Tendulkar and Rayudu sparkle in Mumbai's win

Sachin Tendulkar, the controller, and Ambati Rayudu, the enforcer, made short work of the below-par target to give Mumbai their second successive win of the tournament. However, it was with the bat that Bangalore lost the game tonight. It was a strange innings as Bangalore were in consolidation mode for most of the time after they slipped to 19 for 2 and meandered their way to 140.

There was no such hesitation shown by Mumbai in the chase. Every time Bangalore tried a new bowler, Tendulkar and Rayudu lashed out. When Abhimanyu Mithun was introduced in the sixth over, Tendulkar showcased his gorgeous straight drive and Rayudu swatted a bouncer and creamed through wide mid-off. When Tillakaratne Dilshan came on in the 10th over, Tendulkar deployed the slog sweep and the conventional sweep to collect more boundaries. When Asad Pathan was brought in the 12th over, Rayudu crash-pulled the first delivery to midwicket boundary and when Virat Kohli returned for a second spell, in the 13th over, Tendulkar smote him to the straight boundary.

Mumbai's batsmen reserved their best for Zaheer Khan, whose awful night mirrored Bangalore's in many ways. Davy Jacobs flatbatted a stunning a six over long-on in the fourth ball of the chase and sandwiched fours over covers and long-off with a lovely whippy six over midwicket in Zaheer's next over. When Zaheer returned for a second spell, Rayudu cut him to point boundary, slammed a full toss to midwicket and lofted him to the long-on boundary.