MOHALI, May 3 (PTI): Mumbai Indians kept their hopes of qualifying for the play-off alive as they convincingly beat Kings XI Punjab by 23 runs in an IPL cricket tournament encounter, here today.
After scoring a healthy 172 for three in 20 overs, Mumbai Indians restricted an out-of-sorts KXIP for 149 for seven in their home ground in front of packed stands as it may well be curtains for last year�s finalists.
Senior pros Lasith Malinga (2/31) and Harbhajan Singh (1/27) led a disciplined bowling attack and were complemented well by Mitchell McClenaghan (0/25 in 4 overs) and R Vinay Kumar (0/17 in 3 overs) who also kept the KXIP batsman under check.
Once David Miller (43) was snapped by Rohit Sharma off Malinga in the 17th over, the match was as good as over for the KXIP. Miller�s 37 ball innings had three fours and a six.
SCORECARD
Mumbai Indians: L Simmons c Patel b A Singh 71, P Patel c Vijay b K Singh 59, R Sharma c A Singh b Johnson 26, K Pollard not out 7, A Rayudu not out 4. Extras: (LB-3, WD-2) 5. Total: (For 3 wickets in 20 overs) 172. Fall of wickets: 1-111, 2-154, 3-166. Bowling: Sandeep Sharma 3-0-24-0, Anureet Singh 4-0-30-1, M Johnson 4-0-41-1, A Patel 3-0-24-0, Karanveer Singh 4-0-30-1, M Vijay 1-0-12-0, G Maxwell 1-0-8-0.
Kings XI Punjab: M Vijay c Chand b H Singh 39, V Sehwag c Pollard b Malinga 2, G Maxwell c V Kumar b Suchith 12, D Miller c Sharma b Malinga 43, G Bailey run out 21, W Saha run out 12, A Patel run out 0, M Johnson not out 8. Extras: (LB-9, WD-3) 12. Total: (For 7 wickets in 20 overs) 149. Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-38, 3-86, 4-119, 5-140, 6-140, 7-149. Bowling: M McClenaghan 4-0-25-0, L Malinga 4-0-31-2, R Vinay Kumar 3-0-17-0, J Suchith 4-0-33-1, Harbhajan Singh 4-0-27-1, K Pollard 1-0-7-0.
