Mumbai end Jaipur's win streak, start theirs (Mumbai Indians v Rajasthan, IPL Match 27)

The first half of the inaugural Indian Premier League turned out to be a nightmare for the costliest team, Mumbai, but with the second half has also come a giant-killing win streak.


After beating Kolkata and Delhi, the Shaun Pollock led side put it across Jaipur by seven wickets, also bringing to an end Jaipur's five-match unbeaten run at the DY Patil stadium here on Wednesday.


Jaipur went to Mumbai to rack up another to their applecart. The home side, however, are rolling their own juggernaut, as their bowlers put up a solid effort to skittle the visitors out for 103, before the batsmen clinically finished off the proceedings with 4.5 overs remaining.


Ashish Nehra led the Mumbai bowling attack with 3-13, while Dhaval Kulkarni, Dwayne Bravo and Rohan Raje picked up two apiece.


The IPL has thrown some interesting battles within battles. Whether it's been countrymen taking on each other or old foes taking their rivavly to another level. The Mumbai versus Jaipur fixture was no different on Wednesday.


First, the two retired international stalwarts — Shaun Pollock and Shane Warne — squared off at the toss, and just as the former called the coin right and asked Jaipur to have a bat, the second battle had already begun.


The former South Africa captain was charging in at his successor Graeme Smith, the latter, batting a yard outside his crease, hell-bent on sending the metronome on a leather hunt.


Mumbai, who have had to make do without Sachin Tendulkar so far in the tournament, were going nowhere up until the last week but have seen a quiet resurgence. Pollock led the way, outsmarting Smith for five before Ashish Nehra cleaned up Yusuf Pathan.


Swapnil Asnodkar (39) and Shane Watson got the momentum back on the visiting side, adding 53 for the third wicket before the Australian all-rounder was bowled by Dwayne Bravo for 32, which triggered a mini-collapse with Mohammad Kaif and Ravindra Jadeja falling in quick time.


The Mumbai bowlers needed all of 16.2 overs to dismiss their opponents for their lowest score. Jaipur were all out for the first time in seven games.


Teams:


Mumbai: Shaun Pollock (captain), Yogesh Takawale, Sanath Jayasuriya, Dominic Thornely, Robin Uthappa, Dwayne Bravo, Abhishek Nayar, Saurabh Tiwary, R Raje, Dhaval Kulkarni, Ashish Nehra.


Jaipur: Shane Warne (captain), Swapnil Asnodkar, Yusuf Pathan, Shane Watson, Mohammad Kaif, Ravindra Jadeja, Shane Warne, Mahesh Rawat, Siddharth Trivedi, Munaf Patel, Sohail Tanvir.