Sharma’s trick sends stunned Mumbai Indians packing by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Scorecard:	Deccan Chargers v Mumbai Indians
Player:	JP Duminy, RP Singh, RG Sharma
Event:	Indian Premier League 2009

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DateLine: 6th May 2009

 

It takes something extraordinary for things to work out a certain way. Deccan Chargers, worrying about the absence of their number one spinner Pragyan Ojha, found in Rohit Sharma as he blasted out four Mumbai Indian batsmen off five balls, including a hat-trick, to tilt the game decidedly towards his team.

 

Moments of brilliance and madness scripted Mumbai’s current debacle. The brilliance came from RP Singh, Sharma and Ryan Harris, and the madness from Dwayne Bravo, Harbhajan Singh and Saurabh Tiwary.

 

RP dismissed Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar off consecutive deliveries and Sharma grabbed four wickets off five balls to end the contest. Bravo, Harbhajan and Tiwary played shots that can have you kicked off a school team.

 

Harris, not to be left behind, claimed two brilliant catches, taking care of Jayasuriya and Bravo.

 

Sharma returned figures of 4/6 off two overs while RP reclaimed the Purple Cap.

 

For Mumbai, JP Duminy fought an almost lone battle before he became the third wicket on Sharma’s trick, while Pinal Shah and Bravo showed promise, only top deceive.

 

The Deccan inning was a story of fits and starts, as several batsmen got some runs, and then departed. However, their start was as dismal as it has been in the recent past.

 

Herschelle Gibbs went on to get his fourth duck of the current IPL season, and that has been the bane for Deccan in the recent past. He went half-cock at Dhaval Kulkarni to give Tendulkar a very easy one at slips.

 

The other protagonist in the opening slot, skipper Gilchrist, was a complete anti-thesis of what he normally is. On any given day, the Aussie is way ahead of the eight-ball, but on Wednesday, he looked hesitant, possibly reflection the hesitancy that has crept into the Hyderabad team’s psyche.

 

The Mumbai attack, with Lasith Malinga up top, was always going to be a challenge, but the Deccan batsmen found Kulkarni, Dwayne Bravo and Jayasuriya equally tough to handle.

 

Sharma’s credentials were never in doubt, and he did look goo for the duration that he was there, before falling to a theatrical catch by Bravo off Malinga.

 

It was largely the story of the Deccan team, and they had to acknowledge Dwayne Smith and Y Venugopal Rao’s adventure that got them to 145/6.

 

Strangely, Harbhajan Singh, who should have ideally been one of the frontline bowlers for Mumbai, was taken to task by the surprising T Suman, who cracked two sixes off the off-spinner in the same over, and Gilchrist added another.