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Mumbai: The Mumbai Indians climbed to fourth in the Pepsi IPL 2015 standings after they defeated the Delhi Daredevils by five wickets at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Set to chase 153, MI recovered from a poor start to knock off the runs, eventually crossing the line in the final over.
MI lost Lendl Simmons to the first ball of the chase, trapped lbw by Zaheer Khan. The hosts experiment with Hardik Pandya didn’t reap too many rewards as the Baroda-lad lasted eight balls before being dismissed in the second over.
A bit of panic set in after the chase was interrupted on two occasions by unexpected showers; in between the two showers, MI lost the wickets of opener Parthiv Patel and Harbhajan Singh, who was promoted to number five.
Rohit Sharma and Ambati Rayudu put the chase back on the rails when play resumed with a 60-run partnership. With the run-chase entering the final stretch, the leg-spinner Amit Mishra struck for the visitors when he delivered a googly, which the MI skipper didn’t pick and dragged it back on to his stumps. Rohit Sharma made 46 from 37 balls aided with two boundaries and three sixes.
Needing 53 runs from the final 28 balls, MI turned on the heat through Ambati Rayudu and Kieron Pollard. Rayudu, who needed 30 balls for his 25 runs, picked on Zaheer Khan first up, hitting the first delivery of the seventeenth over for a six over long on.
He then hit Angelo Mathews for two boundaries an over and took the team closer to the target. The 29-year old remained unbeaten on 49 from 40 balls, aided with four boundaries and a six.
At the other end, Pollard exploded; he contributed 26 runs from 14 balls, aided with three humongous sixes. After opening his account with a six off Amit Mishra, he added two more sixes to his tally – one off Nathan Coulter-Nile and the second off Imran Tahir, that levelled the scores. MI, who needed 32 off the final three overs, got past the line comfortably with three balls to spare.
The leg-spinner Amit Mishra was the most economical of the DD bowlers, returning figures of 1 for 25 from his four overs, while Zaheer Khan (2-30), Zaheer Khan (1-32) and Angelo Mathews (1-33) all chipped in with wickets.
Earlier, Yuvraj Singh scored a crucial 57 as Delhi Daredevils set Mumbai Indians a target of 153.
Electing to bat first, DD did not have the best of starts, losing Mayank Agarwal on the very first ball of the innings. Thereafter, JP Duminy and Shreyas Iyer attempted to steady the ship before both were out in quick succession, with DD wobbling at 50/3.
However, Yuvraj Singh provided the visitors with a much-needed solidity in the middle and though initially struggling to time and place his shots, the southpaw came into his own, smashing three boundaries in the 17th over off Lasith Malinga, before following it up with two consecutive sixers off Mitchell McClenaghan. It required the brilliance of Lendl Simmons to end Yuvraj's innings, taking a one hand stunner at point off Hardik Pandya's bowling.
Harbhajan Singh was the pick of the MI bowlers, finishing with a dream spell of 2-11. With his flight and guile, he tied the batsman in knots and did not allow the visitors to score freely. Meanwhile, Malinga took two wickets as well, giving away 33 runs in his four over
Brief scores
Delhi Daredevils - 152/6 (Yuvraj Singh 57, Harbhajan Singh 2-11)
Mumbai Indians - 153/5 (Rayudu 49*, Rohit 46, Coulter-Nile 2-30)
Result - Mumbai Indians won by 5 wickets
Points - Mumbai Indians 2, Delhi Daredevils 0
MOM- Harbhajan Singh (Mumbai Indians)
