MI pummel listless Delhi

Rohit's men seal play-offs spot

Delhi Daredevils’ play-off chances experienced a setback following their shocking 146-run defeat to table-toppers Mumbai Indians at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium on Saturday.
Put in, Mumbai rode on the half-centuries of two Trinidadians -- Lendl Simmons (66) and Kieron Pollard (63 n.o.) -- to post a daunting 212/3 in 20 overs. Chasing an over 200-run target for the second successive time, Daredevils produced a gutless performance to collapse to 66 all out in 13.4 overs. It was their lowest IPL total and came within a week of their 67 against Kings XI Punjab. It was also the highest victory margin in the IPL history.

 The hosts’ chase fell apart following the early loss of wickets. Sanju Samson departed in the first ball of the innings when he slammed straight to deep square boundary and in the next over Shreyas Iyer, inexplicably promoted ahead of Rishabh Pant at No 3, mistimed the pull off Lasith Malinga.

As the star of other night, Pant walked in at No 4. Disaster, however, was quick to strike when Pant gave away his wicket to Jasprit Bumrah’s slow and short delivery for a duck, his pull terminating at midwicket.

Karun Nair, after providing a brief semblance of fight, was on his way to the pavilion in the fifth over. Corey Anderson followed him in the next, all of them falling to flashy but unsafe strokes. As Daredevils reeled at 35/5, it nowhere looked the side that had chased down 209. Against tight bowling on a slow track, it fell like nine pins.

 For Mumbai, Simmons, replacing an injured Krunal Pandya, went after the Zaheer Khan-led attack after being cribbed initially. He broke the shackles in the fourth over of the Power Play, taking Kagiso Rabada to the cleaners. Simmons occupied the crease with conviction, leaving Parthiv Patel at the other end to witness the free-flowing array of shots. The two put together 79 runs for the opening stand, 60 of it coming in the Power Play. It was only in the ninth over could they be separated when Amit Mishra’s googly lured Parthiv for a big swing, only to get stumped.

 It hardly made a difference though. As Daredevils struggled to pick wickets, Pollard seamlessly took over and with Simmons in hot form, runs came briskly for Mumbai. Simmons’ innings ended following a mistimed pull to the fine leg and when Rohit Sharma departed three overs later in the 16th, Daredevils, for the first time in the match appeared to have pulled things back. But against their wayward attack, Pollard shared an unbeaten 59-run fourth-wicket stand with Hardik Pandya to provide a strong finish to the Mumbai innings. Alas, Daredevils couldn’t even come close.

Scoreboard
MUMBAI INDIANS: Lendl Simmons c Samules b Anderson 66 (43b, 5x4, 4x6), Parthiv Patel st Pant b Mishra 25 (22b, 3x4), Kieron Pollard (not out) 63 (35b, 5x4, 4x6), Rohit Sharma c Mishra b Rabada 10 (6b, 1x4), Hardik Pandya (not out) 29 (14b, 1x4, 3x6). Extras (LB-9, W-10) 19. Total (for 3 wkts; 20 overs) 212.
Fall of wickets: 1-79 (Parthiv), 2-116 (Simmons), 3-153 (Rohit).
Bowling: Zaheer Khan 4-0-29-0, Kagiso Rabada 4-0-33-1 (w-3), Pat Cummins 4-0-59-0 (w-4), Amit Mishra 4-0-37-1, Mohammed Shami 2-0-16-0, Corey Anderson 2-0-29-1.
DELHI DAREDEVILS: Sanju Samson c Simmons b McClenaghan 0 (1b), Karun Nair c Rohit b Harbhajan 21 (15b, 3x4, 1x6), Shreyas Iyer c Harbhajan b Malinga 3 (6b), Rishabh Pant c Simmons b Bumrah 0 (3b), Corey Anderson c Karn b Malinga 10 (8b, 2x4), Marlon Samuels c Rohit b Karn 1 (5b), Pat Cummins c Patel b Harbhajan 10 (10b, 1x6), Kagiso Rabada c Rohit b Karn 0 (5b), Amit Mishra (not out) 9 (14b), Mohammad Shami c Pollard b Harbhajan 7 (4b, 1x6), Zaheer Khan c Rana b Karn 2 (11b). Extras (B-1, LB-1, W-1) 3. Total (all out; 13.4 overs) 66.
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Samson), 2-6 (Iyer), 3-20 (Pant), 4-31 (Nair), 5-35 (Anderson), 6-40 (Samuels), 7-46 (Cummins), 8-48 (Rabada), 9-57 (Shami).
Bowling: Mitchell McClenaghan 2-0-18-1, Lasith Malinga 2-0-5-2, Jasprit Bumrah 1-0-6-1, Harbhajan Singh 4-0-22-3, Karn Sharma 3.4-0-11-3 (w-1), Hardik Pandya 1-0-2-0.