Sydney Sixers proved they can without talismanic allrounder Shane Watson, maintaining their unbeaten record in the Champions League tournament with a 12-run win over Mumbai Indians in Durban.
The Sixers successfully defended a modest score of 7-136, restricting Mumbai to 8-124 Tuesday morning (AEDT), to complete a perfect record of four wins from as many group games.
It was Sydney’s first game of the tournament without allrounder Watson, who returned to Australia at the weekend to rest up and prepare for the Test series against South Africa.
Thee Sixers now wait to see whether they play India’s Delhi Daredevils, South Africa’s Titans or New Zealand’s Auckland Aces in the semi-finals.
Steve Smith (41 runs off 41 balls) kept Sydney in the contest after they crashed to 6-98.
The Sixers then produced an outstanding bowling and fielding effort after Mumbai compiled an opening stand of 52.
Peter Nevill replaced Watson at the top of the order, while New Zealander Nathan McCullum came in for Dominic Thornely and Mumbai omitted Australian paceman Mitchell Johnson.
Sydney seemed hellbent on smashing out of the ground every ball in the first six powerplay overs, with Englishman Michael Lumb (28 off 22) in particularly aggressive mood,
His dismissal triggered a minor collapse of 3-7, as Nevill (5 off 8) and Brad Haddin (0 off 2) were caught in the space of three balls from Munaf Patel (2-17 off 4).
Smith and Nic Maddinson (27 off 13) rebuilt the innings with a 36-run stand, the latter playing a delightful cameo which included sixes off paceman Lasith Malinga (2-36 off 4) and spinner Pragyan Ojha (0-29 off 4).
The Sixers slumped again after Maddinson, Moises Henriques (0 off 2) and Stephen O’Keefe (6 off 13) were dismissed, but Smith and McCullum (20 not out off 12) scored valuable late runs.
Mumbai openers Sachin Tendulkar (22 off 23) and Dwayne Smith (26 off 28) survived some testing early deliveries from Josh Hazlewood (0-20 off 4) and Mitchell Starc (2-32 off 4).
Moises Henriques (2-29 off 4) dragged Sydney back into the contest by removing both openers in the space of four balls in the ninth over.
Rohit Sharma (16 off 19) was run out backing up too far by a direct hit from Pat Cummins (2-16 off 4), who then had dangerous hitter Kieron Pollard (4 off 9) acrobatically caught behind by Haddin.
Dinesh Karthik (18 off 18) was run out by a direct hit from McCullum and Starc dismissed Ambati Rayadu (6 off 6 )and Thisara Perera (2 off 4) in the 18th over while Haddin took another terrific catch to dismiss Malinga (1 off 4) off Cummins.
