A record opening partnership between Michael Hussey and Lendl Simmons helped Mumbai Indians set up a huge win over Southern Express and open their account in the Qualifying stage of the Champions League Twenty20 on Sunday night.

After winning the toss and electing to field first, in a must-win match to keep their hopes of qualifying for the Group Stage and defending their title, Kieron Pollard’s Mumbai Indians let Southern Express put on a total of 161 for six. Hussey and Simmons’ opening partnership of 139 runs in less than 15 overs sealed the fate of the match. Man of the Match Simmons and captain Pollard then saw Mumbai through with the captain finishing the proceedings with successive sixes off left-arm spinner Sachith Pathirana with nine wickets and 22 balls to spare.

A string of records were broken during the fantastic run chase, which also helped Mumbai Indians placed in the second place of the four-team group, thanks to a stupendous net run rate. Hussey and Simmons, who cut loose after being cautious for the first nine overs, first eclipsed Dwayne Smith and Sachin Tendulkar’s opening stand of 90 runs against Trinidad and Tobago last year, to raise the highest-ever partnership for the Mumbai Indians in CLT20.

Soon after, the duo raised the Mumbai Indians’ first-ever three-figure partnership in CLT20. And by the time Hussey holed out to Angelo Pereira in the deep off Pathirana, the duo had put on the fourth-highest partnership in the history of CLT20. In fact, Hussey and Simmons were well on course to surpass Davy Jacobs and Ashwell Prince’s stand of 147 (achieved for Warriors against Central Districts in 2010) and raise the best partnership in CLT20 history.

However, rather than keeping an eye on the records, Hussey and Simmons played the true Mumbai Indians brand of cricket and preferred to up the scoring rate, since net run rate could play a crucial role in the eventual qualification scenario.

Despite Hussey’s dismissal, the record spree wasn’t over, with Pollard promoting himself to No 3. With his first of the two sixes, Pollard overhauled Suresh Raina’s tally of 608 runs and became the highest run-getter in the CLT20 history. With Raina set to carry the Chennai Super Kings charge from the Group Stage, the duo could play a cat and mouse game for the tag of highest scorer in CLT20, if Mumbai Indians make it to the Group Stage.

Earlier in the evening, Mumbai Indians’ bowlers started off the match in a perfect manner, justifying their captain’s decision to bowl first. Harbhajan Singh, who opened the bowling, bowled an economical spell. So did Jasprit Bumrah, who shared the new ball with the Turbanator in the absence of Praveen Kumar.

At the halfway stage, Southern Express had trudged to 60 for three. However, the middle order started waging the long handle, and a sloppy Mumbai Indians fielding unit helped them a great deal. The last 10 overs saw Southern Express score 101 runs, with all-rounder Farveez Maharoof leading the way with an unbeaten 41 off just 22 balls. However, had Shreyas Gopal, who came in for Praveen caught a dolly off Maharoof in the deep when the burly all-rounder was on 6, Mumbai Indians would have restricted the Sri Lankan unit to a total of around 130.

That was not to be. But they will have another opportunity to improve on the death bowling and fielding when they will face in-for Northern Knights in the last league match of the Qualifiers on Tuesday.