Hugely exciting times ahead

May 18,2009 | Abbas Ali Baig

Last Saturday, Mumbai Indians took one more (and possibly the last) step towards elimination with a rather pathetic and equally inexplicable performance against Team Chennai. Getting an average total of 147 still gave them a reasonable chance, on a rather unpredictable pitch, to make a fight of it but thanks to Hayden (again) Chennai easily overtook this total. Hayden showed exemplary maturity by cleverly guiding his team home by abjuring his natural belligerence and was still around till the deed was done. With him in this determined mood and Dhony continuing to demonstrate his batting and leadership skills, it seems that Chennai could run away with the trophy.

Hyderabad’s match against Collate was a real humdinger with any number of twists and turns , some weird others simply inexplicable. Kolkata batting first were all at sea for a major part of the innings, wuth Ganguli completely out of touch but hanging on thus leaving the likes of Hodge and Hussey very few deliveries to up the ante. This they did and with some belligerent hitting took the score to a respectable 160. A curious incident further marked the uniqueness of this innings in that Ganguli was given a reprieve when he clearly appeared to have handled the ball in completing a run! Anyway, Hyderabad, after much oohing and aahing, finally reached their target thanks to some unbelievable hitting by Rohit Sharma in the very last couple of overs. This chap Sharma is turning out to be an incredible finisher!

Anyway, with both Kolkata and Mumbai virtually out of the fray, the focus shifted to the two matches on Sunday, so crucial to propel two of the protagonists ahead in the race to the semi final spot. Two teams almost out, two almost qualified—a piquant situation.

Team Delhi, with one foot already having crossed the line, made heavy weather to finish on 150 thanks again to AB de villiers and good support from Dilshan and Karthik. Rajasthan were quite pathetic and couldn’t even pose a serious threat. The Warne magic appears to have faded somewhat but it is incredible how he, both as a potent bowler and an inspiring captain, has taken his rather inexperienced side to a level where they looked capable of defending the title they so handsomely won last year.

The other match between Hyderabad and Punjab was a close and exciting affair. Punjab, mainly due to a superb effort from Sangakkara managed only 135, an ostensibly gettable total. Then two unusual things happened: the highly unlikely Yuvraj performed a hat-trick pushing Chennai on the back foot. Then in an assault reminiscent of his earlier magical effort, Rohit Sharma very nearly performed another miracle. Unfortunately for his team he fell just short of leading his team to a most outstanding victory. Never mind Hyderabad as you are almost qualified but for Punjab this meant survival although to actually reach the line, they will need not only to defeat opponents in the last two matches but do so convincingly in order to surmount the run-rate barrier. The next few days should be hugely exciting!!!