Pune Warriors India 129 for 9 (Smith 39, Malinga 2-16) v Mumbai Indians
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
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Mumbai Indians produced a virtually flawless bowling and fielding performance to give themselves a strong chance of winning their second consecutive match in this IPL season. Without the injured Sachin Tendulkar in their first home game, Harbhajan Singh's team treated the strong crowd at Wankhede Stadium to an intense performance that smothered the Warriors by taking regular wickets and providing few boundary balls.
The first over, after Mumbai Indians had won the toss, set the tone. Lasith Malinga sent down a succession of near yorker-length deliveries that Manish Pandey found difficult to get away. He eventually tried to attack the fifth, missed, and was bowled. Malinga had begun with a wicket maiden. Harbhajan bowled with the new ball and was economical, providing few scoring opportunities. With the run-rate barely four an over, the other opener Sourav Ganguly, captaining Warriors in Yuvraj Singh's absence, ran past one and gave Dinesh Karthik, wearing a baseball catcher's mask, an easy stumping.
Wayne Parnell, a South African allrounder who bowls better than he bats, was promoted to No. 3, and he managed to swat Harbhajan for two boundaries, before he was undone by Munaf Patel. The ball that beat his defences angled across him and then bent back far enough to take the inside edge on to the stumps. The pressure was maintained by Pragyan Ojha, who's left-arm deliveries gripped on the red soil and turned sharply, beating the bat by several inches.
The next wicket was a result of Mumbai Indians' prowess in the field. Two powerful shots from Callum Ferguson had been stopped by Kieron Pollard and Ambati Rayudu on the boundary, and when the batsman attempted a risky single to Rohit Sharma at point, he was caught short by a direct hit. Rohit had only one stump to aim at and his accuracy made up for a half-chance that Harbhajan had missed the previous ball.
At 47 for 4 in the ninth over, Warriors needed a special innings to recover but they did not get one. Robin Uthappa had begun to accelerate after scoring at a run a ball but skied a return catch to Pollard on 36. Marlon Samuels, who is not playing Tests against Australia to play the IPL, couldn't keep out a Malinga yorker. It needed some free swinging from Steven Smith, who made 39, to ensure the asking-rate at the start of Mumbai Indians's chase was a little over six an over.
source:espncricinfo
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