Mumbai win Champions League T20

New Delhi, Oct 7 – Mumbai Indians produced stunning bowling and batting display as they bowled out Rajasthan Royals for 169 to register 33-run victory and clinched the second Champions League Twenty20 title today.

 

Harbhajan Singh was the pick of the bowler as he led the Mumbai's fightback with his four-wicket haul. Pragyan Ojha gave Mumbai Indians huge sigh of relief by removing Sanju Samson. Samson led from the front as he notched up 23-ball 50 to keep Royals on track. Samson smashed four fours and as many sixes during his swashbuckling knock.

 

Ajinkya Rahane continued his red hot form smashing yet another half century to lead Royals after the dismissal of Samson. Samson also added 109-run stand with Rahane for the second wicket to put Mumbai on backfoot. Rajasthan Royals got off to poor start in their pursuit of 203 against Mumbai. Kushal Perera hit back-to-back boundaries in the first over before he got mixed up with Ajinkya Rahane that sent the former back to the pavilion.

 

Earlier, Mumbai Indians batsmen fired in unison to post a massive 202-6 against a hapless Rajasthan Royals. After a solid start by opener Dwayne Smith (44) and a valuable 33 off 14 balls by skipper Rohit Sharma in the middle, Glenn Maxwell's 14-ball 37 cameo in the end took the IPL champions past 200-run mark. This is the highest total for the Mumbai Indians, who scored 142 runs in their last 10 overs, in the Champions League Twenty20.

 

It was a team effort with Maxwell adding 41 runs for the sixth wicket with Dinesh Kartik (15 not out) in 2.2 overs towards the fag end. For the Royals, Pravin Tambe was the only impressive bowler with figures of 4-0-19-2. Put in to bat by Rajasthan Royals, the in-form opener Smith gave Mumbai Indians a perfect start, hitting a six over deep mid-wicket in the third ball of the very first over to set the tone.

 

The other opener, Sachin Tendulkar, who was playing his final Twenty20 match, took an over to get settled down before he opened up. He started off with a four in James Faulkner's over, a perfectly timed cover drive. The 40-year-old right handed batsman then followed it up with two successive boundaries in the first two deliveries off Shane Watson's over before the ball crashed into his off-stump to cut short his innings that saw him score a 13-ball 15, including three hits to the fence.

 

Even as the senior batsman walked back into the pavilion in coloured cloths for one last time, his teammates and the full house crowd at the Ferozeshah Kotla here gave him a standing ovation.

 

Tendulkar's departure slowed down the rhythm a bit with Ambati Rayudu adopting a cautious approach, relying mostly on singles and twos. Despite that Mumbai Indians managed to bring up their fifty in 6.5 overs, maintaining a decent run rate.

 

The 41-year-old leg-spinner Tambe, who has emerged as the surprise package of Champion League T20, managed to put breaks in the Mumbai scoring. The boundaries suddenly dried up and Mumbai crawled to 60 at the half-way stage.

 

Hard-hitting Kieron Pollard, who joined Rohit, wasted no time and the two batsmen straightaway got down to business. Firing on all cylinders, the duo scored 15 runs in Rahul Shukla's over before punishing Cooper for 20 runs, as both Pollard and Rohit hit a six each in his over.

 

AGENCIES