IPL 6: Mumbai win thriller against Punjab

MUMBAI: Riding on a brilliant 39-ball 79 (6x4, 6x6) by skipper Rohit Sharma, Mumbai Indians managed yet another home victory, this time against Kings XI Punjab by four runs, to improve their knock-out chances in the annual T20 league here on Monday. However, the hosts were given a run for their money by the visitors who did not throw in the towel till the last ball. They neeed 17 from the final six balls and five from the last. But Praveen Kumar could only hit Dhawal Kulkarni to Sachin Tendulkar at point who took the catch easily as Wankhede started breathing again. David Miller played the big hand for Punjab with a 34-ball 56 which had five sixes. His innings brought the team back into the contest. But Punjab fell just short. Earlier, Mumbai were 147 for three with just one over left. But stand-in captain David Hussey made a blunder and decided to bowl that over himself despite having the option of bowling leggie Piyush Chawla. For Sharma, batting on a 33-ball 53, this was a freebie he wouldn't have expected in a benefit match. 27 runs were butchered off the over with Sharma moving to 79 and Mumbai ending at a formidable 174 for three. For MI, Sharma was their best batsman of the night by a long distance. It seems captaincy, thrust on him midway into the event, is driving this elegant batsman to give off his best. Smashing Manpreet Gony for a straight six, the 26-year-old showed what a devastating batsman he can be by racing to his half-century in 28 balls on a wicket where most batsmen were struggling to get their shots going. During his innings, Rohit became the third batsman to hit 100 sixes in this tournament, after Chris Gayle and Suresh Raina. How many times have you seen Kieron Pollard being reduced to a spectator while batting in the middle? Sharma's unbeaten 88-run stand for the fourth wicket with Pollard took merely 46 balls, with the big West Indian contributing merely an unbeaten 20.   TOI