Mumbai Indians put up a superb all-round performance crushing Chennai Super Kings by 25 runs to enter the final of the eighth edition of Indian Premier League in Mumbai on Tuesday.
En-route their third entry to the summit round after 2010 and 2013, Mumbai Indians scored 187 for six largely due to the brilliant cameo from Kieron Pollard who smashed a 17-ball-41 on the platform laid by Lendl Simmons’ 65 off 51 balls.
In reply, CSK’s much vaunted line-up could muster only 162 in 19 overs as none of the top-order batsmen went onto play a match-winning knock.
Bhajji Power
Such was the domination by the home team that CSK never looked a part during better part of the match and ended second best in the process. But the five-time finalists and two-time champions will get another crack during the second Qualifier to be played in Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s hometown Ranchi.
The telling blow was dealt by Harbhajan Singh (2/26 in 4 overs), who removed the dangerous Suresh Raina (25) and skipper MS Dhoni (0) off successive deliveries to swing the match decisively in MI’s favour. Lasith Malinga (3/23) and R Vinay Kumar (2/26) did play their part as MI have now won nine out of 11 matches.
Simmons, Pollard Paved the Way for MI
Earlier, Simmons started in style with a well-crafted 65 while Pollard blasted 41 off 17 balls to finish with flourish as Mumbai Indians scored competitive 187 for six in 20 overs after opting to bat first.
Simmons, who notched up his fifth half century of the competition, struck five sixes and three fours in his 51-ball innings. Along with Parthiv Patel (35), Simmons provided a solid opening stand of 90 runs at nearly 9 runs an over before MI lost quick wickets between the 11th and 16th overs to be in some sort of bother at 139 for 4.
(With inputs from PTI)
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