Harbhajan Singh claimed five wickets to help Mumbai Indians clinch a sensational eight-run victory over Chennai Super Kings in their IPL encounter in Mumbai on Friday.
Mumbai set a target of 165 for Chennai on the back of Rohit Sharma’s 48-ball 87 and the defending champions could only reach 156 for nine despite a battling unbeaten half-century from Subramaniam Badrinath.
Harbhajan derailed Chennai’s chase with his magical spell of five for 18 and was backed up well by a brilliant fielding display led by Kieron Pollard.
Mumbai, batting first after losing the toss, overcame the early loss of Rajagopal Sathish and Sachin Tendulkar through a productive 51-run third-wicket stand between Ambati Rayudu and Sharma.
Suraj Randiv then had Rayudu stumped for 27, but it was only a momentary relief as they had to contend with an even more fearsome pair in Sharma and Andrew Symonds.
Sharma blasted Randiv for a huge six to bring up his half-century off just 31 balls, which also took Mumbai past 100 by the 14th over.
The pair singled out Joginder Sharma for a couple of fours and a six as the Chennai bowlers struggled against a volley of improvised shots.
A couple of tight overs from Doug Bollinger at the death meant the total did not swell beyond 164 and the left-hand paceman fittingly claimed the wicket of Rohit Sharma, whose innings included five sixes and eight boundaries and whose fourth-wicket stand with Symonds (30 not out) accrued 87 off 8.1 overs.
Chennai openers Michael Hussey and Murali Vijay raised hopes of a chase by blasting 35 off four overs, but a double strike pegged them back as Vijay and new man Suresh Raina fell to Munaf Patel and Harbhajan respectively.
Hussey and Badrinath kept the defending champions in the hunt by scoring at nearly nine per over as Chennai raced to 84 for two at the halfway mark.
Mumbai needed a spark of brilliance to break the potentially dangerous stand and Lasith Malinga, in combination with the athletic Pollard diving forward at mid-wicket, provided the breakthrough as Hussey departed for 41 from 33 balls.
Pollard’s athleticism rubbed off on other fielders also as Sharma held on to a diving catch at third man off the tall Trinidadian in the next over to dismiss new man Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Badrinath, in the company of Srikkanth Anirudha, battled on and brought the target down to 55 off the last six overs with a boundary off Malinga, but Anirudha’s dismissal off Harbhajan a couple of overs later left Chennai at 123 for five after 16.
The visitors needed 42 off 24 balls for a thrilling victory and the stage was set for the big-hitting Albie Morkel, but the South African let his team down after being bowled through the gate by Harbhajan.
By then Badrinath had reached his fifty off 37 balls, but two quick wickets at the other end for Harbhajan meant Chennai required 28 off 12 balls with two wickets left when Joginder became Harbhajan’s fifth victim.
Malinga snared his compatriot Randiv to leave Badrinath (71no off 48 balls) with the task of scoring 25 off the last over bowled by Munaf, but Chennai could only get as far as 156.