IPL 6: Day 2 - RCB vs MI: The Quick Flicks
The Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bangalore lived up to the hype as the Chinnaswamy Stadium witnessed the first of the nail-biting contests that are yet to come in the sixth edition of the Indian Premier League. After Chris Gayle displayed a scintillating performance with the bat to guide RCB to a challenging total, MI started off on the wrong note before Dinesh Karthik delivered some gutsy blows and was dismissed in the final over, leaving the side inches short of the target.
Johnson joins the club
Mitchell Johnson might have just joined the club of players getting criticized for performing better with the club than the country, following in the footsteps of Rohit Sharma and Chris Gayle. Johnson utilized the grass on the wicket to the maximum as he was able to produce consistent pace and swing with the ball. After a dismal tour of the sub-continent, he delivered a brilliant performance, that included a perfect in-swinging delivery to get rid of Tilakaratne Dilshan, to silence the doubters.
Jaspreet Bumrah – the next IPL wonder?
A player of nine Twenty20 matches for Gujarat, Jaspreet Bumrah was selected ahead of Dhawal Kulkarni and Pragyan Ojha, to surprise of MI followers, and his unusual action and run-up added to the spice of the contest. He was at the receiving end of RCB captain Virat Kohli‘s onslaught straightaway, getting smashed for three boundaries off his first four balls. Soon, the senior players of the side were around him and he asked for some saw-dust to be spread at the bowling crease. The next ball, he had Kohli struck in front of the stumps.
Gayle says, ‘Welcome mate’
Mumbai Indians’ former captain Harbhajan Singh was bowling to Daniel Christian in the tenth over and Christian hit one straight back past the bowler and Bhajji, in pursuit of the ball, hit Gayle hard on his legs to leave him in cramps. Gayle, in pain, was teased by Pollard before the monstrous batsman thwacked him for a four and six over his head to end Pollard’s bowling for the match.
Munaf Patel clueless against Gayle
Munaf Patel, who had a decent start courtesy of giving away just eight runs off his first two overs, was taken to the cleaners by Chris Gayle in the 18th and 20th overs of the game to lead RCB to a good total. The West Indian found a good partner at the other end in KB Arun Karthik, with whom he tailored the highest sixth wicket partnership for RCB in IPL.
Three legends together
Arguably two of the world’s greatest modern era batsmen came out together to open for the Mumbai-based franchise, as Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting brought the world to a standstill for some time. The applause grew even louder when the world’s greatest off-spinner, Muthiah Muralitharan, came into bowl in the sixth over before getting hit for two consecutive fours by Sachin Tendulkar.
Karthik calling Karthik
And it so happened in the sixteenth over that Murali Kartik was bowling to Dinesh Karthik, with Arun Karthik keeping wickets. Everyone wished for a wicket to fall and for the scoreboard to read Karthik c Karthik b Kartik.
Dan Christian proves his consistency in IPL
If you could remember the 21 last-over runs that Rohit Sharma struck off Christian in the 2012 IPL, then there were shades of the same here as Christian leaked 24 runs in the 17th over with Dinesh Karthik hitting him for three consecutive sixes and a four to bring Mumbai Indians closer to glory. Karthik, whose strike-rate was just above 100 till then, shifted gears and eventually smashed a six off Muralitharan in the next over.
Vinay Kumar holds his nerve
With MI needing 9 off the last over and two set batsmen, Karthik and Ambati Rayudu, at the crease, Vinay Kumar put up an intelligent display of pace bowling, getting rid of both the batsmen off the second and third balls. MI had more surprises in store when they sent in Harbhajan Singh ahead of Jacob Oram and Mitchell Johnson, and with 8 needed off the last two balls off Pollard’s bat, the latter was able to dispatch only the first ball for a boundary.