Sharma leads Mumbai to narrow win over Kings XI

Rohit Sharma scored 79 off 39 balls to help Mumbai Indians set a 175-run target for Kings XI Punjab in Mumbai yesterday. (BCCI)

Agencies/MumbaiRohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians beat Kings XI Punjab by 4 runs at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai yesterday as the hosts registered the sixth victory in this year’s IPL.Punjab’s run chase never really took off as a disciplined Mumbai bowling attack continued to take wickets at  regular intervals to leave David Hussey’s side struggling.Harbhajan Singh (3 for 14) and Pragyan Ojha (2 for 22) shared five wickets between them to make Punjab’s scoring difficult.David Miller was Punjab’s lone warrior, scoring 56 runs off 34 balls with five sixes and one four. With his dismissal, Mitchell Johnson sealed Punjab’s fate.Ojha started the Punjab’s downward slide when he dismissed Shaun Marsh in the seventh over.Marsh (10) hit Ojha’s delivery hard and flat towards the boundary but Kieron Pollard took a blinder next to the boundary rope to dismiss the Australian.Ojha’s next victim was David Hussey, who had scored a quick-fire 34 runs in 18 balls. Hussey, like Marsh, had hit hard towards the boundary where Johnson took a straight catch.Gurkeerat Singh had walked out to provide a bit of stability to the fast crumbling Punjab batting line-up. But a healthy leading edge off a Harbhajan delivery saw him walking back to the pavilion with only a run to his name.Harbhajan added more injury to the Kings XI Punjab when he dispatched both Azhar Mahmood and Manpreet Gony in quick succession. Kings XI Punjab had suffered two major blows early in their innings as their in-form batsman Mandeep Singh (9) and Manan Vohra (1) were dismissed without adding much to the scoreboard.Earlier, skipper Rohit Sharma hit an unbeaten 79 off 39 balls to power Mumbai Indians to 174/3 against Kings XI Punjab.Sharma reached his fifty off just 28 balls and his knock was studded with 6 sixes and 6 fours and he scored 27 runs off the last over bowled by Hussey.Such was the onslaught by Mumbai captain that he overshadowed Pollard who was slightly off-colour today hitting a six and a four in his 21-ball 20.Dwayne Smith hit a 32-ball 33 before Piyush Chawla had him caught by David Miller at long-on. Smith hit a six and 3 fours in his knock.Sachin Tendulkar edged a Praveen Kumar delivery onto his stumps as Mumbai Indians got off to a bad start.Mumbai lost their second wicket when Dinesh Karthik edged a Manpreet Gony delivery onto his stumps. Karthik hit a six and 2 fours in his 19-ball 25.ScoreboardMumbai IndiansD Smith c Miller b Chawla33S Tendulkar b Kumar9D Karthik b Gony25R Sharma not out79K Pollard not out20Extras(lb 3, w 4, nb 1) 8Total(3 wickets; 20 overs) 174Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Tendulkar), 2-43 (Karthik), 3-86 (Smith)Bowling: P Kumar 4-0-24-1, Azhar Mahmood 4-0-32-0, P Awana 4-0-16-0, M Gony 4-0-43-1, P Chawla 2-0-24-1, D Hussey 2-0-32-0Kings XI PunjabM Singh b Malinga9S Marsh c Pollard b Ojha10M Vohra c Pollard b Johnson1D Hussey c Johnson b Ojha34D Miller c Tendulkar b Johnson56G Singh c Smith b Harbhajan2A Mahmood c Karthik b Harbhajan9M Gony c Karthik b Harbhajan0P Chawla c Rayudu b Kulkarni12P Kumar c Tendulkar b Kulkarni24 P Awana not out0Extras(b 4, lb 3, w 5, nb 1) 13Total(10 wickets; 20 overs) 170Fall of wickets: 1-12 (M Singh), 2-16 (Vohra), 3-55 (Marsh), 4-76 (Hussey), 5-79 (G Singh), 6-110 (Mahmood), 7-111 (Gony), 8-132 (Chawla), 9-149 (Miller), 10-170 (Kumar)Bowling: M Johnson 4-0-29-2, L Malinga 4-0-39-1, D Kulkarni 4-0-44-2, P Ojha 3-0-22-2, H Singh 4-0-14-3, K Pollard 1-0-15-0