Dwayne Smith led the Mumbai Indians to a seven wicket win over the Lions with 9 balls to spare as he claimed the man of the match tag for 63 from 47 balls.
Dwayne Smith was man of the match with an unbeaten 63 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The much needed victory keeps the Indian Premier League outfit in the hunt for a semi-final berth.
Mumbai started slowly, their 29 for 1 from the 6 powerplay overs was 11 behind their rivals, but they knew they had the artillery to counter. With 4 fours and 3 sixes, Smith was integral, pacing his innings perfectly and he never showed signs of panic when his partner’s wickets fell.
Sachin Tendulkar required 31 runs to reach 50,000 in all forms of cricket, but he made just 5 before being bowled by the impressive Sohail Tanvir and will have to become the sixteenth person to reach that milestone another day.
Dinesh Karthik and Rohit Sharma threatened with cameos, but it was Kieron Pollard who steered the Indians across the line with a typically fierce 31 from 20 balls with 2 fours and 3 sixes. He shared a stand of 51 in 35 balls with Smith and ultimately Mumbai won at a canter.
At the post-match presentations Smith said, “I know if I spend time at the crease, I will get runs, so that’s what I tried to do”.
“I can change my game,” he continued. “Especially when we are losing wickets and it’s up to me to be smart and do that. I just have to be confident.”
After being put in to bat by Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma the Highveld Lions reached 140 for 5 largely thanks to an unbroken sixth wicket partnership of 59 in the last 6.2 overs between Alviro Petersen and Dwaine Pretorius. Despite that late flurry the total never looked enough on the Jaipur wicket where a par score is at least 20 runs higher.
The wicket had pace and bounce and Mitchell Johnson’s first over caused alarm when a short legside ball flew over the keeper’s head and bounced just inside the rope for 5 wides.
It is surprising that someone of Petersen’s quality is batting as low as five in the Lions order. The argument that he would have been of more use in the top three, where teams usually place their best batsman, was exemplified as he played authentic cricket shots to notch 35 from 27 balls and never looked hurried.
Pretorius was less textbook, but his strikes over long-on for sixes off Tanvir and Ohje were as clean as any you’ll see. It was however, too little too late.
Mumbai’s skipper, Sharma, was full of praise for his side. “Credit to the bowlers who restricted a good batting line up. In our practice games, Mitchell Johnson was bowling really quick and that’s really good for our team.”
There was pressure on us to perform and we got the result we wanted,” he concluded.
The result still leaves Rajasthan Royals and Otago Volts in thr driving seats to claim a top two semi-final berth in Group A, but Mumbai have a chance. The Lions are all but mathematically eliminated.
Group A
| Teams | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | N/R | Pts | Net RR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royals | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | +0.970 |
| Otago | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | +3.100 |
| Mum Indians | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | +0.090 |
| Lions | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -1.091 |
| Scorchers | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -3.100 |
Group B
| Teams | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | N/R | Pts | Net RR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Super Kings | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | +0.642 |
| Trinidad & T | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | +0.438 |
| Sunrisers | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -0.088 |
| Titans | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -0.180 |
| Brisbane | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -0.725 |
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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