Mumbai Indians confirmed their place in the final four of the Indian Premier League [IPL] with a record win over Delhi Daredevils at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Saturday.
The table-toppers were dominant from the word go as they cruised to a 146-run success (the largest margin in terms of runs in the history of the IPL) despite having lost the toss.
Lendl Simmons [66 off 43 balls] was playing his first game of the season, replacing Jos Buttler in the team, and he took no time to show why he had been included as he raced to a half-century.
During his knock, Simmons also became the second quickest batsman to 1,000 IPL runs (after Shaun Marsh) in the league’s history.
Simmons was well supported by Parthiv Patel (25 off 22 balls) with the duo adding 79 runs for the opening partnership.
Mumbai’s innings got the push it required in the second half when Kieron Pollard went on a rampage against the Delhi bowling. The West Indian struck as many as five fours and four sixes en route to an unbeaten 35-ball 63.
Hardik Pandya was dropped by Shreyas Iyer when he was on nine and he made the Daredevils pay by scoring 29 from just 14 deliveries to guide the visitors to a total of 212-3 in their 20 overs.
Pat Cummins had a day to forget with the ball as he conceded 59 runs from his four overs, which included 23 runs in the last over of the innings.
Having chased down a 200+ target a few days ago, the Delhi batsmen would have been thinking that they were in with a chance again, but it wasn’t to be as they were bundled out for just 66.
Mitchell McClenaghan dismissed Sanju Samson off the first delivery of the innings and it was just a procession after that. Rishabh Pant, the hero of the last game, was also dismissed for a duck.
Only three of Delhi’s batsmen reached double digits as they slumped to an embarrassing defeat.
Spinners Harbhajan Singh and Karn Sharma picked up three wickets each while Lasith Malinga had bowling figures of 2-5 from his two overs.
Mumbai now have 18 points from 11 games this season which sees them become the first side to qualify for the playoffs.
On the other hand, Delhi have an almost impossible task on their hands if they have to make it to the final four. They currently have eight points from 11 matches.
BRIEF SCORES
Mumbai Indians 212-3, 20 overs [Simmons 66, Pollard 63*, Anderson 1-29] beat Delhi Daredevils 66 all out [Nair 21, Karn 3-11, Harbhajan 3-22] by 146 runs.
Player of the Match – Lendl Simmons.
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