Mumbai Indians would have fancied their chances three-quarters of the way into their game against the New South Wales Blues but superb batting from Steven Smith and Ben Rohrer ended their hopes in the Champions League T20 at Chennai.
New South Wales Blues Overcome Resistant Mumbai Indians In Champions League T20 2011
New South Wales Blues beat Mumbai Indians to brighten their chances of making it to the semi-finals of the Champions League T20 2011.
A target of 101 would have been easy pickings on most pitches, but on a difficult Chennai pitch, New South Wales struggled through most part of their first half of the innings. They slumped to 28 for five, with Abu Nechim picking up three wickets and it really looked like the match was on before sixth wicket stand between Steven Smith and Ben Rohrer took the side home.
Smith made an unbeaten 45 while Rohrer gave him ample support in his innings of 26 as the Blues raced home to an unlikely five-wicket win with almost five-wicket win.
The Mumbai Indians decided to bat first after they had won the toss, but were jolted early by the New South Wales pace bowlers. Aiden Blizzard departed in the very first over, Sarul Kanwar followed up a good innings in the previous game with a full-toss patted through to the covers while Ambati Rayadu edged it to the wicket-keeper – in each of the first three overs of the innings.
Kieron Pollard is a hard hitter of the ball, but the slow nature of the pitch jolted his progress as well, bowled off Patrick Cummins. Mumbai were 27 for four.
Andrew Symonds combined with James Franklin to stall the wicket-flow but at 50 for five in the 12th over, things looked more down than up for the Mumbai Indians.
It was Franklin’s gritty 42 and some later-order hitting – in the context of the situation – that brought some parity to the innings. Mumbai managed another 50 in the last eight and something overs to push themselves to the score of 100 – one more than what Mumbai needed to make against Trinidad and Tobago in an earlier game.
Fortunately for the Blues, the win now takes them to four points and gives them a good chance of making it to the semi-final with a game to go. Mumbai Indians have five and will need to await the results of some of the other games to know of their fate.
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