No doubt, the master blaster came to the party as their team scored a mammoth 182 for 2 in their quota of 20 overs. Sachin Tendulkar was the highest scorer with a 100 not out. Tendulkar batted beautifully and hammered the bowlers to all parts of the park. Scoring a 100 in a T-20 match was amongst the very few things that the little master was unable to do but today was the day he achieved yet another milestone. Ambati Rayadu played an important role on the other hand and scored yet another half century in this tournament.
It was all looking good for Mumbai Indians as they had runs on board and a lethal bowling attack which was spearheaded by ‘Slinga Malinga’. Even the experts thought that Mumbai had enough runs on the board and it will be an impossible task for Kochi Tuskers to chase down such a big score. But Mahela Jayawardena and Brendon McCullum had other plans. Both of them came out with all guns blazing and even took on Malinga. Suddenly the score was 110 odd runs for no loss and Kochi required 70 runs to win in the next 8 overs.
The crowd in the stadium that was once going berserk when Sachin was batting went dead quite. Both Mahela and Brendon completed their half centuries and at that time it looked as if Kochi will win the match with quite a big margin. But the seasoned campaigner Lasith Malinga came out with a magic bowl and got the crucial wicket of Mahela. But Brendon on the other hand was hitting the bowl quite well and carried on with Ravendra Jadeja who was promoted up the order by the captain.
Ball was flowing to all parts of the ground and it seemed that Mumbai had lost the plot of the match. But no one knew that there was yet another crucial moment in the game when Brendon got out while playing an unorthodox shot of Malinga. It seemed that the game is changing at that point of time but Ravendra Jadeja and Brad Hodge made sure that the game went nowhere. It was the first win for Kochi Tuskers and it certainly came against the best side in the tournament. Sachin Tendulkar thought it was the fielding which led his side down while Mahela was pretty happy with the team’s performance. But nonetheless it was a great game of cricket and value for money for anyone who saw it.
Two weeks ago, the crowd at the Wankhede was delirious though a fervently hoped-for Sachin Tendulkar century didn’t materialize. On Friday, the crowd at the Wankhede was dejected despite Tendulkar crafting a century as Kochi Kerala Tuskers busted their party with one of the most memorable chases in IPL history.
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