MI restrict Perth Scorchers to 149 for six

Some fine bowling by Nathan Coulter-Nile and Pragyan Ojha helped Mumbai Indians restrict Perth Scorchers to 149 for six in their Champions League Twenty20 match here today.
Mumbai Indians, for whom this is a do-or-die battle, need to chase down the target in 14.2 overs in order to book their berth in the semifinals of the tournament.
Sam Whiteman scored a quickfire 32-ball 51, studded with six fours and two sixes, besides putting on a crucial 34-ball 58 run stand for the third wicket with Hilton Cartwright to help Scorchers set Mumbai a 150-run target.
For Mumbai, Coulter-Nile was the pick of the bowlers with figures of three for 19, while Ojha chipped in with two for 17.

The Scorchers began cautiously after they were put in to bat by the Mumbai Indians. Of the two openers, Ashton Agar was the more dominating, while skipper Simon Katich gave him good support at the other end.
The two took their time to counter some tight bowling from Harbhajan Singh and Nathan Coulter-Nile. Agar patiently waited for the loose deliveries to hit boundaries before he striking two consecutive fours off a Rishi Dhawan over.

The Scorchers reached 50 in the ninth over with all wickets intact. Even though the bowlers managed to bowl a tight line and length, they failed to take wickets.

It was left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, who gave Mumbai their breakthrough by seeing off both the opening batsmen in his very first over of the match.
After being hit for a four off the first ball of the 10th over, he knocked off the stumps of Agar before bowling Katich with the fifth ball of the over.
Agar scored a 40-ball 35 with the help of six fours, while Katich's 13 came off 19 balls. The duo shared a 55-run partnership for the opening wicket.
The two new batsmen -- Cartwright and Whiteman -- accelerated the scoring. Cartwright scored a valuable 20-ball 28 studded with four hits to the fence before Coulter-Nile, who returned for his second spell, saw him off.

Whiteman, however, continued to play his strokes, hitting two fabulous sixes, even as wickets kept falling at the other end.