KOLKATA: Kolkata Knight Riders were assured of a playoff berth even before the first ball of their last league match against Mumbai Indians was bowled at the Eden Gardens after Sunrisers Hyderabad made the last four by winning their final game in an earlier match on Saturday.
But the Kolkata outfit suffered a moral jolt ahead of the playoffs as they went down by nine runs to a secondstring Mumbai side in their own den. The win helped Mumbai top the league table with 20 points while Kolkata (16 points) can only finish third or fourth and will play the eliminator against either Rising Pune Supergiant or Kings XI Punjab, who will clash on Sunday.
Assured of a top-two finish before the match started, Mumbai Indians decided to test their bench strength and made six changes for their last league match. The newcomers did not disappoint as opener Saurabh Tiwary anchored the innings well and Ambati Rayudu struck a quickfire half-century down the order to help the visitors put up 173 for five after being asked to bat first by Gautam Gambhir. A Nor'wester, followed by a sharp shower late in the afternoon, delayed the start of play by half an hour. Kolkata made the mistake of opening with Sunil Naraine and Chris Lynn on a slow pitch. Narine was out to the fourth ball of the innings, caught at mid-off by Hardik Pandya off Tim Southee. Kolkata then lost skipper Gambhir (21), Robin Uthappa (2) and Chris Lynn (26) and Yusuf Pathan (20) and slumped to 87 for five. However, a 31-ball 41-run run sixth wicket stand between Manish Pandey and Colin de Grandhomme raised hopes of a comeback for the hosts before Hardik Pandya cut one back to dislodge Grandhomme's stumps.
Pandya was instrumental in pushing the last nail in Kolkata's coffin when he had Pandey caught at deep mid-wicket for a run-a-ball 33 in the 18th over. – TNN
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