Durban, April 29: Barring Kumar Sangakkara, none of the Kings XI Punjab batsman managed to make their presence felt, but they still managed to eke out a tight three-run win over Mumbai Indians in their fifth IPL T20 match here on Wednesday.

With Mumbai chasing a reasonably facile target of 120 to win, their top oder fell apart with Sachin Tendulkar, Sanath Jayasuriya, Shikhar Dhawan back in the hut with the scores reading 12/3. The South African middle-order bat J.P. Duminy (59, 63b) pulled things together in the middle overs with a well compiled 49-run partnership with Abhishek Nayar for the fourth wicket.

However, the pressure of scoring at more than eight-an-over caused their eventual dismissals with their team at the doorstep of the win. Needing 12 off the last over, Mumbai Indians could only garner 8 runs, finishing at 116/7 in 20 overs.

Earlier, Sangakkara waged a lone, grim battle with a 44-ball 45 on a day when only three of his teammates returned double digit scores.

Yuvraj Singh’s decision to bat first backfired and by the first strategy break, Kings XI Punjab had crawled to 50 in 10 overs with three top order batsmen, including the skipper himself, cooling their heels in the pavilion.

Openers Karan Goel (12) and Ravi Bopara (6) could not get going and the first three overs yielded only 10 runs. The subdued start would have pleased any rival captain but not Tendulkar who tossed the ball to Harbhajan Singh in the fourth over and the offie struck with his third delivery.

Goel, having slog-swept the spinner for a six in the previous delivery, stepped out to court peril and return stumped after completely misreading the line.

Dwayne Bravo followed in Harbhajan’s footsteps and struck in his first over, removing Bopara.

A lot was expected of Yuvraj (10) but the left-hander let down once again, leaving his team in dire straits.

Scores: Kings XI 119/8 in 20 overs(Sangakkara 45; Maling 2/120 bt Mumbai Indians 116/7 in 20 overs (Duminy 59, Nayar 15, I. Pathan 2/20, Abdulla 2/19).