The Mumbai Indians batting line-up failed to fire for the second time in three games, which eventually resulted in a disappointing loss against Northern Knights and an early exit from the Champions League Twenty20.

Due to the six-wicket loss, Mumbai Indians finished third in the four-team Qualifying stage. With the top two teams progressing to the Group Stage, the loss also brought curtains to the Mumbai Indians’ hopes of defending the CLT20 title.

With the Lahore Lions making a short work of Southern Express earlier in the evening at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Stadium in Raipur, the equation for the Mumbai Indians to qualify for the Group Stage was simple: a win – whether a one-run win or that off the last ball – would see them through to the main draw.

With the dew making a huge impact in Raipur and their reputation of chasing down scores better than setting targets, Mumbai Indians badly wanted the coin to land in their favour. However, Kieron Pollard was unlucky at the toss and ever since then, nothing went right for the defending champions.

Up against an o-song new-ball pair of Trent Boult and Tim Southee, who often share the new ball for New Zealand, Michael Hussey and Lendl Simmons got off to a cautious start. The first two overs saw just five runs on board, with Hussey scoring the first boundary in the third over. But Hussey’s attempt to break the shackles by charging down the wicket off Southee in the next over only resulted in a diving catch at mid-on.

In came Jalaj Saxena and with Simmons looking far from his sublime touch that was showcased against Southern Express two nights ago, the Madhya Pradesh all-rounder started going for shots right away. He did clear the long-off boundary off Scott Kuggleijn in the fifth over, but perished to Scott Styris’ dibbly-dobblies in the next over.

In Styris next over, he had the prize scalp of Simmons. And the veteran Kiwi all-rounder stuck for the third time, forcing an edge off Aditya Tare’s nick in the 10th over. If 43 for 4 wasn’t bad enough, it became worse and Boult returned to the attack in the next over and claimed Rayudu’s wicket.

It was then left to captain Pollard to help MI put on a fighting total. However, just when he was starting to cut loose, Pollard perished off Southee off the last ball of the 17th over. From 89 for 7, Shreyas Gopal and Lasith Malinga’s lusty blows helped MI put on 132 for 9, which gave bowlers something to bowl at.

In conditions that were the most difficult for the bowlers, with the ball virtually slipping out of their hand due to heavy due on the outfield, Mumbai Indians had to strike early if they were to have any hopes of remaining alive in the tournament. However, in-form openers Anton Devcich and Kane Williamson put on a quick fire partnership, which took the zip from MI’s charge.

By the time Devcich was caught in the deep by Pollard off Harbhajan Singh in the 10th over, the Knights openers had put on a stand of 83. And with Williamson going on to complete his second fifty in three games, three wickets for 10 runs by the MI bowlers were too little too late for the MI bowlers. Daryl Mitchell formally put MI out of the competition with a six off Malinga with three overs to spare.