The Mumbai Indians raced off to a convincing win over the Kings XI Punjab by 23 runs to complete their sixth win in the Indian Premier League this year. Chasing a reasonable target of 160 for a win, the Kings XI Punjab never looked like they were in contention for the win and ended at 136 in their 20 overs. 
The pitch had a bit of an up and down bounce, but more than the track itself, it was the early wicket of Adam Gilchrist and the difficulties that Paul Valthaty had, that shook the Kings XI Punjab. Harbhajan Singh claimed the wicket of Gilchrist, lbw, in the very first over of the chase and while the second wicket stand was worth 72 runs, it took them 10 overs to get there. 
With the asking rate climbing to over 10 runs an over, Valthaty hit Andrew Symonds for a six but was caught brilliantly by Kieron Pollard at the fence when he tried another one.
Shaun Marsh was sublime, as he has been in the tournament so far, scoring a 47-ball 61, but the wickets that kept falling at the other end, never allowed Punjab back into the game. David Hussey made 1 as did Dinesh Karthik, and by the time Abhishek Nayar had hit a couple to the fence, the team needed 47 in the last four overs.
Lasith Malinga took a couple of wickets towards the end of the innings to blow the side away.
Earlier, the Mumbai Indians had lost Davy Jacobs early in the innings, bowled off a delivery that spun from Bipul Sharma. Sachin Tendulkar and Ambati Rayadu were involved in a second wicket partnership that pulled them back into the game, adding 95 for the second wicket. Both got to their 50s before getting out in a bid to up the ante.
Tendulkar was surprisingly slow, getting to his half century off 45 balls only, while Rayadu was delightful in the innings. Kieron Pollard came on later to smash an 11-ball 20 and that propelled them to 159 in the 20 overs.
At that stage, it did look like an average score given that the pitch wasn’t too bad and the Kings had a decent set of batsmen. However, it was the bowling of Mumbai Indians that saved them the day.
Mumbai Indians now have 12 points from eight games, whereas Punjab have six from seven.