Ishan Kishan’s 48 and a late cameo by Tim David helped Mumbai Indians down Delhi Capitals by five wickets, a result that allowed Royal Challengers Bangalore to sneak into the IPL play-offs yesterday. Chasing 160 for victory, David lifted Mumbai from a precarious 95-3 in 14.3 overs to smash 34 off 11 balls as they achieved the target with five balls to spare and knock Delhi out of the final-four race.
IPL newcomers Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants made the final-four early, while Rajasthan Royals became the third team to make the play-offs. Gujarat end the league as number one in the 10-team table followed by Royals as the top two teams will have a second shot at making the title clash even if they lose their first qualifier on May 24.
Lucknow will meet Faf du Plessis’ Bangalore, who ended the league stage on 16 points - two ahead of Delhi (14), in the eliminator on May 25. Delhi let go off their chances as skipper and wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant failed to take a review when David edged his first ball to the glovesman and replays suggested the batsman had nicked it.
David, a Singapore batsman who hit four sixes, put on 50 off 20 balls with Tilak Varma, who made 21, to put the chase back on track and Ramandeep Singh finished it off with an unbeaten 13. Kishan and Dewald Brevis, who made 37, put on 57 runs to lay the foundation for the chase.
Earlier left-arm fast bowler Daniel Sams took down fellow Australian David Warner with the swashbuckling left-hander top-edging a catch to short third man. Jasprit Bumrah soon combined from the other end to send back Mitchell Marsh for a first ball duck and then got Prithvi Shaw, for 24, as Delhi slipped to 31-3 inside six overs.
Pant and Rovman Powell then put on 75 runs for the fifth wicket to rebuild the innings.

BRIEF SCORES
Mumbai Indians 160 for 5 (Kishan 48, David 34, Thakur 2-32) beat Delhi Capitals 159 for 7 (Powell 43, Bumrah 3-25) by five wickets.