[caption id="attachment_44137" align="aligncenter" width="580"]Match-Report-DD-vs-MI Mumbai Indians becomes the first team to reach the play-offs of IPL season 10. Image Source: BCCI[/caption] Internet Desk: The Mumbai Indians became the first side to book a berth in VIVO IPL 2017 playoff after they defeated the Delhi Daredevils by a record 146 runs at the Feroz Shah Kotla Ground on Saturday night. Put in to bat, the Mumbai Indians posted 212-3 riding on half-centuries from Lendl Simmons and Kieron Pollard, and their bowlers then bundled out the hosts for a paltry 65. MI, returning to action after a 4-day break, began quietly, scoring at a run-a-ball in the first three overs. Then came the explosion. Lendl Simmons, playing his first match of the season, deposited Kagiso Rabada into the stands at midwicket, and then collected a boundary through point in the fourth over. Zaheer Khan was deposited into the stands at square-leg in the following over. Parthiv Patel joined in, and collected consecutive boundaries off Pat Cummins in the sixth over. MI, despite the slow start, had raced to 60 for no loss in six overs. The opening partnership stretched to 79, before Parthiv (25 from 22 balls) was beaten by an Amit Mishra googly and stumped. Kieron Pollard walked in to bat at number three, and the two Trinidadians together added 37 runs in just 3.5 overs. Pollard was particularly severe on Amit Mishra; in the eleventh over, he hit the leg-spinner for two sixes, while Simmons deposited Cummins into the stands in the twelfth over. In the same over, Simmons also brought up his 1000th run in the IPL – becoming the second-quickest to get to the milestone. Simmons was dismissed in the thirteenth over when his fierce pull off Anderson’s bowling landed down the throat of the fielder at short fineleg ; the opener, who hit 5 fours and 4 sixes, made 66 from 43 balls. Pollard continued to put Mishra to the sword, collecting another two sixes off him in the fourteenth over. Rohit Sharma was dismissed cheaply, but Hardik Pandya’s cameo took MI past the 200-run mark. In the eighteenth over, Pollard hit Corey Anderson into the stands at long-off, while Pandya collected a boundary over the bowler’s head. After scoring only 7 runs in the 19th over, Pandya teed off once again in the final over, hitting Cummins for a boundary and two sixes. MI finished their innings with a 23-run over – the biggest of the innings. Pollard remained unbeaten on 63 (35 balls, 5 fours, 4 sixes), while Pandya was 29 not out (14 balls, 1 four, 3 sixes). MI had four good partnerships – of 79, 37, 37 and 59* - each of them coming at a rate quicker than the earlier one. MI were 84-1 at the half-way stage, and added a further 128 runs in the back half to finish at 212-3. For the Delhi Daredevils, Rabada, Mishra and Anderson collected a wicket each, while Cummins conceded 59 runs in his four overs. Needing 10.65 from the start of the run-chase, DD had no other option but to go hard from ball one. They had a dreadful start, losing Sanju Samson to the first ball of the chase. Shreyas Iyer scored a brisk 21, but his dismissal in the second over, followed by Rishabh Pant’s dismissal for a three-ball duck in the fourth over meant the chase never really took off. Karun Nair’s 21 was the top score of the DD innings, while the 14-run partnership for the third wicket was the highest of the innings. DD were bundled out for 66 – and the innings only lasted 13.4 overs. If the three quicks – Mitchell McClenaghan, Lasith Malinga and Jasprit Bumrah – picked up the first three wickets, the spin duo of Harbhajan Singh and Karn Sharma combined to dismantle the middle and lower order.

IPL 2017: Exceptional Mumbai thumps Delhi to seal play-off berth