Vishakhapatnam: Krunal Pandya bludgeoned a 37-ball 86 in his maiden IPL fifty before bowlers took charge as Mumbai Indians pounded Delhi Daredevils by a comprehensive 80-run margin to jump to third spot, here tonight.
25-year-old Pandya combined well with opener Martin Guptill (48) to rattle up a fiery 98-run stand that propelled Mumbai Indians to a commanding 206 for four.
Mumbai lost Rohit Sharma (31) after a steady start butPandya and Guptill came up with very aggressive knocks that blew away the rival attack.
Pandya threw his bat at everything and anything but atthe same time showed tremendous control, finding the boundaries with consummate ease.
The left-hander hammered half-a-dozen sixes and seven fours in his knock before being bowled by Chris Morris in the fag end of the innings. Guptill took 42 balls for his innings that had two fours and three shots over the ropes.
South African spinner Imran Tahir ended up bleeding 59 runs in his four wicket-less overs while skipper Zaheer Khan was the most economical with 23 runs in his four overs.
Mumbai bowlers then dished out a commanding show by bowling out Dardevils for 126 in 19.1 overs.
Daredevils struggled to have partnerships as they kept losing batsmen. Mayank Agarwal (8) was first to go when he was bowled by Vinay Kumar.
Karun Nair (8) was dismissed by Harbhajan Singh while Sanju Samson (6) was run out.
Quinton-de Kock was batting well from the one end but his innings was brought to a halt when umpire ruled him out caught behind off Krunal.
The chasing task was left to JP Duminy and young Rishanh Pant but Jasprit Bumrah dismissed them in consecutive balls to leave Daredevils gasping at 96 for six in 13 overs.
Duminy attempted a big shot, managed an edge that flew high in the sky and Buttler made no mistake in taking the catch. Pant found his timber disturbed in the next ball.
Daredevils needed 111 runs off the last seven overs but the innings folded soon. Their hopes were over when Morris (20) was run out in the 17th over.
Paceman Jasprit Bumrah emerged the best bowler for Mumbai with figures of 3-0-13-3 while Krunal (2/15) took two wickets. Mumbai have 14 points with one game to play against fourth-placed Gujarat Lions.
