In a rather low-key Maharashtra Derby, the Mumbai Indians coasted to a five-wicket win over Pune Warriors to keep their charge for a playoff spot in IPL 2013 on course.
A packed crowd at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium were not treated to too much action, with the bowlers holding sway.
A good bowling performance from the Mumbai Indians coupled with an uninspiring batting performance from the bottom club Pune Warriors saw the home side finish their first innings on a below-par 112 for eight.
Mumbai Indians did not have too much trouble, chasing down the target with five wickets and seven balls to spare.
MI jumped to second in the points table, with their ninth win in 13 games, while Pune Warriors remain last with their miserable 12th defeat in 14 matches.
There were no real worries for Mumbai Indians, even if they lost three wickets relatively early, with Dwayne Smith dismissed in the first ball of the innings.
Ashok Dinda sent the off stump cartwheeling to send Smith back to the pavilion first ball, but Mumbai Indians, needing under six runs an over, never really looked like losing their way.
Sachin Tendulkar, coming off the back of a man of the match performance against KKR, looked to be on his way to another solid innings, but after scoring 15 from 13 balls, threw away his wicket by chipping one straight to Manish Pandey off Ajantha Mendis.
Dinesh Karthik (17, 25b, 1x4, 1x6) also got off to a start and got out, top-edging one to long-off to Pandey again off Yuvraj Singh.
Ambati Rayudu and Rohit Sharma came together, notching up 54 runs for the third wicket as the Mumbai Indians coasted to their target.
Rayudu (26, 23b, 2x4, 1x6), after hitting a couple of boundaries in the 16th over off Dinda, unnecessarily got out, holing out to Angelo Mathews at deep square leg.
Mumbai, though, needed just 20 from the last four overs, with Sharma and Million Dollar man Glenn Maxwell, playing his first game in IPL 2013, taking their side level, before Sharma (37, 41b, 3x4) lost his wicket.
Harbhajan Singh came in and hit the winning runs to seal another convincing win.
Pune Warriors stuttered their way to a sub-par total yet again, with pretty much all the batsmen failing to make a mark, even with the pressure completely off, as the home side just meandered, looking like a lost little puppy in the final overs.
Aaron Finch and Robin Uthappa opened the innings yet again, with both sent packing early by the MI bowlers.
Finch (10 in 11 balls) was the first to go, falling to his compatriot Mitchell Johnson, who finished with brilliant figures of 4-0-8-2, for a soft dismissal, finding Dwayne Smith at short cover.
Uthappa (11), who has shown some decent form off late, albeit much after the playoff horse had bolted for the Pune Warriors, joined his opening partner in the dugout two overs later, trapped in front by an in-swinger from Lasith Malinga.
Pune Warriors were on 25 for two from 4.4 overs at that point, and Yuvraj, so disappointing in IPL 2013, and Pandey, a shadow of the batsman who smashed that century a few seasons back, went about repairing the innings.
The duo allied for 59 runs in 8.2 overs, but just when they needed to continue and build on their starts, both batsmen fell in the space of four deliveries, with Mathews' wicket sandwiched in between.
Pandey fell first, hitting a longhop from Malinga (two for 27) straight to Ambati Rayudu at deep midwicket, for a run-a-ball 29 (1x4, 1x6).
Mathews, in following Pandey's dismissal, was out for a duck after hesitating while going for a quick single, with Tendulkar firing a nice direct hit from short third man at the bowler's end.
Yuvraj (33, 29b, 1x4, 2x6) followed suit soon after, failing to read a Harbhajan Singh off-spinner that just held its line and seeing himself caught in front of the stumps.
From there, with the score on 85 for five, Pune just looked like they gave up, coasting along like they were chasing down a target of 100 with six overs remaining.
Three more wickets fell in the innings -- two of them in the final over from Abu Nechim -- as Pune Warriors ended up on a poor and forgettable 112 for eight, with the final five overs yielding just 24 runs.
