West Indies batsman Dwayne Smith smashed 14 runs off the final three balls to help the Mumbai Indians beat the Chennai Super Kings by two wickets, while A.B. de Villiers’ late assault lifted the Royal Challengers Bangalore to a five-wicket win over the Deccan Chargers in the Indian Premier League on Sunday.
Smith scored an unbeaten 24 off nine balls and hit Australia’s Ben Hilfenhaus for a straight six and two consecutive fours to guide the Mumbai Indians to 174-8 after the Super Kings had finished on 173-8.
Opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan’s unbeaten 73 gave the Chargers a formidable total of 181-2, but De Villiers struck a 17-ball 47 not out, that included 23 off Dale Steyn’s last over, to reach 185-5 in 18.5 overs. De Villiers hit five fours and three sixes.
Sachin Tendulkar (74) and Rohit Sharma (60) had kept Mumbai on course with a 126-run second-wicket stand off 81 balls, before the Super Kings hit back strongly and took seven wickets for 25 runs.
Hilfenhaus did not concede a run off his first eight deliveries, but then bowled two low full tosses to Smith, followed by a length delivery, all of which were calmly hit hard by the West Indies allrounder.
The Mumbai Indians looked to be coasting to victory when Tendulkar hit 11 fours and a six in his 44-ball knock, taking the hosts to 134 in the 16th over.
Faf du Plessis plucked a brilliant one-handed catch of Tendulkar at short extra-cover to ignite an astonishing collapse. Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja bowled Ambati Rayudu and Sharma in the 18th over, before Robin Petersen was smartly run out by Du Plessis and then captain Harbhajan Singh holed out at long-off.
Hilfenhaus bowled Lasith Malinga to make it 159-8, but he could not stop Smith from hitting the three crucial blows.
Earlier, the Super Kings’ opening batsman Murali Vijay (41) and Dwayne Bravo (40) were the top run-scorers, before Malinga (3-25) struck three late blows.
Vijay hit seamer Munaf Patel for 22 runs in one over, including three sixes and a four, before he was bowled by R.P. Singh in the sixth over.
The victory kept the Mumbai Indians in third place with 14 points, while the Super Kings are fourth with 11. The Delhi Daredevils lead the nine-team league with 16 points, followed by the Kolkata Knight Riders with 15.
Sri Lankan Tillakaratne Dilshan (71) and Chris Gayle (26) laid a solid platform of 91 runs for the Royal Challengers’ opening wicket in Bangalore, before De Villiers cut loose when 39 was needed off the final three overs.
While the Chargers lie bottom of the table with five points, the Royal Challengers increased their chances of making the knockout stage with 11 points.
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