Agencies
Delhi, April 23
In a classic display of leg spin bowling, Imran Tahir and Amit Mishra bowled Delhi Daredevils to a 37-run win over Mumbai Indians in their IPL match at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Thursday.
Chasing a stiff 191-run target, Mumbai managed 153/9 as Delhi registered their first victory at the Kotla after nine consecutive losses.
Tahir took all his three wickets in one over dismissing Hardik Pandya, Ambati Rayudu and Mitchell McClenaghan to take the Purple Cap from Ashish Nehra.
The Mumbai run chase never really got going in front of some disciplined bowling backed up by good fielding.
Delhi put up a professional show to win their third game of this season. All their key bowlers bowled with good control and they were backed up in the field by some brilliant fielding.
In particular, JP Duminy and Tahir took stunning catches in the deep to keep the lid on the scoring rate. It was Rohit Sharma, who looked to up the tempo with a wide array of shots, but once he perished, Mumbai slipped towards yet another defeat. If Domnic Joseph bowled well up front, Tahir proved his worth by keeping it tight in the slog overs and was rewarded with three scalps in a single over.
Earlier, riding on a rollicking 154-run partnership between Shreyas Iyer and skipper Jean-Paul Duminy, Delhi posted an imposing 190/4.
Put into bat, the hosts overcame an early blow to see big fifties from Iyer (83) and Duminy (78 not out) and put on board the highest total of this season so far.
New Zealand left-arm pacer Mitchell McClenaghan (2/38) struck in the very first over to send Mayank Agarwal back. The opener pulled a shortish delivery only to be holed out at short mid-wicket, where Ambati Rayudu took the catch.
But after that it was an all DD show with Iyer and Duminy entertaining a good weekday crowd in a bid to end the team’s 9-match losing streak at home.
Mumbai-born Iyer, who hit 7 fours and 5 sixes in his 56-ball stay, and Duminy, whose 50-ball knock was laced with 3 fours and 6 sixes, mixed with the right dose of caution and aggression, to take the attack to the opposition.
Iyer, who hit his second fifty of the season, was severe on medium-pacer Jasprit Bumrah (1-55), hitting the medium-pacer for a six and two fours to help DD get 16 runs off the 11th over.
Seeing his partner in top form, Duminy also changed gears as the South African hit Kieron Pollard for a four and 2 sixes in the very next over to fetch his team 20 runs.
The duo continued its onslaught after the second time out post the 13th over as the 20-year-old Iyer smashed Harbhajan Singh (0-34) for two sixes and Duminy also brought up his second fifty of the season in the off-spinners final over that went for 18 runs.
Getting a little over-ambitious, Iyer was finally cleaned up by Lasith Malinga (1-23), in the 17th over, as the right-hander shuffled across to attempt a lap-scoop and the Yorker just sneaked in.
New-man Angelo Mathews (17) never allowed the run-rate to slip as the Sri Lankan kept hitting the boundaries – 3 in his 8-ball cameo. But attempting a pull against McClenaghan, Mathews got a thin edge and the gentleman cricketer walked back without a fuss.
Guilty of giving away too many runs in his quota of overs, Bumrah did get a consolation wicket of Yuvraj Singh (2) in the final over of the innings. The final six deliveries fetched only 10 runs for the home team as Duminy carried his bat through.
