Mumbai Indians will face Chennai Super Kings in the IPL final at the Eden Gardens at Kolkata on Sunday.
Mumbai beat Rajasthan Royals by four wickets in the Qualifier 2 at the same venue on Friday night.
Chasing 166 for victory, Mumbai reached the target with one ball remaining.
At one stage Mumbai were cruising to victory but the fall of some quick wickets put them under pressure.
Dwayne Smith smashed 62 off 44 balls, while Aditya Tare made 35.
In the intervening time, Mumbai police on Friday night arrested Gurunath Meiyappan, the team principal of two-time T20 league winners Chennai Super Kings, for his declared involvement in T20 league betting and spot-fixing scandal.
Meiyappan was questioned earlier (report on Page 30) by the Mumbai police.
Earlier, Rajasthan rode on a gritty 43 by Rahul Dravid before Dishant Yagnik upped the ante with an unbeaten 17-ball 31 to post 165 for six in 20 overs. Dravid was Royals’ top-scorer as they seemed to struggle in the middle before Yagnik, who hit five fours, and Hodge (19 not out) added 57 runs in 27 balls to prop up their side.
They were also helped by some shoddy bowling by Malinga in the last over. Harbhajan Singh made full use of the overcast conditions returning with figures of 3/23, including the prized scalp of Dravid, before Kieron Pollard took two in one over to further damage Royals’ scoring rate after they opted to bat first. Mumbai Indians got their script wrong in a horrible last over by Malinga who conceded 18 runs including seven extras.
An interesting duel was on display with a different-looking Dravid taking the attack on Mumbai Indians quickie Johnson, hitting the Aussie for consecutive boundaries with some classical flicks and drives.
That Johnson had troubled Ajinkya Rahane with his rising bouncer hitting the young opener’s helmet a while ago, must have surely made the Aussie frustrated.
Content Source:Khaleej Times
Image Source: “Mumbai Indians” will face “Chennai Super Kings”
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(AW:Samrat Biswas)
