IPL 5 Eliminator: Dhoni at His Best as Chennai Beat Mumbai

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni smashed an unbeaten half-century as two-time defending champion Chennai Super Kings defeated Mumbai Indians by 38 runs on Wednesday to ensure a clash with Delhi Daredevils for a place in the Indian Premier League final.

Dhoni top-scored with 51 off 20 balls to help Chennai win the "eliminator" game - the equivalent of a quarterfinal - as it amassed an imposing 187-5 and then restricted Mumbai to 149-9. Mumbai's reply started with West Indian Dwayne Smith, promoted as opener, showing flourish in his 22-ball 38. But the tempo could not be maintained as the Chennai bowlers made Mumbai struggle for runs and were also backed by some good fielding.

After Tendulkar was run out early on, Morkel had Dinesh Karthik and Rohit Sharma caught behind off successive overs. Dwayne Bravo also picked up two crucial wickets as Mumbai's hopes of seeing big-hitting Kieron Pollard pull off the improbable crashed when he was bowled by Hilfenhaus for 16 in the 18th over.

Delhi had lost the first "qualifier" game - played between the top two teams of the league - to Kolkata Knight Riders, but gets another chance to make the final in the second "qualifier" against Chennai on Friday.