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Dwayne Smith’s (59) and Sachin Tendulkar’s (35) helped Mumbai Indians register convincing six-wicket victory over Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) in the second semi-final of the Champions League Twenty20. |
Dinesh Karthik also played marvelous knock, smashing a six over extra cover to take Mumbai to victory target of 154 in 19.1 overs and. The IPL champions will take on Rajasthan Royals in the final, who defeated Chennai Super Kings in the first semifinal by 14 runs. Karthik remained unbeaten on 33 off 21 balls, smacking three fours two sixes.
Rohit Sharma and Karthik played sensibly to resurrect Mumbai Indians after losing three quick wickets. Mumbai Indians found themselves in spot of bother as they lost Sachin Tendulkar, Ambati Rayudu and Dwayne Smith in quick succession. Mumbai got off to rollicking start with 90-run stand by openers Smith and Tendulkar that laid the foundation for IPL outfit. Lendl Simmons gave Trinidad a first breakthrough by dismissing Tendulkar, who made a fine 35 off 31 with the help of two fours and as many sixes.
Smith hammered Trinidad bowlers all over the park as he notched up 33-ball fifty to, studded with six fours and two sixes.
Sunil Narine led the T&T fightback with double strike as he removed Ambati Rayudu and Dwayne Smith to leave Mumbai struggling 96/3 in 12 overs.
Meanwhile, master blaster Tendulkar achieved another milestone by reaching 50000 runs in all forms of recognised cricket. Sachin was in his elements today, smashing back-to-back sixes off Yannick Ottley to keep Mumbai on track in the chase. Earlier, opener Evin Lewis hit a quick-fire half century while Yannick Ottley struck a fine unbeaten 41 as Trinidad and Tobago posted a competitive 153 for five against Mumbai Indians.
Lewis struck a 46-ball 62, innings that was studded with four sixes and six fours, while Ottley’s 30-ball 41 was decorated with two sixes and an equal number of fours as T&T managed to cross the 150-run barrier after being put in to bat at the Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium.
MI bowlers did well in the middle part of the innings to pull things back after Lewis’ knock threatened to take the game away from the former champions. The pace and spin duo of Nathan Coulter-Nile and Pragyan Ojha bowled well in tandem and shared seven overs between them while picking up two wickets, which somewhat allowed MI to make a comeback.
Trinidad got off to a poor start as they lost their opener and last match’s hero Lendl Simmons for nought in just the second over of the innings. Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma’s ploy to introduce Harbhajan Singh early into the attack paid dividends as the off-spinner flummoxed the big-hitting Simmons with a tossed-up delivery. Simmons was caught at deep mid-wicket by Dwayne Smith, who took a well-judged catch at the edge of the boundary. However, the loss of Simmons did not put the brakes on T&T’s scoring rate as Lewis and Darren Bravo went about their business in style. Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson managed to extract some bounce off the slow Kotla track but was taken to task by Lewis whenever he erred in length. Lewis clobbered Johnson for four fours and a six over third-man fielder in his opening spell of two overs.
Lewis was in ominous form as neither spin nor speed proved a deterrent for him and his attacking instinct served the team well. He welcomed back Harbhajan for his return spell, clobbering biggies that cleared the ropes by some distance. With T&T fast running away with the game, Sharma introduced left-arm spinner Ojha into the attack. Ojha justified the move as he got Bravo stumped by Dinesh Karthik off his very first delivery for 14.