Mumbai, March 31 (Inditop.com) Mumbai Indians kept on their winning streak beating Kings XI Punjab by four-wickets for their fourth consecutive win in the Indian Premier League (IPL) here Tuesday.
Riding on opener Shikhar Dhwan’s crispy 50 and Saurabh Tiwary flashy 31, Mumbai Indians achieved the target of 164 runs with three balls to spare and by losing six wickets at the Brabourne Stadium.
For Mumbai India, it was their sixth win from seven matches and they extended their lead at top of the points table while Kings XI remained the bottom placed team after their third consecutive loss, which was also their sixth from seven matches.
But the real star of the day was Sri Lankan slinger Lasith Malinga, who wrecked the Kings XI batting with his four for 22 and bowled them out for 163 runs in 20 overs. Shaun Marsh was the top scorer with 57 while Piyush Chawla made a breezy 13-ball 22 as the Kings XI put up a modest total on board.
Mumbai Indians started the chase with Dhawan spanking the Punjab’s fast bowling spearhead Brett Lee for two consecutive fours in first over. Skipper Sachin Tendulkar (11) departed early when he came down to charge Chawla and holed out to Irfan Pathan at long on.
But that didn’t dampened the spirits as Dhwan and Keiron Pollard (20) put the Kings XI Punjab bowlers on the back-foot with their powerful stroke-play. Dhawan hit six four during his 40-ball stay and with Tiwary took Mumbai to the threshold of a win.
But the quick dismissals of Ambati Rayudu (9), Dwayne Bravo (8) and Tiwary in quick successions gave a glimmer of hope to the Kings XI. But Rajagopal Satish hit some quick shots in his nine-ball 17 as Mumbai Indians romped home safely.
Earlier in the day, Kings XI Punjab were off to a shaky start but Marsh, who replaced Kumar Sangakkara, and stand-in captain Mahela Jaywardene (20) steadied the innings with their 49-run stand.
Malinga then run riot by picking up the wickets of Marsh, Manvinder Bisla (11), Pathan (18) and Karn Goel (1) as the Kings were staring at a poor total. But leg-spinner Chawla played some audacious shots to take his team to a respective total.