Mumbai Indians post challenging 164/5 against Rajasthan Royals

Riding on a late assault by middle-order batsmen Kieron Pollard and Corey Anderson, Mumbai Indians posted a challenging 164/5 in their Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter against Rajasthan Royals at the Sardar Patel Stadium here on Tuesday.

Electing to bat, the visitors got an early jolt, when opener Aaron Finch cramped himself up while taking a run and was forced to leave the field in the fourth over.

Finch's opening partner Parthiv Patel (16), who opened the innings in place of skipper Rohit Sharma, departed in the fifth over.

The 2013 champions found themselves in more trouble when skipper Rohit who dropped himself two places down the batting order didn't trouble the scorers (out for zero in the second successive match) as he was caught in first slip by Steve Smith while attempting to hit a wide delivery of the bowling of Stuart Binny.

With his dismissal, came in Anderson. At the other end, a struggling Unmukt Chand (12) was clean bowled by Pravin Tambe. Mumbai were then 45/3 in 9.5 overs.

Pollard walked in next, and changed the complexion of the game by authoring a 104-run stand with Anderson (50; 38 b, 5 fours, 3 sixes). Pollard (50; 28 b, 7x4, 5x6) smashed the ball to all parts of the ground to provide a breezy momentum to the Mumbai Indians.

Anderson was earlier caught of the bowling of Kulkarni when he was batting on 23 but the delivery was judged a no ball.