Punjab 168-5 (20 ov)
Mumbai 170-5 (19.1 ov)
Toss: Punjab, chose to bat
Punjab: Saha 59 not out, Maxwell 45; Harbhajan 2-34
Mumbai: Rohit 39, Anderson 35, Gautam 33; Rishi 2-23
Man of the match: Corey Anderson (Mumbai)
MUMBAI // The one good thing about hitting rock bottom is that there is only one place left to go. Much to the delight of their fans, Mumbai Indians yesterday snapped their five-match losing streak, fittingly at home, to defeat Kings XI Punjab and record their first win of the 2014 IPL at Wankhede Stadium.
Mumbai chased down 169, thanks in large part to a 53-run stand between Rohit Sharma and Corey Anderson and an exuberant 12-ball 28 from Keiron to Pollard.
In their previous match, against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, Pollard with a 48-ball 78 had almost taken Mumbai to victory, when they fell short by 15 runs. He had some unfinished business this time around, as he held his nerve to take Mumbai to 170 for five.
Earlier, Rohit and Anderson set the tone for Mumbai, first running out Virender Sehwag and then forcing Cheteshwar Pujara (19 off 18 balls) to venture into risky adventurism. That united Glenn Maxwell – the most destructive batsman in this edition so far – with Wridhiman Saha, who, before this match, had scored just 18 runs from five games.
With the second ball he faced, Maxwell struck a flayed cover drive off Anderson to suggest that the capacity crowd were in for another treat and he was motoring at 45 off just 27 balls when a slow ball from Harbhajan Singh outfoxed him and he found Ben Dunk at long on.
Saha picked up and was unbeaten with 59 off 47 but his efforts proved futile.
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Disha Shetty is sub-editor at wisdenindia.com Follow them @Wisdenindia or us on Twitter @SprtNationalUAE