Mumbai Pinch Five-Wicket Win Against Kolkata

Mumbai Pinch Five-Wicket Win Against Kolkata

James Franklin was Mumbai's hero in the final over

©REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui (INDIA - Tags: SPORT CRICKET) Picture Supplied by Action Images

Mumbai Indians 178-5 (Franklin 43no) beat
Kolkata Knight Riders 175-7 (Kallis 59) by 5 wickets
Indian Premier League 2011, Kolkata
Scorecard | Report by Chetan Narula

The Mumbai Indians stole a win on the last ball of the last league match of the 2011 Indian Premier League, winning by five wickets at Kolkata and with this victory, Mumbai pipped Kolkata to finish third in the league and the hosts would be very flushed about this loss, for it cost them a potential second chance to qualify for the finals.

Mumbai won the toss and elected to field making an immediate dent on Kolkata's hopes. Shreevats Goswami was run out in the second over and then their main batting stay Gautam Gambhir was bowled for eight runs two over later.

The score card read 22 for two then but Manoj Tiwary continued his rich vein of form. He was given company by Jacques Kallis who regained his touch from the first half of the season and together they steered their team out of misery. They put on 45 runs for the third wicket before Tiwary was run out for 35 runs. He hit five fours and one six during his 22-ball stay while his was the second out of three run outs in the innings.

After him, Yusuf Pathan took their cause forward coming good with 36 runs off 27 balls, with four fours and one six. Meanwhile Kallis went on with his innings, duly completing his half century and finished with 59 runs off 42 balls. He hit four fours and three sixes, and the duo put on 57 runs for the fourth wicket.

They helped Kolkata cross the 100-run mark and when Pathan was out in the 16th over, Kallis accelerated the scoring with Ryan ten Doeschate edging the score towards 180. Eventually they finished with 175 for seven in 20 overs.

It was never going to be an easy target as Mumbai haven’t been in the best of forms as well as the pitch was taking considerable turn. Their start wasn’t very good either as Tirumalsetti Suman was out in the second over, but then they promoted Harbhajan Singh in the order.

His pinch-hitting worked to much surprise as he and Sachin Tendulkar put on a 57-run stand for the second wicket. He was eventually out in the ninth over having made 30 runs off 29 balls, with five fours. Rohit Sharma however couldn’t carry on his good form and was out cheaply for only ten runs. In fact it was the start of a mini-collapse as when Tendulkar was out in the 13th over, Mumbai had lost three wickets for 26 runs in five overs.

Much rested on the shoulders of Keiron Pollard but he could do no more than make 18 runs off 22 balls. When he departed in the 18th over, bowled by Lakshmipathy Balaji, Mumbai still needed 39 runs off the last fifteen balls.

The match hung in balance and Balaji turned zero from hero as he gave away 23 runs in the final over. James Franklin was the hero of the day as he smacked 45 off 23 balls with five fours and one six, taking Mumbai to an unexpected victory, much to the chagrin of nearly 60,000 fans at Eden Gardens.

© Cricket World 2011