If Lasith Malinga doesn't get you Harbhajan Singh will. If both of them don't, then Munaf Patel will. Kings XI Punjab came out determined to counter Mumbai's two gun bowlers, and got off to a solid start, but Munaf reined them in with a five-for that stalled their late charge. The net result was that Punjab reached a score of 163, which they might have taken at the toss, given how badly out of form their batting has been in recent games.
The second over of the day set the tone for Punjab's defiance. The bowler of the tournament screamed in and delivered it full and wide of off stump. Gilchrist rolled back the years by moving across and slicing it through point.
The next ball was hit even more fiercely, but it found the fielder. Buoyed by the confidence of having middled two balls, Gilchrist took guard outside the crease for the next delivery. It was a yorker, followed by a bouncer that clattered Gilchrist on the back of his helmet. He was stunned for a moment and floored for a minute, but he got a new helmet and carried on. Punjab were not going to flinch today.
At the other end, Paul Valthaty carved Harbhajan Singh over the covers and lapped him past a diving Rohit Sharma at short fine-leg. He perished in Munaf's first over, pulling him straight to Aiden Blizzard at deep midwicket. Gilchrist, however, carried on in his determined ways. He was clearly not at his best, struggling to pick Harbhajan's straighter ones, and to adapt to the drop in pace once Malinga exited the attack.
Andrew Symonds let him off on one of those indiscretions, when Gilchrist drove Dhawal Kulkarni uppishly into the covers. Gilchrist celebrated by launching Rohit Sharma for a straight six, while Shaun Marsh checked in by creaming Kulkarni twice through the off side.
As he's done right through the tournament, Malinga returned and produced the breakthrough. He hurled down another pacy bouncer, and Gilchrist feathered the pull shot behind. Marsh had found his range by then, and seamlessly took charge of the innings along with Dinesh Karthik.
Blizzard made things easier for Punjab, spilling an easy at midwicket when Karthik top-edged Kieron Pollard. When Karthik swept and reverse-swept T Suman for successive fours in the 14th over, things were looking ominous for Mumbai. It was the cue for the Munaf show to begin.
Marsh welcomed Munaf to the crease by crashing a slower ball through the covers, before imparting a violent thump to another half-tracker, as the ball salied along towards the deep midwicket fence. Pollard had his own ideas, though, running at full tilt , diving to his right and intercepting the ball with both hands, to pull off one of the best catches of the tournament. That was the spark that ignited Mumbai, as they recovered to restrict Punjab to 39 off the last five overs.
David Hussey's horror run continued, as he meekly spooned his third ball to mid-off, giving Munaf his third wicket. Mandeep Singh and Karthik attacked Kulkarni for two sixes in the 17th over, but Malinga killed the momentum with a boundary-less 18th over, in which Mandeep ran himself out. Munaf then got Karthik to hole out, attempting an extravagant scoop over square leg.
In the same over, Ryan Harris spooned a slower ball in the air, and Pollard once again found a way to catch it. That was Munaf's fifth wicket, and he sported the biggest smile on the park. But Sachin Tendulkar would have been wondering if Mumbai's resurgence came a little too late.
0 comments:
Post a Comment