CLT20: Mumbai Indians brush aside Trinidad and Tobago, seal the final berth

Dwayne Smith has been instrumental in Mumbai Indians’ progress to the finals of CLT20

Mumbai Indians completed a convincing six wicket victory against Trinidad and Tobago at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in Delhi to book a final clash against Rajasthan Royals.

Chasing 154 to win, Mumbai Indians’ openers Dwayne Smith and Sachin Tendulkar got their team off to a glorious start. The pair combined to score 90 runs off the first 11 overs, with Tendulkar’s shots reminiscing of his good old days much to the delight of the jam-packed stadium.

Dwayne Smith was at his destructive best, getting past his half-century off just 33 deliveries. The delirious state of the crowd was however short-lived as Lendl Simmons induced an outside edge off the Master Blaster’s bat, who had scored 35 off 31 deliveries by then.

Sunil Narine cashed in on the breakthrough by taking two wickets, that of Ambati Rayudu (0) and Smith (59 off 38) in the very next over. While the former failed to read a delivery that went the other way, the latter was bowled by a delivery that spun in a long way after pitching outside the off stump.

All of a sudden, Mumbai found themselves in a spot of bother needing 58 of the last 8 overs and with two new batsmen, in Rohit Sharma and Dinesh Karthik, at the crease. Rohit, before eventually falling to a carrom ball from Narine, scored a valuable 25 off 22 to make sure his team cannot falter from the point. Dinesh Karthik, unbeaten on 33 off 21 deliveries, completed the match with a six of the first ball of the last over

Earlier in the evening, the loss of Lendl Simmons for a duck did not deter his partner Evin Lewis as he got T&T off to a solid start. Mitchell Johnson bore the brunt of Lewis’ attacking game, as the Caribbean team managed to reach 45/1 by the end of the powerplay.

Just after Darren Bravo was stumped of Pragyan Ojha, down the leg side, Lewis reached his fifty of 32 deliveries. Although the batsmen at the other end struggled to make an impact, the southpaw single-handedly kept his team in the game before getting out for a 46-ball 62. His dismissal left T&T at 93/3 in 13.1 overs.

Yannick Ottley, unbeaten on 41 off 30 deliveries, added some valuable runs towards the end to help his team set a competitive target of 154 in 20 overs. With the exception of Rishi Dhawan, all the other Mumbai Indians’ bowlers employed by Rohit Sharma picked up a wicket each to cap off a disciplined bowling performance.