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Journalism of Courage
At the end of the first essay, it seemed that all Chennai Super Kings needed were four slower balls to derail the Mumbai Indians. These four lethal deliveries, delivered in the span of eight balls, produced four wickets and more importantly knocked the wind out of Mumbai’s sails. In the end, CSK coasted to victory, overhauling the target with seven wickets in hand at the Dubai international Stadium. Brendon McCullum, Chennai’s opener, finished by scoring half the target himself.
To begin the 18th over of Mumbai’s innings, the scoreboard read 120 for three. They had two of their strongest batters at the wicket. One was Rohit Sharma, who was going well with three fours and two sixes. He looked as if he was on the cusp of going for the kill. At the other end was the Caribbean destroyer, Kieron Pollard, a person who opposing teams prefer not to bowl at during the death overs.
However, a Ben Hilfenhaus slower bouncer saw Rohit try and muscle a pull. The ball lobbed up to Dwayne Smith who completed an easy catch at deep midwicket. Ambati Rayudu joined Pollard but an inspired Mohit Sharma bowled three devastating slower balls, clinically mixing them up with fast and accurate yorkers to leave Mumbai reeling at 127 for seven going into the last over.
Rayudu, Pollard and Harbhajan Singh were all dismissed by slower balls bowled at varying lengths. The ball seemed to grip just that extra touch when bowled at a slower pace, almost sticking in the wicket before coming on to the bat. This delay saw a couple of Mumbai batsmen try to muscle their way out of trouble but only managed to get inside-edges and partial connections on the ball.
Mohit was the pick of the CSK bowlers, finishing with four for 14 off his four overs. In the beginning, Ishwar Pandey did no harm to his reputation by putting in a tidy spell of four overs for just 21, crucially never allowing the Mumbai batsmen to fly off the handle.
In reply, CSK never really looked to be in trouble as Smith and Brendon McCullum gave them a rollicking start. After six overs, they were 51 for no loss, the pair hitting five fours and three sixes between them. Smith was dismissed soon after, falling to a needless hoick, but McCullum was in the mood to inflict punishment.
Far too short
The Mumbai bowlers inexplicably resorted to hurling down short deliveries, something that the New Zealander feasted on. With his fast hands, the 32-year-old got into position very quickly, niftily transferring his weight on to his back-foot before whipping the ball either side of square. Importantly, his restraint was impressive. McCullum seemed to bide his time, not getting flustered and was content to block the good deliveries.
McCullum finished unbeaten on 71 off 53 balls as CSK wrapped up their third consecutive victory while Mumbai remained rooted to the bottom of the standings, having failed to win any of their matches thus far.
Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 141 for seven in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 50, Corey Anderson 39; Mohit Sharma 4/14, Ben Hilfenhaus 2/39) lost to Chennai Super Kings 142/3 in 19 overs (Brendon McCullum 71*, Dwayne Smith 29; Harbhajan Singh 2/27)
Get latest updates on IPL 2025 from IPL Points Table to Teams, Schedule, Most Runs and Most Wickets along with live cricket score updates for all matches. Also get Sports news and more cricket updates.
