JOIN USMumbai win to stay afloat
Mumbai Indians stayed on course for a play-off berth after pulling off a narrow five-run win over defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders in a nerve-wracking last-over IPL thriller here on Thursday.
The hosts first recovered from a poor start of 79 for four to post 171/4 following a whirlwind knock of 61 not out in 31 balls from Hardik Pandya.
Chasing the score, Knight Riders lost wickets at regular intervals after a bright start of 45 but still were in the hunt for a win and a place in the play-off when they needed 12 runs in the last over bowled by Kieron Pollard.
However, the big-built West Indian conceded only six runs after taking the wicket of danger man Yusuf Pathan who was caught for 52 off the first ball to help Mumbai cross the finish line at the Wankhede Stadium.
Mumbai thus took their points tally to 14 with one last away game left to be played against Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 17, while Kolkata have 15 with one match in hand against Rajasthan Royals to be played at the Brabourne Stadium here on May 16.
Earlier Pandya, who came after the fall of captain Rohit Sharma, slammed two sixes and eight fours in his 31-ball whirlwind knock and added an unbroken 92 runs in 51 balls for the fifth wicket with Pollard (33 not out) to resurrect Mumbai after they were reduced to 79-4 in the 12th over.
Put into bat, Mumbai were on the back foot within the power play period losing both openers Parthiv Patel (21) and Lendl Simmons (14).
Ambati Rayudu too perished soon leaving the hosts at 47/ 3. Sharma and Pollard did some repair work but the dismissal of the former for a 21-ball 30 put the brakes again.
Pandya then took the Knight Riders bowling by the scruff and smashed the ball around. He struck Umesh Yadav for four fours in the 17th over before reaching his half century with a six in 25 balls.
Chasing a stiff total, Knight Riders were off to a sound start with openers, captain Gautam Gambhir (38) and Robin Uthappa (25) putting on 45 runs before the latter was sent back by Harbhajan Singh.
In the same over, a suicidal attempt for a single saw Manish Pandey run out by a direct hit by Lendl Simmons to leave the Knight Riders at 46/ 2 within the power play.
A useful 42-run partnership between Gambhir and Yusuf helped Knight Riders reach 74 after ten overs.
Gambhir was dropped by Pandya off left-arm spinner Jagadisha Suchith who had to wait only till the next ball to reap his reward as he cleaned up the visiting captain. Yusuf Pathan then added 30 runs with Shakib Al Hasan before the Bangladeshi was caught of a Vinay Kumar ball.
Suryakumar Yadav too threatened with a couple of boundary hits before perishing in the deep against McClenaghan in his death-over spell.
However, Yusuf’s dismissal off the first ball of the last over ended KKR’s hopes as Piyush Chawla was unable to score the required runs.
score board
MUMBAI INDIANS: Lendl Simmons c Pandey b Morkel 14, Parthiv Patel c Pandey b Shakib Al Hasan 21, Rohit Sharma b Narine 30, Ambati Rayudu c Russell b Shakib Al Hasan 2, Kieron Pollard (not out) 33, Hardik Pandya (not out) 61, Extras (LB-1, W-6, NB-3) 10, Total (For 4 wkts in 20 overs) 171.
Fall of wickets: 1-29, 2-42, 3-47, 4-79.
Bowling: Umesh Yadav 3-0-37-0, Morne Morkel 4-0-27-1, Shakib Al Hasan 4-0-22-2, Piyush Chawla 1-0-9-0, Sunil Narine 4-0-38-1, Andre Russell 4-0-37-0.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Robin Uthappa c Malinga b Harbhajan Singh 25, Gautam Gambhir b Suchith 38, Manish Pandey (run out) 1, Yusuf Pathan c Patel b Pollard 52, Shakib Al Hasan c Pandya b Vinay Kumar 23, Andre Russell c Patel b Malinga 2, Suryakumar Yadav c Rayudu b McClenaghan 11, Piyush Chawla (not out) 1, Umesh Yadav (not out) 5; Extras: (B-1, W-7) 8; Total ( 7 wkts, 20 overs) 166.
Fall of wickets: 1-45, 2-46, 3-88, 4-118, 5-128, 6-144, 7-160.
Bowling: Lasith Malinga 4-0-31-1, Mitchell McClenaghan 4-0-31-1, Vinay Kumar 4-0-33-1, Harbhajan Singh 4-0-31-1, J Suchith 2-0-23-1, Hardik Pandya 1-0-10-0, Kieron Pollard 1-0-6-1.