CLT20 semi-final as it happened: Mumbai Indians survive Narine to reach final

2310 IST Mumbai Indians 157 for 4 beat T&T 153 for 5 by six wickets Narine finished with figures of 3 for 17. With 14 required from 10 balls, DK charges Rampaul and pulls him savagely midwicket. The next ball takes the outside edge and flies to the third man boundary. That leaves three runs to get from the final over. Karthik needs just one ball. A low full toss from Simmons is casually lofted over long-off for six. MI’s win sets up not only an all-IPL final but a final farewell game between Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar. These two teams also played the opening match of the tournament proper, so there is some symmetry here as well. 2300 IST After 17.4 overs, MI are 138 for 4 . Rohit and DK have profited from the absence of Emrit. Navin Stewart is taken for 13 runs while Narine is carefully negotiated. But negotiating Narine is easier said than done. In his final over, he had one more ace to play. Rohit is playing watchful defense but Narine is still too much for him. Gets one to turn past the outside edge and strike off stump with Rohit groping for the ball like a man in the dark looking for his glasses. Sharma b Narine 25 (22b 1x4 2x6) 2250 IST After 15 overs, MI are 119 for 2 . Rohit eases the pressure with a straight six off Ottley, then eased him through the covers with the kind of timing that makes his critics and fans drool. They need 35 runs from 30 balls. All MI have to do is see out Narine and they will be in the final. 2237 IST After 12 overs, MI are 96 for 3. Narine gets Rayudu first ball. Sent in ahead of DK and Rohit Sharma, the ploy backfires. Rayudu tries to glide one fine but is beaten by the turn and the ball slides off the face and into Ramdin’s gloves. Rayudu c †Ramdin b Narine 0 (1b 0x4 0x6) After Rohit Sharma survives a strong shout for lbw, Narine gets rids of the in-form Smith with the offbreak. Smith tried to slog sweep but missed completely and had his offstump pegged back. Smith b Narine 59 (38b 7x4 2x6) 2232 IST After 11 overs, MI are 90 for 1 . Smith brought up his 50 with a brutal flat six over long-on. Picked up a full delivery from Lendl Simmons and sent it flying. The opening partnership is finally broken Tendulkar slashes at a wide delivery from Simmons. Gets a top edge, which Ramdin does well to take standing up to the stumps. Tendulkar c †Ramdin b Simmons 35 (31b 2x4 2x6) 2228 IST After 10 overs, MI are 79 for no loss. Tendulkar and Smith have taken control of the chase although Tendulkar has started to play a few extravagant shots when there is no need for such improvisation. Smith shows his timing with a back foot punch that rockets past point for four off the last ball of the 10th over. He is on 46 from 32 balls, while Tendulkar has 33 from 28. 2216 IST After 7.1 vers, MI are 53 for no loss . Tendulkar brings up 50,000 runs in all recognised competition with a single to leg. Then raises the bat to roars from the crowd. He is the first Indian batsman to make 50,000 runs in First-Class, List A and T20 matches. He is the 16th player in all cricket to reach the milestone. 2212 IST After 6 overs, MI are 49 for no loss . Tendulkar takes on Ottley in the sixth over. He steps away to let and slog sweeps the left-arm spinner over cow corner and then produces an inside-out cover drive over cover for a second six. Gets lucky the next ball, trying to repeat the slog-sweep. An under edge catches the fingers of the keeper’s gloves and he gets a single. This is the best opening partnership of the tournament for Mumbai Indians. 2206 IST After 4 overs, MI are 26 for no loss . Huge roar erupts from the crowd after Tendulkar’s first boundary, which is an impressive straight drive past mid-off. The ball seamed away but Tendulkar had the movement covered. Meanwhile T&T have lost Emrit, who has damaged his shoulder after landing awkwardly while fielding in the second over. That could be a big blow. 2158 IST After 2 overs, MI are 14 for no loss. Badree starts with a good over, just five from it. Smith takes on Rampaul in the second over and wins. The first four came as he hit clean through the line while the second was a well-time cut past point. 2137 IST After 20 overs, T&T are 153 for 5. Ottley manages to take T&T past 150, having made 41 from 30 balls. Just six come off the final over though and T&T might be about 10 or 15 runs short. 2132 IST After 19.2 overs, T&T are 148 for 5. The 19th over, bowled by Rishi Dhawan, goes for 16 runs, the biggest of the innings. Ottley finally gets hold of one and smites a straight six and an inside edge off the final ball runs away for four to third man. Pooran doesn’t last until the end though. Forced to go for his shots, he can’t clear long-off. Pooran c Rayudu b Coulter-Nile 15 (14b 0x4 1x6) 2119 IST After 17 overs, T&T are 122 for 4. Pooran and Ottley having to settle for singles. The run-rate now hovering around 7 an over. Pollard doing an excellent job varying his pace and making it hard for the two batsmen to find their timing. 2111 IST After 15.3 overs, T&T are 110 for 4. T&T’sinnings is unravelling here. Ramdin makes room to cut Johnson but has his offstump uprooted instead. Ramdin b Johnson 9 (8b 1x4 0x6) 2108 IST After 15 overs, T&T are 106 for 3. T&T’s 100 comes up via leg-byes. The batting side has lost momentum since Lewis’ departure. The pitch is starting to play tricks too, with the occasional ball keeping low. Just 33 runs have come from the last five overs. 2100 IST After 13.1 overs, T&T are 93 for 3. Pollard brings Lewis’ onslaught to the end. Pitches on a good length and doesn’t quite come to the bat. Lewis is through his shot trying to turn it to leg and the leading edge loops back to Pollard, who takes a few steps to his left to complete the catch. Lewis c & b Pollard 62 (46b 6x4 4x6) 2047 IST After 11 overs, T&T are 82 for 2. Lewis continues his strong run in the tournament with another half-century, cutting Harbhajan between the two men at point for his fifth four to bring up the milestone, which took him 34 balls. He celebrated in the next over by slog-sweeping Ojha for a flat six over square leg. 2038 IST After 8.1 overs, T&T are 61 for 2. The seamers are keeping the scoring down but it is the spinners who are taking the wickets. Ojha didn’t bowl a great delivery – it was down legside Bravo lost his balance trying to flick it and DK behind the stumps was quick to seize the opportunity. Bravo st †Karthik b Ojha 14 (16b 1x4 1x6) 2036 IST After 8 overs, T&T are 61 for 1. Pollard bowls a tidy over - just two from it. Lewis brings up T&T’s half-century with a mistimed slog but it had enough on it to clip the top of Pollard’s fingers and go over the long-off boundary. Two deliveries later, Lewis genuinely gets hold of one and it flies over long-off. No doubt about that one. 2027 IST After 6 overs, T&T are 45 for 1. Rishi Dhawan and Nathan Coulter-Nile managed to pull the batsmen back. Just nine runs from their opening openers combined. There seems to be a good crowd in tonight at the Kotla in Delhi. Nice change from the group stage. After 4 overs, T&T are 36 for 1. 2020 IST After 4 overs, T&T are 36 for 1. Lewis is leading the charge for T&T, with a bit of luck. A richochet off the stumps from a Kieron Pollard throw turns no runs into four. That adds to a couple of slashes through point that also reached the boundary as Johnson’s two overs have cost 23 runs. A lovely cover drive from Darren Bravo provides the first runs off the bat from someone other than Lewis, before he hoicks Harbhajan over deep midwicket for a huge six. 2010 IST After 1.3 overs, T&T are 13 for 1. Mitchell Johnson got a little bit of stick from Evin Lewis in the opening over, with the batsman cutting him over third man for six. Harbhajan had much better results though, getting Simmons to go for the big shot and hole out to deep midwicket. Simmons c Smith b Harbhajan Singh 0 (4b 0x4 0x6). 1945 IST Here are the playing XIs: Mumbai Indians: SR Tendulkar, DR Smith, KD Karthik†, RG Sharma*, KA Pollard, AT Rayudu, MG Johnson, NM Coulter-Nile, Harbhajan Singh, R Dhawan, PP Ojha. T&T: LMP Simmons, E Lewis, DM Bravo, KYG Ottley, D Ramdin*†, N Pooran, SP Narine, RR Emrit, ND Stewart, S Badree, R Rampaul. 1930 IST Rohit Sharma has won the toss and has chosen to field first. He reckons it is a good wicket that won’t change much. He also figured T&T would want to chase too. Mitchell Johnson is back for Glenn Maxwell. Denesh Ramdin says his team doesn’t mind batting second. Beating CSK has also given them a lot of confidence. His team is unchanged. Preview Both Mumbai Indians and Trinidad & Tobago made the semi-finals on the back of must-win games. Mumbai chased down the Perth Scorchers in under 14 overs while T&T surprised everyone by strangling Chennai Super Kings. T&T’s victory meant they were able to avoid playing Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur, where the Royals are now on a 13-game winning streak after beating CSK in the first semi-final yesterday. [caption id=“attachment_1154989” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Sunil Narine is T&T’s leading wicket-taker in the tournament. BCCI[/caption] This game is likely to be a match-up between Mumbai’s batting and T&T’s bowling. Sunil Narine and Samuel Badree are miserly while Narine was the leading wicket-taker in the group stage with eight wickets. Ravi Rampaul provides fast bowling support, while Rayad Emrit has taken some crucial wickets too. Mumbai will need captain Rohit Sharma to continue with the form he showed in the last game and will probably prefer to chase with the likes of Kieron Pollard (playing against his regional team) and Dwayne Smith giving them plenty of firepower. Smith in particular has been able to get off to a quick start but the form of Sachin Tendulkar remains a question though, and one again he is facing the prospect of playing his last limited-overs game. Mumbai are the favourites in this clash, but it isn’t beyond T&T to pull off the upset and keep an all-IPL final from happening.