Mumbai Indians batsmen snatch victory from jaws of defeat
Sachin Tendulkar will never ever forget Mumbai Indians win over Kings ElevenPunjab at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai on 30th March 2010. The win has been historic for Sachin because this is probably the first ever time in his stint as captain for various teams hat his team mates snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
In the inaugural edition of IPL, Mumbai Indians were on a roll having won six matches in a row under Sachins captaincy and needed to win just one match out of three, to qualify for the semi finals but his team mates let him down every single match. All the matches went down to the wire culminating in heart breaking last ball finishes which went against Mumbai Indians and a team which was almost assured of semi finals and one of the favourites for the title failed to reach even the semi finals. Sachin had similar experience while he was the captain of the Indian team as his team mates mostly senior to him let him down very badly. This time around it was a turn around as his team mates rallied around him brilliantly to snatch a win from nowhere.
To begin with Sachin probably blundered by opting to field, but then Sachin would have thought it is time to experiment becausethey can afford a defeat at this stage as they are only a couple of wins away from semi finals with about 7 matches in hand. Kings Eleven, Punjab fought brilliantly and infact dominated 90% of the second half of the match while Mumbai batsmen struggled to get going. It was a match Punjab should have won because the pitch assisted them as the ball was not coming on the bat as even clean strikers of the ball like Tiwary and Rayudu struggled to get boundaries. The batsmen were literally muscling the ball using each and every inch of their energy and yet unable to find the boundary.
For a change Sachin failed but yet again it was not a total failure like in the first match. In the first match Sachin got just 17 but departed with the score on 69 in just 6.1 overs, and in this match he made just 11 but departed after laying a platform with Shikar Dhawan as the duo put on 42 in just 4.2 overs. At one stage Mumbai Indians needed a impossible 57 of 33, but some big hits ensured that the target was a manageable 46 of 30 and one point of time it reached 27 of a mere 12 deliveries but big hits by Satish and Tiwary meant that Mumbai Indians won with 3 balls to spare.
Sachin's captaincy yet again came to the fore, because the batsmen were instructed to go for big hits even if it meant losing wickets. In the end it was a good strategy as it made all the difference a fact acknowledged even by Mahela Jaywardene as the big hits came at crucial stages.
At a personal leave Sachin had another reason to rejoice as he was awarded the Organge Cup for becoming the highest run getter in this edition of Indian Premier League
Like it on Facebook, Tweet it or share this article on other bookmarking websites.