Mumbai Indians relied on a late assault from Kieron Pollard and Jos Buttler to beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets in their crucial Indian Premier League (IPL) match and keep their hopes of a playoffs berth alive here Wednesday. Chasing 152 for a win, Pollard and Buttler smashed unbeaten cameos of 35 and 29 respectively to share 55 runs from just 3.3 overs for the unbroken fifth wicket to take Mumbai home with eight balls to spare. Pollard smashed three fours and two sixes in his 19-ball unbeaten innings while Buttler hit one four and three sixes in his 11-ball unconquered knock as the duo struck a flurry of fours and sixes toward the end to take Mumbai home. Ambati Rayudu contributed a 47-ball 44 to keep Mumbai in the chase early on after captain Rohit Sharma (25) and Parthiv Patel (1) were out. Bangalore kept itself in the match with some brilliant fielding as Stuart Binny and AB de Villiers took a stunning catch each but in the end the score it defended was too small. Buttler hit the winning runs, a six, as Mumbai reached 153 for four in 18.4 overs to notch up its sixth win in 11 matches and jump to the fourth spot in the league table with 12 points. Bangalore, on the other hand, slumped to its sixth loss in 10 matches as it remained at sixth spot with eight points. It will now need to win all its matches to have a chance of making it to the playoffs stage. Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 151-4 in 20 overs (Lokesh Rahul 68*, Sachin Baby 25*; Hardik Pandya 1-15) lost to Mumbai Indians 153 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Ambati Rayudu 44, Kieron Pollard 35*; Varun Aaron 2-37). - Agencies
