Mumbai outclass Bailey's Kings XI

Ricky Ponting’s Mumbai Indians have registered 23-run win over the George Bailey-led Kings XI Punjab to keep their hopes of making the 2015 IPL playoffs alive.

The win was set up by a record opening stand by man-of-the-match Lendl Simmons and Parthiv Patel, who overcame a difficult pitch at Mohali to push their side to 3-172.

Mitchell Johnson’s 1-41 from four overs and the inability of Glenn Maxwell and George Bailey to kick on was accentuated by an excellent concerted effort by the Mumbai bowlers, with only one conceding more than eight an over.

Mumbai went in unchanged while Punjab made a plethora of changes to their starting XI, bringing back Maxwell and Johnson for Shaun Marsh and Thisara Perera, while Karanveer Singh replaced Shardul Thakur whereas Murali Vijay came in for the ill Manan Vohra.

The Indians had their best start of the competition but lost steam in the second half of the innings to finish on 3-172.

Simmons and Parthiv were involved in a 111-run stand for the first wicket. Mumbai’s previous opening best this year was just 47.

After six overs the pair had added 51. Off the next six, with the fielding restrictions off, they put on a further 59.

However the scoring slowed after the pair’s dismissal, with captain Rohit Sharma struggling for a 20-ball 26 while Kieron Pollard faced seven balls for his seven.

As death bowling goes, it was also one of the best performances on display this season. Johnson had conceded 30 runs from his first two overs, but bowled a tight 14th over which went for just three singles.

Image Id: ~/media/AEF459A15D8A470FA8577C1AE4A6AC67Mitchell Johnson returned for Kings XI // BCCI

Karanveer restricted Mumbai to five in the next and then Johnson, Sandeep and Anureet gave away just 26 from the final three overs despite the presence of some of the biggest hitters in the format at the crease.

In reply, Virender Sehwag’s poor run of form continued as he edged to point for two, while Murali Vijay seemed to get off a decent start when he guided a four through the slips off Lasith Malinga and following it up with a couple of boundaries in Mitchell McClenaghan’s second over.

Unfortunately for him, he lost the support of Punjab’s new number three, Maxwell, who was dismissed for a nine-ball 12.

Vijay (39) and David Miller added 48 for the third wicket to stabilise the innings but took 44 balls to get there, pushing the rate up to more than 10 when Vijay holed out to long-off in the 12th over.

Miller unleashed the occasional boundary as he scored 43 from 37 but could not see out the innings. The mounting run-rate did not help matters and Bailey’s futile attempts to get under some of Malinga’s best yorkers ended his side’s hopes rather early.

Image Id: ~/media/00FBF3133DD34A0FA32E918A4B8A52A8George Bailey bats // BCCI

A visibly frustrated Bailey was earlier seen giving his team a rocket during one of Strategy Timeouts when Punjab were fielding and followed it up with an anguished slamming of his bat after missing out on a full-toss from Malinga. He ran himself out for 21.

The loss leaves Punjab at the bottom of the points table while Mumbai remained in seventh spot, level on points with Hyderabad (fifth) and Delhi (sixth).