For sure, they were hurting after that humiliating loss against Punjab a week ago. Humiliating because, they had to chase a par score and they fell well short of the target, giving 3 wickets to a relative newbie, current purple cap holder, Yusuf Abdullah. So, it was only a matter of time before they turned on the screws with a blazing display.
Yuvraj made 2 big mistakes today: one, to field first after winning the toss and two, to drop himself down the batting order. The second blunder may be condoned partly due to the shambolic performance by Punjab's bowlers, but, if he needed to lead from the front, then, nothing else could have motivated his team more than opening the batting. This is not to take anything away from the splendid opening pair of Smith and Ojha, mind you. They seemed to hit the ground running and even though Yusuf Pathan fell cheaply, the platform they set was ideal for a 200+ score.
Brendon McCullum finally managed to get some boundaries today, but, ironically, it was Brad Hodge who chose the wrong gears just when KKR needed acceleration. So, KKR ended up with 154, which could have been defended gamely, if only their fielding was much better than it was. Speaking of which (I did not see yesterday's match), Chennai's almost cost them the match against a cavalier Deccan. MS Dhoni hit the nail on the head by saying that their batting and bowling are hiding a schoolboy fielding unit, but, they may pay the price in a low-scoring match. Which, given the fact that most venues (with the exception of Jo'burg) are seeing low-scoring affairs, might not be too far away.
With the race for the semifinal spots well and truly hotting up, net run rates could prove to be very crucial in the final reckoning. And the funny thing is, Mumbai and Deccan are separated by just one point (Mumbai have 7, Deccan 8), but Mumbai have the superior net RR and they are 7th in the table, while Deccan are 4th. And most interestingly, these two will fight it out tomorrow. Adam Gilchrist's side has now lost 3 matches consecutively and they will be dead keen to arrest that slide. Mumbai, on the other hand, are playing like Pakistan used to do, some years back. With the exception of that rained off match against Rajasthan, their record in this tournament reads thus: W-L-W-L-W-L. They will be concerned about their top-order now, and given the fact that Zaheer won't play tomorrow (as he sustained a shoulder niggle while fielding against Bangalore on Sunday), their bowling will be a bit weaker as well. I'm going for Deccan to win tomorrow, unless, they contrive to self-destruct again.
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