It’s the final day of the preliminary rounds in IPL 11 and one playoff spot is up for grabs. Sunrisers Hyderabad, Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders have all guaranteed their spot in the top four with Rajasthan Royals currently in the final playoff position.
But a win by any margin for the defending champions Mumbai Indians over bottom-dwellers Delhi Daredevils could have seen them displace the Royals and book a playoff spot. Nevertheless, the Daredevils won the toss and in their 20 overs knocked up a par score of 4 for 174 on a hot afternoon with a bone dry outfield.
Best for Delhi were Rishabh Pant continuing his run of good form with 64 off 44 balls and a hard-hitting 43 not out off 30 for Vijay Shankar, while for Mumbai Jasprit Bumrah took 1 for 29 off his four overs.
Mumbai looked gone at 5 for 78 but cometh the hour, cometh the man – and that man seemed to be Australian allrounder Ben Cutting who smashed three sixes in his 37 off 20 balls.
But just when it looked like the Indians would pull off another great escape with Cutting taking them to 12 runs short of the target with five balls remaining, the tall Queenslander mis-cued a hoik down the ground off Harshal Patel and was caught by his Australian team mate Glenn Maxwell.
Mumbai are out of IPL 2018 and now only the Kings XI Punjab can steal the final playoff spot from Rajasthan Royals if they can get a handsome win over Chennai. (SPORT360)
