BANGALORE: Well begun is half the job done, they say. But they also say how you start doesn't always matter; it is how you finish that invariably does.
On Wednesday in front of a packed house at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, it was the second saying that prevailed, thanks to Mahendra Singh Dhoni's power-packed show, allowing Chennai to brush off a poor start with bat and ball to stay alive in the tournament.
For Mumbai, who first had Chennai in all sorts of trouble at 30 for two after the first six overs and then themselves raced to 54/1 at the same stage of their innings, it was the intervening period that cost them the game and forced their exit from IPL 5. Having allowed Chennai to recover strongly to post as much as 187 for six, that too through just two partnerships of note, Mumbai had too big a mountain to climb and finished with 149/9, leaving their opponents victors by a healthy 38 runs.
Both teams now head to their respective homes, Mumbai to cool their heels and Chennai to take on Delhi on Friday for a place in Sunday's final against Kolkata. Not bad for a side who were on the edge of bowing out in the league stage itself.
Earlier, it was that familiar blast from the man known to save his best for the business end of things which that enabled Chennai set a big target.
Having lost the toss to Harbhajan Singh, Dhoni, who too would have opted to bowl first like Mumbai did, saw the first two Chennai wickets disappear in a trice. 'Here we go again', the Chennai skipper must have muttered when Murali Vijay and Suresh Raina fell to the first two balls bowled by Mumbai seamer Dhawal Kulkarni.
But then, once Dhoni himself made it to the middle following a steady and typically honest third wicket partnership of 94 (72 balls) between Michael Hussey (49, 39b, 8x4, 1x6) and S Badrinath (47, 39b, 6x4, 1x6), the script changed and as it usually happens, turned in favour of the Chennai skipper.
No bowler, no not even Lasith Malinga was spared on the night, with Dhoni (51 not out, 20b, 6x4, 2x6, SR of 255) and his partner-in-crime Dwayne Bravo (33 n.o., 14b, 3x4, 2x6, SR of 236) - during an incredible 73-run, unbroken sixth-wicket stand that came off a mere 29 deliveries - going hell for leather, interspersing the big hits, which included the helicopter shot (Dhoni) and the flying shot (Bravo) with some really quick running between the wickets.
The turnaround started with the hammering of Mumbai skipper Harbhajan for 19 runs in his third over after he had given away just one run from his first two overs at the beginning.
That over, during which both Hussey and Badrinath helped themselves to maximums, ensured that Harbhajan didn't return for his final over, in a way leading to Kulkarni bowling the final over of the innings, which was then capitalized on by Dhoni and Bravo, the former just about missing out on the fastest fifty of the tournament.
He has at least one more chance to do that though.
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