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Mumbai enter semis

Mumbai Indians captain Sachin Tendulkar struck an unbeaten 59-ball 89, his highest IPL score, to help Mumbai Indians register a comfortable 37-run win over Rajasthan Royals.

Chasing 174, Royals were in deep trouble losing wickets early on as they managed only 137 for eight in 20 overs.

Earlier, Mumbai Indians posted a competitive 174 for five.

Tendulkar mixed caution with aggression and decorated his innings with 10 fours and two sixes to notch up his fifth half century of the tournament.

Yet again the Mumbai innings revolved around Tendulkar as he first shared crucial 63 runs for the fourth wicket with JP Duminy (31 off 32) and then added 50 runs with Kieron Pollard (25 off 13) to guide the table toppers to the challenging score especially after they were 30 for three at one stage.

Shane Watson was the pick of the Rajasthan bowlers with figures of three for 37.

Opting to field, Watson came up with double strike for Rajasthan—Sanath Jayasuriya and Ambati Rayudu—in the innings second and his first over of the day.

Jayasuriya had a nightmarish return to the Mumbai Indians side as the veteran Sri Lankan lasted only two balls, spooning a Watson delivery down to Abhishek Jhunjhunwala.

Two balls later Watson had the best of Rayudu with a beauty of a bouncer that kissed the right-hander’s glove onto wicket-keeper Naman Ojha’s safe hands.

Saurabh Tiwary showed some sparkle with three fours before he hooked one straight to Aditya Dole at fine leg to give Watson his third wicket of the day.

Tendulkar, however, was rock solid at the other end and together with Duminy milked the Rajasthan bowling to drag Mumbai out of trouble with the 56-ball 63-run stand.

Tendulkar hit Warne for three boundaries in the 12^th over to up the

Mumbai run-rate after setting the early foundation. — Agencies

Scoreboard

Mumbai Indians

S Jayasuriya c Jhunjhunwala b Watson 1

S Tendulkar (not out) 89

A Rayudu c Ojha b Watson 0

S Tiwary c Dole b Watson 15

JP Duminy c Lumb b Trivedi 31

K Pollard b Dole 25

R Sathish (not out) 1

Extras: (lb-4, w-8) 12

Total: (for 5 wickets; 20 overs) 174

Fall of Wickets: 1-12 (Jayasuriya), 2-12 (Rayudu), 3-30 (Tiwary), 4-93 (Duminy), 5-143 (Pollard).

Bowling: Y Pathan 4-0-24-0 (2w), S Watson 4-0-37-3 (1w), A Dole 3-0-34-1 (3w), A Jhunjhunwala 1-0-6-0, S Warne 4-0-34-0 (1w), S Trivedi 4-0-35-1 (1w).

Rajasthan Royals

M Lumb c Duminy b Kulkarni 8

N Ojha c Tendulkar b Khan 0

F Fazal run out (Jayasuriya/Harbhajan Singh) 10

S Watson run out (Rayudu) 1

A Jhunjhunwala run out (Tiwary/Rayudu) 22

A Voges c Rayudu b Khan 28

Y Pathan c Harbhajan Singh b Pollard 10

A Raut (not out) 20

A Dole c sub (S Dhawan) b Harbhajan Singh 30

Extras: (lb-1, w-7) 8

Total: (for 8 wickets; 20 overs) 137

Fall of Wickets: 1-9 (Lumb), 2-9 (Ojha), 3-11 (Watson), 4-34 (Fazal), 5-62 (Jhunjhunwala), 6-85 (Pathan), 7-87 (Voges), 8-137 (Dole).

Bowling: Z Khan 4-1-17-2, D Kulkarni 4-0-40-1 (1w), L Malinga 4-0-23-0, Harbhajan Singh 4-0-21-1 (2w), S Jayasuriya 2-0-16-0, K Pollard 2-0-19-1.