(ESPNCRICINFO) – Mumbai Indians did what was asked of them quite emphatically, to win the game and move to fourth. And then after nearly five hours of waiting, had their playoff spot confirmed following Gujarat Titans’ win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bengaluru.

Having chased down 201 courtesy a 47-ball 100 not out from Cameron Green, Mumbai needed RCB to lose their fixture, and that’s what happened in the end. Having got to 16 points, they now face Lucknow Super Giants in the Eliminator on May 24.

Victory at one stage seemed far-fetched for Mumbai when Sunrisers openers Mayank Agarwal and Vivrant Sharma blasted an opening stand of 140 in just 13.5 overs. Then Mumbai hit back in the death overs to take the momentum with them; Sunrisers managed just 32 off their last four overs. It seemed as if the slowdown at the time would prove costly, but the manner of Mumbai’s chase made it amply clear that even another 20 runs would perhaps not have made any difference.

Only just briefly in their defence, Sunrisers had it under control when Bhuvneshwar Kumar removed Ishan Kishan early with the first three overs going for just 24. The turning point came in the fifth over when Rohit Sharma was reprieved on 12 by Sanvir Singh. He made them pay along with Green.

The Mayank-Vivrant show
But long before the carnage that the majority of the strong 30,000 crowd anticipated, Agarwal and Vivrant overcame a slow start to set the game up. Vivrant ended the powerplay with two bludgeoning hits down the ground off Piyush Chawla to go from 10 off 16 to 27 off 24.

The slow start wasn’t due to lack of trying, though. It was possibly a case of nerves and some good shots finding the fielders. He soon brought up his half-century off just 36 deliveries.

Agarwal said ‘I’m in too’ as he galloped to his half-century by hitting Jason Behrendorff superbly inside-out over cover for six and scything the follow-up wide yorker behind point. His half-century was up off just 32 balls. Now, Sunrisers were beginning to get into overdrive.