Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Mumbai Indians beat Pune Warriors India by 21 runs

MUMBAI: If Tendulkar doesn't get you, Kieron Pollard will. If Malinga doesn't get you, Harbhajan will. Unfortunately, the Pune Warriors learnt this lesson the hard way as they managed 139/7, 21 runs short of the target at the DY Patil stadium on Wednesday.


Mumbai thus handed Pune their seventh successive loss in the IPL. The Warriors are now at bottom with 4 points from nine matches, while MI top the table with 14 from 9. Harbhajan (1/17) and Munaf (1/30) cracked open the game in their opening spells. Harbhajan nailed Jesse Ryder for a first ball duck and Munaf got Graeme Smith (6) with a bouncer that the South African mistimed.

At 17/2, Tendulkar smelt blood, and went for all-out attack. Munaf bowled with two slips, while Harbhajan trotted in with a slip and a silly point.

New man Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (10; 15b, 2x4s) looked uncomfortable, but Manish Pandey (59; 47, 4x4s, 3x6s) managed to sneak a couple of boundaries.

Pollard, who replaced Harbhajan, kept the pressure on Jhunjhunwala, who in his bid to up the scoring rate, went for the slog, top-edged it and was lapped up by keeper Ambati Rayudu.

Earlier, Warriors bowling spearhead Alfonso Thomas was butchered by Kieron Pollard (30; 21b, 2x4s, 2x6s) and Harbhajan Singh (8; 3b, 1x6). Thomas, 34, gave away 27 off his last over and ended with figures of 4-0-54-1.

Teams:

Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar (capt.), Ambati Rayudu (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Rohit Sharma, Munaf Patel, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Andrew Symonds, Dhawal Kulkarni, T Suman, AC Blizzard.

Pune Warriors: Yuvraj Singh (capt.), Robin Uthappa (wk), Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Mithun Manhas, Rahul Sharma, Shrikant Wagh, Jesse Ryder, Graeme Smith, Alphonso Thomas, Jerome Taylor, Manish Pandey.

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