CENTURION, South Africa, May 13: Dwayne Bravo and Sachin Tendulkar guided Mumbai Indians to an eight-wicket victory over Kings XI Punjab Tuesday to rise three places up the Indian Premier League log to fourth. [break]
After winning the toss, Punjab were restricted to 119-9 and opening batsman Bravo led Mumbai to 122-2 as they secured an easy win with 22 balls remaining.
Bravo was dropped by Irfan Pathan off his own bowling before he got off the mark and Punjab paid dearly for the error as the makeshift opener went on to club seven fours and three sixes in an unbeaten career-best 70 from 59 deliveries.
Mumbai* captain Tendulkar contributed 41 not out off 29 balls in an unbroken 82-run stand with the West Indian for the third wicket.
Tendulkar said they had hoped to surprise Punjab by shifting Bravo up the order - a plan that worked out perfectly.
"We just needed to change our top end and catch the opposition off guard," Tendulkar said. "Bravo did a fantastic job."
Sunny Sohal had earlier held up the Punjab innings while the rest of the order fell apart.
Sohal smashed 43 off 23 balls, including five fours and three sixes, with Karan Goel adding 20 down the order to push his team over the ton.
Mumbai spin bowler Harbhajan Singh, who said he was "very pleased" with his performance, was named man of the match for returning superb figures of 1-9 off four overs.
Part-time spinner JP Duminy picked up the wickets of Wilkin Mota and Punjab skipper Yuvraj Singh in the 12th over for a return of 2-15.
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Meanwhile, Ross Taylor triumphed in the battle of the New Zealanders against Brendon McCullum Tuesday as Bangalore defeated Kolkata by six wickets in an Indian Premier League thriller.
McCullum struck an unbeaten 84 at Centurion Park as bottom team Knight Riders reached 173-4 from 20 overs only to be passed by Royal Challengers, who made 176-4 in 19.2 overs with unbeaten 81-run Taylor the hero.
Friend and foe praised Taylor after one of the most exciting finishes in the five-week Twenty20 tournament as teams chase a top-four finish and a place in the semi-finals next weekend.
"Ross was fantastic and took the game away from us after I thought our total would be good enough to secure victory," said McCullum of official man-of-the-match Taylor.
Bangalore and South Africa wicketkeeper Mark Boucher added: "The innings of Ross was as good as it gets. We were under a lot of pressure to win and he pulled us through."
Taylor said: "The innings was a relief as I have been struggling in the IPL this season. I desperately wanted to repay the faith shown in me by the coaching staff."
McCullum struck two sixes and 10 fours as he stayed at the crease from start to finish of a Kolkata innings that gathered momentum in the second half after labouring to 69-2 by the 10-over ´tactical break´.
The Kiwi also pulled off the catch of the tournament so far to send South African Jacques Kallis packing after his opening partnership with Kiwi Jesse Ryder had yielded 58 runs for Bangalore.
Ryder departed five runs later and after Bangalore were in run-rate trouble for several overs, Taylor let loose and his five sixes and seven fours steered the team home.
Victory lifted Bangalore two places to fifth on the eight-team standings, one point behind defending champions Rajasthan Royals with three round-robin fixtures to play.
* (Corrected)
