Knights Knock Out Mumbai, Lions Also Through

Raipur: Last year's champion Mumbai Indians crashed out of the Champions League T20 losing to Northern Knights by six wickets in a one-sided game at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur.

MI were outclassed in all departments by the Kiwi side that did not put a foot wrong on their way to securing a place in the main draw. The table toppers in the qualification round, Knights go into the tournament proper along with Lahore Lions, who had earlier defeated Southern Express by 55 runs.

Chasing a 133-run target, NK were off to a brilliant start with openers Anton Devcich and Kane Williamson putting up an 83-run stand. By the time MI managed to get their first breakthrough in the tenth over, the asking rate was well under five runs per over.

Williamson top scored for NK with a 36-ball 53 before being snared by Jasprit Bumrah in the 13th over but it was all too late in the day as Daryl Mitchell and Scott Styris completed the formalities with 16 balls to spare.

Earlier, poor shot selection and another top-order crumble crippled MI's chances of making it to the main draw as NK kept the Champions League Twenty20 holders to 132/9. Had it not been some useful contributions from the likes of skipper Kieron Pollard and tailenders Lasith Malinga (20 off eight balls) and Shreyas Gopal (24 off 12), MI would have struggled to get to the total they finally managed to.

Styris bowed out with superb bowling figures of 4-0-21-3, a performance which earned him the Man of the Match award.

Mumbai Indians had lost half of their side by the 11th over with not even 50 runs on the scoreboard. Pollard managed to salvage some pride with a 24-ball 31 and Malinga and Gopal swung their bats in the last couple overs, but MI needed something exceptional to stop Knights from bolting into the main stage of the CLT20 but that did not happen.

With this win, the Northern Knights join Kings XI Punjab, Hobart Hurricanes, Cape Cobras and Barbados Tridents in Group B. Lahore Lions, who came second in the qualifiers, join Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders, Perth Scorchers and Dolphins in Group A.

Earlier, Northern Knights have won the toss and have opted to field..

Both teams unchanged.

Teams

Mumbai Indians: Lendl Simmons, Aditya Tare (wk), Ambati Rayudu, Michael Hussey, Kieron Pollard (Capt.), Jalaj Saxena, Harbhajan Singh, Shriyas Gopal, Lasith Malinga, Pragyan Ojha, Jasprit Bumrah

Northern Knights: Daniel Flynn (Capt.), Anton Devcich, Daniel Harris, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Scott Styris, BJ Watling (wk), Scott Kuggeleijn, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Trent Boult

Brief scores
Mumbai Indians - 132/9 (Styris 3-21, Southee 3-24)
Northern Knights - 133/4 (Williamson 53, Devcich 39, Bumrah 2-26)
Result - Northern Knights won by 6 wickets
Points - Northern Knights 4, Mumbai Indians 0
MOM - Scott Styris (Northern Knights)