Sachin Tendulkar and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ambati-Rayudu-c1007 set up win for Mumbai Indians against Pune Warriors
The http://www.senore.com/Cricket/JEC-Franklin-c1684
and Sachin Tendulkar made their way to the crease to do just that but it seemed that Pune Warriors were committed to giving them a few problems in the chase.
Slow but steady
After the loss of the early wicket with the scorecard reading nine runs, Tendulkar and the new man in, Ambati Rayudu, began building the platform for their side’s run chase. James Franklin had been dismissed for six runs and more questions were raised over
the batsman’s form in this season of the IPL.
Tendulkar and Rayudu took the sensible approach and sacrificed entertaining the crowd in favour of keeping the score card ticking with singles and doubles, as opposed to sending the ball to the ropes as the T20 format is more commonly known for. The two
batsmen, however, knew what they were doing and seemed to be sticking to a plan. With a lowly score of 119 runs to chase, the pair seemed to be doing the sensible thing.
The 74-run partnership came to an end in the 14th over when Tendulkar found his shot end up in the safe hands of Pune Warriors’ fielder, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Alfonso-Thomas-c991. The wicket seemed to give the thus far frustrated bowling attack a bit of self belief as batting
partner Rayudu got out in the next over.
Game Changer
The Pune Warriors gathered some momentum as the game headed into the last five overs and the slow rate at which Tendulkar and Rayudu were going seemed to be coming back to haunt the side.
It seemed as if the batsmen had taken a win for granted and the game became a little tense than the Mumbai Indians would have liked. Knowing that the bowlers had to restrict the batsman to a low run rate to add pressure to the side, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Yuvraj-Singh-c98364 made a shrewd
tactical decision and changed his field.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Warriors-c861 were getting themselves into a stronger position.
Last ball of the last over
The Pune Warriors bowlers had done a terrific job and managed to take the game as far as the last ball of the final over with the Mumbai Indians needing one run to make to ensure a victory.
Failure to do so would result in the first Super Over of the fourth season of the IPL. Yet, the way the Mumbai Indian batsman, Rohit Sharma dispatched the last ball for six demonstrated that the batsmen had always been in control.
In the end, the Mumbai Indians took the two points after scoring 124 runs having played the entire allotted 20 overs. Though the match went for a closer finish than Sachin Tendulkar would have liked it, the Mumbai Indians seemed composed and stuck to their
game plan through out, and for that they earned a well deserved win.
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