Stoinis exploits slow track to help Punjab beat Mumbai

Marcus Stoinis, Punjab's medium pacer, made use of a slow pitch and claimed four wickets that helped his side thrash Mumbai by seven wickets in their Indian Twenty20 competition in Visakhapatnam on Friday.

Rohit Sharma, Mumbai's captain, at the toss said that the surface was "Nice and hard to put the runs on the board and defend later." Sharma grew to rue his decision, to at the toss, as his batsmen struggled to force the pace against Punjab's new-ball attack comprising of Sandeep and Mohit Sharma.

Opener Unmukt Chand, replacing Parthiv Patel, fell in the second over for zero and Ambati Rayadu followed an over later for the same score. Mumbai ended their Powerplay on 21 for two - the lowest six-over score of the season.

The usually free-scoring Rohit found it difficult to inject venom into his team's ailing early effort. Axar Patel finally put him out of his misery for a 24-ball 15 in the ninth over. Stoinis introduced into the attack just two overs before Rohit's dismissal conceded just three from his first over.

He dismissed Nitish Rana in his second over - the 11th of the innings. Jos Buttler became Stoinis' second victim and when he holed out to long-off in the 14th over, Mumbai's run rate was less than five an over. Kieron Pollard and Krunal Pandya attempted the revive Mumbai's innings and hit the spinners for four sixes in two overs, but Stoinis dismissed both in the 17th over.

The impressive bowling display restricted Mumbai to just 124 in their innings. Stoinis ended his quota of overs with figures of 4 for 15. He conceded just one four in his spell. Mumbai needed early wickets to put pressure on Punjab; and Tim Southee provided just that by dismissing Hashim Amla in the first over.

Murali Vijay and Wriddhiman Saha though dropped anchor and added 116 runs for the second wicket. The partnership put Mumbai out of the contest, as Punjab cruised home with 18 balls remaining. "Wicket suited my bowling. Looked tough to score. Used the odd change of pace," Stoinis said.

"Maybe was saying it was a blessing in disguise that we got to chase. Team effort for sure, all bowlers bowled well. Great start."