Lack of partnerships did us in: Tendulkar

Durban:

Struggling to digest the three-run defeat against Kings XI Punjab, Mumbai Indians captain Sachin Tendulkar said lack of partnership did in his team in the IPL thriller on Wednesday.

Chasing a modest victory target of 120, the Mumbai side finished 116 for seven with only JP Duminy (59) managing to salvage some reputation.

"After the first half, we thought we are in a good position to win the match but this was one of those games where pressure built up and we lost early wickets. All credit to Kings XI Punjab, they played really well," Tendulkar said.

"To chase a target of 120, we needed 35-40 run partnerships. A couple of such partnerships and you are there. But it simply didnot happen today and they kept pressure on us all along," he said.

Kings XI captain Yuvraj Singh, who spend the last few overs outside the ground due to injury, admitted he was nervous and heaped praise on both Piyush Chawla and Yusuf Abdulla who bowled the final two overs.

"I was really nervous today," Yuvraj said.

"We wanted to bowl Piyush in the 19th over to get the left-hander out. The wicket had turned slow and therefore we used more spinners. Yusuf bowled a very good last over too," he said.

Kumar Sangakkara was adjudged Man of the Match for his sedate 45 in Kings XI innings and the Sri Lankan, who led the side in Yuvraj's absence in the final stages, revealed Chawla volunteered to bowl the 19th over.

"I almost went with Yusuf in the penultimate over, but Chawla is currently the best leg-spinner in India and one of the best in the world. He came up and asked me if he could bowl, and did the job. That was the crucial over which gave some cushion to Abdulla in the last over. I was really was impressed by Chawla's confidence," he said.

"The pitch was a little two paced and we fielded brilliantly. Everyone chipped in and it was a team effort," added the Sri Lankan.