Final bits of the finale

A spinner's forum
There were smiles all around when RCB skipper Daniel Vettori trapped Harbhajan lbw in the third ball of the 16th over. In the previous delivery, former Sri Lanka offie Kumar Dharmasena turned down a close shout off a trademark arm ball from Vettori. However, he was convinced next time around. Harbhajan could not avoid but share a joke with his co-spinners. Ironically, replays showed that the ball would have missed the leg-stump.


Daniel Vettori

148 kmph yorker
Nannes mixed up his pace beautifully to fox young Sarul Kanwar, who raced along to 13 with some powerful shots. Kanwar, who was evidently frustrated after three dot balls, had a wild heave at a fast yorker that had two of the three stumps uprooted.


Lasith Malinga

Malinga maligned
There was a sense of 'now or never' among the Mumbai Indians camp when their most potent force Lasith Malinga began the defence of a mere 140. Malinga's first ball, a no-ball, to his national captain saw Tillakaratne Dilshan smash a full ball outside off through the extra cover region.u00a0 Later that over, Chris Gayle blasted one through cover and extra cover. The Mumbai Indians dugout was left speechless.

Inspired by Ashwin
Harbhajan Singh perhaps took a leaf out of his off-spinning counterpart R Ashwin's book to dismiss the dangerous Chris Gayle. In what almost felt like a d ufffdj vu of the last IPL final between Chennai and Bangalore, Harbhajan's first over, coming from round the wicket to Gayle, left the southpaw with more questions than answers. Having cramped Gayle for room, a straighter ball got him to prod ahead and play for the turn. Gayle was trapped leg-before and the match turned on its head after RCB got off to a rollicking start.