Lasith Malinga

Yesterday 24/04, Rajiv Gandhi stadium, Hyderabad Mumbai Indians vs. Deccan Chargers, the 27th league game of the IPL 4. MI won the match by 37 runs recording their hat-trick victory in this IPL after a defeat with PWI. There was dilemma whether Sachin would play for this match or not on his 38th birthday. He called for the suspension of birthday parties all over the world to his fans as one of the religious gurus in India Sri Sathya Sai Baba was in critical stage. But later on the day by 8 AM in the morning he passed away. It was a huge draw down on his birthday. And finally, just before the starting of the match there were official announcement that Sachin will play this match against DC.

DC won the toss and called MI to bat first. The batting has revolved around Tendulkar but the rest of the side contributed well in their game against the Super Kings. It was the batting of Rohit Sharma which had helped the side post a competitive total against them. Mumbai didn’t go to a flying start and they were tottering at 70 for 4 in the first 10 overs. But once Rohit Sharma and Symonds were on the crease things started looking well under control. Both the batsmen put up a stand of 102 runs which just came of 65 deliveries and put Mumbai on the driver’s seat. Mumbai ended at a total of 172 runs which was more than enough for Deccan Chargers who had a weak batting line up. It was MI batsmen who had hitted a quite hard from their bat smashing the balls to boundaries and scoring 40 runs in the last two overs. It was highly entertaining the fans. After the fantastic show by two former Deccan batsmen it was the turn of Lasith Malinga to hit some timber and so he did.

Shikhar Dhawan, who was in good touch coming into the IPL, got an amazing in swinging Malinga special Yorker first up and the ball was just too good for him. It rattled the stumps and it was also the start of yet another Malinga special Yorker feasts. Soon after Dhawan it was Cameron White’s turn. Malinga again rattled the stumps but this time he was not bowling he was fielding and had a direct hit while White was struggling to reach home. He sent DC’s batsmen to pavilion by taking 3 wickets and just giving away 9 runs. It was Kumar Sangakkara, the final victim for Malinga who played quite sensibly until now and tried to build the innings. But Malinga was just too good for him as he produced a fantastic low full toss which was superfast and Sangakkara just missed it completely. The moment Sangakkara missed the ball it was all over for him as the bowl crashed on to the middle stump and Malinga set out for a celebration. Finally DC gave up to MI by 37 runs in difference just by scoring 136/8 in 20 overs in 2nd innings of the match. It was again Lasith Malinga who nailed the DC with 3/9. Slinga-Malinga.

Tags: Cricket, DC, Deccan Chargers, Indian Premier League, IPL, IPL 2011, IPL 4, Lasith Malinga, MI, Mumbai Indians