GREAT BATTING DISPLAY - IPL - MUMBAI INDIANS BEATS RAJASTHAN ROYALS

IPL is drawing huge crowds and for obvious reasons.  What a match it turned out to be Mumbai Indians Vs Rajasthan Royals.  The end result of different of 4 balls and a humdinger of last ball will never reveal the intense battle.  The Score card would read : Mumbai Indians 212/6 (20/20 ov) Rajasthan Royals 208/7 (20.0/20 ov)

Shane Warne is touted as the shrewdest of Captains and Shaun Tait had very recently bowled the fastest delivery of over 161 kmph.  There were suggestions that he would run through the batting pretty easily – though he was an utter failure when he bowled to Indians on a lively Perth pitch.  The two veterans Sanath Jayasuriya & Sachin Tendulkar walked in and the new ball was in the hands of Dimitri Mascarenhas who was taken for 13 in his first;  Tait steamed in fast, Sachin milked him twice with delicate balance for two successive boundaries and after the third over bowled by Kamran Khan, MI were 36 without loss.  Amit Uniyal had the wicket of Jaya with a very slow one.  Little known A Tare walked in and played a cameo; in between Sachin went in. mini collapse !   Ambati Rayudu and Saurabh Tiwary were at the crease.

Even those who do  follow local tournaments regularly will have difficulty in recognizing them.   Ambati Tirupathi Rayudu is a great talent who lost his track somewhere.  Once touted as great batting hope after his performances in India colts and in Ranji for Andhra, he was captain of U 19 leading them in WC in 2004.  His signing ICL did not help him and he went into wilderness. Coming back and making his debut in IPL, he made a fluent 53 of 33. Giving him company was a left hander from Jharkhand ! who had also played U19 in 2003 - Saurabh Tiwary who also chipped with equally good 50+  Together they added 110 in 63 balls and with some lusty hitting from Ryan Mclaren at the expense of Tait, MI reached their highest of 212.

Swapnil Asnodkar was gone in a jiffy and Greames also followed. It looked certain curtains when Yusuf displayed brute power and great aggression.  It was great 37 ball 100 – the second fastest in T 20 at that and it took efforts of Zaheer and Malinga to deny RR the 19 runs that were required in the last two.  Yusuf came in when  143 were needed.  He scored 54 off the 11 and finally when he left it was 40 off 17. Nine fours and eight sixes was the frenzy that swept the MI and Ryan Mclaren looked clueless as Yusuf steered, guided and struck over long off brutally.  Rajagopal Satish another one to return from ICL after great performance there, is perhaps one of the best fielders in India and though he got hit was instrumental in having Pathan out with a such fine attempt after a dive, catching the ball off a straight drive and reverse flicking back to catch Pathan short. An effort perhaps which got them the match though Dogra did hit for a couple of sixes to bring the target to a manageable 19 off 12. Certainly entertaining cricket at its very best Regards – Sampathkumar.