The Mumbai Indians lost their third successive nail-biter to leave their semifinal hopes hanging by a thread in the Indian Premier League. With 43 needed off the final three overs for the Rajasthan Royals to protect their 100 per cent home record, youngsters Niraj Patel and Ravindra Jadeja kept their nerve -- while several more experienced Mumbai players lost theirs -- to win it off the final ball at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur on Monday.
The result means Delhi Daredevils become the third team to make it to the semifinals and if the Chennai Super Kings win their match against Deccan Chargers on Tuesday, Mumbai will be out of contention.
When Shane Watson was dismissed with 69 runs still needed off 48 balls and no big-name batsmen to come on a pitch not conducive to stroke-making, Mumbai were in command. The Mumbai bowlers maintained a tight line-and-length and runs came mainly in singles. With Niraj and Jadeja hardly threatening, the equation became a difficult 43 off the final three.
A streaky inside-edge for four and a misdirected yorker which deflected off the pads to the fine-leg boundary left Rajasthan needing 34 off the last two. Jadeja then clubbed Rohan Raje over cover for six off the first ball and a couple of twos followed in the over. Raje's final delivery should also have gone only for a couple, but shoddy work at the bowler's end -- one among Mumbai's several elementary fielding errors -- gave away a crucial, extra run.
Four runs came off the first two balls of Dilhara Fernando's last over and Rajasthan required 11 off the final four balls. A flat, powerful six over long-on from Niraj got them closer but only two runs were scored off the next couple of deliveries and three were needed from the final ball. Fernando, an experienced international, then sent down a leg-side wide and Niraj mistimed the last delivery to mid-on. Only one run should have been taken but the batsmen chanced their luck and set off for the second. Sanath Jayasuriya, another experienced campaigner, fumbled the throw from the deep to fluff a simple run-out opportunity and hand Rajasthan yet another victory.
After choosing to field, on a pitch where was keeping low, Rajasthan restricted Mumbai to 145, a modest total that was reached thanks to Yogesh Takawale's eight-ball 24. Rajasthan's bowlers held sway for most of the innings, and man-of-the-match Sohail Tanvir reinforced his status as the tournament's best bowler with a four-wicket haul that earned him the purple cap.
