Shaun Marshes on: Punjab overcomes Mumbai in a tight contest

Whether it was because of just the sheer will to win against all odds, or a grim Preity Zinta waiting with a club in the dressing room, Punjab finally willed itself to cross the finishing line and score a win over Mumbai Indians. It was a hard-fought win that they needed desperately, languishing at the 8th place in the points table having lost 4 out of their 6 matches this season. A curly-haired Sachin Tendulkar returned to the Mumbai side along with James Franklin and Thisara Parera to provide some much needed inspiration to the team. Contributions from Franklin with the bat and Pollard with the ball would have been damaging enough to win most matches, but not enough to stop Shaun Marsh from scoring 68 decisive runs that gave Punjab their third win of the season.

Mumbai Indians made an unexpected change by getting in James Franklin in place of Richard Levi and have him open with Sachin Tendulkar. Franklin started on a jittery note, playing and missing a few out-swingers from Praveen Kumar in the beginning, but eased himself into a fluent innings before letting himself loose in the middle overs to end up scoring 79 off 51 deliveries.

Shot of the day

Franklin dished out a few big heaves over midwicket and Dinesh Kartik showed his improvising ability, but it was Shaun Marsh who played the shot of the day when the moment of truth arrived. With 9 required off 6 balls, Shaun Marsh dug out an outswinging low full toss from Parera and sent it flying over the cover boundary for a six to take the match out of Mumbai’s hands.

Player missed

With the Punjab batsmen picking up the pace and still keeping wickets in hand, Harbhajan Singh must have been looking around for Lasitha Malinga around the field, only to realize that he was back in Sri Lanka, nursing a troublesome back.

Disappointing stuff

Munaf Patel was expected to lead the bowling attack in the absence of Malinga and restrict the Punjab batsmen with some tight bowling, but he went on to concede 41 off his wicketless 4 overs, giving away 20 in his first spell.

The face-off

Pollard has been an impact player for Mumbai with the bat as well as the ball. He bowled the 11th over of the innings to Hussey and Marsh, bowling tightly to concede just 5 runs. Hussey was itching to go after him but contended with a few singles. Pollard came back in the 16th over to start with a dot ball against an increasingly restless Hussey. Hussey then decided to come down the track the next delivery only to face a quick short one from Pollard that he top-edged to the square leg fielder. Pollard wins this one.

Match meter

The match see-sawed between the teams till the final over and gave the fans, with some good clean hitting from the Mumbaikars along with some intelligent batting from their Punjabi counterparts, something to cheer about. Though it lacked some firepower from the fast bowlers or guile from the spinners, the match nevertheless kept the fans on their toes till the end. Score: 8/10.

It’s over

Both teams still rest in the bottom half of the table, with Mumbai at 6th and Punjab at the 7th position. While some positives emerge for both teams, they would still be looking at some areas that require overhaul. Mumbai is suffering from the loss of Malinga, and will not be too impressed with the performances of RP Singh and Munaf Patel. Dhawal Kulkarni and Clint Mckay could expect a recall to the side. Punjab’s bowling still lacks sting, with erratic spells from Praveen Kumar still a cause of concern. Both teams though will be happier with their batting performances, with Mumbai improving upon a dispiriting 92 in their previous game against Delhi, and Punjab chasing down a good score with promising starts from almost all the batsmen. It remains to be seen though how the batting line-ups of the two teams fare against stronger bowling line-ups in the remainder of the tournament.

While they are still trying to decide upon a winning combination of players, the two teams now face each other again 3 days later on 25th, and with both still needing wins to entertain any hopes of making it to the playoffs, another intriguing clash is on the cards.