<p>Brendon McCullum smashed a belligerent unbeaten 71 after Mohit Sharma’s heroics with the ball to guide Chennai Super Kings to a comfortable seven-wicket win over defending champions Mumbai Indians in an Indian Premier League match here on Friday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The win was Chennai’s third on the trot while Mumbai are yet to open their account in the tournament after having slumped to their third straight defeat.<br /><br />Asked to bowl, Mohit (4/14) produced a fine death bowling display to help Chennai restrict the title holders to a modest 141 for seven.<br /><br />Coming on to bowl the 19th over, Mohit picked up three wickets - Ambati Rayudu, dangerman Kieron Pollard (12) and Harbhajan Singh - to prevent a late burst from the Mumbai batsmen.<br /><br />Apart from Mohit (4/14), Ben Hilfenhaus (2/39) picked up two wickets for the Chennai outfit.<br /><br />Mumbai’s innings mainly revolved around captain Rohit Sharma and Correy Anderson. While Rohit made 50 off 41 balls with the help of three fours and two sixes, big-hitting Anderson scored 39 off 31 balls.<br /><br />In fact, the 84-run third-wicket partnership between the duo was the highlight of Mumbai’s innings especially after they lost their openers for just 25 runs inside five overs.<br />But once the duo departed, their innings fell apart as Mumbai could manage just 33 runs off the last five overs for the loss of five wickets.<br /><br />Chasing the target, Dwayne Smith (29) and McCullum got Chennai off to a flier with a 57-run opening stand off just 38 balls. After two quiet overs, Smith took Pragyan Ojha to the cleaners and clobbered the left-arm spinner for two sixes straight over his head to get Chennai going.<br /><br />Smith, however, departed in search of one too many boundaries while Suresh Raina got out cheaply, stumped by CM Gautam off Harbhajan Singh (2/27) as Mumbai clawed back into the match with two quick wickets.<br /><br />But McCullum and new man Faf du Plessis went about their business in style and stitched 50 runs for the third wicket to take Chennai closer.<br /><br />While du Plessis played the anchor’s role, McCullum continued in the aggressive fashion and dispatched the bad deliveries for fours and sixes.<br /><br /></p>
<p>Brendon McCullum smashed a belligerent unbeaten 71 after Mohit Sharma’s heroics with the ball to guide Chennai Super Kings to a comfortable seven-wicket win over defending champions Mumbai Indians in an Indian Premier League match here on Friday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The win was Chennai’s third on the trot while Mumbai are yet to open their account in the tournament after having slumped to their third straight defeat.<br /><br />Asked to bowl, Mohit (4/14) produced a fine death bowling display to help Chennai restrict the title holders to a modest 141 for seven.<br /><br />Coming on to bowl the 19th over, Mohit picked up three wickets - Ambati Rayudu, dangerman Kieron Pollard (12) and Harbhajan Singh - to prevent a late burst from the Mumbai batsmen.<br /><br />Apart from Mohit (4/14), Ben Hilfenhaus (2/39) picked up two wickets for the Chennai outfit.<br /><br />Mumbai’s innings mainly revolved around captain Rohit Sharma and Correy Anderson. While Rohit made 50 off 41 balls with the help of three fours and two sixes, big-hitting Anderson scored 39 off 31 balls.<br /><br />In fact, the 84-run third-wicket partnership between the duo was the highlight of Mumbai’s innings especially after they lost their openers for just 25 runs inside five overs.<br />But once the duo departed, their innings fell apart as Mumbai could manage just 33 runs off the last five overs for the loss of five wickets.<br /><br />Chasing the target, Dwayne Smith (29) and McCullum got Chennai off to a flier with a 57-run opening stand off just 38 balls. After two quiet overs, Smith took Pragyan Ojha to the cleaners and clobbered the left-arm spinner for two sixes straight over his head to get Chennai going.<br /><br />Smith, however, departed in search of one too many boundaries while Suresh Raina got out cheaply, stumped by CM Gautam off Harbhajan Singh (2/27) as Mumbai clawed back into the match with two quick wickets.<br /><br />But McCullum and new man Faf du Plessis went about their business in style and stitched 50 runs for the third wicket to take Chennai closer.<br /><br />While du Plessis played the anchor’s role, McCullum continued in the aggressive fashion and dispatched the bad deliveries for fours and sixes.<br /><br /></p>