Mumbai bows out with a win

The Mumbai Indians won their final match of the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) beating the Bangalore Royal Challengers by 9 wickets in Match 55 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore.

After rain interrupted the first half-hour of play, the match was reduced to an 18-overs-a-side game. Bangalore again failed to sustain decent partnerships due to some fine bowling by the Indian bowlers, especially Dilhara Fernando who claimed 4 wickets for 18 runs from his quota of four overs.

Set a target of 123 to win from 18 overs, Mumbai openers Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar seemed to bask in the glory of playing in each other’s company for the last time this season. As usual, Jayasuriya played his full range of shots and raced to his 54 from 37 deliveries before Dale Steyn got the better of him. Tendulkar at the other end was calmer, playing more of an anchor role as runs anyway seemed to be coming freely from the opposite end.

Jayasuriya’s dismissal brought Bangalore boy-turned-Mumbai Indians member Robin Uthappa to the crease who once again played with urgency and was eager to secure the final win for his side as early as possible. Uthappa (19) and Tendulkar (40) took their side home with 2 overs to spare and as they took their final IPL walk to the dugout, only one question may haunt their minds, "Why didn’t a win like this come sooner?"

Earlier in the day, Mumbai Indians’ skipper Sachin Tendulkar won the toss and elected to field. Hyderabad Deccan Chargers’ loss to Chennai Super Kings on Tuesday had ended Mumbai’s hopes of clinching that last semi-final berth.

So, all Mumbai could play for was pride and hope to end the tournament with their heads held high, knowing that they came close, fought, but just weren’t lucky enough. This also marked the last game of the Bangalore franchise who have had a dismal tournament from the start but managed to come back strongly to win their last two games showing tremendous improvement of character, though a little late in the IPL.

Bangalore started its innings cautiously with Mark Boucher (18) and Shreevats Goswami (20). But their downfall came between the sixth and the eighth overs where the home team lost three wickets for just 4 runs. Rahul Dravid (11) and Cameron White (26) then looked to re-build the innings but when White fell with the team score on 74 in the twelfth over, three other Bangalore batsmen followed him to the dugout in the space of 9 runs.

Dilhara Fernando and Dwayne Smith seemed to be having a good match as the former picked up four wickets and the latter, three as the Bangalore Royal Challengers could only manage 122/9 in their eighteen overs.

Fernando was adjudicated the Player of the Match for his bowling efforts. This will seem but a mere consolation for the Sri Lankan as he gave away 15 runs off the last over in Mumbai’s crucial encounter against Rajasthan Royals. A win then would have almost guaranteed them a semi-final berth.

Both Mumbai and Bangalore bid adieu to the IPL. While Bangalore showed signs of improving its game only towards the end of the Twenty20 tournament, one can’t help but sympathize for the Mumbai Indians. The most expensive team in the IPL started off the tournament poorly losing 4 matches on the trot, but came back strongly with 6 consecutive wins. Losing a few extremely close matches cost them a place in the semi-finals which will be played in their own backyard.

The IPL’s final league match will be played between its top two teams as the Rajasthan Royals and the Kings XI Punjab square up at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium at Mohali in what is being termed as 'the mock finals'.