Match-28, DD vs MI, Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, Delhi!

MATCH-28

DD vs MI

Venue-           Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, Delhi
Match Officials- K. Dharamsena, S. Ravi, C. Nandan(Umpires),                             R.Mahanama(Refree)    

Toss-  MI won the toss and chose to bat first!

Result-  DD won by 9 wickets with 3 overs to spare!

Man Of The Match- VIRENDER SEHWAG

Match Report-

                  MI who were lost to RR by a huge margin were going to take on the DD in Delhi! Ponting won the toss and chose to bat first. As he had declared earlier, MI changed their opening pair and Dwayne Smith was sent in with Tendulkar! But this combination aslo didn't work as Smith went early in 4th over. Karthik also didn't last longer. On Tendulkar's straight drive, bowler Umesh Yadav deflected the ball on to the stumps and Karthik who was backing up a long way was run out! After six overs of powerplay they were struggling at 24/2! Rohit Sharma and Sachin then put the legs on the accelerators and hit a boundary or two in almost every over! Sachin and Rohit Sharma both scored their half-centuries. Sachin got out in 17th over on 54(47)! Rohit Sharma continued his innings! He made 73(43) before getting out to Umesh Yadav in 19th over. Pollard played a little cameo at the end [19(10)],  to take the score to 161/4!  

                         It was going to be a difficult chase for the out of form DD team. Captain Jayawardene himself came out to open with Virender Sehwag! And they didn;t disappoint their crowd who jam-packed the Kotla stadium once again! Both of them played freely scoring all around the ground. They scored 60/0 in 6 overs. Ponting had no clue to break the partnership, Malinga wasn't bowling to his potential! They shared opening partnership of 151 runs between them in just 15.4 overs. Malinga in his final over got wicket of Jayawardene who got out for well made 59(43)! After that Warner and Sehwag finished the job and DD won the match comfortably by 9 wickets and 3 overs to spare! Sehwag who remained not out on 95 in 57 balls was declared man of the match!

My Views-  

                          DD played fearless cricket today. They were positive. First up Irfan Pathan bowled a brilliant opening spell! After that they dropped couple of easy catches but didn't let the run rate go above 8! Way Viru and Jayawardene batted was simply amazing to watch! They hit all around the ground! Ponting was clue-less!
                        On the other side I think Ponting made a big mistake leaving Johnson out of the side. Irrespective of conditions, he was in form bowler and was amongst the wickets, he should have played this game! If MI don't get early wickets their second stage bowler struggle a lot! Malinga, Bumrah, M.Patel, Bhajji were unable to get the early wicket they needed and that cost them the match!
                      DD management called Sir Viv Richards to motivate the struggling team after their sixth loss. He had a long meeting with the team and his motivational speech certainly helped the players. He will be with the team for whole season and it will be a big plus for the team!  

Highlights Of Match in Photos---

Sir Viv Richards, before the match with DD team

Rohit Sharma hitting six

With this shot Tendulkar got his 50!

Opening Pair partnership of 151!

Man Of The Match- SEHWAG

Finished the match with 3 overs remaining!