On a slightly surreal night, Rahul Dravid lost his cool and shouted at the umpire, Kieron Pollard mocked Shane Watson so much he made him leave the dugout and go into the dressing room, Pollard was run out for the first time in the IPL, Mumbai Indians scored just 34 in the last five, but their bowling might won them the match comfortably and all but sealed a place in the top two. Mumbai and Chennai Super Kings now have one more win than Rajasthan Royals, but also a higher net run rate accumulated over 15 matches, which will take some doing to overcome.
Mumbai might not have finished their innings well despite 59 off 37 from Aditya Tare who was replacing the injured Sachin Tendulkar, but it was their start with the ball that eventually sealed the game. Thanks to two wickets each for Mitchell Johnson and Dhawal Kulkarni, Royals were reduced to their worst Powerplay of all time: 29 for 4. Watson wasn't one of those wickets, but he top-edged a Pragyan Ojha long hop before he could cause much damage.
Royals were 58 for 5 in the 10th over when Watson fell, but Brad Hodge, kept back until No. 8, and Stuart Binny tried to pull things back, and even brought the equation down to 38 off three overs. However, two of those overs were to be bowled by Lasith Malinga. He went for five and eight in those overs.
Royals could claim similar success with their bowling towards the end, but the start wasn't that good. Mumbai came in with a new opening pair of Tare and Glenn Maxwell, who weren't pretty but were effective. After Maxwell for 23 off 17, Tare took over and went after all Royals bowlers without any discrimination. However, he was only 24 off 15 when dropped by Dravid at short midwicket. He rubbed it in by pulling Binny over Dravid's head next ball.
When he finally fell, at 108 for 3 in the 13th over, Tare had set Mumbai up for possibly a score of 200. Some superb fielding and canny bowling from Royals, including Pollard's run-out by Kevon Cooper and James Faulkner's last two overs for just 11 runs, kept Mumbai down, but not for long.
Having recovered from his off game against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Johnson was creating breakthroughs at the top. In the first over, he might have got Dravid caught at the wicket without the edge, but it was a sharp bouncer nonetheless. Royals continued holding Watson back, and Mumbai kept running through the rest.
When Watson finally arrived, he had Pollard for company. While Watson seemed furious, Pollard seemed to be laughing almost mockingly. Watson was yet to face a ball then. The umpires had to tell Pollard off, but he eventually had the final mock when Watson - under the pressure of falling wickets and rising asking rate - mis-hit Ojha to Pollard. After celebrating wildy, Pollard went to his boundary post and seemed to have another conversation with Watson, who sat in the dugout behind him.
Eventually, Watson left the place in disgust, and finally Hodge got to bat when Royals lost another wicket. Royals needed 79 from 43 when he came in, but he and Binny brought the target down with sensible hitting. Hodge hit Ojha for four fours in the 16th over, which included a drop by Ambati Rayudu, but Malinga ensured Mumbai's clean sheet at home.
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