Johannesburg: An unbeaten 121 run stand between Quinton de Cock and Neil McKenzie helped local favourites Highveld Lions thrash defending champions Mumbai Indians by 8 wickets in their lung opener of the Champions League T20 played here on Sunday.
Chasing a target of of 158, McKenzie and young de Cock joined forces in the seventh over after the Lions lost both their openers.
The experienced McKenzie took the attack to the Mumbai bowlers from the word go and announced his arrival to the crease by reverse paddling Harbhajan Singh for a boundary.
Both the batsmen then started playing cautiously and avoided taking risks They were happy rotating the strike and hitting the odd boundaries and piled up 50 runs in six overs. Cock was dominant of the two initially but as the match progressed further senior pro took the match by the scruff of the neck
Till the 15th over it looked anybody’s game but then two expensive overs by Dhawal Kulkarni and skipper Harbhajan quashed Mumbai’s hope.
Kulkarni gave 17 runs in the 16th over, while Harbhajan conceded 16 runs in the following over. 33 runs in two overs put Mumbai out of equation.
McKenzie scored an unbeaten 68 off 41 deliveries including 12 fours while de Cock remained unbeaten on 51 off 33 balls laced with five fours and a couple of sixes.
Earlier batting first, Mumbai Indians batsmen never could get going in the match. Few of their batters got starts, but none of them could them could convert it.
Mtchell Johnson top-scored for them with a 29 balls 30 which included four boundaries, while Dinesh Karthik played an enterprising knock down the order helped Mumbai past the 150 mark. Karthik scored a breezy 19 off 9 deliveries including two four and a six.
Sohail Tanvir was the pick of the bowlers for Sohail Tanvir with his figures of 2-31.
Brief scores:
Highveld Lions 158 for 2 (McKenzie 68*, de Kock 51*) beat Mumbai Indians 157 for 6 (Johnson 30, Tanvir 2-31) by eight wickets.
By Indian Sports News Network