All-rounder Corey Anderson stood tall with a magnificent 95 not out off 44 balls as Mumbai Indians notched an incredible victory on a night of high drama to enter the Indian Premier League playoffs.
Set a target of 190, Mumbai knew that they would need to chase down that total inside 15 overs to be able to pip Rajasthan Royals to a place in the playoffs.
And thanks to Anderson they achieved their target much to the delight of their raucous fans at the Wankhede Stadium. The defending champions eventually overhauling the total in 14.4 overs when Aditya Tare carted Rajasthan leftarm pacer James Faulkner for six.
It was a giant task but Anderson showed his worth by smashing six sixes and nine fours in one of the most destructive knocks in the IPL.
Mumbai will now meet Chennai Super Kings in the first qualifier on Wednesday at Brabourne Stadium, which is a stone’s throw away from their fortress Wankhede.
Mumbai were 61 for 3 and looking down the barrel after five overs but the left-handed Anderson andAmbati Rayudu shared a gamechanging 81-run stand in 5.1 overs for the fifth wicket.
Rayudu blasted 30 runs from 10 balls before Tare sounded the death-knell for Rajasthan with a first-ball six off Faulkner, who conceded 54 runs without taking a wicket.
Anderson had been selected because of his ability to score quick runs and while Lendl Simmons, Michael Hussey, Kieron Pollard and Rohit Sharma came out swinging it was only the Kiwi all-rounder who stood firm.
After Kevon Cooper yorked Hussey and pocketed Pollard with a slower ball, Mumbai were left chasing 115 off 45 balls. They scored more than 14 in all but two of the remaining overs, and never less than 11; the defeat capping a horrendous match for Watson.
His timing had been incredibly poor during his struggle for eight off 18 balls after opening the innings, and then he conceded 33 off two wicketless overs.
Earlier, Sanju Samson and Karun Nair came up with responsible knocks to help Rajasthan post an imposing 189 for 4 after being put into bat.
Samson scored 74 off 47 balls while Nair took 27 balls for his half-century as the two young batsmen shared a 100-run stand in 57 balls after Watson’s exit.
Samson, who opened the innings instead of Ajinkya Rahane, hit three sixes and seven fours, while Nair’s knock contained two sixes and seven fours.
Big-hitting Australians Hodge (29 not out) and Faulkner (23 off 12 balls) then joined the party in the last five overs to add 49 runs for the fourth wicket.
Rajasthan ultimately had themselves to blame for failing to qualify as they were cruising along at one stage having notched 12 points from nine games.
But too much experimentation where regulars were either rested or found their places swapped resulted in four losses and just one victory in their next five.
