Champion League Twenty20 heats up
The ongoing Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 is making international cricketing history as Mumbai Indians beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in a nail biting finish. The two Indian Premier League (IPL) teams played the 15th
match of the tournament at Kingsmead, Durban. The two pool B teams gave an entertaining end to the match as the Mumbai Indians were able to ensure a two run victory.
There were some crucial breath-taking moments, which led to a Mumbai Indian win. At first one could see how the Mumbai Indian’s were being out-thought, out planned, and out-executed by the RCB, until skipper and veteran Indian spinner http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Anil-Kumble-c44737 dropped
Dwayne Bravo off his own bowling in the 15th over. Dropping this catch led to an additional 79 runs contribution to the total by Bravo, Saurabh Tiwary and Harbhajan Singh. On the other hand, if Kumble had taken this catch the Mumbai Indians would
have been reduced to 86 for 6.
The legendry Indian cricketer, also known as “the wall”, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rahul-c83321 Dravid stood as an anchorman scoring 71 off 58, and was backed by Virat Kohli’s 47 off 24. The two surely deserved to be on the winning team as they brought the match to an exciting last over
with RCB requiring 13 runs from six balls. But fellow IPL team-mate Zaheer http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Khan-c71319 had a different plan for them. Khan started the over with two slow short balls, the next two attempted yorkers went for boundaries, leaving 3 to be scored off 2 balls. All Kohli
had to do, was to continue his batting power play to ensure an RCB win.
Even though, the result of this match has no major effect on the tournament itself, as the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820 Indian are already out of the tournament. Kohli’s late hitting at the end of the innings has ensured the RCB run-rate remains the best from the 3 candidates
for the qualifiers from pool B.
Planning things has surely worked for the RCB so far in the tournament, but in this encounter, the two IPL teams had something else in store for each other. Bangalore had everything well-planned and sorted out. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Dale-c52110 Steyn was given the ball after the 10th
over as he was expected to function as a wicket-taker at the end of the innings. And to some extent he did executed the plan perfectly as he charged up towards Kieron Pollard to ensure a 3-ball duck.
Whether it is the Asian effect of being unpredictable’s or it’s just that one cannot plan every cricketing detail and the mere fact that things never go according to plan. The RCB morale went down, as their confidence was shattered by the un-expected life-line,
West Indian star Bravo, who also took two crucial wickets in the middle of the innings. Bravo was rightly rewarded with the man of the match award, a boosted morale of will surely help his national team in the upcoming World Cup 2011.
This match had two unforgettable moments, firstly, when the RCB skipper dropped Bravo and secondly, when Kohli failed to guide his team to victory. Well-experienced veteran Indian spin bowler and RCB skipper Kumble believes that dropping
the catch was just one of those things. He was expecting the catch but missed it completely. Blaming the Mumbai Indian victory on his bowling, the veteran say’s, "It can be cruel even after 25 years".
International cricket arena is full of such sad and happy moments and these moments are the real reason cricket is such an exciting game of close encounters. The cricket game is compressed into a solitary expression of human emotion. Moments
of such kind are seen in major tournaments and cricketing seasons. From Shaun Pollock’s tears from losing the World Cup to Rameez Raja’s sajda in another World Cup, it is these cricketing moments which are remembered not the matches itself.
The RCB have their next game against the Lions on the 21st of September, as the two will face each other in the 18th match of the tournament. One can only hope to see more of these memorable moments coming to being,
these small things are what make the global game of cricket, so loved and watched around the world by billions of viewers.
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