Chennai Super Kings rode yet again on a superb inings from Matthew Hayden (60) to beat Mumbai Indians by seven wickets and make sure of a semi-final berth in the Indian Premier League on Saturday.
The defeat dashed Mumbai Indians' hopes of advancing to the last four stage.
After Mumbai Indians put up 148, built largely on J P Duminy's knock of 62, Chennai again relied heavily on Hayden to romp home with five balls to spare.
Hayden was not his usual explosive self to start with but soon cut loose as Chennai recovered from a rather wobbly start.
The Australian opener, currently the leading run-scorer, hit his fifth fifty of the tournament in the process. He also shared a match-winning 87-run partnership with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (23).
The burly left-hander hit Harbhajan Singh for a massive six in the 17th over to complete his fifty. In fact, that one Harbhajan over turned the match in Chennai's favour as the temperamental off-spinner conceded 17 runs in it.
After their bowlers had done a fine job to restrict Mumbai to 147 for five, Chennai's chase started badly, Parthiv Patel being dismissed leg before off the very first ball by Lasith Malinga.
Suresh Raina did not last long either, brilliantly caught and bowled by Dwayne Bravo after a quickfire 20 off 12 balls that included two fours and an equal number of sixes.
Earlier, electing to bat after winning the toss, Mumbai were dealt an early blow when Dwayne Bravo's (5) stumps were knocked off by Albie Morkel in the second over.
Sanath Jayasuriya then played a blistering 30-run knock that came off just 17 balls. Sri Lanka's ageless warrior, who had been slightly off-colour with the bat, smashed three fours and a couple of sixes before top-edging a Sudeep Tyagi delivery to Suresh Raina at cover.
Jayasuriya's dismissal slowed down Mumbai's scoring rate and the team went into the strategy break with 72 runs in their first 10 overs.
Mumbai suffered another setback after the break when skipper Sachin Tendulkar (11) holed out to Lakshmipathy Balaji at deep midwicket off a Raina delivery.
It was left to Duminy again to steer the innings and he lived upto the task with a 54-ball 62.
The South African combined with Abhishek Nayar for a 65-run fourth-wicket stand that was ultimately crucial in Mumbai posting a respectable total on board.
Of the bowlers, Muttiah Muralitharan was not among the wickets but bowled a miserly spell, giving away just 19 runs in his four overs.
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