Pune Warriors 129-9 (Steven Smith 39, Robin Uthappa 36, Lasith Malinga 2-16 and Munaf Patel 2-26) beat Mumbai Indians 100-9 ( James Franklin and Dinesh Karthik 32 each, Ashok Dinda 4-17) by 29 runs.

Pune Warriors started off well in the tournament by humiliating Mumbai Indians by their sheer team work in the 3^rd match of the Indian Premier Legue 2012.

Pune Warriors scored 129 runs with one wicket in hand and the Mumbai Indians fell short of 29 runs after losing 9 wickets in 20 overs.

Steven Smith was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his sensible batting while his team was in crisis.

The third match of the Indian Premier League was played at Wankhede Stadium on April 6, 2012 in front of the packed stadium.

Earlier, Harbhajan Singh won the toss and decided to field first and the rival Captain Sourav Ganguly was pleased with the decision. Ganguly said after losing the toss, that he could have preferred to bat even if the toss was won by him.

The innings was opened by Manish Pandey and Ganguly himself as Lasith Malinga got the initial breakthrough when the first was clean bowled on the fifth ball of the first over. Harbhajan surprised Pune Warriors by introducing himself into attack in the second over as the new batsman Wayne Parnell and the skipper could get two runs in six balls. The batsmen found it difficult to score the runs freely and Ganguly was stumped by Dinesh Karthik off Harbhajan on the fourth ball of the fourth over on 3 runs.

Pune Warriors were reeling at 47 for the loss of four wickets after 8.5 overs and the picture looked gloomy for them when Robin Uthappa and Steven Smith joined together in the centre. They consolidated the innings first and Uthappa started attacking the bowling in the 12^th over by getting two fours. Most of the runs came without boundaries in the following overs as the score was enhanced to 91 runs in 15.1 overs. Robin Uthappa was gone at that stage when he was caught and bowled by Kieron Pollard on 36 off 33 balls with three fours.

That was the beginning of the disaster for Pune Warriors as the wickets started tumbling and Smith was the eighth batsman who went back to the pavilion for 39 from 32 deliveries assisted with 4 fours. Murali Kartik remained unbeaten for 14 off 9 balls with a six and a four as they managed 129 runs after losing 9 wickets in 20 overs.

Lasith Malinga and Munaf Patel were the most successful bowlers with two wickets each as Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha and Kieron Pollard claimed one wicket each.

Mumbai Indians had a horrible start as three of their top order batsmen, Richard Levi, Ambati Raduyu and Rohit Sharma were dismissed for mere 5 runs in two overs. James Franklin and Dinesh Karthik got together at the crease and started the repair work with sheer dedication. They kept the score board moving and dispatched at least one boundary in each over but the partnership was broken when Karthik was stumped by Robin Uthappa off Murali  Katrik for 32 off 32 deliveries with one six and 4 fours.

The fourth wicket went down at 54 and once again the Pune Warriors bowlers took over and the wickets were on the slide. James Franklin consolidated at one end but found it difficult to find a solid partner at the other and was the seventh batsman to surrender for 32 off 42 deliveries with just one four. Seven of their batsmen were unable to get into double figures and were restricted to 100 runs in 20 overs after losing nine wickets.

Ashok Dinda was the star performer with the ball by grabbing four wickets, Murali Kartik held two as Marlon Samuels, Wayne Parnell and Rohit Sharma shared one wicket each.

Pune Warriors won the match convincingly by 29 runs and grasped 2 important points in the tournament.