Champions League Twenty20 Finals: Mumbai Indians Sealed The Fate of Royal Challengers Bangalore Despite Low Score of 139

No changes were done to any of the two teams playing in their finals having the same players that played the semi finals. Mumbai Indians started well with a sixer on the last ball of the first over of innings, clearly indicating their intentions right from the word go. Mumbai Indians won the toss and decided to bat first.

Blizzard got run out in the 2^nd over when he along with the opposite end player stood helpless at one end of the crease only. It was Blizzard who only ran from the batting end and reached the other end where Kanwar was standing without any initiative to take run. Actually it was no run and unnecessarily Blizzard gifted his wicket.  Ambati Rayudu came next. He opened his innings with a 4. At the end of 2^nd over MI were 15 for the loss of 1 wicket.

MI need to make at least over 160 runs to keep their chances alive as the RCB team has solid players like Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle and others. Last ball of Nannes in 4^th over of the game clean bowled Kanwar at his individual score of 10 and MI was 24 for the loss of two. James Franklin was next to bat. It was a Yorker ball. 2 wickets down declined MIs run rate and at the end of 5^th over they were 30. Nannes had a good bowling figure of 2 overs 9 runs and 1 wicket that of Kanwar. Franklin hit his first and innings 2^nd six in the 6^th over on the bowling of Aravind.

Aravind is the topper in most sixes hit so far with 10 to his credit. When Franklin and Rayudu were going great guns, Rayudu got out at 22 made in 21 balls, while trying to hit a big shot over mid on that got mistimed.  The run rate was revived back to 6.96. Yadav was next to join. In 10 overs Mumbai Indians were 71 for the loss of three wickets. End of 12^th over saw MI with 82 for 3. It was Yadav who broke the silence by hitting a big six in the 13^th over followed by a 4 on the next ball. It was 14 overs made in 13^th over and the score got improved to 96 for 3 with 7 overs more to go.

Franklin roared back in the 14^th over to complete 100 runs of the innings. But the next ball saw Yadav’s departure getting run out in an unfortunate manner when Vettori did a quick action to take the bails off before he could get his bat in while trying to get back to his crease that he has left when Vettori bowled to Franklin. Mumbai Indians were 105 for 4 and Kieron Pollard came in the middle to take the charge. Franklin was at 41 at that moment of time. The next ball was a great cheer for Royal Challengers Bangalore when Franklin left the crease getting run out trying to take 2^nd run which was not there. Franklin made 41 off just 29 balls.

Two wickets in two consecutive overs gave a double blow to MI team. Run rate was 7.45 in 15^th over. Vettori’s last over’s first ball which was 16^th over of the game gave a big blow to MI when Pollard gave a soft catch to mid on player and got out on just 2 runs. It was Captain Harbhajan Singh who joined but could not stay for long when he got lbw out on the 3^rd ball of the same over. MI was reduced to 109 for 7 with 4.3 over left in the innings. Lasith Malinga opened his innings with a straight six over the bowler, Vettori. MI score was 115 for 7 at the end of 16 overs.

Finally a target of 140 to win was set for RCB to grab the trophy. The score seemed easily achievable with so much batting depth available with the RCB team. But top 4 batsmen were back to pavilion by the closing of 12^th over with score on the board as 73. With Tilakratane Dilshan, Chris Gayle Virat Kohli and Mayank Agarwal getting out, RCB went into defensive mode and probably that brought in more risk and danger to their balance batsmen. The next 3 batsmen were back within 19 runs reducing the score to 92 for 7 in 17^th over, thereby making it a tough task when only Saurabh Tiwary as a batsman was left in the side. The low score of MI turned into a blessing for them as the fate had something else written on the wall.

In the 18^th over when Tiwary also was sent back to pavilion, the story was much clearer. 42 runs were required in 15 balls to win. Kudos to Harbhajan Singh who played a captain’s knock by dismissing two most dangerous men on the RCB side – Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli and later scalped the wicket of RCB Captain Daniel Vettori also. Yuzvendra Chahal also did a marvellous piece of bowling of 3 overs 9 runs and 2 wickets.

The result was almost clear with 18.5 runs per over required in last 2 overs and no established batsmen left for RCB.  The second highest runs for RCB were from Extras which was 20. Top scorer was Dilshan with 27 runs. In his last over and innings’ penultimate over, Malinga took the 9^th wicket of RCB. Last over required 32 runs to win with only 1 wicket in hand. Abu Nechim took the last wicket of RCB in his and innings’ last over thereby closing RCB innings at 108 all out.

Mumbai Indians Win CLT20 finals by 31 runs.

Champions League Twenty20 Finals: Preview: MI or RCB?

I would call it a balanced game with both teams having equal chances in the final of CLT20 that is to be played in Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium on 9^th Oct 2011. All credits go to the Mumbai Indian Coach Robin Singh for enabling the underdogs to reach finals of the game. Having so many good players out of the team including Sachin Tendulkar due to various injuries and other reasons, Mumbai Indians had least chances of reaching to the finals of the game.

Credit also go to all players who played well in a great united manner to act as an enabler for each other and brought the team to finals. All eyes will be on Kieron Pollard to play a big game and score some bounty runs. The danger man Lasith Malinga is also able to move the direction of any match as he did in the semis against Somerset. Somerset were seen all set to cross the target of 261 and win the game when Malinga clean bowled four of their batsmen to turn it around.

Royal Challengers Bangalore can not be treated as any less than MIs. Chris Gayle is the man who has all powers to win game under any circumstances. Dirk Nannes, Saurabh Tiwary, Md Kaif, Virat Kohli; all are able to play big games. The RCB coach Ray Jennings would definitely be making some last moment strategies with his team on how to tackle each of the MI player in finals.

Looking at the pitch of Chennai, the team that wins the toss should first go for batting as there will be good help to bowlers in the second innings. Winning the toss and taking the right decision would be an advantageous factor.

Mumbai Indians Lands Safely In CLT20 Finals

Somerset was beaten by Mumbai Indians in the Champions League’s 2^nd semifinal (CLT20). Earlier Bangalore’s Royal Challengers were the first to launch their landing in finals by winning in the 1^st semi final. Mumbai, having so many of its players out of tournament due to one reason or the other was never a hot contender for a berth in finals. But they have managed to do so with a graceful victory in the semis against Somerset. The match was played in Chennai’s Chidambaram Stadium.

MI played first and made a challenging score of 161. Somerset played well with the help of a superb innings from Craig Kieswetter who made 62. It was Lasith Malinga from MI who dominated on Somerset batsmen with his dangerous and magical spells. He took 4 wickets for just 20 runs. And all the 4 wickets he took were by shocking the batsmen with a clean bowl.

James Hildreth was the other batsman from Somerset who made 39 and added an amazing 83 with Kieswetter but could not become the savior for their team to sail them into the finals.