Set a stiff target of 181 runs, the South Australians cantered home in the last over of the match. Needing 11 runs from the final six deliveries Tom Cooper held his nerve to smack Harbhajan Singh for six and then a four which sealed the game in Redbacks favour. The loss now makes it highly unlikely for the Mumbai Indians to qualify for the semifinals.
The Mumbai bowling attack bowled well in parts, with Lasith Malinga frequently beating the South Australian batters with his pace and swing. But it was Ali Murtaza's spin which drew blood for the Mumbai Indians. Murtaza had Harris caught by JP Duminy and his strike broke a century opening stand.
The opening partnership which was worth 112 runs swung the momentum in South Australia's favour and in the end was enough to pull down the massive target set by Mumbai. The Indians did themselves no favour by being pathetic in the fielding department. In all the Mumbai Indians dropped three catches and were generally poor on the field.
Earlier, Saurabh Tiwary smashed a whirlwind 44 as Mumbai Indians recovered from a shaky start to post a challenging 181 for seven against South Australia in their second Champions League twenty20 match here today. Tiwary smashed one four and four sixes and added 32 runs off 28 balls with Ambati Rayudu (38) and starred in a 58-run fifth wicket stand with Kieron Pollard (36) to resurrect the MI innings after they were tottering at 47/3 in 7.3 overs.
lecting to bat first, Mumbai Indians had a disastrous start as they lost opener Shikar Dhawan (2) in the second over with the scoreboard reading just 3. Sachin Tendulkar (20) tried to breakfree and clobbered a six and a couple of fours to accumulate 14 runs off Daniel Christian's first over to take MI to 31 for one in 5 overs.
But left-arm spinner Aaron O'Brien dismissed Tendulkar in the last ball of the next over to leave Mumbai tottering at 35 for two. Trying to accelerate, Tendulkar stepped out of his crease and swung hard, only to see his stumps all over the surface.
Silent all this while, Ambati Rayudu (38) then smashed O'Brien straight over his head for a six but the spinner bounced back to caught and bowl J P Duminy (3) in the third ball of the eighth over. With the South Australian bowlers bowling a tight line, Rayudu and Saurabh Tiwary kept dealing in singles as boundaries dried up.
After three silent overs, Rayudu smashed a four bisecting the deep square leg and deep midwicket and followed it up with a six over deep extra cover to pick up 12 runs off O'Brien's over. But the wicketkeeper-batsman couldn't stay long as Cullen Bailey sent him packing with Daniel Harris pulling off a brilliant catch to reduce MI to 73 for four in 12.1 overs.
However, unperturbed by the dismissal Tiwary blasted Bailey over long-off for a flat six, while newman Kieron Pollard also followed suit with another maximum. Pollard fired another six over wide long-on off Daniel Christian to bring up the 100 for Mumbai Indians in 14 overs.
Tiwary went completely berserk in the 16th over, blasting a four and three consecutive sixes off O'Brien to amass 25 runs as MI reached 137 for four. With Tiwary looking unstoppable, Shaun Tait was brought back into the attack and the pacer struck in his first ball, removing Tiwary, who holed out to Callum Ferguson at mid-off.
Pollard and Dwayne Bravo then carried the innings forward adding 33 runs off 18 balls to take MI across the 150-mark, before being dismissed in the 20th over.
Scorecard
Source: PTI
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