Rajasthan stop Mumbai to 142 for 7 in CLT20 opener

IPL champions Mumbai Indians recovered from a slow start to post a fighting 142 for seven against Rajasthan Royals in their Champions League Twenty20 opening match, here today.
Mumbai owed their total to skipper Rohit Sharma (44) and burly West Indies batsman Kieron Pollard (42) even as paceman Vikramjit Malik (3/24) did well for the hosts with his three-wicket haul.
Mumbai Indians were struggling at 43 for four at one stage but Sharma stabilised the innings with his sensible batting while Pollard hit some lusty blows towards the end to up the run-rate.
Sharma's 44 came off 37 balls with three fours and two sixes while Pollard took 36 balls for his 42, laced with six boundaries including two sixes.

Hosts had things under control under helpful conditions for paceman as it rained before the match but Mumbai scored 55 runs in the last five overs to make it a good contest.
Dwayne Smith (9) had began fantastically with an elegant cover drive off the first ball of the match but was trapped by Malik. The short ball kept low and Smith was caught plumb.

Tendulkar punched two boundaries off James Faulkner and one off Shane Watson but the pitch had something for the bowlers, so the IPL champions made a steady start.
But things changed quickly as Malik bowled Dinesh Karthik (2) and Tendulkar (15) was caught behind off Stuart Binny when he tried to drive a good length ball.

As if that was not enough new batsman Ambati Rayudu (3) was run out after a mix up with skipper Sharma.
Sharma kept the scoreboard ticking with ones and twos in company of Kieron Pollard and the visitors raised their fifty in the last ball of the 10th over when their skipper lofted Binny for a four over point.
The Mumbai skipper played some beautiful flicks and pulls and hit two sixes off Watson -- first a well-timed scoop and second a ferocious pull on full toss -- but the Australian succeeded in removing the dangerman.
Pollard then did a splendid job for Mumbai before becoming the third victim of Malik in the last over.