Go down to lahore lions by six wickets in Champions league qualifier
Mumbai Indians lost to lahore lions on Saturday to start their defence of the tournament on a bad note. After batting first, Mumbai scored 135 in 20 overs but lahore overhauled the target with eight balls to spare.
Earlier, Aditya Tare top-scored with a 37 in the mediocre Mumbai batting show on Saturday.
Put into bat, Mumbai slumped to a precarious 23 for three in the fifth over with opener lendl Simmons (7), Jalaj Saxena (0) and Ambati Rayudu (3) being dismissed cheaply in the space of seven balls and they never recovered from there.
In fact, Simmons and Saxena were out in consecutive deliveries off pacer Aizaz Cheema in the fourth over as Mumbai lost the momentum early on. The other opener, Michael Hussey (28) stayed put for some time and he stitched 44-runs with Tare for the fourth wicket before departing in the 12th over after facing 26 balls from which he hit two fours and a six.
West Indian big hitter Kieron Pollard, who was named captain after Rohit Sharma suffered an injury, could not contribute much and he departed soon after scoring just six.
Mumbai 100 came only in the 17th over and Tare fell the next over while trying to force the pace of the innings. He faced 36 balls and hit two fours and as many sixes.
Harbhajan Singh (18) and Praveen Kumar (20 not out) gave some entertainment to the big crowd at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium with some lusty blows towards the close.
Harbhajan hit a six in the penultimate over but was run out in the first ball of the final over
Brief Scores
Mumbai Indians: 135 for 7 in 20 overs (Aditya Tare 37, Aizaz Cheema 2/22) lost to lahore lions: 139 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Umar Akmal 38 not out, Ahmed Shehzad 34; Pragyan Ojha 2/18)
Knights win
In the other match of the day, premier New Zealand batsman Kane Williamson showed his prowess in shortest format as his smashing innings powered Northern Knights to a convincing seven-wicket victory over Sri lanka's Southern Express in a rain-curtailed opening game.
With heavy downpour and soggy outfield reducing the match to 10-overs per side, Southern Express managed 92 for five in 10 overs which was easily surpassed by the Northern side with three balls to spare as Williamson led the charge with a 29-ball-52.
Known for his solid technique in Tests and ODIs, Williamson showed his class with some copybook hitting showing classical footwork against the spinners hitting seven fours and a six. He started with a lofted straight four off leggie Sekkuge Prasanna but he literally pounced on off-breaks from Danushka Gunathilaka.
He made room to hit the spinner over extra cover and also danced down the track to hit a six over mid-on. In between, he had swept him for good measure for another boundary. Williamson was esepcailly severe on Charith Jayampathi as he played some flowing cover drives and was also quick to swat anything that drifted down the leg-side.
Brief scores
Southern Express 92/5 in 10 overs (Kusal Perera 37, Danushka Gunathilaka 39; Trent Boult 2/12) lost to Northern Districts 96/3 in 9.3 overs (Kane Williamson 52; Maharoof 2/14) by 7 wickets.
MI score 135
Aditya Tare top-scored with a 37 in a mediocre batting show by defending champions Mumbai Indians as they scored 135 for seven in their qualifying round match against lahore lions in the other match.
Put into bat, Mumbai slumped to a precarious 23 for three in the fifth over with opener lendl Simmons (7), Jalaj Saxena (0) and Ambati Rayudu (3) being dismissed cheaply in the space of seven balls and they never recovered from there.
In fact, Simmons and Saxena were out in consecutive deliveries off pacer Aizaz Cheema in the fourth over as Mumbai lost the momentum early on.
The other opener, Michael Hussey (28) stayed put for some time and he stitched 44-runs with Tare for the fourth wicket before departing in the 12th over after facing 26 balls from which he hit two fours and a six.
West Indian big hitter Kieron Pollard, who was named captain after Rohit Sharma suffered an injury, could not contribute much and he departed soon after scoring just six.