Rohit's blistering knock powers MI to 174/3 against KXIP

Captain Rohit Sharma smashed a blistering unbeaten 79 off 39 balls to power Mumbai Indians to a challenging 174 for three after a sluggish start in their Pepsi IPL match against Kings XI Punjab at the Wankhede Stadium here today.
Sharma, standing in for regular skipper Ricky Ponting who opted out for the third match running, struck six sixes and as many fours in his blistering knock to take Mumbai from 43 for two in the eighth over to a big score.
The other significant contributions for Mumbai came from Dwayne Smith (33), Dinesh Kartik (25) and Kieron Pollard (20 not out).

Sharma put on 43 runs for the third wicket with Smith and an 88 runs with Pollard for the unfinished fourth wicket. The highlight of his innings was the three sixes and two fours he hit in the final over bowled by Kings XI captain David Hussey who conceded 27 runs in that over.
The best bowling effort for Kings XI came from Praveen Kumar (1 for 24) and Piyush Chawla (1 for 24).
Mumbai made a disastrous start after opting to bat with Sachin Tendulkar dragging a ball from Praveen Kumar on to his stumps in the third over. He made just nine with two fours, his fifth single digit score in the tournament in nine innings.

In-form batsman Dinesh Kartik eased the pressure by hitting Praveen for a four and a six in consecutive balls in the fifth over at the end of which MI were 28 for one.
At the end of the sixth and last power play over, Mumbai were 36 with Karthik and Dwayne Smith at the crease.
Karthik looked good for a big score before he too dragged the ball on to his stumps off Manpreet Gony after pulling the bowler for a four off the previous ball as Mumbai were reduced to 43 for two in the eighth over. Karthik's 25 came off 19 balls.