Did Mumbai try to spoil Bangalore's chances?

Last night, the Kolkata Knight Riders became the fourth team in the tournament to beat the Mumbai Indians after they won the match by 9 wickets. Prior to the match between the aforementioned teams, the Kolkata Knight Riders had a last opportunity to make it to the last four atleast this time especially when they were playing in Kolkata. Had the Kolkata team been able to overcome the Mumbai Indians in the last match of the league stage, by a good run rate, the Royal Challengers Bangalore would have been knocked out and there would have been yet another encounter between both the teams.

The Mumbai Indians gave the Kolkata Knight Riders every opportunity possible so that they make the better of them first with their usual captain Sachin Tendulkar opting to rest himself and then choosing Dwayne Bravo to captain his side. If at all Schin Tendulkar was supposed to rest himself for a match, he would have done it in any of the earlier games which his team played after making it to the semi finals of the tournament long back. But, that was never to be the case. One suggestion might be that Sachin Tendulkar would have wanted to confirm the orange cap so that it is not taken away once again by Kallis.

And, if at all Sachin Tendulkar wanted to give chance to some players who have so far never seen playing in the IPL, still that could have been done long back and not in just one game. Dilhara Fernando would have been handy even in the earlier games as well and Lasith Malinga need not have been dropped or rested. In one way, it is good for the Mumbai Indians in case the Kolkata Knight Riders replace the Royal Challengers for, the Kolkata team are better for the Mumbai team if compared to Bangalore. If Kolkata get through to the semis, then Mumbai can think of a final berth more probably than it would be the case of RCB qualifies.

If the match was followed closely, the Mumbai Indians, despite winning the toss and choosing to bat first neither lost wickets, neither showed any sort of discomfort nor put up a decent total. They were in the 14^th over found at 85/4 with a run rate of less than 6 an over. Their total towards the end also didn't sound so appealing and it was thought that the Kolkata would sneak into the semis after the match was gifted to them by Mumbai. Had the Kolkata team went in for a brutal chase, by getting to the target in say 13 overs, they could have got into the last four. But. sad that the Kolkata couldn't do even that despite the cooperation.

Of course, no one takes an inconsequential game seriously and the Mumbai Indians are no exception. And experimenting in such games is welcome by anyone but, losing with an intention that a strong team gets knocked out is unethical though not illegal.

Victory-The Aussie way

Well until the end of the fourth one dayer between Australia and Pakistan, I had accused Pakistan for not involving themselves into the game whatsoever. This included a number of factors like picking up the wrong combination in the playing XI, under using the bowlers, using part time bowlers more than necessary which are one of the few factors that justify for the Pakistani defeat in the first 4 one dayers. However, as expected, Pakistan lost the fifth and the final one day match also to Australia by 2 wickets but not the way the Pakistan team lost the first four.

It was in the 49^th over when the Aussie tail-ender Ryan Harris was batting and Australia needed one run to win from 4 balls and a waist height full toss from Ifthikar Anjum was bowled. That hit the bat and landed safely in the hands of Shahid Afridi only to be signalled as a NO-BALL from the umpire Ashoka DeSilva that sealed Pakistani hopes of pulling off a thriller in the last one dayer. Rarely would have anybody seen such a ball signalled a NO-BALL in international cricket. As far as the rules of the game goes, the ball should cross the batsman's shoulder full-toss in case it is to be signalled a NO-BALL whatsoever.

One way the decision can be justified is by calling a waist as a shoulder. Had it not been for that, the match worst come, would have ended in a tie with still Pakistan going empty handed in the one day series. But, the way Australia has achieved this success makes a lot of tongues to wag. This no doubt reminds anyone about the Sydney test in 2007 where 8 decisions were wrong that was evident to even a common man let alone the cricket world. However, an outlook of the match suggests that Pakistan atleast in the last game tried to contain the Aussies, which was actually not the case.

Pakistan may have bought the Aussie batsmen close to 50 overs to chase the target of 213 they had imposed. The Aussie batsmen might have lost 8 wickets enroute to their run chase. But, still it was the Aussies who had lost interest in the latch that led to Pakistan cashing in on the chances. Australia, after having taken an unbeatable lead in any bilateral series played in the last couple of years have been found to neglect the last one. They had won the first 6 games against England after their loss in the Ashes 2009, only to lose the last one dayer and with that the chance to become the first team to have inflicted a 7-0 whitewash. So was the case against India in 2007, where Australia lost the last one dayer by 2 wickets in the match where Murali Karthik claimed his career best 6/27.

So, the only victory tie the Pakistan team can boast about is owing to the fact that Ryan Harris was given a needless life which should have found the umpires raise his fingers owing to the same. Pakistan have been completely been outplayed.