Delhi cruise along
Mohammad Ashraful's disappointing debut in Mumbai Indians' four-wicket loss to Delhi Daredevils in Centurion yesterday made sure the Bangladesh dream of the Indian Premier League was not realised.
In his side's last match of the tournament, Ashraful came in to bat at number four but scratched around for ten deliveries before edging Pradeep Sangwan to wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik after scoring just two runs in his side's total of 165-8 from 20 overs.
In reply, Delhi captain Virender Sehwag hit his first half-century of the tournament as leaders Delhi reached 166-6 in 17.3 overs. The first two catches of the Delhi innings however went to Ashraful, but success in the IPL remained out of the Tigers' reach as Ashraful joined teammates Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and Abdur Razzak (from last year) as flop shows.
But it was Delhi all the way with skipper Sehwag making exactly fifty off 27 balls with five boundaries and two sixes.
"It was great to score my first half century this season," said opener Sehwag. "It is critical that I am in form with a semifinal at Centurion tomorrow."
Mumbai captain Sachin Tendulkar could not mask his disappointment after Mumbai finished with only five wins from 14 outings and finished second last on the eight-franchise standings.
"I thought we batted well today and built a good total, but our bowling was not up to the mark. This was a pity as our bowlers have generally performed well this season."
Ajinkya Rahane (56) and Tendulkar (46) performed best with the bat for Mumbai, who battled to get sixes with the first of only two coming from the former 98 balls into the innings.
Australian Dirk Nannes was his usual destructive self with the ball, taking 3-27 in four overs, and Pradeep Sangwan (2-28) was the best of the rest on a chilly afternoon halfway between Johannesburg and Pretoria.
Delhi got off to a flying start, putting 60 runs on the board within six overs, and the loss of opener David Warner for only 15 had little impact as Gautam Gambhir (47), Tim Dilshan (24) and Sehweg (50) did the damage.
SCORES IN BRIEF
MUMBAI: 165 for 8 in 20 overs (Rahane 56, Tendulkar 46, Shah 12, Harbhajan 12 not out, Ashraful 2; Nannes 3-27, Sangwan 2-28)
DELHI: 166 for 6 in 17.3 overs (Sehwag 50, Gambhir 47, Dilshan 24, Warner 15, Mishra 13; Harbhajan 4-17)
Result: Delhi Daredevils won by four wickets.
Man-of-the-match: Virender Sehwag.
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