Johannesburg: Defending champions Mumbai Indians started their campaign on a disappointing note, losing to Highveld Lions by eight wickets in their opening match of the Champions League T20 here on Sunday.
The catalysts for Lions’ victory were Neil McKenzie (68 not out off 41 balls) and 19-year-old Quinton de Kock (51 not out off 33) as the duo helped the side chase the target of 158 with seven balls to spare.
Mumbai posted 157 for six after being invited to bat and then failed to find an answer for McKenzie and de Kock’s joint assault that left them bruised and battered.
It could have been anybody’s game till Dhawal Kulkarni and Mumbai skipper Harbhajan Singh were taken to the cleaners in the 16th and 17th overs.
While Kulkarni con-ceded 17 runs, Harbhajan was smashed for 16.
Earlier, Mumbai relied on useful contributions from their batsmen to reach a total that wasn’t enough=.
Mitchell Johnson scored 30 while Rohit Sharma and Dwayne Smith fell in the 20s after getting starts.
Sachin Tendulkar made 16 from 24 balls and was bowled by spinner Aaron Phangiso.
Harbhajan said after the match: “overall Lions played much better than us, they know the conditions better than us. credit to them. We need to play better cricket. There was a bit of dew, but we can’t complain about that.”
Man-of-the-Match McKenzie said, “I’m just enjoying my cricket. De Kock is really an exceptional talent, got a good head for him, a nice leader for the future.” (PTI)