Chennai: Mumbai Indians held their nerves in crucial moments to eke out a narrow 10-run victory over Somerset in the second semifinal of the Champions League twenty20 tonight and set up a summit clash with Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday.
Lasith Malinga snapped four wickets and Aiden Blizzard cracked a 39-ball 54 but it was James Franklin’s two-wicket burst at the 19th over which set up the win for Mumbai Indians in the nail-biting semifinal.
Needing 22 off last 12 balls, Franklin picked up the wickets of Jos Butler (19) and Craig Kieswetter (62) — to turn the game in Mumbai’s favour. Malinga then completed the proceeding by taking two wickets in the last over.
Chasing 161 to win, Kieswetter cracked seven fours and one six and stitched a crucial 83-run partnership off 63 balls with James Hildreth (39) to keep Somerset in the runchase but Franklin’s 19th over put paid to their hopes.
Defending 160, Mumbai Indians pacer Lasith Malinga rattled Somerset with his pacy yorkers as he first removed opener Peter Trego for a naught and then cleaned up Roelef van der Merwe to straight away derail Somerset’s runchase.
However, Kieswetter and Hildreth joined hands and steadied the ship, reaching 67 in the first 10 overs. Hildreth then brought up the hundred in the 14th over with a boundary off Harbhajan.
But Harbhajan was quick to hit back as he cleaned up Hildreth in the very next ball to end the partnership and keep Mumbai’s hopes alive.
However, Kieswetter was unfazed and brought up his fifty with a single in the 16th over, before amassing 16 runs with the help of a six and a four off Abu Nechim in the 17th over along with Jos Butler to keep Somerset in the hunt.
Needing 29 off 18 balls, Somerset scored seven runs, including a four off Malinga, in the 18th over to bring the calculation to 22 off 12 balls. However, things completely changed after that as Franklin dismissed both the set batsmen — Butler and Kieswetter — to turn the game on its head in favour of Mumbai.
Earlier, opener Blizzard cracked a half-century to help Mumbai Indians post a challenging 160 for five at the slow MA Chidambaram Stadium track. Blizzard cracked five fours and three sixes and stitched 19, 43 and 24 runs respectively, with Kanwar (2), Rayudu (19) and Franklin (6) to lay the foundation after Harbhajan elected to bat. (PTI)