Pune: Mumbai pulled off a brilliant last ball victory by one run, defending a sub par total of 120 with a superb bowling effort. Harbhajan was the pick of the bowlers for MI with 2 wickets at the Sahara stadium on Thursday night.
Chasing 121-run target, Pune Warriors lost four top-order batsmen in quick succession.
Pragyan Ojha clean bowled in-form Steven Smith (2) to turn the tide of the match as he reduced Pune to 47/4 in tenth overs
Harbhajan Singh struck twice in two overs to rock the Pune run chase. Mumbai skipper dismissed Michael Clarke (14) and Jesse Ryder (9) in the ninth and seventh over after Munaf Patel gave them an early breakthrough.
Pacer Patel trapped Robin Uthappa (18) leg before in the fourth over to reduce Pune to 20/1 in 3.3 overs. Uthappa hit a six and two fours in his run-a-ball short innings.
Asked to bowl first, a discipline pace attack coupled with brilliant fielding helped Pune Warriors restrict Mumbai Indians to 120/9.
Four run-outs, which include two in the final over, make sure that Mumbai lost wickets at regular intervals and set a modest 121-run target for the hosts Pune.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2-9), Ashish Nehra (2-19) and Ashok Dinda (1-34) shared the remaining five Mumbai wickets as Pune pacers - including Wayne Parnell (0-18) - did not allow Mumbai batsmen to break free in the entire innings.
For Mumbai, only James Franklin (25 off 23 balls) scored more runs than the balls he faced.
Ashok Dinda dismissed Harbhajan Singh for golden duck to increase Mumbai's misery as the visitors failed to put up much fight in the match. Mumbai lost four wickets in four consecutive overs.
A brilliant throw by fielder Steven Smith sent back Thisara Perera (0) to pavilion soon after B Kumar dismissed Ambati Rayudu (1) in the previous over as Mumbai Indians' wickets kept falling without check.
Pune pacer Ashish Nehra struck again as he dismissed Robin Peterson (13) to rock the Mumbai innings. Nehra got rid of Peterson to reduce Mumbai to 88/4 in 13.3 overs.
Nehra also took the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar (34) in his previous over as Mumbai struggled to maintain the momentum after a steady start.
Mumbai's downfall started when they lost Rohit Sharma (3) and Franklin in consecutive overs.
Sharma got run out trying to steal a leg-bye in the ninth over after B Kumar got rid of Franklin in the previous over.
Franklin hit a six and three boundaries in his steady 23-ball innings as he put on 50-run opening stand with Tendulkar.
Mumbai innings started steadily as they scored 42 runs in the mandatory powerplay overs without losing any wicket.
Earlier, Mumbai skipper Harbhajan Singh won the toss and decided to bat against Pune.
Thisara Perera and Pragyan Ojha came back to the playing XI for the Mumbai team.
Brief scores
Mumbai Indians 120 for 9 (Tendulkar 34, Kumar 2-9, Nehra 2-19)
Pune Warriors 119 for 6 (Manhas 42*, Harbhajan Singh 2-18, Malinga 2-25)
Result: Mumbai Indians won by 1 run
MOM : Lasith Malinga (Mumbai Indians)
Points: Mumbai Indians 2, Pune Warriors 0