Winning is a habit

And by extension, losing too. Despite their internal strife, obvious troubles in team composition, negative pulicity arising due to the coach and not to mention the fake IPL blogger, KKR have, in the last few matches managed to put up respectable totals, only for the bowlers to lose the plot in the end.

The no-ball and the resultant boundary had brought the equation to 16 off the last over. Certainly gettable by Deccan but by no means impossible to defend. This is where KKR lost the plot, especially the captain, who worked himself up into a frenzy against the umpires. When the captain loses his cool, the team also panics. Did the bowler Mortaza panic, or what?

He had earlier provided the spark in the 18th over by running out the dangerous Symonds with a direct hit and bowling a tight over . Agarkar got his yorkers and direction (surprisingly) right conceding just five. What was obvious by its absence, was an effort by the captain or any senior pro to slow things down, which would have allowed hapless Mortaza to get his wits back. It all happened in a blur. Till about an over back, they were buzzing, now they seemed deflated. The no-ball was a sort inflexion point - once it happened, KKR seemed to think it was inevitable that they would lose and were waiting for it to happen.

Mumbai Indians, too flattered to deceive today. There is much to like about this team. World class players, supportive owners, good domestic talent - right ingredients for this competition. However, their response to a defeat seems to be predictable - change the batting order yet again. T20 ganes are won by 2-3 batsment in good striking form and a couple of batsmen in the support mode ( prime examples, DD, CSK, DC). The idea is to provide that kind of space to the inform bastmen. MI have missed it time and again. This time Jayasuriya went back to the top. The routine fifty we have come to expect from JP Duminy happened and 147 seemed a good score to defend.

When Chennai chased, the walking wicket Parthiv left first ball this time. Excellent first spell by Malinga and good support by the others ensured Hayden had not got away. But overall, Mumbai remained flat in the field in what was a do-or-die fixture for them, unlike Rajasthan, for instance, who were charged in the field, creating wickets by sheer pressure.

The difference between a good player and and exceptional one is how they make it count. It would have been easy for Hayden to throw it away, but he took the difficult route and that alone made the difference.

Looking forward to the crucial DC vs Punjab tie and also the top of the table DD vs RR which I expect to be another good tight game.