On a night that belonged to two batsmen who had donned the opposition jersey earlier in the Indian Premier League, Mumbai Indians emerged winner to remain in the hunt for a playoff spot.
The defending champion's 13-run victory at the Wankhede Stadium may not have bettered its fifth place in the standings but it enabled Rohit Sharma's men to break away from the four-team block that was tied at six points apiece.
When Knight Riders required 37 runs to overhaul Mumbai Indians' 181 for four, visiting captain Dinesh Karthik had to repeat his heroics in the Nidahas Trophy final in March.
However, Jasprit Bumrah and Krunal Pandya, who bowled the last over, fared much better than the Bangladesh bowlers at the Khettarama to ensure Mumbai Indians registered its second home victory of the season.
The home team was fortunate to not suffer heavily from a regulation drop by the experienced J-P. Duminy off the last ball of the penultimate over deep on the on-side as Karthik couldn't overhaul the stiff ask of scoring 19 runs off four balls.
That wasn't the only dropped catch by the home team.
The first drop was by Mayank Markande off Hardik Pandya in the PowerPlay to give Robin Uthappa a reprieve.
Uthappa, the former Mumbai Indians batsman, was on four then and almost took the game away, scoring his maiden fifty of the season.
Soon after that, Markande faced Uthappa's wrath as the leggie was tonked for two sixes off successive balls in his first over. However, just when Uthappa — having hit four consecutive fours off Ben Cutting in the 12th over — was looking like running away with the game, he miscued a loft off Markande to get Mumbai Indians back in the game.
And the home team didn't let Karthik, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine — who was demoted in the batting order since he was unwell — to get the chase back on track.
Earlier in the evening, Suryakumar Yadav continued his stupendous run even against the team that he was an integral part of for the last few seasons.
The MI opener's fourth fifty of the season and his 91-run opening partnership with lefty Evin Lewis ensured Mumbai Indians had a defendable target on the board.
Suryakumar took on Mitchell Johnson in the third over, with a six over deep square-leg followed by two fours. The first one of those — a spanking drive through covers — was the feature of Suryakumar's innings.
Once Russell broke the stand in the 10th over, Knight Riders made a comeback, conceding just 37 runs from the 11th to 15th overs.
However, Hardik's cameo ensured Knight Riders had a stiff total to chase.
