Hayden ends Mumbai's IPL hopes

Matthew Hayden hit 60 not-out to lead the Chennai Super Kings to a seven-wicket victory over the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League on Saturday. The result left Chennai on the verge of a place in the semi-finals and Mumbai set to exit the tournament.

After a slow start in which he hit his first boundary in the 13th over, Hayden timed things superbly in the later stages, hitting four boundaries and a six in 57 balls. His unbeaten fourth-wicket stand with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (23 off 22 balls) guided Chennai to 151-3 after Mumbai had made 147-5.

"It's a good win for us," said Man-of-the-Match, Hayden. "It's an important win. We've really been on a roll over the past three weeks."

But Hayden was critical of his own batting, saying: "It's amazing how even with so much experience you can get the strategy wrong."

Chennai got off to a bad start as opener Parthiv Patel was trapped lbw by Lasith Malinga with the first ball of the innings.

Fast bowler Malinga maintained an accurate line and length to return with figures of 1-19 in four overs.

Suresh Raina hit a brisk 20 before lofting an effort off Dwayne Bravo for the bowler to take a difficult catch running to square leg.

Hayden and Subramaniam Badrinath (22 off 23 balls) then added 40 runs for the third wicket before Badrinath nicked Dhawal Kulkarni to wicketkeeper Yogesh Takawale to leave the score on 64-3 in the 11th over.

Hayden then opened up, putting the loose ball away to the boundary when given width. Dhoni hit the winning runs, clearing long on with five balls to spare.

"The bowlers gave us an early breakthrough," said Mumbai captain Sachin Tendulkar. "But a couple of extras - leg byes, wides - probably cost us the match."

Earlier J.P. Duminy had set up the Mumbai Indians’ total of 147 with a commanding knock of 62 runs. Duminy's third wicket stand of 65 with Abhishek Nayar (33 off 27 balls) assured Mumbai of a competitive total after losing three top-order wickets.

The Chennai attack was led by opening bowler Albie Morkel, who maintained a good length throughout, taking 1-31 in four overs.