As their semi-final hopes went up in smoke, a flustered Mumbai Indians captain Sachin Tendulkar today held his batsmen responsible for the debacle as well as the inability to handle crunch situations.

He admitted his team lost the “crunch moments” which effectively came to an end when they were beaten by Chennai Super Kings at St George’s Park on Saturday.

Mumbai suffered a seven-wicket defeat against Chennai Super Kings which ended all their hopes to make the semi-final. With only one match left, against the table toppers Delhi Daredevils, they are stuck in seventh place.

“Throughout the tournament we lost the crunch moments,” said Tendulkar. “In the first match against Chennai everything clicked. But then our match against the Rajasthan Royals was washed out and we then had a break of seven days and we lost our momentum.”

Hayden made 60 not out off 57 balls, pacing his innings superbly as Chennai chased down a moderate Mumbai total of 147-5, winning with five balls to spare.

Chennai entrenched themselves in second place in the eight-team competition.

JP Duminy was mainly responsible for Mumbai reaching their total. The South African left-hander made 62, his fifth half-century of the tournament, off 54 balls.

It was a familiar tale for Mumbai, with Duminy holding the innings together after the team’s stars, Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar, were dismissed.

Jayasuriya threatened to play a major innings, hitting 30 off 17 balls, before top-edging a catch to point. Tendulkar made 11 before he was caught at deep mid-wicket.

Duminy and Abhishek Nayar (33 not out) put on 65 for the fourth wicket before Duminy was run out, backing up too far, in the final over.

Hayden was unusually cautious at the start of Chennai’s innings. At the mid-innings break he had scored only 15 off 28 balls in a total of 56-2.

Chennai looked in trouble when Subramaniam Badrinath was out in the 11th over but Hayden, partnered by Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, lifted his scoring rate as Chennai won comfortably in the end.

Hayden reached his fifth half-century of the campaign with a huge six off Harbhajan Singh which sailed out of the ground beyond mid-wicket.

The Super Kings Captain Dhoni wasn’t too satisfied despite the victory that ensured them a semi-final berth.

“We are committing the same mistakes in fielding. We are committing them in each and every game. If we don’t get it right in the knock-out stage, we would be in for trouble,” the India skipper warned.

Tags: Badrinath, Chennai Super Kings Vs Mumbai Indians, Chennai Vs Mumbai, Harbhajan Singh, IPL 2009 News, IPL Scores, IPL Updates, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Mathew Hayden, Matthew Hayden, Sachin Tendulkar, Sanath Jayasuriya

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Stung by their two-wicket loss against Royal Challengers Bangalore, a wounded Chennai Super Kings would hope to bounce back against Mumbai Indians in a bid to advance towards their semifinal goal in the Indian Premier League on Saturday.

Chennai would be fired up to cash on Mumbai Indians’ weakness of buckling under pressure, especially with every match being crucial for the eight teams.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men are sitting pretty at second spot with 13 points in their kitty from 11 matches while Sachin Tendulkar has a tough task in his hands with mere 11 points from their 12 appearances in the high-profile tournament so far.

Chennai, who lost to Mumbai in the tournament opener, look in a stronger position in tomorrow’s encounter despite its unimpressive fielding but surely boasts of a strong batting line-up which also runs deep with the likes of Australian swashbuckler Mathew Hayden, Suresh Raina, Dhoni, Jacob Oram and S Badrinath in their ranks.

Their bowling department is also studded with world’s highest wicket-taker Muttiah Muralitharan, Lakshmipathy Balaji and novice Shahdab Jakati, who is proving very effective for the side.

Tags: Badrinath, Chennai Super Kings Vs Mumbai Indians, Chennai Vs Mumbai, IPL 2009 News, IPL Scores, IPL Updates, Jacob Oram, L Balaji, Mathew Hayden, MS Dhoni, Muttiah Muralitharan, Shadab Jakati

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S Badrinath smashed a brilliant unbeaten 59 and shared a crucial 89-run partnership with Mathew Hayden (48) to register Chennai Super Kings’ impressive seven-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals in their Indian Premier League match on Saturday.

Chennai not only recorded their fifth win in a row but also beat the defending champions for the second time in the second edition of the event to go top of the points table. Chasing 141 to win, last year’s finalists, overhauled the target with 10 balls to spare.

Earlier, riding on a disciplined bowling attack, Chennai had restricted Rajasthan to a modest 140 for seven.

The slow nature of the wicket at the De Beers Diamond Oval made the contest between the ball and the bat interesting and set up an exciting finish.

Hayden and Badrinath batted intelligently as stroke-making was quite difficult on the 22-yard-strip here. Badrinath supported Hayden well after losing two early wickets. The Tamil Nadu batsman hit Shane Harwood for one six and three fours in the 16th over to take the pressure off Hayden, who batted with determination from the start.

Hayden departed when he danced down to the wicket off rival skipper Shane Warne in the 17th over but was foxed by the big turn and stumper Naman Ojha uprooted the stumps.

Chennai needed 15 runs from 19 balls at that stage but Badrinath held his nerves and not only completed his third IPL fifty but also steered Chennai to victory. Badrinath hit nine fours and one six in his 41-ball knock while Hayden hit four fours and one six in his 44-ball essay.

Though Chennai did not lose too many wickets, the slow run-rate had made the job tough.

Like Royals, Chennai too struggled to make a quick start as the bowlers, especially spinners were getting purchase from the wicket.

Yusuf Pathan, who started the proceedings for Rajasthan, and Warne bowled some unplayable deliveries.

Siddharth Trivedi drew the first blood for the defending champions by trapping opener M Vijay (10) and then Amit Singh got rid of Suresh Raina (13).

Raina had hit Singh for a six and a four in that over and when the diminutive left-hander went for another big shot in the last ball, the miscued shot landed in the hands of Lee Carseldine at point.

Hayden, careful in his shot selection, did the bulk of the scoring in the first 10 overs and took Chennai to 67 for two during the strategic break.

Earlier, Chennai bowlers used the slow track brilliantly as skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni shuffled them intelligently throughout the Royals innings, ending at 140 for seven.

Graeme Smith (30), Swapnil Asnodkar (26) and Ravindra Jadeja (27) were the main contributors for the defending champions.

Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan (2-22) and Shadab Jakati (2-35) took two wickets apiece, capitalising on a brilliant start provided by their pacers. Naman Ojha, who anchored Royals’ last two wins, looked in hurry and paid the price. He went for a drive and was castled by Albie Morkel in the very first over of the match.

The Chennai pacers bowled a tight line and gave away just 25 runs in the first five overs. Dhoni shuffled his bowlers quickly and by the eighth over, six different bowlers had come into the attack.

Smith and Asnodkar slowly took their side to fifty-run mark, mostly scoring through ones and twos. Muralitharan broke the 53-run partnership when he trapped Asnodkar and sent back Smith when the South African captain dragged his feet out of the crease while attempting a sweep shot and Dhoni stumped him.

Ravindra Jadeja hit Shadab Jakati for consecutive fours and Yusuf Pathan finished off the over with a massive six to begin the fireworks.

However, both the batsmen departed while trying to press the accelerator button. First to go was Jadeja (27 off 19) who slashed one hard off Laxmipati Balaji but Suresh Raina took a brilliant low catch at point to send him back.

Pathan (7) started his walk back after finding Jacob Oram on the edge of the boundary while trying to hit Jakati out of the park. Captain Shane Warne hit an unbeaten 11-ball 21 late in the end to take his side to near 150-run mark.

Tags: Albie Morkel, Badrinath, Chennai Super Kings Vs Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Vs Rajasthan, Graeme Smith, IPL 2009, IPL 2009 News, IPL Scores, IPL Updates, L Balaji, Mathew Hayden, MS Dhoni, Muttiah Muralitharan, Naman Ojha, Ravindra Jadeja, Shadab Jakati, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan

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