Trinidad and Tobago's Evin Lewis raises his bat after completing 50 runs against Mumbai Indians during the second semifinal of the at the Champions League Twenty20 at Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi.
NEW DELHI: Mumbai Indians found themselves in spot of bother after losing three quick wickets against Trinidad and Tobago in the second semifinal of the Champions League Twenty20 at Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi.
Mumbai got off to rollicking start with 90-run stand by openers Dwayne Smith and Sachin Tendulkar that laid the foundation for IPL outfit.
Lendl Simmons gave Trinidad a first breakthrough by dismissing Tendulkar, who made a fine 35 off 31 with the help of two fours and as many sixes.
Smith hammered Trinidad bowlers all over the park as he notched up 33-ball fifty to, studded with six fours and two sixes.
Sunil Narine led the T&T fightback with double strike as he removed Ambati Rayudu and Dwayne Smith to leave Mumbai struggling 96/3 in 12 overs.
Meanwhile, master blaster Tendulkar achieved another milestone by reaching 50000 runs in all forms of recognised cricket.
Sachin was in his elements today, smashing back-to-back sixes off Yannick Ottley to keep Mumbai on track in the chase.
Earlier, opener Evin Lewis hit a quick-fire half century while Yannick Ottley struck a fine unbeaten 41 as Trinidad and Tobago posted a competitive 153 for five against Mumbai Indians.
Lewis struck a 46-ball 62, innings that was studded with four sixes and six fours, while Ottley's 30-ball 41 was decorated with two sixes and an equal number of fours as T&T managed to cross the 150-run barrier after being put in to bat at the Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium.
MI bowlers did well in the middle part of the innings to pull things back after Lewis' knock threatened to take the game away from the former champions.
The pace and spin duo of Nathan Coulter-Nile and Pragyan Ojha bowled well in tandem and shared seven overs between them while picking up two wickets, which somewhat allowed MI to make a comeback.
Trinidad got off to a poor start as they lost their opener and last match's hero Lendl Simmons for nought in just the second over of the innings.
Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma's ploy to introduce Harbhajan Singh early into the attack paid dividends as the off-spinner flummoxed the big-hitting Simmons with a tossed-up delivery.
Simmons was caught at deep mid-wicket by Dwayne Smith, who took a well-judged catch at the edge of the boundary.
However, the loss of Simmons did not put the brakes on T&T's scoring rate as Lewis and Darren Bravo went about their business in style.
Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson managed to extract some bounce off the slow Kotla track but was taken to task by Lewis whenever he erred in length.
Lewis clobbered Johnson for four fours and a six over third-man fielder in his opening spell of two overs.
Lewis was in ominous form as neither spin nor speed proved a deterrent for him and his attacking instinct served the team well. He welcomed back Harbhajan for his return spell, clobbering biggies that cleared the ropes by some distance.
With T&T fast running away with the game, Sharma introduced left-arm spinner Ojha into the attack. Ojha justified the move as he got Bravo stumped by Dinesh Karthik off his very first delivery for 14.
Lewis, in the process, brought up his half-century with a four off Harbhajan, who finished with figures of one for 35.
Lewis, however, did not last long after completing his fifty and was caught and bowled by Kieron Pollard in the 14th over.
T&T reached the 100-run mark in the 14th over as the spin-pace duo of Ojha and Coulter-Nile slowed down the run rate with their economical spells in the middle overs.
Johnson returned to bowl a fiery second spell that saw him uproot the off-stump of T&T skipper Denesh Ramdin for nine.
A few hits towards the end by Ottley helped shore up the innings.
Teams:
Mumbai Indians: Dwayne Smith, Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma (capt), Kieron Pollard, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik(wk), Rishi Dhawan, Harbhajan Singh, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mitchell Johnson, Pragyan Ojha.
Trinidad & Tobago: Lendl Simmons, Evin Lewis, Darren Bravo, Yannick Ottley, Nicolas Pooran, Denesh Ramdin (capt/wk), Sunil Narine, Rayad Emrit, Navin Stewart, Ravi Rampaul,Samuel Badree
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