'Tendulkar, Ponting set up the win'

Mumbai Indians fast bowler Mitchell Johnson on Saturday credited his side’s 41-run victory over Pune Warriors in their IPL game here to the 54-run opening stand between skipper Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar.

“I think our opening partnership got us to a good start. Then DK (Dinesh Kaarthick) and Rohit (Sharma) put on a good partnership. Rohit kept going and obviously got us a good total to bowl to. That gave us the confidence to go out there and pitch the ball up and get those early wickets,” Johnson said at the post-match press conference.

“It was nice to see the ball swing around. You normally see it in these conditions with the white ball, a bit of early swing, so (we were) looking to pitch the ball up. It was nice to get those early wickets because it definitely put them under pressure,” he said.

“We started well with a good partnership, we slowed down a bit we got another partnership going. We know we can score at the backend of the innings, so the boys did exceptionally well. Two games at home and two wins so it’s a good start to the season,” he added.

The Australian further said that he enjoyed bowling at the Wankhede Stadium as the wicket was quite similar to what he was used to playing back at home at Gabba.