Kolkata: Mumbai Indians got the better of Rajasthan Royals in a nail-biting IPL Qualifier-2 and booked a final berth against Chennai Super Kings to be played at the same Eden Gardens venue on Sunday. It was some brilliant batting from the likes of Aditya Tare and Dwayne Smith which took them over the line as they added 70 runs for the first wicket but RR contested well with Kevon Cooper and Siddharth Trivedi bowling brilliantly.
Earlier, it was the Harbhajan Singh who kept bagging the wickets and demolished the top-order single-handedly and was accompanied by Keiron Pollard who picked up couple of wickets in the only over that he bowled and did well to restrict RR to 165 in their 20 overs.
Mumbai Indians had a mind-boggling start while chasing down the target of 166, as their opening duo of Dwayne Smith and Aditya Tare started timing the ball superbly. Some exquisite shots clubbed with some poor fielding efforts from RR contributed to the opening partnership of 70 runs. Tare departed after scoring 35 runs but Dinesh Karthik continued the fireworks with Smith.
This smashing duo added 50 runs in just 30 balls which endured the victory for Mumbai Indians before Karthik got out after scoring 22 off just 17 balls whereas Smith smashed 62 runs off 44 balls which were studded with six fours and two sixes.
However, twist in the tail came in when RR struck with the wickets of Rohit Sharma and Keiron Pollard and made this game a heart-racing thriller. But Harbhajan Singh and Rishi Dhawan guided them to a victory as they scored four and six in the last over.
Earlier, it was some brilliant batting from the duo of Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane which gave Rajasthan a good start as they added 44 runs for the first wicket. Harbhajan picked up Rahane’s wicket and in his next couple of overs he dismissed Shane Watson and Rahul Dravid which pushed RR on the back-foot.
Stuart Binny played a nice little cameo which pulled them back into the game but it was the brilliant innings from Dinesh Yagnik which took them past 160 in this must-win game. Yagnik scored 31 runs off 17 balls whereas Binny smashed 27 runs off 17 balls. Brad Hodge couldn’t do much as he could score just 19 runs off 20 balls.
Pollard ended up picking wickets of Cooper and Binny that brought MI into the game the but last couple of overs bowled by Lasith Malinga cost him 31 runs which helped RR reach 165 for the loss of six wickets.