Centurion, May 12: Chasing small totals in a T20 match can often be tricky affairs but Mumbai Indians faced no trouble at all as they cantered home to a comprehensive eight-wicket win over Kings XI Punjab powered by a sizzling unbeaten 70 off 59 balls by Dwayne Bravo. His unbeaten 82-run partnership for the third wicket with skipper Sachin Tendulkar kept their hopes of qualifying for the semifinals alive.

Chasing a modest 120 to win, Bravo - who was waiting to fire with the bat in IPL-2 - took a special liking to the bowling of S. Sreesanth, hammering him for 21 runs off his only over (the 5th of the innings) to dash any hopes of a Kings XI fightback. The Kerala paceman was smashed for 4, 6, 4, 6 off consecutive deliveries by Bravo to put MI on the fast-track to victory.

Tendulkar dropped to number 4 in the order and along with Bravo ensured that there were no hiccups in the middle of the innings. Tendulkar remained unbeaten on 41 runs off 29 balls with four fours and one six. With the win, achieved in 16.2 overs, Mumbai moved to fourth on the league table with 11 points from as many matches, just ahead of the Rajasthan Royals on net run-rate.

Earlier, Indians' spinners Harbhajan Singh and J.P. Duminy spun a web around the Kings XI Punjab batsmen, restricting them to 119/9 in 20 overs after Yuvraj Singh won the toss and chose to bat first.

The star of the show for Tendulkar's Indians was off-spinner Harbhajan, who was at his miserly best - giving away just nine runs in his four overs and also picking up the crucial wicket of Sri Lankan keeper Kumar Sangakkara.

Mumbai got off to a sensational start with Australian opener Simon Katich falling for a second-ball duck to Dhawal Kulkarni. Irfan Pathan, promoted to one-down, didn't last much longer as he departed for a third-ball duck run-out by the brilliant Bravo.

But Punjab opener Sunny Sohal decided to fight fire with fire smashing 43 runs off just 23 balls with five fours and two sixes. Sohal had propelled his team to 50 by the sixth over, but a moment of carelessness proved to be his downfall.

Scores: Kings XI Punjab 119/9 in 20 overs (S. Sohal 43, K. Goel 20 n.o.; Duminy 2/15, Harbhajan 1/9) lost to Mumbai Indians 122/2 in 16.2 overs (D. Bravo 70 n.o., S. Tendulkar 41 n.o.)