Tendulkar praises Bravo for win against Bangalore

Durban:

Mumbai Indians captain Sachin Tendulkar on Monday heaped praise on West Indian Dwayne Bravo for his all-round effort that set the platform for the thrilling two-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in a Group B match of the Champions League Twenty20 tournament played on Sunday.

Bravo scored a 23-ball 29 and together with Saurabh Tiwary (38 not out) stitched a quickfire 64-run sixth wicket stand to take Mumbai to 165 for seven.

Bravo also came up with two crucial wickets -- Robin Uthappa and Ross Taylor -- during Bangalore's innings which was instrumental in Mumbai's narrow victory.

"Bravo brought us back both with the bat and the ball.

Bravo had a fantastic day with both bat and ball," Tendulkar said after the victory even though it came too late as Mumbai have been knocked out the tournament on net run rate.

"We had a great game. I think first half of our batting was not that great but Bravo brought us back. The idea was to concede less runs in (Lasith) Malinga's (penultimate) over so that Zaheer (Khan) could build pressure in the last over.

"But this game is full of uncertainty. All credit to Virat (Kohli), he batted well till the end," he said.

Bangalore skipper Anil Kumble blamed his side's sloppy fielding for the loss.

"We bowled well till Bravo and (Saurabh) Tiwary took the game away from us. Last five overs we conceded too many runs.

(Rahul) Dravid and Virat got us some hopes but in the end it didn't prove sufficient. We had a close game.

"We just need to be very positive and take more catches. I think fielding let us down today. Otherwise I am really satisfied with the performance," Kumble said.

Man-of-the-match Bravo said he was satisfied to have contributed to the team's victory with both bat and ball.

"I had a good run with both bat and the ball. When bowling, I just thought of keeping the ball as straight as possible and I got two important wickets. I am happy with the win," he said.