Pollard Blast Destroys Delhi

Posted by Rajnikant in IPL on 04 14th, 2010 | no responses

Jubilant - Kieron Pollard

As far as politics is concerned we rarely see Mumbai dominating Delhi, but in IPL-3 we saw it as Mumbai beat Delhi Daredevils by 39 runs. Undoubtedly Pollard was the hero of yesterday’s victory; he showed why he is one of the most expensive players in IPL. It was good to see Pollard hitting those massive sixes before semis. This inning must have given Mumbai fans a big relief.

Mumbai was playing in their own backyard and Sachin won a toss, decided to bat first. He opened an inning with another new partner Chandan Madan. They provide a good start putting 41 runs for first wicket. There are hardly any games in this IPL where Mumbai missed a good start. Sachin got out in 10^th over after scoring 30 runs. He surpassed Kalis and took the orange cap.

Delhi bowlers failed to capitalize on Sachin’s wicket. Then Tiwary and Raydu added 39 runs for 3^rd wicket.Tiwary was in aggressive mood. He hit two sixes and a single boundary in his 38 runs. Sagwan bowled him when he just started hammering Delhi. Raydu was out in 17^th over scoring 24 runs. This time both young players made some handy contribution in Mumbai inning.

Mumbai Indians were 133-4 in 17^th over when Pollard came in to bat. Mumbai scored 50 runs in last 3 overs and out of these 50 runs, Pollard alone scored 45 runs in 13 balls. He hit 5 sixes and 2 boundaries. Mumbai reached to 183 runs in rocketing speed thanks to Pollard’s power hitting. In last 4-5 games Pollard was getting good starts, but he failed to convert those starts in big scores. But this time he didn’t. Duminy remained unbeaten on 21. Now Mumbai batting look more balanced with inclusion of Duminy in line-up. He stayed on crease whenever Mumbai Indians were in a need of it.

Delhi has a good batting side, but chasing a target of 183 was never going to be easy against Mumbai. Warner and Viru, started well. Warner looked in great touch and scored 31 runs in 15 balls with 5 fours and a six. These two put 39 runs for first wicket, if Warner would have stayed for 3-4 overs more, there might have seen a different result.

Gambhir helped in accelerating the score by hitting 17 runs in 9 balls. Delhi was in hunt till 7^th over scoring 72 runs loosing just Warner and their skipper Gambhir. Then the drama started, Sehwag was run out, AB too caught in front of wicket by Ali Murtaza. Collingwood was trying to steal a run when he was not having any idea where the ball is, he saw the ball after Pollard hit it onto stumps by that time he was well short of his crease.

Kartik too failed to rescue Delhi and lost his wicket in 12^th over. Finally Delhi managed to score 144 runs in 20 overs and failed short by 39 runs. Mumbai’s bowling and fielding was phenomenal; they didn’t concede a boundary after power play till 19^th over. McDonald managed a six in 20^th over but that wasn’t enough. Now it’s a difficult road ahead for Delhi. Batting is the main concern for them, in last two games we saw Delhi’s middle order is not capitalizing on the start they are getting. Viru’s form also in doubt, I hope he starts scoring runs before T20 world cup.

Pollard was the man of the match. Pollard’s inning and Sachin surpassing Kalis was the main highlight of the match. Mumbai continues to dominate the points table and by beating Delhi also gave some hopes to teams placed at the bottom.

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