'Gayle dismissal was crucial'
An elated Mumbai Indians’ skipper Harbhajan Singh said they were confident of victory even after posting a total that was well below par.
Electing to bat, Mumbai made 139 all out in 20 overs, and then restricted Royal Challengers Bangalore for 108 to clinch the Champions League T20 title here on Sunday at the MA Chidambaram stadium.
“We were a little disappointed at the way we batted. We played a few bad shots, and those run outs too didn’t help our cause. But when we came back to the dressing room, Shaun Pollock (the team’s mentor) and our coach Robin Singh spoke to us, and told us not to lose our hearts,” Harbhajan, who was adjudged man of the match, told reporters.
“I also told the guys to believe that we still can win this match. Even when Chris Gayle and Tillakaratne Dilshan were going great guns, I told them to relax and wait for that first wicket. Once we got the breakthrough, things fell in place for us. For that, we need to thank Malinga,” he said.
Lasith Malinga, who took 10 wickets in the tournament, was adjudged the man of the series, and Harbhajan said the presence of the Sri Lankan pacer was a huge boost for his side. “Lasith has been my go-to man in this tournament with the ball and the bat. Today, he played a nice little innings towards the end that gave us a defendable total. Without a doubt, he’s our top performer,” Harbhajan said.
The off-spinner said dismissing Gayle was a crucial point of the match. “Gayle was setting himself up for the assault, and I bowled that delivery that went away from him. After that he was struggling to pick the spinning deliveries and I got him soon. So, it was a big moment, and we all know the damage a set Gayle can do,” he said.
Royal Challengers skipper Daniel Vettori attributed the defeat to the lack of punch in the middle-order. “If you look at T20, your top three batsmen win you the game. But today it didn’t work for us. We couldn’t rotate strike well in the middle-overs as well as we would have liked. We had some good players like Tiwari and Kaif there, but it wasn’t our day, and Harbhajan’s spell also made things difficult for us,” Vettori said.
