Delhi Daredevils teed themselves up for Friday’s first semi-final in The IPL with a comfortable victory over Mumbai Indians.
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The Daredevils wrapped up their place in the semis some time ago, but did not take their foot off the gas and proved far too good for Mumbai.
Mumbai posted what looked a decent total of 165/8, but Delhi chased it down with relative ease and The Daredevils will be buoyed by the return to form of Gautham Gambhir (46) and Virender Sehwag (56).
Sanath Jayasuriya has had a torrid time in The IPL and it was perhaps appropriate that his tournament ended on a low note, trapped lbw by Dirk Nannes for a duck.
JP Duminy again looked very good before getting a superb delivery from Nannes that took the edge and Dinesh Karthik claimed the catch.
Mohammad Ashraful came in at four for his first game of the tournament, but looked woefully out of touch and was caught behind off Pradeep Sangwan.
Amid all the turmoil was Sachin Tenduilkar and he looked somewhere near peak form. He played a host of glorious drives and looked set to cut loose when he missed a straight ball from Rajat Bhatia.
Ajinkya Rahane, who put on 73 with Tendulkar, took up the attack following the departure of his captain and his 56 took Mumbai to 165 from their 20 overs.
Gautham Gambhir and David Warner gave the Delhi chase a positive start with a partnership of 36 in 21 balls before the latter was caught at point.
Virender Sehwag came to join Gambhir and he showed no signs of being out of form as he hit the ball crisply. The pair put on 68 in quick time before Lasith Malinga returned to claim the wicket of Gambhir.
Gambhir’s knock put Delhi in a strong position and Tillakaratne Dilshan carried on the assault with 24 from 13 balls.
Dilshan and Sehwag fell in consecutive balls to Harbhajan and the Mumbai spinner threatened an unlikely win when removing AB De Villiers and Bhatia in his following over.
However, Amit Mishra kept his cool and sealed the win with a towering six off Duminy.
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