Champions League SRL | MI vs Stars Evaluation Chart - Pollard pyrotechnics propels MI to victory after initial hiccup

05/10/2020

Kieron Pollard turned crisis man once again for Mumbai Indians, as his blitzy and responsible 59 runs ensured a five-wicket annihilation of Melbourne Stars in the Champions League SRL today. While Mumbai top order failed to make any big contribution, Pandya brothers’ cameo helped Pollard big-time.

Match Review

There is a reason Mumbai Indians call themselves as the best team in the IPL and their bowlers put on a show to give a clear demonstration of the same. A power-packed performance with the field restrictions on gave them the early advantage and Melbourne Stars didn’t have a playing field to tread cautiously. The fall of wickets at regular intervals did not help their cause at all, with Mumbai dominating the stage to restrict the BBL side for a paltry 131 in the stipulated 20 overs.

Chasing 132 runs shouldn’t have been a problem for Mumbai Indians but that is where cricket’s unpredictability kicks in. A Haris Rauf masterclass, coupled with Dale Steyn’s new ball magic, downed Mumbai to 11/3 in 3.1 overs and the chase promised to be interesting. But Pollard ensured things were pretty one-sided as he decided to build mini partnerships while aiming for the skies. Eventually, the game was decided in the 17th over when Pollard hit a winning six against Nathan Coulter-Nile, who could have been his IPL teammate this time, to put a sense of finality to it as Mumbai won by five wickets.

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Turning Point

The ninth over in the run-chase was the moment when the game changed in Mumbai’s favour and Pollard’s Calypso power ensured there was no looking back. After Melbourne put Mumbai under the gun, with some devastating power-play bowling, a loss was imminent for the reigning IPL Champions but that over released a lot of pressure off their back. The 14-run over was corresponded by another 19-run over and the game was as good as over from that point on.

Highs and Lows

A maiden over inside the powerplay is the stuff of legend and Bumrah is surely a Mumbai Indians legend. The pace spearhead commissioned Melbourne Stars openers to a new low, with a maiden over in only the third over bowled today, putting them off from the very beginning. But if the T20s are the game of batsman, such a spell of absolute dominance brings the charm back to the format, and Bumrah surely did manage to upset the Aussie applecart.

The failure of the holy trinity of Rohit Sharma, Chris Lynn and Suryakumar Yadav had to be the biggest blow for a Mumbai fan and a neutral like me as well. There was no purpose whatsoever to deal with the express pace of Haris Rauf and Dale Steyn and Stars pounced on the same. The game could have been a lot more interesting had there been a Delhi Capitals like run-chase (against CSK yesterday) to add flavour to this low-scoring encounter but that wasn’t to be.

Rating Charts

Powerplay exploitation: Mumbai 3/10 Melbourne Stars 4.5/10

This has been said many times but the sight of Lasith Malinga and Jasprit Bumrah steaming in with some high-quality pace bowling is enough to send shivers down the spine. Even in the imagination. The Stars bowlers eventually got to know what it takes to face two absolute giants, with Bumrah this time calling the shots. 10 runs were all that he conceded in the three powerplay overs today, with one of them being a maiden over, speaks what it was to be out there. The Stars opening duo of Marcus Stoinis and Ben Dunk had no answers as the BBL team could only scamper to a mediocre 43 runs thanks to Dhawal Kulkarni and Lasith Malinga conceding 25 runs in two overs.

If Melbourne Stars’ power play batting display was bad, then the batting of Mumbai, who boast one enviable batting line-up, was even more shambolic. After being reduced to 11/3 inside four overs, Quinton de Kock tried to resurrect the hope to chase down the minuscule target, only to be denied by some more devastating bowling. When Pollard joined him in the middle, Mumbai dared to dream, but from the standing of that six overs, which saw them scoring only 40 runs, the game was balanced 50-50.

Middle-overs manoeuvring: Mumbai 6.5/10 Melbourne Stars 4/10

It was hilarious the way Melbourne’s middle overs panned out today, with the batsmen finding it difficult to crack against any bowler employed by Rohit Sharma. So much so that most of the batsmen scored with an SR under 100. Even though Glenn Maxwell showed some promise, he was undone by the spin combo of Rahul Chahar and Krunal Pandya. Things could have been much better than the eventual 53 runs they scored in the nine-over period had there been a Maxwell uprising from that moment, but once Krunal got the better of Big Show, it was a one-dimensional batting display.

Considering the position they were inside the powerplay, kudos to Pollard for staying put and doing the magic. He single-handedly pulled them out of the woods as the Mumbai side reached a total of 112/5 when the 15th-over mark struck, pretty much sealing the game by then. There were a couple of ifs and buts in the sense that they had no bankable player once Hardik Pandya was dismissed but Krunal, after doing an amazing job with the ball, stood up to deliver with the bat.

Death bowling: Mumbai 7/10 Melbourne Stars Nil/10

Honestly, Mumbai’s powerplay and middle-over bowling performance were so neat that the magnificent death-over bowling display seems a bit off. The Maxwell-led side added 38 runs after being reduced to 93/5 at the end of 15th over, with the MI death specialists failing to execute their magic. But that was still a great mighty effort and if there are any complaints, it was certainly of their own high standard.

Nine balls were all that took for Mumbai to finish off the game and judging the death bowling display from that sample size is a fool’s errand. But I will take this opportunity to extend my congratulations to Melbourne Stars bowlers for doing a great job in the entirety of the game and some more runs to play around would have made things more interesting.

Match Frenzy O Meter - Dull

A low-scoring encounter can only become interesting if it goes down to the wire and this game, certainly wasn’t. Sure enough, Pollard was thrilled but that is just a star emerging from a sky full of clouds. It was a dull game in every sense.