That was a win far more straightforward than the score suggests; Delhi’s total never looked adequate, and though they competed hard, Mumbai always had enough in-hand to ease over the line. They’re running into form at a convenient time.
Mumbai Indians beat Delhi Daredevils by five wickets with three balls to spare.
19.3 Pollard nurdles into the leg-side, they race through for a single.
19.2 This is on the pads, and Pollard flicks hard - and it’s six to long-on!
19.1 Tahir it is - Rayudu flicks to long-off, and they run one.
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19th over: Mumbai 145-5 (Rayudu 48, Pollard 19) Mumbai need eight runs from six balls.
18.6 Straighter, and Pollard whips off his toes down to square-leg - they run two to Mishra, which deeply antagonises Coulter-Nile.
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18.5 Rayudu goes back and carves on the full to the man on the cover fence; they run one.
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18.4 Full and wide, so Rayudu stretches and deflects with beautiful control for four at backward point.
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18.3 Straight drive murdered down the ground - too straight, breaks the stumps and they run one.
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18.2 Yorker, edged into the turf and to the keeper.
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18.1 Humungous six from Pollard, into the second tier at long-on! He’s absolutely marmalised that, but it was on a friendly length.
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It’ll be Coulter-Nile with the penultimate over, so probably Tahir with the final one.
18th over: Mumbai 131-5 (Rayudu 43, Pollard 10) Duminy, Zahir, Tahir and Mathews confer before Mathews takes the ball - mid-off comes up, so Rayudu crumps over his head for four. Gosh, and then a lasered straight drive that takes Mathews down like a skittle, but probably saves three runs, bringing Pollard onto strike. Presumably cognisant of his predilection for trundlers, Mathews sends down a bouncer; no run; and then a fuller, straighter one; no run. Excellent stuff, and then a driveable one only finds long-off - but the last ball donates width, and Rayudu wastes nae time edging it behind for four. Mumbai require 22 runs from 12 balls.
17th over: Mumbai 121-5 (Rayudu 34, Pollard 9) Rayudu isn’t for the hanging about either, not when Zaheer gives him a length, and he clatters six over long-on; coupe more of those, and this will look a very easy chase. And Duminy agrees, now blocking the boundaries and allowing the singles. Two of which follow, before one over-pitched that Rayudu hits hard - but directly to the man at wide long-on. Mumbai are making this look easy now, but one wicket and it all changes. Mumbai need 32 runs from 18 balls.
16th over: Mumbai 110-5 (Rayudu 25, Pollard 7) Another wrongun welcomes Pollard to the crease, and he’s nowhere near it, proffering a pad to much cackling. Next ball,he meets it before it can really spin, punishing over long-on for four, and this induces consecutive wides, both far too flat. Mumbai need 43 runs from 24 balls.
WICKET! Rohit b Mishra 46 (Mumbai 100-5)
Cat, pigeoned. And once again, it’s the wrongun, that bounces more that expected, clips the glove of the cutting Rohit, and crumps into the stumps.
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16th over: Mumbai 100-4 (Rohit 46, Rayudu 24) Rayudu looks tacstatic after the break, and larrups to cover - they run one.
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15th over: Mumbai 99-4 (Rohit 46, Rayudu 23) Mathews into the attack, and Delhi could use his knack for making stuff happen. After Sharma takes his first ball for a single, Rayudu goes down the track and clouts over the top, but Coulter-Nile is there at long-on so it’s only another single. And then another one when one slips out of the bowler’s hand, arriving appendix-high - Rayudu wants a no-ball, but because he’d gone down the track, none was given. But another full-toss follows, and Rohit doesn’t miss out, thunking to long-on for four. Mumbai need 54 runs from 30 balls.
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14th over: Mumbai 91-4 (Rohit 40, Rayudu 21) With Tahir saved for the death, Mishra keeps on - I hope his dressing room nickname is Know-it-all - and accordingly, so too to Mumbai. Mumbai need 62 runs from 36 balls.
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13th over: Mumbai 85-4 (Rohit 38, Rayudu 17) Back comes Zaheer, and Rohit deflects his first ball towards point, where Yuvraj dives to stop - not for the first time today. Then a single backwards of square on the off-side to Rayudu, before a bye returns him the strike - this time, he comes down the track and belts four to long-off. Another handy over. Mumbai require 68 runs from 42 balls.
12th over: Mumbai 77-4 (Rohit 37, Rayudu 11) Rohit and Rayudu are playing Delhi’s spinners with greater confidence than most, though the low target helps. And here’s the kind of discovered big over that’s almost inevitable, first four singles, then three wides and a four, clipped through midwicket by Rohit, Coulter-Nile sliding full-length around the perimeter, only to push it into the rope.
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11th over: Mumbai 65-4 (Rohit 30, Rayudu 9) Tahir lopes in, and the dots and ones continue. I can’t quite decide whether it’s confidence or cowardice from Mumbai - they don’t have that much batting to come, but, on the other hand, a few hits and they’ll be there.
10th over: Mumbai 61-4 (Rohit 28, Rayudu 7) The required rate is only 8.72, so Mumbai are happy to bat sedately and knock the singles - unless there’s a specific reason to go after it. Mishra doesn’t provide one, so four singles is all the over yields.
9th over: Mumbai 57-4 (Rohit 26, Rayudu 5) Imran Tahir, dropped for no apparent reason for the last game, is into the attack. And, second ball, Rohit is onto him, lamping a straight drive into the second tier with little apparent effort, though the soon to be Mrs Sharma doesn’t look especially impressed; good for her. Oh, safe, a strategic timeout! How did cricket ever cope without them?
8th over: Mumbai 50-4 (Rohit 19, Rayudu 5) It’s the leg-spin of Amit Mishra next, and he’s immediately bowling with his usual control - increasingly, the assumption is that Rohit’s going to make sure he bats through, because if he does, no way is this total being defended. Four singles from over.
7th over: Mumbai 46-4 (Rohit 17, Rayudu 3) Yuvraj, whose hair looked much better with a helmet on top of it, comes into the attack; he’s only bowled three overs so far this tournament. Mumbai don’t go after him, so presumably they’ve assumed it’s not going to rain again, and only three singles and a two - courtesy of Zaheer’s misfield - make it a decent return.
6th over: Mumbai 41-4 (Rohit 14, Rayudu 1) Coulter-Nile is right back into things, three dots before Rayudu nudges a single into the on-side. Mumbai are 17 runs behind the D/L par score, a fact established by Rohit, who gets a crib sheet out of his pocket to check. If only they had a scoreboard.
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We're back!
Coulter-nile with the ball.
The covers are coming off.
We’ve got half-an-hour before overs start being taken off.
It’s slightly odd, I guess, that Mumbai sent Harbhajan in when they’ve got others who hit better. Perhaps they’re expecting a minor shower, so didn’t want a frontliner giving away a wicket just in case.
WICKET! Harbhajan b Coulter-Nile 5 (Mumbai 40-4)
With this now being a legal match, Harbhajan was sent in to crack the few quick boundaries that’d get Mumbai above the D/L rate. They’re 16 runs behind now, because he’s swung at a short one and dragged it on. The covers come on pretty slowly.
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6th over: Mumbai 40-3 (Rohit 14, Harbhajan 5) In comes Coulter-Nile and Harbhajan wastes nee time, smashing him over his heid for four.
5th over: Mumbai 36-3 (Rohit 14, Harbhajan 1) Hello Bhaji number 5! Single gets him off the mark, and then a half-tracker tickles Rohit into action - he wraps arms around one from outside off and deposits it into tier two.
WICKET! Parthiv Patel c Mishra b Mathews 14 (Mumbai 29-3)
And that’s yer Parthiv. He goes again, cuts hard, airily and uppishly - perhaps the pace off made a difference - and picks out the fielder. In the end, he just can’t be relied upon.
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5th over: Mumbai 29-2 (Patel 13, Rohit 8) Welcome back! Parthiv cracks a short, wide one form Mathews to the point fence. something about a lightening strike.
It appears ten minutes was incorrect. We’re back!
We should restart in ten minutes.
No overs lost.
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Pietersen and Warne both reckon Alex Hales should be opening for England - Pietersen says he’s playing county cricket, and the job requires someone who’s played the international game.
Our man on the spot:
@DanielHarris I am 20 km north of Wankhede and though the skies seemed lowering today in South Bombay (where I work) there is no rain here.
— Ravi Nair (@palfreyman1414) May 5, 2015
Jayawardene, who speaks with authority so calm as to be hilarious, reckons that Josh Hazlewood might replace Mitchell Johnson during the Ashes.
Interesting - Warne suggests that Coulter-Nile’s problem is a bit of laziness. Which makes sense, I guess, in that he clearly has talent. What a collection of quicks Australia have.
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On come the covers.
It’s spitting, and lightening - looking like Duckworth-Lewis might have a role here.
4th over: Mumbai 25-2 (Patel 9, Rohit 8) Lightening strikes, as Parthiv flicks again, this time to midwicket for two. Apparently such behaviour is surprising, far too early in the year, but Rohit’s not paying attention, instead top-edging a pull the pace of which arranges six anyway as the fielder practically climbs up the fence in its pursuit. Karma retorts immediately, though, when a beautiful off-drive picks out Agarwal, who stops bravely and spends the remainder of the over wringing his wrist. Meanwhile, the groundstaff prepare - as far as I recall from GCSE chemistry, thunder and lightening means rain.
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3rd over: Mumbai 14-2 (Patel 5, Rohit 1) “I think that could be his fiance” - fingers on the pulse in the commentary box - as Rohit takes a single to third man. Parthiv, who batted very well on Sunday, then adds two, before flicking superbly to square-leg. It looks four all the way, but Iyer’s climbing, swimming stop along the fence saves one.
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2nd over: Mumbai 8-2 (Patel 0, Rohit 0) I don’t suppose he’s much choice, given the low total, but Duminy has done well to create pressure where there might’ve been none, by setting attacking fields.
WICKET! Pandya c Tahir b Coulter-Nile 5 (Delhi 8-2)
And there’s one of them! Pandya throws the bat at a pull but the ball gets big on him, and he top-edges a catch to mid-off. As I said, this one’s over.
2nd over: Mumbai 8-1 (Pandya 5, Patel 0) Coulter-Nile begins, and he really could use the wickets, or the dots even, to illustrate how well he’s bowled through this competition (most of the time).
1st over: Mumbai 8-1 (Pandya 5, Patel 0) What a treat it is to see Zaheer back, and he almost nails Pandya - in ahead of Rohit - next ball, a smidgeon of late movement enough to make the umpire decide that it was going down. But the next ball is shorter and straighter, so is glanced to the fence - that was lovely timing - and then, two more wides, followed by a single to mid-off that was never on. Fascinating over.
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Wicket! Simmons lbw b Khan 0, Mumbai 0-1
1st over: Mumbai (Simmons 0, Patel 0) , target 153
The wily old stager Zaheer Khan opens and finds swing straight away, but not accuracy – he strays down legside and concedes a wide. But then STRIKES with his second ball (after which Harris returns).
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Change in the commentary box: Evening everyone, Tom Davies here, taking you through the early stages of Mumbai’s innings while Daniel takes a well-earned breather. The Indians look favourites, thanks in no small part to Harbhajan’s stunning parsimony – and how nice to see clever dot balls attracting attention in T20 – but we shall see. It’s not as dewey in Mumbai as it sometimes is, according to Sky’s man at the ground Mark Butcher, so Delhi’s spinners can exert some influence here too.
Delhi Daredevils set Mumbai Indians 153 to win.
It’s not going to be enough, but for the fact that it might be.
20th over: Delhi 152-6 (Tiwary 13, Coulter-Nile 3) Kumar to bowl the final over, and after a dot, Tiwary lifts a four over himself to fine-leg. But Kumar responds with a diet of yorkers that yield three consecutive singles, before Coulter-Nile goes hard to long-off. Pollard, running off the fence and diving forwards, can’t hold the catch, but arranges his body in such a way so that only two runs are lost; that completes an excellent effort from Mumbai.
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WICKET! Yuvraj c Simmons b Malinga 57 (Delhi 140-6)
Oh my days, what a catch! Yuvraj cuts a wide one, hard, only for Simmons, at backward-point, to fling himself right and grab one-handed - in his fingertips, too.
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19th over: Delhi 143-5 (Yuvraj 57, Tiwary 7) Malinga to finish off, and thanks to a single off the final ball of the previous over, Yuvraj is on strike. But he can only manage a further one, which turns out not to matter in the first instance - Tiwary clubs four straight back past him. He’s is swinging his shoulders out of their sockets here, is Tiwary, missing twice, but the second go allows a bye, and gets Yuvraj back down the business end. There’re two deliveries left, and Yuvraj tries to guide down to third man, too gently as it turns out - Parthiv dives to snaffle. Yauvraj, though, stays where he is - the umpire wants to see if the catch was clean, and it wasn’t - it was off the ground.
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18th over: Delhi 137-5 (Yuvraj 56, Tiwary 3) A first-ball leg-bye gets Yuvraj back on strike, but he can only respond with a single. McClenaghan then cramps Tiwary so he can only nudge one more, before Yuvraj dismisses a short one from his countenance, flicking six to fine-leg with unbearable nonchalance. Oh and look at that! Look at that! Again, it’s leg-side, but this time, there’s power with the timing, a bazzer clouted over square-leg. What a player, what a man.
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17th over: Delhi 121-5 (Yuvraj 42, Tiwary 2) Ma-ling-ah, Ma-ling-ah screeches the crowd, in a chant reminiscent of that used at Elland Road in the 90s to honour Phil Ma-sing-ah. But Yuvraj isn’ remotely arsed, stepping to to make a yorker a full-toss, which he lashes from outside off to midwicket; then, he flays at a wide one, squirting four more to fine-leg; and then, he crouches, bounces up, and clatters over cover for three in a row. He is a vision of loveliness.
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16th over: Delhi 106-5 (Yuvraj 29, Tiwary 0) Yuvraj gives Pandya another black eye, carving four past backward-point - no doubt all arranged in the tactical timeout we’ve just enjoyed.
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WICKET! Mathews c Suchith b Pandya 12 (Delhi 102-5)
Well bowled Pandya! knowing that Mathews is coming again, he goes shorter, and this time, slices a simple catch to long-off. Mumbai should win from here whatever happens in the rest of the innings.
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16th over: Delhi 102-4 (Yuvraj 25, Mathews 12) Pandya, whom you’d expect Delhi to target, goes wide and full and Yuvraj, and he misses. But then, after a single, Mathews absolutely bases six over midwicket, such that when Pandya next runs in, he fails to release the ball, flying into an amateur’s cartwheel instead.
15th over: Delhi 95-4 (Yuvraj 24, Mathews 6) McClenaghan back, and Yuvraj changes his bat - there’s speculation that he’s using a lighter one to play quick stuff, but that seems hard to believe, given how light they are anyway. Ha, clever stuff from Mumbai, three men out for Yuvi’s slog-sweep, then a yorker into the blockhole, followed by another; both yield singles, making it four from the over. Delhi need to get on with this; 12 an over gets 155, and Malinga still has two left.
14th over: Delhi 90-4 (Yuvraj 21, Mathews 4) Pandya into the attack, and Mathews, who, so far this competition, has shown signs of brilliance without quite enforcing it, could do with making it clear here. He sneaks a single to Harbhajan, second ball, but that’s his lot for the over, Yuvraj requiring four balls to find the same; well bowled.
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13th over: Delhi 88-4 (Yuvraj 20, Mathews 3) Yuvraj goes for Suchith first ball, but Pollard dashes from long-on to long-off and saves the boundary. But, after another single to Mathews, he’s very quick to the pitch, whipping four down to fine-leg - he’s improved through the tournament, and now looks much more like the hero that he is.
12th over: Delhi 80-4 (Yuvraj 14, Mathews 1) What a spell that was, four overs, two for ten, including 16 dots. Delhi will need to bat well from here to set something competitive.
WICKET! Jadhav st Patel b Harbhajan 16 (Delhi 78-4)
Harbhajan is boss, what else do you need to know; what else can there be to know? He sees Jadhav preparing to slam over long-off, so sends a slider even further outside off, and that’s the end of that.
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12th over: Delhi 78-3 (Jadhav 16, Yuvraj 13) Harbhajan’s going to bowl out - in his three overs so far, he has 13 dots.
11th over: Delhi 77-3 (Jadhav 16, Yuvraj 12) Suchith in, and Jadhav takes a knee to rattle a slog-sweep over midwicket - that’s why they’ve promoted him. But the bowler keeps his nerve, a variety of deliveries keeping him guessing, and the over yields only two more, via shove to third man.
10th over: Delhi 69-3 (Jadhav 8, Yuvraj 11) Bhaji’s back - how well he’s doing in this season - and after a single from the first ball, Jadhav bunting to long-on, he ties things up, his cunning flight and variations eventually forcing Yuvraj to slog-sweep. He misses, the ball clipping his arm, and there’s an appeal for a glove, but nothing doing.
9th over: Delhi 66-3 (Jadhav 7, Yuvraj 10) Malinga returns for redemption, and to take advantage of Yuvraj’s problems against pace. But it’s Jadhav facing, and he gets down the other end right away, as you would. Only for Yuvraj to pick a short one, lean back, and crunch a pull down to midwicket. So Sugarboy, instead of sending down the anticipated toe-crunching response, tries the same again only a little slower - so Yuvraj goes again, but gets through the shot too soon. Same outcome, though, a misfield at mid-on arranging four more.
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8th over: Delhi 57-3 (Jadhav 2, Yuvraj 2) Harbhajan’s just so confident, tossing them up to tease and tempt. Jadhav takes three from the final ball, top-edging a sweep as Malinga pursues for matter-of-principle reasons, but theres not much confidence or convcition in the batting so far.
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7th over: Delhi 52-3 (Jadhav 2, Yuvraj 1) Delhi are in a bind, here.
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WICKET! Duminy c & b Suchith 28 (Delhi 50-3)
Big responsibility on Yuvraj, now. Duminy tries to whip Sucthith away, but a flatter delivery forces him to tap back to the bowler instead. He is the disgusted side of tremendously disgusted.
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6th over: Delhi 43-2 (Duminy 23, Jadhav 0) Five dots from Bhaji, and what a start that is.
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WICKET! Iyer c Vinay Kumar b Harbhajan 19 (Delhi 43-0)
For Agarwal, read Iyer. Harbhajan’s first ball encourages him to go for it, but a leading edge takes the attempted slog to short-third-man. Silly behaviours.
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5th over Kumar, whose first over was very good, continues. His over cedes just four, untl Duminy picks one up on leg-stump and carts over midwicket for six and goes down thw track for four.
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4th over: Delhi 29-1 (Iyer 16, Duminy 12) Iyer makes room to carve four on the off-side, and then again to hoist over cover; he doesn’t get all of it, but the power’s enough to carry it beyond the boundary once it’s pitched. And oh, dearie me! Iyer goes again, Pandya and Suchith pursuing the ball through the air. Neither calls, so one goes and fumbles, so then the other, still next to him, goes and fumbles; they run two. And then, to grind it in, Iyer cracks over mid-on and to the fence; great over for him and Delhi.
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3rd over: Delhi 15-1 (Iyer 2, Duminy 12) With Malinga’s purpose served, Vinay Kumar comes on, and again, Duminy looks to push for an unlikely single - but the bowler fields well to prevent it. Then, just as this is looking like a fine start for Mumbai, Duminy steps down and belts over long-on for six .
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2nd over: Delhi 7-1 (Iyer 1, Duminy 5) McClenaghan from t’other t’end - he bowled very well in the last game. Iyer takes him for s single, then Duminy presents the face to defend one to mid-on, and sneaks a very sharp single. But that’s it, until McClenaghan’s wided for a decent bouncer, and he responds with a jaffa that’s way too good for Iyer.
1st over: Delhi 4-1 (Iyer 0, Duminy 4) The Wankhede is absolutely bouncing, even prior to the wicket - “they hate Delhi”, Mahela says. Anyway, Duminy clips four to square-leg, then cracks the pad - there’s a right old appeal performed, but the umpire says later, probably because it was going down. Some start!
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DIAMOND DUCK WICKET! Agarwal c Patel b Malinga 0 (Delhi 0-1)
Ho ho ho. Malinga races in and slings down a fairly nondescript ball on a length, but Agarwal can’t help but follow it when it moves away, so he nicks behind. It’s shame for Agarwal, in a way - he’s got talent and an eye, but can’t quite make it work at the moment.
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In comes Malinga...
Off we traverse...
Otherwise, Imran Tahir replaces Sandhu, who was sketchy against Rajasthan; Mumbai leave leave out Chand and introduce Pandya.
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Duminy reckons the pitch won’t deteriorate much - and, I’ll shouldn’t wonder, he didn’t enjoy watching his team batted out of the game before they got a go last time out. Which, more or less, is what happened.
Toss news: Delhi win it, and will bat.
Hmmm. I wonder why.
Incidentally, for those with access to Sky Sports 1, Kevin Pietersen, Shane Warne and Mahela Jayawardene are on explaining stuff. Get it on.
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Preamble
Following game after thrilling finish after incredible exhibition after unlikely mateship, we’re finally at the point where things count. Mumbai Indians have already won their first must-win match, beating Kings XI on Sunday, and now they have another - against Delhi Daredevils, themselves pretty desperate for the points. Both sides have shown signs of working stuff out recently, making it as impossible as ever to have the slightest clue as to who might win.
Good afternoon. Daniel will be along shortly. In the meantime here’s Dan Lucas’s report of yesterday’s match, in which Kolkata Knight Riders beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 35 runs:
Kolkata Knight Riders thrashed Sunrisers Hyderabad on a turning Eden Gardens pitch to go third in the IPL, largely thanks to an outstanding display of controlled spin bowling.
The defending champions made a flying start, Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir putting on 57 for the opening wicket as the Sunrisers’ seamers all struggled to find the right line and offered up easy boundaries. Their stand came to and end when David Warner, the Sunrisers captain, brought on the spinners, who slowed the run rate, with Karn Sharma removing both openers – Uthappa going to a brilliant low catch at cover by Warner.
Unusually, both spinners – Karn and Bipul Sharma – bowled through in tandem, and the tactic proved a useful one as wickets continued to fall. Andre Russell was culpable in throwing his away as he presented Morgan with a second boundary catch, Manish Pandey was run out and Ryan ten Doeschate went lbw to the medium pace of Moises Henriques.
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