Pollard shines as Mumbai shock Chennai
West Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard was the star of the show on Saturday, contributing in all areas to lead the Mumbai Indians to a nine-run win over the Chennai Super Kings in thrilling circumstances.
West Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard was the star of the show on Saturday, contributing in all areas to lead the Mumbai Indians to a nine-run win over the Chennai Super Kings in thrilling circumstances.
Pollard scored an unbeaten half century as the Indians recorded 148 for six. He then took a wicket with his bowling, before taking a brilliant catch on the boundary in the final over to dismiss MS Dhoni, who was on 51 and ready to hit the winning runs.
Mumbai batted first and got off to a terrible start, with talismanic batsman Sachin Tendulkar out for a duck, trapped LBW by Dirk Nannes. Ricky Ponting, the new skipper, was also back in the hut soon, making just six runs.
The wickets continued to fall, and after 12 overs the Mumbaikers were on 83 for six, looking distinctly worse for wear against the two-time champions. This was when Pollard kicked into gear, smashing five sixes and four boundaries on his way to 57 not out.
It was expected that Chennai would do the job with the bat, given the experience of Murali Vijay, Mike Hussey, Suresh Raina and Dwayne Bravo, but it was left to Dhoni to make a last-gasp effort at the death.
The wickets were spread evenly amongst the Mumbai bowlers, with Munaf Patel taking three scalps, and Pragyan Ojha joining Harbhajan Singh with two. Pollard removed Ben Laughlin at the death.
With one over to go, Chennai needed 13 runs and Dhoni was still in the middle. He has scored his half ton off just 26 balls, and he went for one more big shot. It looked headed for six, but Pollard leapt with perfect timing on the ropes to pluck the ball out the air and end the Super Kings' hopes.
Chennai Super Kings: M Vijay, M Hussey, S Raina, S Badrinath, MS Dhoni, R Jadeja, DJ Bravo, R Ashwin, D Nannes, B Laughlin, A Rajpoot
Mumbai Indians: R Ponting, S Tendulkar, D Karthik, R Sharma, A Rayudu, K Pollard, DR Smith, M Johnson, Harbhajan Singh, M Patel, P Ojha
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