NSW overcome nerves, pitch

New South Wales survived a very shaky start to beat the Mumbai Indians by five wickets in their Champions League T20 match in Chennai on Sunday.

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Having had to defend a low 101, Abu Nechim put up his hand for Mumbai and removed the top three batsmen.

Lasith Malinga and Yuzvendra Chahal joined the party with a wicket each, and the Blues suddenly found themselves five down for 28 runs.

But the arrival of Ben Rohrer stabilised the innings, as he nudged the ball around for singles which Mumbai opted not to save.

Together with man-of-the-match Steve Smith (45 not out), the pair saw their team home with three overs to spare, boosting their net run rate and keeping their hopes alive in the tournament.

Earlier, Mumbai Indians could reach only 100 for seven after electing to bat first on a terribly unresponsive pitch.

Thanks to an undefeated 42 from James Franklin, Mumbai managed to reach double figures, but Patrick Cummins bowled with pace and venom to keep the other batsmen honest, conceding only 13 runs off his four overs.

Both Stuart Clark and Steve O'Keefe bagged two wickets.

Teams:

New South Wales: DA Warner, SR Watson, DLR Smith (wk), SM Katich (capt), SPD Smith, MC Henriques, BJ Rohrer, SNJ O'Keefe, MA Starc, PJ Cummins, SR Clark

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