Wed, 13 Apr 2011 - IP Pune vs IP Kochi, IPL 2011, 10th Match - Bulletin

Mishra’s cameo scripts tense win for Pune

Young batsmen Monish Mishra kept his cool and displayed his hitting prowess to help his side to win a tense game against Kochi to go to the top of the points table. The successful chase of 149 runs had countless twists and swing as it was hard to predict a winner till Mishra hit two sixes in penultimate over bowled by Muthaih Muralitharan taking his across the line in an uptight situation.

Monish remained undefeated on 37 off 22 including two fours and as many sixes to fashion out a good comeback for his side after it lost Robin Uthappa who also played a winning hand by playing a breezy knock of 31 runs off 13 deliveries and Parnell in a quick succession with 31 runs still needed to win.

Pune didn’t had a good start to the chase as they lost four of their wickets including that of Yuvraj and Graeme Smith in 12th over with team score at 73 runs but a quick fire 42 put on between Mishra and Uthappa laid foundation for successful chase.

Kochi failure to win the match was largely due to their three premier bowlers Sreesanth, RP Singh and Murali who had a poor day with the ball going for plenty of runs and falling to get wickets for their team.

Earlier after reeling at 24 for the loss of four wickets primarily to the brilliant opening spell of fast bowling from Wayne Parnell, Kochi managed to post a competitive total to give themselves a good chance to win the game.

Parnell ripped heart out of Kochi top order removing Parthiv Patel, VVS Laxman and Jayawardene with only two runs between three of them following a good work of his partner Alfonso Thomas who had Brendon McCullum’s wicket off the first ball of the match.

Kochi batting effort was surged by the fifth wicket partnership between Ravindra Jadeja and Brad Hodge as both combined to pile 88 runs coming in a good time.

It was Jadeja who counter attacked Pune bowlers hitting some lusty blows while Brad Hodge took his time and exploded only in later stages of his career. Kochi could have got more runs had the duo lost their wickets in a quick succession with Hodge going out for a 36-ball 39 punctuated with two fours and as many sixes while Jadeja went for an impressive 47 off 33 balls including three fours and equal number of sixes.

Once both were gone, it was left to Ralph Gomez to give some respectability to the eventual score as he played his part by scoring a quick fire 26 in the end overs.