(It’s a virtual must-win match for both teams to stay in contention for qualifying for the main stage. Catch live cricket score and live updates of the match here.)
Mumbai Indians have done it! Pollard ends it in style, with two consecutive sixes to Sachith Pathirana! Excellent show by them. Fantastic batting from Lendl Simmons and Mike Hussey. Shreyas Gopal, who gave away a lot of runs and dropped the crucial catch of Farveez Maharoof will breathe a sigh of relief that his follies didn’t cost his team the game. They will now look towards their game against Northern Knights who played excellent cricket in their match against Lahore Lions earlier in the day.
Pollard has come in to chase down the target within the next two overs it seems. It was looking like an over where there would be no boundaries conceded but Simmons gets one away off the last ball.
Oh dear! Southern Express finally get a wicket. Sachith Pathirana makes the breakthrough. Michael Hussey departs after hitting a ball high into the air and straight into the hands of Angelo Perera. Pollard comes in and hits a SIX first ball!
OUT! Michael Hussey c A Perera b Pathirana 60 (40)
FIFTY for Hussey! It’s raining boundaries for Mumbai Indians! They want to win it as soon as possible it seems, so that they increase their run rate. Southern Express aren’t even putting up a fight, which is disappointing to see. 2 wides and 17 runs from that Jayaratne over.
Simmons dispatches a bad ball from maharoof for two consecutive boundaries. 12 from the over. Mumbai don’t need to do anything silly here. Just singles and an occasional boundary will see them win. It has been a pretty ordinary bowling performance from Southern Express.
FIFTY for Lendl Simmons! Well played by the West Indian. Mumbai Indians have bounced back excellently after that defeat to Lahore Lions. The only area of concern for them has been death bowling. Just 60 required from the last 48 balls.
Hussey is on fire! He struggled initially, but has now get his eye in. Maharoof is dispatched for a SIX second ball, and a FOUR third ball. Both batsman approaching their half-centuries, and it’ll be interesting to see who gets there first. Southern Express’ bowlers are low on confidence, and it’s not looking good for them.
Hussey is finally coming good for Mumbai Indians. Comes down the track and hits one straight to the stands for a SIX! 10 runs from the 10th over. Southern Express desperately need a wicket here.
These two batsman have given Mumbai Indians a great start here. And they continue their hitting momentum. 11 from this over.
Mike Hussey plays an innovative shot and gets a FOUR for it. He follows it up with a similar shot, but this one is cut short by a fielder. This has turned out to be a good over for MI. It wouldn’t have been had Hussey been run out off the last ball. Direct hit and he would have been gone!
Dilruwan Perera bowls the sixth over, and it goes for six runs. It was looking like a good over for Perera, but Hussey manages to get a boundary off the last ball.
Hussey executes a brilliant shot to dispatch Jayampathi for a FOUR first ball. Jayampathi doesn’t make a good comeback, and bowls a full toss third ball, but Hussey fails to dispatch it to its rightful destination. He is certainly not batting like Mr Cricket should.
Ishan Jayaratne comes in to bowl the fourth over. Simmons slashes him second ball, but the ball finds a fielder. However, the fifth ball finds a thick edge and goes for boundary. Southern Express desperately need to break this partnership. 7 from the over.
Jayampathi bowls his second over. Hussey and Lendl don’t do anything rash, and just take singles. Not a bad start by both of them.
Farveez Maharoof, who was Southern Express’ hero with the bat, bowls the second over. It’s not a great one, as he bowls two wides, and Lendl Simmons finds the middle of his bat to flick one for FOUR. He follows it up with superbly timed shot for ANOTHER FOUR.
Charith Jayampathi bowls the first over, and Lendl Simmons is unable to score a run from the first ball, but edges one past the second slip to a BOUNDARY!
Malinga bowls the last over of the innings, and starts with a superb yorker to rattle the stumps. Angelo Perera has to walk back to the pavillion. Maharoof though continues his good-hitting form, and hits a SIX and a FOUR off the last two deliveries. Southern Express were 65/4 at the end of 11 overs, and their recovery was admirable. Gopal’s 12th over seems to have been the turning point for them. It went for 17 runs.
OUT! Angelo Perera b Malinga 28 (28)
Ojha bowls his last over! Maharoof hits a superb switch-hit to get a FOUR! And that shot has rattled Ojha. He follows it up with two loose deliveries and is dismissed for a FOUR and a SIX! 18 from that over. This is a great comeback from Southern Express.
Malinga to bowl his third over. The Southern Express batsman are trying to hit him for a boundary, but only finding the fielder. Good over for Mumbai Indians. Just 7 from it.
Ojha is back! And Maharoof hits one high into the air Shreyas Gopal fumbles a simple catch. Aditya Tare misses a stumping too later in the over. And Gopal’s day goes from worse to worser (if there is such a term), as he fumbles a simple ball and lets it go for a boundary. His head is certainly scrambled, and the youngster has had a poor day. He’ll learn from it though. Good bowling from Ojha, but the over is still an expensive one. 13 from it.
We are into the death overs now! Harbhajan Singh who bowled economically at the start of the innings, is back into the attack. And is dismissed for a FOUR first ball. Still a good over from him. Just 8 from it.
Bumrah back in to the attack! And, he commits a massive sin by bowling TWO CONSECUTIVE NO BALLS. And he gets away with it. 10 from the over despite no boundaries.
Ojha comes back into the attack. And another one bites the dust! This time it’s a run out. Seekugge Prasanna who was looking good, runs only to find Angelo Perera stuck to his crease. Massive confusion. Those short balls from Malinga may just have rattled the Sri Lankan brains. Another great over from Ojha!
OUT! Seekugge Prasanna run out (Tare/P Ojha) 15 (7)
Lasith Malinga comes in to inflict damage on the team he led to victory in the Sri Lanka’s domestic T20 tournament. These batsmen know him well, and Malinga knows them well too. He isn’t shying from bowling sharp bouncers to show them where his loyalties lie.
Shreyas Gopal comes in to bowl his second over, and it’s not better than his first one. Hit for a FOUR first ball, hit for a SIX fifth ball and hit for a SIX last ball. 17 from that over. Prasanna has started with a BANG!
Ojha who dropped the catch last over has been given an opportunity to make amends with his bowling. And he does it! He sends Jehan Mubarak back just when SE skipper was started looking in good touch. Mumbai Indians have taken wicket at regular intervals, and done justice to the tag of being the champions!
OUT! Jehan Mubarak b Ojha 16 (14)
Another chance goes begging! Pragyan Ojha the culprit this time. This is not good from a team who have the legendary Jonty Rhodes in their management. And it hurts them, as Mubarak makes full use of the lifeline and hits a SIX off the last ball.
Gopal is out of the attack, and in comes Jalaj Saxena! He had almost taken a wicket third ball, as the ball was in the air for a long time, and a confusion between Hussey and Harbhajan helped Gunathilaka survive. But, it doesn’t hurt Mumbai as Bhajji takes a great catch on the last ball of the over.
OUT! Danushka Gunathilaka c Harbhajan b Saxena 30 (23)
Captain Pollard comes in to the attack. He bowled a bad over against Lahore, but doesn’t repeat it here. Lanka goes for a big shot and doesn’t middle it. The ball falls straight in to the hands of Ambati Rayudu. Unfortunately for MI, Pollard follows up his wicket taking delivery with a wide and is hit for a FOUR by Gunathilaka next ball.
OUT! Yashodha Lanka c Rayudu b Pollard 9 (13)
Shreyas Gopal whose action is reminiscent of Anil Kumble, comes in to bowl. He is welcomed with a SIX second ball and a FOUR fifth ball. Good recovery from the SE here.
Harbhajan Singh bowls his third! It was looking like another great over, but Gunathilaka dispatches him for a SIX last ball.
Malinga against the team he led to victory in Sri Lanka’s domestic T20 tournament. Great start from him! Yashodha Lanka isn’t looking comfortable, and manages to scrape a single off the fifth ball.
Kusal Perera finally gets one away to the boundary! And hits the next ball straight into the hands of Pragyan Ojha. The pressure was building, and Perera went for the big shot! Rush of blood. He was the key batsman for SE in the first game against Knights, and he is gone now!
OUT! Kusal Perera c Ojha b Bumrah 8 (14)
Harbhajan continues and bowls a maiden! Perera is struggling to score against him. There have been too many dot balls in this innings already, and the pressure is building on the Southern Express batsman.
Jasprit Bumrah bowls the second over, and Danushka Gunathilaka gets off the mark with a couple of runs. Good over for Mumbai. Just 4 from it.
Harbhajan Singh opens the bowling! This is interesting. Perera sweeps him hard second ball, and even though it is top-edged, the ball clears the in-field for a four. Good over, otherwise from Bhajji. Just the boundary from it.
Mumbai Indians have won the toss, and elected to bowl first.
Welcome to CricketCountry’s live blog of the fourth qualifier match of the Champions League T20 2014 (CLT20) between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Southern Express at Raipur on Sunday. I am Sameer Jha and I will be bringing the live updates of the match. Both these teams are coming at the back of defeat in their first qualifier match. Read the Preview of the match here
Rain forced Express to play a 10-over match against New Zealand’s Northern Knights. Mumbai Indians on the other hand faltered at the start against Lahore Lions. Their bowlers did well but couldn’t stop the Lions from chasing a low target of 136.
Mumbai will have to address their problems with the top-order, though they don’t have enough resources to change the team. After losing three wickets early on, the Mumbai batting never got going and ended up crawling to 135.
Express did well to get off to a good start with Kusal Perera but they couldn’t maintain the momentum till the end of the stipulated 10 overs. The Knights chased down the target of 90 odd with ease.
On paper, Mumbai are much stronger than Express. It was a similar situation last night but Lahore did well to outclass Mumbai.
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