Champions League T20: Mumbai Indians vs Perth Scorchers - Quick Flicks

Sachin Tendulkar – out for a second ball duck

It might as well turn out to be an all-IPL affair when the semi-finals of the 2013 Champions League T20 tournament are played.

In a must-win game, reigning IPL champions Mumbai Indians steamrolled the hapless Perth Scorchers in their last league match, triumphing by six wickets and booking their place in the semi finals.

They had their backs to the wall, simply because they hadn’t performed to the best of their potential in earlier games.

But the lifeline that Rajasthan Royals skipper Dravid tossed in their direction last night was grasped with both hands by Rohit Sharma as he piloted his side home in under 14 overs.

Here are the Quick Flicks for the game:

Slow start

Twenty20 cricket is about powerful hitting and sending the ball soaring into the stands or against the advertising hoardings. But for the crack opening pair of Ashton Agar and Simon Katich, it was about accumulating runs in a sedate manner.

The two played like a couple of nervous ODI debutants, nudging the ball into the gaps and dispatching the occasional bad ball into the fence.

Agar, who can hit the ball a long way, must have been definitely influenced by Katich; the latter is more of a Test player than a slam-bang one.

He should have backed his natural instincts instead of plodding along – those 98 runs against England in the first Ashes Test now seem a distant memory. Disappointing!

Bowling against his own team

Nathan Coulter-Nile must be the most hated man in the Scorchers’ camp after today’s game. First, he chose to represent his IPL franchise instead of his own domestic team, and then rattled the Perth batsmen with his skiddy medium pace.

Perth coach Justin Langer and captain Katich must be the ones hurting the most – after all, the skills that the young all-rounder perfected under their watchful eyes were employed to send their side hurtling towards defeat and an ignominious exit from the tourney.

Tut-tut, Nathan – it won’t be a happy homecoming for you, it seems!

Sachin Tendulkar and the art of not knowing when to quit

One would think that upon winning the Cricket World Cup after six tries, achieving every single milestone of note that the game had to offer and making enough money to last him a couple of lifetimes, the big ‘Little Man’ would hang up his boots and quit slaughtering every bowling attack in the world. Alas – it was not to be.

The 40-year old chose to play in this edition of the CLT20, but he has looked far from his usual fluent self. The reflexes have slowed down considerably, and the batting seems to have lost its bite. But he still doesn’t know when to quit.

Watching him fall early yet again during the chase, I’m quite sure that the novelty of such an occurrence must have worn off by now.

Jason Behrendorff, answering coach Langer’s call to do an “Eric Hollies” on the batting maestro, had the opener caught at deep square leg for a second-ball duck: an eerie similarity now shared with the legendary Don Bradman when he played his final Test. Coincidence? I think not.

Hopefully, Sachin would realize that his shaky performances at the wicket are hurting his side a lot, and if he decides to go out with a bang, the semi-finals are an ideal platform.

Ro-Hit? No. Ro-superHit!

Cheesy line, but I had to say it. The MI skipper thrives in this variety of cricket. His trademark tactic of backing away and unleashing well-timed, well-placed power hits has paid off more than once. And tonight, he played a captain’s innings.

He seems to bring his natural aggressive instinct into his captaincy despite not being the best of strategists; however, with two former skippers on the field to guide him, he has surely but steadily grown into the role of a leader.

Marshalling his resources well and not allowing the batsmen to settle down, and coming up with a crucial knock to steer his side home – certainly a superhit!