Mumbai Indians booked a spot in the second qualifier match by defeating Kolkata Knight Riders by 4 wickets in their IPL 4 eliminator match at Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Mumbai also qualified for the Champions League and will now meet Royal Challengers Bangalore in the second qualifier match in Chennai on Friday.
Mumbai chased down the 148-run target with four balls to spare with Harbhajan Singh hitting the second ball of the last over from Shakib Al Hasan for a six to register victory for his team.
James Franklin hit 2 fours in his unbeaten 25-ball 29. Shakib dismissed Kieron Pollard and Tirumalasetti Suman in his successive overs to bring Kolkata back into the game but was not enough.
Jacques Kallis dismissed Sachin Tendulkar and Ambati Rayudu in his successive overs to rattle Mumbai. Kallis had Rayudu caught behind by Shreevats Goswami after having Tendulkar caught by Manoj Tiwary at backward point. Tendulkar hit 6 fours in his 28-ball 36 before falling to Kallis.
Mumbai lost their second wicket when Rohit Sharma was run out after a direct hit by Gautam Gambhir from mid-on.
Aiden Blizzard hit the fastest fifty for Mumbai Indians before Brett Lee had him caught by Iqbal Abdulla at deep point.
Blizzard hit 2 sixes and 7 fours in his 30-ball 51 after reaching his fifty off 29 balls. Earlier, Munaf Patel took three wickets as Mumbai restricted Kolkata to 147/7 despite Ryan ten Doeschate’s unbeaten 49-ball 70.
Doeschate’s knock was studded with 3 sixes and 6 fours and it was due to his knock that Kolkata ended with a respectable score. Doeschate reached his half-century off 39 balls soon after Lasith Malinga dismissed Shakib Al Hasan who was early into the slower ball that hit his left thigh and crashed into his stumps.
Shakib hit 4 fours in his 16-ball 26 before falling to Malinga. Kieron Pollard took a good running catch at long-on to dismiss Yusuf Pathan and give Munaf Patel his third wicket. Pathan hit 3 fours in his 24-ball 26 before falling to Munaf.
Kolkata were struggling against Mumbai losing their first four wickets with 20 runs on the board.
Kolkata lost their fourth wicket when Dhawal Kulkarni trapped Manoj Tiwary plumb in front of the wicket in the sixth over.
Kolkata got off to a bad start as Sachin Tendulkar took a good diving catch at mid-off to dismiss Jacques Kallis off Munaf Patel in the second over of the match.
In the next over, Harbhajan clean bowled Gambhir and in the following over Munaf had Shreevats Goswami caught behind by Ambati Rayudu to reduce Kolkata to 15/3 in 3.2 overs. The breakthroughs came after Mumbai captain Tendulkar won the toss and chose to bowl. Mumbai have brought in Aiden Blizzard, Dhawal Kulkarni and Munaf Patel while Kolkata are unchanged.
