Mumbai Indians suffered their fourth consecutive defeat as Delhi Daredevils thrashed the defending champions by six wickets in the Indian Premier League match in Sharjah, on Sunday.
- Scorecard
Delhi chased down a modest target of 126 with seven balls to spare with opener Murali Vijay top-scoring with a 34-ball 40 and captain Kevin Pietersen striking some form after an injury lay-off with an unbeaten 26 to notch up their second win of the tournament.
Delhi, playing their fifth and last match this season in the United Arab Emirates, had a mini scare in the closing stages with J P Duminy (19) and Dinesh Karthik (2) falling in the 16th over to Lasith Malinga but captain Pietersen saw them through for their second victory in IPL 7.
Delhi made a decent start with the opening stand between Vijay and Quinton de Kock (16) yielding 34 runs. The partnership ended with Michael Hussey pouncing a brilliant catch at point by diving full length and low to his left to remove de Kock off the bowling of Corey Anderson.
Vijay then stitched a 45-run stand for the second wicket with Duminy before he was out in the 13th over. Vijay was bowled by part-timer Rohit Sharma for 40 as he went for an awful slog on the leg side, having hit four boundaries and a six in his 34-ball knock.
Pietersen, who looked tentative and rusty during his knock of 16 in his first match two days back, steadied Delhi after the quick fall of Duminy and Karthik before steering his side home.
Kedar Jadhav (14 not out) hit the winning runs as he hit Zaheer Khan for a boundary through fine leg to take Delhi to 126 for four and hand Mumbai their fourth defeat on the trot.
Delhi will now head home to play their next match against Rajasthan Royals, at Ferozeshah Kotla on May 3.
For Mumbai, who are yet to open account, Malinga took two wickets for 17 runs while Anderson and Rohit Sharma got a wicket each.
Earlier, Delhi bowlers produced a clinical display to restrict Mumbai Indians to a modest 125 for six.
Pacers Jaydev Unadkat (2 for 29) and Wayne Parnell (1 for 17) and spinner Shahbaz Nadeem (1 for 19) shared four wickets to strangle the Mumbai batting unit in their stipulated 20 overs after skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to bat.
Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma decided to open the innings but perished cheaply when he was run out after scoring by the bowler Mohammed Shami in the second over of the innings.
In the fourth over, Parnell dismissed Aditya Tare (8) when he had him caught at deep midwicket by Quinton de Kock, while Corey Anderson's 14-ball 13-run stay was cut shot by Jaydev Unadkat in his first over.
Mumbai could just manage 37 for the loss of two wickets in the six overs of Powerplay. The runs dried up further and the mounting pressure took a toll on Ambati Rayudu (14) when his lofted shot off Nadeem found Laxmi Shukla at long-on.
In the 11th over, Michael Hussey (10) brought up the fifty for Mumbai with a single but he too could not stay longer and was sent back to the hut by a slower yorker from Unadkat in the 14th over as Mumbai lost half of their side with 63 on board.
Kieron Pollard (33) and CM Gautam (22) then joined hands and tried to raise the tempo with some big shots. The duo shared a 40-run partnership off 29 balls for the sixth wicket.
Pollard brought up the first six of the innings in the 16th over when he sent Shami sailing over long-on, while Gautam blasted successive boundaries off Unadkat in the 17th over before he was run out in the next over.
The West Indies all-rounder smashed a four and a six off Shami in the 10th over, while Harbhajan singh (10) blasted a four and six in the final over bowled by Unadkat to take Mumbai to 125 for six in their 20 overs.
Image: Jaydev Unadkat (2nd right) celebrates with team mates after taking the wicket of Corey Anderson.
Photograph: BCCI
