Great Sachin Won The Battle Against Dhoni

great-sachin-won-the-battle-against-dhoni
Great Sachin Tendulkar’s calmness has given his team Mumbai Indian a impressive win against MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings.

Coming at the Capetown to play the opening match MS Dhoni had asked the Mumbai Indians to bat in conditions that must have made tournament organisers wince after they backed South Africa as hosts ahead of England partly because of the weather. Drizzle was in the air and the outfield looked lush. The only thing persuading Andrew Flintoff that he hadn’t just rocked up at Derby or Northampton was the sight of Table Mountain, although even that was shrouded in party-pooping cloud.
Tendulkar and his opening partner Sanath Jayasuriya actually had to play themselves quietly. The first boundary did not come until the 10th ball – that was only a leg-side tuck for four – and it took until the third over, when Tendulkar lofted Manpreet Gony over extra cover, that the first shot was played in anger. After being man of the match great Sachin Tendulkar said,”At the start of the day the wicket was damp, in the first six or seven overs it was not easy to get the ball away. Later, when it dried up a bit, there were more shot options.” Sachin also added ,”If we disclose all our strategies, they won’t be a secret any more.”
Tendulkar’s secret may have been that he just kept on going when at the other end wickets were falling. It wasn’t always easy. Sachin gave himself room to ease Thilan Thushara over extra cover, then moved to a half-century by Jacob Oram for four over long-off. Another boundary in Flintoff’s final over provided a final flourish. Last year, McCullum hit 13 sixes all by himself. Today, Mumbai had to make do with Nayar’s brief flurry.A quadruped of indeterminate pedigree made its way onto the field after 6.1 overs and wouldn’t leave for 11 minutes, thus eating into crucial advertising time and, as security guards missed a succession of rugby tackles. Then, the man in charge of the musical system held up play for a further two minutes, obliviously banging his drums while the players waited and waited. Finally came the time-out. Tendulkar’s extra ordinary calm and quiet innings had built the kind of total – 165 for 7 – that commentators had decreed in advance would be a match-winner. And so it proved. Matthew Hayden enjoyed himself for a while to hit 44 from 35 balls, and Flintoff contributed a muscular but flawed 24 off 23, but not even Dhoni’s notoriously broad blade could keep up with a mounting asking rate. “We were let down by our bowlers,” Dhoni said afterwards. “We didn’t bowl as we planned.”

Tougher conditions for batsmen here in South Africa could place a greater onus on tried and tested techniques. To the relief of the purists, the sloggers might not have everything their own way. It was a strange kind of start, but Tendulkar’s thoughtfulness made it an intriguing, and possibly tone-setting, one.
Now any Mumbai Indian’s fan can easily bet for his team after showing today’s performance.
Twenty20 match
Indian Premier League – 1st match
Chennai Super Kings v Mumbai Indians 2009 season

Played at Newlands, Cape Town (neutral venue), on 18 April 2009 (20-over match)

Result Mumbai Indians won by 19 runs

Mumbai Indians innings (20 overs maximum) R B 4s 6s SR
ST Jayasuriya c Hayden b Thushara 26 20 5 0 130.00
captain SR Tendulkar not out 59 49 7 0 120.40
S Dhawan c Dhoni b Gony 22 21 2 0 104.76
JP Duminy c & b Gony 9 7 1 0 128.57
DJ Bravo c Hayden b Joginder Sharma 5 4 1 0 125.00
AM Nayar c Thushara b Oram 35 14 2 3 250.00
Harbhajan Singh run out (Oram) 4 2 1 0 200.00
Z Khan c Ashwin b Flintoff 2 3 0 0 66.66
wicketkeeper PR Shah not out 0 0 0 0 -
Extras (b 1, lb 1, w 1) 3

Total (7 wickets; 20 overs) 165 (8.25 runs per over)

Did not bat SL Malinga, RR Raje

Fall of wickets1-39 (Jayasuriya, 5.5 ov), 2-82 (Dhawan, 11.4 ov), 3-95 (Duminy, 13.3 ov), 4-102 (Bravo, 14.3 ov), 5-148 (Nayar, 18.1 ov), 6-157 (Harbhajan Singh, 18.6 ov), 7-161 (Khan, 19.5 ov)

Bowling O M R W Econ
MS Gony 4 0 32 2 8.00 (1w)
T Thushara 4 0 32 1 8.00
A Flintoff 4 0 44 1 11.00
JDP Oram 4 0 30 1 7.50
Joginder Sharma 4 0 25 1 6.25

Chennai Super Kings innings (target: 166 runs from 20 overs) R B 4s 6s SR
wicketkeeper PA Patel c Tendulkar b Malinga 0 2 0 0 0.00
ML Hayden c Khan b Jayasuriya 44 35 6 1 125.71
SK Raina c Raje b Bravo 8 9 1 0 88.88
A Flintoff c & b Harbhajan Singh 24 23 2 1 104.34
captain MS Dhoni b Malinga 36 26 1 2 138.46
JDP Oram c wicketkeeperShah b Jayasuriya 8 6 0 1 133.33
S Badrinath c Bravo b Malinga 0 2 0 0 0.00
Joginder Sharma not out 16 15 0 1 106.66
T Thushara not out 1 2 0 0 50.00
Extras (lb 6, w 3) 9

Total (7 wickets; 20 overs) 146 (7.30 runs per over)

Did not bat MS Gony, R Ashwin

Fall of wickets1-0 (Patel, 0.2 ov), 2-18 (Raina, 2.5 ov), 3-70 (Flintoff, 9.5 ov), 4-89 (Hayden, 12.4 ov), 5-101 (Oram, 14.3 ov), 6-109 (Badrinath, 15.3 ov), 7-144 (Dhoni, 19.4 ov)

Bowling O M R W Econ
SL Malinga 4 0 15 3 3.75 (2w)
Z Khan 4 0 34 0 8.50
DJ Bravo 4 0 27 1 6.75 (1w)
RR Raje 1 0 15 0 15.00
Harbhajan Singh 3 0 15 1 5.00
ST Jayasuriya 4 0 34 2 8.50

Toss Chennai Super Kings, who chose to field first
Points Mumbai Indians 2, Chennai Super Kings 0

Player of the match SR Tendulkar (Mumbai Indians)

Umpires BR Doctrove (West Indies) and K Hariharan (India)
TV umpire RB Tiffin (Zimbabwe)
Match referee GR Viswanath (India)
Reserve umpire EC Hendrikse

Great Sachin Won The Battle Against Dhoni

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