look a happy bunch, Pathan departs after a whirlwind innings. Yet the drama continues as Dogra launches a late attack with two sixes and couple of boundaries.
The equations reads 19 from 12.With Zaheer and Malinga to bowl, the Indians look like to be the favorites. Finally, the seasoned campaigners hold on to their nerves and produce 2 near perfect overs, the Mumbai Indians wrap up the match, maybe in hope of not experiencing the blitzkrieg like this for the entire tournament.
MI 1 _ RR 0
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