Fifties from Shreyas Iyer and JP Duminy, and their 154-run partnership the highest in the IPL this season propelled Delhi Daredevils to a 37-run win over Mumbai Indians, breaking their streak of nine successive losses at the Feroz Shah Kotla
Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma had opted to bowl after winning the toss, to have the comfort of knowing what to chase. His bowlers, however, were systematically taken apart by Duminy and Iyer and the pressure of a 191 chase, combined with electric fielding by Daredevils, left them well short of the target.
Rohit’s decision to bowl first found immediate vindication when Mitchell McClenaghan dismissed opener Mayank Agarwal for 1. Their joy was short-lived, however, as Iyer opened up to take a four and a six either side of the wicket, off successive balls in McClenaghan’s next over. Jasprit Bumrah was greeted at the crease with successive sixes by JP Duminy over backward square leg and it was only the introduction of Harbhajan Singh within the Powerplay that managed to stem the glut of boundaries.
Harbhajan and Malinga managed to keep the pair quiet for a couple of overs but once they were pulled out of the attack, the proceedings turned fairly one-sided.
At the halfway mark, Daredevils were 65 for 1. By the time the 15th over ended, they had sped to 137 for 1. Bumrah, Pollard, McClenaghan were all taken for runs and even Harbhajan’s tidy figures were wiped out by an 18-run over in which Iyer hit the offspinner for two sixes. Iyer fed off poor lines from the Mumbai bowlers but his edges also carried to the boundary. By the time Bumrah came back into the attack, Iyer was so well set, he he squeezed a yorker for a boundary to bring up his fifty. It had taken him only 37 deliveries to reach his second T20 fifty, with six fours and two sixes and he would hit another three sixes before walking across his stumps to a Malinga yorker.
Duminy led by example in the field, too – a sliding save left him wincing in pain but he came on to bowl in the fourth over and a few overs later, held on to a skier to end an opening partnership between Lendl Simmons and Parthiv Patel that appeared to settling at the crease. Mumbai had opted for an unchanged XI, the batting order was the same that had racked up 209 against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Against Daredevils’ consistent bowling, and their sharp fielding – Shahbaz Nadeem and Imran Tahir held on to difficult chances – the chase stalled. When Tahir took three wickets in his third over – the 17th of the match – Mumbai looked on track to being bowled out for the first time in the IPL, but Harbhajan Singh and Lasith Malinga managed to thwart that particular outcome.
