RAIPUR, India, CMC- Captain Kieron Pollard started a fight back that stalled as defending champions Mumbai Indians crashed out of the Champions League Twenty 20 here yesterday.
Lendl Simmons was dismissed cheaply as Mumbai suffered a six wicket defeat to a motivated Northern Knights in the final qualifying round match to be eliminated from the tournament.
Northern Knights coasted comfortably to 133 for four in 17.2 over’s after restricting Mumbai to 132 for nine in 20 overs.
Pollard and Harbhajan Singh stalled the fall of wickets for nearly five overs as the champions struggled.
Pollard scored 31 off 24 balls while Simmons, who hit two fours in scoring 13 runs from 17 balls, missed completely and lost his off stump.
The win was Northern Knights’ third qualification game victory in a row while it was Mumbai’s second loss in three matches.
‘Yeah, it is disappointing. In two games, we had an opportunity to post good totals, but we lost regular wickets.
I can’t really put a finger on it. But, we did not apply ourselves,” said Pollard.
“The experienced guys did not step up. We will have to take some positives. We made a match out of it. There will always be pressure on Mumbai. It is a difficult pill to swallow. But, we have to move on”.
Northern Knights join Barbados Tridents, Cape Cobras Hobart Hurricanes and Kings XI Punjab in Group B while Lahore Lions join Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders, Dolphins and Perth Scorchers in Group A.