Set up by Lendl Simmons and Parthiv Patel, the Mumbai Indians cantered to a 23-run win against Kings XI Punjab in Mohali. The MI openers stitched together a 111-run opening stand in the must win game on Sunday to set the hosts a stiff target. Both batsmen appreciated and fed off each other as they strived to lay a foundation for MI. Complimenting Simmons, Parthiv said at the post-match press conference, “It is always great to play with a West Indian; they are always fearless. That’s how he plays too and that actually transfers into me as well where I can play fearlessly as well.” Simmons too spoke about enjoying batting with Parthiv and elaborated on the significance of opening stands in the interview with iplt20.com. The Man of the Match, Simmons (71 off 56) also discussed batting in the first six overs, building the innings and looking to emulate Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. Excerpts from the interview: Getting off to a good start is important and it happened for MI today. What were your plans at the start? I think it is important that we get a start in every game. Watching the ball onto the bat and assessing the surface; these were things we were doing well these days. It is just a matter of carrying on when we get the start and keep batting deep in the end. What is it like batting with Parthiv Patel? I think we complement each other well. He is a good stroke-maker, he takes a lot of pressure off me playing the strokes and backs himself. I enjoy batting with him; he is not someone who talks a lot but I like batting with him. You started out with boundaries and made it look easy. How was it batting out there? Today was an easy start for me. It’s not every day that I get boundaries off the first over. It took a bit of pressure off me getting them upfront. I got a good momentum. I slowed-up a bit in the middle because the track was a bit slow and the ball wasn’t coming on to the bat as I expected. But I think we managed to get a good total. Did you and Parthiv discuss taking specific roles, like who would take on the bowling and who would look to rotate the strike? We just go on instinct, what happens on a day. Normally he gets off to a flier and I normally graft. But today he got off to a flier as well and he had a good strike-rate. So it was just a matter of me supporting him, playing that role that I normally play and try to get our target in the powerplay, and carrying on. What was the pressure like coming into a must-win game? Every game from now on is a must-win game for us because we got off to a bad start (in the tournament) losing the first few games. So we have to win every game, play every game as a final now and that is how we are taking it. So I think we are going about it in a right way. We are getting a good start and our bowlers are coming to the party. So it is good thing for us. You reckon you are getting more used to batting on Indian wickets? I think so, yeah. When you play shots on (along) the ground you get value for your runs. There are good and fast outfields and good batting tracks. Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, etc. all those good guys came from here playing orthodox cricket, striking the ball on (along) the ground to score runs. I am not as orthodox as those guys; but when I do hit the ball on the ground, I get value for runs. I just try to emulate some of those guys at the start of my innings and then when I get a start, I go big. As an opener do you look at building the innings or making the most of the first six overs? I look at building the innings. You can make the most of an innings once you build it. I test the wicket in the first two-three overs and then you get a feel of what shots you can play and how you can carry about your innings. Do you think you could have had 15-20 runs more give the start that you had today? I think we slowed down in the middle. I didn’t get some runs that I wanted in the middle and I think we could have got at least 20 runs more. I think that was a bit of my fault, batting a bit slow in the middle, and hopefully I can learn from that. What do you take from this match going forward? Take it one step at a time and most importantly get to the top four to qualify for the Playoffs and hopefully we can carry the momentum going forward.