Brilliant Mumbai storm past listless Jaipur

Dwayne Smith and Sachin Tendulkar notched up a mammoth opening stand of 163 as Mumbai crushed Jaipur by 10 wickets in the final league game of the Indian T20 league.

It was a dead rubber as Jaipur had already been knocked out of the tournament while Mumbai, having already qualified for the play-offs, would have remained on third irrespective of whether they had won or not. Mumbai skipper Harbhajan Singh called incorrectly and his counterpart Rahul Dravid immediately elected to bat.

The home side were jolted early as Dravid fell in the second over and was followed by the most consistent batsman of his side, Ajinkya Rahane, in the 6th over. Jaipur were struggling at 31/2 at the end of the Quick Start Overs. Shane Watson and Stuart Binny then steadied things in the middle with a fine 53-run stand before Binny departed in the 12th over, followed by Watson in the 14th.

The visitors gave plenty of extras towards the closing stages of the innings but the hosts still struggled, managing 56/2 in the Extreme Performance Overs, largely due to the open-heartedness of the home side. Shane Watson top scored with 45 and ended up with a Batting Momentum of 74. For Mumbai, Dhawal Kulkarni picked up 3 wickets and ended up with a Bowling Efficiency of 209.

Have a look at the scorecard. 

In reply, Sachin Tendulkar and his new opening partner, Dwayne Smith, hardly broke any sweat.  They cautiously moved to 44/0 at the end of the Quick Start Overs and then Smith started to open up. The pressure started to get to the bowlers and even the fielders as simple chances started to get muffed.

Things started to get from bad to worse as Mumbai did not lose a single wicket and canted to victory in the 19th over! Dwayne Smith top scored with an unbeaten 87 from 58 balls and ended up with a Batting Momentum of 165. Tendulkar played well for his 58. Not a wicket for the bowlers, with Shane Watson being the pick of the bowlers with 0/17 in 3 overs and a Bowling Efficiency of 40.

Mumbai ended up with a Castrol Index of 63 while Jaipur got a value of 37. Mumbai won each and every department with ease.

Dwayne Smith was named the Man Of The Match and ended up with a value of 68, the best value in the Castrol Index. For Jaipur, Shane Watson finished with a value of 40.

The top four teams for the play offs have now been decided - Delhi at the top, Kolkata on second, Mumbai on third and Chennai sneaking into fourth spot.

Th first Qualifier will see the match between Delhi and Kolkata at Pune on Tuesday, 22nd May, 2012 at 1430 GMT while Chennai face Mumbai at Bangalore in the Eliminator on Wednesday, 23rd May, 2012 at 1430 GMT.