Calm Tendulkar guides Mumbai Indians to 166-7

Sachin Tendulkar has taken no time to join the IPL party. The Mumbai Indians skipper proves his class with a patient 59 to author his team’s progress. 167 will be tough chase for the Chennai Super Kings but they have an explosive batting.

Over 20: Tenulkar blasts the last ball of the innings for a boundary to spoil what was a brilliant over by Flintoff. Tendulkar stays unbeaten on 59 and Mumbai Indians reach 166-7.

Runs: 1,1,1,1,W,4

Over 19: Ohhh just as Mumbai was turning it on, they lose Nayar. But what a knock. The youngster smashed 35 off 19 balls. Tendulkar hits another boundary to reach his fifty. Harbhajan Singh has walked in and smashes a boundary and departs next ball.

Mumbai’s opening partnership yielded 39 in 5.4 overs but it wasn’t convincing. The first boundary of the IPL didn’t come as Sanath Jayasuriya would have liked it, slashing wide of slip, and he also survived a close run-out chance. Tendulkar attempted and connected on a few risky shots over the infield and was dropped on 10 by Matthew Hayden at first slip, off a leading edge drawn by Andrew Flintoff. The running and calling between Jayasuriya and Tendulkar was shaky and they also struggled to find the gaps. The ball didn’t come on to the bat to the batsmen’s liking, as evident in Tendulkar’s frequent grimaces and constant shuffling to manoeuvre the bowling.

Shikhar Dhawan, in his first game for Mumbai, struggled for fluency and was undone by the slow bounce as he top-edged Manpreet Gony. Gony then held on to a sharp reflex catch to get JP Duminy with a clever bouncer in his next over and, taking the cue, Joginder Sharma dropped short and had Dwayne Bravo pulling to deep square leg. It was proof that the short-pitched ball can work well on such tracks.

With Tendulkar keeping one end up, Abhishek Nayar walked out and played an invaluable cameo, including three larruped sixes in one Flintoff over. Nayar was also busy between the wickets in his 14-ball 35, and Tendulkar kept the innings alive with an important 59 from 49 balls, but it remains to be see what sort of total is safe here.

The pre-match drizzle in cloudy Cape Town influenced MS Dhoni’s decision to field on a damp pitch and 20 overs later he led his side off the field looking rather pleased. Dhoni rotated the same five pace bowlers, not turning to R Ashwin’s off spin. Gony, Sharma and Thushara - picked because Albie Morkel’s kit didn’t arrive with him from Johannesburg - bowled well and mixed slower deliveries with bouncers to good effect. Flintoff, the IPL’s most expensive acquisition, leaked 44 from his four overs for one wicket.