Mumbai Indians on Sunday snapped Chennai Super Kings's seven-match winning streak with a crushing 60-run victory in a lop-sided Pepsi Indian Premier League match in Mumbai.
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Electing to bat, Mumbai scored 139 for five with captain Rohit Sharma top-scoring with a 30-ball 39 not out and then shot out Chennai for just 79 in 15.2 overs at Wankhede Stadium to halt the visiting team's dream run in the tournament.
Pragyan Ojha (3/11) and Mitchell Johnson (3/27) shared six wickets among them while Lasith Malinga grabbed two wickets for just six runs. Harbhajan Singh and IPL debutant Pawan Suyal chipped in with a wicket each to help Mumbai put brakes on Chennai juggernaut in IPL 6.
Sunday’s loss was the heaviest defeat for Chennai in the IPL in terms of runs.
Till this match, Chennai looked the most formidable and consistent team but they were never in the run chase today as they suffered a top-order batting collapse with half their side in dressing room for just 34 runs in the seventh over.
They would have been in an even worse situation had the normally brilliant Mumbai fielder Kieron Pollard not dropped Chennai opener Michael Hussey (22) thrice in three successive balls in the first over of the innings bowled by Mitchell Johnson.
Pollard later took catches of Suresh Raina (0) and Chennai captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (10) but again dropped Ravindra Jadeja (20) though it was a difficult one.
Despite the loss, their third in 12 matches, Chennai still lead the table with 18 points while Mumbai jumped to third place with 14 points from 11 games.
With the win, Mumbai maintained their unbeaten run at home this season while Chennai lost their first away match this year.
Drama unfolded in the first over of Chennai run chase as Johnson scalped three wickets in his second over and the third of the innings in the form of Murali Vijay (2), Chennai's last match hero Suresh Raina (0) and S Badrinath (0).
Johnson dismissed Vijay and Raina in successive balls while Badrinath was out two deliveries later. Next over -- the fourth of the innings -- saw pacer Pawan Suyal taking the wicket of Dwayne Bravo (9).
Promoted up the order, R Ashwin (2) did not last long as he was out off the bowling of Harbhajan after facing eight balls while attempting an atrocious-looking shot, leaving Hussey and Dhoni a tall task to chase the target.
Malinga and Harbhajan tied down the two in-form Chennai batsmen and Hussey fell victim of Ojha in the 10th over while trying to accelerate the innings, holing out to Dwayne Smith at midwicket.
Two overs later, Dhoni perished becoming Ojha's second victim as the Chennai captain drove straight into the hands of Pollard at long-off and with it, the Chennai run chase virtually ended.
Malinga added to the woes of Chennai by taking two wickets in four balls in the form of Chris Morris (1) and Mohit Sharma (0) in the 13th over. Jadeja hit two fours off Johnson but it was just delaying the inevitable.
Chennai were let down by their batsmen as only three of them -- Hussey, Dhoni and Jadeja -- could come up with double-digit scores.
Earlier, all-rounder Jadeja led a disciplined bowling performance by Chennai as they restricted Mumbai to 139 for five.
Jadeja scalped three wickets for 29 runs and rattled the Mumbai Indians top order after the home side elected to bat.
But captain Rohit Sharma's (39 not out) late flourish and Harbhajan (25 not out) useful contribution helped Mumbai post a challenging total with the duo sharing 52 runs from just 4.9 overs for the unfinished sixth wicket.
Harbhajan hit two fours and two sixes in his unbeaten 11-ball knock while Rohit struck three fours and a six in his 30-ball unbeaten innings. The duo took 19 runs off the last over bowled by Ben Laughlin.
Incidentally, this was the lowest total posted by Mumbai Indians at home this season, after scoring in excess of 170 in their previous games in Mumbai.
Mumbai openers started slow and scored just 21 runs in the first five overs. Sachin Tendulkar (15) tried to up the tempo by scoring 11 runs off Mohit Sharma in the sixth over with a six and a four but the veteran was trapped leg before by Jadeja in the next over.
After Tendulkar's dismissal, with 40 runs on board, Mumbai Indians started losing wickets in a heap.
Tendulkar's opening partner Dwayne Smith (22) departed in the next over when he was caught and bowled by fellow West Indian Dwayne Bravo. West Indian all-rounder Pollard (1) was promoted up the order but could not contribute much.
One-down batter Dinesh Karthik then played a cameo with a run-a-ball 23 before being dismissed by Jadeja. Karthik struck Jadeja for two fours and a six in successive balls before perishing at deep midwicket.
Mumbai was then struggling at 82 for five before skipper Sharma and Harbhajan started the repair job in the 16th over.
The Chennai bowling attack was disciplined till Laughlin conceded 19 runs in the last over. Laughlin leaked 46 runs in his four overs without picking up a wicket. Off-spinner R Aswhin and Bravo grabbed a wicket each.
Photograph: BCCI
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