Smith steals victory for Mumbai

News

Cricket365
May 6, 2012

Dwayne Smith hammered 24 runs from nine balls to help the Mumbai Indians to a thrilling last-gasp win over the Chennai Super Kings on Sunday.

Needing four runs from the final ball for victory, the West Indies batsmen smashed the ball straight down the ground for a boundary to help his side to a two-wicket win over the defending champions in Mumbai.

Chasing 174 for victory, the Indians appeared to be cruising to victory after Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma shared a century second-wicket partnership.

Tendulkar hit 11 fours and one six in his 74 from 44 balls while Sharma's 60 from 46 balls included six fours and two sixes.

However, the game changed on its head after Faf du Plessis took an excellent catch at cover to get rid of Tendulkar off Ravichandran Ashwin's bowling. Sharma was bowled by Ravindra Jadeja the next over and the Indians soon slipped from 134 for one to 159 for eight as the batsmen lost their head.

Smith, though, stayed calm and hit two fours and a six off the final three balls from Ben Hilfenhaus to take Mumbai to a stunning win.

Earlier Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina, Dwayne Bravo and Mahendra Singh Dhoni were the big contributors to Chennai's 173 for eight.

Vijay gave the visitors an excellent start with 41 from just 29 balls while Suresh Raina used just 21 balls for his 36.

Bravo (40) and Dhoni (25) looked like they were going to lead the Super Kings to huge score, but Lasith Malinga (three for 25) and RP Singh (three for 28) ripped through the middle and lower order to restrict them to 173.