26 May,2011 06:41 AM IST | | Harit N Joshi
Bhajji's big hit in final over helps Mumbai see off Knight Riders by four wickets
James Franklin is becoming a nightmarish figure for Mumbai Indians' opponents. The hero of Sunday's match against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens, was again the star for Mumbai in the Eliminator of the Indian Premier League (IPL) IV at Wankhede Stadium yesterday.
Franklin's 29 not out and Harbhajan Singh's six off the second ball in the last over, sealed Mumbai Indians'u00a0 place in Qualifier Two at Chennai, while KKR's IPL-IV journey came to an end.
Mumbai Indians' Harbhajan Singh celebrates after hitting the winning
runs ufffd a sixer off Kolkata Knight Riders' Shakib Al Hasan in the final
over of the IPL-IV Eliminator at the Wankhede Stadium yesterday.u00a0
Pic/suresh kk
No opening blues
Mumbai Indians successfully chased down the 148-run target with four wickets in hand. In the process, the hosts seemed to have sorted their opening woes. The opening pair managed to put up 81 runs on the board for the first time in this edition. Aiden Blizzard and Sachin Tendulkar went all guns blazing as they scored at almost 10 runs per over.
While the MI skipper got most of his fours playing the sweep shot and the paddle sweep, Blizzard smashed
anything on his legs over the fence. The crowd especially loved the six that brought up his half-century in the eighth over. The ball sailed into the upper tier of the Vijay Merchant stand after the Aussie made some room to hit Brett Lee over backward point. He however, got out the very next ball, trying to do an encore.
Tendulkar's frustration increased after Rohit Sharma ran himself out. The skipper made his displeasure known. A couple of overs later, Tendulkar was dismissed for 36 which silenced the Wankhede crowd.
Emotions flew thick and fast after Ambati Rayudu (12) showed his displeasure on being adjudged out caught behind off Jacques Kallis (2-18). Rayudu may have put himself into deeper trouble after he appeared to have sworn at umpire Asad Rauf on his way back to the dugout. Earlier, Ryan ten Doeschate kept his cool to notch up his maiden IPL IV half-century. He remained unbeaten on 70 off 49 balls to help KKR post a respectable total of 147-7.
Mumbai Indians thrilled the Wankhede crowd when man of the match Munaf Patel (3-27) and Harbhajan Singh struck in three successive overs to rock KKR's top order. First to go was Kallis (7) followed by skipper Gautam Gambhir (4) and Shreevats Goswami for a duck. With the scoreboard reading 25 for four in six overs, it was KKR's worst ever performance in the powerplay. Their first boundary of the innings came at the end of fifth over. The first six was scored in the eighth over thanks to Doeschate.
Rock solid Ryan
Doeschate was rock solid even as the crowd tried to break his concentration by intimidating him with constant banter. They also attempted to frustrate him by not applauding his terrific shots over the fence. However, he was unfazed.
Mumbai now take on Royal Challengers Bangalore in Qualifier II on Friday.
