Mumbai Indians 142 for 8 (Buttler 28, Mishra 2-18, Cummins 2-20) beat Delhi Daredevils 128 for 7 (Morris 52*, Rabada 44, McClenaghan 3-24, Bumrah 2-21) by 14 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Chris Morris made a fighting, unbeaten 51 but Delhi Daredevils were always struggling after slipping to 24 for 6 in their chase of 143 © BCCI
Batting first for the first time in six matches, Mumbai Indians never really got going on a bouncy Wankhede Stadium pitch that also provided grip for spin and cutters, and only managed a total of 142. It turned out, however, to be more than enough to give them their sixth win in seven matches and strengthen their position on top of the IPL table.
A couple of early wickets put an inexperienced Daredevils batting line-up under pressure, and the top half fell away in no time. They lost five wickets inside the Powerplay and another in the seventh over to slip to 24 for 6. A seventh-wicket stand of 91 between Kagiso Rabada and Chris Morris ensured Daredevils stayed in contention, but some smart end-overs bowling from Jasprit Bumrah ensured the target remained a fair way out of their reach.
With Daredevils needing 46 from 24 balls, Bumrah conceded only four runs from the 17th over, and, after Morris had clattered a big six off the last ball of Mitchell McClenaghan’s 18th to bring it down to 30 off 12, came back to concede only five off the 19th while taking out Rabada with a yorker.
It left Hardik Pandya 25 to defend off the last over – he landed his wide yorkers there or thereabouts, and Morris and Pat Cummins could only manage 10.
Daredevils chip away after Buttler blitz
Jos Buttler’s 28 off 18 balls wasn’t the biggest innings and was definitely not the prettiest – his first two boundaries, off Morris, both came off the top edge – but it ensured Mumbai got some momentum through the Powerplay. They lost two wickets in those six overs – Rabada, making his IPL debut, yorked Parthiv Patel, and the fleet-footed Sanju Samson ran out Buttler – but also scored 48.
Daredevils had picked perhaps their strongest attack – with Rabada joining Morris, Cummins, Zaheer Khan and Amit Mishra – and the tactic continued to pay off. Mumbai were five down by the end of the 13th over, with Mishra’s googly accounting for Rohit Sharma and Krunal Pandya. There was plenty of turn on offer, and Kieron Pollard, in particular was struggling against him – at the end of the 13th, he was batting on 4 off 13 balls.
More to follow…
Karthik Krishnaswamy is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo