Ojha, Johnson trump Super Kings

News

Cricket365
May 5, 2013

Three wickets apiece for seamer Mitchell Johnson and spinner Pragyan Ojha capped Mumbai's emphatic 60-run victory over the Chennai Super Kings in Sunday's Indian Premier League fixture at the Wankhede Stadium.

The result blew the formbook out of the window and brought an abrupt end to Chennai's seven-game winning streak.

The Super Kings would have fancied their chances of setting a new IPL record number of consecutive wins at the halfway stage after Mumbai struggled to just 139 for five batting first on a slow track.

But Johnson (three for 27), who had fellow Aussie Mike Hussey dropped three times by Kieron Pollard in his first over, claimed three wickets in his next and Ojha (three for 11) claimed three in 14 balls to bundle Chennai out for 79 – their lowest total and the fourth lowest in IPL history.

Hussey (22) was one of only three Chennai batsmen to post double figures during a disastrous run-chase.

The left-hander was sensationally put down three times in a row by Pollard at cover point off Johnson, who came back in style with the wickets of Murali Vijay (two), Suresh Raina (duck) and Subramaniam Badrinath (duck) in his next set of six.

That burst reduced Chennai to nine for three and the match appeared over as a contest when Ojha removed Hussey with his first delivery to put the hosts six down with just 40 on the board.

The India left-arm spinner added Test team-mates Dhoni (10) and Ravindra Jadeja (20) to his wicket-haul, the latter dismissal sealing the one-sided reult.

Rohit Sharma's unbeaten 39 was the highlight of an otherwise below-par batting display from Mumbai earlier in the day.

The Indians skipper shared an unbroken 57-run partnership with Harbhajan Singh (25 off 11) at the death, the pair adding three sixes between them.