Mumbai Indians won by 33 runs against Rajasthan Royals in the final of the Champions League Twenty20 2013 at Feroz Shah Kotla on 6th October, Sunday.
Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals scored 371 runs between them. However, the aggressive Mumbai line-up was stronger than their Rajasthan counterparts and clinched a 33-run victory. Anyway, the Rajasthan pursuit fell back after staying on course for 16 of their 20 overs. In fact, Mumbai and their captain Rohit Sharma now have the double for 2013 in their pool, following adding the CLT20 title to their IPL VI trophy.
Rajasthan opted to field first after winning the toss. They did everything right in the first half of the Mumbai innings. However, they ended up conceding 142 runs in the second half as Mumbai finished scoring with 202 for 6. Despite superb contributions from Ajinkya Rahane and Sanju Samson, the Rajasthan chase lost its impetus after promising much and winded up for 169 in 18.5 overs. Actually, Rahul Dravid got his guard of honour just before the Rajasthan Royals came out to field and 4.3 overs into the game. However, it was Sachin Tendulkar's turn to receive his following Shane Watson had sent his off stump for a long walk.
Tendulkar turned it on in between in collaboration with Dwayne Smith. Then Smith smashed the 3rd ball of the first over, which was bowled by James Faulkner, for a big six over midwicket. Anyway, Watson maintained things tight and had a good lbw scream against Tendulkar turned down. Tendulkar hit the first and second deliveries of the fifth over for fours, then the second one a scrumptious cover drive, before being dismissed for 15.
Although, Ambati Rayudu and Smith played their shots, the run rate dipped after the Power Play overs. In fact, from 46 for 1 after six, Mumbai reached just 60 without further loss after ten overs. The credit for that goes to Pravin Tambe, who bowled another magnificent spell. Tambe, with his mix of legspinners and slow swingers, further pushed Mumbai back with a double-strike. However, both Smith (44 in 39 balls) and Rayudu (29 in 24 balls) out bowled going for huge slogs off flat deliveries. Anyway, Tambe ended up his four overs with figures of 2 for 19.
Mumbai Indians are regarded as highly as the overs 11 to 20 passed in a haze of sixes and fours due to the endeavour of the remaining Mumbai batsmen. Ultimately, the Rajasthan medium pacers lost their line, length as well as composure. Overall, Mumbai struck 20 fours and nine sixes in their innings.
With a big target, Rajasthan commenced with a right note. Notably, Dravid went down the order to accommodate Kusal Perera, who was inserted after Brad Hodge went out with a knee injury. Perera scored two boundaries in the first over, got bowled by Maxwell, before running himself out, while attempting a run. The fours and sixes from Samson and Rahane just in the right frequency got the runs coming at close to ten per over. Particularly, the two of them were lucky at times, as quite a few shots fell short of fieldsmen. Samson’s 60 runs emerged from just 33 balls, as Rahane looked more intent on monitoring the chase upto the end. However, Samson displayed minimum regard for the reputation of the bowlers he clashed, hitting the balls of Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Rishi Dhawan for sixes. Apparently, he was truly comfortable for the most part, till the pressure began. He managed to survive a dropped catch off Coulter-Nile when on 55 and subsequently sliced Ojha straight to Harbhajan at short third man following adding five more runs.
Anyway, Rajasthan were quite ahead of Mumbai on the comparative score chart at that point of time, having clinched 117 for 2 after 12 overs. However, the asking rate was climbing. Shane Watson was dismissed when Rahane was finally ousted, who was caught at the midwicket boundary off a Harbhajan full toss following scoring 65 in 47 balls. Subsequently, Stuart Binny and Kevon Cooper followed him up to the dugout and the die was cast for Rajasthan. Finally, Dravid plunged in to bat at No. 8 with 44 still required in three overs, while Harbhajan completed his spell with 4 for 32. He continued for just two balls before being bowled out by Coulter-Nile and the end emerged quickly following that, as Pollard took the final three wickets during the penultimate over.
