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Mumbai: Kieron Pollard's all-round performance lead Mumbai Indians to IPL final after defeating Royal Challengers Bangalore by 35 runs in the first semifinal at DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday.
After his scintillating 13-ball 33, Pollard took the wickets of Robin Uthappa (26), Manish Pandey (5) and Virat Kohli (9) and also run out Rahul Dravid (23). He completed his bowling with an impressive figure of 3 for 17 in four overs.
Chasing 185-run target, Bangalore lost wickets at regular intervals and failed to maintain any momentum in their run chase.
For Mumbai, Lasith Malinga (2-24) and Harbhajan Singh (2-44) took two wickets each to give ample support to all-conquering Pollard.
Twin strike in the tenth over by Pollard, in which Dravid was run-out a ball after the dismissal of Uthappa put break on the Bangalore chase.
Uthappa slammed two fours and two huge sixes off Harbhajan in his 13-ball cameo whereas Dravid hit three fours in his steady 22-ball inning.
After Kallis early dismissal, Mumbai spinner Harbhajan Singh outsmarted Pietersen in his first over and dismissed the right-hander to reduce Bangalore to 47/2 in 6.1 overs.
Mumbai pacer Lasith Malinga struck in the third over to dismiss Kallis, who hit two fours in his 9-ball inning.
Earlier, Saurabh Tiwary's 31-ball 52, Ambati Rayudu's 38-ball 40 and Kieron Pollard's 13-ball 33 powered Mumbai to 184/5 against Bangalore at DY Patil Stadium.
Mumbai scored 77 runs in the last 5 overs to make up for the poor start as Pollard hit 3 sixes and a four in his blitzkrieg knock.
Tiwary's knock was studded with 4 sixes and 3 fours and he smashed a 31-ball 50 soon after Dale Steyn dismissed Rayudu having him caught by Jacques Kallis at mid-off.
Royal Challengers Bangalore struck twice in two overs as Mumbai Indians lost Abhishek Nayar and Jean-Paul Duminy to be reduced to 77/4.
Nayar (22) fell trying to sweep part-time spinner Kevin Pietersen as he edged the delivery to short fine leg where Praveen Kumar took a good catch diving forward.
Bangalore captain Anil Kumble struck in the next over when he had Duminy (3) by Pietersen in the covers.
Mumbai lost openers Sachin Tendulkar and Shikhar Dhawan in alternate overs as Bangalore seized early advantage.
Dale Steyn gave Bangalore an early breakthrough when he had Mumbai captain Tendulkar caught by Ross Taylor in the covers.
After hitting Steyn for two fours in the second over of the match, Tendulkar looked to play an outswinger away from his body, checked his shot and ended up giving a low catch to Taylor in the covers to get out on his first single-digit score this year.
In Steyn's next over, Virat Kohli ran out Dhawan with a direct hit to reduce Mumbai to 29/2.
Brief scores
Mumbai Indians 184 for 5 (Tiwary 52*, Rayudu 40, Pollard 33*)
Royal Challengers Bangalore 149 for 9 (Taylor 31*, Pollard 3-17)
Result Mumbai Indian won by 35 runs
MOM Kieron Pollard (Mumbai Indians)
