Rohit Sharma guides Mumbai to second-straight win

Rohit Sharma top-scored with 59 from just 35 balls to help Mumbai beat Bangalore by 19 runs in the Indian T20 league on Tuesday.

Mumbai, the defending champions, were put in to bat first and lost Ben Dunk in the fourth over. CM Gautam and Ambati Rayudu also struggled on a pacy Wankhede pitch.

Mumbai lost three more wickets inside the first ten overs and scored 85, at a brisk rate of 8.50 runs per over. Fireworks from Rohit and Kieron Pollard, who came together at 84 for 4, helped Mumbai set Bangalore a sizeable 188-run target.

The duo started rebuilding the innings cautiously and hit just three fours in the first five overs of their partnership. They finally cut loose in the 16th over as Rohit and Pollard clubbed Harshal Patel for boundaries. Rohit then lofted Ashok Dinda for a six over deep midwicket in the 18th.

Mumbai's captain then took 24 runs from the 19th over bowled by Varun Aaron. Two of the three sixes he hit in that over were thick edges.

Bangalore's top-three batsmen, Chris Gayle, Parthiv Patel and Virat Kohli, got starts but failed to convert that into match-winning scores. They managed just 168 in their 20 overs.

"By far the best game so far. This is what Mumbai is all about, we also took some brilliant catches," Rohit said after winning the Man-of-the-Match award.

"Wankhede always has some dew and the bowlers did very well. Suyal came back very well and things slowed down for Bangalore. We kept taking wickets. Important for me to step up and I'm glad I played an important knock. We're keeping our heads up. We need to be positive. Next game against Chennai is also very important."