The captain of Mumbai Indians, Harbhajan Singh found the surface of Wankhede horrible for the Twenty 20 cricket besides winning the match vs. Deccan Chargers.
Mumbai Indians triumphed in one of the low scoring games by five wickets at their home ground on Sunday, April 29, 2012 at Wankhede Stadium. The wicket was a bowler’s paradise and did not qualify for the stroke play which is the beauty of the shortest version of the game. The crowd love to witness the bowlers being butchered by the batsmen at their will and the high scores are always heartening for the public present in the parks and the viewers glued to the TV sets all around the globe.
Deccan Chargers batsmen found themselves in deep trouble once they were sent into bat and the best partnership of 37 runs in 5.3 overs was contributed by their openers, Parthiv Patel and Shikhar Dhawan. The latter was the highest scorer in the innings with 29 off 32 balls with 3 fours, followed by Jean-Paul-Duminy who remained unbeaten for 25from 24 deliveries assisted by 3 fours as well. Seven of their batsmen could not enter in the double figures which reflected the state of the poor batting strip. Lasith Malinga enjoyed bowling at the track and clinched four wickets for just 16 runs in 3.4 overs and Harbhajan also achieved his best bowling figures of the tournament by taking 2-13.
Mumbai Indians batsmen also struggled as well except Rohit Sharma who was the top scorer with 42 from 48 balls which comprised one six and 4 fours. The most experienced batsman, Sachin Tendulkar, could manage just 14 runs off even balls. Ambati Rayudu was at the crease with a fighting score of 19 off 15 balls with 2 fours as the home side achieved the target by scoring 101 runs after losing five wickets. Dale Steyn grasped the best bowling figures of 2-10 in four overs and was honoured with the ‘Player of the match’ award.
Harbhajan acknowledged the distressed batting performance from both sides while appreciating his bowlers and a couple of batsmen who led them to victory. He said,
“We did not play any better than Deccan, both teams batted poorly. Of course, our bowlers did a superb job. Rohit batted well and Ambatu Rayudu was there to take us home.”
The Mumbai Indians skipper was optimistic that the participating teams playing in the future at Wankhede Stadium must know the type of wicket which will be used for their remaining matches of the IPL 2012. He commented,
“From next time, I think we have to ensure that we know what kind of wicket we are going to play.”
Harbhajan Singh put Deccan Chargers in to bat instantly after winning the toss, while keeping in the back of his mind the state of the pitch which he had observed earlier, before the start of the encounter. He disliked the pitch used for the 40th match of the fifth edition of the IPL which was against the spirit of the T20 games by saying,
“A different wicket from what we have played at the Wankhede. Not good for T20 cricket. I came today and saw the pitch and said wow what to expect here, we never know what to expect from this track ever.”
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