Electing to bat, KXIP slumped to 46 for two in the eighth over before Hussey steadied the ship. Hussey found an able ally in David Miller who played a cameo of 17-ball 34 not out as KXIP compensated for a slow start with some big hitting towards the end at the PCA Stadium here.
Hussey hit four fours and an equal number of sixes in his knock while Miller smashed three sixes and a four. The duo, who came together in the 13th over, put on 89 runs for the unbroken fourth wicket stand from 7.1 overs.
For Mumbai, James Franklin, R P Singh and Clint McKay grabbed a wicket each. McKay, Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel and Kieron Pollard came in for some stick from KXIP batsmen.
Munaf, who had bowled a disciplined line in his first two overs, found himself at the receiving end in the later part of KXIP innings as Hussey and Miller were in full flow.
Miller hit two sixes in the 18th over bowled by Munaf. He repeated it by hitting two sixes of the final two deliveries of the innings bowled by the same bowler.
Earlier, Kings XI openers Nitin Saini (17) and Mandeep Singh (22) gave their side to a good start. Mandeep, in particular was looking in good knick, scoring at a brisk pace. However, both got out while trying to accelerate the scoring rate.
R P Singh gave KXIP the first blow when he had Mandeep, who made 22 of 16 balls including four hits to the fence, caught behind stumps when the batsman tried to give a charge to the bowler. MORE PTI SUN PDS
