Mumbai Indians hunt for a successful opening pair finally ended in their sixth attempt with old guard Michael Hussey (56 off 39 balls) and Lendl Simmons (62 off 51 balls) essaying key roles in their fourth win of the Indian Premier League.

Mumbai openers have not been able to strung more than 25 runs in 10 games but Hussey and Simmons ended that miserable run by raising 120 runs in 14.3 overs to set up the 25-run victory.  

Mumbai’s 178-3 in 20 overs was too much for Rajasthan Royals to chase as they could only muster 153-8 and crashed to their third defeat in last five games.

The defending champions are finally sporting a settled look but the downside is they have taken too much time for that and the playoffs appear a distant dream. They have eight points and their chances depends on how other teams fare.

Hussey is not giving up hope. He said: “We aren’t yet out of the play-offs. We still have faith and that’s the atmosphere in our dressing room. We still have three matches.”

Rajasthan (14 points from 12 games) find themselves sucked into a battle for the playoffs with this loss as Kolkata Knight Riders (12 from 11) are closing in fast upon them.

They were lacking in personnel and strategy against Mumbai as they rested regulars Ajinkya Rahane, Pravin Tambe and Steven Smith. On a pitch that assisted spinners, captain Shane Watson missed a trick by keeping out leggie Tambe.

Though opener Karun Nair (48 off 24 balls) kept them in the hunt, Mumbai spin trio of Pragyan Ojha (2-30), Harbhajan Singh (2-13) and debutant Shreyas Gopal (2-25) wrecked Rajasthan’s chase claiming six wickets between themselves conceding 68 runs in their 12 overs.

Watson admitted he had blundered in judging the conditions at the Sardar Patel Stadium, which incidentally is their home ground.

He said: “We misread the conditions. I did not think it would turn as much as it did in the second innings. Mumbai’s world-class spinners made it very difficult to score.”

The match also contained this little beauty from Kieron Pollard…