Chennai cruised past Mumbai by seven wickets to stay second in the eight-team league but only a point behind Delhi Daredevils. [break]
Deccan Chargers rose to third with an improbable six-wicket win over the hapless Kolkata Knight Riders after scoring 26 in the final over at Wanderers.
The idle Rajasthan Royals were fourth with the top seven teams separated by only seven points heading toward the last week. Only Kolkata was out of contention for the semifinals.
Chasing Mumbai´s 147-5, Matthew Hayden hit 60 not out to guide Chennai to 151-3 after a slow start at St. George´s Park in which he hit his first boundary only in the 13th over. The former Australia opener timed things superbly in the later stages, hitting four boundaries and a six in 57 balls. His unbeaten fourth-wicket stand with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, 23 off 22 balls, took Chennai home comfortably.
"It´s a good win for us," said man-of-the-match Hayden. "It´s an important win. We´ve really been on a roll over the past three weeks."
But the veteran batsman was critical of his own batting, saying: "It´s amazing that even with so much experience you can get the strategy wrong.
Sharma sizzles for Deccan Chargers
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma engineered Deccan´s amazing escape in the last over against Kolkata.
Needing 21 runs from the last over to overhaul Kolkata´s 160-5, Sharma, who ended unbeaten on 32 off just 18 balls, and partner Venugopal Rao shared 26 off woeful pace bowler Mashrafe Mortaza to lead Deccan to victory on the last ball.
The eight-ball over started with a no-ball boundary and finished with a six.
Deccan captain Adam Gilchrist set the platform with 43 while Tirumalsetti Suman added 31. But Deccan´s chase faltered and Kolkata appeared to be on the verge of only its second win in 12 matches.
"I thought we´d blown away another one," Gilchrist said. "But Rohit was fantastic out there today."
In a thrilling finish to the match, tempers flared when Kolkata captain Brendon McCullum protested profoundly to umpire Rudi Koertzen for giving a no ball off Mortaza´s bowling in the crucial final over.
"First I want to apologize for the reaction," said McCullum. "It was pure passion, pure emotion. Its not easy to be in a team that´s always losing. You have no option but to get up. This is what we will do for the rest of the tournament.
On Sunday, it´s Kings XI Punjab vs. Deccan, and Rajasthan vs. Delhi.
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