Mumbai Indians continued their resurgence in the IPL 2015, beating Kings XI Punjab by 23 runs in Mohali on Sunday.

Riding on half centuries from Parthiv Patel and Lendl Simmons, Mumbai Indians scored a challenging 172 for 3 and then followed it up with some accurate bowling to restrict the hosts to 149 for 7 in this afternoon game. This is the third victory on the trot for Rohit Sharma’s men, which has taken their points tally to eight.

For the second game in a row, Mumbai Indians were given a superb start by their openers. Simmons struck Sandip Sharma for two fours in the first over, and the openers never looked back from there on. Patel was the more aggressive of the two, as he blasted Mitchell Johnson for a six and two fours, to hit the Australian out of the attack. The duo took Mumbai Indians to 51 by the end of Power-play overs, and brought up the team’s 100 in 10.4 overs. Patel once again hit Johnson for a six and a four in his comeback over, and at this stage, the left-hand batsman had taken 28 runs from nine balls he had faced from Johnson.

Patel was the first to depart, with the team’s total reading 111 in 12.2 overs. Patel scored 59 off 36 deliveries, including five fours and three sixes. The visitors lost some momentum after that; as both Simmons and Rohit Sharma struggled to middle the ball for some time. Simmons eventually perished in search of quick runs, but not before scoring 71 from 56 balls, with the help of nine fours and a six. Kings XI Punjab bowled some tidy overs towards the end to restrict the Mumbai Indians, who looked set for 200 at one stage, to 172.

It was a good score still, and needed some smart bowling. For the third game in a row, Mumbai Indians stuck to the same bowling combination, and they delivered as a group. It wasn’t like one bowler running through the opposition, but as a unit, they bowled great lines to keep the run-rate under check.

Malinga removed Sehwag in the second over, while next man in, Glen Maxwell didn’t last too long either. The only partnership Kings XI Punjab had was that between Murali Vijay and David Miller (48 runs off 44 balls). Even they were not allowed to score briskly. Mitchell McClenaghan and Malinga were outstanding at the death once again, conceding just 24 runs in four overs, between over No 15 and 19; which effectively knocked out the hosts. McClenaghan’s four overs cost just 25, while Harbhajan Singh’s four overs went for just 27. Malinga’s spell of 4-0-31-2 was equally crucial.