IPL 10, Match 45, Who Said What - Delhi Daredevils vs Mumbai Indians

"The partnership between Lendl and Pollard took the game away from us," Zaheer Khan said.

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Lendl Simmons of Mumbai Indians
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Lendl Simmons of Mumbai Indians celebrates his half century. (Photo: Surjeet Yadav/IANS)

Mumbai Indians are at the top of the points table for a reason. They put up a clinical performance against the Delhi Daredevils at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi to claim their authority further. Mumbai needed just one win with four matches in hand and marched into the playoffs with a thumping win over the Daredevils by the highest margin in the IPL of 146 runs.

The West Indian duo of Lendl Simmons and Kieron Pollard scored half centuries and powered Mumbai to 212, Simmons playing his first game in this edition of the IPL took on the DD bowlers and creamed them on both the sides of the ground equally brutally. Once Pollard was out there in the middle the ball was just travelling in the air and into or over. The opener scored 66 while Polly hit 63 off 35 balls with five fours and four sixes.

Having chased 208 a couple of nights ago Delhi fans would have fancied their team completing the chase but this was a different wicket, which slowed down, a different attack of the Mumbai Indians that came hard at them from ball one and their stars from the previous Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson scored ducks and the chase was derailed right at the start.

“Clinical from the start. I think the opening stand set the game up for us. Lendl coming back after a long time, playing that way was amazing. And Polly, a brilliant finisher. Great performance by the bowlers as well and to win by 146 runs is huge,” Rohit Sharma said.

“It gives us confidence, knowing our bench strength is strong. We always had a lot of faith in Lendl and he showed us why he is one of the best. Never in two minds, always went for his shots. A player like that gives a lot of freedom to the other guys. With a lot of dew on the ground, we expected a tighter game. But the way we bowled our first six overs was brilliant.

Result of our hard work over the last three four weeks, we have prepared well, we were clear in our minds. That clarity has been helping us. It’s good to know we’ve qualified. But the work doesn’t stop here. Next up is Sunrisers in Hyderabad. Credit to Jonty, he’s helped us in the field. Good to take the catches and help the bowlers out.”

Lendl Simmons was awarded the Man of the Match for his 43-ball 66.

He said: “I think I’ve been practicing hard. I’ve been hitting the gym, keeping my fitness up, waiting for the opportunity. It came today and I took it in both hands. I’m good as a replacement player, it’s been good for me. Batting in the Powerplay and with Parthiv is always good.

My game plan is to see off the first two overs and then back my shots. At first it was a bit slow, but dew came on, and then the shots were easy to play. Batting with Pollard is good, we are accustomed playing together. We didn’t have a total in mind, we just had a mind towards keeping the run-rate up and not losing wickets at crucial times.”

After such a game there is nothing much the losing skipper can talk about after a poor show with the ball the Delhi team decimated further as only three of their batsmen managed to enter double figures.

“Nothing much you can do. When I was on the field, I felt that they batted well. We had our plans, we started well, we stuck to the plan, but the partnership between Lendl and Pollard took the game away from us,” Zaheer Khan said.

“It’s tough to restrict a team in this sort of wicket and once the target is over 200, you have to go after it. Last game, you saw our fearlessness. We went after the bowling today as well, but couldn’t keep up. 190 was a good target. The dew was going to help us. But some days you can’t put a finger to the loss. We have to stay positive, we have to regroup, we have a slight break. But its all about winning games, playoffs is still possible.”

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