…Guyana lose again to remain at the bottom of the points table
DURBAN, South Africa (CMC) – Guyana slumped to their second straight defeat in the Champions League Twenty20 Championship yesterday, after sensational batting from Kieron Pollard paved the way for a 31-run victory for the Mumbai Indians.
Embattled Guyana captain Ramnaresh Sarwan struck six fours and one six in the top score of 46 from 38 balls, but the Guyanese failed to successfully chase 185 from their allocation of 20 overs in the 10th match of the competition at the Kingsmead Stadium.
Left-hander Narsingh Deonarine made 27, and Christopher Barnwell got 24, but Guyana’s batting again let them down.
“We felt once we got a good start chasing, and kept wickets in hand for the bottom (of the innings), the last five overs, we had a chance, but we kind of left things too late,” said Sarwan.
“It was always going to be a difficult chase. If we had restricted them to 160 or less, it would have been ‘gettable’.”
The result meant that Guyana remain at the bottom of the five-team table in Group-B with no points, and Mumbai moved into a three-way tie for third on two points with fellow Indian Premier League outfit, the Royal Challengers Bangalore, and the Highveld Lions of South Africa.
Guyana face the Lions in their third and penultimate match at Johannesburg’s New Wanderers Stadium on Sunday, the same day that Mumbai meet Bangalore here.
The Guyanese had been left shell-shocked, after Pollard, the Trinidad & Tobago all-rounder, smashed one four and nine sixes in an undefeated 72 from 30 balls that propelled Mumbai to 184 for four from their 20 overs.
After Mumbai chose to bat on a hard, true pitch, their captain Sachin Tendulkar  with 48, and fellow opener Shikhar Dhwan with 39 put on 82 for the first wicket before the IPL side ran into trouble at 99 for three after 15 overs.
Pollard arrived, and laid waste to the Guyanese bowlers, as Mumbai collected 85 from the last five overs.
Davendra Bishoo was the most successful Guyana bowler with three wickets for 34 runs from his allotted four overs.
“I thought (Pollard) played brilliantly,” said Sarwan. “He took the game away from us, but we didn’t really help ourselves when we were fielding.
“We pulled things back a long way, after Sachin and Tiwary were going well, but then came Pollard.”
Guyana were then setback early, when Sewnarine Chattergoon was caught at slip off Lasith Malinga for one, steering a short rising ball in the second over.
Sarwan came to the crease, and got Guyana moving with a couple of silky strokes, mostly through the off-side.
But the Guyanese ran into further trouble, when Travis Dowlin was caught at long-off off Dwayne Bravo, the other T&T all-rounder in the Mumbai side, for seven in the seventh over.
Guyana were 45 for two, and were just beginning to make Mumbai nervous with a stand of 46 for the third wicket between Sarwan and Narsingh Deonarine.
Again, left-hander Deonarine gifted his wicket with another reckless stroke, and was caught several yards inside the point boundary off Bravo in the 13th over after swinging wildly.
Sarwan looked in fine touch, and was just getting into the thick of things, when he was caught at mid-wicket off Harbhajan Singh top-edging a pull in the 16th over.
With the cream of their batting dismissed, the Guyanese wobbled the rest of the way, and they are now seriously in danger of an early exit from the competition.
Earlier, Bishoo snared Tendulkar, Dhawan, and Saurabh Tiwary, as Mumbai lost three wickets for 17 runs in the space of 26 balls.
He bamboozled Tendulkar, arguably the best batsman in the world, with a well-flighted delivery, and had him stumped in the 11th over, and Shikhar Dhawan was caught at fine leg in the 15th over.
The fragile-looking leg-spinner added Tiwary caught at deep mid-wicket four balls later for a duck in the same over to leave Mumbai’s innings at the crossroads.
But Pollard set upon some ragged Guyanese bowling, and beefed-up Mumbai’s total with some incredible strokes.
He reached his 50 from 26 balls off the first delivery of the penultimate over with a languid sixth six over long-on off Crandon.
Pollard also struck two more sixes off the last two deliveries of the same over from Crandon, including a six off the penultimate ball over deep mid-wicket, which cleared the jumbo video screen, and sailed out of the ground for one of, if not the biggest six of the competition so far.