When Mumbai Indians’ Krunal Pandya dropped a simple catch of Rising Pune Supergiant opener Ajinkya Rahane when on 14 and his team at 23/1 off Lasith Malinga’s first over, he sat down and buried his face with both hands. He was regretting and wondering how can he commit such a mistake at a crucial juncture of the game?
But at the back of his mind he must also be wondering, it may not be such a big mistake as the MI’s had the weaponry at the death overs to choke any team. The Mumbai fast bowlers once again showed their might with the ball by beating Rising Pune Supergiant by 2 runs and win their third Indian Premier League title on Sunday night.
In a low scoring but a dramatic tie at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, MI produced some classical death bowling performance to restrict Pune to 128 for five who were chasing MI’s 130.
After Rahane laid a strong platform with a well-made 44 and stitched a 54-run partnership with captain Steve Smith for the second wicket, the Pune side failed to get over the finishing line.
With 11 needed in the last over, seamer Mithcell Johnson used all his experienced to not let the match get out of hand. After getting hit for a boundary on the first ball by Tiwary, Jonshon got back to get back-to-back wickets of Tiwary and Smith. With seven required he cramped Daniel Christian for any room, letting out just five runs in the next three and gave skipper Rohit Sharma his third IPL title as captain of Mumbai Indians.
Earlier, Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma would not have expected that the decision to bat first on a flat-looking track would back fire big time. The two-time champions produce their worst performance of the season with the bat that too in a big game after impressing in the league phase. They managed to score just 129 for eight in 20 overs.
Barring the south-paw Krunal Pandya (47) none of the Mumbai Indians batsman had any answer to Pune’s disciplined bowling. While the Pune bowlers did nothing extra ordinary they just kept things to the basics. Rather it were smart bowling changes from the Pune captain Steve Smith that did the trick.
The Mumbai Indians batsmen have to blame themselves for the major collapse too. Unable to go find answers to Pune’s bowling, the batsmen went home one after another while going for big hives that landed in players’ hands.
The collapse began when in-form opener Parthiv Patel failed to time his pull against Pune seamer Jaydev Unadkat short ball. The ball ballooned in the air only to see Shardul Thakur take a running catch with both hands. Three balls later, the left-arm pacer got West Indian Lendl Simmons, taking his tally to 24, two behind purple-cap holder Bhuvneshwar Kumar (26 wickets).
Already on the backfoot, the experience combo of Rohit and Ambati Rayudu tried to save the ship with a 33-run stand, but Smith’s direct hit at the stumps while the two going for a single ended latter’s innings.
It was up to Sharma to play a skipper’s knock. Till he was there at the crease Mumbai look out of danger, but once he lofted leggie Adam Zampa to the mid-wicket, Thakur produced a great catch near the ropes to send the MI captain back home. Later, Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya did little to rescue Mumbai from the muck, getting out cheaply.
However, it was up to the pair of Krunal Pandya and Mitchell Johnson. The south-paws struggled to connect the slower ones but smartly dealt with the bowling changes by ticking of runs at every second ball. They did not shy away from going for the big ones at the death. Krunal slammed Unadkat for a six before Johson lofted Daniel Christian over the ropes.
The duo’s effort saw them reach a half century partnership in 35 balls for the eight-wicket. It would have been an unbeaten one had Krunal not got out to Christian on the last ball while going for a biggie.
