South Australia Redbacks clinched a thrilling five-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in the Champions League Twenty20 tournament here on Tuesday, reaching the target with three balls to spare and climbing to the top of the Group ‘B' table. This was South Australia's second win in two matches, and Mumbai's second defeat.
After a slow start, Mumbai posted 180, thanks to its power-packed middle order which muscled 121 runs in the last 10 overs. Saurabh Tiwary and Kieron Pollard were chiefly responsible for the turnaround with a fifth-wicket stand of 58 in four sixer-saturated overs.
After Tiwary's dismissal, Dwayne Bravo gave the innings a rousing finish with a 12-ball 22.
Purposeful start
Redbacks openers Michael Klinger and Daniel Harris went about the chase purposefully, and enjoyed large slices of fortune in a partnership of 112, seeing a number of edges and mishits drop into no-man's land.
Amidst all this, the duo took heavy toll of the Mumbai bowling. Having reached 69 after the first 10, the batsmen upped the tempo. But just when all the pressure seemed to have shifted on to Mumbai, the openers fell.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Graham Manou went next, Tiwary catching him at deep square leg off Murtaza, leaving South Australia needing a further 54 from 27 balls.
By the time Callum Ferguson and Daniel Christian fell, the equation had changed to 25 from 10. Cameron Borgas sliced Zaheer Khan over point for four, and then took a single to bring new man Tom Cooper on strike. The 23-year-old, who has represented the Netherlands in 10 ODIs, walked across his stumps and scooped the next ball, a full toss, well beyond the backward square leg fence.
Cooper does it
With eleven required from the final over, entrusted to Harbhajan Singh, Cooper took two off the first ball, and then got on one knee to slog the off-spinner over cover corner before finishing off with a mow between midwicket and mid on.
The scores: Mumbai Indians: S. Dhawan c Manou b Putland 2 (7b), S. Tendulkar b O'Brien 20 (17b, 3x4, 1x6), A. Rayudu c Harris b Bailey 38 (32b, 1x4, 2x6), J-P. Duminy c & b O'Brien 3 (6b), S. Tiwary c Ferguson b Tait 44 (25b, 1x4, 4x6), K. Pollard c Ferguson b Christian 36 (21b, 2x4, 3x6), D. Bravo (run out) 22 (12b, 4x4), Harbhajan Singh (not out) 0 (0b), Z. Khan (not out) 0 (1b); Extras (b-1, lb-3, 2-10, nb-1) 15. Total (for seven wkts. in 20 overs) 180.
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-35, 3-47, 4-79, 5-137, 6-170, 7-179.
South Australia Redbacks bowling: Tait 4-0-27-1, Putland 4-0-24-1, Christian 4-0-37-1, O'Brien 4-0-49-2, Bailey 3-0-30-1, Harris 1-0-9-0.
South Australia Redbacks: M. Klinger c Bravo b Malinga 50 (48b, 2x4, 3x6), D. Harris c Duminy b Murtaza 56 (37b, 4x4, 3x6), G. Manou c Tiwary b Murtaza 12 (7b, 1x4, 1x6), C. Ferguson c Murtaza b Malinga 6 (5b), D. Christian c Tiwary b Zaheer 16 (10b, 2x4), C. Borgas (not out) 14 (5b, 3x4), T. Cooper (not out) 19 (5b, 1x4, 2x6); Extras (b-5, w-4): 9. Total (for five wkts. in 19.3 overs) 182.
Fall of wickets: 1-112, 2-116, 3-127, 4-140, 5-158.
Mumbai Indians bowling: Zaheer 4-0-33-1, Malinga 4-0-22-2, Murtaza 3-0-29-2, Bravo 4-0-46-0, Harbhajan 3.3-0-31-0, Pollard 1-0-16-0.
