Kevin saves the day for MU

D’Almeida has never been renowned for his over the top belligerence with the bat. If anything,he’s more a grafter than a quintessential T20 opening dynamo. And it was at a steady pace that he commenced his innings as Mumbai set out to chase down 151. Wickets fell around him at regular sojourns,and each time D’Almeida let his erroneous teammate know exactly how despondent he was about losing another partner. He either shook his head in disenchantment or on occasions even turned away in anguish.

While he kept one end up,skipper Pankaj Jaiswal provided the necessary fillip to the Mumbai innings with an attacking 30 that came in 22 balls and included two fours and a mighty six. Then came the innocuous left-arm spin of Vasantha Kumar,which ended up claiming not only the important scalp of Jaiswal but also that of Dhaval Panchal. Shardul Thakur followed suit,and all of a sudden the Wolves were staring at an early exit from the tournament. Though evidently perturbed by the collapse,D’Almeida wasn’t yet ready to throw in the towel. And as he hit pacer Rohit Ramalingam in the penultimate over for a boundary followed by a six over the long-leg fence with a delectably-timed swoop shot,D’Almeida couldn’t stop himself from punching the air with delight. The job was far from done yet. Mumbai still needed 11 from the last over.

Saurabh Netravalkar,who received most of the cheers from the noisy crowd at Brabourne repaid his fans with three well-connected and crucial cover-drives,the first fetching three,the second a brace and the third a single. That left D’Almeida,who survived a run-out off the fifth delivery,with the task of scoring two off the last ball. He promptly flicked Kiran Kashyap over mid-wicket for four followed by a manic victory lap,flashing his bat to the Mumbai supporters and screaming his lungs out.

D’Almeida was soon ensconced by his teammates as the Mumbai University boys went berserk.

The star of the evening wasn’t done yet though. D’Almeida then almost Pat Cash-like jumped over the boundary boards to greet his family in the stands. He even amused them with a summersault—still wearing his pads by the way.

While his histrionics were justified,it was a case of unnecessary showmanship from Shardul Thakur—fresh from his stint with the senior Mumbai team—that turned the tide against his team mid-way through the Madras innings and almost cost them dearly in the end. Having started off well,the burly pacer suddenly unleashed a wayward short-pitched barrage against the pair of Kamalesh Murugesan and Ganga Sridhar. Far from threatening the batsmen,Thakur,who finished with 3/29,leaked runs and helped Madras come back into the match. The duo scored 44 and 48 respectively to take the visitors to a handy 150/8,a total that had the potential to test Mumbai.

Unfortunately they came up against a cleric-in-waiting,and one on whom the cricketing Gods were smiling incessantly on Monday night,and deservedly so.

Brief Scores: University of Madras 150/8 (Ganga Sridhar 48, Kamalesh M 44; Shardul Thakur 3/29) lost to Mumbai University 153/7 (Kevin D’Almeida 65 n.o.,Pankaj Jaiswal 30).