World Of Sports

Dinesh Karthik struck an unbeaten half-century to guide the Delhi Daredevils to a five-wicket win over the Mumbai Indians with just one ball to spare - and put them on the brink of the Indian Premier League semi-finals.

Sanath Jayasuriya fired 66 off 42 balls, but Mumbai could not capitalise on their good start and posted 176 for eight.

And though Delhi lost regular wickets in reply, Karthik (56 not out off 32) stood firm, backed by Farveez Maharoof (20 no off 13), who struck the winning runs.

Mumbai began with Jayasuriya in typically aggressive form, taking an over to set himself before striking a pair of boundaries off Brett Geeves.

The Tasmanian bowler took more punishment in his next over, with Sachin Tendulkar hitting him for four and Jayasuriya taking 10 off two balls.

The Sri Lankan dished out similar to Yo Mahesh, hitting back-to-back sixes and a four off the seamer's first over.

But Mahesh ended an opening stand of 70 when he bowled Tendulkar (18 from 16), then removed Dwayne Smith for 17 off 17.

Jayarusiya followed, lofting a Amit Mishra delivery to Tillakaratne Dilshan at mid-on, leaving Robin Uthappa to dominate the rest of the innings.

Only Shaun Pollock (16 off 15) contributed at the other end, but Uthappa's swashbuckling unbeaten 46 from 23 took Mumbai up to a competitive total.

Mahesh finished with four for 36.

In reply, Virender Sehwag hammered 18 off six balls and Gautam Gambhir added 19 off nine, but neither could go on.

And that was the story of the innings for the Daredevils, who also had contributions from Shikhar Dhawan (27 off 29) and Manoj Tiwary (36 off 29).

It was Karthik, though, who held his nerve and saw his side home.

He did what his team-mates could not manage, sticking in there to reach a half-century.

He and Maharoof compiled an unbeaten stand of 49, with Delhi needing eight off the final over to win. Back-to-back boundaries from Maharoof did the job.