MUMBAI: We have Harbhajan Singh start a bhangra, dive around and exchange high fives. But have you ever seen him dance in the 'Gangnam style'? Well, if you were at the Wankhede on Saturday night, or happened to watch the Mumbai Indians hammer the Royal Challengers Bangalore by 58 runs on TV, you wouldn't have missed this rare sight!
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The feisty off-spinner hasn't been in the middle of a great run recently, but all it took was for Ambati Rayudu to pull off a fantastic catch at the wide long-on boundary that sent Chris Gayle, the biggest threat to MI's 194-run total, packing early for Bhajji to break into an impromptu jig that is usually the reserve of the explosive Jamaican.
Rayudu himself ran around like a sprinter after pocketing the ball inches off the fence, with his teammates following him in jubilation-such was the impact of that wicket!
The big fish had been caught and there was no stopping MI thereafter. Bangalore eventually managed just 136/7, having been totally outplayed by a determined bunch.
MI's clinical win was shaped by almost all of their batsmen, who chipped in with quickfire efforts, perhaps keeping the Gayle factor in mind. The hosts had calculated that on a beautiful batting wicket, the only way to make a man who has just blasted an unbeaten 175 in a T20 game slightly nervous, was to try and bat him out of the game.
At the half-way stage, they seemed bang on target with their strategy, as, after choosing to bat first, they raced to 194/7 to present the table-toppers with a stiff challenge. It is MI's highest-ever score against RCB, their previous best against 191/4 in 2010.
The key contributors of this steep total were, ironically, Gayle's compatriots - Dwayne Smith and Kieron Pollard. Coming off a match-winning 45-ball 62 against the Kolkata Knight Riders, Smith tonked a 36-ball 50 (4x4, 3x6), while Pollard took just 16 deliveries to hammer 34, in a cameo that included a couple of boundaries and three massive sixes.
Rohit Sharma was run out when Karthik refused a risky second run, and showed off his frustration by flinging his bat on the ground. Rayudu's run out was a bit controversial, as bowler Vinay Kumar had, inadvertently blocked his path while the batsman was trying to make his ground.
It led to a bit of 'friendly fire' between RCB skipper Virat Kohli and Pollard, with the latter clearly looking ruffled with MI's onslaught.
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