Mumbai Indians set up a mouth-watering all Indian Premier League (IPL) final of the Champions League t20 (CLT20) after beating an exciting Trinidad and Tobago team by six wickets with five balls to spare in Delhi. The final will provide a fitting t20 curtain call for Indian legends Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.
Sudhir Kumar Chaudhary, an ardent fan of Tendulkar who has seen most of his 50,000 runs (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Mumbai are the expert chasers and when man of the match Dwayne Smith (59 from 38 balls) and Tendulkar (35 from 31) stormed to 90 within 11 overs it seemed it was game over for the Caribbean side.
Tendulkar had just become the 16th member of an elite club of batsmen to pass 50,000 runs in all forms of cricket as his every move was cheered deliriously by a packed house. He is the first player from the sub-continent to achieve the feat. For the real badgers out there, Graham Gooch of England heads the list.
The crowd went bananas when he hit the spin of Yannick Ottley for long straight sixes, but Tendulkar then edged Lendl Simmons behind. It seemed just a speed bump in Mumbai’s inevitable charge to the final.
The only non-IPL side in the last four had gone a bowler down at the end of the first over when Rayad Emritt dislocated his right shoulder diving at mid-off. The lack of bowling options would hamstring skipper Dinesh Ramdin and ultimately proved the difference.
The Trinidad team had shown before they can never be written off. Their star man with the ball, Sunil Narine, can challenge any player in the world and none of the Mumbai top order took the liberties with him they did with the rest of the attack.
Narine had Ambati Rayudu caught behind to his first ball and then bowled Smith to an ugly cross-bat swipe as Mumbai lost three wickets in six balls for the addition of 6 runs. At 96 for three, was the game turning as much as Narine’s wrong-un?
Rohit Sharma scored 25 in a fourth wicket stand of 42 with Dinesh Karthik which eased any nerves, until Narine returned to bowl Sharma with an exquisite delivery which saw the batsman play for the off-break and lose his off stump.
Tomorrow’s final will be time for Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid to say goodbye (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Narine ended with 3 for 17 from his spell and leaves India with 11 wickets at 7.81 to his name. He is currently top of the bowling charts but Pravin Tambe, one wicket behind, will be hoping to overhaul him in the final.
Karthik, unbeaten on 33 from 21, eased any worries with two maximums off Rampaul and the Indians destination to tomorrow’s final was dealed with a thumping six off the first ball of Simmons final over.
Some question the right of the IPL sides to lay claim to stars that could otherwise play for their own domestic sides. Trinidad and Tobago will have players in both the Rajasthan and Mumbai camps for the final, but without their absence it is unlikely we would have seen Evin Lewis explode onto the international stage.
Lewis stroked 62 from 46 balls including 6 fours and 4 sixes to end his tournament on 211 runs at 42.20 and a strike rate of 141.61. Not bad for a young man who had only played five t20 matches before this trip.
After Simmons fell for his third duck in four matches and Darren Bravo was stumped off Pragyan Ojha’s first ball it was Lewis and Ottley (41 from 30) who took T&T to 93 at the end of the 13th over.
Their progress stalled thanks to tight bowling from Ojha, Kieron Pollard and Nathan Coulter-Nile and their final tally of 153-5 was challenging not imposing.
If Trinidad return to the CLT20 next year it will be as winners of the Caribbean Premier League competition and as Trinidad Red Steel. Alongside the impressive Otago Volts they have been a breath of fresh this time around.
For now though, we look forward to Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians, Rahul Dravid vs Sachin Tendulkar and what promises to be a fitting finale to a very enjoyable CLT20 competition.
James Buttler
As the editor of World Cricket Badger he is intent on building the website to give quality coverage of the domestic game around the world.
He is also the presenter of the Cricket Badger Radio Show on Radio Yorkshire every Tuesday evening between 7-9pm UK time.
James was the full-time Media Manager at Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 2007 and 2010.
James is a published author, a writer/video contributor to many cricket publications and a complete cricket badger!
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