Mumbai Indians Thrash Southern Express In Must-win Game

Mumbai Indian made up for Saturday's batting failure against Lahore Lions big time, chasing down 162 on a gallop against Southern Express in the Champions League T20 qualifers to keep their tournament proper hopes alive at Raipur on Sunday.

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In a must-win match for the defending champions, Lendl Simmons and Michael Hussey rose to the occasion and after early nerves showed such dominance that the Sri Lankan team had no chance and bowed out with two defeats in as many matches. Simmons and Hussey added 139 for the opening stand to help their team reach the target in 16.2 overs with nine wickets in hand.

The Sri Lankans had a big chance to break the stand in the eighth over but wicketkeeper Kusal Perera failed to hit the stumps at the non-striker's end despite having a good view after Hussey, who was on 20 at that time, pushed a Dilruwan Perera delivery on the offside and ran off for a single straight away. The Aussie went on to score 60 off 40 balls.

Simmons remained unbeaten on 76 off 51 balls with the help of 11 fours and one six as Kieron Pollard finished the match in style with back-to-back sixes off left-arm spinner Sachith Pathirana. Earlier in the day, SE posted 161 for 6. The sixth-wicket 58-run stand between Angelo Perera and Farveez Maharoof, vastly helped by poor fielding from MI, was largely responsible for the solid total.

MI, who lost their opening game to Pakistan's LL on Saturday, won the toss and put the opposition in to bat and their bowlers justified captain Pollard's decision by taking early wickets. Medium pacer Jasprit Bumrah induced a top edge off the dangerous Kusal for 8.

Pollard also got in on the act with a slower delivery and had Yashodha Lanka caught for 9. Opener Danushka Gunathilaka had looked in control during his innings of 30 before falling in a soft manner to innocuous-looking offspinner Jalaj Saxena.

Captain Jehan Mubarak was the next to go when in an attempt to slog-sweep Pragyan Ojha he lost his offstump for 16. Sekkuge Prasanna (15) hit two big sixes to wake up the crowd but his unfortunate run-out as a result of a misunderstanding with Angelo ended his innings.

Angelo and Maharoof's stand brought the Lankans back into the match before Lasith Malinga, who captained SE to the domestic title in Sri Lanka, cleaned up Angelo for 28 in the last over. Maharoof (41* off 22 balls) got a six and four off the last two balls to finish the innings on a high.

MI made one change to their team that lost to the Lions, bringing in legspinner Shreyas Gopal in place of the injured Praveen Kumar. In the first game of the day at Raipur, New Zealand's Knights secured a thumping 72-run against the Lions to put one foot in the tournament proper.

Brief scores: Southern Express 161 for 6 (Maharoof 41*; Malinga 1/28) lose to Mumbai Indians 165 for 1 in 16.2 overs (Simmons 76*; Pathirana 1/26) by nine wickets