Harbhajan Leads Mumbai Indians To Champions League Glory

Harbhajan Leads Mumbai Indians To Champions League Glory

Mumbai Indians captain Harbhajan Singh grabbed three wickets to bowl his side to Champions League Twenty20 victory in Chennai

©REUTERS / Action Images

Mumbai Indians 139 (Franklin 41, Bhatkal 3-21) beat
Royal Challengers Bangalore 108 by 31 runs
Champions League Twenty20 final, Chennai
Scorecard

The Mumbai Indians claimed their maiden tournament victory as they won a low-scoring Champions League Twenty20 final by 31 runs over the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

James Franklin top scored with 41 as Mumbai were bowled out for 139 but they hit back to dismiss the Bangalore side for 108 with captain Harbhajan Singh leading the way with figures of three for 20.

The outstanding Harbhajan removed danger men Virat Kohli (11) and Chris Gayle (5) to land early blows as the Challengers looked to make it three successful run chases in a row and returned later to have his opposite number Daniel Vettori stumped by Ambati Rayudu for one to effectively end any chance the Challengers had of mounting a late victory charge.

Tillakaratne Dilshan (27), Mayank Agarwal (11) and Saurabh Tiwary (14) were the only other men to reach double figures as Bangalore were prevented from building partnerships by an excellent effort in the field from the 2011 IPL runners-up.

Opening bowlers Lasith Malinga and Abu Nechim both grabbed two wickets, as did Yuzvendra Chahal while Kieron Pollard also took the wicket of Mohammad Kaif for three as the Mumbai Indians' innings was finished off in 19.2 overs.

Franklin also bowled an excellent over, conceding just four runs, but his main work had been done earlier in the day, when he made 41 in 29 balls to be the only batsman on the day to score more than 30 runs, the New Zealander hitting two fours and two sixes.

Suryakumar Yadav (24 in 17 balls) and Rayudu (22) offered useful support before Malinga hit two maximums in a cameo of 16 in 11 balls that closed the innings in just the way Mumbai would have liked.

Raju Bhatkal returned figures of three for 21 - although he would be overshadowed by Harbhajan's heroics later in the day -  by dismissing Rayudu, Rajagopal Sathish (9) and Malinga while Daniel Vettori was as economical as ever in returning two for 30.

However, even he, on a day when New Zealand took a giant stride towards the biggest prize in world rugby, could not inspire a similar performance from his players in the most lucrative game in club cricket.

© Cricket World 2011