Mumbai beat Kolkata to stay alive

New Delhi

Kieron Pollard bowled a brilliant last over as Mumbai Indians kept their playoffs alive with a five-run victory against Kolkata Knight Riders in their IPL match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai yesterday. 

Chasing a stiff 172-run target, Kolkata managed 166/7 in their 20 overs as Pollard conceded just six runs in the last over when the visitors needed 12 runs to win. 

Kolkata got off to a decent start with Robin Uthappa and captain Gautam Gambhir putting up a 45-run opening stand, but they lost Uthappa and Manish Pandey in a space of two deliveries to be reduced to 46/2. 

It all came down to Kolkata needing 12 runs for victory off the last over and Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma handed the ball to Pollard, who had not bowled a single over in the match. 

Pollard started with dismissing Yusuf Pathan off the first delivery and then Piyush Chawla didn’t pick any of the slower deliveries, as Kolkata slipped towards a gut-wrenching defeat and Mumbai stay in contention for the playoffs. 

Lasith Malinga, Harbhajan Singh and Mitchell McClenaghan all bowled decent spells for the hosts. 

Earlier, Hardik Pandya blitzed his way to an unbeaten 61 as Mumbai recovered from a poor start to post a competitive 171/4.