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On Sachin Tendulkar’s 38^th birthday, the Mumbai Indians presented him with a 37-run win over the Deccan Chargers at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium. An invigorated 102-run assault from Rohit Sharma and Andrew Symonds lifted the Indians to a competitive 172/4, before Malinga and the fielders converged on the Chargers’ hopes. On a gloomy Sunday, in which Andhra Pradesh mourned the passing of spiritual mentor and God-man Sri Sathya Sai Baba, the Chargers slipped to a nadir of their own, hitting the rock-bottom of the Indian Premier League table.

Choosing to renounce the batting prerogative on a belter of a track, Kumar Sangakkara bucked the pattern which had sustained Deccan Chargers their two wins this season. It seemed like Sachin Tendulkar, who had considered not playing this match, was being given his birthday present! Mumbai Indians benched the misfiring James Franklin and brought back Davy Jacobs, and Ishant Sharma was made his way back into the side at Harmeet Singh’s expense.

Jacobs was in sparkling touch; he started by caressing Amit Mishra to the boundary in the first over with a reverse flick, then unhinged his collar bone to send Pragyan Ojha flying over the straight boundary, wristed and pulled Ishant with powerful panache, dug Dan Christian from the blockhole all the way to the boundary, all before realising that it was Tendulkar’s birthday, and not his! Upon which, he miscued a pull to mid-on to end his brutal 19-ball innings after 32 runs. Immediately, Tendulkar sought to carry forth the momentum Jacobs had imbued the innings with, glancing Ishant to the fine leg boundary and lofting him over the infield. But it was not to last, as Mishra was to leave his imprint in the match summary.

He flighted Tendulkar out for a catch at long-on before Ambati Rayudu flat-batted him to deep square-leg for his 50^th IPL wicket, where Shikhar Dhawan’s hop succeeded in pouching the ball. Ojha then put the cat among the pigeons, tossing it up to bite the top-edge of Kieron Pollard’s bat, sending him back for a first ball duck. Mumbai Indians had been going at 8.62 runs per over after 8 overs, but were left staggering, within the space of an over, at 70/4 at the half-way stage. The Indians, however, were not at the top of the table for naught. In a stark display of determination and spirit, they unleashed the two former Deccan lads - Rohit Sharma and Andrew Symonds.

The pair watched for five overs, in which they kept busy, ticking the strike over, issuing respect to Mishra and Ojha, hoarding the big shots till it was time to make hay. Then, with a swivelled swat, Sharma sounded the battle-conch, setting the ball rolling with a 12-run over. Symonds took to Steyn, clearing space to swing, and slamming the off-side boundary boards. By the last over, the proverbial tide had turned and rushed towards the Indians with such force that everything Sharma touched turned into a maximum. After a 24-run over, Christian gladly tottered back to the pavilion, as Mumbai Indians had powered their way to a very competitive 172.

The Indians came back and immediately set about fielding like the champs that they are. Even as Dhawan looked ominous with two cute hits to the boundary, Pollard shot in a swift throw to run his opening partner Sohal Singh (5) out in the second over. Dhawan was in dangerous touch, looking like Sourav Ganguly for all the off-side pepperings, and it took an over of concerted yorker-bowling from Lasith Malinga to finally crash his leg stump after he had scored 25. Cameron White continued to flounder for the slightest hint of a run, and was sent back by a fiery throw from Malinga that ran him out after he had mustered one run.

Pollard had been electric in the field, but the electrifying bounce he was getting went down the wrong lines, and he was taken for a couple of expensive overs. In the middle, however, he picked up Bharat Chipli (6) with a rank bad ball on the off-stump. At the end of 10 overs, the Chargers were at 72/4 – much the same position as the Indians had been at the end of theirs, and needed Sangakkara and Christian to do what Sharma and Symonds had done for Mumbai. The stage was set.

Sangakkara and Christian appeared to model their last ten just as Mumbai had done, watchfully and actively. Christian too, tried to follow suit, abruptly launching into a full swing out over long on. But the crucial difference was to be Malinga. The bronze-haired catapult smoked Sangakkara’s (34) stumps asunder as the Sri Lankan Captain, who would have played the Malinga yorker umpteen number of times in the nets, was nonetheless caught unawares out in the middle. Christian looked to reignite the chase, but the downslide had begun, and he was soon stumped as he fell over when on 21. Malinga picked the last recognised batsman Ravi Teja (1) with a soft, surreptitious slower one that took the leading edge straight back into his hands for his 100^th Twenty20 wicket. And even as Mishra carried out some stylish boundaries, the Deccan Chargers could not match the Indians’ final onslaught, and dribbled their way to 135/8 at the end of the 20 overs.

Deccan Chargers plummet right down to the bottom of the charts with this dud of a match. They have worries going further into the tourney as their tall-billed bowling unit continues to fall short in compensating for the abject lack of firepower in the batting line up. In three days, they will head down further south to meet Kochi Tuskers Kerala in their own den. Will they prise out a much-needed win there, or simply reiterate Cameron White’s abysmal lack of form?

Mumbai Indians look dominant and large at the top of the leaderboard, and why not? They seem to have a superstar opener who seems to be ageing backwards, a set of players that are more a battalion than a fielding unit, a bowling attack led by an incandescent Yorker from Sri Lanka and a nagging McGrath-reborn from Gujarat, and a trio of firing canons in the middle order! Rajasthan Royals had better prepare a bed of nails in Jaipur when the Indians come along for a visit in five days’ time.

Teams:

Mumbai Indians: Davy Jacobs, Sachin Tendulkar, Ambati Rayudu, Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Andrew Symonds, Rajagopal Satish, Harbhajan Singh, Abu Nechim Ahmed, Lasith Malinga, Munaf Patel.

Deccan Chargers: Shikhar Dhawan, Sohal Singh, Kumar Sangakkara, Cameron White, Bharat Chipli, Daniel Christian, Dwaraka Ravi Teja, Amit Mishra, Dale Steyn, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha.

Mini Scorecard:

Mumbai Indians: 172/4 (20 overs, 8.60 runs per over)
R Sharma 56 (34 balls) A Mishra 2/14
A Symonds 44 (33 balls) P Ojha 1/29

Deccan Chargers: 135/8 (20 overs, 6.75 runs per over)
K Sangakkara 34 (28 balls) L Malinga 3/9
S Dhawan 25 (19 balls) K Pollard 1/20

Mumbai Indians won by 37 runs

File Photograph Copyright: ICC World T20