The Hindu : Sport : Badrinath and Dhoni bat well

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Badrinath and Dhoni bat well

Nandakumar Marar

Mumbai Indians’ bowlers, led by Pollock, rise to the occasion

— Photo: Vivek Bendre

BIG WICKET: Mumbai Indians’ Dhawal Kulkarni celebrates after castling Chennai Super Kings’ Stephen Fleming on Wednesday.

MUMBAI: The stranglehold exerted by a collective effort from Mumbai Indians bowlers, under the command of Shaun Pollock in previous games, continued under Sachin Tendulkar in the eighth round of the DLF-Indian Premier League.

Chennai Super Kings was restricted to 156 for six in 20 overs. A fifth wicket stand of 95 in 61 balls between captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (43 not out, 35 balls, 6 x 4, 1 x 6) and the in-form S. Badrinath (53 runs, 33 balls, 7 x 4, 2 x 6) pulled the visitors out of a hole.

The South African set the tone with a controlled first over, bowling to the field and denying openers S. Vidyut and Stephen Fleming any liberties. He turned on the full force of mastery over swing and control with a maiden over against Dhoni.

Dwayne Bravo was wily as usual (two for 37) while young Dhawal Kulkarni, who felt the jitters in the 20th over and send down three wides in a row, ended up with three wickets for 33.

Vidyut, lucky to see an edge bounce into the third man fence against Ashish Nehra, got cracking by making room for a square cut.

Charmed existence

Fleming lived a charmed life, a snick falling short of slip fielder Tendulkar and beyond a leaping wicket-keeper Takawale. Jayasuriya also put down a skier.

Pollock struck the first blow when Vidyut’s attempt to lift the ball over the sightscreen ended up in Rohan Raje’s hands in the deep.

The Mumbai fielder made up for his seniors mistakes with an excellent catch under the floodlights, keeping eye on the ball and pouching it calmly.

Takawale was kept busy behind the stumps as Pollock angled deliveries away from Raina’s flashing blade. Fleming launched into Bravo, crashing a cover-drive to the fence and then watched from the non-striker end as Raina nicked the West Indian to the ’keeper.

Taking aerial route

Mumbai’s agile fielding forced Fleming and in-form Badrinath to look at the aerial route. Chennai needed a push from the batsmen as only 23 runs had come after five overs. Fleming responded to the situation with fierce cuts to the cover fence.

Kulkarni’s two-wicket burst brought Dhoni to the crease at a critical phase, 57 runs at the halfway mark. Tendulkar turned to the masterly Pollock and accurate Nehra to choke the run flow.

The bowlers were on top, Pollock put the brakes on Dhoni with six dot balls in the fourth over. Chennai needed a blast from the skipper and Badrinath to speed up scoring against a varied attack.

Thornely, Kulkarni and Bravo did their part to keep the visitors in check at 89 for four in 15 overs.

Dhoni got down to business, freeing his arms and creating space for the slash past the cover region while Badrinath made space and chipped over short fine leg.

Badrinath then pulled a short ball from Raje for the first six of the match in the 18th over.

The scores:

Chennai Super Kings: S. Vidyut c Raje b Pollock 16, S. Fleming b Kulkarni 26, S. Raina c Takawale b Bravo 1, S. Badrinath c & b Bravo 53, K. Chamara c Takawale b Kulkarni 0, M.S. Dhoni (not out) 43, Albie Morkel c Uthappa b Kulkarni 5, Extras (lb-3, w-9) 12, Total ( for six wkts. in 20 overs): 156.

Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-28, 3-46, 4-46, 5-141, 6-156.

Mumbai Indians bowling: Pollock 4-1-9-1, Nehra 4-0-31-0, Bravo 4-0-37-2, Kulkarni 4-0-33-3, Raje 3-0-33-0, Thornely 1-0-10-0.

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