Mumbai Indians sailed into their fifth Indian Premier League final as they defeated arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings by six wickets in the first Qualifier of the Indian Premier League at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Tuesday.
Suryakumar top-scored for Mumbai with a crafty 71 off 54 balls not out, his innings was studded with 10 fours.
Suryakumar, who was dropped twice, brought up his seventh IPL fifty, and second this season, in 37 balls as Mumbai reached their target – 132 – in 18.3 overs.
For Chennai, Imran Tahir returned best figures of 2/33. Mumbai, led by Rohit Sharma, will now play the final on Sunday at Hyderabad. Earlier, MS Dhoni failed to launch a brutal assault on a sluggish pitch but did enough in company of Ambati Rayudu to propel Chennai Super Kings to 131 for 4.
The CSK total was built largely on a fifth wicket stand of 66 off 48 balls between Dhoni (37 no off 29 balls) and Rayudu (42 no off 37 balls) when other batsmen found the going tough.
Dhoni smashed Lasith Malinga for two huge sixes in the penultimate over to provide impetus to the CSK innings, which was stymied by the MI bowlers, especially the spinners.
MI leg-spinner Rahul Chahar continued his impressive season, with a superb spell of 2 for 14 in his quota of 4 overs. He kept the batsmen on a leash with turn and bounce.
CSK didn’t get off to a good start, losing three wickets in the Powerplay, as MI skipper Rohit Sharma used five different bowlers in the first five overs.
The visiting team kept things under control in the Powerplay, restricting CSK to 32 runs while picking up three wickets.
At the halfway stage, CSK barely managed to reach 50, which was a sign of their struggles.
Faf du Plessis (6) got one from Rahul that bounced a bit more as his cut went straight to substitute fielder Anmolpreet Singh at backward point.
Suresh Raina’s (5) attempt to slog Jayant Yadav resulted in a simple catch for the bowler.
Shane Watson, who struggled for form, played a trademark pull off Jasprit Bumrah, but fell going for a big hit off Krunal Pandya, taken brilliantly by Jayant Yadav running backwards from his mid-on position.
Murali Vijay attempted to consolidate in Watson’s company and succeeded to an extent, before being stumped by Quinton de Kock off Chahar for 26 (26 balls, 3X4).
Dhoni hit the first six of the match in the 14th over, lofting Jayant (1/25 in 3 overs) over long-on. Rayudu, on the other hand, hit three fours and a six and concentrated on taking singles and doubles with boundaries hard to come by.
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