Mumbai Indians 5-162 (Dwayne Smith 62, Rohit Sharma 34, Sunil Narine 3-17) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 6-159 (Jacques Kallis 37, Manoj Tiwary 33, Pragyan Ojha 2-21) by five wickets.
The make shift opener of Mumbai Indians, Dwayne Bravo, came back to form with his splendid batting which let Kolkata Knight Riders down in a crunch game.
Kolkata Knight Riders scored 159 runs after losing six wickets in the allocated 20 overs and Mumbai Indians smashed 162 runs with five wickets in hand and one ball remaining.
Dwayne Smith (Mumbai Indians) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his powerful knock of 62 from 45 balls.
The 33rd match of the Indian Premier League was held on Wednesday, April 24, 2013, at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
Earlier, Gautam Gambhir won the toss for Kolkata Knight Riders, decided to bat first and came in to bat with Yusuf Pathan. The latter made a fantastic beginning after punishing Harbhajan Singh for 18 runs in the first four balls with 1 six and 3 fours whereas Gambhir joined him with a six on the last delivery. Pathan tried to continue from where he left in the first over but was caught by Harbhajan off Mitchell Johnson for 19 in the second over. Jacques Kallis came in next and hit 2 fours in the next over as Gambhir carried on jumping at his end.
The score was taken to 68 in 8 overs when Gambhir lost his wicket for 26 and was replaced by Manoj Tiwary who opened his account with a four. Kallis was dropped at 22 by Pragyan Ojha on his own bowling and the two batsmen enhanced the score to 92 in 11.4 overs. Jacques Kallis was caught by Rohit Sharma at cover off Ojha for 37 off 38 balls with 4 fours. Eoin Morgan got together with Tiwary and the run rate was boosted up with regular boundaries. Tiwary added 12 runs in the 16th over with 1 six and 1 four whereas Morgan got 1 six and 2 fours in the following overs. Eoin Morgan was caught by Sharma off Mitchell Johnson for 31 from 25 with 1 six and 4 fours. Tiwary scored 33 before he was clean bowled by Lasith Malinga as Kolkata Knight Riders reached 159 with four wickets left in 20 overs.
Mitchell Johnson, Lasith Malinga and Pragyan Ojha were the three wicket takers with two each.
Dwayne Smith and Sachin Tendulkar opened the innings for Mumbai Indians in a defensive manner by scoring 13 runs in the first three overs with 1 four. Smith took off in the next over by dispatching two consecutive sixes as Sunil Narine destroyed the wood of Tendulkar for just two runs. Dinesh Karthik got in next and accumulated 12 runs in the sixth over along with Smith comprising 2 fours. Dwayne Smith brought up his fifty in the 8th over with 1 six and 1 four as Karthik was declared leg before wicket off Sachithra Senanayake for just seven runs.
The second wicket fell at 64 when the skipper of Mumbai Indians, Rohit Sharma, joined in with Smith who became the next victim at 82 after contributing 62 off 45 balls with 5 towering sixes and 3 fours. Kieron Pollard took guards next as Sharma sent the ball flying twice out of the rope in the 13th over and Pollard was doing well at his end. Rohit Sharma was caught and bowled by Narine for 34 off 28 with 2 sixes and 1 four as Ambati Rayudu appeared on the scene.
Pollard lost his wicket on the first ball of the last over for 33 off 24 deliveries with 1 six and 2 fours as the total touched 150. Kolkata Knight Riders required 10 runs to win from the last five balls as the new comer, Harbhajan Singh, made life easy for the home side by punching a six on the third ball. Rayudu hit the winning boundary on the fifth delivery as Mumbai Indians marshalled to 162 for the loss of five wickets.
Sunil Narine was the top wicket taker with three whereas Sachithra Senanayake and Rajat Bhatia shared one wicket each.
Mumbai Indians won the exciting game with a big margin of five wickets and that was their fourth victory in the seven matches played so far.
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