IPL T20 Cricket

Mumbai Indians crushed Rajasthan Royals by 7 wickets to register third straight victory while Rajasthan succumbed to first defeat in six matches. Robin Uthappa and Yogesh Takawale played well for hosts to reach Jaipur’s small total. Richest team in IPL is showing scintillating performance after losing first four games and Harbhajan Singh. Despite absence of their icon Sachin Tendulkar, Mumbai Indians defeated three top IPL teams i.e. Delhi Daredevils, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals in the last three matches under the inspirational leadership of Shaun Pollock. Mumbai Indians outplayed Rajasthan Royals in all departments.
Toss: Mumbai won the toss and choose to field first. Sachin Tendulkar will play in the next match. This is the last IPL match in the newly built DY Patil stadium. Remaining home matches will be played at Wankhede stadium.

Analysis of Jaipur Batting:

Ashish Nehra bowled a sensational spell in the initial overs to contain Rajasthan top order which is in top form in the recent matches. Shane Watson and Asnodkar tried to resurrect Jaipur Innings but Bravo took the vital wicket of Shane Watson to change the tempo of match. Young Asnodkar impressed everyone with his stroke play along with all-rounder Shane Watson.

Rajasthan batting: 74/3 in 8.4 overs and 103 all out in 16.2 overs. How can you explain such a dismal performance by Rajasthan Batsmen? Youngman Raje took the crucial wickets of dangerous Asnodkar to change the match course. Mumbai bowlers collectively bowled well to restrict Rajasthan to such a low total. Dismal of Graeme Smith illustrated the carelessness of Jaipur Batsmen. Have you seen it?

Note: Only two Jaipur batsmen reached double digits. Extras are their third highest score. They performed in similar manner in their first match against Delhi.

Analysis of Mumbai batting: Image courtesy: Mumbaiindians.com

Mumbai started slowly by scoring just 8 runs in the first 3 overs. They are particularly careful about last match hero Sohail Tanvir. Yogesh Takawale played well before being foxed by wily Shane Warne. Jaipur fielding is exceptional but their batting let them down. Robin Uthappa’s 34 runs in 21 balls sealed the low scoring match in Mumbai’s favour. Why Warne bowled just 2 overs? Inexplicable!

IPL T20 scorecard:

Rajasthan Royals: 103 all out in 16.2 overs.
Mumbai Indians: 104/3 IN 15.1 overs.
Result: Mumbai won the match by 7 wickets.

Man of the match: Ashish Nehra. Indian young fast bowlers like Ashish Nehra, RP Singh, Irfan Pathan, Sreesanth, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma are bowling exceptionally well in Indian Premier League along with Ranji and under-19 bowlers. India is surprisingly producing good fast bowlers in recent times. But we still need an exceptional one like Glenn McGrath.

Verdict: Indian Premier League is gradually becoming more interesting with these unpredictable results and huge swings in performances. Sachin Tendulkar will play for Mumbai in the match. So they are the team to watch out for. It is interesting to see retired legends like Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist and Shaun Pollock are dominating their young counterparts in Twenty20 games. When will Indian legends perform up to their potential?

Why these unpredictable results?:

Most IPL teams are strong in one area only. Opponents are exploiting the weak areas to create upsets.