Debutants Rising Pune restrict MI to 121/8 in IPL opener

Debutants Rising Pune Supergiants made a strong impression by restricting defending champions Mumbai Indians to 121 for eight in the opening match of the Indian Premier League 2016 at the Wankhede Stadium, here today.

The hosts struggled to get going after opting to bat first and were left struggling at 61 for six at one stage before recovering somewhat.

Indian Test pace spearhead Ishant Sharma and Australia's Mitchell Marsh struck twice each to reduce MI to 30 for four inside the six-over power play.

MI could not recover from these early shocks and stuttered along and somehow avoided being shot out below their lowest score at this venue – 92 against Delhi Daredevils in 2012.

Among the frontline batsmen only Ambati Rayudu (22 in 27 balls) reached double figures.

Later, Harbhajan Singh used the long handle to make an innings-high 45 not out in 30 balls, inclusive of one six and seven fours.

He also added 28 runs, the highest of the innings, with R Vinay Kumar (12) for the eighth wicket and 25 for the unfinished ninth with Mitchell Mclenaghan.

For the league debutants, Ishant (2/36) and Marsh (2/21) did the early damage.
Rajat Bhatia (1/10) and leggie Murugan Ashwin (1/16) also got among the wickets along with Ravichandran Ashwin (1/7), who came in to bowl his first and only over after 15 overs, and RP Singh (1/30).

MI got off to a lousy start by losing their top four batsmen – including last season's top two run-getters Lendl Simmons and captain Rohit Sharma – inside the first five overs with 30 on board.