Champions League Twenty20, Highlights, Mumbai Indians vs Northern Knights: Defending Champions Mumbai Eliminated After Six-Wicket Defeat
Kane Williamson smashed 53 as Northern Knights crushed defending champions Mumbai Indians by six wickets in the final qualifying game of the Champions League Twenty20. Catch all the highlights of the match here.
Mumbai Indians, the defending CLT20 champions, have been knocked out in the qualifying stages after losing two of their three matches. Catch all the highlights here. (SCORECARD)
23:11 IST: That's it then. Northern Knights have defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets and eliminated the defending champions. The Kiwis ensured Lahore Lions from Pakistan make it to the main draw.
23:02 IST: WICKET! Well, a twist in the tale for Mumbai? Pragyan Ojhas has struck ti remove Daniel Flynn and Knights are 115/4, chasing 133.
22:56 IST: WICKET! Bumrah has struck again, this time thanks to a smart catch by Harbhajan Singh. BJ Watling gone for a duck and Knights are 113/3, only 20 runs away from a win.
22:47 IST: WICKET! Bumrah has struck to remove Williamson for 53 and Northern Knights 103/2 off 12.5 overs. MI are staring at elimination still.
22:43 IST: Williamson has played a fine knock; brings up his 50 after taking Harbhajan to task in the 12th over. Northern Knights are 100/1 off 12 overs and need 33 more to win from 48 balls.
22:39 IST: Northern Knights are 88/1 and are well on course to oust defending champions Mumbai Indians from the qualifying stages. What an upset this will be. Harbjahan, Pollard and the rest are walking around with dropped shoulders.
22:32 IST: WICKET! At long last, a breakthrough for Mumbai Indians. Harbhajan Singh struck to remove Anton Devcich as Knights reached 83/1 off 9.4 overs, chasing 133. The Kiwis are still the favourites to win this one.
22:21 IST: Mumbai Indians' hopes are slipping away rather quickly; Northern Knights are 55/0 off 7.1 overs, chasing a mere 133.
22:11 IST: Dream start for Northern Knights (35/0 off 5 overs), who are chasing 133 for victory against MI. Pollard looks lost and he must be wondering where the next wicket will come from.
22:03 IST: FOUR! Things are moving for Northern Knights, who have moved to 24/0 off 3 overs. Malinga delivered a no-ball, which meant a free-hit and Devcich smothered that through covers.
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21:56 IST: Northern Knights are 14/0 off 2 overs in pursuit of 133 to beat Mumbai Indians. Both openers Anton Devcich and Kane Williamson are capable of upping the ante without much fuss. MI need an early breakthrough.
21:36 IST: So a decent push to the MI innings at the end, thanks to cameos from Malinga (20) and Gopal (24) after Pollard hammered a quickfire 31. Mumbai Indians finish with 132/9. It's not enough but if Malinga and the spinners can strike some early blows, Northern Knights will struggle. Excellent bowling from Southee and Styris, who picked up three wickets apiece to keep the defending champions in check.
21:31 IST: WICKET! Malinga's gone; falls to Southee in the first ball of the last over as Southee picks up his third scalp. MI are 116/8.
21:30 IST: MI are 116/7 off 19 overs; Malinga has so far cracked 20 off 7 balls. How many can he get in the last six balls?
21:28 IST: FOUR! Malinga swings his bat and gets FOUR! And then follows it up with SIX! MI will love these runs from their star bowler. He could well be the man to inflict some early damage to the Northern Knights batting line-up when they chase what is certain to be a very modest target.
21:21 IST: WICKET! And a huge, huge relief for Northern Knights. Pollard falls to Southee and Mumbai Indians have been reduced to a sorry 89/7 off 17 overs. What an appalling batting performance in a must-win game.
21:19 IST: Pollard is leading from the front for Mumbai Indians; they are in desperate need of a strong total here and the West Indian all-rounder has the potential to crack quick runs. He does need support from the other end though.
21:11 IST: WICKET! Just when it looked like Harbjahan could help Pollard set up something competitive, the feisty Punjab cricketer falls for 10. MI are 75/6 off 15.3 overs and Northern Knights are looking good to bowl Mumbai out for a low total.
21:07 IST: SIX! Harbhajan has had enough. He hammers that from Ish Sodhi into the stands for some useful runs. That fiery look in his eyes. Bhajji can pump them up. The Raipur crowd is going ballistic.
21:04 IST: MI are 63/5 off 14 overs and both Pollard and Harbhajan are starting to throw caution to the wind. They need to explode now or a winning total could be far from their hopes.
20:55 IST: Lahore Lions must be watching Mumbai Indians' dramatic collapse with a lot of interest. If MI lose, the Pakistan side will get through along with Northern Knights. Things are not looking very bright for the defending champs at 55/5 off 12 overs.
Meanwhile, as Mumbai Indians struggle with the bat, here's a little something to cheer up the Indian fans. Legendary Australian seamer Glenn McGrath went on a gastronomic tour of Mumbai with NDTV and this is what happened.
20:48 IST: WICKET! And it gets better for Northern Knights, possibly even for Lahore Lions. Trent Boult struck to remove Rayudu and MI are now tottering at 46/5 off 10.5 overs. Harbhajan and Pollard are now together and the crowd will expect some fireworks in the middle.
20:42 IST: WICKET! Mumbai Indians are officially in trouble now. Styris has picked up his third scalp to see off Tare for 7. MI 44/4 off 9.4 overs as Pollard walks in to join Rayudu in the middle. Plenty of T20 experience in the middle now for the IPL side.
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20:41 IST: Ambati Rayudu and Aditya Tare together in the middle for MI. These two can step on the gas and get some useful runs. And with Kieron Pollard to follow, MI can accelerate later in the innings. But time is running out here.
20:34 IST: WICKET! This is getting worse for MI with every possible turn. Now they have lost Lendl Simmons to Scott Styris who has two wickets to his name. Poor cricket from the defending champions, even if they are without Rohit Sharma in the middle overs. Northern Knights are all over the star IPL side at the moment.
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20:26 IST: WICKET! Another setback for Mumbai Indians as they lose Saxena for 10. Terrific catch by Williamson at short cover; the batsman stood his ground to see if it was a fair catch and TV replays showed it was. MI 27/2 off 5.3 overs.
20:21 IST: Talking of competitive totals, if Mumbai manage to score 160 off their 20 overs, the Knights will need at least 78 to lose and still qualify. If they get less than that, MI will make it to the next round along with Lahore Lions.
20:18 IST: This is a good chance for Jalaj Saxena to come up with a strong performance. He has the dangerous Lendl Simmons for company and MI can still hope for a competitive total.
20:14 IST: WICKET! Huge blow for Mumbai Indians as they lose Michael Hussey to Tim Southee in the fourth over of the innings. This is a poor, poor start for the defending champions who were relying on a strong start from the retired Australian batsman. MI 11/1 off 3.1 overs.
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20:10 IST: FOUR! Nicely timed by that master cricketer, Hussey. He's nearly 40 but his cricket acumen remains as sharp as ever.
20:09 IST: Watchful start by Hussey and Simmons; just five runs from the first two overs but both batsmen have enough skills to up the ante anytime they want to.
20:06 IST: It is still a complicated scenario, though much simpler after Lahore Lions posted a huge win over Southern Express. MI need to win to stay in contention, but that could still open up a three-way fight between them, Northern Knights and Lahore.
20:03 IST: Mumbai Indians get four from the first over. A lot will depend on openers Michael Hussey and Lendl Simmons, in the absence of Rohit Sharma. A solid start from these two and the Northern Knights could be looking at a massive chase.
19:47 (IST): Knights XI: Williamson, Devcich, Flynn, Harris, Mitchell, Styris, Watling, Kuggeleijn, Boult, Southee, Sodhi.
19:44 (IST): Mumbai Playing XI: Simmons, Hussey, Saxena, Rayudu, Tare, Pollard (c), Harbhajan, Malinga, Ojha, Bumrah, Gopal.
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19:37 (IST): Northern Knights bowl vs Mumbai Indians. Both teams unchanged. Mumbai must win to qualify for group stage.
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Defending champions Mumbai Indians face a must-win battle against Northern Knights from New Zealand in the last qualifier of the Champions League Twenty20.
Northern Knights, who have been on a roll, winning both their games against the Southern Express and Lahore Lions will obviously sail through if they defeat Mumbai.
However, if the Knights lose, Southern Express need to defeat Lahore Lions in the ongoing match.
However, if Lions manage to get the better of the hapless Southern Express, who are severely depleted without Tillekaratne Dilshan and Lasith Malinga, it will all come down to a net run rate scenario, provided of course Mumbai also beat the New Zealand side later tonight.
That would leave Northern Knights, Mumbai Indians and Lahore Lions with two wins and eight points each. In fact by the end of the first game today, if Lahore win, Mumbai will have a clear idea of the margin they need to upstage Northern Knights with.
Ideal scenarios for Mumbai Indians:
Southern Express defeat Lahore Lions and Mumbai Indians win against Northern Knights.
Even if Mumbai were to lose their game tonight despite a Southern Express win, the IPL side would still have a chance to make it to the main tournament. After two games, MI have a better net run rate (0.498) than Lions (-1.496). The Ambanis would only hope that their side do not crash to a very heavy defeat.
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Mumbai Indians find themselves in a tricky spot, after losing their first game to Lahore Lions. It was no doubt an upset loss but for a side that has lost Sachin Tendulkar (to retirement) and Rohit Sharma (to skipper), they showed amazing resilience to come back and hammer Southern Express by nine wickets and keep alive their chances in the tournament.
Michael Hussey admitted MI are missing Rohit in the middle order and his absence has put a lot of pressure on the openers. But that is something they will have to cope with if they qualify for the next round.
Meanwhile, stand-in-skipper Keiron Pollard has urged Mumbai to improve their fielding standards. The CLT20 title holders clearly need to work on some flaws.
Catch all the live cricket score and live updates of the match here