Published: May 19, 2015, 11:48 PM (IST)
Edited: May 20, 2015, 03:12 PM (IST)
Mumbai Indians (MI) have qualified for their third Indian Premier League (IPL) final as they beat the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by 25 runs in the Qualifier 1 at the Wankhede Stadium. Chasing 188 to win, CSK started well, but then crumbled in the middle. At the half-way mark, they were 86 for two with Suresh Raina and Faf du Plessis in the middle. Raina started off well and du Plessis was looking in good touch. At the same stage in their innings, MI were 86 for no loss and that showed that there was not much to loose. In came Harbhajan Singh and turned the match in MI’s favour quite drastically. Live Blog: Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians, Qualifier 2, IPL 2015 at Mumbai
Raina checked his shot to a loopy delivery and offered a simple return-catch to Harbhajan. Off the next ball, skipper MS Dhoni tried to sweep and was hit plumb in front From there on, CSK struggled and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. MI managed to strangle CSK then even as Dwayne Bravo tried to script a recovery. Du Plessis hit one to long-on and then Bravo was run-out in the 15th over to leave CSK with dashed hopes. A small assault by Ravichandran Ashwin gave them a glimmer of hope at the death but Lasith Malinga returned to clean the tail up and finish the game in 19 overs. This is only the second time MI have beaten CSK in a playoff game. The last time they did that was during the IPL 2013 final at Kolkata.
Harbhajan was the star for MI with the ball and in this big game, his spell of two for 26 turned out to be crucial. In that match-turning over, he almost had a third wicket as Bravo hit one back at him but it hit his little finger. The off-spinner was then seen going back to the dug-out to get some attention. MI would hope it isn’t too bad and that he is fully fit for the final.
Looking back, Rohit Sharma’s decision to bat first paid dividends as MI managed to put pressure on CSK in the big game. Lendl Simmons and Parthiv Patel continued their good form in tandem as they game MI yet another good start. Starting off with positive intent, the pair took MI to 90 runs inside 11 overs, setting them up for a score over 200. However, CSK managed to get back in the game as MI lost four wickets for 39 runs in six overs. MI had lost Simmons for 65 as he holed out to cover. Rohit hit one to mid-wicket and Hardik Pandya too found the man in the deep. IPL 2015: Complete Coverage
At 139 for four in the 17th over, MI needed a serious assault. Kieron Pollard maintained his cool through the innings and picked his opportunities to score. In 17 balls, he smashed 41, which included five big hits. It was due to his innings that MI managed to touch 187 for six in their 20 overs. That score did not look too big then, but in hindsight, it turned out to be a very good one. Dwayne Bravo completes 100 wickets in IPL
The umpiring in the game wasn’t up to the highest standards one would say. During the slog overs in the MI innings, there were quite a few close calls for wides, which went in favour of the Rohit-led-side. Also, Dwayne Smith was given out leg-before off Lasith Malinga in the first over of CSK’s run-chase when the ball hit him on the full and outside the line of leg-stump. CSK may feel a little hard done by but they get another chance to qualify for the final as they will play the winner of the Rajasthan Royals-Royal Challengers Bangalore game.
This game was Dhoni’s 200th as skipper in T20 cricket. The other highlight was that Bravo got his 100th IPL wicket during his spell of three for 40. Also, in a stadium where MI enjoys strong home-support, CSK were the designated home side as they had finished on the top spot in the IPL 2015 points table. MS Dhoni completes 200 T20 games as skipper
Brief scores:
Mumbai Indians 187 for 6 in 20 overs (Lendl Simmons 65, Parthiv Patel 35, Kieron Pollard 41; Ashish Nehra 1 for 28, Dwayne Bravo 3 for 40, Ravindra Jadeja 1 for 18) beat Chennai Super Kings 162 in 19 overs (Faf du Plessis 45, Suresh Raina 25; Lasith Malinga 3 for 23, R Vinay Kumar 2 for 26, Harbhajan Singh 2 for 26) by 25 runs.
Man of the Match: Kieron Pollard.
(Nishad Pai Vaidya is a Correspondent with CricketCountry and anchor for the site’s YouTube Channel. His Twitter handle is @nishad_45)
