Mumbai sitting pretty

Aditya Tare and Dwayne Smith gave Mumbai Indians a flying start after Rajasthan Royals scored a fighting 165/6 in the second IPL qualifier at Eden Gardens on Friday.

Rajasthan Royals rode on a gritty 43 by Rahul Dravid before Dishant Yagnik upped the ante with an unbeaten 17-ball 31 to set a challenging target.A Dravid was Royals' top-scorer as they seemed to struggle in the middle before Yagnik, who hit five fours, and Hodge (19 not out) added 57 runs in 27 balls to prop up their side.

They were also helped by some shoddy bowling by Malinga in the last over. Harbhajan Singh made full use of the overcast conditions returning with figures of 3/23, including the prized scalp of Dravid, before Kieron Pollard took two in one over to further damage Royals' scoring rate after they opted to bat first. Mumbai Indians got their script wrong in a horrible last over by Malinga who conceded 18 runs including seven extras.

The winners of the match will set up Sunday's summit clash with Chennai Super Kings.A An interesting duel was on display with a different-looking Dravid taking the attack on Mumbai Indians quickie Johnson, hitting the Aussie for consecutive boundaries with some classical flicks and drives.

SCORECARD

Rajasthan Royals: Dravid c Sharma b Harbhajan 43, Rahane b Harbhajan 21, Watson c Sharma b Harbhajan 6, Samson c Harbhajan b Malinga 0, Binny c Harbhajan b Pollard 27, Hodge not out 19, Cooper c Smith b Pollard 4 Yagnik not out 31; Extras: (LB-4, W-8, NB-2) 14; Total: (for 6 wickets in 20 overs) 165; Fall of wickets: 1-44, 2-60, 3-64, 4-87, 5-104, 6-108; Bowling: Johnson 3-0-23-0, Dhawan 4-0-30-0, Ojha 4-0-36-0, Harbhajan 4-0-23-3, Malinga 4-0-43-1, Pollard 1-0-6-2.