Mumbai Indians paid the price of a listless batting display as they suffered their first defeat in the Champions League Twenty20 with a five-wicket loss to New South Wales in Chennai on Sunday.
Electing to bat, Mumbai could score a paltry 100 for seven in their last Group A league match with James Franklin top-scoring with a 51-ball 42 and only two other lower-order batsmen crossing double digit at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
The bowlers, however, gave hopes of a memorable victory with a spirited fight by reducing NSW to 28 for five in the seventh over before they lost the plot and failed to break the sixth wicket partnership of Steven Smith (45 not out) and Ben Rohrer (26 not out).
The duo shared 73 runs from 10.4 overs for unbroken sixth wicket to guide NSW to their second win of the tournament by reaching 101 for five with three overs to spare.
Mumbai ended their league engagements on five points while NSW are on four with one match to play.
Defending a meagre total, Mumbai tried to make a match out of it as their fired up pacers ran through the NSW top order with Abu Nechim Ahmed (3/23) scalping three while Lasith Malinga (1/23) removed captain Simon Katich.
Ahmed removed Watson (3) with his first delivery with the ball first thudding on the pads of the batsman en route to hitting the stumps.
As if taking revenge for Watson's wicket, the other opener David Warner smashed Ahmed for two consecutive fours before he also fell to the bowler in the final ball of the second over.
Warner (12) was a bit early in his shot to a fuller length ball and the batsman was holed out to Harbhajan Singh. Warner faced four balls out of which he hit three fours.
Katich was out in the third over for a duck as he missed a yorker length delivery off Malinga while moving across the wicket and was adjudged leg-before-wicket.
NSW were 23 for three after five overs and the asking rate was still below five but they found themselves in trouble with Daniel Smith and Moises Henriques getting out in quick succession.
Smith was out while trying to accelerate scoring in the Powerplay in the sixth over. He chased down a widish ball for a cut shot but got the edge for wicketkeeper Ambati Ryudu to take the catch. Henriques fell the next over, leg-before-wicket to leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal.
That was all Mumbai could do as Smith and Rohrer built the innings slowly but steadily to take their side home. They batted sensibly without taking much risk with occasional boundaries.
Earlier, NSW put up a disciplined bowling effort to restrict Mumbai to a paltry 100 for seven.
Franklin's patient unbeaten 42 off 51 balls was the only saving grace for Mumbai Indians as they managed to attain the three-figure mark.
In fact, a 28-run seventh-wicket partnership between Franklin and skipper Harbhajan Singh (15) saved the Mumbai outfit from further embarrassment.
Veteran pacer Stuart Clark (2/15) and left-arm spinner Steve O'Keefe (2/18) did most of the damage for Mumbai, sharing four wickets between them.
Mumbai's misery can be gauged from the fact that not a single batsmen could manage to clear the ropes once in their entire innings.
Franklin's knock helped Mumbai rally from a sorry-looking 27 for four to get past the 100-run mark, which undoubtedly is not enough on the MA Chidambaram strip.
