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Mumbai Indians shine after rain

Two interruptions, first due to thunder and lighting, and second due to rain, resulted in all 46 minutes of waiting time. Duckworth-Lewis sheets had come for a brief while with par scores being calculated. In the end, they did not matter as no overs were lost.

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Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma hits one over the top during his knock of 46 against Delhi Daredevils at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday
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Two interruptions, first due to thunder and lighting, and second due to rain, resulted in all 46 minutes of waiting time. Duckworth-Lewis sheets had come for a brief while with par scores being calculated. In the end, they did not matter as no overs were lost.

Delhi Daredevils, who did not put up a commanding total – they struggled to make only 152/6 – after winning the toss, however, were slightly ahead of their hosts Mumbai Indians for almost the entire game. After 10 overs, MI were 61/4, behind DD’s 69/3 at the same stage.

Bowlers called the shots on Tuesday evening as run-making was a tall order. Or so it seemed. Mumbai Indians, needed to score at 7.65 an over for their fifth win and move ahead of Delhi Daredevils. In fact, the win for Mumbai helped them leapfrog from seventh to fourth with 10 points as they eked out a five-wicket victory with three balls to spare.

Mumbai’s hopes rested largely on captain Rohit Sharma, nothing new this league, till he fell in the 16th over after a 37-ball 43. Mumbai needed 53 off 28 balls at that stage with five wickets in hand. Ambati Rayudu and Kieron Pollard ensured that Mumbai avenged their previous loss, picking up crucial boundaries, sometimes lucky ones, and the odd big hits out of the ground.

It was a target that Mumbai Indians ought to have chased comfortably. But they lost Lendl Simmons playing across to Zaheer Khan and trapped leg before wicket, and Hardik Pandya, who was sent ahead of other reputed batsmen at No. 3 and who was exposed glaringly by a brilliant bouncer from Nathan Coulter-Nile, there was too much pressure on the batsmen to follow. Mumbai Indians promoted big-hitter Harbhajan Singh, keeping in mind the possibility of rain but that did move did not bear fruits.

At 40/4 and 113 needed off 88 balls when play resumed after the send 32-minute rain interruption, Mumbai Indians were still in the hunt.

Earlier, Daredevils failed to capitalise on the advantage of batting first on winning the toss. Runs were difficult to come by from the moment Mayank Agarwal fell caught behind off the match’s first ball.

There was some hope when Mumbai boy Shreyas Iyer and captain JP Duminy were in the middle. Them, of the 154-run second-wicket stand against the same opposition at the Feroz Shah Kotla less than two weeks ago crossed the minds of many. But all they shared on the day was 43.

For until as late as the 16th over, Daredevils struggled to put bat to ball. Yuvraj Singh scored a half-century alright. Till he cut loose with a ferocious square-driven four over the infield off Pandya, Yuvraj had been scoring at less than a run ball. From a 29-ball 24, he accelerated in the last four overs including two sixes off McClenaghan on the on-side.

Daredevils managed to cross 150, courtesy 15 runs off Malinga in the 17th over and 16 off McClenaghan in the 18th before Yuvraj was dismissed for a 44-ball 57 – his second half-century this season and second in six visits to the crease – to a blinder of a catch when Lendl Simmons dived to his right to pluck one-handed at point.

 

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