Tendulkar guides Mumbai Indians to their first IPL semifinal
By IANSMonday, April 12, 2010
JAIPUR - Mumbai Indians sealed a semi-final berth with a clinical 37-run victory over Rajasthan Royals in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match here Sunday.
Sachin Tendulkar smashed an unbeaten 89 off 59 deliveries as Mumbai Indians recovered from early jolts to post 174 for five after being sent to bat.
Rajasthan Royals were then restricted to 137 for eight that also snapped their all-win record at home.
Shane Warne’s team has made a courageous comeback in the tournament but Sunday night lost to a better opponent. They were never really in the hunt and lost wickets from the start. Three run outs then broke the back of Royals’ middle order and their only hope was big-hitter Yusuf Pathan.
Pathan (10) had too much on his plate with the required runs more than double the balls in the final six overs. He was out to Kieron Pollard
Zaheer Khan and Lasith Malinga gave Mumbai a fine start with the ball. In-form Michael Lumb and Naman Ojha could not give a good start and both left with nine runs on the board.
Royals soon slipped to 34 for four with the run outs of Shane Watson and Faiz Fazal.
Abhishek Jhunjhunwala and (22) and Adam Voges (28) stopped the slide for a brief period but could not accelerate.
Aditya Dole scored 30 off 18 balls in the end but by then it was too late in the day.
Earlier, Tendulkar scored a measured knock after Mumbai lost three quick wickets.
Tendulkar, who had been in brilliant form this year, surpassed 500 runs this season and is the tournament’s top scorer.
Tendulkar and Jean Paul Duminy (31) added 63 runs before the former exploded - the last six overs produced 58 runs with Tendulkar dealing in fours and sixes. Siddharth Trivedi went for 20 runs in the last over with Tendulkar hitting two mighty sixes to add to his 10 fours in the innings.
Mumbai became the first team to reach the semi-final, their first in the three editions. They lead the table with 16 points after 11 matches.
Rajasthan Royals slipped to fourth place with 12 points from 12 matches.
