Mumbai: Mumbai Indians successfully maintained their winning streak at Wankhede Stadium and are now sitting at top of the tables after they won their match against the Rajasthan Royals by 14 runs here on Wednesday.
Brilliant bowling from Mitchell Johnson and Dhawal Kulkarni helped MI to restrict Rajasthan to 152 in their 20 overs. Though Stuart Binny and Brad Hodge batted brilliantly as they scored 37 and 39 runs respectively, their demotion in the batting-order somehow back-fired for RR.
Earlier it was some fine batting from the opening duo of Glenn Maxwell and Aditya Tare, scoring 23 and 59 runs respectively, that helped Mumbai reach 166.
Chasing down the total of 166 turned out to be quite tough for Rajasthan Royals as they lost top order wickets in quick succession. The quartet of Sanju Samson, James Faulkner, Ajinkya Rahane and Rahul Dravid were sent back to pavilion in the first six overs. But Shane Watson and Stuart Binny tried their best to rebuild the innings. Watson departed after scoring 19 runs and was followed by Dinesh Yagnik who contributed just 10 runs to the cause.
But it was the brilliant partnership between Binny and Hodge which allowed RR to comeback in the match as they added 56 runs for the seventh wicket. Binny remained not out at 37 whereas Hodge was yorked by Lasith Malinga in the final over. Rajasthan fell 14 runs short in chasing down the total of 166.
Earlier it was some fine batting from Aditya Tare which gave Mumbai a flying start. Maxwell scored 23 runs off 17 balls whereas Dinesh Karthik scored run-a-ball 21. Tare kept on finding the gaps and did smart work in first 10 overs which led his team to 83/1.
Tare departed after scoring 59 runs off 37 balls which were decorated with eight fours and one six. Rohit Sharma and Keiron Pollard didn’t stay too long at the crease as they got out after scoring 14 and 17 runs respectively. Mumbai managed to reach 166 in their 20 overs after Harbhajan Singh gave few lusty blows in his contribution of 15 runs.