Mumbai Indians did the double over Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2016 Indian Premier League, beating the two-time champions by six wickets at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday. The hosts chased down Kolkata's 174/5 with ease, with two whole overs to spare, taking them to third in the table. Mumbai were helped by a typically solid knock of 68 not out off 49 balls from skipper Rohit Sharma, followed by a blitzkrieg from Kieron Pollard, who struck an unbeaten 51 off just 17 deliveries, including two fours and as many as six maximums.

After being asked to bat first, Kolkata got off to a great start, as has become their tradition, with captain Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa racing along to 67/0 in seven overs. This wasn't before Gambhir was dropped when he was on eight by Mitchell McClenaghan off his own bowling. The left-hander went on to hit his third fifty of the season, composing crucial partnerships of 69 runs with Uthappa (36 off 20 balls) and 44 with Suryakumar Yadav (21 off 17 balls). Gambhir was dismissed for 59 off 45 balls.

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Andre Russell, who had pleasant memories of the Wankhede Stadium from the Twenty20 World Cup last month, played a cameo (22 off 16 balls) along with Yusuf Pathan (19 off eight balls), taking KKR to 174. Mumbai bowler Tim Southee didn't help his team's cause by dropping two catches off consecutive deliveries towards the end.

However, Mumbai would have been confident of getting past this total, given they had chased down 188 in the first leg at Eden Gardens on a pitch that wasn't as helpful as the one at Wankhede. The hosts lost Parthiv Patel early in the chase, but the two in-form batsmen Sharma and Ambati Rayudu stuck together and built a partnership. They took the score to 64/1 in six overs, before Rayudu (32 off 20 balls) and all-rounder Krunal Pandya (six off five balls) fell in quick succession.

Mumbai still looked comfortable at the halfway stage, at 85/3 with the required rate being a manageable nine an over. Jos Buttler had joined the captain and the two were looking good to carry their team home, before Chris Lynn took an incredible catch at long-off to get rid of the dangerous Englishman for 15.

Mumbai still needed 69 runs from 42 balls at this stage, as Pollard walked in to join his skipper. The big Trinidadian clearly was in a hurry to get back to his hotel as he mercilessly clobbered the Kolkata attack to take his team home with 12 balls to spare. Sharma also remained unbeaten till the end, playing a responsible captain's innings, as Mumbai hit 62 runs in their last four overs. This was the first time this season that Mumbai had won two consecutive matches.