This Season’s Champions League witnesses teams scoring lesser runs rather than those scoring more. T&T distorted from 52 for 2 to 98 all out, Mumbai Indians went one better, reducing themselves to 37 for 5 at the central mark of their innings. Both quicks and spinners on either side held control, so basically it was just poor batting from both sides, with the highest partnership being all of 32 runs, between Ambati Rayudu and R Sathish for the sixth wicket. That partnership ultimately decided the winner of the contest.
A six by Lasith Malinga in the last over, when 10 were needed off five deliveries, seemed to have sealed the issue but two run outs, including that of Rayudu, complicated the issue before a desperately run brace off the final ball gave MI another famous win.
As usual it was Malinga who started the wicket-fest. The T&T openers Lendl Simmons and Adrian Barath had raised 18 from the first two overs, including 10 off Malinga's opening over. But as it turned out, it was a illusion. After a slowish Yorker got the better of Barath, Simmons committed the cardinal sin of not grounding his bat and paid the penalty. Three wickets from his four-over spell, including that of the left-handed Bravo, put MI on top. For T&T the final outcome would have been heartbreaking, especially for their pacer Ravi Rampaul who sent down an initial spell of 3-0-13-3 and came back at the loss to concede a mere four runs in the last but one over. Unfortunately he couldn't bowl at both ends.
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