T&T again won the hearts of the Indian people here but the Red Force could not win the Karbonn Smart T20 title as they were ousted by the Mumbai Indians in the semi-finals in Delhi, yesterday.
Everything went the way of the home team, the toss, the support, the shoulder injury to Rayad Emrit and Sachin Temdulkar even scored his 50,000th run in all forms of cricket. It was too much for the Red Force as they were not able to defend a score of 153.Evin Lewis smashed a brutal 63 and Yannick Ottley got 41 not out to lead T&T to 153 for five in their 20 overs. However, Mumbai left the ground smiling as they reached their target for the loss of four wickets with five balls remaining. Mumbai now moves on to play Rajasthan Royals in the final today.An opening stand of 90 runs between Barbadian Dwayne Smith and Tendulkar, killed off T&T's chances and despite Sunil Narine and Lendl Simmons snaring three wickets at the cost of six runs, it was a case of too little too late, as the Marathi koli songs sounded better than calypso on the night.
Smith was the man who lead the charge and his aggressive 58 came off only 33 balls with six fours and two sixes. Simmons was able to get Tendulkar for 35 off 31 balls with two sixes and two fours and although Narine added Smith and Ambathi Rayudu in quick succession, the night belonged to the Mumbai Indians. The mystery man would come towards the end to pressure Mumbai, removing skipper Rohit Sharma for 25 to end with 3/17 but Keiron Pollard and Dinesh Karthik (33 not out 21 balls) finished the job.Earlier, the Mumbai Indians won the toss and decided to bowl first because the dew would have made it hard for the bowlers, bowling at around 10 pm.Simmons and Lewis ran out with guns blazing but as soon as "Simmo" drew he was arrested by Dwayne Smith on the boundary lines. The right-hander who starred in the semifinals right here, walked back a forelone figure making a duck.
Lewis continued to shoot down the bowlers and got an accomplice in Darren Bravo. All of a sudden Mumbai Indians were under siege. Balls were flying like bullets with tracer like speed. Bravo smashed Harbhajan Singh for a four and a six in one over and this put the padka wearing bowler off his line. He would not recover and Lewis joined in the assault.Pragyan Ojha, who was been outstanding for India, came on and was able to take care of Bravo for 14. Lewis continued his great tournament with the willow and ran to his 50 off just 32 balls, however needing to stay until the end, he was could not and was sent back by Keiron Pollard for 62. His report card red 62 runs from 46 balls, six fours and four sixes.T&T was primed for a grand assault towards the end after getting to their 100 off 13.5 overs but the Mumbai Indians bowlers slowed up their deliveries and made strokeplay very difficult.The Red Force was still able to get to 153 for five off their allotment with young Yannick Ottley getting an unbeaten 41 off 30 balls with two fours and two sixes.
SCOREBOARD
T&T inns
L Simmons c Smith b Harbhajan
0
E Lewis c & b Pollard 62
D Bravo st Karthik b Ojha 14
Y Ottley not out 41
D Ramdin b Johnson 9
N Pooran c Rayudu b Coulter-Nile 15
N Stewart not out 2
Extras lb5, w5 10
Total 5 wkts (20ovs) 153
Fall of wkts: 13, 61, 93, 111, 148,
Bowling: M Johnson 3-0-31-1, H Singh 4-0-35-1, R Dhawan 3-0-30-0, N Coulter-Nile 4-0-20-1, K Pollard 3-0-16-0, P Ojha 3-0-16-1.
Mumbai Indians inns
D Smith b Narine 58
S Tendulkar c Ramdin b Simmons 35
A Rayudu c Ramdin b Narine 0
R Sharma b Narine 25
D Karthik not out 31
K Pollard not out 2
Extras lb1, w1, nb1 3
Total 4 wkts (19.1ovs) 157
Fall of wkts: 90, 91, 96, 138.
Bowling: S Badree 4-0-25-0, R Rampaul 4-0-30-0, K Ottley 3-0-38-0, S Narine 4-0-17-3, L Simmons N Stewart 2-0-20-0.
Result: Mumbai won by 6 wkts.