With 15 runs needed in the final over for Somerset to topple the Mumbai Indians, the Chennai crowd started to chant, "Malu! Malu! Malu!" and the Sri Lankan Lasith Malinga did not disappoint, he took his team into the finals with two deadly strikes within the last six balls. The prize at the end of that spectacular was a place in the finals of the Nokia Champions League against Royal Challengers Bangalore at Chennai today. Earlier in the tournament Malinga said he was more appreciated in India than home in Sri Lanka, and yesterday, he showed how much in charge of the situation he was, as he ended with 4/20, to claim the man of the match award. Mumbai had Trinidad and Tobago to thank for reaching in the semis, as the Caribbean men beat both Chennai and Cape Cobras for the men in blue to reach the semis.
Yesterday again over number 19 proved the crucial over as with 20 runs needed from 12 balls, the game was open. T&T's Keiron Pollard was called up to bowl the over but skipper Harbhajan Singh changed his mind and went for Kiwi James Franklyn. The lanky all rounder conceded just five runs and Malinga was deadly in the final over to ensure the win. Mumbai won all the decisive moments of the match. They ran away at the top through Aiden Blizzard's 54 off 39. They scored 52 off their last five, after the middle overs slowed them down, through a 43-run stand off 22 between the unheralded R Sathish and Suryakumar Yadav. Lasith Malinga, then, took out Somerset's two biggest batsmen of the tournament with devilish yorkers and changes of pace. And when Craig Kieswetter (62 from 46 balls) threatened to mastermind a cool chase, with the Mumbai fielders blundering all around him, Malinga and Franklin defended well.
Mumbai chose a fine time to put up their best batting effort of the tournament. On a pitch that was slow but much better than the mud-wrestling arena it had been in the earlier stages of the tournament, Blizzard did what their opponents have been doing: capitalise with the hard new ball. He was well aided by Pollard with 24 off 18 balls, Suryakumar Yadav with 23 not out from 18 balls and Rajagopal Sathish with 25 not out from 12 balls. Today, Mumbai will be hoping their use of the Chepauk Stadium during the tournament gives them an advantage over RCB but with Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli in prime form, the battle lines are drawn.
Scores: Mumbai Indians 160/5 (20) vs Somerset 150/7 (20).
SCOREBOARD
Mumbai vs Somerset
Mumbai inns
A Blizzard b Kartik 54
S Kanwar c Buttler b Kirby 2
A Rayudu c Kieswetter b Dibble 19
J Franklyn lbw van der Merwe 6
K Pollard b Thomas 24
S Yadav not out 23
R Sathish not out 25
Extras b1, lb3, w1, nb2 7
Total 5 wkts (20ovs) 160
Fall of wkts: 19, 62, 86, 92, 117.
Bowling: A Thomas 4-0-34-1, S Kirby 3-0-31-1, A Dibble 4-0-20-1, M Kartik 4-0-30-1, R van der Merwe 4-0-32-1, P Trego 1-0-9-0.
Somerset inns
P Trego b Malinga 0
C Kieswetter c Pollard b Franklin 62
R van der Merwe b Malinga 10
J Hildreth b Harbhajan 39
J Butler b Franklin 19
N Compton b Malinga 5
A Suppiah not out 0
M Kartik b Malinga 0
A Thomas not out 3
Extras b7, lb2, w3 12
Total 7wkts (20ovs) 150
Fall of wkts: L Malinga 4-0-20-4, A Ahmed 4-0-31-0, Y Chahal 3-0-26-0, H Singh 3-0-25-1, K Pollard 2-0-10-0, R Sathish 1-0-13-0, J Franklyn 3-0-16-2.
Result: Mumbai Indians won by 10 runs.