Today, on 8th Oct, in the match against Somerset, Separamadu Lasith Malinga again showed why he is such a dangerous bowler in death overs. His figures on 20/4 justified his man of the match award. First Malinga took out Somerset's two biggest batsmen of the tournament, Peter Trego and Roelof van der Merwe, with devilish yorkers and changes of pace. Then he came back in the death overs to almost pick up yet another hat trick in a T20 game.
The game was an important one, none other than the semifinal of Champions League T20. Mumbai Indians wanted to book a berth in the finals against RCB, and so did Somerset, who have never won any major tournament so far.
It looked like Mumbai Indians have put enough runs on the board after the first innings was over. But no total is big enough in T20 cricket.
Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to bat first. They ran away at the top through Aiden Blizzard's quick fire half century. And in the end, by some fearsome batting from Sathish and Yadav to put up their best batting effort of the tournament.
Malinga opened the bowling attack for Somerset and picked up dangerous Peter Trego in the very first over. Trego had no clue what so ever as to what to do with the pacy away going yorker. He was the first victim of Lasith Malinga. This was the beginning of what was going to be a sensational piece of bowling from Slinga Malinga.
Somerset hadn't yet put their first step properly after the departure of Trego, Malinga claimed the prized wicket of in form and dangerous Roelof van der Merwe. RVDM was bowled with a slow low full toss. After that Kieswetter and Hildreth started rebuilding the innings scoring at a crisp rate and keeping in breath with the required rate. The match was evenly poised till 17th over with both sides having a chance to win the semifinal.
Malinga was bought into the attack when Somerset required just 29 runs to win from 18 balls at a run rate of 9.66, which is not a huge task in a T2O match. Malinga bowled unplayable deliveries to give away just 7 runs off the 18th over.
Still 22 required off 12 bowls. Very Much Possible. James Franklin bowled a brilliant over by picking up 2 wickets for 7 runs in that over. The match could still tilt in anybody's favor. Though Mumbai Indians were favorite at this moment.
15 runs required to win from 6 balls. Difficult but not impossible. Malinga bowled an exceptional over by giving away just 3 runs and damaging the furniture of 2 more batsmen. In both the cases, middle stump was uprooted. His accuracy being as sharp as Arjun's arch.
Scoring runs consistently on his bowling is becoming more and more difficult. He is the first and only bowler to have two World Cup hat-tricks, the first and only bowler to have taken three hat-tricks in ODI's and he is also the first and only player to have taken four wickets in four consecutive bowls in any form of international cricket. Though he has retired from the longer version of the game, he still excites and entertains cricket lovers all over the world with his slinging accurate yorkers in ODI's and T20 games. Hope to see his great swinging yorkers for many more years to come.
The game was an important one, none other than the semifinal of Champions League T20. Mumbai Indians wanted to book a berth in the finals against RCB, and so did Somerset, who have never won any major tournament so far.
It looked like Mumbai Indians have put enough runs on the board after the first innings was over. But no total is big enough in T20 cricket.
Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to bat first. They ran away at the top through Aiden Blizzard's quick fire half century. And in the end, by some fearsome batting from Sathish and Yadav to put up their best batting effort of the tournament.
Malinga opened the bowling attack for Somerset and picked up dangerous Peter Trego in the very first over. Trego had no clue what so ever as to what to do with the pacy away going yorker. He was the first victim of Lasith Malinga. This was the beginning of what was going to be a sensational piece of bowling from Slinga Malinga.
Somerset hadn't yet put their first step properly after the departure of Trego, Malinga claimed the prized wicket of in form and dangerous Roelof van der Merwe. RVDM was bowled with a slow low full toss. After that Kieswetter and Hildreth started rebuilding the innings scoring at a crisp rate and keeping in breath with the required rate. The match was evenly poised till 17th over with both sides having a chance to win the semifinal.
Malinga was bought into the attack when Somerset required just 29 runs to win from 18 balls at a run rate of 9.66, which is not a huge task in a T2O match. Malinga bowled unplayable deliveries to give away just 7 runs off the 18th over.
Still 22 required off 12 bowls. Very Much Possible. James Franklin bowled a brilliant over by picking up 2 wickets for 7 runs in that over. The match could still tilt in anybody's favor. Though Mumbai Indians were favorite at this moment.
15 runs required to win from 6 balls. Difficult but not impossible. Malinga bowled an exceptional over by giving away just 3 runs and damaging the furniture of 2 more batsmen. In both the cases, middle stump was uprooted. His accuracy being as sharp as Arjun's arch.
Scoring runs consistently on his bowling is becoming more and more difficult. He is the first and only bowler to have two World Cup hat-tricks, the first and only bowler to have taken three hat-tricks in ODI's and he is also the first and only player to have taken four wickets in four consecutive bowls in any form of international cricket. Though he has retired from the longer version of the game, he still excites and entertains cricket lovers all over the world with his slinging accurate yorkers in ODI's and T20 games. Hope to see his great swinging yorkers for many more years to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment