Mumbai Indians Crush Guyana

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DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA (GaeaTimes.com)- In what was a make-or-break tie for the Mumbai Indians on September 16 against Guyana turned out to be a one man show starring Kieron Pollard alone. After two consecutive losses, many had ruled out Mumbai Indians possibilities o making it to the next round bu the win against Guyana yesterday could just give them the winning momentum in the tournament. Winning the toss and choosing to bat first, Sachin Tendulkar gave his side a steady start with a strong opening partnership with Shikhar Dhawan.

In the middle overs (11 to 15) the Mumbai Indians scoring rate declined slightly as both the openers fell followed by Saurabh Tiwary, who went for a duck. The pick of the bowlers for Guyana was Devendra Bishoo who claimed all the three wickets so far. Then started the onslaught of Kieron Pollard and the Guyana bowlers lost whatever control they were beginning to get on the game. Smashing 9 sixes and 1 four in his innings of 72, which came of just 30 balls, the calm West Indies pinch hitter ensured that his side reaches the competitive score of 184/4 on a pitch that showed signs of slowing down with time.

The Guyana batsmen started off poorly as the openers could not capitalize in the opening overs. Soon, however, the Mumbai Indians’ bowlers started leaking runs and Ramnaresh Sarwan and Narsingh Deonarine made sure that their team is still in the hunt. In spite of being well ahead of Mumbai Indians in terms of score it looked difficult for Guyana to repeat an innings like Kieron Pollard. Soon the required scoring rate began to climb too quickly and the batsmen started to give in. Mumbai won the match by 31 runs as Guyana wrapped for 153/6.