Late assault takes Mumbai to 165

Durban:Late onslaught by Saurabh Tiwary and Dwayne Bravo gave the much-needed fillip to the Mumbai Indians who reached a competitive 165/7 after a shaky start. Dale Steyn was the most successful bowler for Bangalore with a spell of 3/26 at Kingsmead on Sunday.

Bangalore bowlers not only kept Mumbai in check but also continued to chip in at the wickets, restricting Sachin's team to a scoring rate of just over six at the halfway stage after they chose to bat first.

Sachin Tendulkar and Ambati Rayudu's early dismissals severely dented Mumbai's chances to put up a big total in the all-important encounter against Bangalore. While Praveen Kumar removed Sachin (11), Rayudu (3) was lapped in the slips by Rahul Dravid off Vinay Kumar.

JP Duminy got off to a scratchy start but to his credit, stayed at the wicket which was the need of the hour for Mumbai.

But Bangalore bowlers continued to thwart every run-making attempt by Duminy and Dhawan, thereby tightening the noose. While Uthappa failed a chance to stump Dhawan off Anil Kumble, wicket came from the other end when Duminy (10) could hit only as far as the long-off fielder off Kallis.

Sachin still held Kieron Pollard back, prompting Kumble to do the same with Steyn as Saurabh Tiwary strode into middle. But Steyn eventually marked his run-up in the 11th over and peppered Tiwary with fast short-pitched stuff.

The tactics of holding Steyn back paid the richest dividends possible when Steyn gunned down both Dhawan (41) and the dangerman Pollard (0), reducing Mumbai to a sorry-looking 84/5 in 13 overs.

Bravo's dropped caught and bowled chance by Kumble could have spelled absolute doom for Mumbai but the senior Indian citizen failed to latch onto it.

The partnership Mumbai searched throughout the innings, came much too late for them in the form of a team-up between Bravo and Tiwary. It turned out to be the much-needed fillip for the Mumbai innings that looked in tatters for the most part.

The duo upped the ante from the 17th over onwards but Bravo was particularly severe on Kumble, hitting the skipper for two towering sixes and a boundary in a 22-run 18th over. That also brought up the 50-run partnership in just 30 balls.

Steyn, though, soon took care of Bravo's 17-ball cameo of 29 runs with a full-toss that looked above waist height but was adjudged below it by the square-leg umpire.

Harbhajan (14) got a few useful runs at the end before being run out but Tiwary was the one who held fort for Mumbai with his 38 runs of 30 balls that helped the IPL runner-up reach a competitive 165/7.

The most economical bowler of the tournament until now, Anil Kumble, not only went wicket-less but gave away 45 runs in his four overs. Daley Steyn remained the pick with his 3/26 while Vinay Kumar was the most economical giving away 16 runs en route to taking one wicket.