South Australia show Mumbai Indians exit route by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Ground:	Kingsmead, Durban
Scorecard:	Mumbai Indians v South Australia
Player:	SS Tiwary, KA Pollard, M Klinger, DJ Harris
Event:	Champions League 2010/11

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DateLine: 14th September 2010

 

South Australia showed Mumbai Indians the exit door as they won an exciting crucial T20 encounter. It was finally the fielding display from both the sides that was the difference. If South Australia was brilliant Mumbai Indians' display in the field could be best described as shoddy. But nothing can be taken away from the side from Australia who hung on to the match till the winning run was struck. Mumbai Indians are virtually out of the tournament while South Australia have almost sealed their semi-final spot.

 

Mumbai Indians in their 20 overs made 180 for seven while South Australia in reply made 182 for the loss of 5 wickets in 19.3 overs.

 

In a must win game for Mumbai, Tendulkar won the toss and elected to bat first. But soon the Indian side found themselves at 47 for 3 in 7.3 overs which included the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar who was beginning to open up. Rayudu counterattacked but fell in his attempt of clearing the boundary ropes. That brought Tiwary and Pollard together and the duo stunned the opposition with some ferocious hitting. No bowler was spared including Shaun Tait as the batting duo in the middle displayed their power.

 

While Tiwary targeted the spinners Pollard was happy to go after the pacers. Tiwary hammered O'Brien for three consecutive sixes while Pollard smashed Tait out of the stadium with a huge six. Dwayne Bravo put up the finishing touches as Mumbai Indians made a competitive 180 in their 20 overs for the loss of 7 wickets.

 

With such a huge total in their bank the side from India looked confident in the middle. With pacers Zaheer and Malinga beating the bat on more than one occasion it looked like soon a wicket was round the corner. But the openers hung on tenaciously and the pair was helped along the way with some shoddy fielding and drop catches. The pair opened up once Malinga and Zaheer were taken off the attack as they targeted the other bowlers. Murtaza went for plenty in his first over and that was the turning point of the match.

 

The pair put up hundred runs for the first wicket and that was the perfect base that South Australia needed. Klinger and Harris recorded their respective fifties while the rest of the batsmen used the long handle to good effect. Sharp running between the wickets also put pressure on Mumbai Indians who as time passed looked lost in the middle. When the winning run was struck the scenes reminded of Trinidad and Tobago's win over New South Wales in the first edition of the tournament last year.