Mumbai Indians kept its hopes of qualifying for the play-offs alive, convincingly beating Kings XI Punjab by 23 runs in their IPL-8 encounter here on Sunday.
After posting a challenging 172 for three in 20 overs, the visitors restricted to Kings XI to 149 for seven.
Lasith Malinga (two for 31) and Harbhajan Singh (one for 27) were the pick of the Mumbai bowlers, while Mitchell McClenaghan (none for 25) and Vinay Kumar (none for 17) choked the flow of runs.
Once David Miller (43) was snapped up by Rohit Sharma off Malinga in the 17th over, the contest was as good as over for Kings XI.
Murali Vijay (39) was the other batsman who did his bit.
Glenn Maxwell, promoted to No. 3, failed yet again, making just 12. Skipper George Bailey, too, looked completely out of sorts during his 18-bal1 21, struggling to hit big shots and was eventually run out.
Earlier, the 111-run opening stand between Parthiv Patel (59) and Lendl Simmons (71) took Mumbai to 172 after Rohit Sharma opted to bat.
The two gave the team a rollicking start, scoring 96 off the first 10 overs. Parthiv provided the initial impetus to the innings, hammering five boundaries and three huge sixes in his 36-ball knock.
Leg-spinner Karanveer Singh gave Kings XI the breakthrough when he had Parthiv caught by Murali Vijay in the 13th over.
Simmons’s 71 came off 56 balls with nine boundaries and a six. He fell in the last over, hitting straight to Axar Patel in the deep off Anureet Singh’s bowling. The West Indian made his intentions clear when he hit two consecutive boundaries in the first over bowled by Sandeep Sharma.
The hosts also suffered through some poor fielding, with Sehwag dropping Rohit Sharma. Unlike the last edition, nothing seems to be going right for Kings this time.
