Vishu is a glorious Agri Festival for Keralites, as the Sun enters the Vernal or Spring Equinox, the First Second of Aries. So also it proved on the cricket field, as minnows Kochi beat Sachin's impregnable Mumbai side !
Sachin was 100 not out in a score of 182/2. McCullum is on 57 and Mahela is 52 not out.
Even Slinga Malinga faltered before his ex skipper and the grand hitter, McCullum.
Keralites are celebrating the Sun's entry into the Vernal Equinox, known as Vishu. Will this be a Vishu gift for the Keralites?
McCullum smashes the Slinga for a four and KTK are 123/0!
Today seems the day of the batsmen, Gambhir scoring 75 no, Kallis 80 no, Sachin 100 no and now the Kerala Tuskers 127/0!
Malinga shatters the stumps of Mahela and KTK are 128/1 !
McCullum lofts Pollard for four and KTK move on to 155/1! KTK need 28 off 19 balls ! Jadeja is giving him excellent support and McCullum is on 81 !
MI get a vital breakthrough as the formidable Slinga clean bowls McCullum ! Now 27 runs are needed off 18 balls !
Jadeja lofts Murtaza for two sixes and KTK beat formidable Mumbai by 8 wickets !
The Slinga returned with the figures of 2/42! As the Tuskers won, the Mumbai crowd were silenced.
The Kochi win was possible by the great batting of McCullum (81), Mahela (56), Jadeja (25 ) and Brad Hodge ( 11).
This was the best first wicket partnership in the IPL, 128 for the first wicket. McCullum and Mahela blasted the hapless Mumbai bowlers to all parts of the field. And when Jadeja and Hodge took over, the formidable Mumbai bowlers could do nothing ! Bradman was right ! " The bowlers can only bowl as the batsmen allow them to "
Slinga Malinga may say " Bowlers win matches" but yesterday he could do nothing. He did take two wickets but that was not enough, as Jadeja otudid Dhoni and blasted two consecutive sixes to take his side to victory !
In his brilliant 81, McCullum blasted 2 sixes and ten fours. Mahela's was more or less a sedate knock, embellished with nine fours and his 56 came off 36 balls. Jadeja's 25 not out was sweet and scintillating and contained two fours and two sixes. Brad Hodge was brilliant as he hit 11 off 7 balls with two fours !
Mahela said later they had plans to destroy the Mumbai attack. McCullum hit the formidable Slinga for three fours and that halted the bullishness of Malinga ! McCullum took the attack to the bowlers and committed mayhem on the hapless Mumbai bowlers, who were considered formidable so far ! He was rightly adjudged the Man of the Match. His 81 made Sachin's hundred go in vain ! Even me scoring fifty brought happiness to Keralites. What was disappointing was the ball of Malinga which bowled me. We had plans to combat the formidable Slinger. His variation of pace did me in. I was worried we may be defeated again. But fortunately Jadeja and Hodge played with mental toughness and brought home the bacon !
In other words, this victory came as a shot in the arm to the fanbase of Kochi and the players. It is not easy to defeat the formidable Mumbai team, led by mighty Sachin. Now we are preparing to take another powerful team, Dhoni's Chennai. We are preparing hard. It is a home match and the crowd expect a lot from us.
This is the result of hard work, as we have been preparing hard. This win will bring the crowd back to Kochi.
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