IPL: Malinga’s Four Wickets Help Mumbai Win Against Deccan

Mumbai Indians and Deccan Chargers contested yet another thrilling match, albeit a low scoring one. The result seemed to be a foregone conclusion after the end of the Chargers’ innings, but one man had other ideas. Dale Steyn produced a bowling display for ages, as he rattled the Mumbai top order with pace and swing. However, contribution from Rohit Sharma and a cool head from Rayudu meant that Mumbai came out on top.

The pitch had an obviously green tinge to it, and Harbhajan must have been looking to take early advantage of it when he sent the Chargers into bat first. However, a few eye brows were raised when the Turbanator himself opened the bowling. The captain answered his critics with a tight spell. The Deccan openers, Dhawan and Parthiv began sedately. But once Parthiv fell with the score on 37 in 5.3 overs, the batting underwent yet another collapse. Sangakkara had dropped himself from the team owing to his poor form. That however did not make any difference to his team’s fortunes. Batsmen came, got embarrassed, and went back to the pavilion, leaving Duminy stranded at one end. Their innings folded up for a meagre 100 in the 19^th over itself. Malinga was lethal as always with figures of 4 for 16.

The only man who could have been between MI and a victory was the best fast bowler in the world – Dale Steyn. And with a pitch to support him, he sent shivers down the spines of all the batsmen and the MI supporters. He sent Richard Levi’s stumps cartwheeling off the first ball itself. And then targeted Rohit Sharma with unplayable outswingers. Veer Pratap who bowled from the other end got hit for a few boundaries but picked up the wicket of Tendulkar in the slips. Sadly for DC, they did not have any other bowler capable of coming anywhere close to Steyn’s lethality. The catch drop by Amit Mishra off Steyn penultimate delivery too did not help the cause. Mumbai however kept losing wickets to part timers to make the task difficult for themselves. With 18 needed off the last 3 overs, Mishra’s over became very crucial. Rayudu seized the moment, Mishra wilted and 14 runs were conceded. Rohit Sharma played a vital hand in making 42 runs. Steyn finished with figures of 10 for 2 in his 4 overs.