Akash Madhwal, a little-known Uttarakhand engineer, bagged a five-wicket haul as Mumbai Indians thrashed Lucknow Super Giants by 81 runs in Wednesday's IPL Eliminator, at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
The Mumbai Indians scored 182 for 8 in 20 overs, which seemed 15 short compared to Lucknow's explosive batting firepower, but Madhwal's incredible figures of 3.3-0-5-5, along with some terrific ground fielding led by Rohit Sharma, saw the chasing side fall way short of the target at 101 all out in 16.3 overs.
Apart from Madhwal's wicket, LSG succumbed to three run-outs in what was a forgettable evening for the Krunal Pandya-led side.
Chennai Super Kings' opponents for the big final on Sunday will now be decided on Friday when MI takes on the Gujarat Titans on Friday, in Ahmedabad.
A fiery spell from Afghanistan's Naveen ul Haq (4 for 37) in the first innings saw MI restricted to 182 for 8 in their 20 overs, but Madhwal reassured his skipper's confidence in him with a brilliant bowling performance.
Having been a tennis ball cricketer until the age of 23, Madhawal took wickets at regular intervals including the all-important scalp of Nicholas Pooran for 0, which was the nail in the coffin in LSG's chase.
Naveen in focus
The Afghanistan pacer has been in the spotlight after his fiery exchange with Virat Kohli during a league game against RCB. Naveen was constantly booed by the Chepauk crowd, but he had the last laugh as he picked up the important wickets of MI skipper Rohit (11 off 10 balls), batting mainstay Suryakumar Yadav (33 off 20 balls), Cameron Green (41 off 23 balls), and Tilak Verma (26 off 22 balls).
Naveen got Surya and Green in one over, which could have helped LSG restrict their opponents to a much lower score. However, the Mumbai outfit were boosted by Impact Player Nehal Wadhera, who scored 23 off 12 balls to take MI past 180 runs. He hit a six and two fours in the final over, of Yash Thakur, to take MI to a competitive score, which proved to be a winning one.
MI's innings
After losing openers Rohit Sharma (11 of 10) and Ishan Kishan (15 of 12) cheaply, MI's innings gained momentum with a 66-run third wicket partnership between Suryakumar Yadav (33 of 20) and Cameron Green (41 of 23).
Wadhera then hit the finishing touches as MI posted what proved to be a winning total as they eventually ran out winners by 81 runs.
(With Inputs from Agency)
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