Pollard trumps Dhoni in close clash
Not many sides win a Twenty20 game from 83 for 6 in the first innings. Not many sides have Kieron Pollard, who once again showed how much damage he can cause
Not many sides win a Twenty20 game from 83 for 6 in the first innings. Not many sides have Kieron Pollard, who once again showed how much damage he can cause
Scorer: Sanjay Murari | Commentator: Devashish Fuloria
That brings us to the end of another cracker of a match. Abhishek Purohit's match report will be available soon. Thanks for all your comments and feedback, this is Devashish Fuloria signing off. Good night.
Ricky Ponting: "Last two games have both gone down the wire and I am happy that we have won this one. That partnership between Pollard and Harbhajan gave us a total that we could defend. The outfield was lusher and bigger than most Indian grounds and that helped us defend the total. Our bowlers did a great job, specially the spinners in the middle overs."
MS Dhoni: "The shot selection was bad in this game, the bowlers did very well, kept getting wickets at regular intervals. 150 runs target is what we should have chased. There was a time in the last two overs where I couldn't change strike because we didn't have wickets in hand. I didn't know what the strength of the current combination of bowlers were, we let them try it out and that allows Mumbai to get away, but we should have chased it down. The pitch is very good, fast bowlers had bounce, batsmen could play shots, but it will slow down as the tournament progresses."
Kieron Pollard is the Man of the Match: "Feeling very relieved after that over that I bowled to Dhoni. I like to contribute in all the departments of the game. That catch came to me in the end, had i dropped it, I would have been the match gone. I am not a finished product as a bat, but I am trying to do what the team situation requires. I told Harbhajan to just keeping knocking it around and build a partnership."
Pollard wins an award for hitting maximum sixes, Ponting wins the 'nayi soch' (new thinking) award.
Mitchell Johnson: "It was nerve-wracking, the crowd was behind them, Dhoni got going too, but I bowled well and then Munaf bowled a good last over. It was tough to bowl in the sticky conditions and I was surprised when Ricky gave me a third over in a row, it worked out well. There was dew today, but it wasn't as bad as we thought."
Siva: "Munaf escaped with a descent stat for this match, thanks to Pollard's blinder!"
Kapil: "That catch by Pollard gives him the unique right to claim that he caught a ball that even his coach - Jonty Rhodes - could not have caught. Jonty isn't 6 ft and most players who are, are terrible fielders."
Rajesh Banda: "What a man Polly is, he is the one brought chennai back in game and he is the only man to throw them out of contest.. superb stuff.."
Rohit Ramanathan: "Pollard seems to be breaking his own record of the best catches this year..towards the end of the year, the top ten best catches may all be Pollards.."
Vicky: "@Schekar: "Sachin's duck is a good omen for mumbai. Indeed it is..."
Vishnu: "I take back what I said before. These West Indians love to put their best performance in the last over."
Milind: "Catches win matches, without a doubt that will be the best catch of the year" -- No sir, it's the third best Pollard catch this year...
MS Dhoni c Pollard b Patel 51 (55m 26b 5x4 3x6) SR: 196.15
Ponting has his arms on Munaf's shoulder, now Sachin joins in the discussion. Both of them sharing their wisdom with Munaf, he accepts it with a shake of head. Did he understand everything? We will find out now.. Long off, long on, deep midwicket, deep square leg
He sparred with a fellow Trinidadian, irked Dhoni, and generally hogged the spotlight
Plays of the Day for the match between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians in Chennai
Not many sides win a Twenty20 game from 83 for 6 in the first innings. Not many sides have Kieron Pollard, who once again showed how much damage he can cause