Mumbai Indians revived their campaign for qualification to the main draw of the Oppo Champions League Twenty20 2014 with a dominant nine-wicket win over Southern Express in Raipur on Sunday (September 14) evening, the 139-run stand between openers Mike Hussey and Lendl Simmons making the difference between the two sides.

Mumbai, who opted to field, seemed to have given away a few too many to Express, who ended on 161 for 6, but by the time Hussey and Simmons did their bit and Kieron Pollard had applied the finishing touches, it looked like Mumbai were good for around 40-50 more. The 3.4 overs Mumbai didn’t have to bat would also go a long way in helping their net run-rate if it came to that after Tuesday’s games.

As the Mumbai chase got underway, their plan became quite clear. In the absence of a dependable batsman of the Rohit Sharma variety, Hussey and Simmons had to bat deep, without letting the asking rate go too far ahead of them.

With the target set out in front of them, they went about their parts well, doing nothing unnecessary, taking hardly a risk, allowing dot balls to accumulate but almost always keeping Mumbai within striking distance. Despite that, things were beginning to look a bit tricky around the time the eighth over ended, with the total at 56, and Simmons was starting to look a bit nervy with too many of his strokes finding the fielders. Seekkuge Prasanna then bowled a loose one that Simmons flat-batted over midwicket for six.

That seemed to break the shackles, and Hussey followed with a step-out-and-carve over extra cover off Dilruwan Perera and then one lofted over long-off and a four past point with a delectable cut in a Farveez Maharoof over. It was all Mumbai from there on.

The half-centuries for both openers came up in due course as they competed with each other single for single and boundary for boundary, and the Sri Lankans seemed to give up.

Hussey did fall three balls after smacking his third maximum, after a 40-ball 60, as Mumbai tried to up their rate. But Kieron Pollard walked in at No. 3 and smashed three sixes to hasten the end in collaboration with Simmons, who ended with a 51-ball 76.

Earlier, Mumbai needed a change after the poor showing against Lahore Lions, but the one they made was a forced one – Praveen Kumar going out with injury and Shreyas Gopal being brought in. And Shreyas, a promising young legspinner who had a strong maiden first-class season in 2013-14, had a horror day, conceding 29 runs from two overs and dropping the simplest of catches in the deep to let off Maharoof.

It wasn’t just Shreyas though. Everyone apart from Harbhajan Singh went for plenty, there were lapses on the field, and Express, who didn’t look good for more than 140-odd at the halfway stage, eventually put up a pretty competitive score.

The Express innings was about two batsmen – Danushka Gunathilaka and Maharoof. Things were a bit rocky to start with, and had it not been for Gunathilaka, Express would have been struggling. He looked good thwacking Harbhajan over long-on and cutting Pollard for four, and when he got out at the end of the ninth over, he had scored 30 of the 50 runs Express had.

Prasanna’s two sixes off Gopal notwithstanding, Express were struggling, and with 14 overs gone, the total was a mediocre 92 for 5. And that’s when Maharoof took charge. Gopal dropped Maharoof early in his innings, and with only two overs to go, Maharoof took Pragyan Ojha apart for four-six-four, then Lasith Malinga for six and four in the next over. He ended unbeaten on 41 from 22 balls – 31 runs came off the last two overs.

In the end though, it wasn’t enough to prevent Hussey and Simmons putting Mumbai on the board.

A win over Northern Knights on Tuesday could well take Mumbai through to the main draw, unless Lahore beat Express with enough of a margin to make up for their 72-run thrashing earlier in the day. A loss for Mumbai and a win for Lahore, however, will make things simple. While losses for both Mumbai and Lahore make it a three-way shootout over net run-rates.
(Wisden India)