Quite a start to the IPL. The day began with showers that looked very much the spoilsport. After the first six overs the main star of the match was a dog who was seemingly interested in the field placements.
Mumbai have begun on a winning note by beating the Chennai Superkings by 19 runs. Batting first after losing the toss, Mumbai scored 166 with the top scorers being Tendulkar and Nayar. Nayar's blistering knock of 35 made the difference.
Tendulkar was dropped earlier by Hayden on Flintoff's bowling. Though Hayden made up with two other catches and an amazing 44 from 34 deliveries, it was not enough to stop the Superkings from being run over by the Indians.
The key differeence would be the use of spinners, especially by Mumbai in the form of Harbhajan Singh and Sanath Jayasuriya. Somehow the Superkings did not have a blazing start and there were not many magical huge overs for them.
Lack of a spinner in the Superkings side may have cost them I guess. Flintoff's expensive over thanks to the willow of Abhishek Nayar was another thorn in the flesh of the Superkings.
Apart from the Indians' spinners, Lasith Malinga was instrumental in curbing the run rate of the Superkings with his unreadable (I cannot find a better way to describe it) action and his many yorkers, slow deliveries. Well played anyways for a person who is returning from injury.
The key highlight of this match would be Tendulkar's innings. the little master showed a mature innings, innovative shots some of them being cheeky. Well T20 is not all about slam bang cricket I guess after all. I wonder if Oram would be replaced by Morkel in Chennai's next.
Anyways brilliant start to the second season and it's still early days.
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