'After Pollard got out, seemed like Mumbai were all out' - Jadeja

As Chennai Super Kings crushed Mumbai Indians in Delhi to make their fifth IPL final, Ravindra Jadeja struck two pivotal blows, removing a rampaging Dwayne Smith and then dismissing Kieron Pollard just as he looked ready to make a final charge at the target of 193. His strategy, left-arm spinner Jadeja said after the game, was to look to dry up the runs and thus pressurise the batsmen.

"The plan was to not give boundaries because the format is such that if the batsmen don't get boundaries then obviously there are chances of getting wickets," Jadeja told IPLT20.com. "So that is what we were trying for. After ten overs the ball was not coming on to the bat. We were trying to bowl slow deliveries and in the right areas so that they don't get boundaries."

Jadeja claimed the wicket of Smith, who had threatened to take the game away from Super Kings with 68 off 28, with his second ball, getting him to mis-hit to Suresh Raina at square leg. In his second over, he trapped Dinesh Karthik lbw, before dismissing Pollard soon after the time-out; after being hit for two sixes in the over, Jadeja fired one into Pollard's pads and the batsman flicked it to Michael Hussey at square leg.

Though he got him with a leg-stump delivery, his primary aim was to keep the ball out of Pollard's reach, Jadeja said. "He is strong on the on-side. The plan was to bowl to him outside off and make him stretch for his big shots. I was trying to keep the ball outside his reach and also was bowling slow so that he struggles with his timing.

"In the first ten overs, they were on 92 for 2. We made a good comeback from there and in the last five overs, all the bowlers bowled well. And after he [Pollard] got out, it seemed like Mumbai Indians were all out."

After Pollard hit those consecutive sixes off Jadeja, Super Kings captain MS Dhoni had come over to speak to his bowler. Dhoni's inputs, Jadeja said, are a big help: "Depending on the situation and speaking to Mahi bhai, I try to bowl. He tells me what can happen and how the wicket is assisting [the bowlers]. And that is the advantage that we try to make use of."

Dwayne Smith, meanwhile, said Mumbai Indians would not let the loss get to them: "We still have another chance. We have to regroup and come back strong in the next game to get a chance to play in the final. We are still in the competition and our confidence will not drop."

But there was another small piece of bad news for the team after the game, as Karthik, who was not too happy to be given out lbw, was found guilty of breaching the players' code of conduct. He was fined 5% of his match fee for "showing dissent at an umpire's decision", the IPL said in a release.