Hosts Mumbai Indians restricted Pune Warriors to a modest 129 for nine courtesy effective bowling and brilliant fielding in an Indian Premier League match at the Wankhede Stadium.
Published: Apr 06, 2012, 05:37 PM (IST)
Edited: Apr 06, 2012, 05:37 PM (IST)
Lasith Malinga (C) claimed two wickets for 16 runs off his four overs © AFP
Mumbai: Apr 6, 2012
Hosts Mumbai Indians restricted Pune Warriors to a modest 129 for nine courtesy effective bowling and brilliant fielding in an Indian Premier League match at the Wankhede Stadium.
The Warriors, who had won only four games in the previous season, slumped to 27 for 3 by the fifth over after being put in to bat and never recovered from the early blows.
The Warriors lost the wickets of Manish Pandey, skipper Sourav Ganguly and Wayne Parnell, all of them to poor shots, much to the delight of the home crowd.
Only Robin Uthappa (36 in 33 balls with three fours) and Steven Smith (39 in 32 balls with four fours) were among the runs and also compiled the highest stand of the innings ? 44 in 48 balls ? for the fifth wicket.
Murali Kartik hammered a quick-fire 14 off nine balls with a six and a four.
But the final tally looked well short of a par score against the hosts, who came into the game after registering an eight-wicket victory over defending champions Chennai Super Kings in the season opener at the latter’s backyard two days ago.
The Warriors got off to a shaky start. Manish Pandey, who accompanied his captain Sourav Ganguly to launch the innings, played a poor shot against pacer Lasith Malinga and saw his stumps scattered off the fifth ball for a blob.
Left-handed South African Parnell hit the first boundary of the innings when he pull-swept a short ball from rival captain Harbhajan Singh to the square leg fence but saw his skipper being dismissed in the same over.
Ganguly gave the charge to Harbhajan and missed the ball completely to be stumped.
Ganguly fell at 15 and worse followed when Parnell also tried an injudicious on-side heave off new bowler Munaf Patel and dragged the ball on to the stumps to leave the Warriors tottering.
Uthappa and Callum Ferguson (12) then forged a 20-run stand before poor understanding between the two resulted in Ferguson’s run-out from a direct hit by Rohit Sharma.
It was difficult to recover from 47 for four in the ninth over and the main hopes for Pune rested with Uthappa, capable of big hits.
The Bangalore-born batsman struck James Franklin for two leg-side fours off the first two balls in the 12th over to give some much-needed impetus to the innings.
Uthappa was looking all set to launch an assault in the last five overs, with the scoreline reading 91, when his almighty heave to a ball wide of the off-stump off big West Indian Kieron Pollard skied up and the bowler came under it to complete a well-judged catch.
It was then left to Australian all-rounder Smith and experienced West Indian campaigner Marlon Samuels, in his maiden IPL entry, to take the team past the 100-run mark.
But any hopes of the two batsmen taking the game away was dashed when Samuels fell to Malinga.
Bhuwaneshwar Kumar (2) was bowled by Ojha to reduce the Warriors to 105 for 7.
Kartik lofted Ojha over long-on for the first six of the innings after hitting the bowler for a four off the previous ball in the 18th over.
For Mumbai, Malinga and Munaf accounted for two wickets apiece. Harbhajan, Ojha and Pollard secured a wicket each in a good all-round bowling display.
Mumbai Indians had to leave out senior batsman Sachin Tendulkar from the playing eleven following the finger injury he sustained in the opening game against Chennai.(PTI)
Brief Scores: PWI 129 for 9 in 20 overs (Steve Smith 39, Robin Uthappa 36; Lasith Malinga 2 for 16, Munaf Patel 2 for 26) vs MI
By CricketCountry Staff
Mumbai: Apr 6, 2012
Mumbai Indians produced another inspired bowling performance in IPL 2012 to restrict Pune Warriors India to 129 for nine in the third match of the T20 tournament at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday.
Skipper Harbhajan Singh’s decision to bowl first proved beneficial for the Mumbai Indians as they kept taking wickets at regular intervals and didn’t allow Pune Warriors batsmen to free their arms.
Pune Warriors made a disastrous start losing their opener Manish Pandey on the very fifth ball of their innings for a duck.
Captain Sourav Ganguly failed with the bat as well, making three runs off six balls.
Pune’s move to promote South African Wayne Parnell up in the batting order failed as well. He made 11 off 16 balls.
Uthappa played a crucial knock of 36 off 33 hitting three boundaries and added 44 runs for the fifth wicket with Steven Smith.
Lasith Malinga claimed two wickets for 16 runs from his four overs.
