Delhi Daredevils (DD) vs Mumbai Indians (MI), IPL 2017, Match 45: Biggest-ever defeat in IPL history and other highlights

Mumbai Indians (MI) also became the first team to make it to the playoffs of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017.

Mumbai Indians (MI) became the first team to qualify for the playoffs of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017 in style, by registering the biggest-ever victory in the tournament history. Playing in match 45 of IPL 10 at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi, MI crushed Delhi Daredevils (DD) by a record margin of 146 runs. Chief architects of their win were comeback man Lendl Simmons, burly Trinidadian Kieron Pollard and their bowlers. As far as DD are concerned, there is nothing worth mentioning about their performance in the highlights package, which quite expectedly is dominated by MI players. Let us take a look at the talking points from this game. Full Cricket Scorecard, Delhi Daredevils vs Mumbai Indians, IPL 2017, Match 45

The Caribbean flavour: The Caribbean flavour added spice to this IPL 10 encounter, as two Trinidadians Simmons and Pollard stole the show. Simmons, who was warming the bench so far, made a stunning entry to IPL 10. After looking rusty for early part of his innings, Simmons came to the party later on, thrashing the famed DD pace attack all over the park. Pollard, on the other hand, took on the spinner Amit Mishra and gave him a severe beating. Simmons fell for 43-ball 66 while Pollard remained unbeaten on 35-ball 63. Both hit identical number of boundaries in their innings — 5 fours and 4 sixes.

The other ‘West’ Indian: It is not for nothing that Ashish Nehra calls Hardik Pandya ‘a West Indian guy from Baroda.’ Not just his mannerisms and demeanour resemble to that of the Caribbean cricketers, but his all-round skills, especially the big-hitting ability, make him an Indian cricketer of the Caribbean mould. Coming from Baroda, a city in western India, Hardik is literally as well as figuratively a West Indian. On Saturday, he came in at the dying stages and hammered 14-ball unbeaten 29, matching Pollard stroke for stroke.

Pollard shows his ‘Range’: Pollard came in to bat at No. 3 just for the third time in his IPL career on Saturday. Needless to say, it was his day. When he hit the ball hard, it stayed hit. Even his mistimed shot cleared the boundary with ease. Interestingly, besides playing traditional shots, Pollard also showed his range when he played a scoop over short third man for a four. This prompted Sanjay Manjrekar to say “Pollard shows his RANGE” in the commentary box. Remember the ‘range-brains’ controversy? READ: IPL 2017: Kieron Pollard’s angry tweet to Sanjay Manjrekar stirs controversy in IPL 10

Milestones: There were a few personal milestones achieved during the game. Simmons completed his fifty and also brought up his 1,000 IPL runs in just his 23rd innings, thus becoming second fastest to the milestone after Shaun Marsh, who took just 21 innings to get there. Besides, Lasith Malinga completed 150 wickets in IPL, thus becoming the first bowler to reach the milestone in the history of the league.

Third time unlucky: DD had chased 189 (target 186) and 214 (target 209) in their last two games at the home ground in last one week. Hence, when they came out to chase 213 on Saturday, nobody wrote them off. But as it turned out, they were third time unlucky, getting bundled out for their lowest score — 66. In the process, they also succumbed to the biggest-ever defeat in the history of the tournament, eclipsing the previous record of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) 140-run loss against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in first-ever IPL game in 2008.

Screamer from Rohit: In the eighth over of DD’s innings, MI skipper Rohit Sharma took a screamer to send Marlon Samuels back. The ball took a thick outside edge off the batsman’s willow and went flying towards Rohit in the slip. The Mumbai captain had little reaction time, but he did well to dive to his right and hold on to the catch. At the post-match presentation ceremony, Rohit credited MI’s fielding coach Jonty Rhodes for his sharp catching.

The MI spin-twins: MI’s spin-twins Harbhajan Singh and Karn Sharma played a crucial role in side’s crushing win and ensured Krunal Pandya was not missed. Together they bowled 7.4 overs and picked up 6 wickets conceding just 33 runs.

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