It was a highly anticipated clash in the Indian Premier League when Mumbai Indians (MI) took on the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) at the Wankhede Stadium as it marked the comeback of the little master Sachin Tendulkar after five matches. Sachin who missed out on their previous games due to a finger injury sustained during the inaugural match of the IPL V against the Chennai Super Kings was expected to change Mumbai’s fortune but nothing it did expected lines as the home team slumped to a six wicket defeat.
Mail Today writes that Shaun Marsh guided Kings XI Punjab to a six wicket victory over the Mumbai Indians with an unbeaten 68 runs knock at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. Mumbai who could score 163-6 was breached by KXIP with three balls to spare. Marsh hit the five fours and three sixes in his innings of 68 which helped KXIP register three wins out of seven games and while dumping Mumbai to their fourth loss in the same number of games.
A report in The Hindu writes that MI realized the difficulty in defending totals with their bowling spearhead Lasith Malinga who is out with an injury as they have lost to the KXIP by six wickets. Punjab in their pursuit of 164 started off well with openers Nitin Saini and Mandeep Singh putting up 48 for the first wicket and then later Shaun Marsh and David Hussey took it from there to guide the visitor’s home.
Times of India writes that Punjab should have been aggressive right from the onset but Marsh did not look to attack until the KXIP skipper Hussey came onto bat. MI were looking relaxed till halfway mark pressed the panic button only after the after the Australian duo came together. They batted well and stitched a match winning partnership of 71 runs for the third wicket. Hussey played a second fiddle to Marsh and scored 21 of 19 deliveries. After he departed the victory still looked look tough until the 20th over when Miller joined Marsh to guide the KXIP to an unbelievable win.
The Hindustan Times writes that earlier in the match Mumbai Indians openers James Franklin and Sachin Tendulkar started well but going by the T20 standards 39 off the first six overs would have pleased the Kings. MI looked like they based their strategy on keeping wickets till the end and then go for the kill at the end. But KXIP did well to deny an onslaught and some good death bowling saw Mumbai fetching on 34 runs of last five overs.