Visakhapatnam: Young batsman Krunal Pandya smashed his maiden IPL half-century and shared a 98-run fiery stand with opener Martin Guptill to power Mumbai Indians to a commanding 206 for four against Delhi Dardevils.
Invited to bat, Mumbai Indians lost Rohit Sharma (31) after a steady start but Pandya and Guptill came up with very aggressive knocks that blew away the rival attack.
They added 98 runs in his 8.2 overs for the second wicket wicket, steering the side to a mammoth total. Pandya threw his bat at everything and anything but at the same time showed tremendous control, finding the boundaries with consummate ease. The left-hander hammered half-a-dozen sixes and seven fours in his 37-ball knock before being bowled by Chris Morris in the fag end of the innings. 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. After Rohit’s fall, Daredevils spin trio — Amit Mishra, Tahir and Shahbaz Nadeem — looked like making an impact but Guptil and Pandya ripped apart the attack. After finding their eye in, they started to punish the bowlers with ease and the spin trio collectively leaked 143 runs in their 12 overs. Guptill brought the team’s hundred with a long-on six off Tahir and followed it with an inside out maximum. Tahir had bowled well in tandem with Mishra but the Mumbai Indians batsmen were in good control. They were beaten a few times but struck very powerfully to find boundaries to make up for the dot balls. Krunal joined the Tahir- bashing by striking a straight six and a four to cream off 23 runs in the 13th over. Pandya reached his fifty with a fluent six over mid-wicket off Nadeem and celebrated the milestone with a jump in the air and gestures towards the dug out. Skipper Zaheer introduced himself to attack to stop the rut and he succeeded by sending back the Kiwi batsman, who could not connect the full toss and Karun Nair took the catch. It brought big-hitting Kieron Pollard to the crease but it was Pandya who continued to torment the bowlers. He launched leg-spinner Mishra for a four and two sixes but was cleaned up by Chris Morris, who also sent back Pollard (3) in the same over. Jos Buttler (18) ended the innings in style with a long-on six off Morris. — PTI
