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Young Hardik Pandya blasted an unbeaten half-century to help Mumbai Indians edge past Kolkata Knight Riders and boost their hopes of making it to the play-offs in the Indian Premier League, in Mumbai, on Thursday.
Mumbai Indians recovered from a poor start to post a competitive 171 for four in their 20 overs courtesy of Pandya's whirlwind knock of 61 from 31 balls. In reply, Kolkata, despite Yusuf Pathan hitting a fluent 52 from 37 balls, finished with 166 for seven in their 20 overs and lost by five runs.
Pandya, who came in after the fall of captain Rohit Sharma, slammed two sixes and eight fours in his 31-ball whirlwind knock and added an unbroken 92 runs in 51 balls for the fifth-wicket with Kieron Pollard (33 not out) to resurrect Mumbai after they were reduced to 79 for four in the 12th over.
Chasing the score, Knight Riders lost wickets at regular intervals after a bright start of 45 but were still in the hunt for a win and place in the play-off when they needed 12 runs in the last over, bowled by Kieron Pollard.
However, the big-built West Indian conceded only six runs after taking the wicket of dangerman Pathan, who was caught behind for 52 off the first ball, to help Mumbai cross the finish line.
Mumbai Indians thus took their points' tally to 14, with one last away game left to play against Sun Risers Hyderabad on May 17, while Kolkata have 15, with a match in hand against Rajasthan Royals, to be played at the Cricket Club of India's Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on May 16.
Put in to bat, Mumbai Indians were put on the back foot within the Powerplay period when they lost both openers, Parthiv Patel (21) and Lendl Simmons (14).
After the rare failure of the consistent Ambati Rayudu that left Mumbai at a difficult 47 for three, Sharma and Pollard did some repair work but the dismissal of the captain put the brakes again.
But Pandya took on the Kolkata bowling and smashed the ball around. He struck Umesh Yadav for four fours in the 17th over before reaching his half-century with a six off Andre Russell from just 25 balls.
Former Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan, returning to the tournament after a month's gap because of national duty, did the star turn for the defending champions with a two-wicket haul for 22 with his crafty left-arm spin.
South African Morne Morkel (1 for 27) and Narine (1 for 38) were the other wicket-takers.
Openers Patel and Simmons started steadily before Shakib drew first blood by taking out the former, who was caught flicking at deep midwicket.
Left-handed Patel, who made a brisk 21 off 14 balls, hit the slow bowler for a four but departed off the next as his flick did not have the power to go over Manish Pandey.
Simmons, who played very well in making a fine 68 in the previous game against Royal Challengers Bangalore, could not repeat the feat and was also out cheaply, caught at point while slashing Morkel's short ball, leaving Mumbai at 42 for 2 with two balls remaining in the Powerplay.
More trouble lay in store for the home side as the consistent Rayudu too played a poor shot off Shakib and was caught in the deep, leaving the hosts at a poor 47 for 3 in the eighth over.
Captain Sharma and Pollard took the score to 79 with the former looking in good nick when mystery West Indian spinner Narine struck a major blow by clean bowling Sharma.
Sharma, who had square cut the previous ball for a four, had no clue of the next ball as he played defensively down the wrong line and got cleaned up. He scored 30 off 21 balls, laced with five hits to the fence.
Pollard and Pandya then came to Mumbai's rescue. The latter reached his half century with a six over mid-wicket off Russell. The last five overs yielded 72 runs.
While replying, Knight Riders were off to a sound start, with in-form openers, captain Gautam Gambhir (38) and Robin Uthappa (25), putting on 45 runs before the latter was sent back by off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.
A lap shot by Uthappa went straight to fine leg fielder Malinga, a ball after the batsman had clubbed the off-spinner over mid-wicket for a big six.
In the same over of Harbhajan, a suicidal attempt for a single saw Manish Pandey run-out by a direct hit at the striker's end stumps from fine leg by Lendl Simmons to leave the Knight Riders at 46 for 2 within the power play.
A useful 42-run partnership ensued between Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan, who were quiet initially before opening out, to lift Knight Riders to 74 after ten overs.
Gambhir, who was batting without any trouble, was dropped by Pandya off left-arm spinner Jagadisha Suchith who had to wait only till the next ball to reap his reward as he cleaned up the rival captain.
Pathan then added 30 runs with Shakib Al Hasan before the former Bangladesh captain was caught pulling pacer Vinay Kumar and ten runs later Andre Russell was dismissed by Malinga via a wide ball that he edged behind to leave Knight Riders at 128 for five.
Suryakumar Yadav threatened for a brief with a couple of boundary hits before perishing in the deep off a flick shot against McClenaghan in his death-over spell.
Later, needing 21 to win off the last 12 balls, Pathan hammered Malinga for a huge six over mid wicket off the fifth ball of the penultimate over to bring down the target to 12 in the last over and also complete his fifty in 35 balls.
But his dismissal off the first ball of the last over ended KKR's hopes as Piyush Chawla was unable to score the required runs.