The first match of the Champions League 2010 did little to erase either the fans memories of how thoroughly the IPL teams had been outclassed in the last edition, or how the Mumbai Indians had lost the IPL finals after dominating the tournament.
Both facts were brought home in stark fashion by the Highveld Lions defeat of the Mumbai Indians.
In a man-to-man comparison, the Lions would have come up several rungs short of the Mumbai brigade, but in a team-to-team stand-off, they won out.
It has been suggested before that the other club sides in the Champions League will make up in cohesion and team-work what they lack in star-power vis-a-vis the IPL teams, and so it proved. The Lions have played as a unit through the seasons - the Mumbai Indians meet for about a quarter of the year at differently spaced intervals. Mumbai were clearly rusty, being sloppy while fielding and indisciplined while bowling. The batting couldn't be faulted much, but if Tendulkar had been given out - as he should have been - in the second over when he was caught plumb in front, the batting wouldn't have come out looking blameless either.
The other aspect that hurt Mumbai were the questionable tactics of their captain while bowling. Tendulkar took the right decision in bowling first after winning the toss, but after that his decisions were inexplicable. No less an expert than Shaun Pollock had said that the pitch would be good for batting, but there would be early assistance for the bowlers. If you decide to take advantage of that early assistance, surely it makes sense to entrust your best bowlers with the initial overs so that they can exploit its advantage to the maximum?
Off the first six overs of the power-play though, Lasith Malinga - Mumbai's most potent weapon - bowled one over, while Zaheer Khan also bowled only one over. Fully three overs were bowled by Ali Murtaza, while Ryan McLaren was mystifyingly removed from the attack after bowling the first over of the innings and conceding only four runs. In the middle overs, Sachin used Duminy, Pollard and Sathish for a total of four overs, which would have been fine except for the fact that his frontline bowlers still hadn't completed their quota. McLaren of course bowled one over, but even Harbhajan got only 3 of the allotted 4 overs.
Sachin's holding back of Pollard in the batting order in the finals of the IPL was a major talking point, and it was elaborated upon in this article, written immediately after the IPL finals, and this match seemed to confirm that while he is a genius at understanding the nuances of cricket and at the craft of batsmanship, he is not quite there when it comes to the art of captaincy.
This is not to say that the Lions did not deserve their win. They played outstandingly and deserved the points and accolades. Indeed, they might still have won even if Mumbai's best bowlers had bowled more of the overs, but from Mumbai's point of view, a loss when they were just beaten by a team that played better would have been easier to swallow than a loss that was helped by the fact that they blundered tactically.
The only silver lining was that after being given a life by the umpire, Sachin Tendulkar got to spend a goodish time in the middle and unfurled his shots to all parts of the ground. This was the first time he was batting in a limited-overs competition after the IPL, and it must be heartening to Mumbai that he looks set to take off just where he left off then.
Both facts were brought home in stark fashion by the Highveld Lions defeat of the Mumbai Indians.
In a man-to-man comparison, the Lions would have come up several rungs short of the Mumbai brigade, but in a team-to-team stand-off, they won out.
It has been suggested before that the other club sides in the Champions League will make up in cohesion and team-work what they lack in star-power vis-a-vis the IPL teams, and so it proved. The Lions have played as a unit through the seasons - the Mumbai Indians meet for about a quarter of the year at differently spaced intervals. Mumbai were clearly rusty, being sloppy while fielding and indisciplined while bowling. The batting couldn't be faulted much, but if Tendulkar had been given out - as he should have been - in the second over when he was caught plumb in front, the batting wouldn't have come out looking blameless either.
The other aspect that hurt Mumbai were the questionable tactics of their captain while bowling. Tendulkar took the right decision in bowling first after winning the toss, but after that his decisions were inexplicable. No less an expert than Shaun Pollock had said that the pitch would be good for batting, but there would be early assistance for the bowlers. If you decide to take advantage of that early assistance, surely it makes sense to entrust your best bowlers with the initial overs so that they can exploit its advantage to the maximum?
Off the first six overs of the power-play though, Lasith Malinga - Mumbai's most potent weapon - bowled one over, while Zaheer Khan also bowled only one over. Fully three overs were bowled by Ali Murtaza, while Ryan McLaren was mystifyingly removed from the attack after bowling the first over of the innings and conceding only four runs. In the middle overs, Sachin used Duminy, Pollard and Sathish for a total of four overs, which would have been fine except for the fact that his frontline bowlers still hadn't completed their quota. McLaren of course bowled one over, but even Harbhajan got only 3 of the allotted 4 overs.
Sachin's holding back of Pollard in the batting order in the finals of the IPL was a major talking point, and it was elaborated upon in this article, written immediately after the IPL finals, and this match seemed to confirm that while he is a genius at understanding the nuances of cricket and at the craft of batsmanship, he is not quite there when it comes to the art of captaincy.
This is not to say that the Lions did not deserve their win. They played outstandingly and deserved the points and accolades. Indeed, they might still have won even if Mumbai's best bowlers had bowled more of the overs, but from Mumbai's point of view, a loss when they were just beaten by a team that played better would have been easier to swallow than a loss that was helped by the fact that they blundered tactically.
The only silver lining was that after being given a life by the umpire, Sachin Tendulkar got to spend a goodish time in the middle and unfurled his shots to all parts of the ground. This was the first time he was batting in a limited-overs competition after the IPL, and it must be heartening to Mumbai that he looks set to take off just where he left off then.
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