Table-toppers Mumbai Indians walked past a hapless Delhi Daredevils side to secure the biggest margin of victory in the Indian Premier league history — 146 — to become the first team to officially qualify for the play-offs this season.
After fifties from West Indian duo — lendl Simmons (66 off 43 balls) and Kieron Pollard (63 off 35 balls) — took Mumbai to a massive 212/3, the home side fell like nine-pins against quality Mumbai bowlers as they succumbed to their lowest total this season of 66 here at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium on Saturday. It was such a disappointment for the home fans as only three batsmen — Karun Nair, Corey Anderson and Pat Cummins — managed to even reach double figures.
By virtue of the victory, Mumbai remained atop the table with 18 points from 11 matches, while Delhi are virtually out of the play-offs with just eight points from 11 matches.
The very first ball in the chase showed what to come as Mitchell McClenaghan dismissed Sanju Samson after the 22-year-old was caught at the deep square-leg by Simmons.
Shreyas Iyer, who came next instead of Rishabh Pant, did not last long. In the subsequent over, Harbhajan Singh took a simple catch at mid-wicket off lasith Malinga as Delhi were struggling at 6/2 in the second over.
Karun Nair, who captained the side in the last three matches, did give little hope for the home supporters by smashing two fours and a six in the following over. The joy, however, was short-lived as the in-form Pant was dismissed next. Unable to connect a short delivery from Jasprit Bumrah properly, the 19-year-old was only able to find Simmons at deep mid-wicket as the home side were in deep trouble.
Nair (21 off 15 balls) was next to go. He tried to clear one over the inner-circle but mistimed his shot horribly off Harbhajan Singh's bowling to hand Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma a comfortable catch.
Malinga then ended any hope of a miraculous comeback by dismissing Corey Anderson (10 off 8 balls) in the next over after the New Zealand all-rounder picked out Karn Sharma at deep long-on. Delhi were 35/5 with still a ball left in the powerplay. From there on it was a mere formality for the table toppers to wrap up the match.
In the eighth over, Rohit pulled off a blinder in slips to dismiss Marlon Samuels (1 off 5 balls) of Karn.
Next, wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel took a good catch to dismiss Pat Cummins (10 off 10) from Harbhajan's bowling. The following over, Rohit took another catch to dismiss Kagiso Rabada for a duck from Karn's bowling. Delhi were languishing at 48/8.
Mohammed Shami hit a huge six over long-on to provide some joy for the shell-shocked Delhi fans. But, he too went back to the pavilion the very next ball as Pollard took his catch at long-on. The home team were 57/9 in 10.4 overs.
Couple of overs later, Karn got rid of Zaheer to condemn Delhi to their lowest ever total of 66 and third lowest total in IPl history.
Spinners Karn (3/11) and Harbhajan (3/22) were Mumbai's stand-out bowlers, while Malinga picked two wickets for just five runs in two overs.
After winning the last two matches by chasing, Delhi yet again asked the visiting team to bat first.
Parthiv Patel struck the first boundary, with a pull-shot. In the next over, Simmons struck a six and a four to score 13 from that over. The sixth over of the match was particularly expensive for Delhi as Pat Cummins gave away 19 runs. In order to contain the run flow, skipper Zaheer Khan, who returned to the match after missing the last few matches through injury, brought on Amit Mishra. The move seemed to pay off as the visitors scored only 24 in the next fours and Mishra in particular was impressive, giving just eight runs in two overs and also picked up a wicket.
In the fourth ball of the ninth over, Mishra tossed one over and the on-rushing Parthiv completely missed the delivery, resulting in an easy stumping for keeper Rishabh Pant. Patel went for 24 off 22 and Mumbai were 79/1.
New batsman Kieron Pollard did not take long to settle in.
After Simmons reached a well-deserved fifty, Pollard struck two sixes straight behind the bowler's head in the 11th over. Simmons, then hit two lusty blows. But it didn't last long.
The very next ball, he moved towards off-stump and tried to exploit the vacant area behind the short fine-leg area, however, he was only able to pick Marlon Samuels inside the circle. Simmons walked back with a well-paced 66 off 43 balls, which included five fours and four sixes. Mumbai were 116/2 in 12.3 overs. From then on it was Pollard's show. He smashed two more sixes off Mishra. After giving just eight in first two overs, Mishra finished his allotted four overs for 37 runs. Rohit was not able to continue his recent good form, after getting a top edge from an attempted pull-shot as Mishra took the catch in short fine-leg to dismiss the skipper for 10 off six balls. Pollard then raced to his fifty, by beating the mid-off with a well-timed straight drive four a boundary.
Hardik struck a four and two sixes in the last over to set Delhi a massive target of 213 runs. Cummins was particularly expensive, giving 59 runs with a wicket in his four overs.