The Delhi Daredevils easily beat the Mumbai Indians in their last respective games at Centurion, to move into the semi-final on a high, where as Mumbai ended the league standings in the seventh position with only five wins and 11 points to boot.
The Daredevils won the toss and elected to field first, and their decision was almost immediately vindicated when the out-of-form Sanath Jayasuriya was declared LBW of the first delivery of the match by Dirk Nannes. Sachin Tendulkar began with a couple of boundaries, and so did J.P.Duminy, but an extra bouncing delivery from Nannes put paid to Duminy’s great IPL as well. Mohammad Ashraful had replaced Dwayne Bravo for this last game, and he did nothing to justify his selection, eating up ten deliveries for his two runs, with Mumbai pegged back at 28/3 in the fifth over.
After that, Abhishek Nayar got out soon, but Rahane took over smashing both Mishra and Avishkar Salvi for a six each. Rahane got a 41-ball 56, and the Mumbai Indians scored 165 in their twenty overs.
Any hopes of early wickets disappeared when Dave Warner and Gautam Gambhir batted with gay abandon to get to 36 in the fourth over, and even Warner’s wicket did not deter the team. Virender Sehwag finally found some form, and he got to a fifty off only 27 deliveries, where as Gambhir took his own score to 47(38) as the duo added 68 runs in 40 and got the Daredevils close.
However, that is as far as the Mumbai Indians got, with Mishra slamming 13 runs in four deliveries to win the game for his side.