In cricket, two half-centuries can be more than a hundred.
Yusuf Pathan realised it the hard way as his century, the fastest in the Indian Premier League, could not stop the Rajasthan Royals from going down to the Mumbai Indians by four runs at the Brabourne Stadium here on Saturday.
Pathan’s 37-ball 100, studded with nine fours and eight sixes, seemed to put the Royals in sight of an improbable victory after being reduced to 66 for four at one stage, but the hosts’ total of 212 for six proved to be a little too much in the end.
The defeat must have rubbed salt in the wound of Yusuf since he got out in the most unfortunate way, run out by the bowler backing up too far at the non-striker’s end. Perhaps it was a tribute to his awesome form that the Mumbai Indians could not dismiss him in any other manner.
The Baroda Bomber’s century, only the second fastest in the T20 format after Andrew Symonds’ 34-ball 100 in an English domestic match between Kent and Middlesex in 2004, overshadowed two other attacking knocks earlier in the day.
Saurabh Tiwary (53) and Ambati Rayudu (55) more than made up for the relative failure of the two big guns, Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar, with their entertaining partnership of 110 runs.
What Tendulkar failed to do to Shane Warne, the 20-year-old Tiwary did, and in breathtaking style. The left-hander first clubbed the leg-spinner for two fours in his second over and then perched him over the long on boundary in the following over.
Rayudu, back to the fold after a stint in the Indian Cricket League (ICL), also showed his class with reverse sweeps and fluent on-drives. But all that was consigned to the scorebooks after Yusuf’s innings.
Yusuf began with a six over the sight-screen off Dmitri Mascarenhas. He then had a hat-trick of sixes off Ali Murtuza before plundering 26 runs in the next over by R. Sathish.
The second six in that Sathish over was actually caught by Ryan McLaren at long off boundary, but the fielder had stepped over the ropes while taking the catch. Yusuf then tonked Jayasuriya for two sixes, the second of which brought up his century.
After his departure, Paras Dogra sustained the onslaught with two sixes and three fours off Sathish. That reduced the equation to 19 runs from 12 balls. Zaheer Khan then produced a tidy over, which left the Royals 12 away from the target before the final over by Malinga.
Dogra was run out scampering for a single, and Amit Uniyal inside edged a wild heave on to his stumps. It boiled down to nine runs from two balls.
