Match Review of Pune Warriors vs Mumbai Indians

Indian Premier League
Date 4th May 2011
TeamsPune Warriors vs Mumbai Indians
Match no. 44
VenueD. Y. Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai.
Umpires K. Dharamsena and Simon Taufel Third Umpire: K. Hariharan
Toss Pune Warriors won the toss and elected to field

Playing XI

Pune Warriors Yuvraj Singh © Jesse Ryder Manish Pandey Robin Uthappa Mithun Manhas Abhishek Jhunjhunwala Rahul Sharma Srikanth Wagh Jerome Taylor Alfonso Thomas Greame Smith

Mumbai Indians Adien Blizzard Sachin Tendulkar © Ambati Rayadu T. Suman Keiron Pollard Andrew Symonds Munaf Patel Lasith Mallinga Harbhajan Singh Rohit Sharma Dhawal Kulkarni

Pune Warriors ready to host Mumbai Indians on Dr. D Y Patil Sports Academy. It was a mixed crowd, ideally they should be supporting their home team but with Master blaster Sachin leading the other team, there is bound to be an inclination of the crowd towards Mumbai Indians no matter where the match is being hosted.

With every defeat the next win becomes even more difficult. This statement holds good for the Warriors who have lost 6 matches in row and are just not able to get to the winning path. They would have liked to end their rut in this IPL.

The Indians on the other hand just seem to be unstoppable. They have become a psychological threat for the opposition. With match winners like Sachin, Mallinga, Symonds & Pollard, the team looks unbeatable. The Indians progress this IPL has been briefly halted by the Royals, but they came back even stronger. The top and the middle order have been in ravishing form. The Indians knew that this win against Pune would seal their position in top 4.

The Warriors captain who has been losing the toss every match was fortunate this time. Having won the toss he put the Indians to bat. Adien Blizzard along with Sachin Tendulkar opened the inning for Indians. Though it was a Pune home ground, but the minute the God of Cricket called Sachin Tendulkar came out to bat, crowd turned chanting "Sachin". Blizzard a fine cricketer from Australia was playing his first match for the Indians and looked confident. But soon he was caught on marvelous catch taken by Robin Uthappa behind the wickets on Alfonso Thomas's bowling at the score of just 6 runs. Sachin, who is again the top scorer of this season looked in his natural touch and started dealing in boundaries.

Yuvraj Singh, skipper of the Warriors who bowled brilliantly in the ICC World Cup has not been trying his hand with bowling this IPL. Realizing the sensitivity of this crucial match, he came out to bowl and took Sachin's wicket when he was at an individual score of 24 with 5 boundaries. The Indians were now 2 down on 58 in 8.2 overs, which is quite unlike their performance. It looked like that the Warriors got the momentum back by restricting them with slow start. Ambati Rayadu showed some good hands as he has been a terrific form. But it looked like Yuvraj's day with the ball when he sent Rayadu back in pavilion on the score of 27.

To add strength to the middle order, the Indians got T Suman in their playing XI. The in-form Rohit Sharma and T. Suman were at the crease when Warriors spinner Rahul Sharma who has been bowling exceptionally well, was brought to attack. He succeeded in putting breaks on the scoring rate. In his spell of 4 overs, he conceded just 7 runs in a 20-20 format where everyone likes to just hit every ball. Not just that, he got rid of Rohit Sharma cheaply and the Indians scorecard read 96/4 in 15 overs. The Indians were in some sort of trouble.

T Suman, who was sent ahead of the experienced Symonds and Pollard, changed the things for the Indians with his confident and fantastic shots. He trashed the bowlers and made a quick 36 of just 16 balls with 3 boundaries and 3 sixes. He accelerated the run rate along with Pollard, a 20-20 specialist.

Once Suman got out, Pollard was joined by Harbhajan Singh. In the penultimate over of Alfonso Thomas, Pollard scored 27 runs with the help of two sixes and two fours. This big over helped the Indians post a total of 160 on the board.

161 to win with a required run rate of 8 per over. Warriors had made few changes to their playing XI since last match. Greame Smith was included in the team to strengthen the bating. Jessy Ryder and Manish Pandey opened the batting for Warriors. The Indians opened their bowling attack with spinner Harbhajan Singh. It was a disastrous start for the Warriors with their hitter Ryder getting out on a duck in the first over itself, on the contrary a dream start for Indians, as the 1st over was a wicket-maiden.

Smith, playing his first match of the tournament, was the next man in. The Warriors had high hopes from him, but he failed to deliver. He could manage only 6 runs of 12 balls before getting out to Patel. The third wicket also fell in quick succession. The skipper Yuvraj Singh came to crease when his team was 46/3 in 8.3 overs. At this stage, not just the run rate was a cause of concern but also the wickets. Having lost too many wickets chasing a total above 150 put lost of pressure on the batting line up.

Yuvraj along with the good looking Pandey tried to stabilize the innings. It was an interesting contest as two good friends Yuvraj and Harbhajan were opposite each other with different cricketing instruments. Yuvraj gifted couple of sixes to Harbhajan that improved their scoring rate a bit. Before Yuvraj could settle and bail his team out of this situation, Sachin brought Mallinga back into attack. Mallinga, who specializes in providing the team a breakthrough, did it once again for them and got rid of Yuvraj Singh at an individual score of 20. Warriors now were 77-4 in 12.5 overs.

Uthappa, the next man in has been in good touch. The best part about his innings is that he is very good at running between the wickets and keeps hitting an odd boundary in between. He built a partnership of 42 runs in no time with the opener Pandey before the later got out to Mallinga after scoring a handsome 59 of 47 balls.

After Pandey's wicket the match swung completely the Indians way. Mithun Manhas and Wagh could not contribute anything to the scoreboard. The wickets just kept falling and the Warriors winded up their innings after reaching a total of 139 in their 20 overs quota.

Opener Manish Pandey's knock of 59 runs from 47 balls was not good enough to put his side to winning position. The Warriors team just did not seem to middle the ball. As they had nothing to lose they should have put their best batsman on top with Yuvraj at no. 3 and Uthappa at No. 4. That penultimate over which conceded 28 runs proved costly. Now with 7 losses in a row, it looks difficult for them to make a comeback.

The Indians on the other hand have been performing in all disciplines. With Jhonty as their coach, their fielding standards have been very high. After registering their win against the Warriors, they have a confirmed position in the top 4.

Result: Mumbai Indians won by 21 runs.

The Awards

Man of the match
Rahul Sharma for exceptionally well performance in bowling 2 wickets for 7 runs.

Maximum Sixes
T. Suman for hitting 3 huge sixes.

Kingfisher Fair Play Award
Kings XI Punjab tops the chart & Knight Riders at the bottom.

Orange Cap (The leading run scorer)
Sachin Tendulkar- Mumbai Indians.

Purple Cap (The leading wicket taker)
Lasith Mallinga- Mumbai Indians

Question of the day
Would you like to see IPL going International?



Last Updated on 6 May 2011