Pune, May 12: Mumbai Indians inched closer to earning a play-off berth as they rode on a disciplined bowling performance to eke out a five-wicket win over Pune Warriors in a Pepsi Indian Premier League (IPL) match here today.
Mitchell Johnson led the way with an economical figures of 2/8 off his four overs before skipper Rohit Sharma's patient knock of 37 off 41 balls guided Mumbai to a win with seven balls to spare at the Sahara Subrata Roy International Stadium.
Speedsters Lasith Malinga and Abu Nechim Ahmed, too, came up with impressive performances, picking up two wickets each.
Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh also impressed with a spell of one for 14, which included the wicket of Yuvraj Singh, who was the lone bright spot for the Warriors with a 29-ball 33.
Chasing a modest total, Mumbai were off to a disastrous start, losing opener Dwayne Smith in the innings' first delivery, the batsman's off-stump knocked over by Ashok Dinda.
Sachin Tendulkar helped himself to a few boundaries before Ajantha Mendis had the veteran batsman caught at long-on by Manish Pandey. It was the carrom ball and Tendulkar tried play it over the bowler's head.
And when Dinesh Karthik slog-swept a Yuvraj delivery straight to the waiting hands of long-off fielder Pandey, it seemed Mumbai were intent on making a heavy weather of the chase.
Ambati Rayudu smashed a few quick runs with the help of two fours and a six, but he failed to see the visitors through as Dinda had him caught at deep square-leg.
Sharma, however, was composed at the other end.
With Mumbai needing 13 off the last three overs, their latest million-dollar signing, Glenn Maxwell, playing in his first match, hit Dinda for a four and six to make the scores level.
Sharma, after doing all the hard work, got out to Kane Richardson before Harbhajan lofted the bower over extra cover to complete the chase.
Sunrisers too hot for Kings XI
Mohali, May 12: Sunrisers Hyderabad cruised to an away win against Kings XI Punjab in the India Premier League here on Saturday, keeping them in the hunt for a play-off spot.
Parthiv Patel (61 off 47) helped Hyderabad reach 150 for seven, a total which their strong bowling line-up defended easily. Punjab ended at 120 for nine in 20 overs with Darren Sammy picking four wickets for 22 runs.
Hyderabad are now level on points with fourth placed Royal Challengers Bangalore, who also have 16 points from 13 games but are ahead on a better net run-rate.
The run chase was expected to be tough for the hosts, who had to deal with a formidable bowling attack led by speedster Dale Steyn (2/20).
And they did stumble after losing four wickets of 51 runs including of the ‘killer’ David Miller. Adam Gilchrist (26) looked in good touch before dragging one off Sammy on his stumps.
Luke Pomersbach and Rajagopal Sathish kept Punjab in the hunt but the mounting required run rate was becoming a problem for them. That pressure led to Sathish’s run out on 25.
The Australian was eventually left stranded on 33. Earlier, Punjab made good use of the post rain conditions at the PCA stadium. Medium pacer Harmeet Singh Bansal removed the in-form Shikhar Dhawan (15) in the fifth over and then debutant Sandeep Singh struck thrice in two overs to put Hyderabad on the back foot.
Sandeep did what the more experienced Praveen Kumar and Parvinder Awana could not do enough, bowl on the right areas of a pitch having two prominent grass patches.
He got his first wicket, Hanuma Vihari, off a loose ball before dismissing the dangerous Cameron White and Biplab Samantray to be on a hat-trick. Sammy could not read a wrong one off Piyush Chawla and was caught plumb in front, leaving Hyderabad at 52 for five in nine overs. Opener Patel was running out of partner until he found support from Karan Sharma (22) and Thisara Perera.
Though Patel carried the innings till the 19th over, it was Perera who came up with most of the big hits towards the end.
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