Defending a modest target of 160, MI restricted the English side to 150 for seven.
It’s Mumbai Indians versus Royal Challengers Bangalore in the final of the Champions League Twenty20. The IPL teams will meet in the summit clash at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday. The all-India final came about after MI beat Somerset in a thrilling semifinal at Chepauk on Saturday.
Defending a modest target of 160, MI restricted the English side to 150 for seven. Lasith Malinga was the architect of MI’s win. The Sri Lanka pacer unleashed a series of unplayable deliveries at the death to snuff out Somerset’s chances. The English side needed 29 runs off the last three overs of which Malinga bowled two.
Somerset needed 15 off the last over but the Lankan conceded only five besides taking two wickets. Mumbai won by 10 runs.
Earlier, Mumbai Indians wasted a good start and settled for a rather modest total of 160 for five. Useful knocks from R Satish (25), Kieron Pollard (24) and Suryakumar Yadav (23) helped them cross the 150-run mark. Satish and Yadav were involved in an enterprising unbeaten partnership of 43 runs off just 22 balls.
In the beginning, Aiden Blizzard went after the Somerset bowlers to give MI a breezy start. They had raced to 50 in six overs. Blizzard took his chances and scored a half-century off 34 balls. He was eventually dismissed for 54. His ouster in the 13th over slowed down things a little bit, but Satish and Yadav upped the ante as Mumbai added 60 runs in the last six overs.
Pollard looked good for a big score. The West Indian clouted two huge sixes. When he was batting, Mumbai looked set for a score of over 175, but the burly all-rounder played an Alfonso Thomas delivery on to his stumps to cut short what could have been a game-changing knock.
For Somerset, Murali Kartik bowled a tidy spell to finish with one for 30. However, the pick of the bowlers was Adam Dibble. The medium-pacer had figures of one for 20.
Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 160/5 in 20 overs (A Blizzard 54, K Pollard 24) beat Somerset 150/7 (C Kieswetter 62, L Malinga 4/20) by 10 runs
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