Mumbai pull off thrilling win over Kolkata

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]








KOLKATA: Ambati Rayudu smashed a last-ball six as Mumbai Indians pulled off a thrilling five-wicket victory over Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League on Sunday.

Mumbai needed 21 to win off the last over to surpass Kolkata's 175-7, but New Zealander James Franklin (45 not out off 23 balls) hit paceman Lakshmipathy Balaji for 17 off the first five balls before Rayudu finished the game.

South African Jacques Kallis top-scored with 59 and seamer Rajat Bhatia took three wickets for Kolkata.

In another match, Chris Gayle cracked an unbeaten 75 as Royal Challengers Bangalore topped the points table with an eight-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings.

The West Indies opener hit six sixes in his 50-ball knock as Bangalore surpassed Chennai's total of 128-8 with two overs to spare in their last league match of the Twenty20 tournament.

Bangalore (19 points), Chennai (18), Mumbai (18) and Kolkata (16) have qualified for the play-offs.

Gayle, who added 80 for the second wicket with Virat Kohli (31), finished the match when he hit spinner Suresh Raina for 11 runs off the last three balls of the 18th over.

Chennai skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit six sixes in his explosive 40-ball 70 not out but received little support from the other end, the highest stand of the innings being 42 for the fifth wicket.

Chennai made a poor start after being put in to bat as they lost four wickets for 22 runs in the opening six overs, with left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan dismissing Australian Michael Hussey and Raina in successive overs.

Hussey could make just four runs before inside-edging a Zaheer devliery on to the stumps while Raina was caught by Kohli at point.

New Zealand left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori put more pressure on Chennai when he removed Subramaniam Badrinath and West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo to eventually finish with 2-15 off four overs.

Brief scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 175-7 in 20 overs (J. Kallis 59, Yusuf Pathan 36, M. Tiwary 35; A. Nechim 2-32, J. Franklin 2-35) lost to Mumbai Indians 178-5 in 20 overs (J. Franklin 45 not out, S. Tendulkar 38, Harbhajan Singh 30; R. Bhatia 3-22) by five wickets.