The Mumbai Indians will play the Punjab Kings for a place in the Indian Premier League final following a 20-run victory over the Gujarat Titans in the Eliminator on Friday.
Five-time champions Mumbai piled up 228-5 with Jonny Bairstow making 47 and Rohit Sharma 81 before holding their nerve as Gujarat threatened in pursuit.
Sai Sudharsan, the tournament's leading run-scorer, hit a superb 80 for the Titans as he shared a stand of 84 with Washington Sundar, but it proved in vain.
Bairstow, replacing Ryan Rickelton who had left on international duty, smashed a 22-ball 47 on his debut for his third IPL team, and was accompanied by Sharma.
Sharma finished with 81 runs from 50 deliveries before being bowled out by Prasidh Krishna (2-53), and was dropped twice during his innings.
The middle order built on those efforts, with Suryakumar Yadav (33), Tilak Varma (25) and Hardik Pandya (22) hitting three sixes each to maintain Mumbai's momentum.
Hardik finished things off with three maximum off Gerald Coetzee in the final over, as Mumbai handed the Titans a target of 209 runs to reach the showpiece match.
But they struggled at the crease as Shubman Gill fell for just one run in the second over, with Kusal Mendis (20) quickly following the Gujarat opener.
Sudharsan, however, was leading from the front for the Titans, plundering 80 runs from 49 deliveries and was backed up by an important knock from Washington Sundar.
But once Sundar (48) was dismissed in the 14th over, Sudharsan quickly followed, with Sherfane Rutherford top scoring with 24 runs from the remaining batters.
Ashwani Kumar grabbed his first and only wicket of the innings in the final over, bowling Shahrukh Khan (13) as Mumbai booked their place in the next round.
Data Debrief: Mumbai maintain perfect record
Mumabi are out for a record sixth IPL title in 2025, with their latest showing proving their capabilities ahead of facing the Kings on Sunday in Ahmedabad.
Indeed, they now have a 18-0 record while defending 200-plus totals in the IPL, while their 209 runs was the second-highest total in any play-off game in the competition.
While Sudharsan's dreams of becoming an IPL champion have come to an end, he still leads the race for the Orange Cap. He took his total to 759 runs in the competition, but is only 86 ahead of Mumbai's Yadav.
