Jayasuriya leads the charge
2008-05-28 18:05
Bangalore - Sanath Jayasuriya led the victory charge as he scored another aggressive half-century to power the Mumbai Indians to a nine-wicket win over the Bangalore Royal Challengers in their IPL match on Wednesday.
The match was reduced to 18 overs because of a rain delay.
A late surge by R Vinay Kumar (23, 17 balls, 2x4, 1x6) helped the Challengers to 122/9.
The Indians needed only 15.5 overs to race to 126/1. It was a walk in the park for Mumbai, but a good old-fashioned drubbing for Bangalore.
Jayasuriya scored 54 off 37 balls, with four fours and six sixes and added 96 runs in 11.3 overs with Sachin Tendulkar (40*, 42 balls, 4x4, 1x6) for the opening wicket.
Robin Uthappa was undefeated on 19 when Tendulkar hit two successive sweeps for boundaries off Anil Kumble to take Mumbai to victory.
It was the impressive Jayasuriya's fourth half century in the Indian Premier League.
The left-handed Sri Lankan opener treated the leg-spinner Kumble with contempt and the Indian captain conceded 36 runs in his first three overs.
Jayasuriya was circumspect early on against superb fast bowling by Dale Steyn, but he cut loose as soon as Steyn was substituted after conceding six runs in two excellent overs.
Pace, bounce and hostile intent
When Steyn returned to the fray, he removed Jayasuriya, and generally bowled with pace, bounce and hostile intent. He took 1/14 in four overs.
Earlier, Dilharo Fernando captured the first three wickets within five deliveries. He took 4/18, while Dwayne Smith was instrumental in causing a middle-order collapse. The West Indian finished with 3/26.
Mark Boucher, in the role of makeshift-opener, scored 18 off 15 balls for Bangalore, with three fours.
Shreevats Goswami and Boucher added 35 runs for the first wicket.
The Indians are no longer in the hunt for a semi-final spot, and the only thing left to do was to avenge their home defeat against the Royal Challengers early on in the campaign, which they did in fine style on Wednesday.
Teams:
Bangalore Royal Challengers: Rahul Dravid (captain), Misbah-ul-Haq, Cameron White, Virat Kohli, Shreevats Goswami, B. Akhl, Anil Kumble, Dale Steyn, R Vinay Kumar, Mark Boucher, Praveen Kumar.
Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar (captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Robin Uthappa, Dwayne Smith, Shaun Pollock, Abhishek Nayar, Yogesh Takawale, Dhawai Kulkarni, Rohan Raje, André Nel, Ashish Nehra.