Delhi Daredevils defended 164 against Mumbai Indians and sealed a hat-trick of wins for the first time since IPL 2012. Legspinners Amit Mishra and Imran Tahir strangled Mumbai in the middle overs before seamers Zaheer Khan and Chris Morris fired inch-perfect yorkers to seal Daredevils’ tense 10-run victory.
Mumbai still had a chance when the equation was 42 off 18 with Kieron Pollard on 8 and Rohit Sharma on 50. Morris, coming back for his third spell, conceded ten runs in the 18th over and Zaheer followed it with the wicket of Pollard to push Daredevils ahead. Morris was left to defend 21 off the last over. Hardik Pandya slapped the first ball to long-off and Rohit gave Mumbai hope by clouting the second ball for a six. A ball later, Rohit collided with Hardik Pandya near the middle of the pitch and was run out. Mumbai also had to bear the anxiety of Rohit being helped off the field by the physio. Morris trapped Harbhajan Singh lbw the next ball and consigned Mumbai to their fourth loss in six matches.
Mumbai, however, had begun brightly in their chase. Rohit and Ambati Rayudu pierced the packed off-side field with regularity, after Parthiv Patel was run out for 1 in the second over. Rohit and Rayudu built impetus with seven fours in 12 balls and raced past fifty by the sixth over.
Rayudu could have been dismissed on 16 had JP Duminy hung onto a sharp catch at slip. He added nine runs before Mishra bowled him with a googly in his second over to break the 53-run partnership. Krunal Pandya, who was promoted to No.4, mixed finesse with power and hit 36 off 17 balls before Zaheer caught him short with a direct hit.
The wicket applied the brakes on Mumbai’s innings. In his third over, Mishra’s googly made a reappearance and pinned Jos Buttler lbw for 2. Mishra celebrated the wicket by setting off on a celebratory run, like his partner Imran Tahir who floated googlies of his own as well. They tightened the squeeze and ended with combined figures of 8-0-53-2. Rohit then brought up his third fifty this season with a crunching drive by the 17th over, but his collision with Hardik killed off the chase.
Earlier, Hardik was involved in a similar nasty collision when he tore to his left from deep backward square leg and bumped his face into Buttler who was running to his right from deep midwicket.
Daredevils met an early stumbling block when Quinton de Kock, coming off a century against Royal Challengers Bangalore, miscued a leg-side slog to backward point for 9 in the second over off fast bowler Mitchell McClenaghan. Shreyas Iyer showed promise but he fell to a leg-side slog of his own. When Karun Nair sent a top edge to fine leg the following over, Daredevils were reduced to 54 for 3 in eight overs.
JP Duminy then joined Sanju Samson and revived Daredevils’ innings. At one point 26 off 27 balls, Samson broke free with a huge six off Harbhajan Singh over long-on. A ball later he swept the offspinner for a four between deep square leg and fine leg. He went on to bring up his fifth half-century against Mumbai off 40 balls.
Samson holed out in the 17th over but Duminy smashed 22 runs off Jasprit Bumrah in 11 balls. The highlight of Duminy’s unbeaten 49 off 31 balls was an over-the-shoulder scoop for a six.
