Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings Match Review

Four in a row, sweet revenge, the return of God, the Jayasuriya show, call it whatever. Mumbai continued their impressive giant killing form with a comprehensive win over Chennai. Mumbai genuinely look like a team that can qualify for the semi-finals, so to call them giant killers is probably a tad unfair. Heck, who cares.

The pre-match talk was all about the IPL debut of Sachin Tendulkar. There were a few concerns about the squad dynamics with Tendulkar's return, and also about his captaincy. As it turned out, the transition looked seamless, and Tendulkar captained the team in ways he never had done for India.

Pollock turned in his best performance so far, which is saying something given the fact that his bowling all tournament has really been inspirational. Nehra is also getting his groove back, continuing on from his performance against Rajasthan, and together, they gave Mumbai another great start with the ball. Tendulkar surprisingly bowled Pollock out by the 11th over, but with Pollock conceding only 9 runs from his 4 overs, it put pressure on Chennai with the run-rate at that stage just over 5 an over.

Unfortunately, the bowlers lost it after that. Both Dhoni and Badrinath started striking the ball beautifully, and made the bowlers lose their line and length. Even Dhaval Kulkarni, who has previously bowled well under pressure, couldn't handle it, bowling 3 successive wides in the last over. Where at one stage Chennai looked like they might just about get to 130, they managed 156. Not a huge total, but one that could become tricky if we lost early wickets.

It was supposed to be the Sachin-Sanath show during Mumbai's innings. Instead, the whole innings turned out to be a Sanath Jayasuriya show. With Sachin's return, the responsibility of senior batsman was removed from Jayasuriya, and he took it to heart with a display that was straight from 1996. I remember a game against Pakistan where Jayasuriya got Sri Lanka off to a blistering start, and soon after Kaluwitarana got out. A 70 run opening wicket partnership, and Kalu scored 0 in that! When Tendulkar got out in the 8th over, it looked a bit like that. The team total was 82, and Tendulkar had contributed 12!

No other contribution was really needed, as Jayasuriya ended up with 114 off only 48 balls and wrapped up the win inside 14 overs. It was actually more astonishing than it sounds. Perhaps even better than McCullum's innings. Twice he hit 3 sixes in the same over. Jayasuriya has always looked menacing in this tournament, but never converting it into an innings of substance. Yesterday's knock alone might have been worth the money spent on him.

While a lot is expected of Tendulkar (as always), it'll probably take him a couple of games to get into his stride, especially as he is coming back from injury. Jayasuriya's knock couldn't have been timed better from that prespective. If he continues on in this vein, it will give Tendulkar the room he needs to get settled into his role.

I hope I don't jinx the team with this, but this really is looking like the 2006-07 Ranji season all over again. Down and out after three games, with no points and relegation a real possibility, Mumbai fought back with three innings wins to seal top spot in the group, and eventually win the Ranji Trophy.

The batting looks pretty good, with genuine batsmen all the way down to number 8. And Dominic Thornely is yet to get going. So long as he doesn't go the Kambli way on the short balls. The bowling looks pretty good as well, with Pollock an Nehra forming an effective opening partnership, and Kulkarni providing wonderful support. The only thing missing is a regular spinner, though with Jayasuriya and Tendulkar in the team, that problem might not be so acute.

Next up is Kolkata with their over the top celebrations. The team and its owner irk me so much that I'd love to see Mumbai defeating Kolkata more than Mumbai defeating Delhi, at this stage. And I'd especially love to see Sachin repeating his 2003 world cup performance against Shoaib Akhtar. It will also be Dwayne Bravo's last game this season, and will go back for the test series against Australia after the match. Here's hoping we send him off with a win.

P.S. In what is turning out to be a ritual, it was Dhoni's turn this time to be booed. No doubt the crowd is certainly doing a brilliant job at supporting the team, and reactions while the match is on are probably fine with a view to provide an advantage to the home team. But to boo an opponent after the game is over when he hasn't done anything to warrant it is quite unnecessary. Further, how can you really justify booing a player when he plays for a different city, and later cheer for him when he plays for India? Sometimes a player asks for it, for example, Shoaib Akhtar going off on his over the top aeroplane celebration, or a player playing for Delhi (ok, kidding!). But in most cases, the players deserve some respect. Oh well, atleast we are not Delhi, where the crowd stones its own captain!