Gaurav Live

After defeating Chennai Super kings, the Mumbai Indians were seen to be on a high. But today they got a taste of defeat when they lost a sitter to the Deccan Chargers.

Batting first the Deccan chargers seems to be heading to a substantial score of 200+. The top order fired & it brought back the memories of last year’s IPL inaugural match in which Kolkata Knight Riders made 257. The Deccan Chargers smacked the bowlers of Mumbai Indians to almost all parts of the ground. It seemed as if Mumbai was already thrown out of competition until the first wicket fell. The wicket though had no negative effect on the Chargers & they continued to carry riding on the back of Hershelle Gibbs. An unfortunate runout & Gibbs was sent back to the pavilion. From then, there was a procession for Deccans as none of their batsmen succeeded in stitching a partnership. Credit goes to Lasith Malinga who once again bowled superbly in the slog overs. Deccan Chargers managed only 43 runs out of their last 7 overs & closed their final tally to 168/9 in 20 overs.

Having restricted Deccan Chargers to a decent total, Mumbai Indians looked fairly happy with their efforts. After the timeout, Sachin Tendulkar & Sanath Jayasuriya walked in to conquer the moderate target. The start wasn’t good as Mumbai Indians expected it to be – Sanath Jayasuriya was caught by Adam Gilchrist of R.P Singh. The dismissal brought in J.P Duminy who with Sachin Tendulkar steadied the Mumbai boat. Things seemed to be going like a walk in the park for Mumbai Indians before the break. After the break, it was opposite. Sachin Tendulkar was dismissed & J.P Duminy followed soon after.  Abhishek Nayar failed to recreate his magic shown against the Chennai Super Kings. Today, the spinners really turned the tide & in particular Pragyan Ojha was impressive. Suddenly the run rate jumped above 10 & it looked as if it was going to be a tight match. The Mumbai Indians kept losing wickets but were still with a fair chance of winning thanks to powerful hits by Harbhajan Singh. But it was all over for Mumbai in 19th over when Harbhajan Singh was dismissed. The last over demanded 23 runs but R.P Singh again bowled magnificently & sealed the match for Deccan Chargers. Mumbai Indians lost the match by 12 runs.

Mumbai Indians though not utterly disappointed but must have definitely felt the pinch of defeat. Still they have a long way to go in the tournament & with the team looking fairly in control, they are expected to return with a bang. The Deccan Chargers seem to be have hit their best times as they have won all the three matches they have played. All other teams are sure to bite their nails seeing them on top of the table. Well that is the beauty of the cricket & especially the IPL, you never know when you can be cleaned bowled.

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