Tare's fireworks light up Wankhede

Mumbai Indians stamped their authority at the Wankhede Stadium as they achieved the incredible feat of winning all their eight home matches for the first time in six Indian Premier League editions.

His night: Mumbai Indians' Aditya Tare in full flight against Royals yesterday. Pic/Atul Kamble

Mumbai maintained a clean slate through a 14-run win over Rajasthan Royals yesterday. The win also helped MI (22 points) to go on top of the table on better Net Run Rate. Chennai Super Kings, who also have 22 points, are second.

The 167-run target never looked an easy task, but Brad Hodge and Stuart Binny put up a commendable fight to ensure Rajasthan did not go down tamely. RR ended up scoring 152 for seven in 20 overs.

Hot heads
Tempers rose on the field in the heat of the battle. First, Ambati Rayudu had an altercation with James Faulkner (12) and later Kieron Pollard was involved in an argument with Shane Watson. Umpire Asad Rauf had to intervene.

Brilliant Tare
Earlier, Aditya Tare's half-century ensured there was no dearth of fireworks in the absence of Sachin Tendulkar (injured) and Dwayne Smith (dropped).

Cool it! Kieron Pollard tackled by the umpires after his clash with Shane Watson. PIC/Atul Kamble

Tare (59) made the most of his first opportunity of this season with some dazzling strokeplay as Mumbai Indians put up 166 for eight. Rajasthan Royals did exceedingly well in the last five overs to pull back things after conceding only 34 runs and claiming five wickets.

Tare relied more on timing than power as he raced to his maiden half-century for Mumbai Indians in eight matches. Rajasthan had a couple of chances to dismiss Tare, but Dravid spilled a sitter at mid-wicket and wicketkeeper Dishant Yagnik missed a stumping chance. Tare eventually departed after Watson took a good catch off Kevon Cooper.

Brief scoresu00a0
Mumbai Indians 166-8 in 20 overs (Aditya Tare 59; Shane Watson 2-30) beat Rajasthan Royals 152-7 in 20 overs (Brad Hodge 39, Stuart Binny 37'; Dhawal Kulkarni 2-21) by 14 runsu00a0