Mumbai Indians too good for KKR

Riding on Chris Gayle's 60-ball 75, KKR had managed to put a fighting total of 155, Ganguly's slow 31 out of 34 ball again proving to be a bit of hinderance, which at the end of the day was not enough.

Because, then came yet another brilliant knock by Sachin (71 in 48 balls), which made short work of the target and helped MI take the top spot in the points table.

Once a master, always a master. Its ironic that the great man has opted out of the national T20 squard citing a reason which under the present circumstances would be hard to digest. He had opted out from the national scheme of things of T20s, as he didn't want to upset the balance of the side. Many cricket lovers, including this writer, had assumed this to be an excuse as Sachin was not in the best of form those days. So much so that, experts had foreseen a quick end to his illustrious career.

And how the master has responded! He has since hit the form of his life, that turned everybody's opinion upside down. When you see this coupled with the T20 world cup debacle of India last year, you know how vital he is even in T20s. Lets wait and see if he changes his decision.

Coming back to the match, laying a solid platform is onething, and launching the final assault from there on is quite another thing. Here Ganguly, having consumed more than five overs, was not able to provide the much needed fireworks to boost up the total. Instead he left a very few deliveries for a newer batsman to do the job. Owais Shah, to his credit, played a decent knock, but the damage had already been done. The total, though fighting, was never gonna be enough.

More so when you have a certain Ishant Sharma up your sleeves to deal with. He is still very young all right, but basic cricket knowledge demands that you have to bowl full and straight when you have both third man and fine leg up in the circle. Having set that kind off a field, he kept on feeding Sachin with short deliveries, and the master obliged, doing what needed to be done.

The rest, as they say, is history.