PUNE: Nominated Member of Parliament Sachin Tendulkar might have had the weight of the world on his shoulders. How else could one explain the 35 deliveries he faced to scratch out a painstaking 34. Well, at least the maestro spent some time in the middle, which is more than what any other Mumbai Indians batsman did. Tendulkar’s stodgy knock turned out to be the highest score for Mumbai in what was being promoted as the ‘Maharashtra derby’, and Pune shot themselves in the foot by failing to chase 121 on a track with some degree of slowness, but which was far from being the minefield their leaden-footed batsmen made it out to be.
This meant that Mumbai were able to give Pune a dose of their own medicine. Sourav Ganguly’s team had prevented Harbhajan Singh’s men from reaching a very gettable target at the Wankhede Stadium recently, and last night Mumbai returned the favour by stalling Pune one run short of enforcing a Super Over. Lasith Malinga was declared Man-of-the-Match for figures of 4-0-25-2, and for conceding just four in a crucial 19th over.
After Harbhajan elected to bat and watched his team stutter to a sub-par total (despite benefiting from a steady start) Pune made heavy weather of the chase. Robin Uthappa, Jesse Ryder, Michael Clarke and Steven Smith were all back in the pavilion within ten overs, with the score still under fifty.
At that juncture, the sentimental would have had a lot to wish for. Ganguly, after all, was in the middle, and, in the company of Mithun Manhas the former India captain, could still be expected to drive his team on to their second win in as many matches against their State rivals.
That was not to be. Ganguly pottered about, getting his first boundary off the 23rd ball he faced, but was out almost immediately after as Malinga brought a trademark in-dipper to crash into his stumps.
Manhas meanwhile outscored Tendulkar, and was eventually left facing the task of getting 12 to win off Munaf Patel’s last over.
Although Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s inside-out boundary got the home team to within one blow of the target, Pune finished one run adrift, ensuring that honours at the end of this newfangled rivalry remained even.
The win took Mumbai to third on the points table while for Pune the loss meant that they are now just ahead of the perennially downtrodden Deccan Chargers. (Yahoo Cricket)