Mumbai Indians win the Match


Is it the tide of change? That will be the question as defending champions CSK suffer rare home defeat

NEW KINGS Mumbai Indians’ captain Harbhajan Singh (2nd R) jumps to celebrate with teammates the dismissal of Chennai Super Kings’ Ravichandran Ashwin during their IPL match in Chennai on Wednesday
It will be wrong to judge the final outcome of the fifth edition of Indian Premier League from just one match. That too the opening match.  But questions will be raised — including the now oft-repeated question — has Midas touch deserted Mahendra Singh Dhoni? 

With Super Kings tottering at five for 85 in the 13th over, the crowd sang the famous Rajinikanth song — ‘singam onru porapattudey’ (A tiger has begin it’s journey) followed by a shrilling adulation. At M A Chidambaram Stadium, Dhoni is the Super Kings. 


King did not last
However, the king did not last — precisely six balls that yielded just four runs. But that was the Chennai story in the opening match. At ‘home’, Suresh Raina was at his best — rather trying to be — with a 26-ball 36. But that included just two fours and a six. 

The struggle was imminent. M Vijay has had a patchy domestic season and he looked out of touch as well. S Badrinath too has had a poor season and he continued with that. The import stars looked at sea. 

But the biggest disappointment was the one who is struggling to live up to his newfound fame — Ravindra Jadeja. The justification for his $2m tag is yet to come after CSK managed just 112 in their own citadel that remained unconquered last season. 


Points to prove
Cut to Mumbai Indians. They are the side that reflect their captain well. Like Harbhajan Singh, they too have some points to prove. He went wicketless, but Pragyan Ojha justified his own move and Lasith Malinga once again showed why he is so dangerous while Kieron Pollard too chipped in. 

Abu Ahmed was expensive, but compensated that with a beauty that found Dhoni short of his crease.

Later on, Richard Levi gave India the first hand experience of his Leviathan aura with a 35-ball 50 that sets the tone while chasing. Though Rohit Sharma failed and Sachin Tendulkar got injured, Mumbai strolled past the target. 


Brief Scores: Chennai Super Kings 112 in 19.5 overs (S Raina 36; K Pollard 2/15, L Malinga 2/16, P Ojha 2/17) lost to Mumbai Indians 115/2 in 10.4 overs  (R Levi 50, J Franklin 25; D Bravo 1/14, D Bollinger 1/34)