IPL 10: Mumbai Indians crush Delhi Daredevils to enter playoffs in style

In the first leg encounter, Delhi bowlers managed to restrict Mumbai to 142 for eight but could not overtake that total and lost the match by 14-runs.

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.

Mumbai Indians’ Kieron Pollard, right, plays a shot during the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket match against Delhi Daredevils in New Delhi, India, Saturday, May 6, 2017.

Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting believes Mumbai Indians’ young left-handed batsman Nitish Rana could be in line to make his worldwide debut after his breakthrough Indian Premier League (IPL) season. To which the big-hitting batsman responded saying, “I am going back to the hotel and I am going to get my white clothes ready and put them underneath my Mumbai Indians clothes”.

Mumbai Indians bowler Lasith Malinga (centre) celebrates with team mates after taking wicket of DD batsman Corey Anderson during their IPL match. Shreyas Iyer, Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma’s teammate on the domestic circuit, will need to up his game as well.

“It was a good Delhi wicket to bat on, you could see”. However, they haven’t beaten Daredevils at the Feroz Shah Kotla since 2011 – that is four wins in a row for the home team. I’ve been practicing as well as gymming.

Mumbai eclipsed the IPL record of biggest win by runs, held by Royal Challengers Bangalore a year ago when they beat Gujarat Lions by 144.

“But in terms of approach if you ask me, the approach was absolutely fine, we were going for it, we all felt we could get these runs”. 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. “He has been very consistent in the back end”, Jayawardene said ahead of their contest against the Delhi Daredevils.

Mumbai, with 16 points from 10 matches, have already assured themselves a berth in the season’s playoff and any adverse result against Delhi Daredevils will not have any serious negative impact on their campaign. He said he had had a “good running session” but “bowling is the biggest hurdle” and that he would give bowling a go over the next day or two.

Pollard, Simmons’s teammate, was promoted to No. 3 in the batting order. Daredevils continue to monitor Zaheer’s fitness and Karun Nair is set to continue as captain. The following over bowled by Zaheer Khan saw him hit another pull for a six.