Saurabh Tiwary and R SathisH proved yesterday that MI can get the job done even when Sachin tendulkar has an off Day
Saurabh Tiwary and R Sathish proved yesterday that MI can get the job done even when Sachin tendulkar has an off Day
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While it is great to have the best of foreign players in your squad, the smart franchises have realised that success in the IPL depends a lot on local talent.
After all, seven out of the playing XI have to be Indians. The Mumbai Indians have been well served by their senior pros as they started IPL III with a bang, sitting pretty at the top of the table.
The only cause of concern was the consistency of their middle-order. Tendulkar's individual brilliance had prevented their batting to be really tested. In four of their matches, the MI skipper had batted right till the end overs.
Indians' middle and lower-order batsmen made a good start to the campaign with Saurabh Tiwari, Ambati Rayudu, Rajagopal Sathish making valuable contributions.
But after a few games, the MI innings became a Tendulkar show with others failing to score on a consistent basis. Their game against Deccan Chargers last Sunday was a prime example. The batting great held the innings together with another half-century while Harbhajan Singh's cameo made the decisive difference.
Hence, it was no surprise when experts began waiting to find out how the side would cope once Tendulkar departed early.
Perfect test
The match against Kings XI Punjab yesterday proved to be an ideal test for MI's local strength as Tendulkar failed for once.
And to their credit, Tiwary and Sathish did enough to prove that their early success was no flash in the pan.
The two were MI's heroes in the tight run-chase against Kings XI. Batting under severe pressure, Tiwary hit an invaluable 23-ball 31 and Sathish an equally crucial nine-ball 17 to see their team to a four-wicket victory, their sixth in seven games.
Chasing 164 to win, MI lost wickets at regular intervals as the match went right down to the wire.
Tiwary and Sathish were left with the task of scoring 31 runs in 18 balls at a run-rate of 10.33. The two impressed with their calmness under pressure and lunched a calculative assault on the Punjab bowlers. They got 12 off the 18th over bowled by the impressive Shalabh Srivastava; a three-run hit on the third ball by Sathish and Tiwary's fourth-ball six reducing the equation to 21 off 14 balls.
With 19 runs required from 12 balls, Sathish and Tiwary got three fours off the first five balls off the penultimate over bowled by Ravi Bopara to take the game away. With six needed in the last over, Sathish clinched the issue with three balls to spare.
MI's director of cricket, TA Sekar, credited MI's success to the mentoring of juniors undertaken before the IPL kicked-off. "We started our camp in February and coach Robin Singh, Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan spoke to the youngsters about the importance of taking on responsibility and performing. The fruits of which can be seen in the IPL so far," said Sekar.
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