Chennai knock Mumbai out, must face KXIP

Cricket365
May 28, 2014

The Chennai Super Kings kept their hopes of a third Indian Premier League title alive on Wednesday, while the defending champions, Mumbai, were sent crashing out as MS Dhoni's men beat them by seven wickets in the Eliminator.

Chennai will now come up against the Kings XI Punjab in the second Qualifier, after the latter lost to Kolkata earlier in the day. Thus, the winner between Chennai and Punjab on Friday will advance to Sunday's final against the Knight Riders.

Chennai won the toss and chose to field first, trusting their strong batting line up to chase down any target. Mumbai got off to a worryingly good start though, with Lendl Simmons once again showing his good form.

The West Indies opener, the only centurion in the tournament this year, went on to make a brisk half century alongside Mike Hussey, as they put on 76 for the first wicket. Mr Cricket was the first to fall, eventually bagged by Ravi Jadeja.

The India spinner also claimed Simmons' wicket, in the 17th over, having used 44 balls for his 67 and hitting four sixes. This left Mumbai on 143 for three, having lost Corey Anderson earlier on for 20.

The wickets tumbled from there as Mohit Sharma and Ashish Nehra struck repeatedly, and only Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard were able to get into double figures, and neither past 20. In the end, Mumbai made 173 for eight.

Chennai's chase was not as simple as they would have liked, as they got off to a good start but then lost three quick wickets within a few runs of each other. Fortunately, Dwayne Smith and Faf du Plessis had set a platform of 60 runs in the first seven overs.

Once the openers were out, both in the seventh over to Harbhajan Singh, and Brendon McCullum fell for 14, the run rate climbed alarmingly. But Dave Hussey and Suresh Raina were on hand to save the day.

The Aussie veteran wowed the crowd with three big sixes in his knock of 40 off 29 balls, while Raina showed his pinch-hitting prowess with a 30-ball half century. He ended on 54 not out as they chased the score down with eight balls to spare.