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Bangalore: Riding on captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni`s blistering 20-ball 51-run innings, defending champions Chennai Super Kings romped into the second qualifiers by knocking out Mumbai Indians with a comfortable 38-run victory in the IPL eliminator here Wednesday night.
The thrilling victory at the M Chinnaswamy stadium here also paved Chennai`s way to the next Champions League.
The victory was set up by two brilliant partnerships by Chennai batsmen. First it was the 94-run third-wicket stand between S Badrinath (47) and Michael Hussey (49), which helped Chennai to recover after being precariously placed at 1 for 2 in 1.2 overs.
While the second partnership was the unbeaten 73-run stand between skipper Dhoni (51 off 20) and Dwayne Bravo (33 off 14), which catapulted Chennai to a challenging 187 for five in their stipulated 20 overs.
It was a special innings by Dhoni as he butchered the Mumbai bowlers, blasting six fours and two sixes in his 20-ball whirlwind innings.
For Mumbai, Dhawal Kulkarni (3/46) was the most successful bowler, while Kieron Pollard (1/26) and James Franklin (1/12) took one wicket each.
Chasing the stiff target, Mumbai could muster only 149 for nine in their stipulated 20 overs with opener Dwayne Smith (38) being the top-scorer.
The Chennai bowlers also put up a brilliant show with Dwayne Bravo (2/10) and Albie Morkel (2/31) making the most damage, while SB Jakati
(1/25), BW Hilfenhaus (1/45), R Ashwin (1/18), RA Jadeja
(1/15) also contributing to the win.
