IPL 2012: Kolkata Defend 140 To Beat Mumbai

IPL 2012: Kolkata Defend 140 To Beat Mumbai

Shakib Al Hasan was one of three spinners in the wickets for Kolkata Knight Riders

©REUTERS / Action Images

Kolkata Knight Riders 140-7 (Tiwary 41) beat
Mumbai Indians 108 (Narine 4-15) by 32 runs
Indian Premier League 2012, Mumbai
Scorecard

Kolkata Knight Riders qualified for the Indian Premier League 2012 play-offs with an impressive 32-run win over the in-form Mumbai Indians.

They arrested a run of two straight defeats with an outstanding defence of their score of 140 for seven, Sunil Narine taking four wickets as Mumbai were dismissed for 108 in reply.

No batsman scored more than Manoj Tiwary's 41 in a game where the bowlers were on top. Both RP Singh for Mumbai and Jacques Kallis for Kolkata had chances of a hat-trick but Narine stole the show, and grabbed the Purple Cap for the leading wicket-taker in the tournament to date.

Kolkata started poorly after being invited to bat first by the home side as they lose Brendon McCullum (1) and Kallis (0) in consecutive deliveries to left-armer RP Singh.

Kieron Pollard then bowled Gautam Gambhir for 27 before Shakib Al Hasan (13) and Manoj Tiwary (41) helped rebuild the innings.

Shakib was bowled by Dwayne Smith and when Tiwary was caught by Lasith Malinga off Munaf Patel, Kolkata were 91 for five.

A late-order flurry of runs came courtesy of 21 in as many balls from Yusuf Pathan and 12 in seven from Rajat Bhatia and they closed on 140 for seven as Singh returned figures of two for 33.

Mumbai were the clear favourites at the halfway stage but their effort was undermined as they lost wickets regularly.

Herschelle Gibbs (13), Sachin Tendulkar (27) and Dinesh Karthik (20) all got in but lost their wickets when they were needed to stay in and score a match-defining knock, Tendulkar bowled by off-spinner Sunil Narine, who carved a path through through the batting with figures of four for 15.

The Trinidadian went on to have Rohit Sharma caught by Brendon McCullum for 12, Harbhajan Singh caught by Tiwary and finally Singh caught by Iqbal Abdulla for three.

Ambati Rayudu made 11 before he was stumped off Shakib Al Hasan and Kallis struck twice in two balls to remove Kieron Pollard for eight and Dwayne Smith without scoring and although Harbhajan survived the hat-trick ball, he could take his side no further.

Kolkata's decision to field three spinners worked as Shakib (1-25) and Abdulla (1-22) backed Narine up while Lakshmipathy Balaji delivered a brilliant spell of two for 11, taking the wickets of Karthik and Malinga (8) and Kallis was no less impressive in taking two for 32.

Mumbai now face a nervous wait between now and the final group game of the tournament, when they play the Rajasthan Royals, where they will know exactly what they will need to do to qualify.

Kolkata take on Pune Warriors in their final game but they have already done enough to qualify.

© Cricket World 2012