Brilliant Harbhajan Singh shines in Mumbai’s win by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Ground:	Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai
Scorecard:	Mumbai Indians v Deccan Chargers
Player:	SL Malinga, Z Khan, RG Sharma, RP Singh, Harbhajan Singh, SR Tendulkar
Event:	Indian Premier League 2009/10

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DateLine: 28th March 2010

 

Cometh the hour cometh the man. Mumbai Indian needed a miracle and out stepped Harbhajan Singh to turn the contest on its head. Harbhajan’s superb all-round performance (49 and three for 13) saw Mumbai Indians crush Deccan Chargers by 41 runs in the DLF IPL 3 match at the Dr.DY Patil stadium here on Sunday.

 

Mumbai was limping to a below par score when skipper Sachin Tendulkar (55) was dismissed but the next three overs turned out to be maniac as Harbhajan gave a graphic description of how dangerous he can be with be bat. He scored 49 of 52 runs which were scored in three overs. Andrew Symonds was flatbatted for a six over mid-wicket and scopped over long on for a four off successive deliveries as Harbhajan changed gears. However, it was his assault on Roach which deflated Deccan Chargers. The fast bowler who till then had bowled decently was sent to the cleaners as he bowled full to the batsman. Harbhajan struck four boundaries including a streaky one behind the wicketkeeper as the penultimate over yielded 19 runs.

 

Jaskaran Singh bowled two beamers, the second of which was pulled to fine leg, and was taken off the attack. Poor Rohit Sharma’s spin was cannon fodder as Harbhajan struck three more boundaries. Mumbai scored 72 runs in the last five overs to post a respectable total. Before Harbhajan’s blitz Deccan, which had made three changes in the line-up, had Mumbai in trouble at 119 for seven with only Tendulkar showing gumption for a fight. Mumbai lost wickets at regular intervals and were pegged back by accurate Deccan bowling.

 

Harbhajan was to make the killer blow later with the ball. With just one delivery, he took the wind off Deccan’s sails. Bhaji combined with Tendulkar to dismiss Gilchrist in the first over of the innings and it was a crippling blow from which the visitors could never recover. Gibbs sparkled for a while and biffed 27 runs off 16 balls which included successive sixes off Zaheer Khan. Deccan needed one of their big guns to fire but tonight both Symonds and Gibbs couldn’t make a substantial contribution. Malinga’s double strike in his first over pushed Deccan further into depths.

 

Rohit Sharma and Suman got together to repair the damage but Harbhajan came back for his second spell and prised out Suman with a brilliant return catch. Sharma couldn’t attack as he lost partners at the other end regularly. Harbhajan came back for his third spell and dismissed Jaskaran Singh. Malinga was too hot in his second spell and he yorked Rohit Sharma and to end the contest.