MUMBAI, April 20 (IANS): Mumbai Indians registered a seven-wicket win over Pune Warriors India in an exciting last-ball finish in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Wankhede Stadium here Wednesday.
Opting to bat first, Pune Warriors were bowled out for 118 runs in 17.2 overs after Robin Uthappa made a valuable 37-ball 45. Man of the Match Munaf Patel picked up three for eight.
While chasing, Mumbai Indians lost James Franklin (6), who was promoted as an opener, in the second over, but skipper Sachin Tendulkar (35) and Ambati Rayudu (37) took the match away from Pune's grasp with their 74-run stand for the second wicket.
Tendulkar and Rayudu played patiently and waited for the poor balls to punish them for boundaries. Tendulkar hit two fours in his 39-ball innings and rotated the strike intelligently. Rayudu also smacked four fours during his 40-ball stay.
But the departure of Tendulkar and Rayudu in consecutive overs, created panic before Rohit Sharma (20) and Andrew Symonds (16) took the hosts home with their unbeaten 35-run stand.
Mumbai Indians needed five runs from the last over and after four singles from the first five balls, Sharma smacked left-arm spinner Murali Kartik's last ball for a huge six for the winning runs.
Earlier, Pune Warriors put on one of their worst batting performances in the IPL and struggled against the Mumbai Indians' pace attack. Pacers Lasith Malinga, Abu Nechim and spinner Ali Murtaza also got two wickets each.
But it was Munaf, who gave the Mumbai Indians the crucial breakthroughs, and also picked up the important wicket of captain Yuvraj Singh, who didn't trouble the scorers.
