Match 1: Mumbai Indians Suffer Defeat From The Lions

Johannesburg, Sept 10:  The Mumbai Indians caused a major upset by being defeated in the very first match of the Champions League Twenty20 tournament, the Highveld Lions captain showered lavish praise on his teammates for putting together a great performance in all the departments of the game.

Sachin Tendulkar won the toss and had no hesitation in opting to bowl first.Tendulkar, who was dropped by Alviro Petersen in the eighth over, scored 69 and his stay at the crease was a study in the art of T20 batting. He fell to Shane Burger against the run of play and his dismissal triggered a collapse with Duminy, Kieron Pollard, Rajagopal Sathish and Harbhajan Singh unable to guide Mumbai home. In the end the Lions bowlers held their nerve and bettered the formidable Mumbai side to delight South African fans and set the tournament off to an interesting start.

Brief Scores – Highveld Lions 186 for 5 (Jonathan Vandiar 71, Neil McKenzie 56*, Lasith Malinga 3-33) beat  
Mumbai Indians 177 for 6 (Sachin Tendulkar 69, Shikhar Dhawan 32, Shane Burger 2-33) by  9 runs  

Man-of-the-match – Jonathan Vandiar


In a post-match media interaction, Petersen said that Sachin Tendulkar's wicket was the turning point of the match and his team had done their homework before coming into the match.
On the toss
Yeah, we obviously wanted to bowl first. But you know what, the toss only starts the game. We wanted to put a good total on the board which we did. We were aiming for something near to 170 and when we scored 186 we knew that it was a winning total.
On the game being a close one
Yeah, it was close. Like I said a couple of weeks before the tournament started we knew that we were not the best team on the paper so we focussed on what we have to do and what we have to achieve as a team.
On his team’s batting performance
I just feel that our strength is our batting. We feel comfortable chasing down runs. But then there are others in the team who feel that our strength is in our bowling. So I think we must give credit to them. I think they bowl nicely as a unit.
On the supporters
Well I think the Mumbai Indians have a large support [base] all across the world. In between there were some Lions supporters as well. In the end that is all we appreciate. It can be a bit intimidating for the opposition if the crowd is behind you.
On Sachin Tendulkar’s innings
Yeah, I think if he [Sachin Tendulkar] was there till the end then the game would have got very very close and [MI] could have even won the game. So that was a big wicket for us. But throughout the innings we got them under pressure - we made sure that the asking rate was always 10 an over.
On the pitch
I think the wicket was fair for both the teams. I think it is just the kind of wicket you would want if you want to be fair with both the teams. I think the dew played a massive role tonight as well. I think in the end it was a fair competition.
On a close LBW decision not going in his favour
I think it is always great if you get to run through the batting line-up of the opposition but then if a close call goes in the opposition’s favour, then I just keep it behind me and start focussing on the next ball.
On his team’s strategy while bowling
Well, obviously we knew that if we can take the game to the death period then we have our death bowlers to bowl those last overs.
On the win against Mumbai Indians
It is a great start. I thought we were the underdogs and the boys did really well. One ball at a time and that is how we play our cricket. We are always together whenever there are tough times or even good times.
On Jonathan Vandiar’s innings
Yeah, when that run-out happened. Vandiar took the initiative and stayed there. He is still a young man but he showed a lot of maturity in the middle.
On the home team facing pressure
Well, there was never pressure on us. We just wanted to go in there and enjoy the moment. I think there is still work to do. I think we need to work on our fielding. Although we were better than Mumbai Indians in the field we still need to keep working hard on our ground fielding. We have set high standards for ourselves and we want to keep up to it.