Mumbai rounded off their IPL campaign with a comfortable win over the Bangalore Royal Challengers in a match reduced to 18 overs a side by rain. Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar weren’t troubled by the damp conditions and added 96 in 69 balls after Dilhara Fernando restricted Bangalore to 122 with controlled spells of bowling that fetched him four wickets.

The IPL sides never fail to impress with the zeal with which they fight over every single inch of territory. Another humdinger that had so many twists that if one was to plot the twists and turns on a graph, an image of a writhing snake would emerge. During the Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians game people also got to see Sachin Tendulkar in his most blatantly ecstatic avatar. Have you ever seen Tendulkar that animated? Very rarely, I would imagine.

It was two youngsters who snapped a victory from the esophagus of defeat and denied a visibly charged up Mumbai Indians led by an unusually fiery Tendulkar. When Tendulkar desperately clung onto a splendid catch to send Watson back to the pavilion, the Royals were on the back foot. Patel and Jadeja never looked threatening until the last three overs of the innings and one wondered whether Royals had just lost the plot.

However, Mumbai Indians weren’t helped by Fernando and Jayasurya’s anxiety in the dying moments of the game that cost them the match. On the other hand, each and every one of the Royals’ player seems to have been endowed nerves of steel. All eyes are on the Chennai Super Kings Vs Mumbai Indians match with the Indians in their elements now – choking, i.e.

Rajasthan have won! The tension got to Mumbai and they couldn’t cope! Patel tried to pull the last ball and mis-timed it towards the bowler, Fernando should have stopped it but he couldn’t get down in time, the ball went towards mid-on where Smith fielded and threw the ball to the bowler’s end, Jadeja was struggling to make his ground but Jasyasuriya failed to collect the ball cleanly and affect the run out, amazing scenes of celebration as the Rajasthan players mob Patel.
Rajasthan Royals won by 5 wickets.Mumbai Indian can now only get thru semi if Chennai looses their match.
Mumbai have lost their third nail-biter in a row. They were well and truly on top of this one but they lost their nerve in the final overs. Mumbai needed two of one ball against Punjab but Yuvraj thwarted them with a Jonty Rhodes-esque run-out. Mumbai were defending two off the final ball today and two fumbles allowed Rajasthan to maintain their unbeaten run at home.
Phew what a finish, it came down to who would hold their nerve and the unfancied duo of Patel and Jadeja outsmarted Mumbai.

Tendulkar: “I really don’t know the recipe for this. The games which we almost won, we’ve given them away. It’s getting tougher and tougher. We didn’t use common sense. Common sense would have helped us. The match was 80-90% on our side. With all the experience on our side we should have bowled better lines. I would like to give credit to the two left-handers.”

Warne: “I think the atmosphere here from the crowd, they really get behind us and the players appreciate that. I’m really proud of those two young guys - Jadeja and Patel - and they way they handled the pressure. I was wondering whether they left it too late but they summed up the situation really well. Mumbai got a par score and they fought all the way. I’m full of praise for our side. They way Jadeja and Patel played was sensational.”

Mumbai Indians have turned the corner after churning out some dismal performances at the start of their IPL campaign. They had not only lost their first four matches but also their acting skipper Harbhajan Singh - who succumbed to yet another peccadillo. But Harbhajan’s departure, by the looks of it, was a blessing in disguise as it didn’t take too long, after his ouster, for them to embark on their winning run, a streak that has seen them win six matches on the trot.

Their squad shouldn’t really intimidate any of their opponents - at least on paper - and perhaps not even the innocuous Bangalore Royal Challengers. But the likes of Shaun Pollock and Sanath Jayasurya have made generous contributions to the team’s cause as the campaign has progressed. Even Nehra and Bravo have risen up to the challenge and rendered themselves dear to the team’s cause. Tendulkar has finally returned after an agonizingly long wait but is still trying to find his bearings. Even though Tendulkar hasn’t still shone with the bat, he has disencumbered Sanath Jayasurya and made the southpaw’s job easy.

The Mumbai Indians have seen the last of Bravo in this campaign as he has gone home to attend to national duty. He has undoubtedly made a huge contribution and it will be difficult for Mumbai Indians to discount his absence. The Mumbai Indians’ story is a truly surreal tale of a blighted underdog, whom no one fancied, but who has denied what once appeared to be its imminent fate.

Shaun Pollock led a stand-out seam-bowling performance as the Mumbai Indians notched up the most convincing win of the tournament, and their fifth in a row, handing the Kolkata Knight Riders an eight-wicket drubbing at the Wankhede Stadium. None of Kolkata’s batsmen came to terms with the seamer-friendly pitch, crumbling to an embarrassing 67 all out - the lowest score of the tournament and the fifth-lowest in all Twenty20 matches - before Sanath Jayasuriya hastened the finish with a 17-ball 48, as Mumbai sailed home with 87 deliveries to spare - a record in all Twenty20 games - significantly boosting their hopes of a semi-final berth.

The visitors were put in by Sachin Tendulkar, who won his second toss in a row, but even he wouldn’t have dreamed of the display his bowlers served up. The pitch helped significantly, offering bounce and plenty of seam movement to each of the five bowlers who were used - in fact, so good were the conditions for seam bowling that Rajesh Pawar, the left-arm spinner who made his IPL debut, wasn’t even pressed into the attack.
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Mumbai: The unbeaten 114 off 45 balls by Mumbai Indians’ Sanath Jayasuriya against Chennai Super Kings on Wednesday night was the second fastest century in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

It was also Jayasuriya’s maiden century in the IPL and fourth in Twenty20. He is the fifth batsman to post a hundred in the IPL.

The Sri Lankan star’s tally of 11 sixes in this innings has been bettered only by Brendon McCullum ’s 13 during his unbeaten knock of 158 not out for Kolkata Knight Riders against Bangalore Royal Challenges in Bangalore, April 18. In all, there have been 1,076 fours and 384 sixes in 36 IPL matches so far.
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Jayasuriya has finished the match with 37 balls to spare and nine wickets in hand. That’s a massive massive margin considering that they were chasing a target of 157. The crowds came to see Tendulkar but it was Jayasuriya who was simply irresistible. He scored his hundred off 45 balls, the second-fastest 100 of the IPL, and hit 11 sixes and nine fours. 102 off his 114 runs came in boundaries.

Indeed he may have, this was Jayasuriya at his finest, vintage 1996. He pummeled the bowlers with short arm cuts over point and flicks over square leg. I think Dhoni missed a trick by bringing Murali on well after the game was finished as a contest.

Dhoni gets booed as he comes up for the presentation. He’s not fussed and says they [the Wankhede crowd] will cheer him when he plays for India. There’s a wry smile on his face. He says they bowled in the wrong areas - either too full or too short. He wants more consistency from his bowlers.

Massive cheers for Tendulkar, he scored only 12 but they love him. It’s good to be back he says, and credits Jayasuriya with a “special innings”. He says the game against Kolkata on Friday is very crucial and that the team is up for it.

Jayasuriya walks away with two awards today, one for hitting the most sixes - 11 - and he’s also the Man of the Match of course. Pollock’s spell of 1 for 9 off four overs was terrific too.

Jayasuriya says they needed the win really badly and is thrilled that they’ve made it four in a row now. He says that opening with Sachin allowed him to play is natural game and he enjoyed the experience.

Harbhajan Singh has been banned by the Indian board for five ODIs for slapping Sreesanth during an IPL match last month. The ban means Harbhajan will miss India’s forthcoming tri-series in Bangladesh and the start of the Asia Cup in Pakistan, in addition to 11 matches in the IPL as earlier decided by the league.

The BCCI’s disciplinary committee, comprising president Sharad Pawar, president-elect Shashank Manohar and vice-president Chirayu Amin, handed out the punishment after meeting Harbhajan in Mumbai.
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Match No: 36
Teams: Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings
Venue: Mumbai
Time: 8PM IST, May 14th

Preview:
Mumbai may only be on 6 points and third from bottom in the standings, but the fact that they have played two matches lesser than all other teams works in their favour. With Sachin Tendulkar back in the side, the Mumbai Indians will be charged up to perform under his leadership. Chennai are now at third position with 12 points, but captain Dhoni and his team cannot relax as they have a further five matches to go.

Mini-battles: Muthiah Muralitharan vs Sachin Tendulkar, these two legends go way back in terms of longevity. Jayasuriya taking on Muralitharan also promises to be an exciting duel.
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Photo: Cricket.com
New Delhi: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) appointed Appeals Commissioner Sudhir Nanavati has submitted his report on the Harbhajan Singh-S Sreesanth slapgate issue on Tuesday to the cricket board’s Disciplinary Committee.

The Ahmedabad-based lawyer’s 14-page report was prepared after Nanavati recorded statements of Harbhajan, Sreesanth, Match Referee Farokh Engineer and the two on-field umpires - Aleem Dar of Pakistan and India’s Amiesh Saheba.
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