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Mumbai: Mumbai Indians remain in the race for the fourth and final play-offs spot, but just, after beating Delhi Daredevils by 15 runs at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Friday.
It was a victory they will look back on with a degree of relief, because a collapse of eight wickets for 33 runs in 43 balls had left them with 173 to defend where at one stage they looked good to cross 200.
But Daredevils' batting once again suffered from muddled thinking, with Kevin Pietersen and Dinesh Karthik's ill-timed shots contributing to a chase that didn't get the desired surge. JP Duminy and Manoj Tiwary fought valiantly with an 85-run stand in quick time but Marchant de Lange had the final say at the death.
Mumbai, put in to bat by Pietersen, were given a great start from Michael Hussey who was attacking from the outset, clattering fours either side of the square to unsettle Daredevils' new-ball attack. Mumbai ended the Powerplay on 65 without loss, with Hussey's contribution being 41 off 20 balls.
Lendl Simmons was more sedate but with his preferred cut shot being fed regularly, scored a brisk 35 before he slashing Imran Tahir to deep cover (87 for 1). Hussey eased to his 14th IPL fifty before being run out for 56, a tad late to react to a call from Rohit Sharma.
At 120 for 2 in 12 overs, the stage was set for a late surge but Jaydev Unadkat removed the pair in the 16th over to stall Mumbai's progress. A poor shot did for Rohit (30) who made room and was bowled, while two deliveries later Pollard swished and nicked behind for 11.
Ambati Rayudu perished in the following over, lofting Shahbaz Nadeem to long-off, and next to go was Aditya Tare hitting Tahir out to the deep. Mumbai Indians had lost. The lower order was equally feeble, gifting wickets for free, the last two of which were sloppy runs outs as MI were bowled out in 19.3 overs.
Tahir added a third to finish with 3 for 37, which was a superb return considering Simmons had punched him for three fours in his five balls bowled.
Despite this spectacular collapse, Daredevils still needed to chase a tough target. Murali Vijay's latest failure, stumped off legspinner Shreyas Gopal's second delivery, left Pietersen to shore up the chase and he briefly threatened.
Pietersen drove his team through the Powerplay with some attractive shots - he scored 41 of the first 54 runs - but was bowled for 44 when trying a switch-hit against Harbhajan Singh. Karthik followed, bowled for seven when walking across the stumps to try and scoop Marchant de Lange in the tenth over (61 for 3).
A perky fightback followed from Duminy (45* off 29 balls) and Manoj Tiwary (41 off 31) who pulled out some lovely shots to keep Daredevils hopeful of victory, but de Lange's final over, the penultimate of the match, produced just seven runs and accounted for Tiwary. Daredevils needed 25 off the fimal and could only get nine.
Earlier,Kevin Pietersen has won the toss and decied to Delhi Daredevils bowl first.
Mumbai have made two changes -- they have left out Krishmar Santokie and Pragyan Ojha, and brought in Harbhajan Singh and Marchant de Lange, who is playing his first game of the season.
Delhi have also made two changes -- Siddarth Kaul and Nadeem come in for Mohammad Shami and Mayank Agarwal.
Teams:
Mumbai: Michael Hussey, Lendl Simmons, Ambati Rayudu, Rohit Sharma (Capt.), Kieron Pollard, Aditya Tare (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Praveen Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Marchant de Lange
Delhi: Murali Vijay, Kevin Pietersen (Capt.), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Jean-Paul Duminy, Manoj Tiwary, Kedar Jadhav, Wayne Parnell, Imran Tahir, Siddarth Kaul, Shahbaz Nadeem, Jaydev Unadkat
Brief scores
Mumbai Indians - 173 (Hussey 56, Simmons 35, Sharma 30, Tahir 3-37)
Delhi Daredevils - 158/4 (Duminy 45*, Pietersen 44, Tiwary 41)
Result - Mumbai Indians won by 15 runs
Points - Mumbai Indians 2, Delhi Daredevils
