Chennai: Quite happy with the win against Chennai Super Kings in the inaugural match of the Indian Premier League, Mumbai Indians skipper Harbhajan Singh said that the victory was made possible due to the all-round performace of his players on the field.
“It was a good toss to win on this wicket which has a bit of grass unlike the Chennai wicket of past. The bowlers were right on the target and succeeded in restricting the defending champions to a modest total of 112. Had it been 30-40 runs more, it would not have been so easy for us,” said Bhajji, making a special mention of the way his team fielded.
“I think the run outs changed the course of the match. Three run outs were gave us an edge. Running Dhoni was a turning point. Had he been on crease, we would had to chase 30-40 runs more and the results could have been different in that case,” said Harbhajan who was in all praise for South African import Richard Levi.
“Levi played a fantastic innings. His 50 nearly sealed the match for us,” said Bhajji.
Meanwhile, CSK captain MS Dhoni said that it was yet another rusty start for his side. “It’s just our first match. Mumbai Indians played well. We fell short of nearly 40 runs. But then you can never predict the outcome in this format. Had we scored more, then for sure Mumbai would have gone with a different game plan. However I think on this wicket 145 could have been defendable today,” said Dhoni.
Man of the moment Richard Levi meanwhile was happy with his performance against CSK. “Hope I continue winning matches for MI. It has been a good start for me and I would like to continue scoring runs for my team. It was a pleasure batting along with Sachin Tendulkar. To it the crowd was fantastic and atmosphere electrifying,” said Levi.