Beat Pune to claim pinnacle spot on league table
Mumbai Indians thrashed Pune Warriors by 41 runs to win the 'Maharashtra derby' of the Pepsi Indian Premier league here on Saturday.
Batting first, Mumbai Indians posted a challenging total of 183 for three, courtesy a fantastic 62 by Rohit Sharma and useful contributions from Sachin Tendulkar and Dinesh Karthik.
The MI bowlers then took wickets at regular intervals to restrict Pune Warriors to 142 for eight despite Mitchell Marsh's rearguard effort of 38. This is Mumbai’s third win in four matches and they now have six points while Pune slumped to their third defeat from four matches.
left-arm speedster Mitchell Johnson (3/33) swung the match in MI's favour at the onset as his in-swinging yorker castled Pune's last match hero Aaron Finch (0) and then got one to come in to dismiss Robin Uthappa (7) while Ross Taylor (4) was run-out.
From 13 for three, the comeback was virtually impossible and the likes of Yuvraj Singh (24) and captain Angelo Mathews (19) also couldn't make much of a headway as the target became a tall order.
The decision to play Ross Taylor ahead of a highly successful Steve Smith defied any logic as the New Zealander hasn't made any significant contribution in the last two editions of IPl.
Marsh tried his best but didn't have a single partner who was ready to stay along and built a partnership. Credit to MI bowlers as they always had a tight grip on the proceedings.
Earlier, Rohit blazed his way to an unbeaten 32-ball 62 as Mumbai Indians posted a challenging 183 for three after opting to bat. Rohit, who has been known as an 'IPl specialist' smashed three fours and five sixes as the home team put up a sizeable total on a flat track at the Wankhede Stadium.
Sachin Tendulkar (44) and Dinesh Karthik (41, 29 balls, 4x4, 1x6) also made significant contributions. But it was Rohit, who went all-out in the final few overs to help Mumbai Indians amass 109 runs in the back 10 after having scored 72 at the halfway stage.
With Ashoke Dinda (0/63 in 4 overs) leaking runs with monotonic regularity, MI managed 68 in the final five overs. Rohit and Kieron Pollard (19 no) added those runs in only 4.5 overs. Dinda, in fact, has now equalled the worst bowling figure in the IPl history alongside Varun Aaron.
Brief scores
Mumbai Indians: 183/3 (R Sharma 62 no; Aaron Finch 1/11) beat Pune Warriors: 142/8 (M Marsh 38; M Johnson 3/33) by 41 runs.