Skipper Rohit Sharma's match-winning 56 not out came at a crucial juncture in the tie against Chennai and that's what turned the tide in Mumbai's favour
Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma in full flow against Chennai at Pune on Saturday. Pic/AFP
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There are two simple batting rules for teams: One, score as fast as possible to give your bowlers as much time as possible to get the opposition out (more applicable to long format cricket) and two, ensure your best batsmen play the maximum number of deliveries. This one's made for T20 cricket.
The Mumbai implemented Rule 2 and their best batsman - Rohit Sharma - executed it to perfection against Chennai on Saturday. It was cold-blooded murder wrapped in the most graceful and elegant of wrappers. The T20 2018 is the toughest cricket league in the world and asks questions at the most critical of times from its participants. This time, it was the captain's turn. This was a make-or-break game for Mumbai. Not statistically, but from a team confidence perspective. It would have been very tough to rally the troops every single match if this game was lost. And Chennai is the last team you want to play against in a must-win scenario.
Luckily for Mumbai, the 'hosts' were not at their best with the ball. Their batting looked ominous, though. Once again, Ambati Rayudu batted like a man possessed. He seems to be on a self redemption mission this season and wants to prove that he is one of the best in business. His promotion to the role of an opener has been the perfect stoke to the fire!
Chennai are generally not at their best while bowling second. Deepak Chahar hobbled off the field, thereby weakening an already under pressure bowling unit.
There were some interesting moments in this game:
* Rayudu at the top is sensational and fearless and the mandate seems to be to keep attacking. He has followed skipper MS Dhoni's instructions to a nicety. Dhoni must be quietly patting himself on the back for this move.
* Suresh Raina too is looking very dangerous and all the work he has put in over the last seven to eight months is paying rich dividends. Without a doubt, he is amongst the most dangerous T20 batsmen in the
world now.
* I thought Chennai endured three bad overs after MSD got out. They should have scored at least 15 more. MI held their shape at crucial moments as a bowling unit.
* I'm still an admirer of Kieron Pollard and maybe his exclusion from Saturday's line-up was more philosophical than operational. Pollard over Ben Cutting any day of the week and twice on Sunday for me. Cutting is good and can be devastating with the bat, but he hasn't got his bowling together while Pollard can bowl a couple of overs.
* Suryakumar Yadav came into bat full of intent and would have loved to stay unbeaten. He continues to look good while playing all cricketing shots. He will get better for the last few games once he settles down into the opener's role a bit more.
* The undoubted star of the match was skipper Rohit Sharma. In the crucial over, when Mumbai needed at least 12-plus, Rohit found himself facing Shardul Thakur, who is someone he has spent years playing in the nets. This familiarity enables a batsman to read bowlers better, predict better. This 19th over effectively sealed the match.
* Shardul fought gamely and will look back at this edition of the T20 2018 as one of the most relevant learning curves of his career. In Dhoni, he has a fantastic teacher.
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