Mumbai finally win a duel to end fifth

Jayasuriya plays another scorcher to earn the visitors a consolation nine-wicket victory over Bangalore, reports G Krishnan.

When the steady drizzle continued well after the scheduled 4 pm start, many had given up hope and were getting impatient at the prospect of having to wait till 7:10 pm, the deadline for the action to begin.

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But the clouds cleared, groundstaff sprang into action and got the Chinnaswamy Stadium dry and ready for a 5.30 pm start. The match was reduced to 18 overs a side.

Mumbai kept their pride intact, handing Bangalore their eighth defeat in IPL. They made a mockery of Bangalore's insufficient 122 for nine, romping home by nine wickets with two overs to spare after Sachin Tendulkar had won the toss and elected to field.

Even as Rahul Dravid's men continued to disappoint at home, the Bangalore fans went home with smiles. They had witnessed Sanath Jayasuriya (54, 37b, 4x4, 4x6) and Sachin Tendulkar (40 not out, 42b, 4x4, 1x6) run riot. The Sri Lankan scored in his typical aggressive style while the Indian maestro was cautious to start with but went about in full flow after he settled down. The duo shared 96 in 11.3 overs.

The two veterans had found the going tough initially. There were too many dot balls. They made medium-pacers Praveen Kumar and Vinay Kumar look brilliant. But from the moment Jayasuriya hit Vinay for two consecutive sixes in the innings’ eighth over, the two looked unstoppable. Jayasuriya followed Delhi’s Gautam Gambhir into the 500-run bracket, finishing with 31 sixes in the tournament, 10 more than second-best Virender Sehwag.

Earlier, Bangalore’s 11th opening pair in the IPL looked like getting them their best start. The two wicketkeeper batsmen, Mark Boucher and Shreevats Goswami, were looking ominous before the former holed out to local boy Robin Uthappa at long on.

Everything that the Sri Lankan medium-pacer Dilhara Fernando touched turned to gold. He provided the breakthrough in his first over, struck again with the last ball of his first over when Misbah-ul-Haq snicked a rising, away-going delivery to Sachin Tendulkar for a first-ball duck.

Goswami perished soon after not making good the life that wicketkeeper Yogesh Takawale had given him earlier. He fell to Fernando (4-0-18-4).

Bangalore gave Mumbai the upper hand in their second lot of five overs. They lost three wickets for 22 runs in that period as West Indian Dwayne Smith took over from Fernando and finishing with an impressive 4-0-26-3.