(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Defending champions are yet to open their account in the current season of ipl
brendon mccullum hits a six against mumbai indians during the pepsi ipl 2014 match at the dubai cricket stadium on friday. — kt photo by shihab
brendon mccullum smashed an unbeaten half-century and powered chennai super kings to a comprehensive seven-wicket victory over mumbai indians in a pepsi ipl 2014 match at the dubai international cricket stadium on friday night.
while it was chennai’s third consecutive victory in the tournament the defending champions are yet to open their account after losing all three matches they have played so far. chasing 142 for victory mumbai reached the target with one over to spare. mccullum remained not out on 71 while skipper ms dhoni was unbeaten on 14.
mccullum captain of new zealand smashed eight fours and two sixes in his 53-ball knock.
dwayne smith who had played several match-winning knocks for mumbai gave a good opening for chennai after hitting 29 off 22 balls with the help of four huge sixes. the west indies batsman added 57 runs for the first wicket with mccullum in 6.2 overs. smith fell to pragyan ohja who took his first wicket in this ipl season in the seventh over.
harbhajan singh who also failed to take a wicket in the previous games hit back in style in the eighth over by dismissing suresh raina for one.
singh sent back faf du plesis in the 16th over to finish with figures of two for 27 from four overs.
earlier mumbai who elected to bat first reached 140 for seven thanks to an 84-run third wicket partnership between rohit sharma and corey anderson. mumbai skipper sharma hit a half-century off 41 balls with three fours and two sixes while new zealand all-rounder anderson made a 31-ball 39 with three boundaries and one six.
the duo helped recover mumbai who were struggling at two for 25 in the fifth over but the dismissal of anderson and sharma in quick succession hurt the team’s chances to score a total in excess of 160.
mumbai placed at 109 for 2 at one stage lost their way when a direct hit from ravichandran ashwin at extra cover sent back anderson in the 16th over. it was a disciplined bowling performance from chennai led by mohit sharma who took four wickets for 14 runs from his four overs. the indian pacer sent back aditya tare kieron pollard ambati rayudu and harbhajan singh to restrict mumbai to a below par score.
australian fast bowler ben hilfenhaus gave sharma good support by picking up two for 39 from four overs. ishwar pandey operated an economical spell of 0-21 from 21 overs while ashwin finished with 0-20 from four.
ravindra jadeja who picked up four wickets to star in chennai’s seven-run victory over rajasthan royals at the same venue on wednesday night gave away 14 runs from his single over on friday. michael hussey was the first to go when hilfenhaus clean bowled the australian for one in the second over.
fellow opener aditya tare made a 19-ball 23 with four boundaries before falling to suresh raina at mid-on in sharma’s over. mumbai had pinned their hopes on pollard for a good score but sharma clean bowled the west indies all-rounder in the 19th over.
pradeep?khaleejtimes.com
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.