I thought it was a slightly negative move when Harbajahn decided to bowl first having won the toss. It looked a great wicket for scoring runs and the reason seemed to be that Delhi always like to bowl first and then chase, so rather than playing to their own strengths Mumbai were looking at their opposition, almost in fear of DD making a mockery of the Mumbai total if chasing. Accordingly, the Daredevils put on the best opening partnership of the tournament to date, Jayawardene and Sehwag working in terrific harmony to put on 135 in just 13 overs. It was the Sri Lankan who started the stronger, his experience against compatriot Malinga was obvious as he stroked him round in the third over for 3 well struck boundaries including one delightful cover drive. In my eyes he is the best batsman to watch in the world as his game is all about timing and every shot is straight out of the text-book. Sehwag soon got into his stride and was carving deliveries over the off side whenever presented with width, RP Singh will still be wondering how Sehwag swatted a short, wide ball over long-off for one of his 4 sixes! Jayawardene gave Sehwag plenty of the strike, such was the way he was striking the ball, and when he eventually fell for 55 from 42 balls his side were in a great position. Sehwag fell soon after to the first ball of the 16th over for a magnificent 73 from 39 balls, his 3rd consecutive half-century and well and truly leading from the front, but the innings threatened to stagnate a touch with a couple of new men it at the end.
However, Pietersen made sure that this would not be the case as, alongside Ross Taylor, the 17th and 18th overs were pummeled for 38 runs combined. Mumbai's Peterson had bowled really nicely up until this point as after 3 overs he had 3-17, including Sehwag with some brave flight, but KP ruined his figures (3-37) with a few big hits including a trademark switch hit maximum over cover/mid-wicket! His 50* from 26 kept up the momentum and put DD above the 200 mark, a serious total on any pitch. Karthik will rue his missed stumping when Sehwag had just 40 runs but who knows, maybe this would just have allowed KP to come in earlier and put on even more runs such is the nature of this Delhi side. Mumbai's key man Malinga had returned from injury but he, not at his brilliant best, failed to inspire an MI attack against arguably the most dangerous batting side in the tournament, 207/5 was a huge total that would take a monumental effort to overcome.
Mumbai don't have a bad batting side themselves but the issue was that theirs is lacking in form, quite unlike that of DD. They got off to a really poor start as Blizzard, making his 2012 IPL debut for the unwell Franklin, tamely pushed a ball to cover for a duck and Mumbai were 0/1 after 3 balls. After 3 overs and a ball, they'd also lost their 2 best batsmen in Tendulkar and Sharma who both chipped the ball to mid-off and mid-on respectively and at 19/3 the game looked to be over already. If Mumbai were to get back into it Karthik and Rayudu, the hero from MI's last game, were going to have to play a couple of special innings and they certainly did their best. They put on 96 from just under 10 overs that featured intelligent stroke-play coupled with sweet striking as well as very aggressive running between the wickets. Karthik (40 from 28) fell in the 13th over, bowled by an Agarkar yorker, when Mumbai could really have done with the partnership going on for another 3 or 4 overs, particularly as it was now turn to MI's last front-line batsmen in Rayudu and Pollard with 93 runs still needed. A few boundaries later and the game was essentially ended as Shahbaz Nadeem (2-35) sent both back in consecutive deliveries in the 16th over to leave too much for the tail, Rayudu holed out to deep mid-wicket and Pollard bowled. Rayudu played another top innings for his side, seemingly coming to terms with the tough job in the middle order, and its a shame that his 62 from 39 had to be on the losing side. For a little man he really can strike a long ball and he'll be keen to keep this form to claim a place in that Indian limited overs side. Delhi's effort with the ball was led, as per usual, by the outstanding Morkel (4-0-21-1) whose pace and bounce has proved so tough to hit this year and earnt him the purple cap. Their 4 other bowlers are all talented domestic players and with the imminent return of Varun Aaron their side will be even stronger, good in all departments.
A complete performance from Delhi as their big top 4 (Sehwag, Jayawardene, KP and Taylor) all fired and then the bowlers backed them up with a disciplined performance. Mumbai will be worried at just how easy it was for Delhi, not just today but in the last match, as MI would certainly have considered themselves title contenders this year, and probably still do. I think their biggest issue at the moment would be that Tendulkar and Sharma are yet to provide stability at the top of the order, they don't have a batsmen in the top run scorers, despite Sharma showing flashes of what he's capable. Delhi are yet to live up to their potential in any of the 4 previous editions, so it may be too early to call them favorites this time round, but at the moment they look comfortably the most dangerous and consistent side in the competition. DD are sitting pretty at the top of table and look difficult to catch.
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