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Kings XI holds its nerve in a thriller

Nandakumar Marar

Tendulkar’s controlled knock goes in vain as run outs leave Mumbai short

Kings XI now has 16 points
Mumbai Indians remains on 12

— Photo: Vivek Bendre

GOOD KNOCK: Luke Pomersbach did the starring role for Kings XI Punjab on Wednesday, scoring a punishing half-century.

MUMBAI: Sachin Tendulkar left his mark on T20 cricket with a well-crafted 46-ball 65 (12 fours), his first half-century of the DLF Indian Premier League.

His run-out at the non-striker end after being sent back by Robin Uthappa, Mumbai Indians 41 runs away from victory at 159-4, triggered off a wave of panic down the ranks.

Instead of picking up the cue from the skipper’s composed batting, four more run-outs followed as the home team was bowled out for 188, two tantalising runs away from a probable victory.

Kings XI Punjab won by one run, with captain Yuvraj Singh bringing down the curtain on a grand game with a dive to run out the last man. He had earlier twisted the knife into Mumbai with two vital wickets (Uthappa and Shaun Pollock) just when Mumbai Indians was inching towards 190 needed for victory.

Run outs

Five run-outs (Tendulkar, Dwayne Smith, Siddharth Chitnis, Ashish Nehra and Vikrant Yeligetti) turned the match in favour of the visitors.

Pollock’s attempted scoop to fine leg off the first ball from Yuvraj landed in Chawla’s hands, running in from short third man.

Uthappa dragged his team further down with a reckless heave to long-on, Pinal Shah followed next the same way and then the run-out madness set in.

Hopes earlier got a taste of the Pollock treatment, drawn forward but beaten by movement and managing to edge into an alert Shah’s gloves. Marsh almost became his next victim, a diving Uthappa arriving late.

Luke Pomersbach got cracking against Nehra as Punjab’s 50 came in 40 balls. The two hard-hitters settled into a rhythm against the slower bowlers, when Pollock created a scare with a one-handed throw from the boundary line.

Marsh’s dream run with the bat continued. Runs came in torrents as the two Aussies swung their bats around as the 100 came up in 71 balls.

Chitnis got a lucky break when Marsh holed out to Pollock at long-on, bringing Yuvraj to the crease with the last five overs left for the India T20 star to strut his stuff. Two wild slashes after stepping out to Fernando hinted at frustration, a heave against Chitnis ended in Smith’s safe hands at long-on. Mumbai’s relief at seeing Yuvraj’s back turned to delight as Mahela Jayawardene followed.

Pomersbach kept attacking, smacking the ball with such power that fielders within range, even umpires in the line of fire, risked injury.

No one got hurt, the ball kept hitting the ropes as the left-hander, coming to face the fourth ball of the innings, walked back unbeaten on 79, at the crease for 19.3. The scores: Kings XI Punjab: J. Hopes c Shah b Pollock 0, S. Marsh c Shah b Chitnis 81, L. Pomerbasch (not out) 79, Y. Singh c Smith b Chitnis 7, M. Jayawardene c & b Fernando 1, I. Pathan (not out) 9. Extras (lb-3, w-9) 12. Total (for four wickets in 20 overs) 189.

Fall of wkts: 1-1, 2-134, 3-148, 4-150.

Mumbai Indians bowling: Pollock 3-0-14-1, Nehra 3-0-34-0, Yelligetti 4-0-43-0, Chitnis 4-0-40-2, Fernando 4-0-36-1, Smith 2-0-19-0.

Mumbai Indians: S, Jayasuriya lbw Sreesanth 20, S, Tendulkar (run out) 65, D. Smith (run out) 20, A. Nayar c Srivastava b Chawla 27, R. Uthappa c Marsh b Yuvraj 9, S. Pollock c Chawla b Yuvraj 0, P. Shah c V.RV. Singh b Sreesanth 5, S.Chitnis (run out) 15, D. Fernando (not out) 2, A. Nehra (run out) 0, V. Yeligetti (run out) 2. Extras (b-1, lb-10, nb-1, w-9) 21. Total (in 19.6 overs) 188.

Fall of wkts: 1-36, 2-81, 3-127, 4-159, 5-159, 6-163, 7-170, 8-183, 9-186

Kings XI bowling: Sreesanth 4-0-35-2, Pathan 4-0-37-0, V R V Singh 4-0-56-0, Chawla 4-0-22-1, Hopes 2-0-13-0, Yuvraj 2-0-12-2.

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