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Smith's sizzling innings help Mumbai Indians bounce back
Mumbai Indians opener Dwayne Smith played a stellar role with his unbeaten half century to keep his team in contention for a Champions League Twenty20 semifinal berth with a win over Lions.
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The West Indian was a happy man that he played a match-winning knock to help his side bounce back.
"I am happy that we are back in contention. There was some pressure as we did not have any chance to play for 3-4 days and after this victory we have to move on. Rest would all depend on run rate," Smith, who hit a brilliant unbeaten 63 to guide his side to a seven-wicket victory said.
'I wanted to hang on for first few overs'
The 30-year-old Smith said that he initially wanted to just to hang on for a few overs before playing his shots.
"They have a very good bowling attack and I wanted to just hang on initially. They were hitting the deck hard but I knew after spending 5-6 overs at crease I can hit the ball and score," Smith said.
Talking about Sohail Tanveer, the West Indian batsman said, "He is a good bowler and has some deceptive action. The bouncer he bowled at me was really quick and good. But I have played several times against him, recently in England, and have always scored."
'We have an arithmetic chance'
A dejected Lions coach Geoffrey Toyana, on the other hand, said that arithmetically his team still has a chance of making it to semifinal.
"It was a bad defeat but I feel we have an arithmetic chance if results of other matches go in our favor.
The conditions here were difficult but we have learnt our lessons," he said.
'Smith's innings made the difference'
"Sohail Tanveer had given us a chance by removing Sachin Tendulkar early and also when Rohit Sharma walked back but Smith's innings made the difference and we knew how Pollard has been hitting the ball during IPL. If we had scored 160, we could have something to bowl at but never got going.
"I am happy about Tanveer who is a great bowler and we wish he continue playing like that for us," he added.