At a Champions league pre-tournament press conference, Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma had said that they would like to play good cricket as this is the last T20 tournament for Sachin Tendulkar.
And, situation on Wednesday signaled curtains for Mumbai. But, the young captain took the responsibility and led from the front with a blinder which ensured that MI reach the semi-final because of a better Net Run Rate than Otago Voltz.
As a result, the 40-year-old’s fans get to see him featuring in Saturday’s tie when Mumbai face Trinidad and Tobago for a spot in the final. Another thing to come out of the result is that MI became the third IPl team out of four — Rajasthan Royals are the third — to reach the last-four stage.
First, with a decent bowling performance, MI restricted Perth Scorcher to 149/6. But the rider of NRR said that in order to finish in their group, Mumbai had to chase the target in 14.2 overs. They were an over better by finishing in 13.2 to the joy of a decent attendance at the Feroz Shah Kotla.
Aware of the task in front of him, MI opener Dwayne Smith made his intentions clear by hitting a four and a six in the very first over bowled by Michael Beer.
In the second over, Smith hammered another four of Jason Beherendorff and took a run to give Sachin Tendulkar the strike. A big roar welcomed his first cut shot to point for no run. But a Beherendorff delivery on the master’s pads resulted in the latter flicking it in the air, only for the deep square leg fielder to take a low catch to send the stadium into mourning.
It might have meant the end of Tendulkar’s T20 career as to make matters worse, next man in, Glenn Maxwell too departed adding just 10 runs.
But, Smith extended his good run taking the opposition head on. The West Indian all-rounder continued to hammer Beer for another four and a six in the fifth over of the innings. Mumbai were 47 for 2 and Smith had already played a blinder with unbeaten 35 from 20 balls.
Rohit came in at number four and did what was the need of the hour. The duo had stitched a 48-run partnership in 14 balls by the time Smith was caught brilliantly by Beherendorff of Brad Hogg.
Hogg, playing first game of the tournament was welcomed with a massive six by Smith over the mid- wicket. But, in the same over, with the wicket of the burly West Indian (48 of 25 balls), Scorchers felt relieved. Smith was in the hut but not before an astounding effort with carnage written all over it.
Then, Rohit’s classical, stroke-filled knock, combined with Kieron Polard’s 18-ball 23 took the team nearly home until the West Indian got out. An unstoppable Rohit (51 of 24 balls) was ably supported in the end by Ambati Rayudu (14 of 4 balls) as they saw Mumbai cross the line.
Rohit was quite harsh on Joel Paris hitting him for two sixes. The best shot of the day was the batsman’s aerial flick of a length ball from Paris, which sailed over the square-leg boundary. The Mumbai captain’s other couple of sixes came from the bowling of each of Ashton Agar and Hogg.
Earlier, after Sharma won the toss and decided to field, Scorchers surprised everyone by sending spin bowler Agar with Simon Katich to open. And, Agar didn’t disappoint. Initially, the batsmen gave full respect to the opening bolwers — Harbhajan singh and Nathan Coulter-Nile before cutting lose.
19-year old Agar forged a 55-run partnership with Katich before getting bowled in the 10th over by Pragyan Ojha for 35 of 40 balls. Although the opening stand was not a rollicking one, it gave the Australian side a base.
In the same over though, what pegged them back was the departure of captain Katich (13), who too tried to charge Ojha before finding his stumps rattled.
Two new men — Hilton Cartwright and Sam Whiteman — stabilized the innings. Both punished the loose balls with power and precision and built a stand of 58 in quick time. Then, MI skipper brought Coulter-Nile back and he did the job. A blockhole delivery from the bowler who plays for the opposition in the Australian Big Bash, removed Cartwright for 28.
Adding to the breakthrough, 25-year old right-arm fast bowler Couleter-Nile dealt another blow in next ball with a full pitched-one rapping on the pads of Ashton Turner and the umpire didn’t hesitate to raise his finger.
Whiteman, on the other end, continued the good work despite watching Marcus North and Tom Triffitt lose their wickets at the other end. The right-hander completed his fifty in the last over. He hit two sixes, one of Harbhajan over the long-on and other of Pollard over the mid-wicket fence. He was equally impressive with six fours. His 51 of 32 deliveries helped his team achieve a respectable target of 149/6.
later in the post match press conference, Rohit said that MI wanted to chase and everybody chipped in. “It’s a good performance as we had to achieve the target in 14.2 overs. It was a good wicket to bat on and we knew as a batting unit what we needed to do. We always wanted to chase and everybody played his role in the team’s victory. Happy with how things have turned out for us,” he told reporters.
Brief Scores
Perth Scorchers: 149/6 in 20 overs (Sam Whiteman 51 not out, Nathan Coulter-Nile 3/19) lost to Mumbai Indians: 152/4 in 13.2 overs (Rohit Sharma 51 not out, Dwayne Smith 48, Brad Hogg 2/26) six wickets.