Pollard masterclass helps Mumbai Indians win against CSK

The most anticipated match in any IPL is the one between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Superkings. CSK has been playing like a dream whereas Mumbai Indians have been struggling with their batting. All fingers pointed to CSK coming out trumps but stranger things happen in cricket and what we viewed yesterday was one. The match swayed from one side to another before a master class from Kieron Pollard saw Mumbai Indians beating CSK off the last ball of the match.

It was the most thrilling encounter of IPL 2021 and Rohit Sharma was right in saying that it was one of the best matches he has been part of. 

MS Dhoni summed it up correctly when he said that it was a game that CSK should have won if the bowlers didn’t bowl so many full tosses and if some of the catches were taken. But cricket is not a game of ifs and buts and the only thing that CSK can do is to learn from the mistakes and make the changes going forward.

Let’s look at the hits and misses from yesterday’s match:

The hits:

Ambati Rayudu has been struggling thus far in the tournament but to be fair to him he didn’t get many opportunities to play long innings. Yesterday He came in at a very important juncture when CSK was about to lose the grip of the match. At 116/4, Mumbai saw an opening to get back into the match but Rayudu didn’t let it happen and single-handedly took CSK to 218 runs. 72 runs off 27 balls should have been a match-winning one but Pollard usurped that by playing an even better innings. The best part about Ratudu’s innings was that the bowling was not that bad but his quick feet movement made you think the bowling was bad. It was a great innings and probably his best knock in IPL that I have seen.

Sam Curran is a very underrated cricketer. He is a terrific all-rounder in the truest sense but he doesn’t get the sort of limelight that he should. Yesterday when all bowlers were going for plenty his figures of 3/34 looked out of the world. His pinpoint yorkers kept even the rampaging Pollard on check.

The one man who made all the difference yesterday was Kieron Pollard. At 81/3 in 10 overs, it looked like Mumbai Indians would struggle to make the match competitive. But Pollard had other intentions and he started by hitting 3 sixes against Jadeja to warm himself up. From there on there was no looking back and with 8 towering sixes, he scored 87 off 34 balls to help Mumbai Indians win the match off the last ball. Also, let’s not forget his contribution with the ball too because it was he who put the break on the Chennai innings by picking up a couple of wickets.

The misses:

In matches like these, it’s the bowlers who cut a sorry figure, and other than Sam Curran, Deepak Chahar, and Rahul Chahar all had terrible bowling figures. Jasprit Bumrah went for 56 runs. Lungi Ngidi went for 62 runs and Shardul Thakur went for 56 runs. There was no dew and hence it was quite surprising to see the number of full tosses the bowlers bowled. Most of the time they missed the length and full tosses were easily dealt with yesterday.

What to look forward to?

This loss won’t make CSK too unperturbed but MSD would be concerned about the way his pace bowlers have been bowling. I think Ngidi will be dropped next match and he will be replaced by Jason Behrendroff. I don’t think they need any more changes but I do believe they should look at using a leg spinner because that would bring in more balance to the side.

I am still not sure why Ishan Kishan is being dropped. Krunal Pandya can’t play just as a pure batsman and hence I am very surprised at this thought process. Winning makes people forget their shortcomings and I think their batting is still a bit light and they should look at getting an extra batter in. James Nisham turned out to be a failure and I am not sure if he will get another game.

The win makes the tournament very interesting. The gap is reducing between the teams and that’s good for IPL. 

Doubleheader today. Let’s see if we get some thrillers once again.

PS. Life is short. Count the blessings. Have a gratitude journal and be happy with whatever you have.

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