Murali, Ashwin have Warriors in a spin

What if he had not attempted that reverse sweep? That's something Davey Jacobs is going to wonder for a long time. The Warriors' skipper had given his team a flying start, with boundaries flowing incessantly from his willow in the final of the Champions League on Sunday.

What if he had not attempted that reverse sweep? That's something Davey Jacobs is going to wonder for a long time. The Warriors' skipper had given his team a flying start, with boundaries flowing incessantly from his willow in the final of the Champions League on Sunday.

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Then came the moment of indiscretion. Not wanting to pause for a moment, Jacobs attempted a reverse sweep off Chennai Super Kings' R Ashwin. There's nothing wrong in playing a reverse sweep; it's as accepted as, say, a conventional cover drive in the shortest form of the game. It was the timing of the stroke that was regrettable. It was the first ball Jacobs faced from Ashwin, and he could have given himself some time to have a look at the bowler, instead of going for a pre-meditated shot.

But by the time he fell for 34, studded with eight boundaries, Jacobs had given enough glimpse of his destructive abilities. As he often does, the skipper walked around the crease to give himself room to play whatever strokes he wanted to play, leaving the bowlers, Doug Bollinger and Albie Morkel, looking around helplessly.

His dismissal was the opportunity the Super Kings were looking for, and in no time they were all over the Warriors. The script changed within minutes of his fall as spinners, Ashwin and Muttiah Muralitharan, spun their web around the clueless South African batsmen. The run rate came down in a flash, and the wickets, too, started falling almost in a heap.

Colin Ingram, Justin Kreusch and Mark Boucher all were back in the dugout much before the team could even 100, leaving the tail-enders to salvage whatever they could from the dismal situation. The Warriors posted a score of 128-7.