It was a night of entertainment for the capacity crowd at the Kotla as Sachin Tendulkar blasted his way to a sensational knock of 63 runs as he led the Mumbai Indians to a 98-run win over hosts Delhi DareDevils in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match on Wednesday.
However, in the end, the spectators were left a little disappointed as their desire to watch home favourite Virender Sehwag match the master blaster’s knock remained unfulfilled.
Chasing the Mumbai Indians’ score of 218 for seven, Sehwag started promisingly but was caught by Ambati Rayudu off Dwayne Bravo in the seventh over.
Sehwag scored 26 off 16 deliveries and with his departure ended the DareDevils’ hopes. To add to Delhi’s woes captain Gautam Gambhir, who suffered a hamstring injury early in the second over of the Mumbai innings, couldn’t come in to bat. Wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik led the side for the rest of the match. All Delhi could manage was 120 for nine in 16.3 overs.
It was Mumbai’s second victory in as many matches. Delhi, who won their last two games, against Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals, suffered their first defeat in the eight-team tournament.
For the connoisseurs of the game, the night was lit up by Tendulkar. On a pitch that was discarded as unplayable only a couple of months ago, Tendulkar’s innings was sheer delight. Coming to open the innings with Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya, the veteran batsman, though not exactly known for his exploits in the shortest version of the game, launched into an offensive that the Delhi bowlers found too hot to handle.
In all, Tendulkar faced 32 balls as he plundered 63 runs with deft touches and delicate shots. His teammates — Saurabh Tiwary (61 off 37 balls) and Ambati Rayudu (34 off 21 balls), too, came up with solid knocks to take the Mumbai Indians to a position of strength. But neither looked as smooth as Tendulkar.
After hitting Sri Lankan Farvez Mahroof for four boundaries in one over, Tendulkar completed his fifty in just 23 balls. The DareDevils could have had him on 35 but Amit Mishra failed to take a sharp catch.
Mishra, however, had the last laugh as he had the Mumbai captain caught at long-off by Yogesh Nagar. It was yet another fine catch by the young Delhi cricketer, who earlier leapt in the air to dismiss Jayasuriya with a spectacular catch at mid-off.
Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100318/jsp/sports/story_12230101.jsp
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