After five losses, Mumbai Indians discover luck and pluck at their lucky home venue - Wankhede Stadium
Mumbai Indians' blaster Kieron Pollard in full flight against Kings XI Punjab in an Indian Premier League game at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday. Pic/PTI
Mumbai Indians and Mumbaikars finally had something to cheer about as the defending champions opened their win account on Saturday by beating Kings XI Punjab by five wickets in the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League.
Mumbai Indians' blaster Kieron Pollard in full flight against Kings XI Punjab in an Indian Premier League game at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday. Pic/PTI
After making the Wankhede Stadium their fortress in the last IPL, Mumbai Indians maintained their supremacy on home ground and also ended their five-match losing streak.
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Chasing Kings XI Punjab's 168-5 in 20 overs, the heroics of Kieron Pollard (28 not out off 12 balls) and local lad Aditya Tare (16 not out off six balls) played a crucial role in table-toppers Punjab tasting their first defeat of the IPL-7.
"Yeah, it was nice to get off finally," Corey Anderson, who was adjudged man of the match for his 25-ball 35, told reporters. "It (Wankhede) is our fortress and we looked to maintain that (unbeaten streak of eight games last year).
Corey Anderson en route his 25-ball 35 on Saturday. Pics/Atul Kamble
Hopefully, we will be able to turn it around from here. We tried keeping it simple as we had experimented with a lot of combinations in the UAE," added the Kiwi big-hitter.
A new opening combination of batters Ben Dunk and CM Gautam produced only six runs for Mumbai Indians as Dunk was caught behind by Wriddhiman Saha off medium pacer Sandeep Sharma for five.
'A satisfying knock'
Ambati Rayudu slammed two fours, but could not live up to his early promise as he was done in by a sharp in-swinger that struck him low, but in line off the same bowler. Gautam was leg before for 33, trying to reverse sweep Rishi Dhawan.
The hosts were lagging behind at this stage, but 20 runs from spinner Aksar Patel's last over raised some hopes for MI. Anderson lived up to his top billing, slamming three fours and a six off Patel to bring the equation to 60 off 42 balls. "It was a satisfying knock. I have got some confidence back now. I want to keep contributing in the tournament," said Anderson.
Punjab skipper George Bailey admitted Patel's over tilted the momentum in MI's favour a bit. "They were on top, but then we had some good overs from Rishi Dhawan and L Balaji. Pollard played some brilliant shots in the end," said Bailey.
By now skipper Rohit Sharma had also got into the act. But the duo's dismissals in back-to-back overs once again put brakes to MI's momentum. MI's last hope was the combo of Pollard and Tare.
The West Indian displayed some exemplary power-hitting to clobber 20 runs off the penultimate over by former Mumbai Indians teammate Mitchell Johnson which included two fours and a six. Needing five off the final over, Pollard slammed a six to long off and Wankhede erupted in a deafening roar.
Maxwell at it again
Earlier, Saha cracked an unbeaten 59 while former MI player Glenn Maxwell slammed a 27-ball 45 as Kings XI Punjab posted a challenging total.
Wriddhiman Saha in full flow against MI on Saturday. He scored 59 off 47 balls
The Wankhede crowd was at its vociferous best when Kings XI Punjab openers Virender Sehwag (1) and Cheteshwar Pujara (19) were back in the dugout early.
But Maxwell, who tops the batting charts in IPL-7, flourished again. He and Saha quickly added 69 for the third wicket to build a foundation for Punjab to explode in the end.
Figure trigger
6.04
Mumbai Indians spinner Harbhajan Singh's economy rate in IPL-7. He has conceded 139 runs in 23 overs
9
The number of wickets claimed by pacer Lasith Malinga. He is also the highest wicket-taker for MI this season
196.02
Kings XI Punjab hard-hitter Glenn Maxwell's strike-rate this season. The Aussie right-hander has scored 345 off 176 balls
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