Mumbai down Lions for first win

The sparse Sawai Man Singh Stadium house may have missed out on a bonus Sachin Tendulkar farewell innings, but his team, the Mumbai Indians, were untroubled in cruising to a seven-wicket win over an out of sorts Highveld Lions here on Friday night. Chasing 141 and needing to win big to keep their slim semi-final hopes afloat, the Indians rode a steady 63 not out from opener Dwayne Smith that included three huge sixes, two in a single over off left-arm quick Lonwabo Tsotsobe, to reach the target in 18.3 overs, opting for the safety first approach. While they did not impress with the bat in posting a below-par 140/5, the Lions as a bowling unit at least looked a little more effective. The return from injury of Pakistan-born leg-spinner Imran Tahir gave the attack some variety but in the end the IPL-6 champions cruised home with the big-hitting Keiron Pollard (32 not out, 20b, 2x4, 3x5) providing the final spark with a flurry of late boundaries. With the pitch providing pace and bounce, Tendulkar was undone by a fuller delivery from Sohail Tanvir that zipped under his bat and into the stumps in just the third over. Dinesh Karthik survived a chance off the pacy Tsotsobe, the edge flying just wide of gloveman Quinton de Kock, but was done in by Tahir’s change of pace. Skipper Rohit Sharma looked like he was in a hurry and fell in like fashion, hoisting medium pacer Hardus Viljoen to substitute Tembe Bavuma at midwicket, but Smith (47b, 4x4, 3x6) and Pollard were at hand to avert any further shocks. Earlier, the Lions batsmen were nailed down to 140/5 as pacemen and spinners alike benefited from the tame approach of Alviro Petersen’s men, who only managed to get going in the last five overs. It took a 59-run partnership between Petersen and Dwaine Pretorius for the sixth wicket to give the South Africans a semblance of respectability, While the Lions captain finished on an unbeaten 35 (27b, 3x4, 1x6), Pretorius lashed his way to a 21-ball 31 not out (1x4, 2x6). SCORECARD Highveld Lions: R. van der Dussen c Dhawan b Johnson 13, Q. de Kock lbw Harbhajan 19, N. McKenzie b Rishi 16, J. Symes b Ojha 14, A. Petersen (not out) 35, S. Tanvir c Smith b Ojha 2, D. Pretorius (not out) 31. Extras (w7, lb3) 10. Total (for 5 wkts; in 20 overs) 140. FoW: 1-29, 2-41, 3-62, 4-71, 5-81. Bowling: Johnson 4-0-33-1 (2w), Coulter-Nile 4-0-25-0, Rishi 4-1-22-1 (1w), Harbhajan 4-0-19-1, Ojha 3-0-26-2, Pollard 1-0-12-0. Mumbai Indians: D. Smith not out 63, S. Tendulkar b Sohail Tanvir 5, D. Karthik c Petersen b Imran Tahir 13, R. Sharma c sub b Pretorius 20, K. Pollard not out 31, Extras (lb 6, w 3) 9, Total (for 3 wkts; in 18.3 overs) 141 FoW: 1-15, 2-47, 3-90 Bowling: Sohail Tanvir 3.3-0-15-1 (3w), Tsotsobe 3-0-25-0, Viljoen 4-0-36-0, Imran Tahir 4-0-23-1, Phangiso 1-0-10-0, Pretorius 3-0-26-1