Mumbai: Riding on a cameo by Dwayne Smith, Mumbai Indians (MI) clinched a last ball thriller against the defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Wankhede Stadium here today by two wickets to go the third position on the points table while dumping Chennai to fourth.

It was yet another hair rising finish to a match in the IPL. Looking well poised to win the match easily, MI saw some last moment collapse and entered the last over the match requiring 16 runs to win. Mahendra Singh Dhoni gave the ball to the best bowler in the side Ben Hilfenhaus.

It looked like Hilfenhaus would stand up to the expectations of his skipper after he cleaned up Lasith Malinga in the second ball of the over. Chennai’s ecstasy knew no bounds as they sensed a thrilling victory which also would have helped them exacting their revenge on Harbhajan and Co after losing their first match against them. But just when everything was going the hosts’ way; they were hit by a hurricane in the form of Dwayne Smith who was playing his first match for MI this year. With 14 runs required and just three balls at his disposal, it looked like a difficult task especially with Hilfenhaus bowling.

But Hilfenhaus attempting a yorker missed his line eventually to end as a full toss and Smith clubbed the ball flat over long on to send it in the crowd. Smith hit the next ball over Hilfenhaus’s head to find the boundary.

MI now needed four of the last delivery. Adrenaline rush reached to the ultimate and it looked liked anybody’s match. Hilfenhaus came into the ball the last delivery and Smith was clever to stay back at the crease to alter the line and to hit the length ball hard to the mid-on region to find the decisive boundary.

The whole of MI camp erupted with joy and the whole camp ran in the field to congratulate the hero of the match.

Mumbai Indians who came out to in pursuit of 173 looked well poised to win the match with the maestro Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma batting beautifully. Sachin was at his explosive best and reached his first fifty of this year’s IPL. He scored 74 off 44 deliveries which included 11 fours and a six. He knit a partnership of 126 with Rohit for the second wicket. Rohit scored 60 0f 46 deliveries which was laced with six fours and two sixes.

Mumbai cruising at 134 for one in 16 overs and it looked like they would win the match without sweating it out much. But a great diving catch by Faf du Plessis in covers which dismissed Sachin saw the start of their collapse. After this wickets MI lost wickets at flurry and in no time they were eight wickets down for 159 and it was Smith’s last over blitz that saw them home.

Earlier sent into bat first, useful contribution by Murali Vijay (41), Suresh Raina (36), Dwayne Bravo (40) and Dhoni (25) helped Chennai post a challenging target of 174. Lasith Malinga was the pick of the bowlers for MI and returned with figures of three for 25.

Scoreboard:

Chennai Super Kings

Murali Vijay b RP Singh 41

Faff du Plessis run out (RP Singh) 9

Suresh Raina c RP Singh b Franklin 36

Darren Bravo b Malinga 40

MS Dhoni c Sharma b RP Singh 25

Albie Morkel b RP Singh 3

Ravindra Jadeja c Franklin b Malinga 9

Subramaniam Badrinath not out 1

Ravichandran Ashwin c Harbhajan Singh b Malinga 0

Extras: (lb 4, w 5) 9

Total: (8 wickets; 20 overs) 173

Fall of wickets: 1-47 (du Plessis, 5.2 overs), 2-52 (Vijay, 6.4), 3-114 (Raina, 14.1), 4-158 (Bravo, 17.5), 5-162 (Dhoni, 18.3), 6-169 (Morkel, 18.6), 7-173 (Jadeja, 19.5), 8-173 (Ashwin, 19.6)

Bowling:

Robin Peterson 2-0-22-0

RP Singh 4-0-28-3

Munaf Patel 4-0-46-0

Lasith Malinga 4-0-25-3

Harbhajan Singh 3-0-14-0

Dwayne Smith 2-0-26-0

James Franklin 1-0-8-1

Mumbai Indians:

James Franklin c Vijay b Hilfenhaus 1

Sachin Tendulkar c du Plessis b Ashwin 74

Rohit Sharma b Jadeja 60

Dinesh Karthik b Bravo 11

Ambati Rayudu b Jadeja 0

Dwayne Smith not out 24

Robin Peterson run out (du Plessis) 0

Harbhajan Singh c sub (WP Saha) b Bravo 0

Lasith Malinga b Hilfenhaus 0

RP Singh not out 1

Extras: (w 3) 3

Total: (8 wickets; 20 overs) 174

Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Franklin, 2.2 overs), 2-134 (Tendulkar, 15.5), 3-147 (Karthik, 16.6 ), 4-148 (Rayudu, 17.3), 5-149 (Sharma, 17.6), 6-151 (Peterson, 18.3), 7-158 (Harbhajan Singh, 18.6), 8-159 (Malinga, 19.2)

Bowling:

Ben Hilfenhaus 4-1-34-2

Albie Morkel 3-0-34-0

Ravichandran Ashwin 4-0-28-1

Dwayne Bravo 4-0-39-2

Shadab Jakati 3-0-27-0

Ravindra Jadeja 2-0-12-2

By Indian Sports News Network