Delhi dazzle to a 7-wicket win over Mumbai by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Scorecard:	Delhi Daredevils v Mumbai Indians
Player:	AB de Villiers, DJ Bravo, Harbhajan Singh
Event:	Indian Premier League 2009

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DateLine: 8th May 2009

 

Delhi Daredevils made short work of the paltry total of 116 runs set up by the Mumbai Indians. With the win, Delhi Daredevils stand at the top of the points table with 12 points with 6 wins in the eight matched they have played thus far. The match was won by Delhi courtesy a couple of good partnerships. The first one was the opening stand between Gautam Gambhir (19) and David Warner (21). The openers though were unusually slow and Warner surprisingly scored his runs at a strike rate of mere 70.

 

The off-spinners then came in and sent back both the openers packing inside a span of four runs. Once the two were separated, a window opened for the Mumbai Indians. The off-spinners Jean Paul Duminy and Harbhajan Singh came in and tightened the screws a tad bit, but the total was such that the Daredevils had enough time to wait and then go for the kill.

 

Dilshan (17) and De Villiers (50) rightly waited till the time Sachin came on to bowl and the decision backfired. He gave away 19 runs in the over and suddenly the match which looked poised for a good finish seemed heading just the Daredevils way. The decision of Sachin to bowl himself though wasn't surprising but still looked a bit bizarre considering that Bravo had three overs in the kitty. The Lankan and The South African added 61 runs for the third wicket and after the fall of Dilshan it was merely a formality that De Villiers and Karthik finished in the next six balls.

 

Earlier, having opted to bat first, the Mumbai side could never get going. They lost their first two wickets in the first over of the match. Jayasuriya's replacement Luke Ronchi was the first one to get out, after he went for a suicidal run only to find himself struck in the middle of the pitch as the ball hit the wicket direct. The man who nailed down the timber with a collection and a rocket throw was David Warner. Jean Paul Duminy who has been in good form in the tournament was also picked up in the same over. He nicked one to the wicketkeeper after having been stunned by a bouncer by Dirk Nannes in the previous delivery.

 

The side slipped into further trouble after losing Sachin Tendulkar and Pinal Shah with a mere 40 plus runs on the board after ten overs. Mumbai could never recover from these early losses and though Abhishek Nayar (18) and Dwayne Bravo (35) put up a good 57 runs in seven odd overs, the damage done earlier was too good to be corrected with this partnership. After the fall of Bravo, another mini collapse occured and the Mumbai outfit could muster only the small and the modest total.