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Mumbai are super kings

Rohit Sharma's men trounce Chennai by 41 runs to wear second IPL crown
Last Updated 24 May 2015, 19:54 IST
Rohit Sharma’s love affair with the Eden Gardens continued as the right-hander led the Mumbai Indians to a thumping win over the Chennai Super Kings and, in the process, became only the third skipper after MS Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir to win the Indian Premier League title twice.

Nothing, it appears, can go wrong for Rohit at the iconic venue here. While he has enjoyed great success with the bat, as he did on Sunday too with a swashbuckling even fifty, at all levels of the game, it was at this venue that he had inspired Mumbai to their maiden IPL title in 2013, when also they had beaten arch-rivals Super Kings.

For the record, Lendl Simmons and Rohit had struck sparkling half-centuries to power Mumbai to a commanding 202 for five after shockingly being asked to bat first. Super Kings needed a special effort to surmount this total and they woefully fell short of the target with their top-order once again failing to measure up to the task. The two-time champions eventually finished at 161 for eight to hand Mumbai a 41-run win, the trophy and the bragging rights for the next one season.

But Super Kings, perhaps, had lost their match much before their batsmen had stepped in for the chase. Michael Hussey was out early while Dwayne Smith never could provide the desired push. They were 31/1 after the power play and 67/1 after 10 overs, not the ideal platform when you are chasing such an imposing target. Suresh Raina and Dhoni could do little as Super Kings’ pursuit fell by the wayside. So commanding was Mumbai’s bowling that J Suchith, one of their finest performers, didn’t have to turn his arm around.

Mumbai had lost Parthiv Patel in the first over to a spectacular piece of fielding by du Plessis but the loss was off-set by Rohit (50, 26b, 6x4, 2x6) and Simmons (68, 45b, 8x4, 3x6), who in a wonderful exhibition of stroke play, put on 119 runs off 68 balls to form the basis for an imposing total.

Mumbai, however, turned the heat immediately back on to Super Kings with a counter attack from Rohit. The stylish right-hander hammered Mohit Sharma for a six and two fours in the very next over and carted Nehra to the fence twice in succession the following over to shift the momentum. Simmons then got into the act, sweeping and lifting Ashwin for a four and a six  and welcomed Ravindra Jadeja, clobbering 16 runs off his first over as Mumbai sped to 61 for one at the end of power play.

The carnage continued even after the field restrictions were removed. Simmons farmed the majority of the strike and was unforgiving against the erring Super Kings’ bowlers. They bowled too many full tosses for MS Dhoni’s liking and never managed to hit their lengths right – bowling either too full or too short. Simmons raced to his half-century, with Pawan Negi grassing a difficult chance off him on 48, in just 35 balls and Mumbai brought up their 100 runs off 57 balls. Rohit was even more punishing, smashing his way to 50 off 25 balls (6x4, 2x6).

The two were taking the game away from Super Kings when Dwayne Bravo struck to end the massive association, Rohit holing out to Jadeja in the deep. The score became 120/3 when Dwayne Smith, coming in to bowl as a desperate measure from Dhoni, bowled Simmons with the first ball he bowled. The two wickets in as many balls pegged the innings back but Kieron Pollard (36 off 18, 2x4, 3x6) and Ambati Rayudu (36 off 24, 3x6) plundered 71 off 40 balls for the fourth wicket as Mumbai managed to post what proved to be a winning total.

score board

MUMBAI INDIANS: Lendl Simmons c Dhoni b Smith 68 (45, 8x4, 3x6), Parthiv Patel (run out) 0 (3b), Rohit Sharma c Jadeja b Bravo 50 (26b, 6x4, 2x6), Kieron Pollard c Raina b Mohit 36 (18b, 2x4, 3x6), Ambati Rayudu (not out) 36 (24b, 3x6), Hardik Pandya c Raina b Bravo 0 (2b), Harbhajan Singh (not out) 6 (3b, 1x6). Extras (B-1, LB-4, NB-1) 6. Total (for 5 wkts, 20 overs) 202.

Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Parthiv), 2-120 (Rohit), 3-120 (Simmons), 4-191 (Pollard), 5-191 (Pandya).   

Bowling: Ashish Nehra 4-0-41-0, Mohit Sharma 4-0-38-1, R Ashwin 2-0-21-0 (nb-1), Ravindra Jadeja 2-0-26-0, Pawan Negi 2-0-18-0, Dwayne Bravo 4-0-36-2, Dwayne Smith 2-0-17-1.

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS: Dwayne Smith lbw Harbhajan 57 (48b, 9x4, 1x6), Michael Hussey c Suchith b McClenaghan 4 (9b, 1x4), Suresh Raina st Parthiv b Harbhajan 28 (19b, 3x4, 1x6), MS Dhoni b Malinga 18 (13b, 1x4, 1x6), Dwayne Bravo c Simmons b McClenaghan 9 (5b, 1x6), Pawan Negi c Pandya b Malinga 3 (5b), Faf du Plessis c Rohit b Vinay 1 (3b), Ravindra Jadeja (not out) 11 (8b, 1x4), R Ashwin c Suchith b McClenaghan 2 (4b), Mohit Sharma (not out) 21 (7b, 1x4, 2x6). Extras (LB-2, W-3, NB-2) 7. Total (for 8 wkts, 20 overs) 161.

Fall of wickets: 1-22 (Hussey), 2-88 (Smith), 3-99 (Raina), 4-108 (Bravo), 5-124 (Dhoni), 6-125 (du Plessis), 7-134 (Negi), 8-137 (Ashwin).    

Bowling: Lasith Malinga 4-0-25-2 (nb-1, w-1), Mitchell McClenaghan 4-0-25-3, Vinay Kumar 4-0-39-1 (w-1), Hardik Pandya 4-0-36-0 (nb-1), Harbhajan Singh 4-0-34-2 (w-1).  
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(Published 24 May 2015, 19:54 IST)

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