Indian Premier League: Mumbai Indians claim vital 23-run win

Kings XI Punjab could only make 149-7 chasing the visitors’ 172-3

Lendl Simmons and Parthiv Patel’s 111-run opening partnership helped Mumbai Indians claim a vital win as they defeated Kings XI Punjab by a comfortable 23 runs in their Indian Premier League match in Mohali.

The away side were off to a superb start, with both openers making half-centuries, before Nelson claimed yet another victim as Patel holed out to deep square leg off Karanveer Singh’s bowling, with Murali Vijay claiming a neat running catch to dismiss the 30-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman for 59 off just 36 balls.

Mumbai Indians’ skipper Rohit Sharma then came out into the middle and scored 26 off 20 balls before slashing a wild swing off Mitchell Johnson straight into the air.

Simmons also fell in the last over of the game off Anureet Singh on 71 off 56 balls, a knock that was enough to earn him the man-of-the-match award.

No Punjab bowler stood out, with Anureet and Karanveer both being the pick of a poor bunch with figures of 1-30 apiece, as Mumbai Indians managed to end up with 172-3.

In reply, the hosts were in trouble right from the start as Virender Sehwag was dismissed by Sri Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga’s first ball on just two in the second over of the chase.

And then powerhouse Glenn Maxwell was dismissed for 12 off nine balls by Jagadeesha Suchit to leave the Punjab side struggling at 2-38.

David Miller and Vijay consolidated in the middle overs but the latter was back in the pavilion after sweetly hitting a Harbhajan Singh delivery down long-off’s throat. The lower middle-order never quite got going and three run outs did not help the chasing side as they never looked like coming close to Mumbai Indians’ 172, ending up well short on 149-7, with Malinga claiming 2-31 in four overs and Vinay Kumar also impressing with economic figures of 0-17 in three overs.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th,  2015.

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