BANGALORE – West Indian Dwayne Bravo hit a last-ball six to guide Chennai Super Kings to a five-wicket victory over Kolkata Knight Riders Monday, while Mumbai Indians beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by the same margin in the Indian Premier League.
Ambati Rayudu hit an unbeaten 81 and Kieron Pollard remained undefeated on 52 as Mumbai made 173-5 with two balls to spare after Royal Challengers put up a competitive target of 171-6.
Bravo (11) lofted seamer Rajat Bhatia’s full toss over long on at Eden Gardens as Chennai Super Kings made 160-5 after Knight Riders had posted 158-6 off their 20 overs.
Both Rayudu and Pollard shared a match-winning 122 runs for the sixth wicket stand off 65 deliveries after Mumbai Indians lost star batsman Sachin Tendulkar for naught and struggling on 51-5.
Pollard, who hit five fours and three sixes, raised his half century when he hit countryman Chris Gayle for a winning boundary in the last over.
Earlier, Mayank Agarwal hit six boundaries and four sixes in scoring an unbeaten 64 off only 30 balls to lift the Royals total, hitting seamer Munaf Patel for 24 runs in the last over of the innings.
Mumbai Indians now have 18 points from 14 matches. They share top spot with Delhi Daredevils, who are on the same points, but have a game in hand on Mumbai.
Royal Challengers are in fifth place in the nine-team league with 15 points after winning seven of its 14 matches.
Super Kings’ opening pair of Michael Hussey (56) and Murali Vijay (36) put on 97 runs before off-spinner Sunil Narine put the brakes on and removed both batsmen in the space of three balls.
Super Kings needed five off Bhatia’s last ball of the match and Bravo smashed the full toss for six to take his team to fourth place with 17 points.
Knight Riders could not capitalize on a fine start provided by their captain Gautam Gambhir (62) and Brendon McCullum (37), who shared a first wicket stand of 99 off 69 balls.
Knight Riders are also on 17 points but are third because of a better run-rate than Super Kings. — AP
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