NEW DELHI: Mumbai Indians
made it a golden Twenty20 season for themselves winning the Indian
Premier as well as the Champions League T20 title in the same year. The
Rohit Sharma-led side defeated Rahul Dravid's Rajasthan Royals by 33 runs to win the CLT20 for the second time at the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium on Sunday.
Scorecard | Match in Pics
Chasing 203 to win, Royals were in with a chance till Ajinkya Rahane (65) and Sanju Samson (60) were in the middle but Harbhajan Singh (4/32) and Kieran Pollard (3/31) cut short the chase.
Earlier, Sachin Tendulkar
dazzled all-too-briefly in his last T20 game but his teammates put up a
frenzied display of power-hitting to enable Mumbai Indians to reach a
seemingly insurmountable 202/6 after being put in to bat.
With
RR skipper Dravid playing his last competitive game, it was a day of
farewells at the Ferozeshah Kotla. The hapless Royals bowlers, though,
were left scratching their heads as MI's million-dollar baby Glenn Maxwell
finally got it together to lead the late charge, smashing 37 off 14
balls (4x4, 2x6), including two fours and a six off James Faulkner's
19th over.
It was again Dwayne Smith,
though, who got the innings going with a belligerent 44 (39b; 5x4, 1x6)
before RR's 41-year-old leg-spinning sensation and the tournament's
highest wicket-taker Pravin Tambe (4-0-19-2) got rid of him in the 12th
over.
Tambe's efforts were undone somewhat as Shane Watson and Stuart Binny kept bowling loose deliveries, and after Ambati Rayudu departed for a 24-ball 29, the stage was set for another Rohit Sharma-Kieron Pollard spectacular.
The MI skipper didn't disappoint, pulling Binny over deep midwicket for maximum before both batsmen targeted Kevon Cooper, the 16th over yielding two sixes and a four and 20 runs before Faulkner uprooted Pollard's leg-stump in the next.
Sharma's belligerence too seemed to take a hit and he went soon after for 33 off 14, but Maxwell and Dinesh Karthik (15 off 5 balls) ensured no let-up in the rampage.
The final itself threatened to turn into a sideshow, though, as
Tendulkar and Dravid hogged all the pre-match attention before Tendulkar
took guard for what could be the last time at the Kotla.
Just
when it seemed Tendulkar would stamp his authority on Watson, though,
the bowler sent his off-stump cartwheeling. A subsequent guard of honour
from MI players and a muttered "thank you" from the batsman brought the
curtains down on Tendulkar's innings in coloured clothing.
Brief scores:
Mumbai Indians 202/6 (Smith 44, Maxwell 37, Rohit Sharma 33; Tambe 2/19) bt Rajasthan Royals 169 in 18.5 ovs (Rahane 65, Samson 60; Harbhajan 4/32, Pollard 3/31)
One of the big holes in the Mumbai arsenal, Sachin Tendulkar's poor form, might not be as big a worry anymore after he hit a 31-ball 35 against T&T in the semifinal. Along the way, he also became the 16th man to score 50,000 runs in recognised cricket. "We're all thrilled for Sachin. It's good to make 50,000 runs ... maybe a few more," smiled Wright after the semis.
"Always pleased for players, whoever they are, when they achieve something special. We're very fortunate as a franchise to have him; it's great for us. Tomorrow is even more special for that reason - definitely."
It promises to be a super game of Twenty20 cricket. Rajasthan's has been a fairy-tale story that probably deserves a happy ending, if only for the men, led by Rahul Dravid, who have come out and given such a good account of themselves. But Mumbai have looked so, so good when they have been on song and should be, keeping everything in mind, the favourites to add the CLT20 trophy, which they also won in 2011, to the IPL title they won earlier this year.
Teams:
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Ambati Rayudu, Aditya Tare, Rishi Dhawan, Abu Nechim, Akshar Patel, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Smith, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mitchell Johnson, Glenn Maxwell.
Rajasthan Royals: Rahul Dravid (capt), Ajinkya Rahane, Stuart Binny, Sanju Samson (wk), Ashok Menaria, Dishant Yagnik, Vikramjeet Malik, Harmeet Singh, Rahul Shukla, Pravin Tambe, Shane Watson, Kusal Perera, James Faulkner, Kevon Cooper.
NEW DELHI: Suresh Raina smashed a quickfire half-century while skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni produced a belligerent unbeaten knock of 63 as Chennai Super Kings toyed with a listless Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling attack to post a massive 202 for four in their Champions League T20 match.
Raina's impressive
57-ball 84 was perfectly matched by Dhoni's pyrotechnics as the
hard-hitting local skipper broke the spirits of the Sunrisers bowlers
with his ruthless batting display, here today.
Such was the brutality as neither speed nor spin provided any challenge to Dhoni as he decorated his 19-ball knock with an astonishing eight sixes.
There was no mistaking the impact Dhoni's arrival had on the innings
and no one could better understand it than Sri Lankan all-rounder
Thisara Perera, who was smashed for five huge sixes in the 18th over.
Dhoni, in the process, also struck the fastest fifty in the history of
the Champions League, reaching the landmark in just 16 balls and
surpassing West Indian Kieron Pollard's record (50 off 18 balls).
Dhoni played a leader's innings of the finest order and, together with
Raina, put on a 60-run partnership in just 23 balls for the fourth
wicket.
Before Dhoni's arrival, the show belonged entirely to Raina and his powerful stroke-play.
Walking in to bat after the dismissal of opener Murali Vijay, Raina took time to get his eyes in and then made the most of the Sunrisers' tactics of utilising pace against him.
Raina unleashed an assault on the Sunrisers pacers in the middle part
of the innings, launching them over the mid-wicket and long-off
boundaries with consummate ease.
Raina walked back to the
pavillion in the penultimate over of the innings when he single-handedly
caught by Perera at long on off Dale Steyn.
Raina's fine knock was decorated with nine fours and a six.
MS Dhoni's new look inspired by World War II paratroupers; not Mario Balotelli, reveals his hair stylist Sapna Bhavnani
CHENNAI: Harbhajan Singh is not ready to give up. With the likes of R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra
doing well, it's not easy for the man with 413 Test wickets to find his
way back into the Indian team, but the fire still burns in the feisty
Sardar. Speaking to TOI from Ahmedabad, where he is preparing for the
Champions League, Harbhajan said that he is still good enough for a few
more years of international cricket.
MUMBAI: IPL champions Mumbai Indians will commence their preparation-cum-conditioning camp ahead of the Champions League Twenty20 from Friday at home ground in Ahmedabad.
The team will have a five-day camp at the Sardar Patel Stadium and
later return to play its two home matches in the city on September 23
and 27.
"Mumbai Indians had a great season in IPL 2013 emerging
victorious. We are looking forward to begin our CLT20 campaign from
where we had left," said team mentor Anil Kumble.
"Ahmedabad is
our new home ground during the League. This is the first time Mumbai
Indians is setting its foot in this city and it would be exciting to play in front of our fans here in Gujarat."
Anil Kumble will be joined by team's head coach John Wright, Robin Singh, Jonty Rhodes, Nitin Patel and Paul Chapman in the support staff.
Placed in Group A, Mumbai Indians will play its first match - also the
CLT20 opener - against Rajasthan Royals on September 21 in Jaipur.
NEW DELHI: India has refused visa to Pakistani team, Faisalabad Wolves, to participate in Champions League Twenty20 tournament scheduled to begin from September 17 in view of abundance precaution.
The government's decision not to give visas to the Pakistani team to
participate in the limited over cricket tournament comes in the backdrop
of recent ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LOC) creating
tension between the two countries.
"As a matter of abundance
precaution and caution in terms of safety and security, the government
did not give green signal for the cricket team's visit," government
sources said.
The Faisalabad team, led by national team skipper Misbah-ul-Haq, was invited to play in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League T20 in India, starting on September 17.
The Faisalabad team's participation in the CLT20 was confirmed until the LoC issues arose and that led to tensions between the two countries.
Last year, the BCCI
had invited Pakistan to send its domestic T20 champions -- Sialkot
Stallions -- for the Champions League which was held in South Africa.
The Sialkot Stallions, however, failed to qualify for the main round.
This year Faisalabad Wolves, by virtue of emerging as the national T20
champions, had earned the honour of representing Pakistan in the
Champions League.
Last month, India had not granted visa to a
Pakistani religious group to attend Urs here and suggested that they
defer their visit in view of their safety and security.
