A final-ball fumble by Sanath Jayasuriya gifted the Rajasthan Royals a five-wicket win over the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League on Monday.
Jayasuriya, standing at the bowler's end, inexplicably spilled a throw-in from the outfield as he looked set to claim a routine run-out to give Rajasthan the two runs they needed for victory.
Sohail Tanvir had earlier recorded figures of four for 14 as the home side limited Mumbai to 145 for seven.
And Niraj Patel was the Royals' hero with the bat as he cracked a fine 40 from just 29 balls to help his side to 146 for five and earn them their 11th win of the competition.
None of the Rajasthan batsmen were able to get into their stride early on as the form which has propelled them to the top of the IPL table threatened to desert them.
Kamran Akmal (18 off 16), Swapnil Asnodkar (17 off 18) and Shane Watson (18 off 19) all got starts, but were unable to push on.
The big-hitting Australian can count himself somewhat unfortunate though as he fell to a superb piece of fielding from Sachin Tendulkar, who chased after a skied shot before producing a fine diving catch.
But Ravindra Jadeja (23 off 20) and Patel in particular pulled them out of the mire, putting on an unbeaten 73 for the sixth-wicket to see the Royals home - although the winning runs owed much to Jayasuriya's blunder.
Having been put in to bat, Mumbai made a promising start, openers Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar putting on 71 for the first wicket.
After Jayasuriya (38) and Tendulkar (30) had both fallen victim to Siddharth Trivedi though, and the quick thinking of wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal had done for Robin Uthappa (three), Tanvir took charge as he became the highest wicket-taker in the IPL.
The quick removed Abhishek Nayar, lbw for 25, and Shaun Pollock (nought) in successive balls, while Manish Pandey and Dwayne Smith were sent packing in the space of three balls in Tanvir's next over.
Pandey was bowled between bat and pad for three before Smith holed out to Niraj Patel at long off for eight.
Yogesh Takawale cut loose at the death with a rapid 24 off eight balls, but his contribution did not prove decisive.
0 comments:
Post a Comment