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IPL 8: Mumbai Indians have a 'Ball'

Seamers Malinga (4/23) and McClenaghan (3/20) inspire bottom-placed team to 20-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad

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Mumbai Indians pacer Lasith Malinga gestures after dismissing David Warner of Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhede in Mumbai on Saturday (top) and Nita Ambani watches the game with kids. Over 17,000 underprivileged children, including 200 special kids, witnessed the match
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Lasith Malinga has lost his charm. He is not dangerous anymore. He is finished.

These were some of the things said before Mumbai Indians took on Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The Sri Lankan wasn't his effective self in the first six games. He had as many wickets to his name. Naturally, Mumbai's attack was questioned. They had failed to defend big totals.

It was a different story on Saturday, though.

The 31-year-old came up with impressive returns of 4/23 to give the Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians their first victory at home as they defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 20 runs, giving joy to the 17,000 underprivileged kids who witnessed the match. Malinga was ably supported by left-arm pacer Mitchell McClenaghan, the New Zealander taking 3/20.

Mumbai must have thought they could have got a few more, but 157/8 was more than enough. The fact that Sunrisers middle order goofed up after opener Shikhar Dhawan (42) had powered them to 45 in the first five overs mattered in the ultimate analysis.

After Malinga dismissed David Warner, who played an upper cut into the hands of Ambati Rayudu at third man in the fifth over, it all came down to Dhawan. The Indian opener was at his aggressive best as he dispatched off-spinner Harbhajan Singh for 18 runs in an over that included three boundaries and a slog sweep that went over the square leg boundary.

When it looked that Dhawan would get the job done, the left-hander pulled McClenaghan and the ball landed straight into the hands of Malinga, stationed at the mid-wicket.

KL Rahul, at No. 3, tried to steady the ship with Ravi Bopara, but both struggled to produce big hits. There was a time where the batsmen could not score a single boundary in seven overs. The desperation for quick runs led to some ordinary shots and tame dismissals.

Needing 30 runs in the last two overs, Malinga sealed the deal by taking three wickets in the 19th over and giving away just one run.

Earlier, Mumbai Indians elected to bat. West Indian opener Lendl Simmons scored his second half century and laid the platform for a competitive total. Simmons never looked in great touch. He struggled to find the gaps regularly but somehow picked up boundaries against a strong Sunrisers pace attack that comprised Dale Steyn, Trent Boult, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Praveen Kumar.

He stitched 42 with opening partner Parthiv Patel before the latter flicked Steyn to Hanuma Vihari at deep square-leg for 17. Unmukt Chand, too, followed him to the pavilion after hitting Steyn for a classic cover drive.

Meanwhile, Simmons continued his job with skipper Rohit Sharma at the other end. They got together for a 51-run stand for the third wicket and helped Mumbai go past 100. After hitting Steyn for back-to-back boundaries, Simmons failed to read a slower one that destroyed his middle stump.

Eight runs later, Sharma, too, returned to the dugout after failing to connect an inside-out shot off the bowling of Karn Sharma. Later, Kieron Pollard scored a quickfire 24-ball 33 to help Mumbai post a respectable total.

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