Facing a tough target of 185 runs, the Guyanese batsmen failed to fire and were restricted to 153-6 in their full quota overs. Guyanese captain Ramnaresh Sarwan top scored with 46 runs as the rest of the batting order fell apart in the face of a huge target.
Although Mumbai won, their bowling attack came up with an average performance. Wides and no-balls were given freely and Mumbai ended up gifting away 29 extras. Dwayne Bravo and Harbhajan Singh claimed two wickets each and Lasith Malinga and Zaheer Khan snapped one wicket apiece
Keiron Pollard butchered the Guyana bowlers with a whirlwind unbeaten half century to power Mumbai Indians to 184 for four in their crucial Group B match of the Champions League Twenty20 cricket tournament here today. Pollard was at his ruthless best as hammered the Guyana bowlers to all parts of the ground to remain unbeaten on 72 that came off just 30 deliveries.
Mumbai's decision to send the imposing West Indian up the order bore fruit as he hit nine towering sixes and one four to take the Indian Premier League side to the formidable total after they were down at 99 for three at one stage. Pollard's domination with the bat can be ascertained from the fact that Mumbai piled up a mammoth 85 runs in the last overs.
Pollard's task, however, was made easy by the 82-run opening stand between Sachin Tendulkar (48 off 39) and Shikhar Dhawan (39 off 37). Even though Tendulkar was not at his elegant best, he and Dhawan ensured that Mumbai were off to a decent start that eventually laid the platform for Pollard''s late fireworks.
Towards the end, JP Duminy too came up with a vital six-ball 14-run knock to help his side''s cause. For Guyana, leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo was the pick of the bowlers, picking up three wickets for 34 runs.
Opting to bat, Tendulkar and Shikhar Dhwan went out with a purpose and adopted an attacking mood from the word go. Tendulkar made his intentions clear with a smashing pull to the midwicket boundary of Crandon in the second over.
Dhawan, who so far had a forgetable outing in the tournament, got off the blocks with a huge six over square-leg boundary off Paul Wintz and then Tendulkar finshed off third over with another pulll to the midwicket fence. After the initial burst, even though the duo managed to rotate the strike with ones and twos, they found boundaries hard to come by.
Desperate to broke the shackles, Tendulkar was handed two lives by the butterfingered Guyana fielders as the champion bastman went for big hits in the ninth over. Crandon was the guilty fielder on the first occasion as he made a mess of a regulation running catch at long-on off Christopher Barnwell.
If that was not enough, in the very next ball Tendulkar was handed another life when a running Jonathan Foo dropped a difficult one at deep square leg. Tendulkar was utlisised those chances to perfection with back-to-back boundaries off Bishoo in the first two deliveries of the 11th over before falling to the leggie two balls later.
Source: PTI
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